Cotton versus climate change: the case of Greek cotton production

Through the last century, the increased greenhouse gases emissions altered the atmosphere’s composition and resulted to the phenomenon known as climate change. Climate change threatens the sustainability of the agricultural sector in the Mediterranean region. Droughts and extreme heat waves will probably become more frequent in the next few decades, thus maintaining sufficient yields in heat and drought susceptible major crops will be challenging. In Greece, cotton is of paramount economic importance. Besides the fact that it is regarded as the most significant fiber crop, Greece is the main cotton producer of the European Union. The aim of the present review was to examine the environmental factors that might affect cotton production in Greece and assess whether (or not) climate change has the potential to limit the productivity of this crop in the near future. According to the existing literature, cotton can adapt to the changing climate. Climate change-induced elevated CO2 levels and temperatures might even benefit cotton. The mitigation of the adverse effects of climate change is possible via the adaptation of site-specific agronomic practices. A simplistic framework, based on the literature and the goals of the European Union, that aims to the preservation of sufficient cotton yields in Greece is proposed in the present study.

Commercialisation Pathways and Climate Change: The Case of Smallholder Farmers in Semi-Arid Tanzania

The semi-arid drylands of central Tanzania have been characterised by low and erratic rainfall coupled with high evapotranspiration. Up until now, farmers of these local dryland farming systems have been able to cope with these climate conditions. However, climate change has led to new weather patterns that overwhelm traditional dryland farming practices and re-shape farmers’ commercialisation pathways. This paper explored the pathways in which smallholder farmers in Singida region in Tanzania engage with markets and commercialise in the face of climate change. The paper also examined how farm-level decisions on commercial crops and the commercialisation pathways they are part of, affect current and future resilience to climate change. Climate resilient commercialisation of smallholder dryland agriculture remains the centrepiece of inclusive sustainable development.

Three Faces of Climate Justice

There is overwhelming consensus about the science of climate change. Climate politics, however, remains volatile, driven by perceptions of injustice, which motivate policy resistance and undermine policy legitimacy. We identify three types of injustice. The first pertains to the uneven exposure to climate change impacts across countries and communities within a country. Socially, politically, and economically disadvantaged communities that have contributed the least to the climate crisis tend to be affected the most. To address climate change and its impacts, countries and subnational units have enacted a range of policies. But even carefully designed mitigation and adaptation policies distribute costs (the second justice dimension) and benefits (the third justice dimension) unevenly across sectors and communities, often reproducing existing inequalities. Climate justice requires paying careful attention to who bears the costs and who gets the benefits of both climate inaction and action. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Political Science, Volume 25 is May 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Climate risk to European fisheries and coastal communities

With the majority of the global human population living in coastal regions, correctly characterizing the climate risk that ocean-dependent communities and businesses are exposed to is key to prioritizing the finite resources available to support adaptation. We apply a climate risk analysis across the European fisheries sector to identify the most at-risk fishing fleets and coastal regions and then link the two analyses together. We employ an approach combining biological traits with physiological metrics to differentiate climate hazards between 556 populations of fish and use these to assess the relative climate risk for 380 fishing fleets and 105 coastal regions in Europe. Countries in southeast Europe as well as the United Kingdom have the highest risks to both fishing fleets and coastal regions overall, while in other countries, the risk-profile is greater at either the fleet level or at the regional level. European fisheries face a diversity of challenges posed by climate change; climate adaptation, therefore, needs to be tailored to each country, region, and fleet’s specific situation. Our analysis supports this process by highlighting where and what adaptation measures might be needed and informing where policy and business responses could have the greatest impact.

Clinical And Epidemiological Aspects Of A New Coronavirus Infection (Covid-19)

Environmental change, climate warming, increasing population density, high migration activity and other factors are provoking the emergence and spread of new infections around the world. The emergence in December 2019 of diseases caused by a new coronavirus ("coronavirus disease 2019") has already gone down in history as not a disease of minor importance, but a disease of great magnitude engulfing the entire humanity. It is known that the most common clinical manifestation of the new infection is pneumonia and, in a large proportion of patients, respiratory distress syndrome. In our article we present a brief analysis and literature review of the epidemiological and epidemiological picture, in addition, we note the etiopathogenesis and some of the nuances of the disease.

Influence of Climate Change on Chestnut Trees: A Review

The chestnut tree (Castanea spp.) is an important resource worldwide. It is cultivated due to the high value of its fruits and wood. The evolution between Castanea biodiversity and humans has resulted in the spread of chestnut genetic diversity. In 2019, the chestnut tree area worldwide was approximately 596 × 103 ha for fruit production (Southern Europe, Southwestern United States of America, and Asia). In Europe 311 × 103 t were produced. Five genetic poles can be identified: three in Greece, the northwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula, and the rest of the Mediterranean. Over the years, there have been some productivity changes, in part associated with climate change. Climate is considered one of the main drivers of biodiversity and ecosystem change. In the future, new challenges associated with climate change are expected, which could threaten this crop. It is essential to identify the impacts of climate change on chestnut trees, improving the current understanding of climate-tree interconnections. To deal with these projected changes adaptation strategies must be planned. This manuscript demonstrates the impacts of climate change on chestnut cultivation, reviewing the most recent studies on the subject. Furthermore, an analysis of possible adaptation strategies against the potentially negative impacts was studied.

How to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in Educational Settings: Behavior Change, Climate Surveys, and Effective Pro-Diversity Initiatives

We review recent developments in the literature on diversity and inclusion in higher education settings. Diversity interventions increasingly focus on changing behaviors rather than mental constructs such as bias or attitudes. Additionally, there is now a greater emphasis on the evaluation of initiatives aimed at creating an inclusive climate. When trying to design an intervention to change behavior, it is advised to focus on a segment of the population (the “target audience”), to try to get people to adopt a small number of specific new behaviors (the “target behaviors”), and to address in the intervention the factors that affect the likelihood that members of the target audience will engage in the new target behaviors (the “barriers and benefits”). We report our recent work developing a climate survey that allows researchers and practitioners to identify these elements in a particular department or college. We then describe recent inclusion initiatives that have been shown to be effective in rigorous empirical studies. Taken together this paper shows that by implementing techniques based on research in the behavioral sciences it is possible to increase the sense of belonging, the success, and the graduation rate of minority students in STEM.

Identifikasi Karakteristik Kawasan Informal Pesisir Kota Bandar Lampung dan Kerentanan terhadap Dampak Perubahan Iklim (Studi Kasus : Kelurahan Kota Karang dan Kangkung)

This research aims to identify the characteristics of informal areas in Kelurahan Kota Karang and Kelurahan Kangkung and their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Climate change is a high-risk threat in the future, events such as flash floods, tidal flooding and water crisis will continue to worsen in coastal areas, and informal communities as a vulnerable group will be greatly affected by this. The method of data collection in this study uses the independent interview method, literature review and observation. The data analysis method used is descriptive qualitative analysis. According to the results of the analysis, the region has endeavored to deal with various shocks and pressures, and has characteristics of resilience as a capital of resilience in facing the impacts of climate change. However, they have not been able to solve all the existing problems.

Reviewing the links between climate change and resource conflict

Knowledge of the relationship between climate change and resource conflict is paramount in resolving resource conflict between farmers and herdsmen in Nigeria. However, there is yet no general agreement on how climate change causes or influences resource conflict. Thus, a review of existing literature that link climate change and resource conflict was conducted for identification of the missing link. These were achieved through the review of literature published in the era of the recent global climate change from late 90s to date. Selections of papers were based on the topic and date of publication. Result showed that there is general agreement that climate change influence resource conflicts. Some of the authors agreed that climate change cannot cause resource conflict in isolation but through influences on other factors that affect resource availability, accessibility and utility. These factors are also influenced by policies and socio-cultural system. Thus, resource conflict may be a secondary or tertiary effect of climate change. Climate change solution is scares in literature that linked climate change and resource conflict. Thus, future studies should be focused on climate change solution to resource conflict. Keywords: Climate change, Resource conflict, Literature review, Famers