scholarly journals Sustainable livestock agriculture from Islamic perspective.

Author(s):  
Awal Fuseini

Abstract With the impact of climate change becoming increasingly apparent, there have been calls for world leaders to take measures aimed at mitigating the potential effect on the environment of the rapid expansion in human population, urbanisation, deforestation, agricultural development, industrialisation and the rampant burning of fossil fuels. This article reviews literature on the spiritual dimensions of environmental sustainability from an Islamic perspective, with emphasis on the sustainable utilisation of agricultural resources linked to production and consumption. The religious standpoints on stewardship of nature (Khilafa), climate change and animal welfare are explored from within the Islamic scriptures to gain a better understanding of sustainable development from an Islamic perspective, particularly with regard to meat production. The description of humans as stewards or guardians of nature in Islamic literature is a direct call from God for humanity to safeguard the natural capital in order to maintain synergistic relationship between flora, fauna and other biodiversity.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morteza Akbari ◽  
Ehsan Neamatollahi ◽  
Hadi Memarian ◽  
Mohammad Alizadeh Noughani

Abstract Floods cause great damage to ecosystems and are among the main agents of soil erosion. Given the importance of soils for the functioning of ecosystems and development and improvement of bio-economic conditions, the risk and rate of soil erosion was assessed using the RUSLE model in Iran’s Lorestan province before and after a period of major floods in late 2018 and early 2019. Furthermore, soil erosion was calculated for current and future conditions based on the Global Soil Erosion Modeling Database (GloSEM). The results showed that agricultural development and land use change are the main causes of land degradation in the southern and central parts of the study area. The impact of floods was also significant since our evaluations showed that soil erosion increased from 4.12 t ha-1 yr-1 before the floods to 10.93 t ha-1 yr-1 afterwards. Field surveying using 64 ground control points determined that erodibility varies from 0.17 to 0.49% in the study area. Orchards, farms, rangelands and forests with moderate or low vegetation cover were the most vulnerable land uses to soil erosion. The GloSEM modeling results revealed that climate change is the main cause of change in the rate of soil erosion. Combined land use change-climate change simulation showed that soil erosion will increase considerably in the future under SSP1-RCP2.6, SSP2-RCP4.5, and SSP5-RCP8.5 scenarios. In the study area, both natural factors, i.e. climate change and human factors such as agricultural development, population growth, and overgrazing are the main drivers of soil erosion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
Maria Pergola ◽  
◽  
Assunta Maria Palese ◽  
Alessandro Persiani ◽  
Pasquale De Francesco ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the lives of people, as well as the production and economic systems throughout the world. The flow of raw materials and products, the supply of labor and manpower, and the purchasing power have all been changed to the detriment of individual health and well-being. Such a situation requires placing even more emphasis on the search for virtuous agricultural systems compatible with the goals of economic and environmental development so clearly defined at the world level in the last decades. The present study aimed to assess the environmental and economic performance of some typical Mediterranean crops grown under different agronomical management regimes, such as strawberry, hazelnut, apricot tree, kiwifruit, peach, olive tree, and grapevine, to emphasize the importance of the mentioned issues even in the current pandemic situation. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to investigate the environmental profile of the studied crops, while lifecycle costing (LCC) was performed to assess and compare the economic aspects. From the environmental perspective, the hobby-organic olive systems were the most eco-friendly cropping systems, emitting 0.031 to 0.105 kg CO2eq per kg olives, while the organic hazelnut system had the greatest impact (1.001 kg of CO2eq per kg). Apricot, kiwifruit, and peach systems used N and P inputs most effectively, while strawberry systems efficiently used fossil fuels. Olive HO-2, kiwifruit, and peach cropping systems had the lowest budgets, with the costs amounted to 0.12 € kg-1 per fruit for Olive HO-2 and 0.28 € kg-1 per fruit for both kiwifruit and peach. On the contrary, organic strawberry cultivation was the most expensive (4.77 € kg-1). The variability in results due to the large differences between contexts, such as landscape, technical knowledge, and crop management, characterized the studied agricultural systems. To easily identify sustainability classes and to diminish the impact of farming practices, a considerable effort should be expended to combine LCA with LCC, C sequestration estimates, and some other useful indicators for the environmental quality evaluation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (9) ◽  
pp. 70-74
Author(s):  
Thi Minh Hao Dong ◽  
Huu Cuong Le ◽  
Thanh Hai Truong

The South China Sea, including the Vietnam Sea, is witnessing significant changes under the impact of both nature and man. These are the impacts of climate change and ocean change with "extreme" signs such as increasing storms, coastal floods, sea level rise, sea acidification, pollution and environmental incidents, ... occur thicker, more intense and irregular. Especially serious degradation of the environment and biodiversity of the sea, increasing environmental incidents, including oil spills, ... due to human impact. Especially the large-scale destruction of coral reefs, seagrass beds in island clusters off the South China Sea has been happening at a worrying rate. The destructive fishing activities of humans in the South China Sea have caused ecosystem degradation and the extinction of some species, such as sea turtles, some sharks and another species. Other fish, especially the giant mussel, the consequence is a decrease in the natural capital of the sea, leading too prolonged "ecological disturbances". The reserves of seafood in the Spratly region (of Vietnam) and the West Sea in the East Sea have decreased by about 19% compared to before 2017. Therefore, the improvement of marine environment quality, including biodiversity conservation and major marine ecosystems are to preserve marine natural assets, contributing to the implementation of Vietnam's green growth strategy and action plan. This is the path that Vietnam has chosen to both grow marine economy, adapt to climate change, and protect the environment both in the short and long term, towards sustainable development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naveed Ahmad ◽  
Miklas Scholz ◽  
Esra AlDhaen ◽  
Zia Ullah ◽  
Philippa Scholz

Businesses in the present era are dealing with a complex and unprecedented brew of social, environmental, and technological trends. This requires sophisticated, sustainability-based management. Yet organizations are often reluctant to place sustainability core to their business strategies with the mistaken belief that the costs associated with environmental investments outweigh the benefits. The Global Climate Risk Index has placed Pakistan on 5th position in the list of nations, most susceptible to climate change in its recent report. Pakistan lost the lives of 9,989 people, incurred economic losses of $ 3.8 billion, and faced 152 shocking climates between 1999 and 2018. Based on this information, it is established that Pakistan’s susceptibility to climate change is growing unprecedentedly and industrial pollution is one of the biggest contributors in this respect. The country needs to take emergency measures to address this issue. With this background, the present study aims to investigate the impact of environmental sustainability on environmental and economic performance (EP) with the mediating effect of environmental innovation (EI) in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan. The results show that environmental sustainability is a significant predictor of environmental performance and EP and EI mediates this relationship. The findings of the present study provide better insights to policymakers to address the environmental degradation, resulting from industrial pollution.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malgorzata Zdunek

<p>Due to global warming and the worldwide depletion of fossil fuel resources, there is a growing need to transform the energy system toward greater use of renewable sources. In Poland, poor air quality constitutes an additional argument for the necessity of such transition. High levels of pollutants concentrations in many locations, especially in urban and suburban areas are caused by emissions from individual heating systems running on fossil fuels.</p><p><span> Data from recent years show </span><span>that renewable generation forms the largest share of the total generation mix in Europe</span><span>. </span><span>Regarding new installation, solar and wind energy dominate renewable </span><span>capacity expansion, jointly accounting for example in 2019 for 90% of all net renewable additions.</span><span> However, along with the increase in the penetration of these energy sources also increases the sensitivity of the power system to weather and climatic conditions.</span></p><p>The study presents the impact of climate change up to the year 2100 on the photovoltaic power generation potential (Pvpot) in Poland. For determination of Pvpot index a set of high-resolution climate models projections, made available within the EURO-CORDEX initiative was used. Maps showing spatial distribution of absolute values of Pvpot in future climate (30-year average for 2071-2100) and relative changes with respect to current climate (30-year average for 2006-2035) are presented, separately for RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenario. The influence of meteorological conditions (temperature, wind and solar radiation) on PV module performance is taken into account by applying two different formula (Ciulla et. al, 2014 and Davy and Troccoli, 2012). Furthermore, two options for module orientation are considered: horizontal and inclined at an optimal angle.</p>


Author(s):  
Sohana Debbarma ◽  
Geetanjali Kaushik

India's North-East Region has greater demand for road and personalized modes of transport powered by fossil fuels. And due to emissions, there has been evidence of climate change. It has been found that diesel cars cause greater emissions (per kilometer travelled) as compared to petrol cars; therefore, the use of diesel should be discouraged. The chapter suggests that the emissions in case of public transport passenger-km are lesser than other modes of transport. However, in the North-East Region, there is negligible share of public transport due to poor infrastructure and service facilities. Therefore, improvements should be made with regard to public transport system so that considerable number of passengers shifts to public transport modes. Further, it is inferred that use of alternate vehicle or fuel technologies like hybrid electric vehicles, biofuel, biodiesel, hydrogen fuel need to be initiated to mitigate the climate change.


Insects ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Reinhold ◽  
Claudio Lazzari ◽  
Chloé Lahondère

The temperature of the environment is one of the most important abiotic factors affecting the life of insects. As poikilotherms, their body temperature is not constant, and they rely on various strategies to minimize the risk of thermal stress. They have been thus able to colonize a large spectrum of habitats. Mosquitoes, such as Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus, vector many pathogens, including dengue, chikungunya, and Zika viruses. The spread of these diseases has become a major global health concern, and it is predicted that climate change will affect the mosquitoes’ distribution, which will allow these insects to bring new pathogens to naïve populations. We synthesize here the current knowledge on the impact of temperature on the mosquito flight activity and host-seeking behavior (1); ecology and dispersion (2); as well as its potential effect on the pathogens themselves and how climate can affect the transmission of some of these pathogens (3).


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1854 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pilar Martinez ◽  
Maria Blanco

Future agricultural development will be challenged by the impacts of climate change on water, which are expected to be particularly strong in southern European regions. Thus, exploring interrelations between agriculture and water under climate change is essential to frame informed policies that ensure sustainable water management while enhancing food production. Nevertheless, studies that address future agriculture development focus on climate-induced changes in crop productivity and often disregard the water dimension. In this research, we have conducted a sensitivity analysis of agricultural development to drivers of water use in Andalusia in 2050 based on outcomes from the CAPRI-Water model. The results from the analysis show that water cost is the most determinant factor in shaping agricultural land, offsetting the impact of the driver of water availability. In contrast, irrigation water use is driven not only by water cost but also by irrigation efficiency. The magnitude of the sensitivity to these drivers differs significantly across crops. Policies aimed at improving resource use efficiency can contribute to strengthening the resilience and adaptation capacity of future agricultural systems to climate change. To achieve this goal, the policies must consider crop sensitivity to irrigation costs and the potential rebound effect.


2011 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 713-736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Switzer ◽  
Joseph A McMahon

Governments intervene in the energy sector using a variety of measures to pursue a range of objectives, from security of supply and energy efficiency to environmental protection. Recent concerns about the impact of fossil fuels on climate change have resulted in the increasing promotion of biofuels as an alternative to oil. While worries exist with regard to the environmental impact of biofuel production in ecologically sensitive areas, it has been argued that with an effective regulatory framework to promote sustainable production, biofuels could provide a mechanism to provide energy security in an environmentally positive way.1 The interest of the European Union (EU) in the promotion of biofuels production is a relatively recent phenomenon and it is now the world's largest producer of biodiesel and the fourth largest producer of bioethanol. At its most basic level, the promotion of biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels is part of a wider EU effort to support the use of renewable energy. The promotion of renewable energy is traceable to a number of goals, a central one of which is ensuring security of energy supply.2 Other policy goals supported by the promotion of renewable energies include reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with climate change, decreasing dependence upon imported oil, the promotion of technological development as well as regional and rural development and employment.3


2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-55
Author(s):  
Anna Ostapenko

The essence of the “strategic planning” is explored and the peculiarities of strategic planning in the agricultural sector are defined. Global climate change as a factor stimulating the formation of new approaches to strategic planning of agricultural development is considered, and the impact of climate change on the agricultural sector of Ukraine is evaluated. A predictive model of changes in the parameters of agricultural production under expected climate change conditions is constructed, and organizational, socio-economical and environmental components of the strategy of agricultural development are outlined and the conceptual bases for improvement of strategic planning for the development of the agricultural sector in the face of climate change are substantiated.


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