scholarly journals Climate Change in China – The Development of China's Climate Policy and Its Integration into a New International Post-Kyoto Climate Regime

2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 135-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Oberheitmann ◽  
Eva Sternfeld
Keyword(s):  
Climate Policy ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
The Past ◽  
Fourth Assessment Report ◽  
Capita Emission ◽  
Emission Rights ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Industrial Level ◽  
Industrialised Countries ◽  
Global Emissions

According to the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report, global emissions of carbon dioxide have to be reduced by about 80 per cent by 2050 in order to stabilise the increase in global temperature at 2 to 2.4°C by 2100 compared with its pre-industrial level. An increase of only 2°C would bring about “acceptable” negative impacts on the eco-systems and the world economy. Without a reduction in CO2 emissions in China, however, it will be hard to achieve this goal. Currently, China is already responsible for about 50 per cent of the worldwide increase in CO2 emissions recorded over the past ten years. On the other hand, it is the industrialised countries that are mainly responsible for the greenhouse-gas emissions of earlier years. Taking the challenges of China's economic growth, its impact on future CO2 emissions and the development of China's climate policy into account, this article develops a new post-Kyoto regime based on cumulative per-capita emission rights.

scholarly journals A Review of the Applications and Biodegradation of Polyhy-droxyalkanoates and Poly(lactic acid) and Its Composites

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1544
Author(s):  
Jet Yin Boey ◽  
Lydia Mohamad ◽  
Yong Sen Khok ◽  
Guan Seng Tay ◽  
Siti Baidurah
Keyword(s):  
Food Packaging ◽  
Synthesis Process ◽  
Poly Lactic Acid ◽  
Packaging Materials ◽  
The Past ◽  
Food Packaging Materials ◽  
Potential Alternative ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Potential Food

Overconsumption of plastic goods and improper handling of petroleum-derived plastic waste have brought a plethora of negative impacts to the environment, ecosystem and human health due to its recalcitrance to degradation. These drawbacks become the main driving force behind finding biopolymers with the degradable properties. With the advancement in biopolymer research, polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and poly(lacyic acid) (PLA) and its composites have been alluded to as a potential alternative to replace the petrochemical counterpart. This review highlights the current synthesis process and application of PHAs and PLA and its composites for food packaging materials and coatings. These biopolymers can be further ameliorated to enhance their applicability and are discussed by including the current commercially available packaging products. Factors influencing biodegradation are outlined in the latter part of this review. The main aim of this review article is to organize the scattered available information on various aspects of PHAs and PLA, and its composites for packaging application purposes. It is evident from a literature survey of about 140 recently published papers from the past 15 years that PLA and PHA show excellent physical properties as potential food packaging materials.

scholarly journals Didymo and Its Polysaccharide Stalks: Beneficial to the Environment or Not?

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-79
Author(s):  
Hurmat Ejaz ◽  
Esther Somanader ◽  
Uday Dave ◽  
Hermann Ehrlich ◽  
M. Azizur Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Structural Component ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Adhesive Properties ◽  
The Past ◽  
Positive Side ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Bodies Of Water ◽  
Agricultural Setting

Didymosphenia geminata diatoms, or Didymo, was first found to be an invasive species that could have negative impacts on the environment due to the aggressive growth of its polysaccharide-based stalks. The stalks’ adhesive properties have prompted park officials to alert the general public to limit further spread and contamination of this algae to other bodies of water. Although the negative effects of Didymo have been studied in the past, recent studies have demonstrated a potential positive side to this alga. One of the potential benefits includes the structural component of the polysaccharide stalks. The origin of the polysaccharides within stalks remains unknown; however, they can be useful in a waste management and agricultural setting. The primary purpose of this study was to describe both the harmful and beneficial nature of Didymo. Important outcomes include findings related to its application in various fields such as medicine and technology. These polysaccharides can be isolated and studied closely to produce efficient solar power cells and batteries. Though they may be harmful while uncontained in nature, they appear to be very useful in the technological and medical advancement of our society.

scholarly journals The Impact of Past Pandemics on Economic and Gender Inequalities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Brzezinski
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Wealth Inequality ◽  
The Other ◽  
Swine Flu ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Impact

This paper estimates how previous major pandemic events affected economic and gender inequalities in the short- to medium run. We consider the impact of six major pandemic episodes – H3N2 Flu (1968), SARS (2003), H1N1 Swine Flu (2009), MERS (2012), Ebola (2014), and Zika (2016) – on cross-country inequalities in a sample of up to 180 countries observed over 1950-2019. Results show that the past pandemics have moderately increased income inequality in the affected countries in the period of four to five years after the pandemic’s start. On the other hand, we do not find any robust negative impacts on wealth inequality. The results concerning gender inequality are less consistent, but we find some evidence of declining gender equality among the hardest hit countries, as well as of growing gender gaps in unemployment within the four years after the onset of the pandemic.

Impacts of population growth in relation to changes in aquaculture and fisheries prices

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-92
Author(s):  
A.A. Garba
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Lassa Fever ◽  
World Population ◽  
Intensive Culture ◽  
Fish Food ◽  
Civil Strife ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Great Pressure ◽  
Negative Impacts

The paper reviewed the impacts of population growth and the ways it affects aquaculture and fisheries prices. As the world population  continues to grow arithmetically, great pressure is placed on arable lands, water, energy, and biological resources to provide an adequate supply of food while maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem. In 2010, FAO projected the world population to double from 6.2 billion in October, 1999 to 12.5 billion in the year 2050. This had created serious negative impacts on the aquaculture and fisheries prices. At present fertile crop lands had been lost at an alarming rates while some abandoned during the past 50 years because erosions made it unproductive. Other vices such as food crisis, political unrest and war (Mexico, Uzbekistan, Turkistan, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Morocco and Sudan), civil strife and multiple years of draught (Niger, Mauritania and Senegal), impacts of HIV/AIDS Ebola, Lassa fever and Coronavirus the world over, clashes between cattle rearers and farmers and boko haram issues (Nigeria) as well as kidnapping and  corruptions have severely affected aquaculture and fisheries production and accompanied prices. Thus, this review was conducted to raise a cry for farmers and citizens to engage and participate in intensive culture and fisheries practices in order to fill the demand - supply gap so as to make fish food products available for the teeming masses.

scholarly journals Dangerous Incrementalism of the Paris Agreement

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jen Iris Allan
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Nonstate Actors ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
New Era ◽  
The Past ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Reduce Emissions ◽  
Binding Agreement

After a decade of negotiation, countries adopted a new, legally binding agreement on climate change. Excitement for a new era in the climate regime is palpable among pundits and policy makers alike. But such enthusiasm largely overlooks that most of the Paris Agreement’s provisions represent continuity with existing climate policy, not a break with the past. This forum argues that the Paris Agreement is a dangerous form of incrementalism in two ways. First, it repackages existing rules that have already proven inadequate to reduce emissions and improve resilience. Second, state and nonstate actors celebrate the Agreement as a solution, conferring legitimacy on its rules; I suggest that, beyond the strong desire to avoid failure, developing countries and nongovernmental organizations accepted the Paris Agreement to secure the participation of the United States and to uphold previous agreements. Given the reification of existing rules, the ratchet-up mechanism and nonstate actors offer the last remaining hopes in global efforts to catalyze climate action on a scale necessary to safeguard the climate.

scholarly journals Deadlocks of International Climate Policy—An Assessment of the Copenhagen Climate Summit

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederic Rudolph ◽  
Rie Watanabe ◽  
Christof Arens ◽  
Dagmar Kiyar ◽  
Hanna Wang-Helmreich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Kyoto Protocol ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
International Climate Policy ◽  
The Future ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
International Climate ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Climate Convention

AbstractThis article analyses the negotiations on the future of the international climate regime at the United Nations Climate Summit in Copenhagen. It also discusses key issues in the ongoing business of implementing the Climate Convention and the Kyoto Protocol. The article lays out the main issues at stake in the negotiations, contrasts divergences in interests amongst negotiating parties, and summarises the results achieved in Copenhagen. The report discusses these results in detail and concludes with an outlook on how the challenges ahead could be overcome.

scholarly journals Overtourism and tourismphobia

Tourism ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Medéia Veríssimo ◽  
Michelle Moraes ◽  
Zélia Breda ◽  
Alan Guizi ◽  
Carlos Costa
Keyword(s):  
Core Collection ◽  
Web Of Science ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Topics ◽  
The Past ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
The Web

This paper aims at examining how overtourism and tourismphobia are being approached as emergent research topics in current tourism literature. It conducts an analysis of 154 documents, indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection and Scopus databases. The study follows a quantitative and qualitative approach, with the support of VOSviewer and HistCite softwares for a descriptive content analysis. The analysis focuses on highlighting important aspects in terms of the most frequent publication sources (authors and journals); co-citation, as well as dimensions and research streams; methodologies used; results obtained; and implications for future research. The literature review unveiled that the concepts of overtourism and tourismphobia are usually related to destinations’ development, negative impacts, and tourism policies and regulation. Results show that, although tourism excesses and conflicts have been studied for long, ‘overtourism’ and ‘tourismphobia’ have become usual terms, mainly within the past three years. Even though the adoption of the terms can be considered by some as a ‘trend’, the in-depth analysis of the topics shed light on how ‘old’ concepts can evolve to adapt to contemporary tourism issues. Further studies are needed in tracking the evolution of these topics and their implications on the future of tourism.

scholarly journals Electrochemical Synthesis of Ammonia: Recent Efforts and Future Outlook

Membranes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garagounis ◽  
Vourros ◽  
Stoukides ◽  
Dasopoulos ◽  
Stoukides
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Research ◽  
Electrochemical Synthesis ◽  
Operating Temperature ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Future Outlook ◽  
Electrochemical Systems ◽  
The Past ◽  
Electrochemical Synthesis Of Ammonia ◽  
Industrial Level ◽  
Solid Electrolyte Cells

Ammonia is a key chemical produced in huge quantities worldwide. Its primary industrial production is via the Haber-Bosch method; a process requiring high temperatures and pressures, and consuming large amounts of energy. In the past two decades, several alternatives to the existing process have been proposed, including the electrochemical synthesis. The present paper reviews literature concerning this approach and the experimental research carried out in aqueous, molten salt, or solid electrolyte cells, over the past three years. The electrochemical systems are grouped, described, and discussed according to the operating temperature, which is determined by the electrolyte used, and their performance is valuated. The problems which need to be addressed further in order to scale-up the electrochemical synthesis of ammonia to the industrial level are examined.

scholarly journals The Consequences of Uncertainty: Climate Sensitivity and Economic Sensitivity to the Climate

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hassler ◽  
Per Krusell ◽  
Conny Olovsson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Climate Sensitivity ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Carbon Tax ◽  
Green Energy ◽  
Integrated Assessment Model ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Negative Impacts

We construct an integrated assessment model with multiple energy sources—two fossil fuels and green energy—and use it to evaluate ranges of plausible estimates for the climate sensitivity, as well as for the sensitivity of the economy to climate change. Rather than focusing explicitly on uncertainty, we look at extreme scenarios defined by the upper and lower limits given in available studies in the literature. We compare optimal policy with laissez faire, and we point out the possible policy errors that could arise. By far the largest policy error arises when the climate policy is overly passive; overly zealous climate policy (i.e., a high carbon tax applied when climate change and its negative impacts on the economy are very limited) does not hurt the economy much as there is considerable substitutability between fossil and nonfossil energy sources.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document