scholarly journals Beneficial land-use change in Europe: deployment scenarios for multifunctional riparian buffers and windbreaks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oskar Englund ◽  
Pål Börjesson ◽  
Blas Mola-Yudego ◽  
Göran Berndes ◽  
Ioannis Dimitriou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Biomass Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Riparian Buffers ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Land Use Impacts ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The Eu

Abstract The land sector needs to increase biomass production to meet multiple demands while reducing negative land use impacts and transitioning from being a source to being a sink of carbon. The new Common Agricultural Policy of the EU (CAP) steers towards a more needs-based, targeted approach to addressing multiple environmental and climatic objectives, in coherence with other EU policies. In relation to this, new schemes are developed to offer farmers direct payments to adapt practices beneficial for climate, water, soil, air and biodiversity. Multifunctional biomass production systems have potential to reduce environmental impacts from agriculture while maintaining or increasing biomass production for the bioeconomy across Europe. Here, we present the first attempt to model the deployment of two such systems, riparian buffers and windbreaks, across >81.000 landscapes in Europe (EU27 + UK), aiming to quantify the resulting ecosystem services and environmental benefits, considering three deployment scenarios with different incentives for implementation. We found that these multifunctional biomass production systems can reduce N emissions to water and soil loss by wind erosion, respectively, down to a “low” impact level all over Europe, while simultaneously providing substantial environmental co-benefits, using less than 1% of the area under annual crops in the EU. The GHG emissions savings of utilizing the biomass produced in these systems for replacing fossil alternatives, combined with the increases in soil organic carbon, correspond to 1-1,4% of total GHG emissions in EU28. The introduction of “eco-schemes” in the new CAP may resolve some of the main barriers to implementation of large-scale multifunctional biomass production systems. Increasing the knowledge of these opportunities among all EU member states, before designing and introducing country-specific Eco-scheme options in the new CAP, is critical.

scholarly journals Strategic deployment of riparian buffers and windbreaks in Europe can co-deliver biomass and environmental benefits

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oskar Englund ◽  
Pål Börjesson ◽  
Blas Mola-Yudego ◽  
Göran Berndes ◽  
Ioannis Dimitriou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Riparian Buffers ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Nitrogen Emissions ◽  
Environmental Objectives ◽  
Eu Policies

AbstractWithin the scope of the new Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, in coherence with other EU policies, new incentives are developed for farmers to deploy practices that are beneficial for climate, water, soil, air, and biodiversity. Such practices include establishment of multifunctional biomass production systems, designed to reduce environmental impacts while providing biomass for food, feed, bioenergy, and other biobased products. Here, we model three scenarios of large-scale deployment for two such systems, riparian buffers and windbreaks, across over 81,000 landscapes in Europe, and quantify the corresponding areas, biomass output, and environmental benefits. The results show that these systems can effectively reduce nitrogen emissions to water and soil loss by wind erosion, while simultaneously providing substantial environmental co-benefits, having limited negative effects on current agricultural production. This kind of beneficial land-use change using strategic perennialization is important for meeting environmental objectives while advancing towards a sustainable bioeconomy.

The Product Carbon Footprint of EU beet sugar (Part I)

2012 ◽  
pp. 169-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingo Klenk ◽  
Birgit Landquist ◽  
Oscar Ruiz de Imana
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Cane Sugar ◽  
Average Case ◽  
Methodological Choices ◽  
Land Use Efficiency ◽  
Beet Sugar ◽  
The Eu

The calculations made to obtain the PCF of EU white sugar from sugar beet have revealed that the results are extremely sensitive to methodological choices and this article provides some recommendations in that regard. A comparison of EU beet sugar with two examples of raw cane sugar imported and refined in the EU, showed that the PCF range for EU refined cane sugar is on average similar, if not higher (642–760 kg CO2eq/t sugar) than the total methodological PCF range for the EU beet sugar average case (242–771 kg CO2eq/t sugar). A review of the published literature revealed, on the one hand, that land use change emissions for cane sugar can be very significant but are rarely taken into account, and on the other hand, that overseas transport and refining adds a significant amount of emissions to the PCF of raw cane sugar imported into the EU. An overall land use efficiency comparison between cane and beet production systems also concluded that significantly more land (51%) is required by cane systems to produce an equivalent set of products (sugar and co-products) with an equivalent amount of GHG emissions. Finally, the limitations of PCFs as a tool to evaluate the overall environmental sustainability of EU beet sugar were also analysed

scholarly journals Within-Season Changes in Land-Use Impact Pest Abundance in Smallholder African Cassava Production Systems

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Kalyebi ◽  
Sarina Macfadyen ◽  
Andrew Hulthen ◽  
Patrick Ocitti ◽  
Frances Jacomb ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Bemisia Tabaci ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Smallholder Farming ◽  
Manihot Esculenta Crantz

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), an important commercial and food security crop in East and Central Africa, continues to be adversely affected by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci. In Uganda, changes in smallholder farming landscapes due to crop rotations can impact pest populations but how these changes affect pest outbreak risk is unknown. We investigated how seasonal changes in land-use have affected B. tabaci population dynamics and its parasitoids. We used a large-scale field experiment to standardize the focal field in terms of cassava age and cultivar, then measured how Bemisia populations responded to surrounding land-use change. Bemisia tabaci Sub-Saharan Africa 1 (SSA1) was identified using molecular diagnostics as the most prevalent species and the same species was also found on surrounding soybean, groundnut, and sesame crops. We found that an increase in the area of cassava in the 3–7-month age range in the landscape resulted in an increase in the abundance of the B. tabaci SSA1 on cassava. There was a negative relationship between the extent of non-crop vegetation in the landscape and parasitism of nymphs suggesting that these parasitoids do not rely on resources in the non-crop patches. The highest abundance of B. tabaci SSA1 nymphs in cassava fields occurred at times when landscapes had large areas of weeds, low to moderate areas of maize, and low areas of banana. Our results can guide the development of land-use strategies that smallholder farmers can employ to manage these pests.

Resource use and environmental impacts from Australian export lamb production: a life cycle assessment

2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (7) ◽  
pp. 1070 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. G. Wiedemann ◽  
M.-J. Yan ◽  
C. M. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Fresh Water ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Land Occupation ◽  
Fossil Fuel Energy

This study conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA) investigating energy, land occupation, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, fresh water consumption and stress-weighted water use from production of export lamb in the major production regions of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. The study used data from regional datasets and case study farms, and applied new methods for assessing water use using detailed farm water balances and water stress weighting. Land occupation was assessed with reference to the proportion of arable and non-arable land and allocation of liveweight (LW) and greasy wool was handled using a protein mass method. Fossil fuel energy demand ranged from 2.5 to 7.0 MJ/kg LW, fresh water consumption from 58.1 to 238.9 L/kg LW, stress-weighted water use from 2.9 to 137.8 L H2O-e/kg LW and crop land occupation from 0.2 to 2.0 m2/kg LW. Fossil fuel energy demand was dominated by on-farm energy demand, and differed between regions and datasets in response to production intensity and the use of purchased inputs such as fertiliser. Regional fresh water consumption was dominated by irrigation water use and losses from farm water supply, with smaller contributions from livestock drinking water. GHG emissions ranged from 6.1 to 7.3 kg CO2-e/kg LW and additional removals or emissions from land use (due to cultivation and fertilisation) and direct land-use change (due to deforestation over previous 20 years) were found to be modest, contributing between –1.6 and 0.3 kg CO2-e/kg LW for different scenarios assessing soil carbon flux. Excluding land use and direct land-use change, enteric CH4 contributed 83–89% of emissions, suggesting that emissions intensity can be reduced by focussing on flock production efficiency. Resource use and emissions were similar for export lamb production in the major production states of Australia, and GHG emissions were similar to other major global lamb producers. The results show impacts from lamb production on competitive resources to be low, as lamb production systems predominantly utilised non-arable land unsuited to alternative food production systems that rely on crop production, and water from regions with low water stress.

Explaining the visibility of EU citizens: a multi-level analysis of European Union news

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Walter
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Country Level ◽  
The Media ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Level Analysis ◽  
The Eu

This article analyses the visibility of European Union (EU) citizens in EU news during the 2009 European Parliament election. It argues that the presence of EU citizens in EU news is vital for responsiveness of European governance. First, the theoretical notion of EU citizens is considered. Next, a new way of defining EU citizens is proposed: EU citizens are divided into national and supranational EU citizens. The visibility of EU citizens in EU news of 27 EU member states is analysed aiming to explain cross-country differences. The paper is based on a large-scale content analysis of TV and newspaper articles gathered during the 2009 European Parliament election. To explain different levels of visibility, a multi-level analysis is carried out. The results suggest that EU citizens are visible in the EU news, yet, their presence strongly varies across countries. The findings indicate that explanations for different levels of visibility can be found at both the media and country level.

scholarly journals Environmental Differences between Migratory and Resident Ungulates—Predicting Movement Strategies in Rocky Mountain Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) with Remotely Sensed Plant Phenology, Snow, and Land Cover

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
pp. 1980
Author(s):  
Benjamin Robb ◽  
Qiongyu Huang ◽  
Joseph Sexton ◽  
David Stoner ◽  
Peter Leimgruber
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Mule Deer ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Odocoileus Hemionus ◽  
Remotely Sensed ◽  
Land Use Impacts ◽  
Human Land Use

Migration is a valuable life history strategy for many species because it enables individuals to exploit spatially and temporally variable resources. Globally, the prevalence of species’ migratory behavior is decreasing as individuals forgo migration to remain resident year-round, an effect hypothesized to result from anthropogenic changes to landscape dynamics. Efforts to conserve and restore migrations require an understanding of the ecological characteristics driving the behavioral tradeoff between migration and residence. We identified migratory and resident behaviors of 42 mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) based on GPS locations and correlated their locations to remotely sensed indicators of forage quality, land cover, snow cover, and human land use. The model classified mule deer seasonal migratory and resident niches with an overall accuracy of 97.8% and cross-validated accuracy of 81.2%. The distance to development was the most important variable in discriminating in which environments these behaviors occur, with resident niche space most often closer to developed areas than migratory niches. Additionally, snow cover in December was important for discriminating summer migratory niches. This approach demonstrates the utility of niche analysis based on remotely sensed environmental datasets and provides empirical evidence of human land use impacts on large-scale wildlife migrations.

EU will pursue North Africa migration deals

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Extreme Right ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Eu

Subject EU-North Africa migration deals. Significance Large-scale migration movements from Sub-Saharan Africa, Turkey, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have challenged European governments in recent years, including stoking support for far-right/populist parties such as the French Front National, the Alternative for Germany, and the Austrian and Dutch freedom parties. Impacts EU member states’ ability to control the EU’s external borders is central to seeing off populist parties and restoring support for the EU. If Europeans believe their governments cannot control immigration, support for the extreme right will again increase. Were the far-right to come to power on the continent, the EU -- and its single market -- could be imperilled. However, high migration is unlikely to reorder EU politics to the benefit of the extreme right in the medium term.

scholarly journals Economic and Environmental Benefits from Municipal Solid Waste Recycling in the Murmansk Region

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10927
Author(s):  
Anton Orlov ◽  
Elena Klyuchnikova ◽  
Anna Korppoo
Keyword(s):  
Municipal Solid Waste ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Waste Recycling ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Operational Costs ◽  
Murmansk Region

Most municipal solid waste (MSW) in Russia is disposed of in landfills, and only a relatively small fraction is recycled. The landfilling of waste leads to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and air and groundwater pollution. However, recently, there have been some initiatives to improve waste management in the country. We assessed the economic and environmental benefits of waste recycling in the Murmansk region, in which a new waste recycling plant has been operating since 2019. We found that MSW recycling in the Murmansk region has induced a small, positive, job creation effect and could potentially lead to a non-negligible reduction in GHG emissions. Extrapolating the results from this case study to the country level, we found that recycling landfilled MSW in Russia could save approximately 154 million tons of GHG emissions in carbon dioxide equivalents annually, which is comparable to the total CO2 emissions from Algeria. The positive environmental and health-related impacts from the extensive implementation of MSW recycling in the country could be substantial. From this case study, we also learned that one of the biggest challenges for the waste recycling company in the Murmansk region is finding profitable markets for recycled materials. Moreover, due to the high investment and operational costs, recycling MSW led to a substantial increase in communal fees. However, there is potential to make waste recycling more cost effective. Most MSW in the Murmansk region is still separated at the recycling plant, while separating waste at the source could substantially reduce operational costs. Other challenges in the large-scale implementation of MSW recycling in Russia, such as a lack of investments and the population’s willingness to recycle waste, are also discussed.

scholarly journals VAT Collection Methods

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 883-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hana Zídková ◽  
Aneta Šťastná
Keyword(s):  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Current System ◽  
Payment Method ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
One Stop ◽  
The One ◽  
Collection Methods ◽  
The Eu

Although, the VAT contributes significantly to tax revenues in all EU Member States, the current VAT system is vulnerable to organized fraud schemes and suffers from large scale tax evasion. The EU Member States and the European Commission are discussing new ways of VAT collection to prevent the evasive and fraudulent practices. This paper aims at the description of different VAT collection methods including their flaws and benefits that are addressed in the available literature. The conclusion is that reverse charge and split payment method are changing the character of the VAT system. The One stop shop system is lacking trust of the EU member states. Therefore, the recommendation is to improve current system by electronic means of reporting.

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