scholarly journals Choices We Make in Times of Crisis

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3578
Author(s):  
Patrick O. Waeber ◽  
Natasha Stoudmann ◽  
James D. Langston ◽  
Jaboury Ghazoul ◽  
Lucienne Wilmé ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Models ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
Constructive Dialogue ◽  
The World ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
New Framework

We present a new framework that allows understanding those we deem irrational in the climate debate. Realizing if the issue is one of information, beliefs, values or means opens the door for more constructive dialogue. Decision-makers diverge in their responses to the urgent need for action on climate and biodiversity. Action gaps are fueled by the apparent inability of decision-makers to respond efficiently to the mounting threats described by scientists—and increasingly recognized by society. Surprisingly, with the growing evidence and the accumulation of firsthand experiences of the impacts of environment crises, the gap is not only a problem of conflicting values or beliefs but also a problem of inefficient strategies. Bridging the gap and tackling the growing polarization within society calls for decision-makers to engage with the full complexity of the issues the world is facing. We propose a framework characterizing five archetypes of decision-makers to help us out of the current impasse by better understanding the behavior of others. Dealing with the complexity of environmental threats requires decision-makers to question their understanding of who wins and who loses, and how others make decisions. This requires that decision-makers acknowledge complexity, embrace uncertainty, and avoid falling back on simplistic cognitive models. Understanding the complexity of the issue and how people make decisions is key to having a fighting chance of solving the climate crisis.

scholarly journals Choices We Make: Rethinking Decision-making in the Context of Climate Crisis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Waeber ◽  
Natasha Stoudmann ◽  
Jaboury Ghazoul ◽  
Lucienne Wilmé ◽  
Jeffrey Sayer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Models ◽  
Climate System ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Tipping Points ◽  
Social Transition ◽  
The World ◽  
Climate Crisis

Leaders are failing to respond to the climate and environmental urgency the world is facing. A growing action gap, clearly visible during the recent CoP25, has been fueled by leaders' inability to respond efficiently to the mounting threats scientists—and increasingly society—are concerned about. Bridging this gap and tackling the growing polarization within society calls for leaders to accept the full complexity of the issues the world is facing. This will require them to question their understanding of these geopolitical affairs and embrace the dynamics at play, and avoid falling back on simplistic cognitive models. We propose a heuristic to convey the pathways available to decision-makers to make their way out of the current inaction impasse. By breaking free of this deadlock, a social transition will have the potential to take place, helping us to avoid crossing the climate system tipping points.

scholarly journals A framework to support alien species regulation: the Risk Analysis for Alien Taxa (RAAT)

NeoBiota ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 213-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Kumschick ◽  
John R. U. Wilson ◽  
Llewellyn C. Foxcroft
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Risk Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Regulatory Requirements ◽  
The World ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Almost All ◽  
New Framework

Human livelihoods and well-being in almost all regions of the world depend on taxa which are alien. Such taxa also, however, threaten human health, sustainable development, and biodiversity. Since it is not feasible or desirable to control all alien taxa, decision-makers increasingly rely on risk analyses to formalise the best available evidence of the threats posed and whether and how they can be managed. There are a variety of schemes available that consider the risks of alien taxa, but we argue a new framework is needed: 1) given major recent developments in international frameworks dealing with biological invasions (including the scoring of impacts); 2) so that decisions can be made consistently across taxa, regions and realms; 3) to explicitly set out uncertainties; and 4) to provide decision-makers with information both on the risks posed and on what can be done to mitigate or prevent impacts. Any such scheme must also be flexible enough to deal with constraints in capacity and information. Here we present a framework to address these points – the Risk Analysis for Alien Taxa (RAAT). It outlines a series of questions related to an alien taxon’s likelihood of invasion, realised and potential impacts, and options for management. The framework provides a structure for collating relevant data from the published literature to support a robust, transparent process to list alien taxa under legislative and regulatory requirements, with the aim that it can be completed by a trained science graduate within a few days. The framework also provides a defensible process for developing recommendations for the management of assessed taxa. We trialled the framework in South Africa and outline the process followed and some of the taxa assessed to date.

scholarly journals The Green Tax Revolution

2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 284-287
Author(s):  
Csaba László
Keyword(s):  
Tax Policy ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Huge Amount ◽  
Green Tax Reform ◽  
Green Policy ◽  
Price Structure ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
The World ◽  
Climate Crisis

AbstractClimate crisis is becoming higher on the agenda of the decision makers of the world. A huge amount of resources have been dedicated to green projects, however far less emphasis has been put on tax policy opportunities. Carbon pricing can increase the burden of CO2 producers, but this does not appear to be enough. We need a Green Tax Reform which focuses on the Pigouvian approach and can correct the distortions of different climate hurting activities. Through tax policy tools, the price structure should be drastically changed and serious incentives should be provided to change the behaviours of the consumers and producers to achieve green policy goals.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Shadle
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
The World ◽  
Entire Cosmos ◽  
Natural Ecology ◽  
Theological Vision ◽  
New Framework

The conclusion looks at the teaching of Pope Francis, considering the possibility that it represents the emergence of a new framework for Catholic social teaching. Pope Francis has emphasized that the encounter with Jesus Christ brings about an experience of newness and openness. He has also proposed a cosmic theological vision. His concept of “integral ecology,” introduced in his encyclical Laudato Si’, illustrates how human society is interconnected with the natural ecology of the planet earth and the entire cosmos. He proposes that the economy, society, culture, and daily life are all interconnected “ecologies.” In a speech to the World Meeting of Popular Movements in 2015, Pope Francis also explains how social movements devoted to local issues can nevertheless have a profound effect on the structures of the global economy. In his teachings, Pope Francis presents an organicist and communitarian vision of economic life.

“Doing Hope”: Ecofeminist Spirituality Provides Emotional Sustenance to Confront the Climate Crisis

Affilia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 088610992098724
Author(s):  
Finn McLafferty Bell ◽  
Mary Kate Dennis ◽  
Glory Brar
Keyword(s):  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Environmental Stewardship ◽  
Catholic Sisters ◽  
The World ◽  
Right Relationship ◽  
Environmental Work ◽  
Climate Crisis

Environmental crises caused by our changing global environment evoke intense and difficult emotions, particularly the paralysis that often results from despair. Understanding how people who are deeply engaged in environmental activism deal with their emotions can help in emotionally equipping people to address the climate crisis. Ecofeminist spirituality directly addresses these issues through an environmental stewardship that offers hope and healing for the world. This study includes 14 interviews with workers at an ecojustice center founded by an order of Catholic sisters in the United States. We used thematic analysis to identify three main themes that collectively describe the participants’ perspectives on (a) experiences of difficult feelings, (b) strategies for coping with those feelings, and (c) perspectives on cultivating hope. Participants shared how they were able to cope with difficult emotions and cultivate hope that the work they are doing matters, which was essential to sustaining their ecojustice work. As social workers respond to the changing environment, understanding how to sustain environmental work at the macro-level is essential to addressing largescale problems while also attending to difficult emotions at the microlevel. Further implications for social work practice include the importance of intergenerational organizing, living in “right relationship,” incorporating spirituality, and reinhabiting the profession.

scholarly journals Development of a Shipment Policy for Collection Centers

Mathematics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1385
Author(s):  
Irais Mora-Ochomogo ◽  
Marco Serrato ◽  
Jaime Mora-Vargas ◽  
Raha Akhavan-Tabatabaei
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Markov Decision Process ◽  
Decision Process ◽  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Humanitarian Organizations ◽  
The World ◽  
Markov Decision ◽  
Unsatisfied Demand

Natural disasters represent a latent threat for every country in the world. Due to climate change and other factors, statistics show that they continue to be on the rise. This situation presents a challenge for the communities and the humanitarian organizations to be better prepared and react faster to natural disasters. In some countries, in-kind donations represent a high percentage of the supply for the operations, which presents additional challenges. This research proposes a Markov Decision Process (MDP) model to resemble operations in collection centers, where in-kind donations are received, sorted, packed, and sent to the affected areas. The decision addressed is when to send a shipment considering the uncertainty of the donations’ supply and the demand, as well as the logistics costs and the penalty of unsatisfied demand. As a result of the MDP a Monotone Optimal Non-Decreasing Policy (MONDP) is proposed, which provides valuable insights for decision-makers within this field. Moreover, the necessary conditions to prove the existence of such MONDP are presented.

scholarly journals Are there similarities between the Corona and the climate crisis?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Decision Procedures ◽  
Free Rider ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Short Paper ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Look Back ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Climate Crisis

AbstractIn this short paper, I look back at the early stages of the Corona crisis, around early February 2020, and compare the situation with the climate crisis. Although these two problems unfold on a completely different timescale (weeks in the case of Corona, decades in the case of climate change), I find some rather striking similarities between these two problems, related with issues such as uncertainty, free-rider incentives, and disincentives of politicians to adequately address the respective issue with early, farsighted and possibly harsh policy measures. I then argue that for complex problems with certain characteristics, it may be necessary to establish novel political decision procedures that sidestep the normal, day-to-day political proceedings. These would be procedures that actively involve experts, and lower the involvement of political parties as far as possible to minimize the decision-makers’ disincentives.

scholarly journals A statistical study of COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-244
Author(s):  
Taha Radwan
Keyword(s):  
Linear Relationship ◽  
Statistical Study ◽  
Moving Average ◽  
Arima Model ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Accurate Data ◽  
Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future

Abstract The spread of the COVID-19 started in Wuhan on December 31, 2019, and a powerful outbreak of the disease occurred there. According to the latest data, more than 165 million cases of COVID-19 infection have been detected in the world (last update May 19, 2021). In this paper, we propose a statistical study of COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt. This study will help us to understand and study the evolution of this pandemic. Moreover, documenting of accurate data and taken policies in Egypt can help other countries to deal with this epidemic, and it will also be useful in the event that other similar viruses emerge in the future. We will apply a widely used model in order to predict the number of COVID-19 cases in the coming period, which is the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model. This model depicts the present behaviour of variables through linear relationship with their past values. The expected results will enable us to provide appropriate advice to decision-makers in Egypt on how to deal with this epidemic.

PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ACCESS TO NATURAL RESOURCES, ESPECIALLY WATER

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 388-406
Author(s):  
Suheir Ibrahim Hachim NKHELA
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
Global Issue ◽  
The World ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Environmental Human Rights ◽  
Groundwater Basins

Environmental hazards are not considered a national problem that stops at the state’s borders only, but has become a regional and global issue that poses a direct threat to human survival all over the world as a whole. It requires the global community to provide environmental human rights and all the ingredients for sustainable development, especially clean air, clean fresh water, healthy food, and preserving natural resources for future generations. The water problem topped the list of environmental threats, as most countries of the world suffer from a severe shortage of water levels, diminishing the share of each person in the limited quantities of water, and today the world's countries and governments fear unending regional wars due to water, and the conflict over its sources, and the sources of rivers. Therefore, the issue of water has taken on a global character, and the complete conviction that water is the first problem that will face our future generations. he water war between the riparian states is a real war, and it will continue and happen inevitably. In the World Water Forum held in Istanbul in 2009, which showed that 260 water basins are shared by two or more countries, around which 40% of the world's population live, and there are hundreds of shared groundwater basins, for example there are fourteen countries that share a river The European Danube, eleven countries share each of the Nile and Niger rivers, nine countries share the Amazon River, and four countries share the Tigris and Euphrates, and the same is the Jordan River. Differences arose between the participating countries over the sources and the distribution of water between them for a long time, and sometimes reached the stage of acute conflicts and crises, and their intensity increased day after day. Dozens of international treaties have not resolved these differences, as disputes have not stopped after the conclusion of approximately 145 international treaties, and the reason for this is the absence of cooperation between these countries, the scarcity of rainwater, and the thinking of each country in isolation from the interests and peoples of other countries with which they share river water.

scholarly journals Nanotechnology an Option in Mexican Agriculture

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Jaime Cuauhtémoc Negrete ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Urban Population ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Artificial Vision ◽  
Healthy Development ◽  
The World ◽  
Food Dependency ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Day By Day ◽  
Modern Technologies

In Mexico, agriculture is increasingly less profitable, due to this situation its contribution to the country’s economy decreases day by day, which has encouraged the import of food, thus causing poverty and migration, food dependency and other undesirable situations for the healthy development of society in general, not only the rural population but also the urban population is affected, so all the technologies that can change this scenario are sought and explored, one of them being Nanotechnology, despite the benefits of nanotechnology, as is always the case, it is not applied in agriculture as most of the most widely used technologies in the world today, such as mechatronics, and other modern technologies such as neural networks, Artificial vision, and internet of things , this is also happening with nanotechnology, De la Revision made only some Authors have done the rest of the research only publishing revisions of research done abroad, so it is proposed that decision makers support researchers who really do work on this discipline that is so promising at present for the good of our agriculture , this being the objective of this work will review what has been done in this field in this regard in the nation

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