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- Alkhalili, Noura, et al.
(author)
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The enduring coloniality of ecological modernization : Wind energy development in occupied Western Sahara and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights
- 2023
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In: Political Geography. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-5096 .- 0962-6298. ; 103
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The dominant narratives on how to confront climate change are often presented as neutral proposals concerned with the well-being of the planet and its inhabitants. The main objective of this article is to exemplify how concepts like Ecological Modernization and Sustainable Development are used in the name of energy transitions to prolong illegal military occupations in two territories, namely occupied Western Sahara and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. By combining first-hand and secondary data from our cases, we also expose the enduring coloniality of such concepts that have been critiqued not only for their lack of neutrality but also for their contribution to the denial of basic human rights such as self-determination, sovereignty, and the right to resourcehood. We argue that renewable energy projects, in the two settings studied, are a manifestation of an ecological modernization that ignores aspects of justice and self-determination. Although touted as a solution to mitigating climate change, wind energy development in these two cases violates international law and the principle of self-determination.
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- Clark, Eric, et al.
(author)
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Rent gaps in the Spanish Crisis
- 2016
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In: Turismo y crisis, turismo colaborativo y ecoturismo.. - 9788461751150 ; , s. 31-42
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Rent seeking is central to processes of financialisation and crisis formtation, not least in tourism economies. Rent seeking involves the making and taking of rent gaps geared to expand unearned incomes in the form of interest revenues from debt and rental revenues from property. Changes in built environments become increasingly determined by where rent gaps can be created and appropriated, rather than as outcomes of conflict-laden, democratic, use-value oriented decision-making. In this paper we address the role of creating and appropriating rent gaps in the formation of the Spanish crisis. The normative gist of the paper is to ask: How might we go about making rent gap theory not true? The analysis highlights four key dimensions: commodification vs commons; social polarization; financialization vs democracy; and ideology underlying political, legal and institutional change.
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- K Gitau, James, et al.
(author)
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Cleaner cooking while producing biochar: factors affecting adoption of gasifier cookstoves in rural areas
- 2019
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A majority of households in developing countries use biomass energy for cooking and heating due to its affordability and accessibility. However, unsustainable biomass use leads to deforestation, environmental degradation and climate change. The pollution from open burning of biomass is a major health concern especially for women and children as they spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Biochar-producing gasifier cookstoves offer an opportunity to address many of these problems, while also producing biochar, which can be used as a soil amendment. A study was carried out in order to investigate factors influencing the adoption of these cookstoves in three sites in Kenya (Kwale, Embu and Siaya). After an introductory training, 150 households received cookstoves and were asked to use them to produce biochar for upcoming field experiments. User experiences were collected throughsurveys after 2-3 months and about 2 years, and at workshops. The main benefits of the cookstove identified by the users were fuel saving with significant impacts on household economies, reduced smoke and production of biochar for either cooking or soil amendment. Challenges were related to lighting, a need to refill the fuel canister, fuel preparation and different suitability for different typesof meals and meal sizes. The gasifier use frequency and biochar production rates differed between the sites, which had different climate, socio-economic conditions and fuel accessibility. The results will be of relevance for inclusion of user participation in cookstove designing and performance assessment as well as for stakeholders involved in marketing. They can also give guidance on therelevance of gasifier cookstoves for production of biochar for use on farms.
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| 7. |
- Kinuya Gitau, James, et al.
(author)
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Understanding users' needs is important for the adoption of cleaner biomass cook stoves
- 2022
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- elwood is the main source of cooking and heating energy for households in rural sub-Saharan Africa. Unfortunately, most of these households use inefficient biomass cook stoves, leading to consumption of more fuel and exposure to indoor air pollutants and associate health problems which disproportionately affect women and children. However, adoption of cleaner biomass cook stoves has remained low which could be associated to low understanding of users' needs and preferences among other factors. This study examined the performance and use of efficient gasifier cook stoves in the mid-lowlands, highlands and coastal regions of Kenya. Gasifier stoves that produce char (charcoal when used fuel or biochar when used for soil amendment) while cooking were issued to 150 households for free and their performance in fuel use and household air pollution in real life assessed among 50% of the households using participatory cooking tests. Further uptake surveys were carried out after 2–3 months about one year after gasifier cook stoves were issued. The gasifier performs better than three-stone open fire as it reduces fuel use by 51% and 28% when char is considered as fuel and biochar for soil amendment respectively. The new stove reduces concentration of PM2.5 and CO by 90% and 73% respectively. The results showed that after 2-3 months, 86%, 96% and 100% (average 94%) of households were using the stove though at varying frequencies of 4, 9 and 7 (average 7) times per week in Embu, Kwale and Siaya respectively. The use of the new stove was alongside their traditional stoves a common practice known as stove stacking. The gasifier was mainly used to cook foods that required a short cooking time and many preferred to use it to cook dinner. After about one year, 38%, 100 % and 88% (average 75%) of households were using it 3, 2 and 5 (average 3) times per week in Embu, Kwale and Siaya respectively while stove stacking. The surveys showed that the users liked the gasifier because it saves fuel, produce char used as charcoal providing fuel for other purposes such as ironing clothes and heating space, cook well and burn longer with less smoke and is easy to harvest and cool the char produced. However, despite the positive characteristics the users found it difficult to light from the top, chop wood into required sizes and reload the stove when fuel charred before the food got ready. To meet their cooking and heating needs, households continued to use the traditional three-stone and added the new stove. Users’ needs and preferences need to be understood and considered in the development of cleaner cooking biomass stoves for enhanced adoption and realization of the associated benefits
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- Mahmoud, Yahia, et al.
(author)
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At the nexus of problem-solving and critical research
- 2018
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In: Ecology and Society. - 1708-3087. ; 23:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The analytical distinction between critical and problem-solving research is useful. At the onset of research, the latter takes the world as it is while the former questions it. Yet, in striving to integrate social and natural dimensions of sustainability such a distinction may surface as a methodological obstacle. We illustrate how combining critical with problem-solving approaches can help us imagine, understand, and enable transitions to sustainability. First, we trace the historical divide and potential complementarity between critical and problem-solving approaches in the natural and social sciences and how critical approaches in the social sciences are informed by critical theory. Inspired by Robert Cox, we then analyze a set of PhD theses in an interdisciplinary research program engaging in critical and problem-solving research, on and for sustainability. We do so based on Cox’s terminology, especially the concepts of ideas, institutions, material capabilities, and frameworks for action, and then show how selected research narratives apply them. To conclude, we emphasize that integrated understandings of human-environmental dynamics are facilitated by multiscalar approaches, theoretical and methodological pluralism, and a combination of natural and social science theory, typical of the interdisciplinary research field of sustainability science.
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- Mahmoud, Yahia, et al.
(author)
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Biochar production and application in small-scale farming in Kenya : Yield increases and local perceptions
- 2019
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Degradation of agricultural soils and forest resources are two pervasive challenges in rural landscapes of sub-Saharan Africa. Biochar-producing biomass gasification technologies attract evermore interest because these can empower small-scale farmers to produce energy and food more sustainably byimproving energy use efficiencies, lowering emissions and strengthening climate resilience. In order to assess the potential impacts and the feasibility of soil biochar amendments we are carrying out on-farm trials with 150 households in three agroecosystems in Kenya. A participatory approach was followed for testing uptake of gasifier cook stoves and effects of biochar use on crop production. The outcomes that will be presented include: (a) the degree of feasibility, (b) the effects on crop yields, (c) the general attitudes towards the idea of using the cookstoves to produce biochar, and (d) patterns of biomass fuel use. Effects of domestically produced biochar, at rates of 1-10 t DW ha-1, on the production of maize (Zea mays) and kale (Brassica oleracea) were compared with normal farming practices. At the site located in Kwale the yield increases of maize showed a strong positive correlation with biochar dose. In the first season, yields increased from 0.9 Mg ha-1 in the control plot to 4.4Mg ha-1 in average in the biochar-amended plots. At another site (Siaya), an average biochar dose of 2.8 Mg ha-1 lead to an increase in maize yields from 2.9 to 3.8 Mg ha-1 in average in the first season and from 1.7 to 2.5 Mg ha-1 in the second season after biochar addition. Findings from this action research indicate that producing and using biochar on small-scale farms offers suitable opportunities to close yield gaps across Kenya and in similar agro-ecological environments.
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