scholarly journals Impact of Wetland Development and Degradation on the Livelihoods of Wetland-Dependent Communities: A Case Study from the Lower Gangetic Floodplains

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiasa Adhya ◽  
Sayan Banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Government Accountability ◽  
Wetland Development ◽  
Local Politicians ◽  
Vested Interests ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Human Costs ◽  
The Cost

Abstract Wetland ecosystem services exceed those provided by terrestrial ecosystems and their ‘wise use’ has implications for achieving sustainable development goals. Yet we have lost almost 87% of wetlands since pre-industrial times with losses projected to be much higher by 2050 in developing economies, particularly in Asia. Little is known about how this loss impacts people’s dependency at local scales in human-dominated landscapes. We identified 18 ecosystem services of Dankuni wetlands located in the Lower Gangetic Floodplains by analysing oral testimonies of wetland-dependent villagers. The ecosystem services include 12 provisioning services and two each of regulatory, cultural and supporting services. Farming and use of wetland products including molluscs, fuelwood, fodder, fibre and fish was found to subsidize living costs and provide diverse livelihood options to local residents. Encroachment of wetlands by factories and blockage of its riverine connection was reportedly degrading the wetland’s quality and eroding its ecosystem services since the last 20 years and especially since the last three years. In years of excessive and unseasonal rainfall such as during the study year, post-monsoon farming was severely impacted. We portray the human costs of wetland development which will affect vulnerable sections the most, especially landless widows and older residents. Respondents believed that it was possible to rejuvenate the wetland by restoring its riverine connections but stressed that local politicians had vested interests in supporting its degradation. We strongly assert the need to increase government accountability for protection of wetlands amidst a determined pursuit of development at the cost of sustainability.

Is it worth doing fieldwork with this organisation? A method for considering context before conducting fieldwork research in Sport for development and peace.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tegwen Gadais ◽  
Laurie Décarpentrie ◽  
Andrew Webb ◽  
Marie Belle Ayoub ◽  
Mariann Bardocz-Bencsik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Limited Time ◽  
Sport For Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Existing Data

Much has been written about sport as a tool for development and peace. But more research on Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) organizations, is needed to better understand their actual contributions to the UNs sustainable development goals. Yet, the unstable, risky, and restricted contexts in which many NGOs and SDP agencies operate often leaves researchers struggling to find effective yet feasible methods through which to examine agencies in these fields. Indeed, conducting field work on and with SDP agency often implies allocating significant quantities of researcher’s limited time, funding, and other vital resources. And as limited resources need to be invested wisely, SDP researchers will clearly need to prepare their fieldwork. Nevertheless, there are but a handful of methodological papers that address the question of how to prepare for SDP field work. In other words, the question of how we know if it is worthwhile, and safe enough, to proceed with SDP field work remains. Building on previous research, the purpose of this study is to raise important ontological and epistemological questions about what can be known about a given context, before setting off on fieldwork. We further explore the use of the Actantial Model as a research method for analyzing existing data before deciding whether to conduct fieldwork in complex and frequently insecure situations. In other words, will the cost (material, temporal, financial, and physical) of conducting fieldwork be worth it? By applying the Actantial Model, with the specific aim of informing decisions regarding subsequent fieldwork, to one specific case, contributions regarding the pertinence of conducting fieldwork are provided.

scholarly journals Land-Management Options for Greenhouse Gas Removal and Their Impacts on Ecosystem Services and the Sustainable Development Goals

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 255-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pete Smith ◽  
Justin Adams ◽  
David J. Beerling ◽  
Tim Beringer ◽  
Katherine V. Calvin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Wetland Restoration ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Gas Removal ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Removal

Land-management options for greenhouse gas removal (GGR) include afforestation or reforestation (AR), wetland restoration, soil carbon sequestration (SCS), biochar, terrestrial enhanced weathering (TEW), and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). We assess the opportunities and risks associated with these options through the lens of their potential impacts on ecosystem services (Nature's Contributions to People; NCPs) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We find that all land-based GGR options contribute positively to at least some NCPs and SDGs. Wetland restoration and SCS almost exclusively deliver positive impacts. A few GGR options, such as afforestation, BECCS, and biochar potentially impact negatively some NCPs and SDGs, particularly when implemented at scale, largely through competition for land. For those that present risks or are least understood, more research is required, and demonstration projects need to proceed with caution. For options that present low risks and provide cobenefits, implementation can proceed more rapidly following no-regrets principles.

Making the Case for Reforms of Forestry Policy and Law: Lessons and Experiences from Nigeria

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Bola Fajemirokun
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Sustainable Management ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Forestry Policy ◽  
2030 Agenda ◽  
Forestry Sector ◽  
Development Goals

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development incorporates 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Goal 15 (SDG 15) focuses on terrestrial ecosystems. Regarding forests, it sets targets requiring signatories to promote the implementation of the sustainable management of all types of forests by 2020 and further mobilize significant resources from all sources to achieve sustainable forest management. The United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017 – 2030 advances the vision of SDG 15. Nigeria’s high demographic growth rate has led to the surging demand for land to support settlements and farming. Coupled with extensive illegal or uncontrolled logging, the annual forest net loss of 5% is one of the highest rates globally in percentage terms. This paper is a critical analysis of the policy-law interface of the forestry sector in Nigeria. It examines the country’s trajectory or state of preparedness for sustainable forest management, and it concludes that forestry policy and law in Nigeria must undergo urgent reforms so that the forest commitments such as those under SDG 15 and other regional and global instruments can be ultimately achieved.

The cost–benefit evaluation based on ecosystem services under different ecological restoration scenarios

2021 ◽  
Vol 193 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingqi Li ◽  
Shiliang Liu ◽  
Yixuan Liu ◽  
Yongxiu Sun ◽  
Fangfang Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecological Restoration ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Benefit Evaluation ◽  
The Cost

scholarly journals FORUM paper: The significance of soils and soil science towards realization of the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs)

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. D. Keesstra ◽  
J. Bouma ◽  
J. Wallinga ◽  
P. Tittonell ◽  
P. Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Soil Science ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
Policy Cycle ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Policy Arena

Abstract. In this FORUM paper we discuss how soil scientists can help to reach the recently adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals in the most effective manner. Soil science, as a land-related discipline has important links to several of the SDGs which are demonstrated through the functions of soils and the ecosystem services that are linked to those functions. We explore and discuss how soil scientists can rise to the challenge both internally, in terms of our procedures and practices, and externally in terms of our relations with colleague scientists in other disciplines, diverse groups of stakeholders and the policy arena. To meet these goals we recommend the following steps to be taken by the soil science community as a whole: (i) Embrace the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as they provide a platform that allows soil science to demonstrate its relevance for realizing a sustainable society by 2030. (ii) Show the specific value of soil science: Research should explicitly show how using modern soil information can improve the results of inter- and trans-disciplinary studies on SDGs related to food security, water scarcity, climate change, biodiversity loss and health threats. (iii) Given the integrative nature of soils, soil scientists are in a unique position to take leadership in overarching systems-analyses of ecosystems; (iii) Raise awareness of soil organic matter as a key attribute of soils to illustrate its importance for soil functions and ecosystem services; (iv) Improve the transfer of knowledge through knowledge brokers with a soil background; (v) Start at the basis: educational programs are needed at all levels, starting in primary schools, and emphasizing practical, down-to-earth examples; (vi) Facilitate communication with the policy arena by framing research in terms that resonate with politicians in terms of the policy cycle or by considering drivers, pressures and responses affecting impacts of land use change; and finally (vii) all this is only possible if researchers, with soil scientists in the frontlines, look over the hedge towards other disciplines, to the world-at-large and to the policy arena, reaching over to listen first, as a basis for genuine collaboration.

scholarly journals ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF CHANGES IN HYDROLOGICAL REGULATION ECOSYSTEM SERVICE FROM THE NEGATIVE IMPACT OF UNAUTHORIZED MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE LANDFILLS

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olena Kobzar
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Municipal Solid Waste ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Economic Assessment ◽  
Municipal Solid Waste Landfills ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Solid Waste Landfills

The problem of the formation of unauthorized municipal solid waste landfills is very urgent in the world. Municipal solid waste landfills affect the state of ecosystem assets of territorial communities and, accordingly, the flow of ecosystem services. The economic assessment of qualitative and quantitative changes of ecosystem services as a result of the negative impact of unauthorized landfills is a basic element of an effective policy in the field of municipal solid waste management. One of the ecosystem services, the assessment of which is given a lot of attention in the scientific literature is the hydrological regulation ecosystem service. The aim of the research is the economic assessment of changes in hydrological regulation ecosystem service from the negative impact of unauthorized municipal solid waste landfills. In the scientific literature, the economic assessment of hydrological regulation ecosystem service is considered as a function of the increase in the river or underground runoff and the cost of water. It is proposed to calculate the economic assessment of changes in hydrological regulation ecosystem service from the negative impact of unauthorized municipal solid waste landfills as a function of: the magnitude of the change in groundwater flow in the summer from the negative impact of unauthorized municipal solid waste landfill; tax rates for water abstraction from an underground source; landfill area; the coefficient of changes in the structure of the ecosystem within the landfill (destruction of vegetation cover); the area of impact of the landfill (outside the landfill) on the ecosystem; coefficient of change in the area of impact of the landfill. Changes in the hydrological regulation ecosystem service from the negative impact of unauthorized municipal solid waste landfills on the territory of the Korostyshevskaya territorial community of the Zhytomyr region have calculated. The main problems of assessing changes in hydrological regulation ecosystem service from the negative impact of unauthorized municipal solid waste landfills are identified: obtaining reliable and complete factual information about changes in underground runoff and the characteristics of the ecosystem from the negative impact of unauthorized municipal solid waste landfills within the landfill and the zone of its influence. Due to the insignificant value of the cost of changing the hydrological regulation ecosystem service, it was concluded that it is inexpedient to take it into account when making managerial decisions about small and low-power unauthorized municipal solid waste landfills.

scholarly journals Rethinking rehabilitation of salt-affected land: new perspectives from Australian experience

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Leake ◽  
Victor Squires ◽  
S Shabala
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Concerted Effort ◽  
Plant Soil ◽  
Mechanistic Basis ◽  
Australian Experience ◽  
Evolution Of Ideas ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Agricultural Production Systems

Soil salinity is emerging as a major threat to the sustainability of modern agricultural production systems and, historically, land and water degradation due to salinity has defeated civilisations whenever the cost of remediation exceeded the benefits. This work discusses the complexity inherent in working with salinity, and the opportunities where salt damaged land and water is viewed as a resource. It takes a wider look at land and waterscapes, seeing them as systems that link damage and repair across time and space to bridge the divide between the main beneficiaries of ecosystem services and the main actors, farmers, and land managers. We first discuss the mechanistic basis of crop reduction by salinity and evolution of ideas about how to shape the plant-soil-water nexus. We then discuss the needs of farmers and other land users required for adequate planning and land management within the constraints of existing policy. Lastly, an approach that provides a new technical and economic tool for the remediation of land in several land use categories is presented. We conclude that a more concerted effort is required to turn payments for ecosystem services into a true market, accepted as such by the land managers, whose agency is essential so the ‘knowledge of what can be done can be transformed into benefits’. Achieving this will require a transformation in the paradigm of how natural resources are managed.

scholarly journals THE TERRITORIAL MANAGEMENT CONTRACTS AS INNOVATIVE NEW GOVERNANCE OF THE TERRITORY IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE EUROPEAN UNION CLLD PROGRAMME AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES POLICY

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriano CIANI ◽  
Asta RAUPELIENE ◽  
Vilma TAMULIENE
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Territorial Management ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Management Contracts

In the world, the question of the good practice to manage of territory is a pillar of the implementations of Sustainable Development Goals 2015-2030. The authors are working in collaboration with a holistic approach at the topic. In this way, the Smart Communities and Smart Territories are the new paradigms in 21th Century to solve the question of the adaptation at the Climate Change and to guarantee, for the future generation, the conservation and promotion of all potentialities of each territory and identity of areas. Until now, they have use a deductive method to analyse and show, in the framework of the Sustainable Development, the Community Led Local Development (EU Programme for CLLD) and Ecosystem Services, the need to move from an emergency management approach to pre-emptive territory management. The results of this research have produced the original and autonomous configuration of a new and innovative strategy and governance based on a model that puts in synergy the three aspects of the framework that has been given the name of Territorial Management Contracts (TMC). The TMC, appear a possible shared and democratic model that could to combine the territory risk management with solutions of development driving and sharing by the local populations. This innovative approach is strictly linked with the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals 2015-2030 and the Europe 2020 (smart, sustainable and inclusive). The authors argue that the TMC model is now sufficiently mature to pass from the processing phase to that of the implementation that in the Payment of the Ecosystem Services (PES) finds a concrete reinforcement of the scientific analysis carried out.

scholarly journals A climate investment trap in developing economies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Ameli ◽  
Olivier Dessens ◽  
Matthew Winning ◽  
Jennifer Cronin ◽  
Hugues Chenet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cost Of Capital ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Green Energy ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Green Electricity ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Sustainable Finance ◽  
The Cost

Abstract Finance is vital for the green energy transition, but the access to low cost finance is uneven as the cost of capital differs substantially between regions. This study shows how modelled decarbonisation pathways of developing economies are disproportionately impacted by assumptions around their cost of capital (WACC). For example, representing regionally specific WACC values indicates 35% lower green electricity production in Africa for a cost-optimal 2°C pathway. Moreover, results show that early convergence of WACC values for green and brown technologies in 2050 would allow Africa to reach net-zero emissions approximately 10 years earlier than when convergence is not considered. A “climate investment trap” arises for developing economies when climate-related investments remain chronically insufficient. Elements of sustainable finance frameworks currently present barriers to these finance flows and radical changes are needed so that capital is better allocated to the regions that most need it.

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