The environmental politics of development

Climate change is a pervasive global issue that threatens the livelihoods and wellbeing of billions living globally. Climate change is a risk multiplier impacting all ecosystems, society, and sectors of the economy. The agriculture sector is one such sector that is highly vulnerable to changes in climate. In a country like Nepal where rainfed agriculture is a dominant occupation and a key pillar of the country’s economy, climate change brings risks and negative consequences for on-farm production, farmers' livelihoods as well as on the country’s development. The impacts of climate change including rising temperatures, an increase in the frequency or intensity of extreme weather events such as drought, and shifts in the rainfall seasonality, can cause a decline in food production and threaten the quality of food supplies, leading to reduced food security. The rise in the global population will increase global demand for food which implies that agriculture needs to boost production and increase yields, among other things. The unprecedented risks posed by climate change potentially undermine the ability of farms and farm holders to grow adequate and quality food. The severity of these risks varies due to a range of underlying factors including low economic development, their location, existing biophysical and socioeconomic conditions, and institutional arrangements. While the impacts of climate change on food production as well as agricultural practices in Nepal have been documented, there is a dearth in scholarly literature that has assessed the impacts of climate change on household food security in Nepal incorporating farmers’ perspectives and in particular smallholder subsistence farmers. Furthermore, there is only modest literature that has examined geographical variations in those experiences and understandings. This PhD study aimed, therefore, to investigate the effects of climate change on agricultural practices and food security, with a focus on subsistence smallholder farmers in three main agro- ecological zones of Nepal known as The Mountains, Hills, and the Terai. The study aimed to respond to the primary research question: How are Nepalese farming communities being impacted by climate change and how are they responding to ensure their continued food security? To answer this main research, question the study posed the following secondary research questions: Q1. How is climate changing and how is it impacting subsistence agriculture? Q2. What are the farmers experiencing and what is their understanding? a. Are there gender differences in understanding and experiencing? Q3. What is the state of food insecurity among these farmers? a. How is it being impacted by climate change? Q4. What adaptation strategies have been adopted by smallholder farmers to address threats to agricultural practices and food security from climate change and other pressures? Both the qualitative and qualitative data were collected using multiple methods to address the identified research questions. Methods included a narrative literature review, systematic review, face to face interviews with farmers, individual interviews with key informants and focus groups with the women's group. Climate data on temperature between 1971-2013 and rainfall between 1967-2013 were analysed. Additionally, secondary data on crop yield from 1980 to 2016 were also analysed to gain a better empirical understanding of the relations between climate change and yield pattern and to triangulate and validate the findings from the interviews. Quantitative data on cereal crop yields and climate data were systematically tabulated and further statistically analysed using software R. This study employed the Bayesian approach to statistical modelling. Besides, this study undertook an integrated risk assessment of food insecurity using the Bayesian Belief Network model to reflect how the risk of food insecurity is influenced under two scenarios: (1) current climate conditions and (2) the influences of different adaptation strategies employed. NVivo was used for content analysis for qualitative data obtained from the key informant interview and focus group data and analysis of transcripts from farmers' structured interviews. The findings showed that agricultural practices have undergone various changes over the past 30 years. Climate change impacts were experienced by farmers in all three agro-ecological zones of Nepal. However, the impacts varied between these zones in terms of frequency and intensity. The effect of climate change was highly pronounced in the Mountains zone followed by the Hills and the Terai. The results confirmed that rural subsistence smallholder farmers dependent on rainfed agriculture are vulnerable to climate change impacts. Moreover, it disproportionately affects the poor farmers whose income hinges solely on agriculture and associated activities. Boosting agricultural production and empowering these smallholders is key to enhancing their food security. The experiences reported by farmers are well aligned with the trend of the climatic variables obtained from climate data analysis, highlighting the importance of perception-based survey in complementing climate research. The study demonstrated both the climatic and non-climatic factors are affecting agricultural practices as well as household food security of these farming communities. It is, therefore, difficult to isolate the influence of any of these factors. This was supported by the findings from the risk assessment undertaken by Bayesian modelling. Based on Bayesian modelling, the smallholder farmers mainly at the Mountain zone were at the risk of food insecurity. The measures to increase the adaptive capacity of these smallholders were found to help them manage the risk of food insecurity. Addressing the complicated and multifaceted concerns of climate change and food security needs multidisciplinary and multisectoral adaptation interventions acknowledging underlying biophysical, social, economic, geographical and environmental circumstances. Farmers have taken some actions to adapt and reduce the worsening impacts of climate change. Nevertheless, farmers encountered several barriers in effectively adapting to climate change. This study concluded there is an urgent need for a transformative level of intervention that warrants a coordinated action and collaboration between relevant stakeholders working in this field, including governments and non-governmental organizations, to target the most vulnerable and the needy smallholder farmers addressing the constraints and pressures they face. Policy and decision-makers should work extensively and sensitively with smallholders to ensure the maintenance of their livelihood and to guarantee their food security. Combining local and scientific knowledge is needed to help direct research and tailor adaptation solutions that meet local conditions and needs.

What risks does climate change pose to Texas? Is a safe and sustainable future possible, given our energy and economic interests, and widespread political rejection of these risks? And why are evangelicals so opposed to accepting the science of climate change? Join us for a lively discussion with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, climate scientist and an award-winning communicator.

This paper focuses mainly on assessing the food security-agriculture-climate change nexus and provides multidisciplinary scientific assessment and recommendations for sustainable agro ecological solutions in the quest of humanity to sustainable development. While agriculture tend to support the overwhelming majority of the population in every part of Africa in general and in Ethiopia in particular, climate change in itself will very likely affect four key dimensions of the food security including availability, accessibility, utilization and sustainability of the food, due to close linkage between food and water security and climate change. The impacts of climate change and increases in climate variability on agricultural systems and natural-resource-dependent households, as well as on food security and the future vulnerability of already hungry people in Ethiopia and of course in most of the developing countries in Africa, are highlighted in the paper. It is also worth mentioning that, the role of climate-smart agriculture can be used for mitigating and adapting the impacts of projected climate change. CSA brings together practices, policies and institutions that are not necessarily new but are used in the context of climatic changes. Furthermore, it addresses challenges faced by triple interplay of agriculture, food security and climate change simultaneously and holistically.

Hi Reddit, Last year, I retired from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (the only chemist on the faculty!), where I founded and directed the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (http://fletcher.tufts.edu/CIERP) for 22 years. I supervised many masters’ and doctoral students during that time, including the co-chair of the Paris climate negotiations. I continue to work on climate science and policy, energy, water, forests and oceans to develop scientifically valid and effective strategies and policies. I served as a lead author on five IPCC reports over a 19-year period. Until recently I served as Chief Scientist at Earthwatch Institute (http://earthwatch.org/) and continue to serve as the Chair of their Science Committee. I also serve on the board of directors of Woods Hole Research Center (http://whrc.org/), ranked as the most influential climate think tank for the past two years, and several additional environmental science and consensus building organizations. The science of climate change is complex, and the politics are more so. I have always found the interaction between the two to be fascinating, and remember being shocked as a young scientist that science did not always determine the political outcome of a policy process. I want to share with you the role of science in the outcome of the Paris climate negotiation that just ended on December 11th, 2015. A bit of history: back in the 1980s, a group of scientists convinced some governments that based on their research, the release of heat trapping gases into the atmosphere would heat the earth to a point where there could be uncontrollable and irreversible warming with devastating consequences for all life, including humans. This science prompted two actions. The first was to create the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to provide scientific input to governments on the science, impacts, vulnerabilities, adaptation, and mitigation of climate change. The second was to negotiate an international treaty, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change that was signed by 154 nations in 1992. The Paris negotiations were the 21st meeting of the parties to the original treaty, and its actions both utilized and ignored science in the final outcome. I invite you to join me in a discussion about how science and policy came together and diverged over issues like the 2oC global temperature goal during the recent Paris talks. I’ll be back at 1 pm EST (10 AM PST, 6 pm UTC) to answer your questions, ask me anything! EDIT: We are live! EDIT IN CLOSING: Thank you all for your engagement, and your thoughtful questions. It has been very gratifying to hear your concerns. Let me close with one final thought. So many actions to address climate change have many additional benefits for providing sustainable energy to all and lift people out of poverty. There would be far less damage to the planet and our health if we can make the shift away form fossil fuels. As I said earlier, we also need to do Restorative Development to mobilize the biosphere so that we improve our forests and land quality every time we use them instead of constantly degrading them. Perhaps, you will enjoy one of my favorite cartoons as a closing. http://imgur.com/up6yu

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

Objectives: The objective of this article is to investigate the dynamic relationship between Climate Science, Policy and Law. It aims to analyse how climate change policy requires accurate information for decision- making, and climate change science needs a ccurate information on economic development. Since neither of these can be achieved, climate change policy has to learn decision-making under uncertainty, and climate change science has to base its projections on possible scenarios and storylines. Methods: The article argues that the link between climate change science and climate change policy are projections of future climate change and impact. Results: The article highlights how initially, concern about the nature of the problems associated with climate change did not invite universal agreement among scientists howsoever; the line of thinking became very much clearer throughout the 1990s. The second assessment report of the IPCC contains general thrust of the scientific arguments. Conclusion: The article concludes that, among policymakers a consensus began to emerge that indeed a problem did exist. The increasingly apocalyptic predictions of the IPCC seem to have won over the policy makers. The apocalyptic prediction entertains the idea that instead of being a gradual process, global warming, may involve a sudden switch to a new climate system

The study aimed to calculate the livelihood vulnerability of organic and non-organic rice farmers' households to climate change. The sample was determined by a census comprising 60 organic and 80 non-organic rice farmers who lived in Pematang Sawa Sub-district, Tanggamus Region, Lampung Province, Indonesia. The livelihood vulnerability index (LVI) was measured based on seven main indicators: natural disaster and climate variability, agriculture profile, food security, water security, food/rice consumption, educational attainment, and income. The results showed that organic rice farmers' households were more vulnerable in terms of natural disaster and climate variability, water security, food consumption, education, and income, while non-organic rice farmers' households were more vulnerable in terms of agriculture profile and food security. Using the LVI framework approach of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (LVI-IPCC), non-organic rice farmers’ households were found to be more vulnerable to climate change than organic rice farmers' households. To better observe the vulnerability of organic and non-organic rice farmers' households to climate change, future studies should be conducted in two distant locations (e.g., different regions or provinces) because different climate components could significantly influence the findings. Rice farmers' households could become less vulnerable by providing them with objective climate information that will encourage them to adopt the necessary climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. Further support is needed in the form of resources aid programs, such as the provision of irrigation systems or pumping wells, as well as livestock aid to increase the farmers’ income.

The global climate has been regularly changing for the many decades and most of these changes, unfortunately, are not even worthy at all. The rising temperature of earth surface, rising sea level due to melting of glacier, fluctuation in rainfall, flooding, declining ground water, drought, soil erosion, etc. are the clear evidences of climate change. Natural and human activities both are responsible for climate change. The association between climate change and food security is complex. Estimation of the potential effects of climate change on food security requires a detailed understanding of the three aspects of food security-food availability, food access, and food utilization-and how they are affected by climate change. Most of the earlier studies focus only one aspect of food security i.e. food availability. This paper provides an overview of the impact of climate change on India's food security, keeping in mind all the three dimensions. The study reveals that climate change has decreased the yield and quality of most of food grain crop in different regions which ultimately affects food security in the country.

Complexity and interdisciplinary approaches to environmental research

This study aims at contributing to the vulnerability and adaptation to climate changes (CC) analysis of bordering communities of Togodo Reserve, in order to enhance their resilience. Specifically, the present study attempted to (i) identify the climatic hazards of the WRT; (ii) determine the impacts of climate variability and change on their livelihoods; (iii) assess the socio-economic vulnerability of these communities to food insecurity in relation to CC; and (iv) identify indigenous adaptation strategies to control the effects of CC. The methodological approach used is based on a factual research and a field investigation. The investigation is conducted in two villages around the reserve, namely Deve and Gbohoule. The results showed that climate variability and change were appreciated in different indicators by the local communities living around the WRT: Droughts, flooding, high winds and temperature increase with severe consequences on the communities (famine, destruction of tangible and intangible properties, loss of human life, populations’ migration). The communities are aware that humans are responsible for these events that have become recurrent from 2007 and occur almost every year. According to them, the causes of climate changes are deforestation (due to overexploitation of timber, fuelwood and shifting agriculture), bush fires, rapid increase in population, anger of gods due to irregularities of sacrifices and violations of customs. The communities are vulnerable to main climatic hazards and suffered from food insecurity. The factorial correspondence analysis (FCA)) carried out shows that the perception of the degree of exposure of households to risks depends on their standard of livelihood. Facing these climate events, the populations develop many adaptive strategies of which most are consistent with the national orientations and strategies. These adaptive strategies must be reinforced and supported in order to reduce the vulnerability of these populations to climate changes. Key words: Climate variability and change, communities, livelihood, vulnerability and adaptation, Wildlife Reserve of Togodo.

Sustainability and food security are the major challenges faced by third world countries for the past several decades. Most of the third world countries are also facing problems of climate change, increasing population, overexploitation of natural resources and resource degradation associated with rapid economic growth. Among the scientific and policy circles there are controversies in using inorganic chemicals and biotechnology for sustaining the agricultural production. There is no critical comprehensive review on sustainability of alternative farming systems and their relative advantages over conventional, chemicalized and hi-tech agriculture for decision making at various levels. This review tries to fulfill the knowledge gap in this vital sector. The first part of the review discuss the current status of agroecosystems, with emphasis on their threats in terms of food security, long term sustainability, impacts on ecosystem services and climate change. We also evaluate the ecological, economic, social and cultural sustainability of inorganic agriculture. This analysis points emerging issues such as environmental degradation, loss of ecosystem services, non-sustainability and threats to food security in the context of global population growth and climate change. Hence there is an urgent need for identifying potential alternative farming strategies to achieve long term sustainability and food security as indicated by several leading workers in the field. The next section traces the background and evolution of alternative farming systems with their scope and importance. Then we classified potential sustainable farming techniques practiced in various parts of the world. For that we review potentials, constraints, strategies and case studies for ten alternatives farming techniques and four innovative endogenous farming techniques from India. The alternative farming techniques that were field tested and perfected over several generations in the past portrayed the following advantages over chemical farming: (1) eco-friendly by protecting and revving life support systems and ecosystem services, (2) higher cost benefit ratio, benefiting the farmers as well as the consumers, (3) control and reduction of bioaccumulation and biomagnification, (4) reduction in air, water and soil pollution caused by various pesticides and other chemicals, (5) control of health hazards in humans and livestock, and (6) conservation and sustainable use of on-farm biodiversity, including traditional cultivated germplasm and natural resources in agrosystems.

Members of the genus Dioscorea, food yams, were introduced to Jamaica from Africa during the slave era and have remained a staple in local diets and national cuisine. Yam cultivation has also been an important economic activity providing employment for thousands of rural Jamaicans. Until the 1960s yams were grown for local use by subsistence growers for home consumption or by commercial growers for sale in local produce markets. Since then, however, yam has also grown to become an important export crop. With its value added potential virtually untouched, this crop possesses intriguing possibilities from the standpoint of food security and rural livelihoods in yam growing areas of Jamaica. At the same time there are concerns about the ecological and economic sustainability of yam farming under current conditions. In this paper we will analyze the sustainability of yam cultivation and consider concrete strategies for increasing the environmental sustainability and enhancing its contribution to food security.

Since the 1980s there has been a growing recognition of the significant risks associated with climate change. By 2007, the scientific evidence that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions were causing global warming was irrefutable. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its Fourth Assessment Report which describes in great detail the biophysical and social impacts of climate change, some of which are already being experienced. Many argue that Australia is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. It is also widely acknowledged that as one of the highest per-capita emitters in the world, Australia has a particular responsibility to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. However, despite this, Australia’s response to climate change has been largely inadequate, giving rise to a need for research into factors shaping this response. Research has identified the important role that discourses play in shaping perceptions of climate change and responses to the issue. As a complex and intangible issue, climate change needs to be represented through concepts, terms and the communication of scientific knowledge. Thus people’s understanding of climate change is mediated by the information available to them, the discourses within which it is embedded, and the ways that these discourses construct the issue.

This study examines the relationship between traditional beliefs, livelihoods, and climate change in the hilly Mandandeupur area of Nepal. By examining the connections, this study contributes to our understanding of how locals deal with the difficulties brought on by climate change while maintaining their way of life and adhering to traditional beliefs. This study explores how climate change is felt locally in Nepal's hill country, with an emphasis on how it affects food security and agricultural productivity. It draws attention to the differences in how climate change affects different communities and highlights Nepal's susceptibility to it because of social, economic, and geographic factors. It highlights the risks to agricultural productivity posed by rising temperatures and an increase in the frequency of droughts. It is argued that in order to fully comprehend farmers' perspectives and coping mechanisms, macro- and micro-level research must be conducted in tandem. This thesis offers an extensive review of the literature that addresses the vulnerability of agriculture, global and Nepalese climate change trends, and anthropological perspectives. It highlights the value of interdisciplinary research and socio-cultural contexts while exposing a variety of anthropological approaches. Rising temperatures and changed precipitation patterns linked to climate change are disrupting agriculture and creating food insecurity, particularly for small-scale farmers. The goals of this study are to record the climate change narrative of small farmers at the location, to record the obstacles small farmers face in terms of food security and agricultural productivity, and to ascertain how small farmers are responding to climate change. A thorough investigation of perceptions of climate change and adaptation tactics is made possible by the integration of qualitative and quantitative techniques in a mixed-method approach. Procedures for sampling guarantee representation across socio-cultural divides. The study's conclusions also demonstrate that the village's susceptibility to climate change is varied, with households experiencing the risks in various ways based on their socioeconomic standing. According to the study, climate change has an impact on Mandandeupur farmers, which has an impact on food security and agricultural productivity. The study's significance lies in the fact that households require a variety of adaptation strategies in order to improve agriculture's resilience.

Climate change poses a serious threat to the ocean on which the Seychelles economy depends for resources and services. To address this concern, the Seychelles National Climate Change Response Strategy recommends education about climate change in all levels of the education system to nurture young people with the capacity to address climate change impacts. This quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional survey measures the level of climate change science literacy among teachers in Seychelles on a five-point summated scale (Extremely Low, Low, Medium, High, and Extremely High). Data was collected with a 15-item Climate Change Science Literacy Questionnaire (CCSLQ) from 572 participants representing 42.62% of the population of teachers in public schools at the time of the survey. Ethical considerations relating to access, informed consent, anonymity, and confidentiality were fulfilled. Collected data was analysed statistically with descriptive techniques (percentage, means, standard error of measurement and confidence interval) and inferential technique with the Fisher’s Exact Chi-Square test. Statistical operation was performed with the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). Results indicate that the majority of the participants (37.4%, n=214) have medium literacy regarding climate change science with misconceptions on all three domains of climate change science: causes, impacts, and solutions. Educational interventions to enhance teachers’ knowledge and understanding of climate change are recommended; otherwise the teachers will transfer inaccurate concepts to the learners. Without young Seychellois with the capacity to take action on climate change, it may be wearisome for Seychelles to achieve a smooth transition to a blue economy.