How to guarantee food supply during pandemics? Rethinking local food systems from peri-urban strategic agents’ behaviour: The case study of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region

The Covid-19 pandemic has acted as a warning for the world’s current food system, especially in urban contexts with global food dependence. This article aims to analyse the food system behaviour of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (in the northeast of Spain) during the first stage of the pandemic by deepening the behaviour of different peri-urban agricultural areas in which local food supply is promoted. Semi-structured interviews to 11 entities and institutions located in the peri-urban area of the BMR based on its productive and management profile have been carried out from March to May 2020. The results obtained highlight the socio-economic, environmental, and health perspective of food supply during the pandemic. Main results show 1) shortcomings in the operation and logistics of the metropolitan food system; 2) the complicity between the local producer and the urban consumer through new sales and distribution initiatives, 3) the role of peri-urban agricultural areas for ensuring food supply and land preservation, and 4) the need to initiate cooperation and mutual aid activities between the different agents involved in the food system. Furthermore, agents underlined the need for rethinking the agroeconomic model to strengthening the producer-consumer nexus and promoting local food policy based on food sustainability, sovereignty, and governance.

Reseña de Border Wars. The conflicts that will define our future

Escrito por Klaus Dodds, profesor de geopolítica de la Universidad Royal Holloway de Londres, este texto es algo así como un manual de instrucciones para viajar al futuro de los conflictos geopolíticos y para empezar a vislumbrar un conjunto de nuevas guerras fronterizas cuyas bases se están gestando en la actualidad. Es, en otras palabras, una suerte de guía para interpretar las luchas de poder sobre el territorio que van a condicionar las relaciones internacionales en los años venideros.

The internal socio-economic polarization of urban neighborhoods, the case of Marseille

The socio-economic inequalities of the different metropolitan neighborhoods have been carefully documented and analyzed in the social science literature. Starting from this premise, this article focuses on the less common neighborhoods in which two extremes coexist: very low-income households and high-income households. The objective is to identify the neighborhoods with a high internal socio-economic polarization, geolocate them in the urban space, characterize their population and housing stock, and measure their recent evolutionary trends. The empirical analysis focuses on the neighborhoods of Marseille (France), a city characterized by strong socio-spatial segregation between poor neighborhoods in the north and rich neighborhoods on the southern coast, and the presence of neighborhoods in which populations coexist with unequal resources. This empirical study is based on the fiscal and social data (Filosofi file) that allow knowing the income distribution and based on the census data to characterize the socio-demography and the type of housing of the population. In order to identify neighborhoods with intense internal socio-economic polarization and measure their evolution of income distribution, original poverty and wealth indexes have been developed, which synthesize the two extremes of this distribution. These neighborhoods with a high internal socio-economic polarization usually present certain distinctive aspects, such as their geographical location or a more or less rapid and intense gentrification process. However, some of them seem to escape this process, as evidenced by the contrasting trends in the recent evolution of income distribution and structural heterogeneity of the housing stock, in which small apartments and old buildings are very overrepresented.

Susceptibilidad de afección por enjambres de medusas (Pelagia noctiluca) en las playas del litoral occidental de la provincia de Málaga

En el artículo se analiza y cartografía la susceptibilidad de afección por enjambres de medusas (Pelagia noctiluca) en las playas del litoral occidental de la provincia de Málaga. Los indicadores de peligrosidad de aparición de enjambres se elaboran a partir de un inventario de datos empíricos de avistamientos de medusas, registrados a través de la aplicación InfoMedusa (datos diarios para los meses estivales del periodo 2015-2020). Se proponen distintos indicadores de peligrosidad (frecuencia y severidad), y se calculan parámetros específicos que corrijan el problema del número desigual de observaciones en las playas. Los resultados cartográficos muestran que el patrón de distribución espacial no es aleatorio. Se observa una mayor frecuencia de episodios en las playas más occidentales del tramo estudiado, y el análisis preliminar de los factores condicionantes en cada playa permiten deducir una asociación de las playas con más propensión a recibir enjambres con la amplitud del ángulo de apertura de la misma, así como con la orientación al suroeste del tramo de costa en el que se sitúan las playas. Estas condiciones facilitan la entrada de las corrientes de levante procedentes del mar de Alborán, origen predominante de los enjambres.

Fertility of nationals and foreigners in Spain, Italy, and Greece during and after the economic recession and refugee crisis

This article provides an overview of trends in fertility of foreign and national women in Greece, Spain, and Italy during the last decade and before the Covid pandemic. It focuses on the fertility of foreigners and compares this with that of ‘nationals’. The main analysis focuses on a period marked, firstly, by the economic recession and stagnation, and then by the recent wave of the ‘refugee crisis’. Foreigner fertility in the three south Mediterranean countries differs significantly from that of nationals, with the former having higher fertility rates and lower mean age at childbearing. However, although foreigners make a large contribution to births, their impact on period fertility (total fertility rate or TFR) is limited. At the same time, although the fertility of both groups decreased during the first years of the recession, foreigner TFRs fell faster in both absolute and relative terms in Italy and Greece. However, after 2014, the foreigner period fertility among the three countries differs as a relative stabilisation is observed in Spain and Italy, while indicators rise in Greece. This divergence is due to the various composition changes in the settled after-2014 foreigners in the three countries and the strong recovery of foreigner births in Greece (as fertility in Greece was much more affected by the recession).

The construction of a growth-oriented global climate agenda: a critical historical analysis

By the end of 2019, more than 11,000 world scientists declared Planet Earth is facing a climate emergency, which signals the failure of the global climate agenda (GCA). Since it took off thirty years ago, emissions have continued to increase at the planetary level. We add to the literature focusing on the economic and political dimensions shaping the GCA. In particular, we examine its economic growth roots under the umbrella of sustainable development (SD) or green growth to shed some light on whether the rules driving the world economy are shaping it. Such rules are built on the growth ideology fuelling the current extractivist socioeconomic metabolism, which in turn lies behind the socioecological crisis. We review the main international climate-focused events and document a shift in the guiding principles of climate politics from the 1980s onwards under which growth is no longer viewed as a driver of climate change (CC) but as its solution. We argue that the strategy to promote growth-based SD represents the main cause of policy failure. Indeed, the result is a policy that is highly reliant on technological solutions and market-based instruments and leads to the belief that green growth is both possible and the solution to CC. Such a belief restricts the debate to the economy’s ‘decarbonisation’ and CC adaptation and overlooks other important socio-political aspects involve in climate action.

Tropical cyclone effects on vegetation resilience in the Yucatan Peninsula, México, between 2000-2012

The resilience capacity of vegetation in the Yucatan Peninsula is influenced by the winds and rains of tropical cyclones. There are no recent long-term studies on cyclonic impacts on natural vegetation in the region despite their significant effects on infrastructure and biodiversity. The objective of this study was to identify the area impacted by 21 tropical cyclones between 2000 and 2012 and to quantify the recovery capacity of the vegetation by using standardized anomalies of the normalized vegetation index (aNDVI). MODIS images from NASA’s “Terra and Aqua” satellites were used to calculate the damaged areas by analyzing the frequency of pixels corresponding to each type of vegetation per impact zone. The results showed that in 67% of the tropical cyclones, the impacts on vegetation were negative —a decrease in aNDVI—but in 33% of the cyclones, positive effects were recorded —an increase in aNDVI—. The lapse rate of vegetation recovery varied in 52% of the cases; vegetation recovered between two and three weeks after each cyclonic event, while 38% of the cases recovered within four to five weeks of the cyclone landfall. Tropical forests suffered the most significant effects, followed by hydrophilic vegetation. The most destructive hurricanes were Emily, Wilma, and Dean. The rate of recovery laps ranged from 4 to 10 weeks after the hurricane hit. The results could improve assessments of vegetation vulnerability against severe hydrometeorological events and establish priority zones for prompt inspection.

The representation of the rural exodus in Spanish cinema (1900-2020): evolution, causes and territorial consequences

Rural depopulation has been a constant feature of contemporary Spanish history and has been amply studied from the perspective of geography. Recently, however, there has been considerable media attention given to the consequences of internal migration. Behind the alarming demographic statistics lies a nexus of processes which have been reflected in the cinema since its beginning. This paper explores these processes at work in the rural sending environment and receiving urban destination through an analysis of six representative Spanish films. The fictional representation through film of a complex reality provides insights into the internal and contextual keys to understanding the phenomenon of ‘empty Spain’ or ‘hollowed-out Spain’. The films illustrate the persistence of two conflicting ideas (the rural and urban), divergence about what constitutes development and the quality of life, and the processes leading to ‘demotanasia’.

Beta-thalassemia in Mediterranean countries. Findings and outlook

Beta-thalassemia is one of the most common genetic disorders among humans. It occurs in many world regions, but the highest levels are recorded in the Mediterranean countries. This study reviews the epidemiology of β-thalassemia in these countries, as well as their resources for fighting the disease, and establishes an outlook on the trends in the pathology between now and 2050. The epidemiological parameters are based on information from specialised databases, while the outlook is derived from the global population forecasts of the United Nations. With an incidence rate at birth of 15.9 cases per 100,000 newborns, the Northern coast of the Mediterranean is the least impacted and has significant health infrastructures; the number of newborns concerned could decrease by 2050. The incidence rate on the Eastern Mediterranean coast, where numerous prevention programmes are available, is twice as high, at 31.4 per 100,000 newborns; over the next 30 years, the number of new cases at birth could increase. The incidence rate on the Southern Mediterranean coast is highest, at 36.8 per 100,000 newborns, and the region continues to suffer from a shortage of health infrastructures; the number of new cases at birth could increase considerably in the region between now and 2050. These long-term projections are based on population growth in the Mediterranean countries and will be changed only by the widespread use of antenatal practices against β-thalassemia. The findings of this study could enable the countries concerned to adapt their healthcare policies.

Assessment of climate change and prospective analysis on shallow lakes. Las Encadenadas del Oeste watershed, Buenos Aires - Argentina

The earth’s ecosystem is fragile, and sometimes even small changes in the climate can have impacts on the environment and society. Changes in temperature and precipitation can cause numerous feedbacks that effect the ecosystem of the whole Earth. Many studies hold that the temperature will rise in some places, while other areas will experience a cooling in annual mean temperatures. The study area is famous for its many ponds. These ecosystems will be both physically, biologically, and chemically affected by climate change and its feedbacks. Las Encadenadas del Oeste consists of seven shallow lakes (Epecuen, La Paraguaya, Venado, Del Monte, Cochico, Alsina, and Inchauspe) of various depths and sizes is a closed river basin system aligned in an east-west direction. The objectives of this work are to demonstrate the change in shallow lake size over a period of 20 years and to relate these changes to temperature and precipitation over the basin area for the same period. It is also intended to examine future temperature and precipitation scenarios in the study area. Maximum and minimum temperature data and precipitation data was retrieved from a climate station in Carhue. A multiple regression analysis was performed and five models and the shallow lake area were compared. The water levels in the shallow lakes will continue to fluctuate in the future as precipitation and temperature varies. Temperatures will increase quickly in the area; and around a 3 ºC change is expected before 2099. Only small variations in the temperatures have previously caused the lake to change in size. Precipitation patterns show a high variation, but the change is very small. Minimum temperature, which is already the most significant factor according to the statistical analysis, will in the future be an even more important factor if changes occur.