Suchergebnisse

International audience ; Arganeraie Biosphere Reserve (ABR) in Morocco was established in 1998. Today the reserve covers 2.5 million hectares and more than 3 million people and, as such, it has been a complex social-ecological system to govern. Authors draw on post-normal conservation science and environmental governance studies to investigateenvironmental governance processes within the ABR and shed light on their out-comes and challenges to date.First, authors analyse how Moroccan institutions are managing this vast territory. Second, we look at perceptions of an extended peer community of decision-makers.This research adds an empirical case study to the North African region and ad-dresses two main weaknesses of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves worldwide: 1) effectivegovernance and 2) shortcomings in their implementation.Through an ethnographic approach, we are able to point out how low strategic pri-ority and a weak political will regarding the ABR may be hindering inclusive environmental governance. The authors suggest some key aspects for improving the existing governance system; various baseline needs and barriers that may be addressed in advance; a set of drivers, and several proposals for inclusive governance in the ABR. This study should prompt academia, policy- and decision-makers to identify and enhance synergies that allow for a shared vision of their territory

International audience ; Arganeraie Biosphere Reserve (ABR) in Morocco was established in 1998. Today the reserve covers 2.5 million hectares and more than 3 million people and, as such, it has been a complex social-ecological system to govern. Authors draw on post-normal conservation science and environmental governance studies to investigateenvironmental governance processes within the ABR and shed light on their out-comes and challenges to date.First, authors analyse how Moroccan institutions are managing this vast territory. Second, we look at perceptions of an extended peer community of decision-makers.This research adds an empirical case study to the North African region and ad-dresses two main weaknesses of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves worldwide: 1) effectivegovernance and 2) shortcomings in their implementation.Through an ethnographic approach, we are able to point out how low strategic pri-ority and a weak political will regarding the ABR may be hindering inclusive environmental governance. The authors suggest some key aspects for improving the existing governance system; various baseline needs and barriers that may be addressed in advance; a set of drivers, and several proposals for inclusive governance in the ABR. This study should prompt academia, policy- and decision-makers to identify and enhance synergies that allow for a shared vision of their territory

The heterogenous distribution of both COVID-19 incidence and mortality in Catalonia (Spain) during the firsts moths of the pandemic suggests that differences in baseline risk factors across regions might play a relevant role in modulating the outcome of the pandemic. This paper investigates the associations between both COVID-19 incidence and mortality and air pollutant concentration levels, and screens the potential effect of the type of agri-food industry and the overall land use and cover (LULC) at area level. ; Quim Zaldo-Aubanell was supported by AGAUR FI fellowship (DOGC num. 7720, of5.10.2018). Marc Saez was partially financed by the SUPERA COVID19 Fund, from SAUN: SantanderUniversidades, CRUE and CSIC, and by the COVID-19 Competitive Grant Program from PfizerGlobal Medical Grants. E. David Pino acknowledge the support of the Spanish government projectCGL2016-75996-R (MICINN) The funding sources did not participate in the design or conduct of thestudy, the collection, management, analysis, or interpretation of the data, or the preparation, review,or approval of the manuscript. ; Postprint (published version)

The heterogenous distribution of both COVID-19 incidence and mortality in Catalonia (Spain) during the firsts moths of the pandemic suggests that differences in baseline risk factors across regions might play a relevant role in modulating the outcome of the pandemic. This paper investigates the associations between both COVID-19 incidence and mortality and air pollutant concentration levels, and screens the potential effect of the type of agri-food industry and the overall land use and cover (LULC) at area level. We used a main model with demographic, socioeconomic and comorbidity covariates highlighted in previous research as important predictors. This allowed us to take a glimpse of the independent effect of the explanatory variables when controlled for the main model covariates. Our findings are aligned with previous research showing that the baseline features of the regions in terms of general health status, pollutant concentration levels (here NO and PM ), type of agri-food industry, and type of land use and land cover have modulated the impact of COVID-19 at a regional scale. This study is among the first to explore the associations between COVID-19 and the type of agri-food industry and LULC data using a population-based approach. The results of this paper might serve as the basis to develop new research hypotheses using a more comprehensive approach, highlighting the inequalities of regions in terms of risk factors and their response to COVID-19, as well as fostering public policies towards more resilient and safer environments. ; Quim Zaldo-Aubanell was supported by AGAUR FI fellowship (DOGC num. 7720, of 5.10.2018). Marc Saez was partially financed by the SUPERA COVID19 Fund, from SAUN: Santander Universidades, CRUE and CSIC, and by the COVID-19 Competitive Grant Program from Pfizer Global Medical Grants. E. David Pino acknowledge the support of the Spanish government project CGL2016-75996-R (MICINN) The funding sources did not participate in the design or conduct of the study, the collection, management, analysis, or interpretation of the data, or the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.

The heterogenous distribution of both COVID-19 incidence and mortality in Catalonia (Spain) during the firsts moths of the pandemic suggests that differences in baseline risk factors across regions might play a relevant role in modulating the outcome of the pandemic. This paper investigates the associations between both COVID-19 incidence and mortality and air pollutant concentration levels, and screens the potential effect of the type of agri-food industry and the overall land use and cover (LULC) at area level. We used a main model with demographic, socioeconomic and comorbidity covariates highlighted in previous research as important predictors. This allowed us to take a glimpse of the independent effect of the explanatory variables when controlled for the main model covariates. Our findings are aligned with previous research showing that the baseline features of the regions in terms of general health status, pollutant concentration levels (here NO2 and PM10), type of agri-food industry, and type of land use and land cover have modulated the impact of COVID-19 at a regional scale. This study is among the first to explore the associations between COVID-19 and the type of agri-food industry and LULC data using a population-based approach. The results of this paper might serve as the basis to develop new research hypotheses using a more comprehensive approach, highlighting the inequalities of regions in terms of risk factors and their response to COVID-19, as well as fostering public policies towards more resilient and safer environments ; Quim Zaldo-Aubanell was supported by AGAUR FI fellowship (DOGC num. 7720, of 5.10.2018). Marc Saez was partially financed by the SUPERA COVID19 Fund, from SAUN: Santander Universidades, CRUE and CSIC, and by the COVID-19 Competitive Grant Program from Pfizer Global Medical Grants. E. David Pino acknowledge the support of the Spanish government project CGL2016-75996-R (MICINN)

The use of Land use and Land cover (LULC) data is gradually becoming more widely spread in studies relating the environment to human health. However, little research has acknowledged the compositional nature of these data. The goal of the present study is to explore, for the first time, the independent effect of eight LULC categories (agricultural land, bare land, coniferous forest, broad-leaved forest, sclerophyll forest, grassland and shrubs, urban areas, and waterbodies) on three selected common health conditions: type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), asthma and anxiety, using a compositional methodological approach and leveraging observational health data of Catalonia (Spain) at area level. We fixed the risk exposure scenario using three covariates (socioeconomic status, age group, and sex). Then, we assessed the independent effect of the eight LULC categories on each health condition. Our results show that each LULC category has a distinctive effect on the three health conditions and that the three covariates clearly modify this effect. This compositional approach has yielded plausible results supported by the existing literature, highlighting the relevance of environmental heterogeneity in health studies. In this sense, we argue that different types of environment possess exclusive biotic and abiotic elements affecting distinctively on human health. We believe our contribution might help researchers approach the environment in a more multidimensional manner integrating environmental heterogeneity in the analysis. ; Quim Zaldo-Aubanell was supported by AGAUR FI fellowship (DOGC num. 7720, of 5.10.2018). Isabel Serra acknowledges support from FIS2015-71851-P and PGC-FIS2018-099629-B-I00 from Spanish MINECO and MICINN, and was partially funded by the grant RTI2018-096072-B-I00 from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. Jordina Belmonte was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology through the project CTM2017-86565-C2-1-O and by the Catalan Government AGAUR through 2017SGR1692. Pepus Daunis-i-Estadella acknowledges support from the project RTI2018-095518-B-C21 Methods for Compositional analysis of Data (CODAMET), Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spain. The funding sources did not participate in the design or conduct of the study, the collection, management, analysis, or interpretation of the data, or the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript. We want to thank Marcel Bach-Pagès for his insights in the manuscript. ; Peer Reviewed ; Postprint (published version)

The governance of ecosystem services (ES) has been predominantly thought of in terms of market or state-based instruments. Comparatively, collective action mechanisms have rarely been considered. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a conceptual framework that brings together ES, social interdependencies, and collective action thinking. We use an ES conceptual lens to highlight social interdependencies among people so as to reflect on existing or potential collective actions among them. This framework can also contribute to increasing people's awareness of their mutual interdependencies and thereby fostering, framing, or enriching collective action, in ways that take into account the diversity and complexity of ecological processes underlying human activities. Our approach can contribute in particular to agroecological transitions that require landscape level innovations and coordination mechanisms among land users and managers. The framework distinguishes three types of social interdependencies: (i) between ES beneficiaries and ES providers, (ii) among beneficiaries, and (iii) among providers. These social interdependencies are in turn analyzed according to four main dimensions that are critical for collective action: (i) cognitive framing of interdependencies, (ii) levels of organization, (iii) formal and informal institutions, and (iv) power relations. Finally, we propose a strategy to turn this framework into action in contexts of participatory action research, a strategy grounded on a number of methodological principles and tools that convey complexity and increase people's awareness of interdependencies in agrarian social-ecological systems.