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The Opportunities and Roles of Experimentation in Addressing Climate Change

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 July 2018) | Viewed by 19839

Special Issue Editor

School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405-7108, USA
Interests: international political economy; war and natural resources; climate migration; sustainable development; modeling the collapse of historical civilizations; the political economy of the Middle East; migration and public health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

On 9 July, 2017, the widely-read New York Magazine published an article depicting a pessimistic scenario of what might happen in the near-future due to global warming. This will be bad, the article said, including famines, lasting economic collapse, a sun that cooks us, climate refugees, spread of ancient diseases now buried in the permafrost, Arctic, and Antarctic, rolling smog that suffocates people, poisoned oceans, drowning coastal cities and infrastructure, and war. The story was immediately criticized; the piece is alarmist and pessimistic, many said (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Uninhabitable_Earth).

The point for this Special Issue is not if the New York Magazine got it right. In truth, there is surely a risk that it got it right, but we still do not know how big it is. The story shows that fears about climate change are now in the public and psychic domain—the magazine, of course, would not have chosen this topic had it not been on people's mind.

Thus, what is the point of this Special Issue? I believe there is a lot that we can learn about the possibility of a better future by taking an experimental approach. We cannot experiment with climate change in the laboratory of societies, but we can look for hints, try things on a smaller scale, and then evaluate the results as a way of beginning to say something about how the future of our children and their children might turn out.

The Special Issue is interested in experiments that might shed light on processes that support sustainability of environments and the people they carry. They could include attempts to prove beneficial principles, trials in limited locality and time that might work in larger contexts, producing something in a new way, or something new, that enhances sustainability, cleaner production, energy sources or transportation methods with lower carbon footprints, deriving consumption value from a smaller ecological footprint, defense mechanisms against impacts of climate change, adapting to climate change on a smaller scale, demonstrating technological feasibility to enhance sustainability in precarious environments, and so on.

This Special Issue could also include new ways of governance and management for sustainability of natural resources, for dealing with impacts of climate change, and new technologies to support these ways. Can green accounting save the day based on pilot projects? Can tougher regulation and enforcement work? Should we give more say to civic organizations? Can mandatory recycling do it? Are such methods of government and management already implemented? Where and what can we learn from it? Can such projects be scaled up for larger communities?

To stress, this Special Issue is interested in what has been done, not what could be done. We want to evaluate the potential of what has been done to do good in larger setups. We are interested in results, outcomes, methods that are now tried in the field, things that can have impact on sustainability facing climate change. We also interested in things that did not work, experiments that failed or had unintended bad consequences, that did more harm than good, so that we would know what to avoid.

Naturally, we are interested in those large scale natural experiments that occurred on their own, both those that led to success in environmental and therefore social sustainability of large communities, and those that did not, which brings us back to where we started, to the New Magazine Outlook.

Is it possible to fail? Is it possible that we are doomed unless we do something drastic now? Did some societies fail to sustain themselves despite their best efforts? Where are they today? Why did they fail? Were climatic changes at play? Did their activities doom them by destroying their environments? Was shortsightedness at play? Was ignorance at play? Are we like them?

We propose this Special Issue from a point of strength: Not all is lost. That there are things we can do even if the U.S. would continue to reject global attempts to fight climate change such as the 2015 Paris Protocol or the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. There are ideas that might save us, this Special Issue posit, even in the worst-case scenario. However, for that we must first get to know about them, and learn from their performance; enter this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Rafael Reuveny
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • experiments to address climate change impacts
  • socioeconomic-environmental sustainability
  • real-world projects
  • technological projects,
  • governance and management projects
  • evaluating experiments
  • spreading and upscaling insights
  • societal natural experiments: success/collapse

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 255 KiB  
Article
Women’s Empowerment and Climate Change Adaptation in Gujarat, India: A Case-Study Analysis of the Local Impact of Transnational Advocacy Networks
by Peggy Spitzer Christoff and Jamie M. Sommer
Sustainability 2018, 10(6), 1920; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10061920 - 08 Jun 2018
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4360
Abstract
(1) As on-the-ground projects come into existence and continue to expand to adapt to climate change and empower women, it is important to understand their location within Transnational Advocacy Networks (TANs). Using Bhungroo technology, we conduct case-study research to assess the potential of [...] Read more.
(1) As on-the-ground projects come into existence and continue to expand to adapt to climate change and empower women, it is important to understand their location within Transnational Advocacy Networks (TANs). Using Bhungroo technology, we conduct case-study research to assess the potential of TANs to increase the scope and scale of local projects as well as the ability of similar and emerging projects to create sustainable social and environmental change at local levels; (2) Using the theoretical and cross-disciplinary contributions of Keck and Sikkink and Appiah, our methodology focuses on analyzing interviews and earned media hits data from the UNFCCC Momentum for Change; (3) We find that while TANs may help increase the scale and scope of climate change projects, increasing their ability to effectively reach more people and areas is not completely certain, based on this case study; (4) We conclude by proposing ways women’s political participation may be enhanced by similar projects. Full article
15 pages, 3435 KiB  
Article
Korean Experimentation of Knowledge and Technology Transfer to Address Climate Change in Developing Countries
by Taewook Huh and Hyung-Ju Kim
Sustainability 2018, 10(4), 1263; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10041263 - 19 Apr 2018
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4812
Abstract
This paper explores two Korean cases of Knowledge and Technology Transfer (KTT) to address climate change in developing countries. The target technologies were carbon capture and utilization (CCU) in a project in Bantayan Island, Philippines, and waste-to-energy (WTE) technology in Santiago, Dominican Republic. [...] Read more.
This paper explores two Korean cases of Knowledge and Technology Transfer (KTT) to address climate change in developing countries. The target technologies were carbon capture and utilization (CCU) in a project in Bantayan Island, Philippines, and waste-to-energy (WTE) technology in Santiago, Dominican Republic. These projects were conducted by the Republic of Korea’s Green Technology Center. The study analyses the rationale of KTT (“international environment” and “motives”), its objects (technology types) and activities (“informational contacts”, “research activities”, “consulting” and “education and training”). It concludes that the KTT efforts of these two case studies can be characterized as “uninformed transfer”, given a lack of information on situational factors. In particular, these projects faced cooperation problems between national and local governments in the target countries due to different levels of commitment among different stakeholder groups. In conclusion, this study identifies the implications of an acceptability gap between national and local actors in renewable energy projects of KTT. Full article
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12 pages, 1397 KiB  
Article
The Shadow Prices of Carbon Emissions in China’s Planting Industry
by Xiaoliang Guan, Junbiao Zhang, Xianrong Wu and Linlin Cheng
Sustainability 2018, 10(3), 753; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10030753 - 09 Mar 2018
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 4062
Abstract
The shadow prices of carbon emissions are essential for assessing emission abatement costs and formulating environmental public policies. By adopting the directional distance function method, this paper studies the shadow prices of carbon emissions caused by three main emission sources from China’s planting [...] Read more.
The shadow prices of carbon emissions are essential for assessing emission abatement costs and formulating environmental public policies. By adopting the directional distance function method, this paper studies the shadow prices of carbon emissions caused by three main emission sources from China’s planting industry for a panel of 30 provinces spanning the period 1997–2014. We find that there is considerable regional heterogeneity in the shadow prices, and, of the 30 provinces, 23 are characterized by decreasing trends while only seven are on the rise over time. This implies that there is inefficiency of resource allocation among provinces, and the capacity for abatement increases during the observed period. The results support the following recommendation: It might be worth attempting to bring agriculture in China into line with its emission rights trading scheme, not only to help motivate the reduction of emissions but also to improve resource allocation. Also, policymakers are required to enhance regional cooperation and facilitate carbon-reduction technology transfer, to improve the immaterial production factors’ contribution to planting industry growth. Full article
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Review

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16 pages, 595 KiB  
Review
Sustainable and Low Greenhouse Gas Emitting Rice Production in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Review on the Transition from Ideality to Reality
by Ngonidzashe Chirinda, Laura Arenas, Maria Katto, Sandra Loaiza, Fernando Correa, Manabu Isthitani, Ana Maria Loboguerrero, Deissy Martínez-Barón, Eduardo Graterol, Santiago Jaramillo, Carlos Felipe Torres, Miguel Arango, Myriam Guzmán, Ivan Avila, Sara Hube, Ditmar Bernardo Kurtz, Gonzalo Zorrilla, Jose Terra, Pilar Irisarri, Silvana Tarlera, Gabriel LaHue, Walkyria Bueno Scivittaro, Aldo Noguera and Cimelio Bayeradd Show full author list remove Hide full author list
Sustainability 2018, 10(3), 671; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10030671 - 01 Mar 2018
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 6096
Abstract
The burgeoning demand for rice in Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) exceeds supply, resulting in a rice deficit. To overcome this challenge, rice production should be increased, albeit sustainably. However, since rice production is associated with increases in the atmospheric concentration of two [...] Read more.
The burgeoning demand for rice in Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) exceeds supply, resulting in a rice deficit. To overcome this challenge, rice production should be increased, albeit sustainably. However, since rice production is associated with increases in the atmospheric concentration of two greenhouse gases (GHGs), namely methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), the challenge is on ensuring that production increases are not associated with an increase in GHG emissions and thus do not cause an increase in GHG emission intensities. Based on current understanding of drivers of CH4 and N2O production, we provide here insights on the potential climate change mitigation benefits of management and technological options (i.e., seeding, tillage, irrigation, residue management) pursued in the LAC region. Studies conducted in the LAC region show intermittent irrigation or alternate wetting and drying of rice fields to reduce CH4 emissions by 25–70% without increasing N2O emissions. Results on yield changes associated with intermittent irrigation remain inconclusive. Compared to conventional tillage, no-tillage and anticipated tillage (i.e., fall tillage) cause a 21% and 25% reduction in CH4 emissions, respectively. From existing literature, it was unambiguous that the mitigation potential of most management strategies pursued in the LAC region need to be quantified while acknowledging country-specific conditions. While breeding high yielding and low emitting rice varieties may represent the most promising and possibly sustainable approach for achieving GHG emission reductions without demanding major changes in on-farm management practices, this is rather idealistic. We contend that a more realistic approach for realizing low GHG emitting rice production systems is to focus on increasing rice yields, for obvious food security reasons, which, while not reducing absolute emissions, should translate to a reduction in GHG emission intensities. Moreover, there is need to explore creative ways of incentivizing the adoption of promising combinations of management and technological options. Full article
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