| 1. |
- Sandin, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Technology Neutrality in European Regulation of GMOs
- 2022
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Ingår i: Ethics, Policy & Environment. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2155-0085 .- 2155-0093. ; 1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objections to the current EU regulatory system on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in terms of high cost and lack of consistency, speed and scientific underpinning have prompted proposals for a more technology-neutral system. We sketch the conceptual background of the notion of ‘technology neutrality’ and propose a refined definition of the term. The proposed definition implies that technology neutrality of a regulatory system is a gradual and multidimensional feature. We use the definition to analyze two regulatory reform proposals: One proposal from the Netherlands for improving the exemption mechanism for GMOs under Directive 2001/18/EC, and one from the Norwegian Biotechnology Advisory Board, outlining a new stratified risk assessment procedure. While both proposals offer some degree of improved technology neutrality in some dimensions compared to current EU regulation, in some extents and dimensions, they do not. We conclude that proposals for more technology-neutral regulation of GMOs need, first, to make explicit to what extent and in what dimensions the proposal improves neutrality and, second, to present arguments supporting that these specific improvements constitute desirable policy change against the background of objections to current policy.
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| 2. |
- Sandin, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Technology neutrality and regulation of agricultural biotechnology
- 2018
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Ingår i: Professionals in food chains: ethics, rules and responsibility. EurSafe 2018, Vienna, Austria 13 – 16 June 2018 / edited by: Svenja Springer, Herwig Grimm. - Wageningen, Netherlands : Wageningen Academic Publishers. - 9789086863211
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Agricultural biotechnology, in particular genetically modified organisms (GMOs), is subject to regulation in many areas of the world, not least in the European Union (EU). A number of authors have argued that those regulatory processes are unfair, costly, and slow and that regulation therefore should move in the direction of increased ‘technology neutrality’. The issue is becoming more pressing, especially since new biotechnologies such as CRISPR increasingly blur the regulatory distinction between GMOs and non-GMOs. This paper offers a definition of technology neutrality, uses the EU GMO regulation as a starting point for exploring technology neutrality, and presents distinctions between variants of the call for technology neutral GMO regulation in the EU.
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| 3. |
- Vera, Ivan, et al.
(författare)
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Land use for bioenergy : Synergies and trade-offs between sustainable development goals
- 2022
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Ingår i: Renewable & sustainable energy reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 1364-0321 .- 1879-0690. ; 161, s. 112409-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Bioenergy aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and contribute to meeting global climate change mitigation targets. Nevertheless, several sustainability concerns are associated with bioenergy, especially related to the impacts of using land for dedicated energy crop production. Cultivating energy crops can result in synergies or trade-offs between GHG emission reductions and other sustainability effects depending on context specific conditions. Using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework, the main synergies and trade-offs associated with land use for dedicated energy crop production were identified. Furthermore, the context-specific conditions (i.e., biomass feedstock, previous land use, climate, soil type and agricultural management) which affect those synergies and trade-offs were also identified. The most recent literature was reviewed and a pairwise comparison between GHG emission reduction (SDG 13) and other SDGs was carried out. A total of 427 observations were classified as either synergy (170), trade-off (176), or no effect (81). Most synergies with environmentally-related SDGs, such as water quality and biodiversity conservation, were observed when perennial crops were produced on arable land, pasture or marginal land in the 'cool temperate moist' climate zone and 'high activity clay' soils. Most trade-offs were related to food security and water availability. Previous land use and feedstock type are more impactful in determining synergies and tradeoffs than climatic zone and soil type. This study highlights the importance of considering context-specific conditions in evaluating synergies and trade-offs and their relevance for developing appropriate policies and practices to meet worldwide demand for bioenergy in a sustainable manner.
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| 4. |
- Egeskog, Andrea, 1981, et al.
(författare)
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Actions and opinions of Brazilian farmers who shift to sugarcane : an interview-based assessment with discussion of implications for land-use change
- 2016
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Ingår i: Land use policy. - Kidlington : Elsevier. - 0264-8377 .- 1873-5754. ; 57, s. 594-604
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sugarcane ethanol systems can deliver large greenhouse gas emissions savings if emissions associated with land-use change are kept low. This qualitative study documents and analyzes actions and opinions among Brazilian farmers who shift to sugarcane production. Semi-structured interviews were held with 28 actors associated with sugarcane production in three different regions: one traditional sugarcane region and two regions where sugarcane is currently expanding. Most farmers considered sugarcane a land diversification option with relatively low economic risk, although higher risk than their previous land use. Beef production was considered a low-risk option, but less profitable than sugarcane. In conjunction with converting part of their land to sugarcane, most farmers maintained and further intensified their previous agricultural activity, often beef production. Several farmers invested in expanded production in other regions with relatively low land prices. Very few farmers in the expansion regions shifted all their land from the former, less profitable, use to sugarcane. Very few farmers in this study had deforested any land in connection with changes made when shifting to sugarcane. The respondents understand "environmental friendliness" as compliance with the relevant legislation, especially the Brazilian Forest Act, which is also a requirement for delivering sugarcane to the mills. Indirect land-use change is not a concern for the interviewed farmers, and conversion of forests and other native vegetation into sugarcane plantations is uncontroversial if legal. We derive hypotheses regarding farmers' actions and opinions from our results. These hypotheses aim to contribute to better understanding of what takes place in conjunction with expansion of sugarcane and can, when tested further, be of use in developing, e.g., policies for iLUC-free biofuel production.
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| 5. |
- Andersson, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Ambio fit for the 2020s
- 2022
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Ingår i: Ambio. - : Springer Nature. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 51:5, s. 1091-1093
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Marquardt, Kristina, et al.
(författare)
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Farmers' Perspectives on Vital Soil-related Ecosystem Services in Intensive Swidden Farming Systems in the Peruvian Amazon
- 2013
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Ingår i: Human Ecology. - : Springer. - 0300-7839 .- 1572-9915. ; 41:1, s. 139-151
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A growing dilemma is how to conserve Amazonian forest while allowing local people to secure their livelihoods. Small-scale swidden farming in Amazonia is entirely dependent on the continued provision of ecosystem services (ES) that generate the conditions for agriculture. This study identified soil-related ES needed for, and enhanced by, productive swidden systems from the farmer's perspective. Workshops in six farming communities in northeastern Peru discussed various land uses, swidden systems that continue to be productive, and swidden systems on degraded land. The participating farmers noted changes in their production systems and described the ES (or lack thereof) in terms of soil quality, crop production quantity and quality, burning practices, forest regeneration, and farming skill. The central elements described in farmers' own strategies for managing soil-related ES were fallow management for biomass production and crop diversity, factors identified as central to future ES management work in established agricultural areas in Amazonia.
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| 8. |
- Marquardt, Kristina, et al.
(författare)
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Improved fallows : A case study of an adaptive response in Amazonian swidden farming systems
- 2013
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Ingår i: Agriculture and Human Values. - : Springer. - 0889-048X .- 1572-8366. ; 30:3, s. 417-428
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many smallholders in the Amazon employ swidden (slash-and-burn) farming systems in which forest or forest fallows are the primary source of natural soil enrichment. With decreasing opportunities to claim natural forests for agriculture and shrinking landholdings, rotational agriculture on smaller holdings allows insufficient time for fallow to regenerate naturally into secondary forest. This case study examines how Peruvian farmers use "improved fallows" as an adaptive response to a situation of decreasing soil fertility and how the farmers describe the rationale underlying the various actions taken in these modified fallow systems. The results indicate that farmers establish improved fallows using contextual ecological knowledge and various techniques to introduce a large diversity of tree species. This practice is also used to restore degraded land to agricultural production. The tasks of maintaining productivity on agricultural land and reforesting degraded areas is becoming increasingly urgent in the Amazon, making agricultural practices that involve reforestation and tree management highly relevant. Since swidden farming systems are the basis for the livelihoods of most Amazon smallholders, good farming practices elaborated by swidden farmers are important for sustainable small-scale family farming systems in the Amazon.
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| 9. |
- Berríos-Negrón, Luis
(författare)
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Greenhouse Superstructures as Social Pedestals : displaying site-specific non-locality as a possible form of resilience
- 2015
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Ingår i: Architecture and Resilience on the Human Scale. - Sheffield, UK : University of Sheffield. ; , s. 70-71
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this paper I will propose that greenhouse superstructures are not just the surface envelop of an industrial typology: they are more so a spatial archetype. As such, they are historiographical boundary objects that at times display the spatiotemporal dimensions and geopolitical flows of environmental form in accelerated climate change. This abovementioned hypothesis is reflected through the manifold of “resilience” as defined by Prof. Lawrence Vale - of resilience being “a window into conflicting human values”. The aim of this effort is to ultimately centre the manifold notion of “greenhouse” as an index that points away from itself towards the impact of anthropological and technocratic ideologies on agricultural and spatial production. It is these binary ideologies that arguably create what we sense to be a crisis of scale, now further articulated as the hyperobject of climate change as a disjuncture that we nostalgically entertain as a chasm between the human condition and the living environment. Parsed by augmenting the notion of 'greenhouse superstructure' – as technology, gas, and effect – the hypothesis looks to articulate the greenhouse as a 'site-specific non-local' sensation on the expanding sculptural field. What this expanding sculptural netherworld implies needs to be rigorously addressed for it may very well become what tautologically heightens the greenhouse to the providence of becoming our future atmosphere and landscape. To elaborate this potentiality, I will first present the schematics and precedents of the dissertation, including four installations of my authorship in Germany, Brazil, and Sweden. These sections then lead to an argument instantiated by thinking of the greenhouse as 'social pedestal'. The objective is therefore to embody the notion of non-local site-specific resilience as modes of pedagogy and production that aspire to destabilise the anthropological machine, as resilient modes not limited to historic, scientific, artistic, correlational, nor speculative conventions.
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| 10. |
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