The impacts of agricultural land use are far-reaching and extend to areas outside production. This paper provides an overview of the ecological status of agricultural systems across the European Union in the light of recent policy changes. It builds on the previous review of 2001 devoted to the impacts of agricultural intensification in Western Europe. The focus countries are the UK, The Netherlands, Boreal and Baltic countries, Portugal, Hungary and Romania, representing a geographical spread across Europe, but additional reference is made to other countries. Despite many adjustments to agricultural policy, intensification of production in some regions and concurrent abandonment in others remain the major threat to the ecology of agro-ecosystems impairing the state of soil, water and air and reducing biological diversity in agricultural landscapes. The impacts also extend to surrounding terrestrial and aquatic systems through water and aerial contamination and development of agricultural infrastructures (e.g. dams and irrigation channels). Improvements are also documented regionally, such as successful support of farmland species, and improved condition of watercourses and landscapes. This was attributed to agricultural policy targeted at the environment, improved environmental legislation, and new market opportunities. Research into ecosystem services associated with agriculture may provide further pressure to develop policy that is targeted at their continuous provisioning, fostering motivation of land managers to continue to protect and enhance them.

Ecological impacts of early 21st century agricultural change in Europe: a review. J Environ Manag

Ecological impacts of early 21st century agricultural change in Europe - a review.

Inter-relationships between adaptation and mitigation

Global climate change is a change in the long-term weather patterns that characterize the regions of the world. Scientists state unequivocally that the earth is warming. Natural climate variability alone cannot explain this trend. Human activities, especially the burning of coal and oil, have warmed the earth by dramatically increasing the concentrations of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. The more of these gases humans put into the atmosphere, the more the earth will warm in the decades and centuries ahead. The impacts of warming can already be observed in many places, from rising sea levels to melting snow and ice to changing weather patterns. Climate change is already affecting ecosystems, freshwater supplies, and human health. Although climate change cannot be avoided entirely, the most severe impacts of climate change can be avoided by substantially reducing the amount of heat-trapping gases released into the atmosphere. However, the time available for beginning serious action to avoid severe global consequences is growing short. This paper reviews assessing of such climate change impacts on various components of the ecosystem such as air, water, plants, animals and human beings, with special emphasis on economy. The most daunting problem of global warming is also discussed. This paper, further reviews the mitigation measures, with a special focus on carbon sequestration and clean development mechanism (CDM). The importance of synergy between climate change mitigation and adaptation has been discussed. An overview of the relationship between economy and emissions, including Carbon Tax and Emission Trading and the policies are also presented.

A review of climate change, mitigation and adaptation

This article develops a conceptual framework for the systematic analysis of the interaction between international institutions as a first step towards building a theory of international interaction. It examines how international institutions may exert causal influence on each other's development and effectiveness and suggests that four general causal mechanisms can elucidate the distinct routes through which influence travels from one institution to another. Institutional interaction can thus rely on transfer of knowledge, commitments established under an institution, behavioural effects of an institution, and functional linkage of the ultimate governance targets of the institutions involved. The article also puts forward hypotheses about the likely effects of specific types of institutional interaction for governance within the international system. The causal mechanisms and types of interaction are mutually exclusive models that help analyse real-world interaction situations. They may also serve as a basis for the systematic analysis of more complex interaction situations. Copyright © 2009 SAGE Publications.

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The Causal Mechanisms of Interaction between International Institutions

https://www.cbd.int/doc/articles/2003/a-00103.pdf

Conflicts between biodiversity and carbon sequestration programs: economic and legal implications

At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro two key agreements were adopted: the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for the preservation of biodiversity on Earth. Ten years after these treaties were concluded, the possible entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol (the Protocol) to the UNFCCC may threaten biodiversity conservation by enhancing sinks activities. In this article, implications of the interrelationship between carbon offsets and biodiversity are analysed. The regime on sinks activities in relation to forestry under the Protocol and its Marrakesh Accords (adopted in November 2001) is presented, and the expected impacts on biodiversity from the use of sinks through forestry activities proposed under the Protocol’s regime are analysed. In this article, the relationships between the Protocol and the CBD are investigated to assess possible conflicts and to suggest legal solutions for reconciling the two regimes.

Frédéric Jacquemont

Papers

Conflicts between biodiversity and carbon sequestration programs: economic and legal implications

The Convention on Biological Diversity and the Climate Change Convention 10 Years After Rio: Towards a Synergy of the Two Regimes?

Transnational Politics of the Environment: The European Union and Environment Policy in Central and Eastern Europe by Liliana B. Andonova