BC3. Basque centre for climate change – Klima aldaketa ikergai

Coping with and Adapting to Global Change. Challenge for Society, Households and Individuals

Lecturer: Barbora Duzi- PhD Student, Global Change Research Centre The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Household Adaptation Strategies to Climate Extremes and Population Consequences in Rural Areas in the Czech Republic

Lecturer: Robert Stojanov. Dr. en Geografía Medioambiental. Global Change Research Center, The Academy of Sciences. Rep. Checa.

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Expert meeting co-organized by Biodiversity International and Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) to be held in Rome  8-11 October 2013

"Crop and Livestock Diversity for Climate Change Adaptation: Review of Evidence Base and Identification of Research Priorities and Potential Uptake Pathways".

Crop and livestock biodiversity is both threatened by climate change and considered to be a crucial resource for adaptation and ensuring food security in the face of global economic and environmental challenges. Subsistence-based and natural resource-dependent societies are especially vulnerable to global drivers of disruption, including climate change. In such contexts, food security urgently needs to be strengthened by investing in the adaptability of food systems.

However, the largest investments in food production continue to be associated with agricultural innovations, often as part of packages that rely predominantly on breeding programs and artificial capital inputs, including agrochemicals and irrigation, to increase the productivity of some major crops and livestock, which are often advocated as crucial for agricultural climate change adaptation. Much less emphasis is being put on understanding the potential role of agricultural biodiversity in meeting this challenge, including the capacity of local systems that rely on existing natural, human and social capital assets such as biodiversity, traditional knowledge and informal institutions underpinning collective action to reduce vulnerability and contribute to adaptive capacity.

An assessment of the existing evidence base related to the contribution of crop and livestock biodiversity conservation and sustainable use to climate change adaptation, together with the identification of research gaps, may be expected to provide crucial information for informing the policy debate (as well as related donor dialogue) and providing an additional and strong argument in favour of the development and implementation of a strategic approach to on-farm agrobiodiversity conservation and sustainable use.

The objective of the meeting is to identify key research issues/questions for both crop and livestock diversity, undertake a gap analysis, map out areas for strategic future research (including for joint research) and identify strategies to facilitate donor dialogue and uptake pathways.

Programme crop and livestock diversity for climate change adaptation

DR. IBON GALARRAGA, Deputy Director and Research Professor en Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) y JOSÉ IGNACIO HORMAECHE, director-gerente del Clúster de Energía, e , impartirán una conferencia en GOAZ Museum de Sabino Arana Fundazioa, el próximo jueves 10 de octubre, a partir de las 19:30h, en la que analizarán las consecuencias y los riesgos derivados de la priorización de los criterios de sostenibilidad ambiental sobre los de competitividad, y viceversa.

Dr. Ibon Galarraga
"El cambio climático ha adquirido un protagonismo muy importante en los últimos años, pasando a representar una de las más importantes prioridades políticas a escala global. Resulta importante entender la dimensión de este problema, sus causas y sus impactos, así como de las soluciones que para hacerle frente se están planteando a escala internacional, nacional y regional. Y junto a ello la información existente respecto a las dificultades, los costes asociados a esta problemática y a la magnitud del esfuerzo re¬querido para hacerle frente, tanto desde la óptica de la reducción de las emisiones de gases efecto invernadero (MITIGACIÓN) como desde la visión de las acciones para adaptarnos a los cambios que están ocurriendo (ADAPTACIÓN).
Si bien a escala Europea no se han constatado impactos significativos sobre la competitividad de las empresas afectadas por la regulación en materia de cambio climático, la realidad en algunas regiones europeas podría ser bien distinta, y en especial en algunos sectores de actividad. La pregunta que flota en el aire es ¿podemos permitirnos no actuar contra el cambio climático?"

Para registrarse, visite:

http://www.sabinoarana.org/sabinoarana/de/conferencia-el-cambio-climatico-competitividad-frente-a-medio-ambiente.asp?dminid=_NjMqKjA3XzEwXzIwMTMjI3BrYWx0emFkYUBpZGUtbWFpbC5uZXQ&Cod=5094&Nombre=5094&prt=1

Effects of international trade of food and feed and human diet shifts on food security and environmental safety: global and regional perspectives

Lecturer: Dr. Luis Lassaletta. UMR Sisyphe, CNRS/Université Pierre et Marie Curie.Paris (France)

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Biodiversity for Transgenics? Pursuit of Indian Farmers for Higher-Yielding, Lower-Risk Production Alternatives

Lecturer: Dr. Vijesh V. Krishna, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Georg-August University of Goettingen, Germany

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Experiment on non-governmental norm enforcement (presentation of planned design).

Lecturer: Christiane Reif, Researcher at Centre for European Economic Research, Department of Environmental and Resource Economics, Environmental Management (Germany)

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Friday, 30 August 2013(12:00 at BC3 offices)

Re-examining the Past and Rethinking the Future at Mount Mulanje Forest Reserve, Malawi: New Directions for Local Engagement

Lecturer: Mary C. Thompson (Bioversity International, Post-doctoral Research Fellow)

The workshop "Biofuel Policy for a Low Carbon Future" organized by the Low Carbon Programme, was held on September 19 in Bilbao.
The Low Carbon Programme, is a Joint Research Programme on Energy and Environment, sponsored by Fundación Repsol and launched by the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3).
The main aim of the workshop was to discuss with experts from leading international research institutions, policymakers and social and business representative’s issues associated to biofuels policy in Europe.

Further information of the Joint Research Programme at http://www.lowcarbonprogramme.org/

Transport is a very important sector in the transition to a low carbon Europe. Transport uses a third of all EU energy and is responsible for 25% of the European GHG emissions. Moreover, it is the only major EU sector where GHG emissions are increasing. This has made the European Commission to set for 2050 an 80% reduction of carbon emissions in transport and 70% reduction in the use of oil. Achieving these ambitious targets will require a complex set of means including the reduction in scale (demand of transport), improved technology (increase the efficiency in vehicle’s engines) as well as a change in the fuel mix. It is in this latter aspect where biofuels are expected to play a significant role. Thus, the first presentation this morning, by Arno Behrens from the Centre for European Policy Studies will focus on the role of biofuels in the objective to achieve a Low Carbon Transport in Europe.
The workshop had two presentations that covered two of the major concerns raised in the last decade regarding policies promoting the use of biofuels. The first concern is about changes in land use caused by the increased demand for biomass. Considering these indirect land use changes we may find that some biofuels can actually lead to higher carbon emissions than fossil fuels. Dr David Laborde, from IFPRI, explained the science behind indirect land use changes in a moment where the  biofuels industry was continuosly disputing it.
The second concern had to do with the impact of biofuel policies on agricultural price levels and volatility and María Blanco, Associate Professor at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid dealt with the fuel versus food debate. The topic was approached from other three new perspectives. First of all, Dr. Thonier, from Bio Intelligence, a consultancy firm based in Paris, shared some details of a set of projects that BIO IS was carrying out for the European Commission and the French Department of Agriculture and motivated the need to introduce flexibility into biofuel mandates. Nusa Urbancic, clean fuels manager at environmental NGO Transport and Environment shared  their reflections on how to fix EU biofuels policy. Finally, Carlos Díaz, from Repsol provided us with an oil company’s view on biofuels mandates.
After that, an open discussion was opened among the participants, with some closing comments from Professor Markandya, Scientific Director of BC3, Basque Centre for Climate Change

Reus (Spain), 12-13 December 2013

Innovation and Aesthetics of On-Site Solar.

Lecturer: Amelia Amon (Alt.Technica, Ltd., New York, NY, USA)

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