Climate change and gender equality in developing states

The transition to renewable energy can disproportionately impact the effectiveness of climate change adaptation, due to regional heterogeneity. Many countries attempt to promote renewable energy to reduce the impact of climate change, but the impacts of national energy policy in the climate vulnerability framework remain little understood. Here, we exploit variations in renewable energy uses to test the effectiveness of climate adaptation policy across the dimensions of climate impact and vulnerability. Using the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process and panel data regression, we analyze the spatiotemporal correlation between renewable energy transition and climate vulnerability across the world. We find that while renewable energy increases proportionally with climate exposure and sensitivity, many countries exhibit discrepancies between the variation in renewable energy transition and climate vulnerability. The promotion of renewable energy funnels into nations with a higher level of adaptive capacity while bypassing more vulnerable countries. The results signify that existing renewable energy policies can exacerbate climate inequality and undermine the benefits of the transition to renewable energy by neglecting the spatial heterogeneity in climate vulnerability. Our findings provide empirical evidence for the ways in which renewable energy policy can generate spatial inequalities in climate adaptation.

Citation Excerpt :

To design an ample policy for sustainable development has become crucial for developed and developing nations. Environmental awareness adjusted sustainable development policy is a challenge for developing nations. Therefore, this work attempts to investigate the impacts of renewable energy on CO2 emissions by including other factors like, education, GDP, natural resources and foreign direct investment for G11 economies over the time period of 1990–2019. The empirical results show that renewable energy and education reduce CO2 emissions by 0.49 and 0.11% respectively. Foreign direct investment and natural resources degrade the environment 0.15% and 0.09% respectively. Heterogeneous causality results show feedback association between renewable energy, education, GDP and CO2 emissions. This work provides policy implication for G11 countries to invest on renewable and education sector. Therefore, these countries can achieve sustainable goals in a systematic way.

Designing a comprehensive policy framework for ascertaining sustainable development is a problem faced by most of the countries around the globe, and the developed nations are no exception to that. Environmental awareness-oriented policy design for achieving sustainable development goals is a challenge for the developed nations, and there lies the contribution of this study. This study analyzes the impact of renewable energy on carbon emissions, in presence of education, natural resource abundance, foreign direct investment, and economic growth for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries over the period of 1990–2015. Second generation methodologies are adapted for the empirical estimation. The results show the stimulating role of renewable energy consumption in shaping environmental quality. Education declines carbon emissions. Natural resource abundance and foreign direct investment deteriorate environmental quality. Moreover, the time series individual country analysis also confirms that renewable energy has a positive impact on economic growth. The heterogeneous causality analysis reveals the feedback effect, i.e., bidirectional causal associations among carbon emissions, education, and renewable energy consumption. This empirical evidence suggests that countries should increase investment in education and renewable energy sectors and plan for research and development in renewable energy for ensuring environmental sustainability.

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is increasingly important for advancing rural development and environmental sustainability goals in developing countries. Over the past decade, the international community has committed billions of dollars to support various practices under the banner of CSA. Despite this effort, however, CSA adoption remains low in many contexts. Lack of conceptual clarity about the range of potential farm-level CSA practices across contexts impedes understanding of CSA adoption in developing countries. Here we review relevant literature to develop a typology of farm-level CSA practices to facilitate analyses of CSA adoption. The typology consists of six categories, organized from least to most resource intensive: (1) residue addition, (2) non-woody plant cultivation, (3) assisted regeneration, (4) woody plant cultivation, (5) physical infrastructure, and (6) mixed measures. We use the typology to generate and test hypotheses about CSA adoption using primary household survey data from a large aid-funded CSA intervention area in southern Malawi. We then use recursive bivariate probit regression (controlling for endogeneity and selection bias) to estimate the effect of program participation on adoption across CSA categories. We find positive and statistically significant effects of program participation on adoption of CSA practices generally with the strongest effects on resource-intensive CSA categories. Results demonstrate the potential for wider application of the typology to build knowledge of the effectiveness of CSA promotion efforts across different social and environmental contexts. Our findings also suggest the importance of external support for the adoption of more resource-intensive CSA practices among rural households and communities in Malawi and elsewhere in the developing world.

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This study examines whether agroecological farming practices, when employed by highly vulnerable households in sub-Saharan Africa, can improve food security and dietary diversity. The research involved a four-year study with 425 smallholder households, selected purposively based on high levels of food insecurity and/or positive HIV status. The households carried out agroecological experiments of their own choosing over a four-year period. Baseline (n = 306) and follow-up (n = 352) surveys were conducted in 2011 and 2013 respectively to assess changes in farming practices, food security, crop diversity and dietary diversity. Longitudinal mixed effects models were used with 203 matched households to estimate determinants of change in food security and dietary diversity at the population level. Qualitative interviews and focus groups were also conducted to provide depth to the survey findings. The findings show that participatory agroecology experimentation increased intercropping, legume diversification and the addition of compost, manure and crop residue amendments to the soil. Intercropping was associated with food security and the use of organic soil amendments was associated with gains in dietary diversity in bivariate analysis. Household food security and dietary diversity increased significantly over a 2-year period. Importantly, multivariate models showed that spousal discussion about farming was strongly associated with increased household food security and dietary diversity. Households who discussed farming with their spouse were 2.4 times more likely to be food secure and have diverse diets. Addition of compost or manure to the soil significantly influenced dietary diversity. These findings indicate that poor, vulnerable farmers can use agroecological methods to effectively improve food and nutritional security in sub-Saharan Africa. The study also highlights how linking agroecology to participatory research approaches that promote farmer experimentation and gender equity also lead to greater health and well-being. The study sheds light on how agroecological approaches can rapidly improve food security and dietary diversity, even under conditions of acute social, health or ecological stress. It draws attention to issues of equity and farmer-led approaches in addressing food security and nutrition.