Volume 5 Issue 11, November 2022

Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary is an associate professor of economics at the school of global studies of Tokai University in Japan and vice-president and co-founder of the International Society for Energy Transition Studies based in Australia. He talks about bringing private investment to sustainability projects.

Greenhouse gas emissions can be traced to the behaviour of individuals. Now, research quantifies carbon footprints worldwide, showing that the richest ten per cent are responsible for nearly half of all emissions.

Anaemia remains an intransigent global health problem that increases the risk of morbidity and mortality for women and children, and nowhere more so than in India. Now, a study links particulate air pollution exposure with anaemia in women of reproductive age.

Chemical control of insect pests is considered a necessary evil of modern intensive agricultural practices. New approaches exploiting chemical ecology and genetically modified plants as ‘green factories’ point the way to harvests that are less reliant on insecticides.

Greenland is rich in natural mineral resources and has been actively investigating the economic potential of expanded mineral extraction. However, public opinion calls for the assessment of the environmental and social impacts of mineral extraction.

Wildfires are increasing across the United States and are a growing contributor to air pollution. Combining high-resolution satellite- and ground-based data on smoke exposure with standardized test scores reveals that smoke exposure worsens school students’ learning outcomes. The costs of lowered performance are mostly borne by economically disadvantaged communities of colour.

As the pressure on Amazonian forests builds, the search for more sustainable agricultural development pathways has intensified. Access to floodplain soils can reduce pressure on upland forests and prevent them being cleared for agriculture. Floodplain farming can be a solution to enable both sustainable agriculture and forest conservation.

The simplicity of the urban–rural divide for research hides and blurs many complexities of human settlements and natural ecosystems. This perspective examines the peri-urban landscape and provisions of service that take place across this frontier.

Understanding the connection between economic inequality and climate change requires rich and reliable data. This study combines recently assembled data on income and wealth inequality with environmental data to shed light on the uneven individual contributions to climate change across the world.

Anaemia (having insufficient red blood cells to carry enough oxygen) is a global health burden associated with exposure to air pollution. This study finds large potential in reducing anaemia prevalence in women of reproductive age if India meets its recent clean-air targets.

Wildfire increases are worsening air quality in many regions, undoing gains in pollution control. This study finds that across the United States, exposure to fine particulates in wildfire smoke worsened test scores, especially among younger students, and that most costs are borne by disadvantaged districts.

Early warnings of impending food crises can provide valuable time to mitigate their worst impacts, but droughts have proven difficult to predict. Soil moisture autocorrelation measured by remote sensing satellites advances our ability to anticipate food security crises resulting from drought.

Biodiverse upland Amazonian rainforest is being lost from continued conversion to cropland and pasture. This study combines satellite and household survey data from the Peruvian Amazon to find that access to floodplains reduces clearing of upland forests around riverine communities.

In the scramble to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, many nations are examining their agriculture and land-use sectors. In Ireland, while net-zero emissions by 2050 are feasible through a reduction in meat and dairy production and smart land management, carbon neutrality beyond 2050 may prove fleeting.

There is an urgent need to control food pests more sustainably. This study assesses and confirms the potential and feasibility of growing pest insect sex pheromones from high-productivity oil-crop seeds.

Sand has become an increasingly scarce critical resource. As a result of changing climate, Greenland now receives large deposits of glacially derived sand along its coasts. Local communities broadly support domestic, environmentally mindful economic sand extraction.