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Internationally, agriculture is widely regarded as one of the sectors at most risk from a changing climate. This is due to the impact of increased temperatures, reduced rainfall and increased frequency of extreme events, not only in the tropics but also in temperate environments. In the UK, growers also face a range of 'non-climate' risks, which, it is often argued, present a potentially greater and more immediate threat to sustainable food production than climate change. This paper highlights the climate and non-climate impacts on crop production, the adaptation options and the institutional and regulatory barriers to their uptake by farmers. It concludes that there are likely to be both positive impacts (for example, yield gains) and negative impacts (for example, increased water stress). Either way, there will be a need for new investments in adaptive management and technology, including new collaborations between the public and private sectors, to enable UK agriculture to respond to the potential effects of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information about historical geography and the relationship between human relations and environments. Studies in historical geography reveal the connection between people and environmental ecology which originates from some period in the past. The article refers to European perceptions of non-European natures and highlights studies of European naturalists in the tropics. An insight into how settlers change local landscapes and infuse aesthetics into them is provided. The article advises that environmental history and human ecology should not be viewed as a threat to historical geography. There should be appreciation of the work done by geographers who bring a new approach to the subject of landscape formation and environmental change.

Four trends would seem to be empowering environmentalists who target corporations with global brands: the increasing reach of social media, growing numbers of campaigns, the corporate turn toward "sustainability" to create brand value and manage supply chains, and the spread of eco-consumerism. Campaigns since 2007 to demand that brands stop buying palm oil linked to tropical deforestation confirm the rising influence over corporate policies and market demand. Many activists are portraying the outcomes as "victories" toward saving rainforests. Yet, three factors are limiting the value for improving on-the-ground management: industry influence over, and governance limits of, palm oil certification; ongoing sales of uncertified palm oil as demand shifts to nonbrand buyers; and illegalities and weak regulatory enforcement in producer countries, notably Indonesia and Malaysia. Theoretically, this analysis demonstrates the importance, when evaluating activist campaigns, of distinguishing between the influence on corporate policies and markets and the effectiveness for environmental outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of the social relevance and social impact of knowledge has gained prominence. However, the debate appears to have been restricted to academia in North America and the United Kingdom, which possess their idiosyncrasies. This study presents and analyses the dual research system of a Brazilian business school that has both applied and scientific research centres and concludes that (a) the development of the applied research centres had its roots in resistance to the introduction of a scientific business school model, (b) scientific research and applied research generate tensions when they coexist alongside one another, (c) the search for social relevance does not require scientific sophistication, and (d) the objective of generating social impact goes beyond achieving social relevance and requires specific competences that are not related to research activity. This study advocates for a critical and moral perspective with regard to the dominant model of scientific production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biofuels development has assumed an important role in integrating Indigenous peoples and other marginalized populations in the production of biofuels for global consumption. By combining the theories of commoditization and the environmental sociology of networks and flows, the author analyzed emerging trends and possible changes in institutions and behaviors brought about by the introduction of biofuels as a development option on ancestral lands. Using the Indonesian oil palm and the Philippine Jatropha experiences, the author argues that although there are efforts to integrate smallholder systems to the global integrated biofuels network, the effects of commoditization continue to undermine the more sustainable, less commoditized agricultural practices of Indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples and their traditional agricultural practices are at risk of being either phased out from or eventually transformed by the global integrated biofuels network to accommodate large-scale, consolidated biofuel plantation systems. However, there are also indications that persistent criticisms of and enduring reforms in the global integrated biofuels network challenge the future of highly commoditized biofuels. This suggests that the coevolutionary trajectory of both highly commoditized biofuels and noncommoditized Indigenous agricultural practices remains uncertain. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The ‘internationalization’ of Brazil's rainforest raises political and philosophical questions about the nature of rights and duties to preserve natural resources. The international community, particularly the United States, is arguing that it has a right to the preservation of the rainforest. As a corresponding duty, Brazil is being held uniquely responsible for the preservation of its Amazonian rainforest. Until the means (and burdens which attend them) can be equitably distributed among nations, it is unjust to obligate Brazil alone to preserve the rainforest while other countries, particularly the industrialized ones, hold the rights to enforce preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]