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SIMPLE SUMMARY: Equines have a peculiar place in our society. From livestock to sport, through to landscape managers and leisure partners, equines show a wide range of little-known environmental advantages and assets. Today's wake-up calls about the environment are progressively putting pressure on stakeholders of the agricultural sector, including the equine industry. This study focusses on the main environmental consequences of equine use and possession in Europe based on scientific and technical sources under the lens of five leading sectors where equines show unique impacts as green assets. Now, more than ever before, it is important to highlight the role of equines as a green alternative in political debates and management practices to give them the place equines deserve in the ecological transition of agriculture. ABSTRACT: Despite the decline of equine populations in the middle of the 20th century, the European horse industry is growing again thanks to economic alternatives found in the diversification of the uses of equines (sports, racing, leisure, etc.). Equines have many environmental advantages, but the fragmentation of the sector and the lack of synthetic knowledge about their environmental impacts do not enable the promotion of these assets and their effective inclusion in management practices and European policies. To highlight the equine environmental impacts, a literature review was carried out to cover the main European stakes. This work led to the identification of five "green assets", fields where equines show unique environmental advantages compared to other agricultural productions. These green assets are linked to the nature of equines (grazing and domestic biodiversity), to their geographical distribution (land use), and to their use by human beings (tourism and work). Today, when searching for sustainable solutions to modern environmental issues, the use of equines is a neglected green alternative. Better knowledge and use of equine green assets could partly respond to more ecological ...

The economy in a post-growth era : what project and what philosophy? / Isabelle Cassiers and Kevin Marhal -- Work and employment in a post-growth era / Dominique Méda -- The new paths of decommodification / Bernard Perret -- Social economy and polycentric governance of transitions / Thomas Bauwens and Sybille Mertens -- Circular economy in a territorial context : the case of biowaste management in Brussels / Stephan Kampelmann -- Ecological economics : thinking of the post-growth era and its new sustainability indicators / Géraldine Thiry -- The cage and the labyrinth : escaping the addiction to growth / Olivier De Schutter -- Index.

L'agro-écologie répond à de nombreuses définitions relevant à la fois de dimensions scientifiques, environnementales et sociétales. Selon la littérature, les techniques qui lui sont attribuées concernent l'agriculture de conservation, l'agroforesterie, la permaculture, l'agriculture biologique auxquelles s'ajoutent d'autres pratiques comme la culture intercalaire, l'intégration de l'élevage ou la protection intégrée contre les ravageurs et les maladies. Les pratiques agro-écologiques sont connues pour leurs effets bénéfiques sur l'environnement, la biodiversité, la qualité des sols, le développement social et économique, la préservation de l'héritage culturel et le bien-être des producteurs et consommateurs. Elles sont notamment préconisées par plusieurs grandes initiatives européennes et/ou mondiales pour réduire les impacts du changement climatique grâce à leurs aptitudes à induire le stockage du carbone dans les sols et la biomasse. Cependant, elles sont encore peu développées en Asie du Sud Est. Les raisons principales sont : un manque de connaissances et de savoir-faire, l'absence de marché de semences, le faible niveau de mécanisation, le manque d'attractivité des marchés pour les produits issus de ces pratiques et l'insuffisant appui du secteur politique. Après les guerres qui ont sévi dans la région du Mékong, l'agriculture intensive s'est développée de plus en plus, au détriment de la biodiversité, de la qualité des sols, de la forêt, et de la durabilité des systèmes fermiers. Elle remplace une agriculture de subsistance basée sur des savoirs traditionnels très riches qui se perdent peu à peu. L'agro-écologie est basée sur un dialogue multiculturel entre scientifiques, producteurs et consommateurs. C'est pourquoi la FAO et l'AFD recommandent la création de plateformes de réseautage collaborant avec toutes les parties prenantes pour recueillir et échanger des expériences et les innovations agro-écologiques. Pour stimuler la transition agro-écologique, il est donc nécessaire, non seulement, de surmonter les obstacles socio-technico-économiques mais aussi, en même temps, d'impliquer tous les acteurs de la chaine de valeur. C'est dans ce contexte que le projet ACTAE "Accompanying the Agro-ecological Transition in South East Asia" a été conçu et réalisé. La gestion du projet par le CIRAD et le GRET sous couvert du DALaM. Le projet ACTAE a démarré en 2015 avec un financement de l'AFD de 2,5 M€ et du CIRAD de 0,2 M€. Il est coordonné par le CIRAD en partenariat avec le GRET sous l'égide du DALaM (Department of Agricultural Land Management). Ses activités se sont déroulées au Laos, pays auquel le projet est rattaché, au Vietnam, au Cambodge, au Myanmar et en Thaïlande. Il se terminera le 31 décembre 2019.

AbstractThe National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) adopted in 2021 by the Italian government is explicitly committed to push the country towards a 'radical ecological transition' and sustainable development. However, the institutionalization of the paradigm of sustainable development, in Italy, is a story of a failure. The aim of this contribution is to investigate the hows and whys that may help explaining the failed institutionalization of the paradigm. By combining an ideational approach with a political system perspective, our empirical investigation analyses the initiatives promoted by Italian national governments, by covering a time span of over 20 years (1992–2020). Thick historical description and process tracing are used to provide an in-depth reconstruction of the process. Our results show that adverse combinations of factors of a cognitive, institutional and political nature have hindered the adoption of substantive policy outcomes, thus leading the institutionalization of the paradigm along a disjointed path.

The article discusses the rationale and ways of functioning of the European Green Deal (EGD) project, launched by the Commission in December 2019 and developed through a variety of measures ranging from the European Climate Law to the "Fit for 55" package. After situating the EGD in the context of the European multidimensional crisis, the article focuses on the EGD's objectives and its instruments. It is argued that the EGD may be interpreted as a highly ambitious but still fragile regulatory project that aims at managing a transition from one phase of the European integration process to another. Its ambivalent relationship with existing international initiatives in the field of climate change is explored in the last part of the article.
European Green Deal, EGD, European Climate Law, Fit for 55 package, multidimensional crisis, transition, European integration, climate change, environmental protection, NGEU

International audience ; En tant que point d'entrée et de sortie de flux matériels et immatériels, les ports sont au coeur d'interdépendances littorales et rurales. Situés à l'interface « terre-mer », leurs stratégies de transition écologique sont influencées par les décisions prises par d'autres acteurs (i.e. d'autres ports ou secteurs). Certains ports considèrent ces interdépendances en dehors de leur influence ; d'autres cherchent à orienter ces dynamiques au sein de la place portuaire et au travers de relations commerciales élargies en développant un rôle « d'acteur intermédiaire » dans la gouvernance de la transition écologique. Cet investissement dépend de leur statut politique et de leur volonté à réduire leur impact environnemental ; de la façon dont ils mobilisent les ressources dont ils disposent (économiques, institutionnelles, etc.) ; ou encore des alliances qu'ils nouent et des structures de gouvernance auxquelles ils participent. Les ports cherchant à gouverner une politique de dé-carbonisation peuvent structurer leurs actions sur un gradient « terre-mer »: 1. En mettant en place une économie circulaire locale coordonnant les entreprises de la place portuaire ; 2. En investissant dans les sources d'énergies alternatives marines en devenant une plateforme pour le développement territorial de l'énergie houlomotrice et éolienne ; 3. En développant un transfert modal (i.e. passer de la route au rail) et le cabotage ; 4. En construisant des alliances et en contribuant à la gouvernance et aux politiques publiques à différentes échelles. Le projet COASTAL aidera à mettre en évidence comment les ports pourraient promouvoir ainsi de nouvelles interdépendances territoriales entre infrastructures, nature et société.

The European project is a long-run success story. Up to the 1990s, Europe thrived and experienced rising prosperity, as well as a catching up process with technology frontiers, while simultaneously extending its welfare model. The integration process, starting with six member states, led to a single market of 28 countries. It culminated in the creation of a currency union for 330 million Europeans. The political integration of former communist countries and their economic catching-up with Western Europe were achieved at an unprecedented historical pace. European integration has never been a smooth process. Stress during the process was referred to under the lemma of "eurosclerosis" and entailed competitive devaluations. The Lisbon Strategy was never fully implemented. Disappointment was counter-balanced by "Europe 2020", which intended to address structural problems and give the member states a greater opportunity to adapt the strategy to their specific situations. The financial crisis quickly spread from the US to Europe, highlighting unresolved governance issues and neglected public sector reforms. These also prevented adequate responses to new problems and opportunities arising from globalisation, technology, demography, the environment and most recently the refugee crisis .

Drawing on transition theory, we conceptualize local food networks as innovations that initially function and develop in local niches within a given food regime. As niche-innovations local food networks induce socio-ecological changes on the local level and they have the potential to foster wider transformations of the dominant food regime. Many local food networks adopt the concept of food sovereignty as a kind of "leitmotif". At the core of this concept lies the question of how to create an agro-food system that, (i) allows for democratic participation and civic engagement in food production, and (ii) sets up new relationships that avoid social inequity and the exploitation of both humans and nature. In this paper we shed light on how the Austrian local food network "SpeiseLokal" addresses the challenge of operationalizing the concept of food sovereignty. The case study captures the strategies which local food networks embark on and depicts the difficulties they encounter. The paper aims to identify critical points of intersection that either strengthen or constrain local food networks from becoming established, operating, and up-scaling in the ways they wish; that is, in accordance with the principles and aims of food sovereignty, while avoiding a later assimilation into the dominant food regime.

Hammams are key providers of affordable hygiene and wellbeing services for the less wealthy in the Maghreb region. However, the UN climate change conference COP22, held in Marrakech in 2016, highlighted hammams are major contributors to air pollution, deforestation, loss of ecosystems, water overconsumption and wastage in Morocco. This paper analyses the complexity of advancing their energy transition from the viewpoint of key stakeholders engaged in two half-day virtual forums focusing on the water–energy nexus ; organised as part of the AHRC funded project "Eco-Hammam: engaging key stakeholders with bespoke low-carbon technologies for lighting, heating, and water recycling to sustain a Moroccan heritage". Results reveal that the Moroccan hammam sector could benefit greatly from stakeholders' networking and collaboration to accelerate the uptake of low-carbon technologies and ecological practices. Key stakeholders' priorities and barriers (economic, policy-induced or governance related) are presented and show that the lack of coordination between governmental and non-governmental organisations is perceived as contributing to the slow pace of the hammam energy transition. Although managers seem fully aware of available energy transition technologies for their furnaces, energy and water are treated independently and disconnected in their governance. Finally, Marrakech is identified as a potential hammam sustainability hub.

Why are civil society dynamics concerning green spaces across European cities so interesting for socio-ecological transition? All over Europe self-organized civil society movements are emerging to tackle local challenges, becoming active players in local governance processes. These social experiments have even been intensified as a result of tight public local budgets. Their activities contribute to the functioning and well-being of a European society aiming for sustainability. Preserving the availability of bio-diverse green spaces is crucial for the socio-ecological transition of cities since besides providing recreational opportunities for city dwellers, they yield essential ecological benefits from cleaning the air to reducing noise, but also provide habitat for many species and plants and reduce local vulnerabilities to extreme climate events. In cities in which local governments have severe difficulties in affording the provision of green space, new self-organized initiatives have emerged for maintaining and even developing them. Initiatives such as urban gardening have proven that people are able to cooperate, to organize themselves and to take over responsibility for green spaces as well as even introducing new practices that support the socio-ecological transition. This Milestone will contribute to the questions: -how can citizen groups contribute to maintain existing green spaces which are available and accessible for all and possibly being expanded whilst assuring biodiversity and allowing diverse use for local needs (re-creation, community-based food-production, neighbourhood culture, common intergenerational and intercultural learning etc.) at the same time; -which policy framework allows for a constructive colaboration between local authorities, administration, economic actors and citizens, enabling innovative solutions in the area of urban food production, green-space management and participative urban development.