Suchergebnisse

La terra č tornata ad essere un asset chiave per la crescita economica delle nazioni. A riguardo, il caso cinese č di particolare interesse. La Cina infatti necessita di risorse naturali esterne per mantenere gli attuali tassi di crescita e la cosiddetta diaspora cinese č una strategia per affrontare lo squilibrio demografico di genere. L'Africa č quindi un partner cruciale per sostenere la strategia di espansione globale cinese. Sullo sfondo di queste considerazioni, l'articolo analizza l'acquisizione di terre nel continente africano da parte della Cina. Si delineano innanzitutto i fattori economici e demografici che spingono la Cina verso le terre africane. Viene poi analizzato il caso dei villaggi Baoding, che hanno per lungo tempo costituito un elemento di attrazione e propaganda degli investitori cinesi in Africa. Infine, si prendono in considerazione le strategie e l'ampiezza del land grabbing cinese in Africa, con riferimento alle conseguenze sui regimi di proprietŕ fondiaria e alle relazioni tra capitale e lavoro.

AbstractThis article analyses the consequences of the 'methanol wine scandal' on the wine production market of Piedmont. Contrary to what is usually claimed, these consequences where not the direct result of the scandal, but emerged only when a change in the institutional configuration of the market came about. The article illustrates how the institutional change following the scandal triggered the quality turn of the wine production market in Piedmont. The key processes at the root of this change are depicted in terms of quality conventions as coordination mechanisms embedded in the institutional context. The first part of the article outlines the conceptual coordinates concerning the 'social construction' of quality. Afterwards both the general and regional trends toward the quality production in the national and local wine sector are summarised. Then 'the methanol wine scandal' and its institutional consequences are illustrated. Finally, to appreciate the current organization of the local production market and of the quality conventions among wine producers, findings from interviews with local entrepreneurs are reported.

In this article, the authors use the concept of negative social capital to address the contextual impact of micro mechanisms explaining political legitimacy. They first illustrate the effect of social capital with regard to its negative consequences. Then they select four countries, each one a case study of a different welfare regime, and measure the distribution of "time given helping others." The helping behavior is interpreted as a credit slip in social capital vocabulary, and its effect on the confidence in democracy in different welfare regimes is measured. The research findings suggest that helping behavior in weaker welfare regimes has detrimental consequences for political legitimacy. The results are consistent both in a cross-country and in a within-country comparison.

In recent years, Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) have been a key issue both in the scientific community and in public debates. This is due to their profound implications for rural development, local sustainability, and bio-economics. This edited collection discusses what the main determinants of the participation of operators - both consumers and producers - in AFNs are, what the conditions for their sustainability are, what their social and environmental effects are, and how they are distributed geographically. Further discussions include the effect of AFNs in structuring the food chain and how AFNs can be successfully scaled up. The authors explicitly take an interdisciplinary approach to analyse AFNs from different perspectives, using as an example the Italian region of Piedmont, a particularly interesting case study due to the diffusion of AFNs in the area, as well as due to the fact that it was in this region that the 'Slow Food' movement originated.

AbstractConsensus does not currently exists on how to offset the residual environmental footprint generated by agricultural and forestry practices. This paper develops an environmental sustainability management framework to support the achievement of environmental impact neutrality in the primary sector of agriculture and forestry. The proposed framework, named TREEIN, "a TREe model for Environmental Impact Neutrality", can guide companies toward effective use of existing environmental management and certification schemes that account for both the negative impact of the production system's life cycle and the positive impact offered by adequate ecosystem service supply. First, we did an overview of international standard certifications, protocols, and sustainability programs based on life cycle assessment (LCA) and ecosystem services assessment (ESA) methodologies. Subsequently, we analyzed the sustainability programs in the European‐specific economic sectors of wine and extra‐virgin olive oil, focusing on the combined approach of LCA and ESA methodologies. As a result, TREEIN, a tree model framework, was developed and applied to the case study of a typical farming system in Tuscany (Italy) in order to achievie impact neutrality. Quantitative outcomes, qualitative assertions, and the methodological challenges associated with such a pilot application are investigated and discussed. The TREEIN's benefits and drawbacks are explored in light of the findings of this case study, and a roadmap for its further advancement and adoption in the market is presented.