A Review of Global Policy Mechanisms Designed for Tropical Forests Conservation and Climate Risks Management

Deforestation and forest degradation of tropical forests are major global concerns due to their ecological, social, and economic roles. In the wake of climate change and its diverse global effects, fragmentation and degradation of tropical forests have jeopardized their ability to support livelihoods and regenerate climate regulating services. Concerted efforts by local, national, and international players, which are primarily scientific, technological, or economic, have borne minimal results in safeguarding these forests from destruction, necessitating a more integrated and inclusive approach. The Rio Earth Summit (1992) brought together world leaders to set targets and priorities on the global sustainability agenda and laid a strong foundation for international policy cooperation in the future. This study employed a systematic review of articles published between 1992 and 2020 to establish how various policy mechanisms have been developed and evolved to bridge forests and climate change discourse in tropical forests while highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. The initial search of peer-reviewed publications and gray literature yielded 2622 records, which were subjected to inclusion and exclusion criteria based on The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta Analyses guidelines, resulting in a final list of 65 records for in-depth qualitative analysis. The study establishes that the mechanisms in place have contributed mainly to more coordination and incentives to manage climate risks, primarily through tropical forests conservation. However, hurdles such as inadequate participation and involvement of the local and indigenous people, insufficient national and local policy frameworks and bureaucracies around emissions monitoring, measuring, reporting, and verification processes continue to slow tropical forest conservation. Thus, there is a need for more integrated, multilevel, and diverse stakeholder engagement to achieve the set global targets effectively.

Enhancing the climate resilience of coffee production.

Climate change is adversely affecting coffee production, impacting both yields and quality. Coffee production is dominated by the cultivation of Arabica and Robusta coffee, species that represent 99% of production, but both species will be affected by climate change. Sustainable management practices that can enhance the resilience of production are urgently needed, as coffee production supports the livelihoods of over 25 million people across the world, the majority of whom are smallholder farmers located in the coffee belt spanning the tropics. We conducted a systematic review, identifying 78 studies that describe agro-ecological practices that have potential to enhance climate resilience. Adverse environmental impacts include a reduction in area suitable for production, lower yields, increased intensity and frequency of extreme climate events, and greater incidence of pests and diseases. Potential environmental solutions include altitudinal shifts, the introduction of new, more resilient cultivars, altering agrochemical inputs, and integrating agroforestry. However, financial, environmental and technical constraints limit the availability of many of these approaches to farmers, particularly smallholder producers. There is therefore an urgent need to address these barriers through appropriate policy mechanisms in order to continue meeting growing demand for coffee.

Taking Netflix to the Cinema: National Cinema Value Chain Disruptions in the Age of Streaming

This article explores how international over-the-top services impact the national feature film value chain in Canada and Australia. The main objective of this exploration is to interrogate the tendency to classify Netflix as television—whether in the context of broadcasting policy or in light of disciplinary biases that tend to separate media industry studies from the more cinephilic text-focused approaches of film studies. By equating entertainment services like Netflix with television, the discussion of how feature films will sustain themselves in a rapidly changing market becomes sidelined. Examining examples from Canada and Australia, we seek to draw attention to the ways in which film sustains and develops its industry and how services like Netflix relate to policy mechanisms designed to foster national cinema. This article offers an intervention into the developing discourse around Netflix as television to ask the question: what does it mean to consider Netflix as cinema?

Competition In The Canadian Telecommunications Industry: Past, Present And Potential Ways Forward

<div>Undoubtedly, the Canadian telecommunications industry is at a critical juncture with respect to competition. Telecommunications services are becoming increasingly essential for Canadian citizens to effectively participate in the economy, democracy and society more broadly. As such, it is critical to explore the various policy mechanisms that can deliver all Canadians an affordable and high quality experience as mandated in section seven of the Telecommunications Act. The study focuses on potential ways to cultivate a meaningfully competitive telecommunications environment that can better represent public interest. Drawing on a litany of international and domestic regulatory decisions, both past and present, in conjunction with academic journals, Candian Radio-television and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC) regulatory proceedings and contemporary news articles, the paper demonstrates that the lack of meaningful competition in the Canadian telecommunications industry is limiting positive outcomes for Canadian citizens in regards to affordability, choice and coverage.</div>

Competition In The Canadian Telecommunications Industry: Past, Present And Potential Ways Forward

<div>Undoubtedly, the Canadian telecommunications industry is at a critical juncture with respect to competition. Telecommunications services are becoming increasingly essential for Canadian citizens to effectively participate in the economy, democracy and society more broadly. As such, it is critical to explore the various policy mechanisms that can deliver all Canadians an affordable and high quality experience as mandated in section seven of the Telecommunications Act. The study focuses on potential ways to cultivate a meaningfully competitive telecommunications environment that can better represent public interest. Drawing on a litany of international and domestic regulatory decisions, both past and present, in conjunction with academic journals, Candian Radio-television and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC) regulatory proceedings and contemporary news articles, the paper demonstrates that the lack of meaningful competition in the Canadian telecommunications industry is limiting positive outcomes for Canadian citizens in regards to affordability, choice and coverage.</div>

Coal phase out and renewable electricity expansion under Paris targets

This paper provides insights into the implications of a global coal phaseout in the power generation sector across different regions under international climate targets. Using modelled scenarios, we highlight the strong rate of decline in new build and decommissioning of existing coal assets, and the growth in renewable capacity to not only fill the gap but meet growing demand for electricity. We find that key uncertainties exist across many of these pathways towards system decarbonisation. We also explore how regionally connected grids can help in transitioning away from coal whilst ensuring supply of electricity. Focusing on potential interconnection between India and the Gulf region, we find that this can be an important strategy for helping enable the transition based on increasing renewables, with regional interconnection encouraging coal phase-out even without a specific coal phase-out target. The technical modelling in this report requires further consideration, in respect of the other multiple benefits of a transition towards low carbon generation, but also the policy mechanisms that will enable delivery of what is a hugely challenging transition.

Disaggregating Development: A Critical Analysis of Sino-African Megaprojects

The emergence of Sino-African megaprojects has become a major topic of discussion in recent years. Developments such as the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway, Merowe Dam and Nova Cidade de Kilamba are among the most visible linkages between China and Africa and have substantive effects on both bilateral relations and host-country economies. Although Sino-African megaprojects are heterogeneous in terms of framing, objectives and outcomes, certain threads (e.g., drivers, imperatives and policy mechanisms) bind them together within the constellation of overseas Chinese-backed projects. This research systematically examines the diversity of Chinese-backed megaprojects that has sprung up on the continent over the last several decades to construct a framework that categorizes and connects them. In doing so, the article attempts to add form to the growing literature on Sino-African megaprojects.

Housing markets and housing policy in the Nordics

The Nordic Economic Policy Review (NEPR) is an annual publication presenting some of the latest and cutting-edge research into selected topics of economic policy. This year’s edition dives into the Nordic housing markets, examining some of the key policy mechanisms behind the rapidly rising housing prices, as well as the impacts on social welfare and social and ethnic segregation. The theme is selected by the NEPR steering group, which consists of representatives from the Nordic Ministries of Finance, Nordregio, and the NEPR editor. This publication provides a short summary of the five NEPR 2021 articles, which seek to answer the following questions: André Anundsen: What is the prevalence of house price bubbles in the Nordics? Erlend Eide Bø: Do buy-to-let investments lead to higher housing prices? Mats Bergman and Sten Nyberg: What explains the large increase in the relative cost of construction? Niku Määttänen: How can housing taxation improve social welfare? Essi Eerola: How do Nordic housing policies affect affordability and integration?