Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation

Lead Authors: Marco Bindi (Italy), Sally Brown (UK), Ines Camilloni (Argentina), Arona Diedhiou (Ivory Coast/Senegal), Riyanti Djalante (Japan/Indonesia), Kristie L. Ebi (USA), Francois Engelbrecht (South Africa), Joel Guiot (France), Yasuaki Hijioka (Japan), Shagun Mehrotra (USA/India), Antony Payne (UK), Sonia I. Seneviratne (Switzerland), Adelle Thomas (Bahamas), Rachel Warren (UK), Guangsheng Zhou (China)

Impacts of 1.5°C Global Warming on Natural and Human Systems

Progress in biofuel production from gasification

Many global challenges, though interconnected, have been addressed singly, at times reducing one problem while exacerbating others. Nexus approaches simultaneously examine interactions among multiple sectors. Recent quantitative studies have revealed that nexus approaches can uncover synergies and detect trade-offs among sectors. If well implemented, nexus approaches have the potential to reduce negative surprises and promote integrated planning, management and governance. However, application and implementation of nexus approaches are in their infancy. No studies have explicitly quantified the contributions of nexus approaches to progress toward meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. To further implement nexus approaches and realize their potential, we propose a systematic procedure and provide perspectives on future directions. These include expanding nexus frameworks that consider interactions among more sectors, across scales, between adjacent and distant places, and linkages with Sustainable Development Goals; incorporating overlooked drivers and regions; diversifying nexus toolboxes; and making these strategies central in policy-making and governance for integrated Sustainable Development Goal implementation. Sustainability challenges, such as feeding people with fewer resources, involve challenges at the nexus of multiple issues, such as food, water and energy. This Review explores such nexus approaches, surveying their use towards sustainable development challenges, discussing examples, and proposing a systematic procedure and future directions.

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Nexus approaches to global sustainable development

This chapter surveys the role of the IEA as a key component of the international energy security system. First, it gives an overview of the nature of the energy security challenges and the key governance regimes that have been set up historically to manage these challenges, including the IEA. Then, it elaborates on the specific roles taken up by the IEA in global energy governance, particularly in light of the dramatic changes that characterize the global energy security system. Finally, it gives a comparative overview of the three oil market interventions that the IEA has so far coordinated, before presenting the conclusions.

The international energy agency

Understanding the complex interactions among food security, bioenergy sustainability, and resource management requires a focus on specific contextual problems and opportunities. The United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals place a high priority on food and energy security; bioenergy plays an important role in achieving both goals. Effective food security programs begin by clearly defining the problem and asking, ‘What can be done to assist people at high risk?’ Simplistic global analyses, headlines, and cartoons that blame biofuels for food insecurity may reflect good intentions but mislead the public and policymakers because they obscure the main drivers of local food insecurity and ignore opportunities for bioenergy to contribute to solutions. Applying sustainability guidelines to bioenergy will help achieve near- and long-term goals to eradicate hunger. Priorities for achieving successful synergies between bioenergy and food security include the following: (1) clarifying communications with clear and consistent terms, (2) recognizing that food and bioenergy need not compete for land and, instead, should be integrated to improve resource management, (3) investing in technology, rural extension, and innovations to build capacity and infrastructure, (4) promoting stable prices that incentivize local production, (5) adopting flex crops that can provide food along with other products and services to society, and (6) engaging stakeholders to identify and assess specific opportunities for biofuels to improve food security. Systematic monitoring and analysis to support adaptive management and continual improvement are essential elements to build synergies and help society equitably meet growing demands for both food and energy.

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Reconciling food security and bioenergy: priorities for action

Bananas and plantains provide food and income for more than 50 million smallholder farmers in East and Central African (ECA) countries. However, banana productivity generally achieves less than optimal yield potential (

The potential of in-situ hyperspectral remote sensing for differentiating 12 banana genotypes grown in Uganda

The Multidimensional Poverty Index is used increasingly to measure poverty in developing countries. The index is constructed using selected indicators that cover health, education, and living standards dimensions. The accuracy of this tool, however, depends on how each indicator is measured. This study explores the effect of accounting for water quality in multidimensional poverty measurement. Access to drinking water is traditionally measured by water source types. The study uses a more comprehensive measure, access to safely managed drinking water services, which are free from E. coli contamination, available when needed and accessible on premises in line with Sustainable Development Goal target 6.1. The study finds that the new measure increases national multidimensional headcount poverty by 5-13 percentage points, which would mean that 5-13 million more people are multidimensionally poor. It also increases the poverty level in urban areas to a greater extent than in rural areas. The finding is robust to changes in water contamination risk levels and Multidimensional Poverty Index aggregation approaches and weighting structures.

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Harriet Kasidi Mugera

Papers

Reconciling food security and bioenergy: priorities for action

The potential of in-situ hyperspectral remote sensing for differentiating 12 banana genotypes grown in Uganda

Accounting for drinking water quality in measuring multidimensional poverty in Ethiopia.

Reconciling biofuels and food security: priorities for action