scholarly journals Environmental impacts of war’s social consequences. Case Study: Aleppo Governorate Syria

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. e965
Author(s):  
Kyriaki Papadimitriou ◽  
Dimitrios Koumoulidis ◽  
Lida Papalamprou ◽  
Christoforos Kasimatis ◽  
Panagiotis Sparangis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Environmental Disasters ◽  
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Available Information

War is an anthropogenic phenomenon with devastating effects, which cause loss of human life, alongside the disastrous effects on the natural environment. The environmental impacts of armed conflicts can be either direct, arising from the act of war itself, or indirect due to the massive population displacement, infrastructure breakdown, and militarised zones. Impacts may be irreversible, affecting areas even far away from the territory of the conflict where they manifest. The environmental impacts of war create social and economic consequences that lead to greater environmental degradation by showing the interdependent relationship between the environment, society, and economy. It is imperative to address the subject in a multidisciplinary approach and implement stricter international legislation on environmental disasters during wars. This study aims to identify environmental impacts by using satellite-derived images at Aleppo Governorate, analyse them via statistics supplemented with the available information for the research region, and demonstrate the subsequent social and economic consequences by creating indices, such as the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), digital image composites and classified images, which record the extent of reduction of healthy vegetation and the extent of destruction at the city of Aleppo. Data from international organisations corroborated the findings, and hereinafter societal and economic effects were analysed. Using remote sensing alongside with geographic information systems can be a useful tool as it offers access to war zones where physical observations are usually impossible.

scholarly journals Migration Crisis: Concept and Criteria

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-16
Author(s):  
Sergey V. Ryazantsev
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Ethnic Cleansing ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Environmental Disasters ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Massive Outflow

The article examines the concept of “migration crisis” in the context of other types of crises (economic, demographic, financial and others). The author gives a definition of the migration crisis in a narrow and broad context. The scientific literature was dominated by the approach to understanding the migration crisis through the prism of the migration situation in 2015-2016 in Europe, which was due to the massive influx of refugees and economic migrants from the Middle East, South Asia and Africa to the countries of the European Union. It is proposed that the migration crisis should also be considered for countries with a massive outflow of migrants. The study identifies the criteria for migration crises, including migration inflow (outflow) of the population in a relatively short period; ineffectiveness of traditional instruments of migration policy; activation of informal actors of the migration market, which fill the gaps of ineffective actions of supranational and state structures; the impossibility of using traditional schemes for analyzing and understanding migration flows in a situation of a migration crisis; devaluation of human life. The author notes that the main reasons provoking migration crises are such extraordinary events of a geopolitical and environmental nature as civil war, external invasion, armed conflicts, ethnic cleansing, environmental disasters, accidents, and economic crises can be the reasons for the massive outflow of the population from the country, catastrophic growth in unemployment, political pressure, persecution on ethnic, religious and sexual grounds. The article outlines the socio-economic and demographic consequences of migration crises for countries of destination and destination of migrants in the short and medium term.

Living with dams: managing the environmental impacts

Water Policy ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 11 (S1) ◽  
pp. 121-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew McCartney
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
To Come ◽  
Economic Constraints ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Near Future

Dams, through disruption of physiochemical and biological processes, have water and associated environmental impacts that have far reaching social and economic consequences. The impact of each dam is unique. It depends not only on the dam structure and the attributes of local biota but also climatic and geomorphic conditions. Given the number of existing dams (over 45,000 large dams) and the large number that may be built in the near future, it is clear that humankind must live with the environmental and social consequences for many decades to come. This paper provides a review of the consequences for ecosystems and biodiversity resulting directly from the presence of dams on rivers, and of constraints and opportunities for environmental protection. It illustrates that a wide range of both technical and non-technical measures has been developed to ameliorate the negative impacts of dams. It argues that relatively few studies have been conducted to evaluate the success of these measures and that it is widely perceived that many interventions fail, either for technical reasons or as a consequence of a variety of socio-economic constraints. It discusses the constraints to successful implementation and mechanisms for promoting, funding and ensuring compliance. Finally, it contends that there is a need to improve environmental practices in the operation of both existing and new dams.

scholarly journals Between Social Protests and a Global Pandemic: Working Transitions under the Economic Effects of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 145
Author(s):  
Valentina Rivera ◽  
Francisca Castro
Keyword(s):  
Economic Effects ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Female Workers ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Employment Trajectories ◽  
Current Economic Crisis ◽  
Male Breadwinner ◽  
Social Protests

Emerging research on the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic draws attention to the labor effects of the crisis in the Global South. Developing countries show high levels of labor informality, where most workers cannot work from home and depend on daily income. In addition, the scarce and late state aid makes it difficult for workers to cope with the economic hardships caused by the pandemic. This research explores the employment trajectories of workers throughout the ongoing pandemic in Chile: a neoliberal country with a strong male breadwinner culture and high levels of income inequality. Using longitudinal non-probabilistic data for Chilean employment, this study finds that men lost their jobs to a lesser extent and returned to the labor market faster than women. Likewise, male workers with family (with a partner and young children) remained employed in a higher proportion than female workers with family, and most of these women shifted from employment into care work. The existing literature already pointed out how economic crises can have adverse effects on progress towards gender equality, and the current economic crisis seems to be no exception. Labor informality and low-skilled jobs were highly related to unemployment during the first months of COVID in Chile. These are important variables in a developing economy such as Chile, where around one-third of the population works under these conditions. This article concludes by reflecting on the importance of addressing the present crisis and future economic recovery with a gender perspective.

scholarly journals Quantification of the Environmental Impacts of Highway Construction Using Remote Sensing Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1340
Author(s):  
Shuailong Feng ◽  
Shuguang Liu ◽  
Lei Jing ◽  
Yu Zhu ◽  
Wende Yan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Highway Construction ◽  
Temporal Changes ◽  
Moisture Index ◽  
Buffer Zones ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Changes

Highways provide key social and economic functions but generate a wide range of environmental consequences that are poorly quantified and understood. Here, we developed a before–during–after control-impact remote sensing (BDACI-RS) approach to quantify the spatial and temporal changes of environmental impacts during and after the construction of the Wujing Highway in China using three buffer zones (0–100 m, 100–500 m, and 500–1000 m). Results showed that land cover composition experienced large changes in the 0–100 m and 100–500 m buffers while that in the 500–1000 m buffer was relatively stable. Vegetation and moisture conditions, indicated by the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the normalized difference moisture index (NDMI), respectively, demonstrated obvious degradation–recovery trends in the 0–100 m and 100–500 m buffers, while land surface temperature (LST) experienced a progressive increase. The maximal relative changes as annual means of NDVI, NDMI, and LST were about −40%, −60%, and 12%, respectively, in the 0–100m buffer. Although the mean values of NDVI, NDMI, and LST in the 500–1000 m buffer remained relatively stable during the study period, their spatial variabilities increased significantly after highway construction. An integrated environment quality index (EQI) showed that the environmental impact of the highway manifested the most in its close proximity and faded away with distance. Our results showed that the effect distance of the highway was at least 1000 m, demonstrated from the spatial changes of the indicators (both mean and spatial variability). The approach proposed in this study can be readily applied to other regions to quantify the spatial and temporal changes of disturbances of highway systems and subsequent recovery.

scholarly journals Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans B. Christensen ◽  
Luzi Hail ◽  
Christian Leuz
Keyword(s):  
Firm Behavior ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Reporting Standards ◽  
Csr Reporting ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Corporate Social

AbstractThis study collates potential economic effects of mandated disclosure and reporting standards for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability topics. We first outline key features of CSR reporting. Next, we draw on relevant academic literatures in accounting, finance, economics, and management to discuss and evaluate the potential economic consequences of a requirement for CSR and sustainability reporting for U.S. firms, including effects in capital markets, on stakeholders other than investors, and on firm behavior. We also discuss issues related to the implementation and enforcement of CSR and sustainability reporting standards as well as two approaches to sustainability reporting that differ in their overarching goals and materiality standards. Our analysis yields a number of insights that are relevant for the current debate on mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting. It also points scholars to avenues for future research.

scholarly journals Status of Phenological Research Using Sentinel-2 Data: A Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 2760
Author(s):  
Gourav Misra ◽  
Fiona Cawkwell ◽  
Astrid Wingler
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Temporal Frequency ◽  
Short Wave ◽  
Current State ◽  
Red Edge ◽  
Natural Grasslands ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Satellite Sensors ◽  
Sentinel 2

Remote sensing of plant phenology as an indicator of climate change and for mapping land cover has received significant scientific interest in the past two decades. The advancing of spring events, the lengthening of the growing season, the shifting of tree lines, the decreasing sensitivity to warming and the uniformity of spring across elevations are a few of the important indicators of trends in phenology. The Sentinel-2 satellite sensors launched in June 2015 (A) and March 2017 (B), with their high temporal frequency and spatial resolution for improved land mapping missions, have contributed significantly to knowledge on vegetation over the last three years. However, despite the additional red-edge and short wave infra-red (SWIR) bands available on the Sentinel-2 multispectral instruments, with improved vegetation species detection capabilities, there has been very little research on their efficacy to track vegetation cover and its phenology. For example, out of approximately every four papers that analyse normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) or enhanced vegetation index (EVI) derived from Sentinel-2 imagery, only one mentions either SWIR or the red-edge bands. Despite the short duration that the Sentinel-2 platforms have been operational, they have proved their potential in a wide range of phenological studies of crops, forests, natural grasslands, and other vegetated areas, and in particular through fusion of the data with those from other sensors, e.g., Sentinel-1, Landsat and MODIS. This review paper discusses the current state of vegetation phenology studies based on the first five years of Sentinel-2, their advantages, limitations, and the scope for future developments.

scholarly journals Wildfires Vegetation Recovery through Satellite Remote Sensing and Functional Data Analysis

Mathematics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1305
Author(s):  
Feliu Serra-Burriel ◽  
Pedro Delicado ◽  
Fernando M. Cucchietti
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Functional Data Analysis ◽  
Functional Data ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Vegetation Recovery ◽  
Functional Responses ◽  
Elapsed Time ◽  
Synthetic Controls ◽  
Available Information

In recent years, wildfires have caused havoc across the world, which are especially aggravated in certain regions due to climate change. Remote sensing has become a powerful tool for monitoring fires, as well as for measuring their effects on vegetation over the following years. We aim to explain the dynamics of wildfires’ effects on a vegetation index (previously estimated by causal inference through synthetic controls) from pre-wildfire available information (mainly proceeding from satellites). For this purpose, we use regression models from Functional Data Analysis, where wildfire effects are considered functional responses, depending on elapsed time after each wildfire, while pre-wildfire information acts as scalar covariates. Our main findings show that vegetation recovery after wildfires is a slow process, affected by many pre-wildfire conditions, among which the richness and diversity of vegetation is one of the best predictors for the recovery.

Assessment of changes in the state of the rangelands of Inner Mongolia, China between 1998 and 2007 using remotely sensed data

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. M. Hu ◽  
S. G. Li ◽  
J. W. Dong ◽  
J. W. Fan
Keyword(s):  
Inner Mongolia ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Net Primary Productivity ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Remotely Sensed ◽  
The State ◽  
Mean Annual Precipitation ◽  
Aboveground Net Primary Productivity ◽  
Remotely Sensed Data ◽  
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index

The spatial annual patterns of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and precipitation-use efficiency (PUE) of the rangelands of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China, a region in which several projects for ecosystem restoration had been implemented, are described for the years 1998–2007. Remotely sensed normalised difference vegetation index and ANPP data, measured in situ, were integrated to allow the prediction of ANPP and PUE in each 1 km2 of the 12 prefectures of Inner Mongolia. Furthermore, the temporal dynamics of PUE and ANPP residuals, as indicators of ecosystem deterioration and recovery, were investigated for the region and each prefecture. In general, both ANPP and PUE were positively correlated with mean annual precipitation, i.e. ANPP and PUE were higher in wet regions than in arid regions. Both PUE and ANPP residuals indicated that the state of the rangelands of the region were generally improving during the period of 2000–05, but declined by 2007 to that found in 1999. Among the four main grassland-dominated prefectures, the recovery in the state of the grasslands in the Erdos and Chifeng prefectures was highest, and Xilin Gol and Chifeng prefectures was 2 years earlier than Erdos and Hunlu Buir prefectures. The study demonstrated that the use of PUE or ANPP residuals has some limitations and it is proposed that both indices should be used together with relatively long-term datasets in order to maximise the reliability of the assessments.

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