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Social protection transfers are the most widespread measures adopted to stabilize refugee households’ livelihoods and alleviate their food insecurity. This paper contributes to the literature on the effectiveness of different types of support on livelihoods and productivity outcomes of one of the largest refugee populations in Africa. Taking advantage of a unique panel dataset representative of the largest part of the 1.4 million people hosted in the Uganda refugees’ settlements, this paper investigates how different social protection interventions (cash and food) are effective in alleviating food insecurity and in contributing to beneficiaries’ self-reliance. The results show that the effectiveness of transfers depends on beneficiaries’ characteristics, on context specificity, and on the outcome assessed., FAO Document Repository: https://doi.org/10.4060/cc1838en

Agriculture, and the patterns of land use change that are associated with it, have a high environmental footprint and contribute to climate change, as the sector accounts for about one-quarter of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. However, improved land management practices can play an important role in mitigating GHG emissions by removing substantial volumes of carbon from the atmosphere and sequestering them in soils and plant tissues. We can’t fix what we do not measure, which is why quantifying greenhouse gas emissions is a necessary step for climate-smart agriculture and sustainable land management. Greenhouse gas accounting can provide the numbers and data that are important to decision making in adopting less carbon-intensive practices and guiding low-emissions development

Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector is unique among economic sectors because its mitigation potential derives from both an enhancement of removals of GHGs and a reduction of emissions through management of land and livestock. The AFOLU sector is responsible for just under a quarter (approximately 10–12 GtCO2eq per year) of global anthropogenic GHG emissions, mainly due to deforestation and agricultural emissions from livestock, soil, and nutrient management. AFOLU emissions could change substantially in transformational pathways, given the high mitigation potential from agriculture, forestry, and bioenergy. Mitigation options in the AFOLU sector, therefore, need to be assessed, as far as possible, for their potential impact on all other services generated by land.

Biofuels and other forms of bioenergy have received increased attention in recent times: They have partly been acclaimed as an instrument to contribute to rural development, energy security and to fight global warming but have been increasingly come under attack for their potential to contribute to rising food prices. It has thus become clear that bioenergy cannot be evaluated independently of the rest of the economy and that national and international feedback effects are important. In this paper we describe how the CGE model DART is extended to include first-generation biofuel production technologies. DART can now be used to assess the efficiency of combined climate and bioenergy policies. As a first example the effects of a 10% biofuel target in the EU are analyzed.

The Global Integrated Sustainability Model (GISMO), developed at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), is a platform for analysing the complexity of sustainable development and human well-being with regards to the three sustainability domains: People, Planet, and Profit (PPP). The economic structure of the GISMO1.0 model is the International Futures model, developed at the University of Denver. To better address price behaviour in the model, the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model DART, developed by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, was included in the GISMO framework and integrated with the International Futures model. The DART model is tuned to the needs of the GISMO project, and is further referred to as DART-PBL. This report provides an overview of the main changes and additions to the original DART model. The changes and additions include: 1) region and sector aggregation compatible with the GISMO framework; 2) human capital accumulation based on demographics, educational attainment and health level to better address human well-being; 3) introduction of a Linear Expenditure System to distinguish between basic and luxury consumption; 4) adjusted savings to take into account different saving patterns of a changing population structure; 5) heterogenic land prices linked with the IMAGE framework to address land scarcity and environmental impacts; and 6) partial labour mobility between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors, to assess changes in income distribution.

Biofuels and other forms of bioenergy have received increased attention in recent times: They have partly been acclaimed as an instrument to contribute to rural development, energy security and to fight global warming but have been increasingly come under attack for their potential to contribute to rising food prices. It has thus become clear that bioenergy cannot be evaluated independently of the rest of the economy and that national and international feedback effects are important. In this paper we describe how the CGE model DART is extended to include first-generation biofuel production technologies. DART can now be used to assess the efficiency of combined climate and bioenergy policies. As a first example the effects of a 10% biofuel target in the EU are analyzed.

By-products from agriculture and forestry can contribute to production of clean and cheap (bio)electricity. To assess the role of such multi-product crops in the response to climate policies, we present an applied general equilibrium model with special attention to biomass and multi-product crops for Poland. The potential to boost production of bioelectricity through the use of multi-product crops turns out to be limited to only 2-3% of total electricity production. Further expansion of the bioelectricity sector will have to be based on biomass crops explicitly grown for energy purposes. The competition between agriculture and biomass for scarce land remains limited, given the availability of relatively poor land types and substitution possibilities. The importance of indirect effects illustrates that the AGE framework is appropriate.

By-products from agriculture and forestry can contribute to production of clean and cheap (bio)electricity. To assess the role of such multi-product crops in the response to climate policies, we present an applied general equilibrium model with special attention to biomass and multi-product crops for Poland. The potential to boost production of bioelectricity through the use of multi-product crops turns out to be limited to only 2-3% of total electricity production. Further expansion of the bioelectricity sector will have to be based on biomass crops explicitly grown for energy purposes. The competition between agriculture and biomass for scarce land remains limited, given the availability of relatively poor land types and substitution possibilities. The importance of indirect effects illustrates that the AGE framework is appropriate.