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Pulp and paper mill sludge (PPMS) is an organic residual generated from the wastewater treatments. PPMS management involves economic, environmental and social costs that will likely increase in the future as landfilling tends to be reduced or banned in certain jurisdictions. The reduction or the banning of landfilling may be considered as a climate change mitigation measure since organic waste disposal is normally associated with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This critical review aims to (1) describe the variety of the current and emerging PPMS management practices that are alternatives to landfilling and (2) underline the crucial need for GHG emission assessments. The management practices of the three main PPMS types (primary, secondary and de-inking) comprised in this review are land application (agriculture, silviculture, land reclamation and composting), energy recovery (combustion, anaerobic digestion, pyrolysis, bioethanol, hydrogen production and direct liquefaction) and integration in materials (biocomposite, cement, asphalt and adsorbent–absorbent). Future research should focus to increase the comprehension of known GHG determinants from the PPMS management practices and reveal unknown factors. Life cycle analyses, based on direct GHG emission measurements, are needed to determine GHG emissions from current and emerging practices and plan a responsible future reduction or banning of landfilling. Such analyses will contribute to assist decision makers in implementing the best PPMS management practices with the least impact on climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability, climate change issues and carbon emissions have recently become more prominent. To limit carbon emissions and reduce them we need to understand where and how much we use. The bridges and viaducts on major infrastructure projects have a high intensity of carbon compared to the average per kilometre. In this paper the carbon footprint of a range of current bridges and viaducts are outlined relative to cost, length, area, material and traffic type to give a benchmark for future reductions and to outline areas where improvements can be made. Engineers have often kept track of material quantities to estimate cost; the carbon content of a bridge can be calculated from the primary material quantities and construction methods. Information from a database of bridges is used in this research to estimate the capital carbon of 200 bridges. The data show the trends for different bridge loading types, materials and spans. The database can be used to assist with the reduction of carbon in bridges by benchmarking current carbon footprints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entered into force in 2011, the Protocol on Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in the Mediterranean is a major innovation in that it is the first supra-State legal instrument aimed at coastal zone management. However, the nature and magnitude of change it is actually generating, or is likely to generate, in domestic coastal zones management systems, are highly uncertain. Investigating such prospects for change in contrasted contexts around the Mediterranean, and therefore providing a critical view of the Protocol as a game-changer, is the aim of this article. Results call for vigilance: the risk is real that the Protocol will not change much and that it will become a paper-protocol only. Ratifying it is – relatively – easy. Avoiding “ratifications of convenience” is more demanding. For various reasons the Protocol is likely to have mostly limited impacts on domestic coastal law development. It probably has more potential in terms of influencing changes in governance processes and increasing the social demand for ICZM. But this potential may only be translated into facts under stringent conditions on political will and good faith from Parties to adopt an ambitious understanding of the Protocol, and on appropriation by civil societies around the Mediterranean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Staying can be an alternate climate change adaptation strategy. • Staying and mobility are re-imagined with ideas of resilience and evolution. • Four key research areas linking climate change, staying and resilience. • Historical context and translocal networks shape immobility. • Equity and governance identify population differentials and choice of im(mobility). This paper brings work on mobility and 'staying' together with theoretical ideas of resilience to consider responses to climate change. To date, the majority of work that has explored the impacts of climate change on human populations has taken a migration-centred perspective, with an emphasis on mobility as a key response in crises, including extreme climatic events and civil conflict. However, evidence suggests that people may alternatively – and pro-actively – adopt a different approach involving "staying" as a climate change adaptation strategy. This is important as recent evolutionary approaches to resilience have highlighted how resilience is an on-going process of adaptation which emphasises the temporal, fluid and open-ended aspects of individuals' experiences and practices in shaping everyday lives. In turn, this means that individuals' experiences and practices can lead to different strategies of staying (as well as moving) in the face of climate change. Consequently, the paper highlights four key areas where more research is required in order to explore the links between climate change, 'staying' and resilience. These include the importance of historical context in disentangling and contextualising the "multicausal" nature of individuals' mobility decisions; translocal networks in shaping mobility or immobility; the influence of equity, diversity and gendered social expectations on staying; and the importance of governance responses in facilitating resilience, adaptation and subsequent decisions by individuals to stay or move. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the significance of ecosystem functions in maintaining the health and balance of ecological systems, particularly in the context of planning, managing, and maintaining trees in landscape settings. It emphasises the multifaceted relationship between humans and trees, encompassing cultural, ecological, economic, and emotional connections, and underscores the value of traditional ecological knowledge alongside empirical science. By combining these two ways of knowing, along with social science insights into human health and well-being, future landscapes can be crafted to be sustainable, diverse, and functional. As urbanisation continues to shape landscapes globally, urban planners face the challenge of managing rapidly changing environments. Urban forestry and arboriculture have emerged to address these challenges, aiming to enhance environmental quality and human well-being. The concept of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) has gained traction, recognising the importance of integrating natural systems into urban planning to address environmental challenges while preserving functional ecosystems. This paper advocates for an enhanced understanding of tree and human ecology to navigate the complex relations between trees, people, and their environments. It calls for interdisciplinary collaboration, research, and education to inform policy, assess environmental impacts, and widen approaches to ecosystem management. By monitoring ecosystem health and collaborating across disciplines, arboriculturists and urban foresters can shape resilient practices for tree conservation and sustainable urban development. In conclusion, integrating tree ecology into urban planning and management practices is essential for ensuring the health, resilience, and sustainability of tree populations and the ecosystems they inhabit. By embracing a holistic understanding of trees and their environments, professionals can contribute to shaping future landscapes that support both human well-being and biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change discourse ranges from an acknowledgement of ancestral prophecy to the most urgent crisis of our time. If the terminology – words, concepts, and expressions – of discourse is understood to reflect a writer's values, perspectives, and ways of knowing, then it is important to compare the terminology used by various writers to understand key value differences. This paper provides an initial exploration into the explicit and implicit differences in terminology surrounding climate adaptation planning from the perspective of federal agencies and Tribal Nations as represented in two climate adaptation guides. As the act of utilising the same words but in different ways will likely result in conflict, we also explored the links between the values-based differences in terminology with three policies – one written from a Tribal perspective and two that govern federal agencies' stewardship of cultural resources – to assess the implications for climate adaptation of ancestral heritage located on federal lands. It is important to note that the space to compare terminology between federal and Tribal perspectives is vast; though this paper represents only an introductory step into this space, the results demonstrate a clear need to develop a process of co-constructing a shared climate adaptation terminology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change due to increasing CO2 emissions threatens the development and survival of many countries, especially those on the coast. Intentional government spending by sectors can lower CO2 emissions to help these countries in sustainable development. Meanwhile, governance has some importance in enabling governments to achieve their economic development goals. Does governance affect the public spending - CO2 emissions nexus in developing economies? The paper seeks answers by employing the system GMM Arellano-Bond estimators to assess the impact of public spending, governance/institutional quality, and their interaction on CO2 emissions for a sample of 109 developing economies between 2002 and 2021. The results seem counter-intuitive that public spending reduces and governance increases CO2 emissions, while their interaction lowers them. Furthermore, private investment and economic growth promote CO2 emissions, while trade openness decreases them. The findings in this paper provide some policy lessons for governments of developing economies to protect environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy sources, driven by the global concern for climate change and the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, are gaining increasing importance. Among them, solar energy stands out as a crucial renewable source and accurate solar irradiance forecasting is vital for its effective utilisation. Deep learning (DL) techniques have emerged as state-of-the-art solar irradiance forecasting methods in past years. However, traditional models that are widely used have inferior accuracy in forecasting. To bridge this gap, this paper presents an improved state-of-the-art model that leverages the convolutional property to forecast the time series data. We got a reduction of 8.32% in MAE compared to the base model. The paper's findings highlight the potential of DL-based approaches to significantly improve the accuracy of solar irradiance forecasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global policymaking often seeks to create processes for the effective delivery of public goods and services. What happens when individuals critique or dissent such policies? In this paper, we examine the case of two activists—Greta Thunberg and Disha Ravi—who have been mobilizing attention toward climate change since their teenage years, and who have been both celebrated and vilified for it. While climate change policies emphasize the importance of gender mainstreaming and youth participation, reactions garnered by these two activists are instructive in highlighting the narrow notion of "participation" that undergirds climate policy. Specifically, we show that Greta and Disha's tactics do not readily jive with the postfeminist, neoliberal conceptualization of youth participation that emphasizes apolitical exercise of citizenship; valorizes girls' activism only insofar as it enhances national economic growth; and views girls as symbols of hopeful futurities. Greta and Disha are instead what we call, "policy dissidents," whose activism creates "tactical crevices." We theorize tactical crevices as tentative and fleeting interruptions by the powerless that puncture prevailing logics through strikes and protests, and through consumption of discourses and materials in ways that those in power do not intend. The paper contributes to the study of girl activism broadly, and to notions of youth engagement (or disengagement) specifically, within the spheres of local and global politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an introduction to Part II of a special section on "Behavior and Cultural Systems Analysis for Climate Change" published in Behavior & Social Issues. The introduction highlights the growing severity of the climate crisis and the need for behavior analysis to play a role in shaping solutions. Part I of the special section provided examples of how behavior analysis can contribute to climate change mitigation, including interventions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and conserving resources. Part II includes four papers that further explore these topics, such as incorporating climate resilience into educational practices, analyzing participants' willingness to enroll in green home energy programs, examining framing effects on public transportation use, and discussing the challenging role of behavior science in achieving global climate justice. The introduction also identifies common themes that emerged from the papers, including the importance of verbal behavior and climate change communication, the need for education and scaling of interventions, the use of behavioral economic analyses, leveraging technological innovations, and engaging policymaker support. The article concludes by emphasizing the urgency of avoiding a catastrophic rise in global temperature and the potential for behavior analysis to contribute to climate solutions. [Extracted from the article]

Against the background of growing concern about climate change, this study attempts to examine the impact of US climate policy uncertainty on exchange rate volatility. Specifically, this paper explores whether climate policy changes and their extreme observations, as well as the short-term asymmetry of exchange rate volatility, can help predict future exchange rate volatilities. The in-sample estimation results show that the uncertainty of US climate policy significantly affects the volatility of the US exchange rate, and extreme positive shocks of climate policy uncertainty have a greater impact on the exchange rate than extreme negative shocks of the same magnitude. In addition, we find significant asymmetries in the short-term components of exchange rate volatility, especially in the USD-CNY exchange rate and the USD-EUR exchange rate. Multiple out-of-sample forecasting tests show that models incorporating extreme values of climate policy uncertainty exhibit superior forecasting performance. Notably, the predictive performance of these models tends to be stronger during periods of low volatility and relatively weak during periods of high volatility. This paper provides valuable insights for stakeholders to make informed decisions and optimize strategies in the face of uncertain climate policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As temperatures increase across the globe due to climate change, human exposure to extreme heat is a public health challenge. During sporting events, athletes, officials, spectators, and staff are at risk of heat stress and resulting illness. The objective of this review was to explore the impact of heat on the health outcomes of these groups and the wider health system and discuss implications for outdoor mass-gathering sporting events in Australia. A systematic review was undertaken to identify literature published from 2010 to 2023. Seven databases were searched: Web of Science, SportDiscus, Scopus, Medline, CINAHL, Emcare, and PsychInfo, for relevant key search terms such as heatwave, heat stress, extreme heat, stadium, arena, sports facilit*, sport, athletic, and Olympic. An inductive thematic analysis was undertaken. Articles were quality checked using Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tools and data were extracted, tabulated, and synthesized. Forty papers were included in the final analysis: 17 quantitative, and 23 descriptive and qualitative (including reviews). Health outcomes explored across the literature included exertional heat illness, exertional heat stroke, hyperthermia, and general heat related illness. Six recommendation themes emerged: planning, mitigation strategies, medical, policy, research, and education. The impact of heat on health outcomes during sporting events is significant, and should be considered by individuals, coaches, officials, and organizers before, during, and after mass-gathering sporting events. These findings can inform evidence-based preparedness strategies to protect the health of those attending and competing in mass-gathering sporting events now and into the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times there have been excess flooding due to climate change, which leads to disaster and destruction. Hence the aim of this paper is to investigate spatial impact of the two flood episodes that occurred in 2012 and 2022 along Lower Niger Basin in Nigeria using remote sensing data in GIS environment. Data used include administrative map of Nigeria, time series 30m resolution Landsat imageries captured before and during the peak of the flood episodes, SRTM DEM of 30m resolution and data generated from ground truthing. The pre-flood image was used as reference to determine the extent of flood in the disaster imageries. SRTM data was used for preparation of digital elevation model so as to investigate the influence of topography on spatial spread. This study revealed that 5622.13square kilometers of the study area (7.92%) was covered by flood in 2012 while 7428.771 square kilometers of land (10.47%) was inundated in 2022. This means that additional 1806.641 square kilometers (2.55%) of land surface has been exposed to flood in the study area within a time space of 10years. Upon field verification it was found that this was partly attributed to anthropogenic activities and urban expansion. It was therefore recommended that strict land use planning be enforced within the study area and public enlightenment programs should be initiated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prolonged absence of moisture exacerbates drought and assessment indices such as Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) are critical tools. Therefore, the objective of this paper was to evaluate the comparative characteristics of drought over West Africa using SPI and SPEI. The data used in this work was established on four monthly time scales of 3, 6, 12, and 24 and covered a period between 1979 and 2021 (42 years) at five regions in Hyper-Arid region, Sahelian region, Sudano region, Dry-Sub-humid region, Moist-Sub-humid region. The data was further analyzed and the characteristics of the drought were assessed. Data obtained revealed that there were some differences between SPI and SPEI in regional drought characteristics. Most of the regions considered experienced extreme drought in 1982. The result also revealed that more droughts were experienced in the eighties than in the nineties. Likewise some regions experienced severe drought in 2021 due to increase in drought intensity in the year 2021 as recorded by SPI and SPEI. Therefore it is vital for frequent assessment of meteorological drought characteristics in West Africa using recent data in order to explore its impact because climate change prediction can cause places that are currently experiencing mild or moderate drought to become more severe in the future, and the total impact of drought in West Africa will increase. This study could also assist water resource planners to better understand the drought events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased frequency of extreme weather events associated with climate change is a growing concern for road authorities, consultants, contractors and end users. Climate change adaptation is not yet incorporated into South Africa’s transport design and planning. Current design methods for asphalt pavements include recently introduced performance-graded (PG) specifications for bitumen. Although the need exists to use future-projected temperature maps in the road industry, the hindrance to this adoption has been extracting the appropriate rising air temperatures from climate model projections. This study focuses on the integration of biasadjusted historical and projected climate model temperature outputs between 1980 and 2060 to estimate changes in pavement temperatures throughout South Africa to inform a strategy for adaptive material selection. Differences in bitumen selection are observed for the PG 58 and PG 52 maximum temperature grade, and an introduction of PG 70 regions, as derived from climate model data in comparison with the SATS 3208 technical standard. The general trend is a gradual increase in maximum pavement design temperatures, mostly affecting the country’s northern and central regions and corresponding road networks. This paper concludes that adjustments are required regarding climate projections for use in bituminous binder selection based on the current specification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stakeholder participation is increasingly seen as beneficial for short and long term responses to climate change risks. Past research highlights the role social networks play as both a key outcome of participation, as well as an important step towards other environmental governance goals. This paper focuses on the social relation of mutual understanding , which is often discussed in the environmental governance literature, but has yet to be studied as an empirical social network in its own right. Our paper builds and tests a conceptual framework linking participation to mutual understanding and social learning. We analyze three waves of network and perceptions data gathered on stakeholders participating in the Integrated Coastal Resiliency Assessment (ICRA) project, a 2.5 year-long project aimed at developing a collaborative research assessment on the vulnerabilities to climate change experienced by an island community located in the Chesapeake Bay, USA. Our findings suggest that participation (measured as co-attendance in project events) leads to the formation of mutual understanding ties among stakeholders, but these ties do not necessarily lead to more similarity in stakeholders' perceptions on climate change. We reflect on these findings, and the project more broadly, noting that our study lends support to scholars arguing that feelings of mutual understanding are potentially more important for certain forms of collective action, as opposed to whether or not stakeholders increase their shared beliefs or perceptions about the environmental problem in question. • We conceptualize and test the links between participation, mutual understanding and social learning. • We use Stochastic Actor Oriented Models (SAOMs) to examine the evolution of mutual understanding as a non-directed, cognitive network. • Findings show tendencies for stakeholder participation leading to mutual understanding. • There is no support for mutual understanding leading to greater similarity in climate change perceptions. • For certain collective actions, mutual understanding is more important than increased similarity in perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the relational architecture of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) focussing on the individuals that, in the thirty years of its existence, have assured the connection between its different components. To study relational bridging within the IPCC, we created a unique database of all the individuals who have contributed to the organisation since its establishment and noted in which workstream they participated (i.e., function + Working Group + Assessment Report). From this database we extract the participants-workstreams affiliation network and use it to compute several metrics of bridgeness, which we discuss, validate, and compare. We use these metrics to investigate the general distribution and evolution of bridging in the IPCC, but also to identify individuals who more actively provided connections between its authors and government representatives (functional bridges), its Working Groups (thematic bridges) and its assessment cycles (temporal bridges). Focussing on the role of key bridge individuals and their trajectories within the organisation, we provide insights on the IPCC as a network organisation. • The paper is based on an original dataset of more than 8000 individuals who have contributed to the IPCC since 1988. • The paper investigates the individuals who have contributed to keeping together the different components of the IPCC. • The paper identifies temporal, thematic and functional bridge individuals and qualitatively analyses their career in the IPCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent to which a policy actor is perceived as being influential by others can shape their role in a policy process. The interest group literature has examined how the use of advocacy tactics, such as lobbying or media campaigns, contributes to an actor's perceived influence. The policy networks literature, in turn, has found that network ties and occupying certain institutional roles can explain why actors are perceived as influential. When investigating what explains perceptions of influence, interest groups scholars have not accounted for network interdependencies and network scholars have so far not examined the advocacy tactics used by interest groups. This paper addresses the gap at the intersection of these two literatures by investigating the relationship between network ties, institutional roles, advocacy tactics and the presence of influence attribution ties in climate change policy networks. Exponential random graph models are applied to network data collected from the organisations participating in the national climate change policymaking processes in six EU countries that vary by the extent to which they are majoritarian or consensual democracies: Czechia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, and Sweden. The results show that network ties and institutional roles are better predictors of influence attribution ties than advocacy tactics and that there is no pattern in the relationship between advocacy tactics and influence attribution ties across different institutional contexts. These findings suggest that because influence is primarily associated with structural factors (network ties and institutional roles) that more established policy actors are likely to have more influence, which may inhibit the need for a significant step change in climate policies. • This paper investigates what determines perceptions of influence in climate change policy networks. • Network ties and institutional roles are better predictors of influence than advocacy tactics. • Advocacy tactics rest on relational assumptions, and as such, can be fruitfully integrated with the policy network approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal erosion as a threat to Ghana's coastline is being exacerbated by natural and anthropogenic processes. Adaptation to coastal erosion helps in managing the impacts and the levels of destruction to livelihoods, properties and investments along the coastline. Government intervention in adaptation to coastal erosion has always focused on the development of coastal sea defences without the integration of Indigenous knowledge and initiatives of coastal dwellers. This paper contributes to this gap by examining the Indigenous adaptation responses to coastal erosion in selected coastal communities of Ghana, factors influencing the choice of adaptation responses and the extent to which these Indigenous adaptation responses are addressing coastal erosion. Findings from the explorative qualitative study revealed that coastal dwellers are engaged in different forms of planned and reactive adaptation responses to coastal erosion. It was also found out that most of the Indigenous adaptation responses to coastal erosion were unsustainable in addressing coastal erosion and the choice of Indigenous adaptation response to coastal erosion was shaped by socio-economic and ecological factors or perception. Maladaptation responses by coastal dwellers were contributing to the phenomenon of coastal erosion. Coastal dwellers have survived the impacts of coastal erosion in the absence of support from central and local governments and their unsustainable adaptation responses have become a cyclical ritual over a period of time. The paper contributes to the debates on adaptation to climate change and the consideration of Indigenous knowledge into climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies in coastal zone planning and management. • Indigenous adaptation responses to coastal erosion are autonomous and reactive. • There is no collective community action towards addressing coastal erosion. • Adaptation responses are shaped by socio-economic and ecological considerations. • Maladaptation responses are counterproductive to addressing coastal erosion. • Hard Indigenous adaptation responses are a physical limitation to coastal resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming and rare weather caused by climate change continue to affect ecosystems, human health, and economic systems, which pose serious climate risk challenges for humanity. To address and adapt to climate change risks and to facilitate the process of achieving carbon peaking and carbon-neutral targets, the financial industry has become more concerned about the information spillover effects of extreme climate events on green financial products. Therefore, this paper adopts the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) to describe climate change and investigates the influence of the SOI on the volatility of the NASDAQ OMX Green Economy Index (OMX-GEI) under a variant of the Double Asymmetric GARCH-MIDAS (DA-GM-X) model. The results show that the SOI provides relevant information for OMX-GEI volatility forecasting and the DA-GM-X model yields outstanding forecasting performance in statistical and economic terms. This conclusion indicates that considering SOI and its asymmetry changes can significantly improve the prediction accuracy of econometric models. Also, several robustness tests confirm our findings. Overall, the findings of this paper suggest that to achieve the two-carbon goal and combat climate change, governments should pay more attention to policy formulation that combines environment, climate, health, energy, and economy, and actively promote green, low-carbon, and sustainable energy development globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will argue for routine, reciprocal and meaningful partnerships between the University and the local community. Participation in both policymaking and the generation of knowledge has traditionally been dominated by over-represented groups, drawing on the limited expertise of professionals and practitioners. However, an increasing body of research indicates that the inclusion of individuals and communities living with disadvantage enhances the effectiveness of policymaking, delivery of services and generation of research. With a particular focus on the social sciences, this paper argues that the business of Universities - teaching, learning and research – must have a greater regard for the local community and the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector (VCFSE) if they are to play a role in bringing about radical social change. This is even more crucial in the face of wicked problems, such as entrenched poverty, the mental health crisis in young people and the climate crisis, that require a multi-disciplinary, multi-organisational and multi-actor approach to generating solutions capable of disrupting the status quo. Drawing on the principles of coproduction, critical pedagogy and social pedagogy, and rejecting the concept of ‘employability’, this paper will argue that Universities need to pay more regard to local knowledge and the lived experience of those communities most affected by the consequences of wicked problems. This would promote a community- centric approach to research and pedagogy – and the nurturing of graduates that do not just ‘fit into’ the capitalist culture of consumerism that is killing us. Otherwise the potential for social change will be limited, the environment will continue to degenerate and social inequalities will persist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the changing nature of Russia-Turkey energy trade relations. The main argument of the article is that climate change, as well as EU institutions and environmental protection regulations, have been decisive in the long-term transformation of bilateral natural gas relations. The EU favors competitive market structures to combat climate change, and the EU Green Deal sets ambitious targets for renewable energy consumption. These variables establish grounds for legitimacy among EU members in the face of Russian dominance of the EU energy market. However, as discussed in this paper, the Russian government's main strategy to counter this opposition from the EU side is to circumvent the EU's institutional arrangements through its relations with Turkey. The final point to be discussed in this paper is the impact of the EU energy and environment policies on changes in Russian perceptions of Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life cycle engineering (LCE) was introduced in the early 1990s with a focus on eco-efficiency, hence designing products to reduce the environmental impact over their life cycle while maintaining or increasing the value created. In the meantime, the world has seen the emergence of a climate crisis and a biodiversity crisis despite significant eco-efficiency improvements of individual products and services over the years, highlighting the gap between bottom-up LCE activities and top-down sustainability concepts such as planetary boundaries and net-zero targets for climate change. This paper presents a structured LCE approach for practitioners, supporting life cycle engineering of product life cycles with an absolute sustainability perspective towards achieving net-zero targets. An industrial case is provided to demonstrate the applicability of the methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple international organizations and many governments around the world have declared climate emergency. There is a pressing need to minimize the environmental impacts of human activities including manufacturing processes. Machining by mechanical cutting is a fundamental manufacturing process and minimizing and eliminating its environmental impacts is vital. In this keynote paper, sustainability in the context of machining is identified. The resources used in machining have been categorized and the social and environmental impacts and potential methods to reduce them have been identified. The findings are critically discussed and the gaps and challenges for future research direction are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Emerging nurses must be literate in Planetary Health if they are to practice in the escalating impacts of climate change. • Adequate support (internal and external), an understanding of rationale, concept, and process, and personal belief and confidence are key factors that can influence the success of curriculum change and delivery. • Academics must utilize levers to integrate Planetary Health into the curricular as a matter of priority. Due to the escalating severity of the impact of climate change on human and ecological health and its implications for nursing practice, it is imperative that planetary health is embedded into the undergraduate nursing curriculum. This rapid review was undertaken to identify the barriers and enablers to implementing planetary health into the undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing curriculum. Databases (PubMed, Education Source, CINAHL, and Scopus) were searched for relevant studies between 2013 and 2023. Seven papers were eligible for review. The studies demonstrated that adequate knowledge, skill development, social support, a supportive organization, and access to adequate resources were required to embed changes into the curriculum. This study has identified enablers that can be leveraged to successfully integrate planetary health into the undergraduate nursing curriculum, preparing nurses who are working in a practice environment impacted by climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era dominated by the intersection of advanced technology and traditional industries, the domain of agriculture is on the verge of a revolutionary transformation. This article introduces a solution for vineyard producers, harnessing satellite imagery, weather data, and deep learning (DL) to identify vineyard diseases robustly. This solution, designed for proactive plant health management, stands as a transformative tool towards digital viticulture. Such tools transition from luxuries to essentials as vineyards confront evolving challenges like climate change and new pathogens. Our research builds on the hypothesis that customising deep learning architectures for specific tasks is crucial in enhancing their effectiveness. We contribute by introducing a tailored convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture, developed specifically for the classification of plant diseases using vineyard imagery. The experimental results demonstrate that our custom CNN architecture exhibits performance on par with established state-of-the-art models like ResNet50 and MobileNetV2, underscoring the value of specialized solutions in addressing the unique challenges of viticulture. This paper introduces an overview of the solution's architecture, presents the implementation of DL modules with their corresponding results, and describes use case scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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There are increasing pressures on firms to adjust to the major global challenges of climate change and rapid developments in digital technologies. To date, the impacts of these two challenges on firms have largely been examined as separate issues. However there are suggestions of overlap, with the potential of digital technologies to help economies and firms shift to greener production methods. This paper provides a novel contribution to this literature on a "twin transition" by examining for the first time the overlap at a firm level between climate actions and digitalisation. The data are drawn from a large-scale survey of 3,000 firms in Ireland in 2020. The report includes novel questions on energy use, climate adaption priorities and digital strategies along with a wide range of firm characteristics. Our key outcome variables are the degree of digitalisation in the firm, if it has a climate plan and does it implement climate actions such as monitoring emissions. We find considerable overlap between having a climate and a digital plan in place across firms, while controlling for a range of other firm characteristics. At the same time, we find a reasonably large share of firms have positive attitudes to the importance of climate planning but without reporting corresponding concrete actions, suggesting a gap for policy to address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation in agriculture and plant varieties is essential to serve the needs of the increasing population, maintain food security, and adhere to the principles laid down in international conventions. However, innovation in all areas including agriculture should be wary of its impact on the environment. Section 29 of the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act, 2001 stipulates that a plant variety causing serious harm to the environment is incapable of registration. Nevertheless, the primary criteria for gaining registration is proof of the variety being distinct, uniform and novel. Farmers' plant varieties lack uniformity, which paves the way for commercial breeders to gain registration. Undoubtedly, the varieties developed by commercial breeders generate higher yields. However, the same does not conform to local ecological demands and iseven less nutritious when compared to the varieties developed by the farmers. Thus, there are several consequences of permitting commercial plant varieties to take over the farmers' plant varieties. This paper is an attempt to highlight the need for agricultural innovations to be ecologically friendly thereby, leading to a movement towards safe technology. It will also advocate for an alteration in Section 29 of the Act to make it mandatory for registration of a new plant variety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latin America is highly vulnerable to climate change. From a justice-centred approach, its communities have been using human and constitutional rights as a strategy to combat environmental degradation and protect ecosystems in climate litigation. Thus, the paper analyses the ecological dimension of human rights arising from the Latin American climate litigation by selecting disputes that link human rights and the protection of a specific ecosystem, which enables catching both the right to a healthy environment and the rights of nature. As for the results, the national courts interpret human rights from the notion of a socio-ecological system, emphasising a rights-duties approach based on social justice. The territory becomes a non-static space, there is a long-term temporal scale of rights, and the lawsuits elaborate on the interests of future generations. The rights of nature acknowledge a more-than-human world and argue that nature's legal titularity complements human rights, and both agendas meet at the intersection with the safe climate system. Although climate change appears as a secondary concern, applicants use the climate crisis as a crosscutting element aimed at ecosystems' protection and its impact on human rights. In conclusion, these disputes are ecological legal experiences that extensively redefine human rights law from the meeting between the system of rights and the cultural context of groups historically excluded from the spaces of power. Human rights receive a new axiological content reoriented from the realities of peripheral territories and previously invisible ecological backgrounds through the dynamic interaction with plural subjects that become drivers of transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morocco's commitment to the Marrakech and Paris Agreements' sustainability goals necessitates the implementation of Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB) initiatives to mitigate climate change and promote sustainable development for the built environment industry. Utilizing Morocco's abundant solar resources, NZEBs aim to minimize energy use and carbon emissions in buildings, aligning with global climate objectives and enhancing economic stability through reduced energy costs. This approach aids Morocco in adapting to climate change and achieving international financial and environmental targets. This paper explores Morocco's energy strategy and the regulatory framework for Nearly Zero Energy Buildings, providing a NZEB definition, assessment metrics, and performance indicators, while addressing the challenges posed by existing laws on energy-efficient buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, we are confronted with the presence of two significant transformations. The emergence of technologies like artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, social media, Industry 4.0, and Society 5.0 is significantly impacting the behavior of individuals, societies, and countries in the 21st century. The second transformation pertains to various critical issues such as climate change, desertification, food and water security, and the future of life on our planet. This paper aims to analyze the impact of emerging technologies on mitigating climate change. The central inquiry at hand is whether humanity possesses the ability to transform the ongoing digital revolution into effective climate action. Specifically, we will analyze the fundamental question. Do digital technologies and information management contribute to the problem or offer a solution? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization in the twenty-first century has experienced a significant slowdown, particularly in the Global North. However, population growth continues to escalate, with most of this increase occurring in the Global South. Most of that growth manifests in the urban environment as informal sett lements. These types of neighbourhoods deploy unique strategies to emerge and grow and can teach us much about the value of neighbourhoods as urban units in an uncertain future plagued by the challenges imposed by climate change, political polarization, and urban conflict. However, literature on neighbourhoods devotes litt le time to exploring these urban manifestations as areas of exploration and learning; instead, most of the scholarship focuses on ways to eradicate these places from our cities. As a result of this perspective, I argue that we have overlooked three important lessons that can be gleaned from informal sett lements: incrementality, sustainability, and self-reliance. These characteristics contribute to the resilience of the communities, making informal sett lements the predominant neighbourhoods of the twenty-first century. This paper examines global informal neighbourhood practices, unveiling unique community strategies. It reassesses neighbourhood value and offers insights into the urban changes necessary to tackle the next century's challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is considered as one of Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) controller algorithm developed for PhotoVoltaic system (PV) to guarantee a maximum power extraction under different climatic conditions of temperature and irradiation. Classical MPPT algorithms like Perturbe and Observe (P&O), PSO, Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) are an effective method for tracking the maximum power point (MPP) for the PV systems, but the problems with these approaches that they are less stable, high oscillation around steady state and slower convergence to the MPP. Based on recent research, the purpose of this paper is to introduces a novel MPPT controller based on a modified version of heterogeneous multi swarm PSO algorithm using an adaptive factor selection strategy (FMSPSO), to overcome the previous shortcomings and compared with conventional PSO, ANFIS and classical P&O controllers. Simulation and experimental results revealed that the new FMSPSO algorithm can overcome the previous shortcomings providing the superior performance to track the MPP efficiently with a shorter convergence time and small oscillations compared to other algorithms. The experimental confirmation of the FMSPSO algorithm has been carried out using NI-myRIO-1900 card and shows that with the proposed MPPT approach efficiency can reach a value greater than 99% even in climatic variation of irradiation and temperature. • A classical MPPT controller cannot track the dynamic the MPP, has obvious oscillations, and converges slowly. • A novel MPPT controller based on a modified version of MSPSO algorithm using an adaptive factor selection strategy (FMSPSO) is proposed. • A FMSPSO based MPPT algorithm is compared with conventional PSO, classical P&O and ANFIS controllers for validation. • The proposed FMSPSO algorithm provides the superior performance by boosting the PV system tracking efficiency more than 99%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay aims to examine the entropic landscape in motion that appears in Floating Island by Robert Smithson, a distinguished earth artist active in the 1970s. Floating Island was a temporary artificial mobile island made with earth, rocks, native trees, and shrubs, towed by a tugboat around Manhattan Island. Smithson attempted to combine his artistic imagination with the theory of science, particularly entropy, a pivotal concept in the second law of thermodynamics while also developing an original idea of his own, namely "dialectics of entropic change" that combined entropy with dialectic. He believed that the dialectic could go beyond entropy and reach toward a continuous ever-changing process, which means that "destruction caused by entropy" is not the end of objects as static or discrete but fluctuating and entangled processes. Smithson's concept relates to open systems that are antithetical to closed systems that succumb to entropy. Against this backdrop, this paper explores the meanings of entropic landscape in motion based on Floating Island, for which the artist drew inspiration from dreaming of a "mobile" or "moving" Central Park from the perspective of the dialectic of entropic change. Through the island's movement, which remains elusive from a static viewpoint of a viewer from a central location like Manhattan, Smithson demonstrates how the geopolitical significance and values traditionally ascribed to the city by dichotomous thinking are not immutable truths. The mobility integrated into Floating Island, grounded in the dynamic vitality of nature, draws upon Smithson's innovative dialectics on entropic change, blurring the boundaries between center (life, structure, city, etc.) and periphery (death, debris, island, etc.) through the set of relationships. This offers a meaningful framework for contemplation on sustainability that transcends the boundaries of dichotomous thinking, particularly resonant in today's era confronted with climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper is a commentary on Lyons, K. and Westoby, P. (2014) Carbon colonialism and the new land grab: Plantation forestry in Uganda and its livelihood impacts, Journal of Rural Studies, 36, 13-21. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines four conceptions of 'ecocide' that relate to descriptions of environmental harm, criminalisation of these harms and inclusion of ecocentric considerations. It then positions advocacy pertaining to ecocide laws in the context of a political economy that both creates and fails to respond to the problems and consequences of ecocide. As part of this, the paper briefly reviews key challenges to the protection of the environment and human rights, as well as the importance of social transformation in furthering social and ecological justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and the resulting extreme weather events bring significant economic losses and many unstable factors. It is an important means to actively seek environmental protection and climate governance countermeasures to meet severe challenges. As an environmental protection tool widely used by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), environmental taxes are expected to play an important role in combating climate change and reducing extreme weather events. Based on public goods theory, collective cooperation theory, externality theory and double dividend theory of environmental taxes, this paper takes 36 OECD countries as research samples and empirically tests the role of environmental taxes in mitigating climate change process and reducing extreme weather events through the establishment of panel Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. The empirical results show that the environmental taxes on the whole is conducive to reducing the frequency of abnormal temperature weather and plays a positive role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions in OECD countries. Further research shows that environmental budget and environmental technologies play a positive role in the process of environmental taxes to delay climate change and reduce extreme weather events. In other words, we should attach importance to the investment of environmental protection funds and the research and development of environmental protection technology while carrying out environmental taxes. The robustness test shows that the main regression results of this paper have strong robustness. The research in this paper enriches theories and existing literature related to environmental taxes and climate change, and provides new research ideas and policy guidance for delaying the process of climate change and responding to extreme weather events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of climate change, innovative financing solutions and the rapid development of financial technology (fintech) offer great potential for the growth of renewable energy. Based on panel data from 30 provinces in China, this paper explores the impact of fintech on renewable energy growth by employing the instrumental variable-generalized method of moments (IV-GMM). We also pay attention to the nexus between fintech and renewable energy growth at different quantiles. This paper also explores the moderating role of the digital economy and the mediating role of green technological innovation. The main results indicate that (1) fintech positively affects renewable energy growth in China; (2) the positive effect between fintech and renewable energy is stronger in provinces with lower levels of renewable energy growth; (3) the digital economy, on the one hand, can significantly accelerate renewable energy growth; on the other hand, under the help of the digital economy, fintech can play a more effective role in increasing renewable energy growth; and (4) fintech indirectly promotes renewable energy growth by increasing the level of green technology innovation. The findings provide meaningful references for governments and policymakers and encourage the accelerated adoption of fintech in the sustainable energy sectors. • The role of financial technologies "fintech" on renewable energy growth is explored. • Fintech successfully stimulates the development of renewable energy. • The impact of fintech on renewable energy growth is asymmetric. • Digital economy facilitates the positive role of fintech in increasing renewable energy growth. • Green technology innovation is the path through which fintech affects renewable energy growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What does it entail to study the climate crisis from – or consistently with – a critical realist perspective? The paper addresses this question in three steps. First, it considers the boundaries of critical realism in relation to climate crisis research. In this context it identifies climate science as a field that in important respects resonates implicitly with critical realism. Conversely, a book by human ecologist Andreas Malm is introduced as an example of a work that, while sympathetic to critical realism, in key respects contradicts core features of it. Second, to illustrate what an analysis of the crisis informed by critical realism can look like, the paper brings into focus the main causes of the climate crisis – including the capitalist growth imperative, neoliberalism, and consumer culture. Finally, the status quo project, the green growth project and the degrowth project are identified as fundamentally different ways of approaching the climate crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the incredible rise of multifaceted socio-ecological crises, the concept of resilience has seen such a cross-cutting diffusion in both academic and policy arenas, resulting in a panacea incapable of translating the intricacies and geometries of power embedded in societal complex systems. This conceptual vagueness, rather than unintentional, constitutes an explicit strategy within the new neoliberal design that conceals the power domination over marginal communities, particularly border crossers. Drawing on qualitative, field-based research held in Lesvos (GR), this paper wants to deconstruct the techno-managerial appropriation of the resilience concept, particularly underlying the several criticalities in terms of socio-spatial segregation and punitive management of marginality that could arise from it. Therefore, it will investigate why and to what extent the actual EU migration policies and narratives, by framing migration flows as a sort of resilient adaptation strategies, represent a necropolitical strategy that implies the control and the reshaping of bodies, cultures, social roles, and agencies, through different domination strategies. Opposed to the top-down hegemonic apparatus, different forms of resilience are created by migrants in the liminal space in which they create, reshape, and produce new space and values. We will conclude with a reframing of resilience under a more comprehensive and systemic view that can represent an exercise of affirmative biopolitics of cross-border communities and rethink borderlands as a space of new multiple possibilities and identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past fifteen years, the concept of resilience has gained prominence in academia and practical management. Some even consider it the organizing principle of contemporary political life. Resilience is hailed as a solution to diverse issues, from international governance to climate change. Its popularity is intertwined with complexity epistemologies. However, within social sciences, concerns have arisen. Resilience's application to social systems requires a stronger theoretical underpinning, free from functionalist paradigms. There are reservations about its handling of conflicts, knowledge, and power dynamics. The concept implies adaptation to external events, potentially sidelining proactive interventions. Critics argue that resilience reinforces a neoliberal rationality, accentuating individual and community responsibility, and potentially diminishing social protection. It can function instrumentally, normalizing vulnerability and encouraging self-surveillance. This paper engages with these critiques, aiming to move beyond ideological criticism and embrace a pragmatic approach to advance resilience in social sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]