This report proposes a taxonomy of policy design features for agri-environmental payment schemes, with a focus on those features that are conducive to policy cost-effectiveness. An application of the taxonomy to all agri-environmental payment schemes in six countries (Argentina, Australia, Estonia, Finland, Korea, and Portugal) reveals that more than 70% …
Hundreds of millions of acres of forest could be lost in the next two decades in less than a dozen global hotspots for deforestation, conservationists have warned. Research by wildlife charity WWF has identified 11 “deforestation fronts” where 80% of projected global forest losses by 2030 could occur. Up to …
Average carbon dioxide emissions of new cars sold in the European Union fell 2.6 percent last year, beating goals set for 2015 as part of efforts to slow climate change, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said on Wednesday. Average emissions slipped to 123.4 grammes of carbon dioxide per kilometre, below …
European Union governments are expected to approve a law on Friday to halve the number of plastic grocery bags used across the bloc after a process that has led to an early clash between the new EU executive and member states. The European Commission, which proposes legislation, questioned the outcome …
This article addresses the question of whether the economic crisis provides a politically opportune time to drastically curtail public healthcare in South Europe or whether, instead, there are signs of longer-term reform strategies for potentially balancing fiscal targets with the quest for enhanced value and health outcomes, when eventually growth …
Dengue, a vector-borne viral disease of increasing global importance, is classically associated with tropical and sub-tropical regions around the world. Urbanisation, globalisation and climate trends, however, are facilitating the geographic spread of its mosquito vectors, thereby increasing the risk of the virus establishing itself in previously unaffected areas and causing …
The majority of the world’s major cities have disclosed that climate change presents a physical risk to the businesses operating in their cities. This real and current threat is driving local governments to take concrete action in response, so finds Protecting our Capital.
Drifting off the coast of Portugal, the frontrunner in the global race for floating windfarms Three prototype technologies are competing to provide the first commercial floating wind turbines that could harness the world's strongest winds in the deepest waters bove the inky Atlantic water and beneath a clear blue sky, …
The Alentejo is the largest and poorest region of Portugal. Cooperatives and other social initiatives that arose after the Carnation Revolution in 1974 were later closed under pressure from the European Union. It was hoped that massive investments would make Portugal a role model for economic development, but the financial …
India has overtaken Canada to emerge as the fourth largest country to grow biotech or genetically modified (GM) crops in 2013 as farmers here planted Bt cotton in about 11 million hectares. In the previous year, farmers in India had planted Bt cotton — the only approved GM crop for …
Charity says that austerity measures will create a divided continent and 'entrench poverty for a generation' Europe faces a "lost decade", with the number of people trapped in poverty across the continent set to rise by up to 25 million by 2025 unless austerity policies are reversed, according to a …
The average car sold in the EU in 2012 was 9% more fuel-efficient than the average three years before, according to a report from the European Environment Agency (EEA). According to provisional data on vehicles sold in 2012, the average CO2 emissions from the new car fleet in the EU …
Germany and six other EU nations hold the key to the decision on a rescue plan for the world's biggest carbon market after prices slumped due to record oversupply, three EU officials with knowledge of the matter said. The EU proposal to help emission prices rebound from all- time lows …
Fifty-two people are confirmed to be suffering from dengue fever in the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira and another 404 probably have the mosquito-borne disease, health officials said on Thursday. Two cases of dengue - also called "breakbone fever" because of the severe pain it can cause - have also been …
European Union governments will probably reduce emissions outside the bloc’s carbon market by 8.8 per cent more than required under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, according to projections published today on an EU website. The oversupply of reductions among the 15 older members of the bloc will amount to 1.03 billion …
Changes in land use/land cover are a major driver of biodiversity change in the Mediterranean region. Understanding how animal populations respond to these landscape changes often requires using landscape mosaics as the unit of investigation, but few previous studies have measured both response and explanatory variables at the land mosaic …
Greenhouse gases from the European Union rose more than 2 percent in 2010 when a cold winter and a rebound in many economies drove up energy use, breaking a multi-year pattern of emissions declines. The year-on-year rise in the official EU data released on Wednesday was slowed by emissions declines …
Europe's economic slump is allowing utilities in some countries to burn increasing amounts of cheap, highly polluting coal for electricity generation and still meet legally binding targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions, Reuters research shows. The EU's carbon scheme, its main tool to fight global warming, caps CO2 emissions on …
There's new evidence that exposure to exhaust from diesel engines increases the risk of lung cancer. Diesel exhaust has long been classified as a probable carcinogen. But the 20-year study from the National Cancer Institute took a closer look by tracking more than 12,000 workers in certain kinds of mines …
After Portugal's driest February in 80 years, farmers are praying for a miracle as drought ravages pastures and sparks forest fires, exacerbating the country's economic crisis. Worse still, official forecasters expect the freak weather pattern to prevail at least through the end of March, which would worsen a drought now …
The United States remained the primary backer of biotech crop technology in 2011, but adoption spread internationally as the total global planted area of genetically modified seeds grew 8 percent from a year ago, according to a report issued Tuesday. Roughly 160 million hectares, or 395.2 million acres, were planted …
