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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 December 2021.
Special Issue Editors
Interests: food and agricultural policy; sustainable development; water management; climate change; circular economy
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Climate change is having far-reaching adverse effects on agricultural production and is placing food security at risk. An increasing number of countries and communities are developing adaptation activities to respond to these impacts and to reduce the vulnerabilities associated with climate change. The wise adoption of adaptive agricultural practices, such as crop diversification/rotation or improved tillage methods, can create a more climate resilience systems and, simultaneously, provide co-benefits towards multiple goals (soil conservation, water quality protection, rural economic development, etc.).
Enhancing adaptation capacity is considered to be essential for the survival of the agricultural sector in many parts of the world. However, such capacities are place-and context-specific, and therefore no single adaptation method can be used across all settings. Despite some progress, the adaptations and methods taken so far are insufficient to address the long-term impacts of climate change. Much more needs to be done to understand how agricultural adaptation can be supported. Robust and transparent assessment approaches should be developed to help adaptation planners and practitioners identify the most appropriate interventions. To be effective, this should be done in collaboration with stakeholders following an iterative process of social learning and change.
The aim of this Special Issue is to share the latest developments in agricultural adaptation practices, tools, and policies. We invite original research articles and review papers in the following topics:
- Advantages and limitations of different adaptation frameworks
- Innovative and integrated approaches to agriculture adaptation planning
- Assessment of agricultural adaptation options, as well as the costs and benefits of adaptation
- Effectiveness of adaptation measures, as well as lessons learned and good practices
- Integral role of institutions, governance, and management in determining the ability of agriculture to adapt to climate change
- Barriers hindering agricultural systems’ adaptation
- Drivers and enabling factors promoting agricultural adaptation
- Links between adaptation and mitigation action, and the co-benefits and trade-offs between adaptation and mitigation
- Cross- or multi-sectoral adaptation issues.
Dr. Irene Blanco-Gutiérrez
Dr. Rhys Manners
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- climate change
- adaptation strategies
- adaptive capacity
- agriculture
- co-benefits
- trade-offs
- barriers
- enablers
- policy
- modelling
- social learning
- stakeholders
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Title: Impact of Farmer managed natural regeneration on resilience and welfare in Mali
Authors: Ephraim Nkonya; Edward Kato; Carolyn Kabore
Affiliation: Nonresident Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute.
Senior Analyst, International Food Policy Research Institute.
Senior Advisor Operational Research Food & Livelihoods Security, World Vision International
Abstract: Considering Mali vulnerability to climate change and limited coping mechanisms of the poor farmers, this study was done to determine the impact of low-cost adaptation strategies on resilience and welfare. We analyzed the impact of a World Vision project which promoted climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices in Mali from 2016-2019. We identified the impact using a two-stage weighted regression (2SWR). Results show that the World Vision project significantly increased the adoption of farmer managed natural regeneration (FMNR) practice and eventually crop yield. These intermediate impacts were translated into significant reduction of food insecurity and increase in household income. Additionally, the project significantly reduced the under five-year child stunting, wasting, underweight and increased mid-upper circumference (MUAC). The impacts of the project on child health were especially greater for farmers who participated in the project for a longer time. However, the project did not have significant impact on adoption of a combination of CSA practices – which could have enhanced the effectiveness of the FMNR practice. The results suggest the need for future interventions to emphasize promotion of complementary CSA practices, which significantly increases returns to farmer investments.
JEL Classification: Q540; O32
Keywords: Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), climate-smart agriculture (CSA), Climate Change, vulnerability, Sahelian, Mali.
Title: Climate change and Lithuania’s livestock farms: awareness and reactions, an explorative study
Authors: Calciolari F.; Novikova A.; Rocchi L.
Affiliation: University of Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno, 74 06121 Perugia, Italy. Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelaičio str. 58, 44248 Kaunas, Lithuania.
Abstract: Scientists generally acknowledge that the agricultural sector contributes significantly to climate change. In particular, livestock sector produces about two thirds of the total GHG emissions generated from all production processes located within the farm gate. On the other hand, climate change affects agriculture and zootechny. There is abundant literature on the measures that could be adopted by the farmers to mitigate climate change effects and to adapt their activity to the changes. Nonetheless, these studies focus predominantly on Africa and Asia. Fewer studies involve Europe and the Nordic areas, whilst Baltic countries are not considered at all. This study aims at analyzing livestock holders’ perception of the climate change and verifying whether and why they adopt mitigation and/or adaptation techniques in relation to it, and the limitations that delay the spread of measures. For this purpose, a survey was conducted among a livestock holdings’ sample in Lithuania, provided either directly to the farmers or conducted via email. The results showed that 87% of the respondents were aware of climate change, but only 42% of them had implemented any related measures. Besides the economic reasons, significant percentage of the latter referred to the lack of information. The findings have suggested that the holders from the regions where livestock production is not very economically advanced and with a small number of animals have difficulties in adopting the climate change-related measures because they do not have sufficient funds to implement them and are not aware of the possibilities for such measures.