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Topic Review
Artificial Intelligence and Agricultural Sustainability
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one innovation emerging from the digitalization trend, often being used for precision agriculture and to enhance smart farming techniques. The digitalization of agricultural systems is aimed at the technological optimization of production, value chains, and food systems, as well as minimizing the environmental impacts of agriculture. 
  • 2.4K
  • 18 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Sustainable Consumption of Food
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides a global blueprint for dignity, peace, and prosperity for people and the planet, now and in the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an urgent call to action by all countries—developed and developing—in a global partnership. The fact that food is the basic resource for life highlights the need for a comprehensive goal that can be achieved by reducing food waste, promoting healthy and balanced nutrition, raising awareness of the society on responsible food consumption and developing policies on food consumption by regulatory authorities in connection with ensuring the sustainability of food consumption. Therefore, ensuring sustainable food consumption can also be seen as a generic goal that can be supported by almost all SDGs. 
  • 2.3K
  • 20 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Traditional Ecological Knowledge versus Ecological Wisdom
A novel concept has emerged in the landscape planning and design field as a response to environmental sustainability, which is known as ecological wisdom (EW). EW is defined as the ability to make prudent actions in contextual ecological practices. On the other hand, Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) has been developing for a long time and become a reference for environmental management. It refers to the evolving knowledge acquired by indigenous and local peoples over hundreds or thousands of years through direct contact with the environment. It is concerned with the relationship of living beings (including humans) with their traditional groups and environment. This study would like to search for evidence and define the distinction between both topics and find that they are distinct from their definition, agent, sources, and research scope. This study also found that TEK and EW could be similar when discussing the topic of indigenous culture capital, traditional knowledge, ecosystem services, and sustainability in the context of cultural landscape research. It also proposed a conceptual framework to help scholars to understanding the relationship between TEK and EW in the cultural landscape. Furthermore, states the potential areas for research improvement among TEK, EW, and its convergence.
  • 2.2K
  • 24 Aug 2022
Topic Review
The Honey Bee Apis mellifera
The honey bee Apis mellifera Linnaeus (1758) provides many benefits to humans and ecosystems. This species is an important pollinator in natural environments, which may help to preserve and restore the biodiversity of wild plants. On the other hand, pollination in agro-ecosystems by managed honey bee colonies may enhance crop yield and quality, meeting the increasing food demand. Beekeeping is also a high-valued and income-generating activity, which provides humans with honey as high-quality food as well as substances used as raw materials and in pharmaceuticals. In addition, the honey bee and its products are valuable bioindicators and bioaccumulators of environmental pollution: they provide valuable information on the impact of human activities, enabling the implementation of measures to mitigate risks to human and ecosystem health. The honey bee is also linked to many cultural ecosystem services and has a longstanding tradition in human culture, mysticism, and religion. Its popularity may be therefore used for educational purposes and to raise public awareness of important issues, such as the conservation of pollinator habitats and biodiversity.
  • 2.2K
  • 22 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Sustainable Consumption and Value Orientations
Sustainable consumption refers to consumption choices that are made by consumers who are considering environmental, social  and/or ethical issues during their purchase decision. When engaging in sustainable consumption, consumers assess whether products are benevolent to the environment, recyclable or conservable, and responsive to social, ecological and ethical concerns. Personal value orientations capture the importance that individuals attach to certain general values and the extent to which individuals adhere to these values as guiding principles in their lives. Three types of values have been associated with pro-environmental behaviour: egoistic (threats to oneself), social–altruistic (threats to others), and biospheric (threats to nature or the environment). 
  • 2.1K
  • 01 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Consumer Perception of Sharing Economy
The idea of sharing economy is based “on the philosophy of access-based consumption where, instead of buying and owning things, consumers want access to goods and prefer to pay for the experience of temporarily accessing them".
  • 2.0K
  • 10 Jan 2022
Topic Review
EU Road Transport Carbon Emissions
To accomplish the 1.5 °C and 2 °C climate change targets, the European Union (EU) has set up several policy initiatives. Within the EU, the carbon emissions of the road transport sector from the consumption of diesel and gasoline are constantly rising. (1) Background: due to road transport policies, diesel and gasoline use within the EU is increasing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and adding to climate risks. (2) Methods: sustainability analysis used was based on the method recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (3) Results: to meet its road transport requirements, the EU produces an estimated 0.237–0.245 billion tonnes of carbon per year from its total consumption of diesel and gasoline. (4) Conclusion: if there is no significant reduction in diesel and gasoline carbon emissions, there is a real risk that the EU’s carbon budget commitment could lapse and that climate change targets will not be met. Sustainability analysis of energy consumption in road transport sector shows the optimum solution is the direct electrification of road transport. 
  • 1.9K
  • 20 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Malaysian Palm Oil Industry
Oil palm is a highly productive oil crop as it produces up a yield up to ten times higher than other oilseed crops, such as soybean, sunflower and rapeseed, and has a productive life span of over 20 years. As such, oil palm plantations record the highest land productivity. With the growth in population and the surge in renewable energy, palm oil can address those demands by increasing the yield from the existing plantation areas.
  • 1.9K
  • 20 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Trends in Emission of Marine Traffic Haifa Port
The vessel fleet calling at Israel ports mainly comprises vessels that have a lower engine tier grade (i.e., Tier 0 and 1), which is considered a heavy contributor to nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollution. The entry recommends an additional cost charged (selective tariff) to reflect the external social cost linked to the single vessel air pollution combined with supportive technological infrastructure and economic incentive tools (e.g., electric subsidy) to attract or influence vessel owners to assign vessels equipped with new engine tier grades for calls at Israeli ports.
  • 1.9K
  • 17 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Climate-Smart Agriculture of Hungarian Agribusiness
Climate change and agriculture interact with each other in many ways and have a complex impact. The agriculture sector needs to be prepared to adapt to the expected effects of climate change, and emphasis must be placed on prevention to achieve emission reduction targets. The research explores the current situation in the agricultural sector, the risks of climate change, as well as the Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) solutions that appear at Hungarian agribusiness. Examining the climate innovation activities of farms shows a coherence of the practical application. The research is based on a questionnaire survey of Hungarian agribusiness and the country directorates of the National Chamber of Agriculture. The investigation confirmed that although farmers are susceptible to Agri-Innovation, they only partly exploit the potential of digitalization. For agriculture, the spread of agricultural digitalization and technology transfer is an excellent opportunity to increase agricultural production, maintain and improve its market position, and increase its digital maturity, which can also enhance the integration of climate innovation and sustainability aspects supporting the green economic development.
  • 1.8K
  • 24 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Toward a Feminist Agroecology
Agroecology is gaining ground as a movement, science, and set of practices designed to advance a food systems transformation which subverts the patterns of farmer exploitation currently entrenched in dominant agricultural models. A feminist agroecology focuses on redressing unequal gender relations as well as other intersecting relations of marginalization such as race, class, caste, and ethnic identity. 
  • 1.7K
  • 20 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Multilevel Single Use Plastics Governance
Unsustainable production and consumption patterns of single-use plastics (SUP) are causing worldwide negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts on land-based and marine ecosystems. As a transboundary problem, global governance of plastics includes international agreements and voluntary multi-stakeholder platforms, focused mainly on oceans and marine life. Nevertheless, adaptation and mitigation strategies are required in local territories. National governments and municipalities have approved uneven local policies with inconsistent standards. This entry briefly discusses plastic pollution, global and regional responses, particular emphasis in Latin America, and the regional framework of the Pacific Alliance. 
  • 1.7K
  • 07 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Fear Appeal Theory in Climate Change Communication
Although loss frames are strictly defined by their linguistic structure (i.e., conditional propositions with the structure “if not-then [undesired outcome]”) while fear appeals are more defined by their effects (i.e., the fear and perceived threat they elicit), the definitions of loss frames and fear appeals may largely be emphasizing different aspects of the same persuasive message, which may be understood with the same theory. If correct, fear appeal theory may offer an established and well-evidenced framework to guide goal-framing research and explain goal-framing effects in the sustainability domain.
  • 1.7K
  • 04 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Microplastics in Glaciers
Microplastic particles, as a second-phase material in ice, may contribute to the effect such particles have on the melting and rheological behaviour of glaciers, and thus influence the future meltwater contribution to the oceans and rising sea levels. Hence, it is of the utmost importance to map and understand the presence and dispersal of microplastics on a global scale. In this work, we identified microplastic particles in snow cores collected in a remote and pristine location on the Vatnajökull ice cap in Iceland. Utilising optical microscopy and µ-Raman spectroscopy, we visualised and identified microplastic particles of various sizes and materials. Our findings support that atmospheric transport of microplastic particles is one of the important pathways for microplastic pollution. 
  • 1.6K
  • 21 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Foraminiferal EcoQS Assessment, Transitional Waters
Transitional waters straddle the interface between marine and terrestrial biomes and, among others, include fjords, bays, lagoons, and estuaries. These coastal systems are essential for transport and manufacturing industries and suffer extensive anthropogenic exploitation of their ecosystem services for aquaculture and recreational activities. These activities can have negative effects on the local biota, necessitating investigation and regulation. As a result of this, EcoQS (ecological quality status) assessment has garnered great attention as an essential aspect of governmental bodies’ legislative decision-making process. Assessing EcoQS in transitional water ecosystems is problematic because these systems experience high natural variability and organic enrichment and often lack information about their pre-human impact, baseline, or “pristine” reference conditions, knowledge of which is essential to many commonly used assessment methods. Here, foraminifera can be used as environmental sentinels, providing ecological data such as diversity and sensitivity, which can be used as the basis for EcoQS assessment indices. Fossil shells of foraminifera can also provide a temporal aspect to ecosystem assessment, making it possible to obtain reference conditions from the study site itself. These foraminifera-based indices have been shown to correlate not only with various environmental stressors but also with the most common macrofaunal-based indices currently employed by bodies such as the Water Framework Directive (WFD).
  • 1.6K
  • 28 Jul 2021
Topic Review
The Hunter Valley, Climate Change Floods and SDGs
The realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development requires local governments globally to integrate Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their policy and practice. In the case of the Hunter Valley Region of Australia, a key sustainable development issue is climate change-induced flooding. The localization and mainstreaming of SDG 13 on climate action can support tangible municipal climate actions in the Region.
  • 1.6K
  • 14 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Micro-Irrigation Technologies in India and Africa
Water is an essential resource for the realization of the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The increasing global food insecurity, hunger, human population, and uneconomical extraction and use of non-renewable resources require, among other things, a substantial intensification of agricultural production. In this context, there has been a need to adopt irrigation technologies, especially in developing countries where agriculture and its allied sectors employ more than 50% of the total population but account for up to 90% of the total freshwater consumptive use. India and Africa are at the crux of this conundrum, where there is an urgent need to build resilience with the already excessively allotted water resources. Innovative and water-efficient irrigation technologies could be one of the windows of opportunity to overcome water scarcity and enhance food security in these regions. 
  • 1.5K
  • 08 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Education for Environmental Citizenship
Environmental citizenship and environmental education are a particularly special field for the symbolic and practical clashes of competing ideas, interests, and organizations. Smederevac-Lalic et al. explain that formal, informal, and non-formal education are mediators of other types of knowledge and that the perceptions and interests of participants in the three organizational forms also express different intentions and aspirations.
  • 1.5K
  • 14 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Land Take and Value Capture
Land use efficiency is a highly debated issue at an international level as several aspects can contribute to defining the concept of “efficiency”. However, if the term is contextualized in the field of urban development, this is closely linked to the concept of “public value”. The terms “land take” and “public value capture” (or often “land value capture”) as well as their use in different contexts have been discussed by scholars in the scientific literature in recent years. Marquard et al. (2020) argued towards bridging both notions of land consumption and LT. They proposed ways of addressing current ambiguities and suggested prioritizing the term “land take” in the EU context. Thus, the conceptual clarity around land consumption and LT has enhanced and a precondition for solidly informing respective policies and decisions provided. Barbosa et al. (2016) concluded that the implementation of the 2020 land take milestone will foster more efficient use of land and minimize negative impacts on non-artificial land uses. Colsaet et al. (2018) provided a systematic review on drivers of LT and urban land expansion. In this regard, they summarized the causal relationships between land take and different explanatory factors.Scholars concluded that “the effect of many factors however remains relatively undocumented or controversial in the reviewed literature, including widely used policy instruments”. Hendricks (2020) emphasized “public value capture” as one of the key factors of responsible land management and that smart instruments are needed for a successful implementation. He also characterized PVC as an essential phenomenon to improve the refinancing of public infrastructure and keep the necessary budget for other important duties such as social care.
  • 1.5K
  • 27 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Waste Treatment and Disposal in the European Union
Disposal via landfill has historically been the dominant method of municipal waste treatment and disposal in the European Union (EU). The EU’s Waste Framework Directive of 1975 (Council Directive 75/442/EEC) introduced the waste hierarchy into European waste policy for the first time, emphasising the importance of waste minimisation. Implementation of the waste hierarchy was optional to member states; but there was an expectation that it would be included within national waste management legislation. The waste hierarchy is a guiding principle that gives top priority to preventing waste; when waste is created, it gives priority to direct re-use, recycling, recovery methods, such as energy recovery, and last of all disposal (Council Directive 2008/98/EC).
  • 1.5K
  • 27 Jul 2022
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