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Gender Equality and Food Systems - a Knowledge Review
Get PDFThe Knowledge Review on Gender Equality and Food Systems gathers findings from recent literature on how gender equality, women’s empowerment and food systems transformation interact.
Globally, women are disproportionately affected by food insecurity, with climate shocks exacerbating their vulnerability. Women's limited access to land tenure, resources, and opportunities undermines their economic status, resilience, and leadership in food systems. The rights to gender equality and adequate food are deeply intertwined, and addressing gender inequalities is crucial to advance food and nutrition security and the wellbeing of all.
The Knowledge Review highlights key challenges in policies and programming for the integration of gender equality in food systems. It finds that efforts to integrate gender empowerment in food systems have mainly been developed locally, rather than at the institutional level in food systems, and that the conceptualisation of food systems reminds largely gender blind. Considering women and men as homogenous group and neglecting other social inequalities is a further frequent shortcoming.
Evidence confirms that women’s empowerment can improve nutrition and food security, but complementary measures (such as social protection, childcare, legal frameworks, infrastructures) are needed to ensure positive trade-offs between gender equality and other food systems outcomes. A gender-transformative approach is needed to challenge power dynamics and systemic barriers, and to advance gender equality and women's empowerment across the food system as an explicit goal in all interventions.
Further research and sex-disaggregated data are required to fully understand the connections between food systems transformation, gender equality, and women's empowerment, and to inform effective policy responses that promote more equitable and sustainable food systems.JRC.D.5 - Food Securit
Leveraging Science, Technology and Innovation to Enhance Food Security in Rwanda
Get PDFScience, Technology, and Innovation (STI) play a key role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Directorate General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) of the European Commission joined forces launching the project on STI for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Roadmaps in Africa. The report lays the foundation for STI for SDGs roadmap in Rwanda with the focus on fostering food systems transformation to enhance food security of the country with the focus on leveraging emerging technologies to enhance food productivity. The report identifies areas for further investment in STI and proposes policy and governance mechanisms to increase impact of innovation in the challenge area. This report is based on stakeholder workshop and interviews and the desk study. The work was undertaken in collaboration between JRC and the National Council for Science and Technology (NCST) of Rwanda.JRC.B.3 - Territorial Developmen
Global 0.05 degrees Water Storage Simulations with the OS LISFLOOD Hydrological Model for Geodetic Applications
No full textModel-based information about the global water cycle, in particular the redistribution of terrestrial water masses, is highly relevant for the understanding of Earth system dynamics. In many geodetic applications, hydrological model results play an important role by augmenting observations with a higher spatio-temporal resolution and gapless coverage. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of the high-resolution, open-source hydrological model OS LISFLOOD to simulate terrestrial water storage (TWS) variations with a spatial sampling of up to about 5 km (0.05◦). Validation against data from satellite gravimetry reveals that the choice of the maximum soil depth has a significant impact on long-term trends in TWS, mainly in the deepest soil layer. We find that refining the soil depth definition effectively reduces spurious TWS trends, while preserving accuracy in modeled river discharge. Using the modified model set-up, we show that in many regions TWS from OS LISFLOOD fits better to observations than TWS from the Land Surface Discharge Model (LSDM) routinely
27 operated at the GFZ and used in geodetic applications worldwide. The advantage of the high spatial resolution of the OS LISFLOOD implementation is shown by comparing vertical surface displacements to GNSS observations in a global network of stations. The data set presented here is the first application of OS LISFLOOD to generate quasi-global (regions south of 60◦S excluded) daily 0.05 degrees TWS fields for a 23-year period (2000–2022).JRC.E.1 - Disaster Risk Managemen
Quantifying Horizon Europe’s environmental benefits
Get PDFAs the impacts of climate change become increasingly pronounced, the urgency for comprehensive and effective policy responses has intensified. Concerted efforts need to be made to contribute to decarbonising and meeting net zero targets in time. For this, Horizon Europe supports R&I addressing major environmental and climate challenges and is expected to allocate between 2021 and 2027 more than EUR 32 billion to climate and over EUR 3.7 billion to clean air projects. This report aims to perform a first attempt at quantifying the contribution of Horizon Europe to reducing environmental impacts through energy or resource savings. The analysis builds on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to allow to comprehensively consider impacts throughout the value chain, based on primary data provided by project beneficiaries and considering the full list of impact categories of the Environmental Footprint method recommended by the European Commission. A first upscale to estimate potential overall environmental benefits at Horizon Europe level is also performed. Notwithstanding limitations due to the small sample size, this study provides a robust evaluation framework that can be integrated into future monitoring and evaluation exercises. Furthermore, practical suggestions on how to use this type of assessment in future monitoring and evaluation exercises are also provided.JRC.D.3 - Land Resources and Supply Chain Assessment
How to plan mitigation, adaptation and energy poverty actions
Get PDFThe Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (CoM) is an ambitious initiative for local climate and energy actions. This document complements the main document of the CoM Guidebook by providing signatories with guidance to develop effective mitigation, adaptation and energy poverty actions, and some examples of best practices to develop their sustainable energy and climate action plan (SECAP).
This complementary document 4 of the guidebook provides a structured approach to the action planning and strategies step, guiding cities through the process of designing effective actions both in short and long term to achieve their climate and energy goals. This includes explaining the role of municipalities in driving change, highlighting four key roles that cities can play in addressing climate and energy challenges. This document also provides guidance on translating the goals established in each pillar (mitigation, adaptation, and energy poverty) into concrete actions, including integrated actions that simultaneously address multiple challenges. Additionally, it offers practical advice on prioritising actions, helping cities to focus on the most impactful interventions. The document also emphasises the importance of designing a sound monitoring and evaluation scheme to track the impact, deployment, and co-benefits of actions. Furthermore, it provides relevant considerations at the pillar level, along with good practices and case studies to inspire and inform municipalities' action planning efforts.JRC.C.2 - Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) – Methodologies for Mediterranean Stock Assessments (STECF-25-01)
Get PDFCommission Decision of 25 February 2016 setting up a Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries, C(2016) 1084, OJ C 74, 26.2.2016, p. 4–10. The Commission may consult the group on any matter relating to marine and fisheries biology, fishing gear technology, fisheries economics, fisheries governance, ecosystem effects of fisheries, aquaculture or similar disciplines. This report addresses issues identified by past stock assessment working groups related to two key phases of the stock assessment process. The first one covers data preparation and processing, which includes extracting data from the Mediterranean and Black Sea database, handling missing data, applying raising procedures, selecting natural mortality rates, and slicing length frequency distributions. The second is to standardize several stock assessment routines such as diagnostic plots, short-term forecast and the calculation of partial fishing mortality by gear. The terms of reference highlighted the need to streamline both the data processing routines and the stock assessment routines. To this purpose, several new scripts were developed with corresponding methodology and guidelines, which are described in this report. The new routines and methods should be used in the following stock assessment EWGs.JRC.D.2 - Ocean and Wate
Towards implementing workflows for essential biodiversity variables at a European scale
No full textBiodiversity is declining, prompting new multilateral treaties and environmental legislation. To track the progress of these efforts, a comprehensive monitoring network is essential. For the European Union (EU), the EuropaBON network has proposed a biodiversity observation network (BON) based on 84 Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs). These encompass species and habitats in the freshwater, marine, and terrestrial realms. Generating EBVs will require implementing workflows, including data collection, integration, and modelling. Here, we present the first conceptual representation of EBV workflows for guiding the future implementation of EBVs in a European BON based on insights from an EU-wide stakeholder consultation that engaged hundreds of experts in science, policy, and practice. Results suggest that implementing EBV workflows requires to incorporate advanced monitoring methods, enhance geographic, taxonomic, and temporal coverage, harmonize heterogeneous data, apply metadata standards, and develop new spatial models and quantitative indicators. Recommendations include enhancing monitoring techniques such as digital sensors, DNA-based methods and citizen science for species-focused EBVs, as well as satellite and aerial remote sensing for ecosystem-focused EBVs. For operationalizing a European BON, species-focused EBVs require better national, regional, and European data integration of different data types and data providers. In contrast, monitoring of ecosystem-focused EBVs would benefit from a centralized coordination of ground truth data collection and new Earth Observation products. The key components of the EBV workflows, along with the requirements and implementation needs identified here, together with emerging tools and projects, will help to shape the future implementation of EBV workflows at a European scale.JRC.D.6 - Nature Conservation and Observation
Stories from the EU Policy Lab
Get PDFStories from the EU Policy Lab is a quarterly newsletter bringing you the latest news, events and publications.
Join us on this innovative journey as we connect, inform, and inspire through cutting-edge work at the intersection of foresight, behavioural insights, and design for policy.
This edition includes news about the launch of the Intergenerational Fairness Strategy process, the publication of the Behavioural Insights position paper and the new Water Resilience Experiment.JRC.S.1 - EU Policy Lab: Foresight, Design & Behavioural Insight
Labour market effects of training programmes in the EU. Findings and policy lessons from a meta-analysis
Get PDFThis policy brief presents a meta-analysis of micro-econometric evaluations of training programmes adopted by EU countries during the 1980-2020 period. The sample used in this study comprises 379 estimates of the labour market effects of training programmes that have been extracted from 103 studies. Overall, these programmes are found, on average, to be moderately effective, but their positive impact on labour market outcomes is greater in the longer-term.JRC.B.6 - Industrial strategy, skills and technology transfe
Assessment of NOx concentration levels during periodic technical inspection idle test of SCR-equipped diesel vehicles
No full textBackground
The European Union implements periodic technical inspections (PTI) to ensure the safety and environmental performance of vehicles throughout their operational lifespan. Inspections cover both light-duty (LD) and heavy-duty (HD) vehicles. Current inspections do not cover nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, a major air pollutant. To address this, the European Commission is assessing the introduction of a methodology to detect malfunctions in modern Diesel vehicle selective catalytic reduction (SCR) units. Previous studies provided a procedure for PTI, where NOx is measured during idling (NOx–PTI idle test) after the vehicle’s exhaust system has been warmed-up. This study investigates which range of NOx concentration would allow detecting vehicles with SCR system malfunctions during PTI.
Results
We analysed NOx concentration recordings from 99 light-duty (LD) and 88 heavy-duty (HD) vehicles during idle tests at various European workshops and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. The results showed that well-functioning SCR systems had NOx concentrations below 13 ppm for LD vehicles and 31 ppm for HD vehicles. In contrast, malfunctioning systems had concentrations above 47 ppm for LD vehicles and 45 ppm for HD vehicles. The findings suggest that a reliable threshold for NOx concentration could be established towards the upper end of the identified ranges, allowing for the precise identification of malfunctions while providing a sufficient time buffer for inspection operators to carry out the 30 s test protocol (15 s analyser stabilization period followed by a 15 s NOx measurement).
Conclusions
This study provides insights for establishing a sound NOx concentration threshold for distinguishing between functioning and faulty SCR systems in modern Diesel vehicles type-approved Euro 6d-TEMP (LD)/Euro VI (HD) and onwards. The results presented could support current revisions of the PTI directive in ensuring accurate detection of malfunctions while allowing for effective integration of the NOx–PTI idle test into existing inspection procedures. The findings have potential implications for improving air quality and public health by maintaining low NOx emissions from Diesel vehicles throughout their operational lifespan.JRC.C.4 - Sustainable, Smart and Safe Mobilit