Made in Italy

Climate change, famine, and low-income communities challenge Sustainable Development Goals

Catholics and Communists in Twentieth-Century Italy: Between Conflict and Dialogue

Mass Audubon recognized that climate change was significantly impacting bird species distribution and seasonality. Unsure of how and when to engage visitors to their network of wildlife sanctuaries on the topic of climate change, its educators turned to the National Network of Ocean and Climate Change Interpreters' Study Circle (NNOCCI). Through participation in NNOCCI, with its focus on strategic framing, staff increased their confidence and abilities to communicate with their visitors about climate change and its impact on the varied habitats and wildlife in Mass Audubon's care. Educators from across the state customized their climate change programming for each unique site, including the creation of new program models that empowered visitors to collaborate with site staff to take individual and community-based action related to climate change adaptation.

Climate change poses challenges to the socio-economic life globally, though in varying degrees. Southern Africa is one of the regions that has shown signs of changes in climate. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007), temperatures in the region have risen by 0.5 degrees Celsius over the past hundred years. In addition, climate change has resulted in fifteen incidents of drought in Southern Africa between 1988 and 1992. This has consequently had a negative impact on the socio economic life of the inhabitants of the region. While climate change is an issue that requires attention from all spheres of government, it is posited in this article that the local sphere of government needs to be the focal point for redress as it is the sphere closest to the people. Mutanga, Pophiwa and Simelane (2013: 165) note that insufficient human and financial resources, inability to adapt technologically and politically driven climate change related programmes are some of the challenges faced by municipalities in tackling climate change. Capricorn District in Limpopo Province, South Africa has agriculture as one of its critical economic activities; thus climate change is a serious concern in the area. The article seeks to investigate how local government is responding to the climate change phenomenon. The Capricorn District Municipality is used as a case study. It must be noted that, although this municipality is not a typical representation of how the other local authorities in the country are responding to climate change, it however sheds significant light on how this phenomenon is viewed at this sphere of government. The guiding questions are: to what extent is climate change viewed as a challenge by local authorities? Secondly, what measures are local authorities taking to address both the causes and effects of climate change? It is postulated that local government in South Africa is not effectively proactive and innovative in dealing with climate change. There is a need for policies and mechanisms in municipalities that address challenges that are posed by climate change. This is only possible if both elected and appointed officials treat the issue as a priority. Interviews were conducted with key informants and official documents were consulted in order to gather data that would either support or refute the suggested hypothesis.

Climate change is arguably the greatest threat to population health worldwide. Urgent action is needed to mitigate and adapt to the impacts. National public health institutes (NPHIs) are key actors in preventing illness and improving the health and wellbeing of their populations. They therefore have a crucial role to play in addressing climate change and making it central to their agendas. They can contribute to a better understanding of how climate change affects health, translate this knowledge into policy advice, and identify health co-benefits and possible harms of mitigation and adaptation measures to support the implementation of healthy measures within and beyond the health sector. NPHIs are also responsible for reducing their own footprint through “greening” and can role model and support other organisations in this regard. The International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI) recognises the threat that climate change poses and, to this end, published the “IANPHI Roadmap for Action on Health and Climate Change” in November 2021. This roadmap highlights the essential role of NPHIs’ as “key climate actors”. NPHIs are at different stages of progress on climate change and health, and there is therefore need and opportunity to learn from best practices and to liaise and work together to address shared challenges. It is also essential that NPHIs have an ongoing collaboration with other actors, such as academics, civil society, NGOs and other non-state actors, within and beyond the health sector, in order to learn from other perspectives and sources of knowledge and to ensure coherence and joint action on climate change and health across the system. This workshop therefore aims to promote discussion and exchange and to raise the visibility of NPHIs as key climate actors in order to strengthen their individual and shared contribution. The workshop will also ensure that the IANPHI Roadmap remains front of mind a year after publication. It will also give the opportunity to NPHIs to share their progress since then, as well as promote coherence and exchange in their continued efforts. The workshop will start with a presentation of the IANPHI Roadmap, followed by three examples from NPHIs on their progress on climate change strategy development and implementation. It will then be followed by an interactive session and discussion on NPHIs’ priorities in this area, on how NPHIs and other actors can best exchange and work together, and on how IANPHI as a global network of NPHIs can promote and support NPHI and stakeholder cooperation. The presentations are coherent together in offering the Roadmap's vision as well as a set of diverse examples that illustrate the role of NPHIs on climate change and health in practice. Key messages • Emphasis of the important role that NPHIs have in addressing climate change and health, as well as the value of their partnerships and intersectoral working, which can be supported by IANPHI. • Promotion of discussion and new ideas between the presenters and the audience on how to ensure health is at the forefront when tackling climate change.

Counting carbon costs

As populations grow, climates change, and water resources (and budgets) dwindle, well-documented, wellcoordinated, and well-maintained groundwater management tools are needed more than ever. This book (Shepley et al. 2012), a collection of papers written specifically for this volume, provides not only case studies of individual groundwater modeling efforts, but also an important case study of an overall effort to model a nation’s aquifers. I read this book with great personal interest because I have been involved with a similar modeling program in Texas. (Texas is not a nation, but it used to be!) This collection of papers documents a national program administered by the United Kingdom’s Environment Agency between 1998 and 2009 to develop groundwater flow models of England’s and Wales’ primary bedrock aquifers. While most nonnatives will be aware of the internationally famous Chalk Aquifer, the book also discusses the Permo-Triassic Sandstone Aquifer, the Carboniferous Limestone Aquifer, and the Scottish alluvial aquifers, among others. The editors were closely involved in the national effort; therefore, they were well-positioned to coordinate and deliver a thorough and well-documented product. Broadly, the papers in the book fall into one of three categories: (1) organization and execution of the national modeling effort; (2) descriptions of the modeling efforts; and (3) discussions of conceptual model issues, methodologies, and use of the models. After a foreword by Mary P. Anderson (who also served as a reviewer of the volume), the first five papers focus on the organization and execution of the modeling program, including the history of modeling in the United Kingdom, the background of the national modeling program, the management of the program and its standards, how stakeholders were included in the process, and how final models have been served to stakeholders and others. Eight of the remaining 17 papers are primarily focused on descriptions of specific regional modeling efforts, with the other nine papers focused on conceptual model issues, methodologies, and use of the models. Topics include estimating recharge, using modeling to better understand groundwater flow, and developing and

The article analyzes the connection between climate change and migration, its reflection in Ukrainian legislation. It is noted that the main drivers of migration are socio-economic and political factors, but climate change may exacerbate them, while measures to adapt to them, adequate public administration and international cooperation – to weaken. It is concluded that the relationship between climate change and human mobility is relevant in political discourse at both the international and national levels and needs to be taken into account in legislation. At the same time, although Ukraine, like the world as a whole, is not free from the effects of global warming and may soon face forced relocations due to environmental problems, this relationship is reflected in the Ukrainian legal field very briefly. Only in some cases did the legislator take into account environmental problems and natural disasters in the context of migration. Thus, according to the current legislation, emergencies caused by natural disasters or environmental disasters can be a reason to warn citizens about the danger of leaving a country, which is not, however, a ban on visiting it. Legislation on internally displaced persons recognizes that natural emergencies may be one of the causes of IDPs, although there are no references to climate change. Natural and man-made disasters may be grounds for a foreigner or a stateless person to obtain temporary protection in Ukraine. In addition, Ukrainian law prohibits the forced return of foreigners and stateless persons to countries where their lives or health, safety or liberty are in danger as a result of a natural or man-made disaster. As climate change deepens, the need to take into account the link between migration and environmental degradation in migration policies and legislation will inevitably increase. Key words: migration; displacement; ecological migrants; climate change; migration law; migration policy

Climate change presents a pressing challenge to global water availability resulting in ‎increased variability in precipitation and increased temperatures, imposing more stress ‎on existing water resources and the economic activities that depend on them. The ‎Tormes catchment, located in a semi-arid region, is facing increasingly severe water ‎shortages, which may be further aggravated under climate change. This catchment is ‎extensively employed for agricultural purposes, and a potential reduction in the ‎availability of water for irrigation emerges as a significant concern.‎This study evaluates the impact of climate change on water availability, and the ‎responses implemented by irrigators to adapt to growing scarcity, in the Tormes ‎catchment. To this end, we develop a human-water system model that couples the Soil ‎and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model and a Positive Multi-Attribute Utility ‎Programming (PMAUP) model using a dynamic and modular approach. The coupled ‎model runs the water (SWAT) and human (PMAUP) system models iteratively and ‎over time using inputs from six different bias-corrected Global Climate ‎Models(GCMs) under CMIP6 scenarios, as follows: i) CMIP6 climate change scenario ‎simulations are fed to the SWAT model to estimate relevant hydrological data ‎including water availability in March (beginning of the irrigation campaign); ii) ‎information on water availability is fed to the PMAUP model to simulate the adaptive ‎responses of irrigators in terms of water and land allocation; iii) land and water use ‎choices by irrigators are fed into the SWAT model, which reproduces the ‎consequences of human decisions on the water system; iv) when the hydrological year ‎is over, a new iteration starts where CMIP6 climate change scenario simulations for ‎the following year are fed into the SWAT model and the process is repeated again. The ‎non-linearity and modular approach in both the hydrological and economic models ‎imply complex and interconnected interactions within these systems, with behaviors ‎that may or may not follow linear patterns.‎Six bias-corrected GCMs under CMIP6 scenarios were employed for the climate ‎change scenario simulations. The dataset covered precipitation, maximum and ‎minimum temperatures for the historical period (1981–2010) and projections for ‎SSP245 and SSP585. Future data was analyzed for three periods: 2020–2039, 2040–‎‎2059, and 2060–2100. A multi-model ensemble approach was applied, averaging ‎outputs from the six models. Precipitation and temperature data were integrated into ‎the SWAT model.‎The hydrological analysis revealed a downward trend in projected precipitation, with ‎reductions of 0.7% (2020s), 0.3% (2040s), and up to 5.3% (2060s) under SSP245. ‎SSP585 showed declines of 6.4% (2020s), 6.6% (2040s), and 16.1% (2060s). ‎Maximum and minimum temperatures exhibited an upward trend under both ‎scenarios. Simulated mean annual runoff under SSP245 experienced a drastic ‎reduction of 48.1% in the 2020s, followed by 43.8% (2040s) and 53% (2060s). ‎Similarly, under SSP585, mean annual runoff decreased by 47.2% over the entire ‎projection period. While the hydrological analysis reveals concerning trends in ‎precipitation, temperature, and mean annual runoff under different scenarios, the ‎economic results, reflecting the effects of these hydrological changes on human ‎activities, are still being investigated and are not yet finalized.‎

In an attempt to reduce CO2 emissions and tackle climate change, the UK government has set targets of 10% of energy output by 2010, and 15% by 2015, to be sourced from renewable energy, with an aspirational 20% by 2020 (Morley 2006). This is a considerable challenge, and the race is on to meet these targets. Of the renewables sufficiently advanced to contribute to these goals, wind energy constitutes the major component, with offshore wind farms expected to deliver the bigger share (British Wind Energy Association; http://www.bwea.com). Other sources of renewable energy at different stages of development in the UK are: hydro, which currently supplies 2% of the UK's installed energy capacity (and is particularly important in Scotland); solar; tidal (tidal stream); wave power; and biomass – all of which are relatively small scale at present. Formerly, considerable investment was made into research in tidal power barrages (Clark 2006). Whilst these are no longer at the forefront of renewable energy development in the UK, the associated research has increased our understanding of birds in intertidal habitats; and hence the potential impacts on birds of energy generation schemes in these habitats. Clearly, the impacts of a changing climate – sea level rise, warmer temperatures, changes in precipitation, and increasing extreme weather events, for example – all have implications for birds and other biodiversity (IPCC 2001), so renewable energy is welcomed as one of a raft of measures to help slow climate change. However, renewable energy developments can have their own impacts on biodiversity (e.g. Langston & Pullan 2003, Barrios & Rodriguez 2004, Hötker et al. 2004). What are these impacts? What research has been undertaken into their nature and likelihood? What research is needed? What contribution can ecological research make to inform renewable energy developments, thus minimizing any deleterious effects on biodiversity? In recognition of the need to take stock, improve the mutual understanding of the technical and biological issues arising from different forms of renewable energy, and to attempt to minimize the potential conflict between renewables and birds, the British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) held its annual spring conference in 2005 on Wind, Fire and Water: Renewable Energy and Birds. The conference was held at the University of Leicester, 1–3 April 2005, supported by The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds; the Department of Trade & Industry (for England and Wales); the Renewables Advisory Board; British Wind Energy Association; and English Nature. There were 190 attendees, comprising a broad range of interests, including: the scientific community; conservation bodies; environmental consultancies; government; and industry. This was an excellent opportunity to stimulate debate between people with different interests and perspectives, with the aim of starting a discourse that would continue beyond the conference. The topic of renewable energy routinely polarizes views, and the purpose of the conference was to: present an objective overview of the technologies and their potential effects on birds; methods of minimizing the risk of adverse impacts; and to identify gaps in knowledge and how to plug them. The first presentation, on Friday evening, set the scene for the rest of the conference, and provided the link with an earlier BOU conference that was dedicated to climate change (Rehfisch et al. 2004). Prof. Brian Huntley (University of Durham), reminded delegates that climate change per se is not new, but the anthropogenic influence this time around is unprecedented (Huntley et al. 2006). Furthermore, the predicted rate and magnitude of change in global temperature and greenhouse gas emissions also are without parallel, at least during the evolution of most extant species. He described how we can learn from past responses to climate change and model likely responses to future climate change, illustrating this with examples from predictive models of changing bird distributions for Europe and Africa. Spatial responses are most likely – for those organisms that can move rapidly enough – and therein lies the problem. For many species, the shift in their preferred climate may outpace their ability to respond. The stark prognosis from a recently published global study by Thomas and colleagues (2004), is that a high proportion of plant and animal taxa (9–32%) might be committed to extinction by 2050. There is a clear impetus for ‘action now’– to slow the pace of, or ideally reduce, future climate disruption – as termed by Dr Mark Avery (RSPB's Director of Conservation); a definition that better reflects the problems associated with climate change predictions. There is an urgent need to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, reduce dependence on fossil fuels, and use energy resources more wisely, to counter what is increasingly considered by some as the greatest threat to global biodiversity. We need to tackle other causes of accelerated climate change too, for example transport, in particular aviation, but that is a debate for another occasion. There was reference to nuclear power – because it is a carbon-free technology – but it is not renewable, and that thorny issue too was left for another day. Internationally, the political debate is divided in terms of how to combat climate disruption, but there is recognition that a mix of renewable sources of energy has an essential role to play as part of a suite of measures. Following a welcome by the BOU's President, Prof. Chris Perrins, the official opening address was given by Elliot Morley MP, Minister for Environment and Agri-Environment (Morley 2006). Mr Morley stressed the need to maintain reliability, adequacy and affordability of energy supply, and for energy efficiency measures to be adopted in homes, businesses and transport. Of the renewable sources of energy, wind power is currently the most cost-effective, and both onshore and offshore wind farms are expected to be the main contributor to the 2010 target of 10% from renewable sources. This is an ambitious first goal in terms of timescale, and has brought into sharp focus the paucity of information regarding the impacts on biodiversity. The longer-term vision includes bringing online several novel technologies, notably wave and tidal, as well as increased involement from more established renewable sources, such as hydro and biomass, of which the latter is set to boost its contribution considerably. Energy generation, including that from renewable sources, has its own potential for environmental harm. The requirement is to balance the risk of adverse impacts on biodiversity, with the need to address climate disruption. The Minister welcomed the conference as timely and helpful in identifying the issues and considering mitigation, stating that renewables cannot be at the expense of biodiversity. In the lively open-floor discussion that followed the opening speech, the Minister said that, whilst one could not say ‘no, never’, Special Protection Areas (SPAs) should be last on the list for development proposals. He also emphasized the need for monitoring to plug gaps in information and referred to the Marine Bill which will provide for spatial planning of activities in the marine environment, including energy, fishing, and aggregates, thereby helping to minimize conflict. Further lively debate took place during the conference, culminating in the plenary session that closed the conference. Before that, a full and diverse programme of conference presentations took centre stage, as presented in these Proceedings of the 2005 Annual Conference of the BOU. Wind, Fire & Water: Renewable Energy & Birds was a conference organized by Rowena Langston (The RSPB) and Steve Dudley (BOU) on behalf of the British Ornithologists’ Union. The BOU is grateful to the individual speakers and their respective organizations for presenting their work at the conference. The BOU and the conference organizers are grateful to Richard Evans, Guy Anderson, Sam Gardner and Alison McLennan (all The RSPB) for their help and support during the conference weekend. The BOU is very grateful to Rowena Langston (Guest Editor) and her editorial team, Guy Anderson, Allan Drewitt, Richard Evans, David Gibbons, Richard Oxley and Jeremy Wilson, for their invaluable work in delivering these proceedings within 12 months of the conference being held. These proceedings have been published with generous support from The RSPB, Department of Trade and Industry, Renewables Advisory Board, British Wind Energy Association and English Nature.

The engineering profession has a critical role to play in the fight against climate change. It goes much further than risk management and the repair of structures damaged by extreme weather events such as persistent flooding. A crucial task is the development of a robust infrastructure capable of withstanding further weather onslaughts. New ways of working will be necessary to create resilient structures and services aimed at a low-carbon economy and the adaptation and mitigation of climate change. Section C-2 of the March 2014 instalment of the fifth IPCC Report, IPCC WGII AR5 SPM, emphasises the importance of the development of adaptive learning in order to develop effective adaptation and mitigation measures to create climate-resilient infrastructures. This also needs to be reflected in the professional education of future engineers. The latest IPCC Report, IPCC WGIII AR5 SPM, stresses the global risk of climate change and the need to take steps to build resilience and sustainability, in urban areas in particular. Undoubtedly, this implies the involvement of the engineering profession. An understanding of the activities of forces committed to dismissal and misrepresentation of the scientific evidence of climate change is essential (see The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia (APEGBC), http://www.apegm.mb.ca/pdf/PD_Papers/cc-eng.pdf, 2014; Lucena et al., Integration of climate change in the analysis and design of engineered systems: barriers and opportunities for engineering education. In: Proceedings of the ASME 54914, vol 5, Engineering Education and Professional Development, pp 199–206, 2011; Parkinson, Tackling climate change – the role of the engineer. In: Women’s Engineering Society annual conference, ‘Proper Practice: Professionalism and Ethics in Engineering and Science’, SGR http://www.sgr.org.uk/resources/tackling-climate-change-role-engineer, 2003; The Royal Academy of Engineering, Infrastructure, engineering and climate change adaptation – ensuring services in an uncertain future. http://www.theiet.org/policy/collaboration/etf/infrastructure.cfm, 2011).

Climate change is one of the most important issues concerning with sustainable development of human beings and a branch of international environment law.Space technology, especially satellite technology, has been recognized as a feasible means to deal with climate change and is being applied more and more widely.Independently or cooperatively, states monitor the elements, process, and effects of climate change through satellite remote sensing, radar and other technologies in order to adapt and mitigate climate change.However, relevant policies and regulations remain at the level of encouraging the application of technology only and leave the blank in regulating the scope and means of the application of them, which might lead confusion and dispute sometimes.Overall, considering the outer space law and the governance rules of climate change issue are two independent branches of international law with respective characters, when designing the pathway for space technologies using in tackling climate change, there is a need for collaboration not only between the two branches, but also among the multistakeholders participating in this issue.

The principle of less eligibility stipulates that if imprisonment is to act as a deterrent the treatment given a prisoner should not be superior to that provided a member of the lowest significant social class in the free society. Less eligibility is a powerful concept that has greatly influenced the policies and operations of the correctional system but has rarely been discussed in any detail. This work will consider the history of less eligibility stemming from the English Poor Laws and the writings of Jeremy Bentham and then present an analysis of the principle relative to sentencing discretion, deterrence, prison reform, the quality of prison life, convict labor, rehabilitation programs, jail practices, and post-release experiences.

According to the US Department of Justice, the number of females in the correctional population more than doubled between 1986 and 1997, and between 1990 and 2000 the number of adult female inmates increased at a faster rate than that of men. This is a reference book on the subject of women and crime, a field of study growing in interest since the late 1960s. Consisting of over 240 detailed entries, it is international in scope and covers women as offenders, victims, criminologists, the criminal lawyers, reformers and even justice system workers. It approaches the material from four different perspectives - offenders, offences, and theories on offending; victims and victimology; criminal justice system; and punishment and treatment. It includes coverage of key legal issues and case law decisions, women's prisons, prison reformers and death row inmates. It also looks at domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment and rehabilitation programs. Finally it investigates why women commit crimes and features some famous women criminals.

This article takes stock of recent literature on health impacts of climate change and air pollution, and the corresponding health benefits of policy action aiming to reduce greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions. We focus particularly on the publications in the Focus Collection on ‘Climate Change, Air Pollution and Human Health’, which illustrate advances in three key research areas. First, the impacts of global warming and air pollution are unevenly distributed, as they disproportionately affect vulnerable socio-economic groups including older adults, pregnant women, children, and people with lower earnings or education levels. Second, recent research improves our understanding and quantification of impacts identified in earlier work, and explores novel impact pathways such as the associations between allergies and climate change, and between air pollution and diabetes mellitus, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Third, significant synergies in tackling climate change and air pollution can strengthen the case for ambitious policy action. These synergies are heterogeneous across sectors and regions, point to low-hanging fruit among policy options (e.g. phasing out coal), and provide a strong basis for broader sustainable development, improving health and gender equality. Finally, we point out suggestions for future research. Research advances can guide policies to mitigate future climate change, air pollution and the associated health impacts, while informing adaptation strategies that aim to protect the health of the most vulnerable in society.