Suchergebnisse

Algunos apuntes sobre cómo incorporar la perspectiva de género a las políticas urbanas.El caso de la Comunitat Valenciana ; The current political context of legislative renovation in the Valencian Community (Spain) opens an opportunity to reformulate the relationship of citizens with the city. In this sense, gender perspective provides a privileged path from different historically silenced collectives that, paradigmatically, can provide new tools to interpret reality and to set up new strategies of intervention in housing and urban development. Gender studies applied to housing policies and urbanism accumulate a large number of experiences. However, specific contributions developed to articulate a more accurate legislative body are scarce in the Valencian Community. Hence, this article firstly analyzes previous legislative initiatives introducing gender studies, to secondly extract from this analysis the two main gender paradigms present so far. Under this umbrella part of the Valencian Community public policies applied to housing and urbanism will be evaluated to testify how the gender perspective has been implemented so far, and what is still missing under the two different approaches. The study shows that the deficiencies are remarkable and require an intervention. In fact, the regulatory context of the Valencian Community is characterized by a structural resistance to the assumption of the long tradition of gender studies and its relationship with the city. Nevertheless, these two-gender paradigms identified in this paper open an active reflexion on which is the path that now consciously is wanted to follow in future legislative initiatives. ; L'attuale contesto politico di aggiornamento normativo nella Comunità Valenciana (Spagna) concede l'opportunità di riformulare il rapporto tra cittadini e città. In questo senso, la prospettiva di genere fornisce un percorso privilegiato per diversi collettivi storicamente silenti che, paradigmaticamente, sono in grado di fornire nuovi strumenti per interpretare la realtà e per definire nuove strategie di intervento per la residenza e lo sviluppo urbano. Gli studi di genere applicati alle politiche abitative e all'urbanistica contano un gran numero di esperienze. Tuttavia, i contributi specifici sviluppati per articolare un corpo legislativo più accurato sono scarsi nella Comunità Valenciana. Quindi, questo articolo analizza in primo luogo le precedenti iniziative legislative che introducono gli studi di genere, in secondo luogo estrae da questa analisi i due principali paradigmi di genere finora presenti. Nell'ambito della parte generale sulle politiche pubbliche applicate nella Comunitat Valenciana in materia di abitazioni e urbanistica, si valuterà come la prospettiva di genere è stata finora attuata, e ciò che ancora manca in riferimento ai due diversi approcci. Lo studio dimostra che le carenze sono notevoli e richiedono un intervento. In effetti, il contesto normativo della Comunità Valenciana è caratterizzato da una resistenza strutturale all'assunzione al suo interno dei contenuti degli studi di genere in rapporto alla città, che vantano una lunga tradizione. Tuttavia, i due paradigmi di genere identificati in questo studio aprono una riflessione attiva su quale sia il percorso che ora consapevolmente si vuole seguire nelle future iniziative legislative.

Abstract. Rice production in Ecuador is steadily affected by extreme climatic events
that make it difficult for farmers to cope with production risk, threatening rural livelihoods and food security in the country. Developing agricultural insurance is a policy option that has gained traction in the last decade. Index-based agricultural insurance has become a promising alternative that allows insurance companies to ascertain and quantify losses without verifying a catastrophic event in situ, lowering operative costs and easing implementation. But its development can be hindered by basis risk, which occurs when real losses in farms do not fit accurately with the selected index. Avoiding basis risk requires assessing the variability within the insurance application area and considering it for representative index selection. In this context, we have designed an index-based insurance (IBI) that uses a vegetation index (normalized difference vegetation index – NDVI) as an indicator of drought and flood impact on rice in the canton of Babahoyo (Ecuador). Babahoyo was divided in two agro-ecological homogeneous zones (AHZs) to account for variability, and two NDVI threshold values were defined to consider, first, the event impact on crops (physiological threshold) and, second, its impact on the gross margin (economic threshold). This design allows us to set up accurate insurance premiums and compensation that fit the particular conditions of each AHZ, reducing basis risk.

AbstractA multi‐year drought has taken a severe toll on the agricultural economy of California's Central Valley. Index insurance is an instrument with the potential to protect water users from economic losses due to periodic water shortages. An index insurance product based on the Sacramento Index and adapted to the Central Valley Project water supply is proposed. To address the potential for intertemporal adverse selection, three product designs are suggested: (1) "early bird" insurance; (2) variable premium insurance; and (3) variable deductible insurance. The performance of the designs are assessed using loss functions from the Westlands Water District in the San Joaquin Valley.

The evaluation of the water footprint and virtual water trade offers a way to examine the sustainability of a water resources. This book is based on the research and results of a study carried out for Spain, which serves as a case for a semi-arid country.

What exactly is resilience and how can it be enhanced? Farming systems in Europe are rapidly evolving while at the same time being under threat, as seen by the disappearance of dozens of farms every day. Farming systems must become more resilient in response to growing economic, environmental, institutional, and social challenges facing Europe's agriculture. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for enhanced resilience has become even more apparent and continues to be an overarching guiding principle of EU policy making. Resilience challenges and strategies are framed within four main processes affecting decision making in agriculture: risk management, farm demographics, governance and agricultural practices. This empirical focus looks at very diverse contexts, with eleven case studies from Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain and Sweden. This study will help determine the future and sustainability of European farming systems. This title is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

The study aims at reviewing the implementing arrangements adopted recently by the EU Member States with regard to the risk management provisions in the agricultural sector. The study develops a general overview of the state of play of risk management in 2014/2020 Rural Development Programmes submitted by Member States (or Regions); examines similarities and differences in risk management tools implemented in order to gain a better understanding of their scope, their design, their limits and their potential efficiency; and suggests future CAP developments related to risk management in order to deal more effectively with income uncertainties and market volatility. ; Peer reviewed

To achieve its objectives in a changing world, the Common Agricultural Policy needs to put the resilience of Europe's farming systems at its center. The current CAP focuses on making the farming community more robust against shocks in the short run. However, a broader view on resilience is needed to ensure a sustainable agricultural sector in the longer term. This new vision should pay sufficient attention to developing the capacities of both individual farms and farming systems to adapt to changing circumstances and to transform their business models where necessary to maintain the delivery of food, fiber, energy and public goods in the long run. ; EU; en; contact: miranda.meuwissen@wur.nl

Increasing water scarcity is encouraging the use of unconventional water resources. In recent years, the European Union has launched numerous initiatives to promote and facilitate water reuse for agricultural irrigation. Today, the use of reclaimed water for agriculture has become an alternative, reliable and safe source of water supply and an indispensable water planning tool, especially in the area of southern Europe. However, water reuse for irrigation is currently far below its potential. Numerous barriers prevent its development and call for a detailed analysis of the different aspects affecting reclaimed water reuse, through an integrated and multidisciplinary approach.A multidisciplinary research team from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, consisting of agronomists, hydrologists, chemists and agricultural economists, will work on the RECLAMO Project (https://blogs.upm.es/reclamo/), with the aim of providing solutions and recommendations aimed at promoting the full development and use of reclaimed water for irrigation in areas of Spain with marked water stress.For this purpose, project activities will be developed in two selected case studies (the Segura Basin, leader in water reuse in Spain and the Guadiana Basin, with success stories, but low levels of water reuse) and organised according to five axes: 1) development of a comprehensive knowledge-base covering the regulatory, technical, socio-economic and environmental aspects of reclaimed water reuse in agriculture; 2) participatory development of future scenarios exploring possible strategies, barriers and opportunities, in relation to the expansion of the use of reclaimed water for irrigation; 3) impact analysis of the strategies identified at different scales (crop, farm, (sub-)basin), through the development of an integrated modelling platform (hydrologic-agronomic-economic models); 4) Development of a roadmap and policy recommendations to achieve the full development and use of reclaimed water reuse for irrigation; 5) Dissemination of knowledge and ...

The challenges faced by agricultural systems call for an advance in risk management (RM) assessments. This research identifies and discusses potential improvements to RM across 11 European Union (EU) farming systems (FS). The paper proposes a comprehensive, participatory approach that accounts for multi-stakeholder perspectives relying on 11 focus groups for brainstorming and gathering suggestions to improve RM. Data analysis is based on content analysis and coding of suggested improvements, and their assessment through the lenses of main challenges faced, farms' flexibility, and dependence on subsidies. First, the results show that necessary improvements differ depending on whether they have their origin in sudden shocks or long-term pressures. Second, farm dependence on direct payments determines a stronger need to improve financial instruments, whereas farm flexibility suggests a need for more accessible and tailored tools for low-flexibility FS, and increased know-what and know-how for high-flexibility FS. Third, our findings indicate a potential for extending stakeholder involvement in RM to new or unconventional roles. Underlying specific improvements, the paper suggests and discusses three main avenues to improve RM as a whole: i) a developed learning and knowledge network; ii) new forms of collaboration; and iii) integrated financial and policy instruments. ; en; EU; contact: daniele.bertolozzi@upm.es

The challenges faced by agricultural systems call for an advance in risk management (RM) assessments. This research identifies and discusses potential improvements to RM across 11 European Union (EU) farming systems (FS). The paper proposes a comprehensive, participatory approach that accounts for multi-stakeholder perspectives relying on 11 focus groups for brainstorming and gathering suggestions to improve RM. Data analysis is based on content analysis and coding of suggested improvements, and their assessment through the lenses of main challenges faced, farms' flexibility, and dependence on subsidies. First, the results show that necessary improvements differ depending on whether they have their origin in sudden shocks or long-term pressures. Second, farm dependence on direct payments determines a stronger need to improve financial instruments, whereas farm flexibility suggests a need for more accessible and tailored tools for low-flexibility FS, and increased know-what and know-how for high-flexibility FS. Third, our findings indicate a potential for extending stakeholder involvement in RM to new or unconventional roles. Underlying specific improvements, the paper suggests and discusses three main avenues to improve RM as a whole: i) a developed learning and knowledge network; ii) new forms of collaboration; and iii) integrated financial and policy instruments.

The challenges faced by agricultural systems call for an advance in risk management (RM) assessments. This research identifies and discusses potential improvements to RM across 11 European Union (EU) farming systems (FS). The paper proposes a comprehensive, participatory approach that accounts for multi-stakeholder perspectives relying on 11 focus groups for brainstorming and gathering suggestions to improve RM. Data analysis is based on content analysis and coding of suggested improvements, and their assessment through the lenses of main challenges faced, farms' flexibility, and dependence on subsidies. First, the results show that necessary improvements differ depending on whether they have their origin in sudden shocks or long-term pressures. Second, farm dependence on direct payments determines a stronger need to improve financial instruments, whereas farm flexibility suggests a need for more accessible and tailored tools for low-flexibility FS, and increased know-what and know-how for high-flexibility FS. Third, our findings indicate a potential for extending stakeholder involvement in RM to new or unconventional roles. Underlying specific improvements, the paper suggests and discusses three main avenues to improve RM as a whole: i) a developed learning and knowledge network; ii) new forms of collaboration; and iii) integrated financial and policy instruments.

The challenges faced by agricultural systems call for an advance in risk management (RM) assessments. This research identifies and discusses potential improvements to RM across 11 European Union (EU) farming systems (FS). The paper proposes a comprehensive, participatory approach that accounts for multi-stakeholder perspectives relying on 11 focus groups for brainstorming and gathering suggestions to improve RM. Data analysis is based on content analysis and coding of suggested improvements, and their assessment through the lenses of main challenges faced, farms' flexibility, and dependence on subsidies. First, the results show that necessary improvements differ depending on whether they have their origin in sudden shocks or long-term pressures. Second, farm dependence on direct payments determines a stronger need to improve financial instruments, whereas farm flexibility suggests a need for more accessible and tailored tools for low-flexibility FS, and increased know-what and know-how for high-flexibility FS. Third, our findings indicate a potential for extending stakeholder involvement in RM to new or unconventional roles. Underlying specific improvements, the paper suggests and discusses three main avenues to improve RM as a whole: i) a developed learning and knowledge network; ii) new forms of collaboration; and iii) integrated financial and policy instruments.

Risk and risk management are essential elements of agriculture and affect the wellbeing of farm households. Farmers react to production, market and institutional risks and challenges by taking measures on or off the farm. Such risk management measures are often costly and have implications for up- and downstream industries as well as the environment. The risk exposure of European farms is increasing. For example, climate change will increase the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events like droughts, heatwaves and heavy rainfalls that potentially have detrimental effects on agricultural production. Thus, the adaptive capacity and risk management options in European agriculture need to be improved. Policy shall support this process. Policies are needed to support a diversity of risk management solutions and not only focus on a few solutions. Strategies to cope with risk often go beyond the level of the individual farm. Cooperation, learning and sharing of risks play a vital role in European agriculture and shall be strengthened. Thus, coordinated policies targeting beyond the individual farm and considering all the stakeholders involved in the risk management strategies are needed to ensure their effective implementation. Moreover, policies need to facilitate to take full advantage of the rapid technological progress and improved data availability (e.g. based on satellite imagery) to develop a wider set of risk management strategies. ; EU; en; contact: miranda.meuwissen@wur.nl