We use rich survey data to investigate the economic impact of a climate-friendly rice farming method known as the system of rice intensification (SRI) on the welfare of rain-dependent small-holder farmers in Tanzania. SRI reduces water consumption by half, which makes it a promising farming system in the adaptation to climate change in moisture-constrained areas, and it does not require flooding of rice fields, resulting in reduced methane emissions.

Abstract

This paper contributes to the growing literature on energy poverty in developing countries. We use a dynamic probit estimator on three rounds of panel data from urban Ethiopia to estimate a model of the probability of being energy poor and to investigate the persistence of energy poverty.

The status of genetic resource conservation in centers of crop diversity remains disputed. Recent case-study findings of persistent maize diversity in Yaxcaba, Yucatan, a municipality in southeast Mexico, have raised questions on earlier reports of widespread losses across the crop’s center of diversity in Mexico. We break down patterns in maize varietal richness in southeast Mexico to show that temporal trends in Yaxcaba are subsumed under spatial variation in this broader region and consistent with an overall loss of diversity.

Global climate is changing rapidly, and it is not clear if agricultural producers in developing countries will be able to adapt fast enough in order to mitigate its negative effects. In order to be willing to take adaptation measures, farmers need to perceive that the climate is changing or could change, and they need to attribute enough weight to this perception to take action. During the last two decades, the literature that examines farmers’ perception of climate change has gained ground, but it is still scant.

Experiencing an extreme weather event and its consequences might make the risks associated with climate change more tangible, easier to evaluate, and more salient. Consequently, those experiences might translate into the adoption of pro-environmental behaviours. Understanding this relationship is fundamental for the successful design of policies aimed towards promoting the adoption of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.

Shipping is increasing today along with the sector's emissions of greenhouse gases. The awareness of the emissions has increased the pressure for regulations of the shipping industry. Regulating the sector is far from simple due to the complexity of the market and the evasive characteristics of the industry. We know from studies of road pricing that attitudes among stakeholders are important for a successive policy implementation. The objective of this paper is to capture the Swedish ports’ attitudes towards regulations of the shipping sector's emissions of CO2 .

In 2008 the International Maritime Organization (IMO) decided on more stringent requirements from 2015 for airborne emissions of sulphur dioxide from sea transports in the sulphur emission control areas (SECA). The European SECA comprises the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the English Channel. The paper contains an overview of the European studies that have been carried out to investigate the impacts of IMO's more stringent sulphur requirements. All studies were carried out after IMO's decision in 2008 (which means that the decision was taken based on other reasons).