Contributions of Sustainable Biomass and Bioenergy in Agriculture Transitions Towards a Circular Economy

2022 ◽  
pp. 65-80
Author(s):  
Oloiva Maria Tavira ◽  
José Tadeu Marques Aranha ◽  
Maria Raquel Lucas
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Starting Point

The production of bioenergy and biofertilizers based on animal and plant biomass is a crucial pillar in circular economy (CE). CE conceptual model and main aims are closely related to the 3 “R” (reduce, reuse, and recycle) rule, which is to improve the use of resources, minimize waste, and assure sustainability. Although bioenergy offers many opportunities and could be an alternative to fossil fuels use, the path for a broader implementation of this type of activity is still long. This study marks the starting point or direction of research to be taken, ensuring the existence of benefits from plant and animal biomass for the production of bioenergy and biofertilizer, as well as the contributions of this type of production to the circular economy and the mitigation of the climate change impacts.

Focus on African wildlife protection will grow

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Wildlife Trade ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Wildlife Protection ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Illegal Wildlife Trade ◽  
Ipcc Report

Subject African illegal wildlife trade. Significance A recent UK-hosted conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) and a UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report have highlighted the importance of wildlife and wilderness protection in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the integral connections between wildlife protection and climate change. Pressure is starting to grow on governments and businesses to protect irreplaceable biodiversity but progress faces several obstacles. Impacts The EU may increase aid for African biodiversity protection as climate change impacts risk increased African migrant numbers to Europe. Growing pressure may encourage institutional investors to divest from fossil fuels towards the renewable energy sector and ecotourism. Civil society pressure could mount to redirect global aid budgets partially towards wilderness landscape preservation. A South African ruling overturning government approval for a coal mine on critical biodiversity-protecting land may set a major precedent.

Climate change, sustainability and the need for a new industrial revolution in Scotland

2012 ◽  
Vol 103 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Sugden ◽  
Janette Webb ◽  
Andrew Kerr
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Reduce Emissions ◽  
Major Commitment

ABSTRACTThis paper sets the wider global and Scottish context for this Special Issue of EESTRSE. Climate change is inextricably linked to wellbeing, security and sustainability. It poses a fundamental challenge to the way we organise society and our relationship to the exploitation of the Earth's resources. Rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, linked to burning fossil fuels and land use, present a major risk of climate change, with serious but uncertain impacts emerging at a regional scale. A new industrial revolution is needed to achieve energy security and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with energy efficiency and energy production emitting low or no CO2 at its heart. At present, on a global scale, there is a mismatch between the emphasis on economic growth and the need to reduce emissions and achieve a sustainable use of resources. A more sustainable blueprint for the future is emerging in Europe and Scotland has much to gain economically and socially from this change. Scotland's ambitious emission reduction targets (42% cut by 2020 and 80% by 2050) are achievable, but require major commitment and investment. Despite success in cutting emissions from activities within Scotland, Scotland's consumption-based emissions rose by 11% in 1996–2004.

scholarly journals Water and the Circular Economy: Learning from Nature

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 12597
Author(s):  
Thomas S. Kakovitch ◽  
Sabine O’Hara
Keyword(s):  
Solar Energy ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Production Capacity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Output ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Right ◽  
Economic Capacity

This paper examines the hydrological cycle and its implications for the production capacity of two countries, China and the United States. While it takes a macro-level view, it illustrates the relevance of understanding the circularity of nature as exemplified by the hydrological cycle, for urban and regional circular economy considerations. Taking the circularity of nature as a starting point is a departure from common circular economy conceptions, which take an anthropocentric perspective rather than a nature based one. We calculate the amount of solar energy available for freshwater evaporation and the allocation of freshwater to its key uses in the domestic, industrial, and agricultural sectors. Our calculations indicate that the capacity to generate economic output can be accurately described by the embodied solar energy distribution that determines the availability of freshwater for allocation to different uses. This illustrates the need to take environmental/physical conditions more fully into account in economic development decisions at every level, from local to regional, national, and global. We begin our analysis with a review of circular economy concepts and argue that they reveal a limited understanding of the circularity of nature evident in energy and material cycles and their economic capacity implications. Achieving further expansions of economic capacity may increasingly depend on an improved understanding of nature’s circularity, especially when competing resource pressures and land-use constraint exacerbate economic capacity limits. Our findings suggest three particularly important lessons for decision makers: first, the efficiency increases needed to realize growing economic output will require circular economy models that consider the efficient processing capacity of nature rather than relying solely on technological solutions; second, the non-use of resources may be as valuable or more than their use; and third, price policies can be effective in steering resource use and non-use in the right direction.

Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Land Degradation and Desertification

2019 ◽  
pp. 183-195
Author(s):  
Dharumarajan S. ◽  
Veeramani S. ◽  
Kalaiselvi Beeman ◽  
Lalitha M. ◽  
Janani N. ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Infiltration Rate ◽  
Change Models ◽  
Degradation Processes ◽  
Land Use Models ◽  
Land Degradation And Desertification

Land degradation and desertification have been graded as a major environmental and social dispute in most of the emerging countries. Changes in temperature, wind speed, and precipitation patterns will influence plant biomass production, land use, land cover, soil moisture, infiltration rate, runoff and crop management, and ultimately, land degradation. Close relations between climate change and land degradation processes have been perceived in the past decades. Climate change models and land use models should be combined with hydrologic/erosion models to accurately compute or predict climate change impacts on land degradation. This chapter introduces the advancements in modeling of impact of climate changes in land degradation and need for the critical investigation to better understand and forecast the responses of land degradation processes to a changing climate in the future.

scholarly journals The international political economy of nature and society: from climate emergency to climate justice in our common home

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 172
Author(s):  
Rey Ty
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Reasonable Doubt ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Security Models ◽  
The Rich ◽  
People First

Longitudinal scientific evidence proves beyond any reasonable doubt that the problem of climate change is reaching a point of no return, upon which Earthly and human survival depends. The major contributors of climate change include industry, transportation, agriculture, and consumers, over which corporate globalization controls, which consume fossil fuels, such as oil, coal, and gas that produce greenhouse gases. Climate change impacts access to clean water, human health, forests, coastal areas, biodiversity, and agriculture. Our tasks ahead include: 1) exposing and opposing flawed economic, political, social, cultural, and security models that destroy nature, cause mal-development, and widening the gap between the rich and the poor and 2) proposing new cooperative models that put sustainability and equality—nature and people—first, especially the poor and the oppressed, before profits.

scholarly journals PROFESSIONALS OF THE XXI CENTURY. CIRCULAR ECONOMY

2020 ◽  
pp. 41-48
Author(s):  
Sysoiev Oleksii
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Product Life Cycle ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Economic Education ◽  
Use Of Resources

The article considers the problem of training professionals in a fundamentally new direction for Ukraine, namely professionals in circular economy; reveals the economic essence and meaning of the concept of «circular economy»; historical aspects of its formation are analysed; importance for sustainable development of society, the environment protection, human health. Circular, or closed-loop economy – a model of economic development, the basis of which is the rational use of resources and their recovery; it is based on extending the product life cycle, restoring resources, recycling, switching from fossil fuels to using renewable energy sources. Thus, a regenerative, regenerative and integrated circular economy aims to support sustainable economic development without harming the environment. The article concludes that the implementation of the ideas and principles of the circular economy requires the training of professionals of the new formation with the appropriate level of environmental awareness and understanding of the needs of sustainable development of society. Such specialists must not only have a perfect economic education, but also understand the issues of production, be able to respond quickly to the problems of environmental protection and human health, and have an active civil position. In the leading countries of the world professional training of experts in circular economy is already carried out. It is absent in Ukraine today. Thus, in the conditions of growing consumption, accumulation of mass of waste, which cannot be quickly processed in the natural environment and have a harmful impact on the environment, the problem of professionals training in the circular economy in Ukraine needs an immediate solution.

Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Land Degradation and Desertification

2022 ◽  
pp. 1374-1387
Author(s):  
Dharumarajan S. ◽  
Veeramani S. ◽  
Kalaiselvi Beeman ◽  
Lalitha M. ◽  
Janani N. ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Infiltration Rate ◽  
Change Models ◽  
Degradation Processes ◽  
Land Use Models ◽  
Land Degradation And Desertification

Land degradation and desertification have been graded as a major environmental and social dispute in most of the emerging countries. Changes in temperature, wind speed, and precipitation patterns will influence plant biomass production, land use, land cover, soil moisture, infiltration rate, runoff and crop management, and ultimately, land degradation. Close relations between climate change and land degradation processes have been perceived in the past decades. Climate change models and land use models should be combined with hydrologic/erosion models to accurately compute or predict climate change impacts on land degradation. This chapter introduces the advancements in modeling of impact of climate changes in land degradation and need for the critical investigation to better understand and forecast the responses of land degradation processes to a changing climate in the future.

Climate Change and the American City

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Hurley
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Tight Coupling

American cities developed under relatively quiescent climatic conditions. A gradual rise in average global temperatures during the 19th and 20th centuries had a negligible impact on how urban Americans experienced the weather. Much more significant were the dramatic changes in urban form and social organization that meditated the relationship between routine weather fluctuations and the lives of city dwellers. Overcoming weather-related impediments to profit, comfort, and good health contributed to many aspects of urbanization, including population migration to Sunbelt locations, increased reliance on fossil fuels, and comprehensive re-engineering of urban hydrological systems. Other structural shifts such as sprawling development, intensification of the built environment, socioeconomic segregation, and the tight coupling of infrastructural networks were less directly responsive to weather conditions but nonetheless profoundly affected the magnitude and social distribution of weather-related risks. Although fatalities resulting from extreme meteorological events declined in the 20th century, the scale of urban disruption and property damage increased. In addition, social impacts became more concentrated among poorer Americans, including many people of color, as Hurricane Katrina tragically demonstrated in 2005. Through the 20th century, cities responded to weather hazards through improved forecasting and systematic planning for relief and recovery rather than alterations in metropolitan design. In recent decades, however, growing awareness and concern about climate change impacts have made volatile weather more central to urban planning.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document