1,354,731 research outputs found
Embedded deforestation: The Case study of the Brazilian-Italian bovine leather trade
No full textDeforestation and forest degradation driven by Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) are important sources of carbon emissions. Market globalization and trade liberalization policies reinforce this trend and risk deforestation to be embedded in global value chains. Due to the complexity of global production and trade systems, deforestation risk is also embedded in the supply chains of the products and sectors that are not direct deforestation drivers. Bovine leather is a commodity closely entangled in the debates about deforestation as it is a by-product of cattle. This research focuses on leather trade between Brazil and Italy to demonstrate the channels through which Italian imports of Brazilian leather could possess embedded Amazonian deforestation and related risks. The data employed for the analysis was searched at three different levels for the leather trade between Brazil and Italy: (a) the country level annual leather trade statistics for the years 2014-2018 taken from the Comtrade database; (b) the state level leather trade data, for the years 2014-2018 taken from the Comexstat database; and (c) the exporter-importer level leather trade data for the period of August 2017-August 2018, based on customs declarations. The analysis helps to demonstrate that the Italian leather trade with Brazil possesses the risk of deforestation unless the proper traceability and due diligence systems are in place to claim the opposite. The European and Italian leather industry need to be more proactive in acknowledging the existence of the risk at different levels, putting full traceability systems in place and sending out clear market signals that deforestation is not tolerated, and that sustainability is valued
Making deforestation risk visible. Discourses on bovine leather supply chain in Brazil
No full textLarge-scale agricultural production and trade of commodities is linked to deforestation risk in the tropics. This article explores political discourses of deforestation risk in the bovine leather supply chain in Brazil. It discusses how specific interpretations and practices of transparency in the leather supply chain affect legitimacy, fairness and sustainability outcomes. The article applies a political discourse analysis to data collected in multiple localities in Brazil between May and July 2018. The data entails thirty-nine semi-structured, recorded, and transcribed interviews, in the form of both face-to-face and video call interviews. We find that the concept of sustainable supply chains is as much a political term, as it is an economic and managerial term. The results show that different discourses articulate deforestation risk of bovine leather differently and highlights how the storylines of each discourse bring attention both to what is made visible and invisible in relation to sustainability, legitimacy, and fairness. Moreover, the results emphasise the importance of the role and voice of frontier settlers, by presenting how their storylines inform a political discourse on livelihoods. We argue that a simplistic understanding of transparency may lead to negative implications for livelihoods and sustainability outcomes. Accordingly, there is a need for increased public scrutiny of supply chains, including the leather one, and for special attention to unequal power relations and the importance of meaningful inclusion of vulnerable groups and populations
Understanding the impacts of overexploitation on the Salento aquifer: A Comprehensive review through well data analysis
No full textThe Salento aquifer located in the Salento Peninsula in Southern Italy plays a vital role in supporting various sectors like agriculture, economy, and tourism. However, the aquifer has faced escalating challenges from rising water abstraction, falling piezometric levels, and saltwater intrusion for decades. This comprehensive review identifies the varied drivers of increased water abstraction like intensified agricultural activities and expanding tourism, through well data analysis, geological and hydrogeological studies, alongside evaluations of land use patterns, water consumption trends, and meteorological records. The study compares the findings of previous research, which have consistently shown a downward trend in the piezometric levels of the aquifer over several decades, confirming that this decline persists to the present day. The analysis of new and historical well data is combined with existing studies to explore the complex interactions between climate change and human impacts on the aquifer, providing general recommendations for sustainable aquifer management
On the extension problem for weak moment maps
No full textsponsorship: We thank Marco Zambon for helpful conversations and comments. L. M. acknowledges the support of the long term structural funding - Methusalem grant of the Flemish Government. L. R. was supported by the Ruhr University Research School PLUS, funded by Germany's Excellence Initiative [DFG GSC 98/3] and the PRIME programme of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) . The authors would like to thank the anonymous referee for a careful reading of the manuscript and very helpful suggestions. (long term structural funding - Methusalem grant of the Flemish Government, Ruhr University Research School PLUS - Germany's Excellence Initiative|DFG GSC 98/3, PRIME programme of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF))status: Publishe
Voluntary sustainability standards to cope with the new European Union regulation on deforestation-free products: A gap analysis
No full textThe European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) has been recently adopted to fight deforestation and forest degradation associated with the trade of forest-risk commodities, including cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya, and wood. Operators must exercise due diligence (i.e., information collection, risk assessment, and risk mitigation) to ensure these commodities and their products are deforestation-free and produced in accordance with relevant legislation. In recent decades, Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) have been adopted in the private sector to promote sustainable and deforestation-free supply chains. The EUDR recognizes certification and other third-party verified schemes as supporting tools for risk assessment during the due diligence procedure.
However, questions persist regarding the extent to which these schemes can assist operators in assessing compliance with the EUDR. This study addresses these concerns by developing an assessment framework to evaluate the suitability of VSS schemes in covering the due diligence requirements established in the EUDR. The assessment of five major agricultural and forestry VSS schemes against this framework revealed both potentialities and limitations in covering these requirements. Most of the indicators from the framework were at least partially covered. Nevertheless, the assessed schemes fell short in providing a comprehensive prohibition of deforestation and forest degradation. They also presented variable coverage of the relevant legislation outlined in the EUDR, as well as deficiencies in their systems to assure compliance with the standards. Overall, this study indicates that VSS schemes can be incorporated as elements of due diligence systems but are insufficient demonstrate compliance with the EUDR
Deforestation As a Systemic Risk. The Case of Brazilian Bovine Leather
No full textTropical deforestation and forest degradation driven by agricultural commodity production remains one of the important sustainability challenges of our times. The responses to tropical deforestation so far have not managed to reverse global trends of forest loss, reigniting the discussion about more robust and systemic measures. The concept of deforestation risk is highly relevant for current debates about policy and trade, and likely to increase in importance in the context of the proposed EU Regulation on Deforestation-free Products and EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement. We argue that deforestation is a systemic risk that permeates through different economic sectors, including production, manufacturing, service and control sectors. International trade, investment and economic policies thus act as a systemic trap that cause the production sector to continue with nature’s destruction. This article seeks to more clearly define deforestation risk and uses the case of bovine leather from Brazil to illustrate how pressures for deforestation accumulate across economic sectors towards production, while deforestation risk is dispersed in an opposite trajectory. The article draws on multiple datasets and an extensive literature review. Included are quantitative data sources on annual slaughter, bovine hide/leather registry and annual deforestation, slaughterhouse and tannery locations. We argue that the EU banning unsustainable products from entry and putting incentives for more sustainable agricultural production in the tropics addresses deforestation risks that are currently visible and relatively easy to identify. These response mechanisms are conditioned upon traceability of deforestation risk across supply chains, which is prone to falsifications, leakage and laundry. Although proven to be essential, the proposed EU responses still miss out deeper leverage points to address the systemic drivers of deforestation coming from the manufacturing, service and control sectors that make production through deforestation profitable in the first place
Deforestation risk in bovine leather supply chain. Risk assessment through conceptualization, discourse and trade data analysis within the context of Italian-Brazilian leather trade
No full textLa produzione agricola industriale su larga scala e il commercio di prodotti sono sempre più connessi a fenomeni di deforestazione e degradazione delle foreste tropicali. Tale fenomeno è descritto tramite il concetto di ‘rischio di deforestazione’ o forest-risk. I prodotti agricoli i cui processi produttivi implicano deforestazione e rimozione della vegetazione autoctona, sono classificati beni a rischio deforestazione (forest risk commodities). Carne bovina, soia, olio di palma e legname – i beni a rischio deforestazione – sono considerati ‘i grandi 4’ tra le forest-risk commodities. A causa della complessità dei sistemi globali di produzione e commercio alcuni beni sono indirettamente legati a tale rischio, poiché derivano da aree deforestate senza essere essi stessi causa diretta di deforestazione. Questa dimensione del rischio viene spesso tralasciata e permane un tema secondario nel dibattito sulla deforestazione derivata dalla produzione e il commercio di beni di consumo. La distinzione tra beni con un legame causale diretto con la deforestazione e beni che includono nella propria filiera il rischio di deforestazione incide su come la responsabilità della deforestazione viene attribuita e considerata sia tramite misure legali che tramite standard volontari di auto-regolamentazione. Pertanto risulta necessario sviluppare una concettualizzazione migliore per concordare una terminologia da utilizzare
sia nella letteratura accademica che in quella informale e raggiungere delle decisioni politiche basate su un approccio scientifico.
Nella ricerca effettuata si è voluto espandere la concettualizzazione di deforestation risk facendo riferimento al caso delle pelli bovine (di qui in avanti semplicemente, pelli) e in particolare al caso della produzione di pelli/prodotti di conceria in Brasile. Il focus sulle pelli ha molteplici ragioni. In primo luogo, mentre il ruolo degli allevamenti zootecnici come causa di deforestazione in Brasile è soggetto ad una crescente attenzione da parte dell’opinione pubblica, la filiera di produzione delle pelli rimane ancora inesplorata. Fatta eccezione per poche imprese leader del settore dei prodotti in pelle, il dibattito sulla trasparenza di questa filiera e il rischio di deforestazione ad essa associato è praticamente assente. In secondo luogo, la filiera della pelle è di norma molto più complessa rispetto a quella della carne bovina e coinvolge numerosi attori sia a livello nazionale che internazionale, ivi compresi gli intermediari, le concerie, le case di moda, ecc. Ciò crea delle discontinuità nella tracciabilità della pelle e complica l’identificazione del rischio di deforestazione lungo la filiera. Infine, la pelle è un bene che per propria stessa natura è legato a rapporti di forza squilibrati tra gli attori della filiera. Una terza ragione per la scelta del settore della pelle è data dal fatto che, poiché la pelle è spesso considerata un prodotto di scarto secondario della carne bovina, ne consegue che gli attori coinvolti nella filiera sostengono di avere uno scarso potere di negoziazione per imporre i loro standard e delle condizioni di non-deforestazione ai produttori. Al contempo, gli attori a valle della filiera, come le case di moda, sono maggiormente esposti a rischi di natura reputazionale rispetto alle imprese del settore della carne. In conseguenza di tale situazione vi è il fatto che la pelle è un bene con costi e benefici distribuiti in maniera asimmetrica all’interno della filiera. Mentre a monte gli allevatori mancano delle risorse per rispettare standard di sostenibilità e spesso non beneficiano di nessuna compensazione economica per il pellame dei propri bovini, i prodotti finiti in pelle sono visti come beni di lusso, con elevati margini di guadagno per le aziende che li producono e commerciano.
Questa ricerca impiega sia dati primari che secondari. I dati primari sono principalmente di tipo qualitativo e derivano da trentanove interviste semi-strutturate e audio-registrate condotte sotto forma sia di colloqui vis-à-vis che a distanza (video-chiamate) durante una missione in Brasile tra maggio e agosto 2018. Tali dati sono stati utilizzati prevalentemente ai fini dell’analisi del discorso (discourse analysis) presentata nel secondo capitolo e come riferimenti interpretativi e di lettura del contesto per l’analisi dei dati quantitativi secondari presentata nei rimanenti capitoli. I dati e le informazioni secondari sono stati derivati da un’estesa analisi della letteratura e analisi di dati statistici relativi a mattatoi, registri su pelli bovine grezze e semilavorate e processi di deforestazione; sono stati inoltre considerati dati geospaziali relativi alle aree deforestate e alla localizzazione dei mattatoi e delle concerie; da ultimo sono stati considerati dati relativi al commercio di pelli e prodotti derivati tra Brasile e Italia. Nessun intervallo di tempo specifico è stato selezionato a priori per l’analisi dei dati: le serie temporali sono state selezionate a seconda della disponibilità di dati e delle necessità relative alle singole tipologie di analisi impiegate.
Dai risultati emerge che la filiera delle pelli ha un rischio deforestazione significativo nonostante il pellame non sia un prodotto primario dell’allevamento bovino e un fattore diretto di deforestazione. Il rischio si colloca principalmente nel legame con le attività zootecniche e di allevamento, nell’incompleta tracciabilità della filiera così come nel commercio interno e internazionale di pelle. Le pelli prodotte in Brasile e importate per essere successivamente lavorate in Italia incorporano un livello significativo di rischio di deforestazione a causa degli intensi scambi commerciali tra i due Paesi. Il rischio di deforestazione legato alle pelli è affrontato in maniera diversa dai diversi discorsi esistenti sul tema e pone in evidenza come l’articolarsi della trama di ciascun discorso comporti l’attenzione sia su aspetti visibili che invisibili rispetto alla sostenibilità, all’equità e alla legalità delle filiere in questione. I risultati mettono in risalto l’importanza del ruolo e della voce degli agricoltori di frontiera, mostrando come la loro visione e interpretazione informi un discorso politico incentrato sul tema della sopravvivenza e del sostentamento. È quindi necessaria una maggiore attenzione da parte dell’opinione pubblica sulle filiere produttive, ivi comprese quelle delle pelli e dei prodotti derivati, e in particolare sulle relazioni non eque di potere, così come sull’importanza di un’inclusione significativa di gruppi vulnerabili della popolazione. L’industria del pellame e i grandi marchi dovrebbero essere più proattivi, inviando al mercato un chiaro segnale per cui la deforestazione e altre forme di illegalità non possono essere tollerate. Una piena tracciabilità della filiera e il coinvolgimento dei produttori è imprescindibile se l’industria mira a produrre e commerciare prodotti che non siano responsabili di o coinvolti in processi di deforestazione
Translanguaging, identity negotiations and cross-cultural communication: the Kiezdeutsch community in Germany and second generations in Northern Italy
No full textThis chapter investigates two case studies which involve second generations in Germany and Northern Italy: the Kiezdeutsch community in Berlin and second generation migrants living in the Veneto. A core question which will be addressed is what role the language plays in building self-identity, creating otherness or, on the contrary, establishing a positive relationship with the main culture of the country in which these young people live. It will turn out that, despite an evident asymmetry in the approach adopted by the two communities and the diverse goals which are pursued by the two groups through their attitude towards the others, the language is a key-factor for these young people to find their own dimension in the society. Consequently, it will also be explored to what extent the mastering of more than one language and therefore deliberate translanguaging impacts on cross-, inter- and even intracultural communication, with different results for the two case studies
Toward a Sustainable Estimation of Significant Wave Height Through Photogrammetry
No full textMonitoring Sea wave conditions is critical for maritime safety, coastal management, and understanding ocean-atmosphere interactions. In this study, we introduce a stereophotogrammetric system for the estimation of significant wave height (SWH), leveraging a portable and flexible optical approach for reconstructing three-dimensional sea surface topography. The proposed method employs a dual-camera system with synchronized triggering, calibrated via MATLAB stereo toolbox, and supported by a robust image processing pipeline capable of generating disparity maps and dense point clouds. This system offers an innovative, non-invasive, and scalable alternative to conventional wave monitoring tools such as buoys and radar. We present preliminary results from controlled experiments and discuss ongoing developments, including further deep-learning integration for stereo matching and potential fusion with GNSS data for georeferencing. This photogrammetric strategy aligns with the goals of the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development by promoting accessible, eco-friendly technologies for environmental observation
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
- …
