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Elaeis guineensis Jacq. or oil palm is a native species of West Africa. Its oils, extracted from the fruit mesocarp and the kernel are widely used in the food industry, industrial applications, and bioenergy production. Due to its versatility, profitability and growing demand, the global oil palm agroindustry raises concerns regarding deforestation, effects in biodiversity, contamination and related to social issues such as labor conditions, poverty, and social conflicts. In Mexico, the establishment and subsequent growth of the oil palm industry was promoted by past government policies and financial support. In Chiapas the current main producer of the country, the expansion can be also attributed to oil palm resilience to floods, hurricanes, and the economic profitability.
The objective of this study is to evaluate the sustainability status of the oil palm production system within Acapetahua and Villa Comaltitlán Municipalities by analyzing the indicators of sustainability. To achieve this, the Evaluation Framework for Natural Resource Management Systems (MESMIS), was adapted to measure the attributes status of productivity, stability, reliability, resilience, self-management, equity, and adaptability, of the different dimensions of sustainability (environmental, social, political, and economic).
It was identified that MESMIS is an appropriate framework to study oil palm system in Acapetahua and Villa Comaltitlán municipalities. The methodology allowed the identification of critical points, and relevant indicators that include land use and vegetation cover changes, oil palm cashflow, good agricultural practices, farmers´ training, level of participation and farmers´ well-being. As a result, it was identified that vegetation and land use changes were principally from pastures land and previous oil palm plantations, and a positive profitability in the last two years. Soil and water conservation practices are implemented, and farmers have received different trainings principally from social mills, but other good agricultural practices and awareness of social problems should be improved, while the social participation evaluation showed a weak status of the political dimension.
Acknowledging the ways in which design (as practices, forms of knowledge, and sets of objects) is accountable for ongoing social and environmental injustices, this anthology contains contributions that envision alternative ways of exploring and designing more livable futures. Attending to these futures requires a reckoning with a multiplicity of actors and contexts, from institutional norms and regulations, to pedagogies, curricula, programs, digital tools, infrastructures, and architectural environments. Last but not least, attention is drawn to the mechanisms and protocols by which these futures are imagined and shaped. This includes critically examining the ways in which design is talked about, taught, and learned in order to empower future designers to engage with the political issues, cultural conditions, and social and environmental implications of their work.
Due to the global phenomenon of climate change the region of Mara Siana is projected to increasingly face extreme weather events that particularly comprise prolonged droughts and
heavier rainfalls. To be able to adequately adapt to these changing circumstances and maintain their livelihoods communities need to build respective capacities. As the main objective, this research aims at determining landowners’ climate change adaptative capacity (CCAC) across different villages in Mara Siana. Accordingly, a semi-quantitative approach was carried out including qualitative interviews and the subsequent quantitative calculation of CCAC based on a multidimensional indicator set and a respective coding
system. In addition to predominantly positive results of socio-cultural characteristics and the quality of natural resources, this work reveals clear weaknesses and potential for improvement in the areas of income security and financial stability, the expansion and resilience of infrastructure, and the relationship between communities and local authorities. Moreover, differences in capacity results are not only identified between the investigated villages as well as between individual households but also systemic disadvantage in capacity building affecting female landowners and community members can be indicated from the obtained interview data. Therefore, this research gives concrete recommendations for the implementation and verification of suitable adaptive measures that are particularly tailored for the improvement of low-performance indicators while following a gendertransformative approach and thus hold the potential to increase CCAC in the long-term.
Current changes in environmental legislation and customer demands set an urge for the development of more sustainable surfactants. Thus, the objective of this work was the development of novel environmentally friendly amino acid surfactants. Combining Diels–Alder cyclization of myrcene with maleic or citraconic anhydride followed by ring opening with amino acids enabled a synthesis route with a principal 100% atom economy. Variation of amino acids resulted in a large structural variety of anionic and amphoteric surfactants. Lysine gave access to either a mono-acylated product bearing a cationic side chain or a bi-acylated gemini surfactant. First, anhydride precursors were synthesized in yields of >90% in a Diels–Alder reaction under microwave radiation and subsequent amino acid coupling in aqueous environment gave fully bio-based surfactants in good yields and purity. Physicochemical characterization showed an enhanced decrease in surface tension upon addition of amino acids to the myrcene–anhydride backbone, resulting in a minimal value of 31 mN·m−1 for gemini–lysine. Foamabilitiy and foam stability were significantly increased at skin-friendly pH 5.5 by incorporation of amino acids. The carboxylic groups of surfactants with arginine were esterified with ethanol to access cationic compounds. Comparative analysis revealed moderate antimicrobial effects against yeast, Gram-positive bacteria, and Gram-negative bacteria.
Catastrophe insurance without premium payment – The concept of contigent liability in Switzerland
(2023)
No later than with the heavy rainfalls of 2021, discussions in Germany have resumed around the introduction of compulsory insurance for natural hazards. Natural hazards exhibit a high potential for loss, and insurance is a building block with which to bolster resilience. In practice, there are already a host of functioning solution concepts to provide cover for natural hazards, including insurance pools and state guarantees. All of the concepts, however, are predicated on payment of an ongoing insurance premium.
Learning more about the ways in which market participants in the reinsurance market interact based on the logic of a game requires a realisation that the main research that exists is in the mathematical/actuarial direction in which mathematicians deal with ‘optimal reinsurance contracts’. In this connection, negotiations between cedants and reinsurers are viewed in different ways, but always as a strategic game.
The 16th Annual Meeting of the Sponsoring Group Reinsurance [Förderkreis Rückversicherung] was held 16 June 2023 in Niederkassel, near Cologne. Some 90 representatives of the (re)insurance companies involved in the Sponsoring Group
took part in the meeting, along with guests. Offered for the ninth time as part of the Annual Meeting, the Researchers’ Corner gave the six academic researchers at the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance an opportunity to deliver a presentation on the research project in which each is involved in 2023. Over the course of three sessions, the most important results of the scientific studies by the Cologne Research Centre for Reinsurance were presented and discussed.
The heterogeneity of the topics presented reflects the dovetailing of Cologne Research Centre with reinsurance practice.
In its Renewables 2022 Report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that the share of renewable energies in the global energy mix will increase from 22.8% in 2015 to 38.1% in 2027. This trend goes hand-in-hand with increasing construction of plants for the generation of renewable energies, leading to increased demand for (re)insurance. Comparable to the development of traditional energy sources, the hedging of current risks is a key element in the further development of renewable energies. According to projections by the IEA, by 2027 most of the energy from renewable sources will be generated using photovoltaics or solar as well as onshore and offshore wind.
Due to their unpredictable nature and sweeping impacts make cyber risks, including cyber warfare and state-sponsored cyber-attacks, present a considerable challenge to many areas of our daily lives. In today’s connected world, the threat of cyber risk is omnipresent. Cyber warfare and state-sponsored cyber-attacks are of particular concern, as they are initiated or supported by governments or state actors. Often, the purpose of such attacks is to compromise critical infrastructure, government systems, businesses, or citizens’ privacy. The impacts can be devastating. They range from financial losses for businesses to theft of intellectual property, disruptions of public order and threats to national security.