Environment & Human Development – Page 2

Academia in the Time of COVID-19: Towards an Ethics of Care

By Esteve | 30/03/202021/05/2020 by Esteve

An extended and improved version of the post below was published in Open Access by the journal Planning Theory and Practice, and it can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1080/14649357.2020.1757891 Covid-19 is having dramatic consequences for millions of people’s work-life balance, and academics are no exception. These are transformative times for everyone, and we do not say this glibly. We are living through a global pandemic of unprecedented scope, scale and impact. Unprecedented is the speed at…

Beyond market logics in PES

By Esteve | 23/01/202030/04/2020 by Esteve

As originally conceived, Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes provide conditional cash transfers directed to poor farmers and land users in exchange for greener land use practices that enhance carbon sequestration, water provision, or biodiversity protection. Two decades of experience with the PES approach has demonstrated that few, if any, initiatives conform to the assumptions that underlie the original economic model. This collection of articles, guest edited by Elizabeth Shapiro-Garza, Pamela McElwee, Gert van Hecken…

Climate policies, natural resources and conflict: Implications for development

By Esteve | 31/08/201930/04/2020 by Esteve

The journal Climate Policy has published a new special issue focused on climate change policies, natural resources management and conflict, and the linkages of these policies and processes with development in the global South. Guest edited by Dik Roth (Wageningen University), Courtney Work (National Chengchi University) and myself, the special issue encompasses eight articles which engage critically with REDD+, renewable energy, and adaptation and resilience interventions, among others. The collection reveals that certain hegemonic discourses,…

Regrow forests with people

By Esteve | 31/05/201930/04/2020 by Esteve

In a Letter led by Rose Pritchard and Dan Brockington (University of Sheffield), published in Nature last Thursday, we respond to a recent Commentary in the same journal by Lewis et al. The authors advocate for increasing carbon sequestration uptake through forest restoration, in order to mitigate climate change. Lewis et al. call to do so promoting the growth and protection of ‘natural forests’, particularly in tropical and sub-tropical countries, and avoiding the use of…

Large-scale irrigation as maladaptation?

By Esteve | 02/04/201930/04/2020 by Esteve

Agricultural landscapes are dynamic environments which change in response to cropping and trade opportunities, available technologies and climatic conditions. In this article, led by McGill University researcher Amaia Albizua, we investigate farmers’ vulnerability to climate-related stressors and crop price volatility in rural Navarre, Spain. Specifically, we analyse the extent to which livelihood differences and vulnerability can be partly explained by the development of a large-scale irrigation project promoted by the Spanish and regional governments. Grounded…