Global Food Studies publications
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Item Open Access Food waste 'Warriors', 'Strugglers' and 'Slackers': Segmenting households based on food waste generation and sorting behaviours(Elsevier, 2023) Nguyen, T.T.T.; Malek, L.; Umberger, W.J.; O'Connor, P.J.Food waste is a largely avoidable global issue with adverse environmental and economic impacts. Households are the main generators of food waste, with two main food waste behaviours contributing to the issue: generation and sorting. Online survey data from 939 households was used to segment households based on two measures of food waste generation (total food waste volume and the proportion of total food waste that is avoidable) and one measure of sorting behaviour (proportion of food waste sorted sustainably). Three segments were identified: ‘Warriors’ (39.6%), ‘Strugglers’ (19.6%), and ‘Slackers’ (40.8%). Warriors have low total and avoidable food waste and sort it sustainably (i.e. sorting into a kerbside organics bin, composting, and feeding to pets). Slackers have low food waste but sort little of it sustainably. Strugglers have high food waste and a medium level of sustainable sorting. These segments were profiled based on the Motivation – Opportunity – Ability framework with motivation based on the three goal-framing motivations (i.e. gain, hedonic, and normative goals) for reducing and sorting food waste between segments. These findings can help inform the design of interventions aimed at reducing and sorting food waste in specific segments of municipal populations.Item Metadata only Rural Age Pensions and Rural-Urban Migration in China(Springer, 2023) Tan, Y.; Zuo, Z.; Deng, X.; Fraser, K.; Shen, J.Urbanisation is one of China’s most profound demographic and social processes today. Social inequality, particularly regarding access to age pensions, poses challenges that have significant ramifications for sustainable urbanisation and migrant labour supply. This chapter addresses two questions. The first looks at the discrepancy in participation in the rural age-pension program among the three main groups of the rural hukou-holding population: (1) migrant households living in a mega city (Nanjing); (2) farmer households with members who are migrant workers and are employed or run their businesses outside the boundary of the prefectural city where their county is located, and; (3) farmer households without any member being a migrant worker, or with migrant workers who are employed or run their businesses within the boundary of the prefectural city where their county is located. Next, the study investigates how participation in the rural age-pension program impacts choices of future living destinations (urban versus rural areas). The analysis takes two counties (Anyue and Muchuan) of Sichuan province (one of the largest origins of migrant workers) in west China as the case studies. It compares the results with those obtained in Nanjing city of Jiangsu province (a destination of migrants on the east coast). Econometric methods were used to analyse primary data collected through specially tailored surveys to develop a thorough understanding of these issues. The choice of mobility concerning future resettlement destinations (urban versus rural) for diverse groups of the rural hukou population is a function of complex demographic, social and economic factors of individuals and their households.Item Restricted Analysis of social network effects on water trade in an informal water market(Elsevier, 2023) Matinju, M.H.; Alizadeh, H.; Loch, A.; Aghaie, V.This paper proposes a novel agent-based model (ABM) to assess actual informal water market (IWM) trade—a highly common form of reallocating water globally, but where analysis is challenging due to data paucity. Because, typically, there is not an integrated or centralized institution coordinating transactions in IWM, social networks and communications between farmers play a key role. This, hence, makes applications of ABMs in the informal space appealing and useful. Survey and interview data are used for the model development via a sample of farmers in Mojen Area, Iran. Also, in the final model, some critical human behaviors (e.g. adaptability and self-interest) are described in the form of parameters and formulas, with optimum values calibrated based on the Mojen sample as well as making a detailed assessment of the effects on water transaction and farmers’ profit margin. The result of the simulation reveals that IWM trade frees water for use by other farmers in the Mojen area; especially when stronger social networks are in place where the average number of water transactions will be increased—about 50%. The presence of IWMs also contributes to a more stable cultivation area in dry years, where water trading helps protect perennial crops that have become an increased production system choice in recent years. In fact, water market helps farmers to optimally use water supply in order to deal with lower rainfall years. Moreover, farmers may well use the water market in appropriate rainy years due to increasing cultivation areaItem Metadata only Value chain and policy interventions to accelerate adoption of zero tillage in rice-wheat farming systems across the Indo-Gangetic Plains(Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), 2018) Loch, A.; Cummins, J.; Zuo, A.; Yargop, R.; Australian Centre for International Agricultural ResearchItem Metadata only Exploring initiatives in the Murray-Darling Basin that embody integral ecology: a case study of the Riverina(The University of Adelaide, 2017) Wheeler, S.A.; Edwards, J.; Haensch, J.; Zuo, Z.; Schirmer, J.; Catholic Earthcare Australia/Uniting ChurchItem Metadata only Identifying the water-related economic values of the Murray-Darling Basin and rating the quality of water economic studies(Murray-Darling Basin Authority, 2023) Wheeler, S.A.; Xu, Y.; Zuo, Z.; Haensch, J.; Seidl, C.; Murray-Darling Basin AuthorityItem Metadata only The Murray-Darling Basin shows why the 'social cost of water' concept won’t work(The Conversation, 2023) Wheeler, S.; Ringler, C.Item Metadata only Solar adoption and the decisive role of the feed-in tariff policy(Elsevier BV, 2023) Nguyen, L.T.; Ratnasiri, S.; Wagner, L.; Nguyen, D.T.; Rohde, N.Abstract not availableItem Restricted Enhancing private sector-led development of the Canarium industry in PNG(ACIAR, 2021) Wallace, H.; Komolong, B.; Nevenimo, T.; Waaii, C.; Hannett, D.; Hannett, G.; Ling, S.K.; Grant, E.; Hodges, B.; Kill, E.; Randall, B.; Carter, J.; Ashford, G.; Bai, S.H.; Johns, C.; Simos, T.; Jones, K.; Australian Centre for International Agricultural ResearchItem Metadata only Murray-Darling Basin Plan: Case Study in Market-Based Approach to Water Sharing in Australia(Oxford University Press, 2022) Wheeler, S.; Oxford Bibliographies in Environmental Science,The Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) is an area in southeastern Australia that has the largest and most regulated river system in the country. Historically, it has been an area of conflict over water resources, with efforts to bring the different states together to negotiate water sharing since the early 1900s. In the 20th century, the focus of water policy was predominantly on water supply infrastructure: building large-scale dam storages, weirs, and other irrigation region infrastructure. However, increasing problems with both water quality and quantity from the 1970s onwards—such as acid sulphate soils, salinity, declines in vegetation health, and species loss—meant that more attention was turned to water demand management options. These included establishing formal water markets, trade liberalization, and water extraction caps. The National Water Initiative (2004) and the Water Act (2007) laid the groundwork in unbundling water and land ownership and created the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA). The MDBA was tasked with developing the MDB Plan (Basin Plan 2012) to readjust the balance between consumptive water use and the environment. The Basin Plan when implemented in 2012 aimed to return up to one third of consumptive water extraction to environmental use, making it one of the biggest reallocations of water to the environment in the world. It has predominantly used market-based approaches to do so. However, conflict over water sharing has remained a dominant feature of MDB water reform. Self-interest among states and irrigation interests have impacted environmental water recovery methods, resource expenditure, and allocation—subsequently weakening both the Basin Plan and water policy in general. Given current policy developments, there is real danger of targets not being met, and environmental sustainability being continually compromised. The ongoing issues of drought, climate change, and readdressing First Nations access to—and ownership of—water have emphasized distributional issues in water sharing. It is clear also that the Basin Plan has been wrongly blamed and misattributed for ongoing rural community declines, with current amendments and reductions in water reallocation targets a result of this. What is clear is that the Basin Plan is currently not the fully sustainable solution for water sharing that it set out to be. It will need to continually evolve, along with various institutions to support water governance and rural community economic development in general, to address existing overallocation and future climate challenges. The challenges of equity, rural community development, and distributional fairness lie firmly in the sphere of strong governance, high-quality data, and first-best economic and scientific policies.Item Metadata only Water buybacks are back on the table in the Murray-Darling Basin. Here's a refresher on how they work(The Conversation, 2023) Wheeler, S.Item Metadata only Rethinking Water Markets(Oxford University Press, 2022) Grafton, Q.; Horne, J.; Wheeler, S.; Environmental Science,Global water extractions from streams, rivers, lakes, and aquifers are continuously increasing, yet some four billion people already face severe water scarcity for at least one month per year. Deteriorating water security will, in the absence in how water is governed, get worse with climate change, as modeling projections indicate that much of the world’s arid and semiarid locations will receive less rainfall into the future. Concomitant with climate change is a growing world population, expected to be about 10 billion by 2050, that will greatly increase the global food demand, but this demand cannot be met without increased food production that depends on an adequate supply of water for agriculture. This poses a global challenge: How to ensure immediate and priority needs (such as safe drinking water) are satisfied without compromising future water security and the long-term sustainability of freshwater ecosystems? An effective and sustainable response must resolve the “who gets what water and when” water allocation problem and promote water justice. Many decision makers, however, act as if gross inequities in water access can be managed by “business as usual” and upgrades in water infrastructure alone. But much more is needed if the world is to achieve its Sustainable Development Goal of “water and sanitation for all” by 2030. Transformational change is required such that the price paid for water by users includes the economic costs of supply and use and the multiple values of water. Water markets in relation to physical volumes of water offer one approach, among others, that can potentially deliver transformational change by: (a) providing economic incentives to promote water conservation and (b) allowing water to be voluntarily transferred among competing users and uses (including non-uses for the environment and uses that support cultural values) to increase the total economic value from water. Realizing the full potential of water markets, however, is a challenge, and formal water markets require adequate regulatory oversight. Such oversight, at a minimum, must ensure: (a) the metering, monitoring, and compliance of water users and catchment-scale water auditing; (b) active compliance to protect both buyers and sellers from market manipulations; and (c) a judiciary system that supports the regulatory rules and punishes noncompliance. In many countries, the institutional and water governance framework is not yet sufficiently developed for water markets. In some countries, such as Australia, China, Spain, and the United States, the conditions do exist for successful water markets, but ongoing improvements are still needed as circumstances change in relation to water users and uses, institutions, and the environment. Importantly, into the future, water markets must be designed and redesigned to promote both water security and water justice. Without a paradigm shift in how water is governed, and that includes rethinking water markets to support efficiency and equitable access, billions of people will face increasing risks to their livelihoods and lives and many fresh-water environments will face the risk of catastrophic decline.Item Open Access Value of South Australia’s National Parks and Reserves. Study 1: Economic value of nature-based tourism. Part 2. Secondary economic value(Department of Environment and Water, Government of South Australia, 2022) Loch, A.; Auricht, C.; O'Connor, P.; Department of Environment and Water, Government of South AustraliaItem Open Access Economic Value of Recreational Use of South Australia’s National Parks and Reserves: Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail Case Study(Department of Environment and Water, Government of South Australia, 2022) Loch, A.; Auricht, C.; O'Connor, P.; Department of Environment and Water, Government of South AustraliaItem Metadata only Improving returns from community teak plantings in the Solomon Islands(Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), 2021) Blumfield, T.; Daniels, P.; Johns, C.; Australian Centre for International Agricultural ResearchItem Metadata only Scarcity drives water prices, not government water recovery: new research(The Conversation, 2019) Wheeler, S.Item Metadata only Was the Government's irrigation cash splash worth it?(The Advertiser, 2019) Wheeler, S.; Carmody, E.Item Metadata only Farmers' climate denial begins to wane as reality bites(The Conversation, 2018) Wheeler, S.; Nauges, C.Item Metadata only Three reasons why it's a bad idea to ramp up Adelaide's desalination plant(The Conversation, 2018) Wheeler, S.Item Metadata only Emergency Drought Relief Package: Health and Resilience Services: an Evidence Check rapid review(Sax Institute, 2019) Wheeler, S.; Zuo, Z.H.I.; Xu, Y.; Grafton, Q.; Yazd, S.; NSW Ministry of Health