Increasing reliance on uninterrupted electricity supply against emerging threats such as climate change and cyberattacks calls for higher resilience of societies against power disruptions. A better ...understanding of social and economic impacts during these disruptions would be important for planning of resilience improvements. However, traditional energy system models rarely include these aspects. This paper presents an integrated framework containing a geospatial power system operation model, capable of emulating system component failures and restoration according to environmental conditions, with a link to spatial social and economic values such as population, economic activity, critical services and facilities. The framework was applied for analyzing the effects of uncontrolled and controlled power outages for two windy winter weeks in Finland. This case illustrated how controlled optimization could reduce the societal costs of such outage by shifting power shortage to regions where such costs are lower and in part by shifting the costs to other factors.
•Framework for linking disruptions to energy systems with socio-economic impacts.•Power system operation model with the possibility of component failures.•Illustrative case study for Finnish power system outages.•Consideration of regional, sectoral and value tradeoffs during power disruptions.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Population growth and development are associated with increased water demand that often exceeds the capacity of existing resources, resulting in water shortages, particularly in urban areas, where ...more than 60% of the world's population resides. In many developing communities, shortages often force households to depend on water tankers amongst other potential sources for the delivery of water for domestic and/or potable use. While water tankers have become an integral part of the water supply system in many countries, the sector is often unregulated and operates with little governmental supervision. Users are invariably unaware of the origin or the quality of purchased water. In an effort to better assess this sector, a field survey of water vending wells and tankers coupled with a water quality sampling and analysis program was implemented in a pilot semi-arid urban area (Beirut, Lebanon) to shed light on the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the water tanker sector. Total dissolved solids (TDS), chloride (Cl−), and microbial loads exceeded drinking water quality standards. While TDS and Cl− levels were mostly due to saltwater intrusion in coastal wells, tankers were found to be a significant source of total coliforms. Delivered water costs varied depending on the tanker size, the quality of the distributed water, and pre-treatment used, with a markup of nearly 8–24 folds of the public water supply and an equivalent economic burden of 16% of the average household income excluding environmental externalities of water quality. The study concludes with a management framework towards consumer protection under integrated supply and demand side measures.
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•Reliance on water tankers is an adaptation measure in areas with chronic shortages.•The sector is often unregulated and operates with little governmental supervision.•Strong evidence suggests that water tankers contribute to total coliform contamination.•Delivered water costs showed a markup of 8–24 folds of the public supply system.•Economic burden of 16% of household income excluding environmental externalities.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Symbiosis, mainly due to the advances in -omics technology and to the microbiome revolution, is being increasingly acknowledged as fundamental to explain any aspect of life existence. Previously ...considered an exception, a peculiar characteristic of few systems like lichens, corals and mycorrhizas, symbiosis is nowadays recognized as the rule, with the microbiome being part of all living entities and systems. However, our knowledge of the ecological meaning and functioning of many symbiotic systems is still limited. Here, we discuss a new, integrative approach based on current findings that looks at commonalities among symbiotic systems to produce theoretical models and conceptual knowledge that would allow a more efficient exploitation of symbiosis-based biotechnologies. The microbiome recruitment and assemblage processes are indicated as one of the potential targets where a holistic approach could bring advantages. Finally, we reflect on the potential socio-economic and environmental consequences of a symbiotic view of the world, where co-dependence is the matrix of life.
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•Symbioses share mechanisms across different associations and the mutualism-parasitism continuum.•Looking at communalities among systems is the way to understand symbiotic mechanisms.•Theoretical models of symbiosis can promote biotechnological exploitation.•Re-thinking the relationships between organisms has environmental and social impacts.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
One-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally, which amounts to about 1.3 billion tons per year. An updated review of global food loss and waste (FLW) is presented, as ...well as the related environmental, social and economic impacts, based on existing data and peer-reviewed literature. The authors reflect on the different food waste patterns and challenges faced by diverse regions around the world. The scale of FLW throughout the food value chain is analyzed, from agricultural production down to household consumption and disposal. FLW represent a waste of resources used in each production stage, such as land, water and energy; FLW also contributes to unnecessary increase of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The environmental and socio-economic impacts of FLW are analyzed based on reviewed life cycle assessments. Providing insights into key concepts around FLW, this article highlights the scale of the problem at a global and regional level. It also reflects on the main challenges for implementing strategies to reduce FLW and the implications for policy-making.
The offshore wind farm (OWF) industry is of growing importance, particularly in Europe. However, the local socio-economic impacts of OWF projects have received little attention compared with ...biophysical impacts. Yet, they have the potential to be significant for the regeneration of declining coastal communities. Drawing on findings from academic and industry literature, from a review of ESs (Environmental Statements) for OWFs and from particular case studies, it highlights some of the differential coverage of social and economic impacts, and the differences between predicted and actual impacts, by stage in project life. For example, the ES predictions substantially overestimate local offshore construction stage economic impacts, but underestimate other elements of the OWF lifecycle, including onshore construction, and especially the 20–25 years of the operation and management stage. The Aberdeen (Scotland) case study shows the importance of the engagement strategy of the developer. The case study of the major Hornsea projects, off the coast of Yorkshire (England), also highlights the positive and cumulative impacts of scale and hub status, where a programme of large OWFs can have important local impacts. The research identifies some factors leading to the identified outcomes, including the changing size and location of OWF projects, the relevant legislative and regulatory context behind the decision-making processes for OWF projects, and the responses and relationships of stakeholders involved in the process. The key role of monitoring impacts is an underpinning issue and a requirement for the more effective assessment of impacts.
•It is important to monitor actual impacts in practice of offshore wind farms (OWFs).•The local socio-economic impacts of OWFs can be important for coastal communities.•There can be important differences between predicted and actual impacts.•Good practice community engagement is central to successful impacts management.•Cumulative effects from a programme of OWFs can enhance local socio-economic impacts.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Lockdown measures adopted to contain the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in severe disruptions to mobility, both in demand and supply of passenger and goods transport and supply chain ...activities globally. This research was designed to understand the immediate reactions of households and society during the curfew imposed in Sri Lanka, a developing country, to curb the spread of the pandemic. This paper investigates psychometric perceptions across different socio-economic characteristics of households using statistical techniques to explore the association between the sample and population parameters. Results prominently indicate that these immediate impacts of health advisories and lockdown on personal mobility and consumption patterns were short-term in nature and unlikely to continue beyond the curfew. These results would be useful in understanding how society would deal with a similar unforeseen event in the future if it were to arise.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The novel corona virus disease (Covid-19) outbreak has caused great uncertainty in all spheres of human life. The experience has been incredibly humbling given that no country or section of society, ...regardless of its wealth or status, has been spared. The pandemic is not only a health crisis, but is also having serious damaging effects on societies, economies and vulnerable groups. Timely response is necessary in order to alleviate human suffering and to prevent irreversible destruction of livelihoods. This paper provides preliminary data on the socio-economic impacts of Covid-19 in the coastal city of Mombasa, Kenya, at the time of government-imposed curfews and cessation of movement. We conducted online surveys for two weeks during the restrictions period. The data was collected using online questionnaires directed at the city residents. The data highlights the mobile gender gap resulting from gender inequalities, residents’ reliance on the government for Covid-19 information but lack of trust for government interventions, inadequate provisions of essential services, and the residents’ lack of preparedness to tackle similar challenges in the future.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Droughts are expected to increase both in terms of frequency and magnitude across Europe. Despite the multitude of adverse effects these disasters impose on social-ecological systems, most impact ...assessments are constrained to single event and/or single sector analyses. Furthermore, existing longitudinal multi-sectoral datasets are limited in spatiotemporal homogeneity and scope, resulting in fragmented datasets. To address this gap, we propose a novel method for the automatized detection of drought impacts based on newspaper articles. We employ natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to identify different socio-economic impacts (e.g. agriculture, forestry, livestock, fires) and their geographic and temporal scope from 40,000 newspaper articles reporting about droughts in Germany between 2000 and 2021. Our method is able to track impacts over long time periods, allowing us to assess how drought impacts evolve. Accuracy levels of 92–96% per impact class were obtained for the automatic classification of the impacts when evaluated on a human-annotated dataset. Furthermore, our resulting impact dataset can replicate both temporal and spatial trends when validated against independent impact and hazard data. Overall, the proposed approach advances current research as it (1) requires a significantly lower workload than conventional impact assessment methods, (2) allows addressing large text datasets, (3) reduces subjectivity and human bias, (4) is generalizable to other hazard types as well as text corpora, and (5) achieves sufficient levels of accuracy. The findings highlight the applicability of NLP and machine learning to create comprehensive longitudinal impact datasets.
•Natural language processing can support multi-sector drought impact assessment.•Supervised classification models detect socio-economic impacts in text data.•Hierarchical clustering supports the extraction of impacts location.•Text data allows assessing spatial-temporal drought impacts with accuracy.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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