We estimate the willingness-to-pay for conserving crop diversity in the Czech Republic. Discrete choice experiments are used to elicit preferences for the conservation of wine, hop, and fruit tree varieties, while a double-bounded dichotomous choice approach is used to elicit preferences for the conservation of unspecified, "general" crop diversity. The WTP values are derived for both of these contingent products from a sample representative of the general Czech population (n=731) and a sample of respondents living in the South Moravian region that is characterized by agriculture and wine production (n=418). We demonstrate a strong preference for conserving fruit trees over hops and wine varieties, and derive positive mean WTP of the general Czech population (ages 18-69) of 56 Kč ($2.26). Mean WTP for the conservation of general crop diversity is 167 Kč ($6.80). On average, residents of South Moravia have a greater WTP for "general" crop as well as fruit tree conservation. In total, the Czech adult population (ages 18-69) has an aggregate WTP of ~1.25 billion Kč ($50.5 million) for the conservation of general crop diversity, and ~410 million Kč ($16.8 million) for the conservation of fruit trees, revealing the previously unmeasured social welfare benefits of these activities. The estimated benefits...

A Segurança sempre foi um tema de grande interesse para as nações, para os grandes líderes de governos e para os acadêmicos que foram testemunhas das mudanças no sistema internacional ao longo do tempo. Essas mudanças repercutiram em transformações no conceito de segurança que acompanharam o contexto internacional, criando assim um debate teórico em torno ao conceito. Depois da Guerra Fria, o realismo entra em crise, demandando uma mudança no conceito que, hoje, tem a ver com o indivíduo e as ameaças existentes que se tornam problemas internacionais toda vez que transcendem fronteiras. A Segurança Humana surge como resposta do PNUD à nova agenda internacional, e inclui ameaças não estatais à segurança internacional. Dentro destas ameaças estão presentes os problemas ambientais, as epidemias, o desemprego, a fome, o narcotráfico, o terrorismo, a migração, os conflitos étnicos, as violações dos direitos humanos, dentre outros. São sete as dimensões que procuram classificar todas as ameaças ao individuo. Uma das dimensões da Segurança Humana é a Segurança Alimentar, que busca garantir o acesso, disponibilidade e uso dos alimentos com uma estabilidade ao longo do tempo. Com base nisto, este trabalho abordará as condições e os debates teóricos durante a Guerra Fria, que permitiram o desenvolvimento do conceito de Segurança Humana e, complementarmente, da Segurança Alimentar. Além disso, nesta dissertação, se utiliza a análise de um caso prático de um país em particular, a Bolívia, para medir qualitativamente e quantitativamente os impactos e a eficiência das politicas de Segurança Alimentar aplicadas na última década. / Security has always been a topic of great interest to the nations, to the great leaders of governments and academics who witnessed the changes in the international system over time. These changes impacted on transformation in the concept of security that accompanied the international context, creating a theoretical debate around the concept. After the Cold War, realism was in crisis, demanding a change in the concept that today is related to the individual and the threats that become international problems, and that transcend borders. Human Security is a response from UNDP to the new international agenda, including non-state threats to international security. Within these threats are present environmental issues, epidemics, unemployment, hunger, drug trafficking, terrorism, migration, ethnic conflicts, human rights violations, among others. There are seven dimensions in which it attempts to classify every threat to the individual. One dimension of Human Security is the Food Security, which seeks to ensure access, availability and use of a stable food in time. Based on this, this paper will focus on the conditions and the theoretical debates during the Cold War, which led to the development of the concept of Human Security and additionally Food Security. Moreover, in this dissertation, we use the analysis of a case study of a specific country, Bolivia, to qualitatively and quantitatively measure the impact and efficiency of Food Security policies implemented in the last decade.

Classification and mapping of ecological zones on a global scale has been a topic of research for many years. This research looks at the development of a global spatial database of ecological zones for the FRA 2000 Report of the United Nations FAO. Besides evaluating the most appropriate type of classification scheme for this purpose, it explores and demonstrates how existing data, for the United States and Canada, can be reclassified to match the FAO classification scheme. Accuracy of mapping is a synergistic function of error, uncertainty, and quality. An assessment of the draft FAO Level D Ecological Zone map was performed which classifies 10-year average, bi-monthly, smoothed AVHRR-NDVI composites of the conterminous United States by applying linear discriminant and decision tree analyses. The results of the linear discriminant analysis were more significantly correlated to the FAO classes, although both approaches suggest that the classification scheme does maximize between-class variance of the NDVI temporal series.

A Segurança sempre foi um tema de grande interesse para as nações, para os grandes líderes de governos e para os acadêmicos que foram testemunhas das mudanças no sistema internacional ao longo do tempo. Essas mudanças repercutiram em transformações no conceito de segurança que acompanharam o contexto internacional, criando assim um debate teórico em torno ao conceito. Depois da Guerra Fria, o realismo entra em crise, demandando uma mudança no conceito que, hoje, tem a ver com o indivíduo e as ameaças existentes que se tornam problemas internacionais toda vez que transcendem fronteiras. A Segurança Humana surge como resposta do PNUD à nova agenda internacional, e inclui ameaças não estatais à segurança internacional. Dentro destas ameaças estão presentes os problemas ambientais, as epidemias, o desemprego, a fome, o narcotráfico, o terrorismo, a migração, os conflitos étnicos, as violações dos direitos humanos, dentre outros. São sete as dimensões que procuram classificar todas as ameaças ao individuo. Uma das dimensões da Segurança Humana é a Segurança Alimentar, que busca garantir o acesso, disponibilidade e uso dos alimentos com uma estabilidade ao longo do tempo. Com base nisto, este trabalho abordará as condições e os debates teóricos durante a Guerra Fria, que permitiram o desenvolvimento do conceito de Segurança Humana e, complementarmente, da Segurança Alimentar. Além disso, nesta dissertação, se utiliza a análise de um caso prático de um país em particular, a Bolívia, para medir qualitativamente e quantitativamente os impactos e a eficiência das politicas de Segurança Alimentar aplicadas na última década. / Security has always been a topic of great interest to the nations, to the great leaders of governments and academics who witnessed the changes in the international system over time. These changes impacted on transformation in the concept of security that accompanied the international context, creating a theoretical debate around the concept. After the Cold War, realism was in crisis, demanding a change in the concept that today is related to the individual and the threats that become international problems, and that transcend borders. Human Security is a response from UNDP to the new international agenda, including non-state threats to international security. Within these threats are present environmental issues, epidemics, unemployment, hunger, drug trafficking, terrorism, migration, ethnic conflicts, human rights violations, among others. There are seven dimensions in which it attempts to classify every threat to the individual. One dimension of Human Security is the Food Security, which seeks to ensure access, availability and use of a stable food in time. Based on this, this paper will focus on the conditions and the theoretical debates during the Cold War, which led to the development of the concept of Human Security and additionally Food Security. Moreover, in this dissertation, we use the analysis of a case study of a specific country, Bolivia, to qualitatively and quantitatively measure the impact and efficiency of Food Security policies implemented in the last decade.

Local food is a current topic within the Czech food market. The Thesis is focused on the food quality mark "Regionalni potravina" as an instrument for local production promotion. Aim of the thesis is to verify whether labeling local food with the quality mark "Regionalni potravina" contributes to the local food production. An analysis has been performed, that focuses on The Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic's project "Regionalni potravina" in The Usti Region. The analysis contributes to the current local food issue from the perspective of consumers and producers. A questionnaire survey among The Usti Region's consumers and local food producers, that were awarded the quality mark, has been performed. Half of the respondents claim to consume local food, they appreciate its quality and clear origin. The food quality mark "Regionalni potravina" has appealed to the consumers, thus they are motivated to buy local products. That leads to promotion of local food production. The survey was able to prove that the food quality mark "Regionalni potravina" truly leads to promotion of local food production. Considering these conclusions and consumers' attitude towards local food, it would be worth considering to promote a wider range of local food producers who meet the quality and local origin requirements.

No description available.

Following the Second World War, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) teamed up to construct an international Codex Alimentarius (or “food code”) in 1962. Inspired by the work of its European predecessor, the Codex Europaeus, these two UN agencies assembled teams of health professionals, government civil servants, medical and scientific experts to draft food standards. Once ratified, the standards were distributed to governments for voluntary adoption and implementation. By the mid-1990s, the World Trade Organization (WTO) identified the Codex as a key reference point for scientific food standards. The role of science within this highly political and economic organization poses interesting questions about the process of knowledge production and the scientific expertise underpinning the food standards. Standards were constructed and contested according to the Codex twin goals of: (1) protecting public health, and (2) facilitating trade. One recent criticism of Codex is that these two aims are opposed, or that one is given primacy over the other, which results in protectionism. Bearing these themes in mind, in this dissertation I examine the relationship between the scientific and the ‘social’ elements embodied by the Codex food standards since its inception after the Second World War. I argue that these attempts to reach scientific standards represent an example of coproduction– one in which the natural and social orders are produced alongside each other. What follows from this central claim is an attempt to characterize the pre-WTO years of the Codex through a case study approach. The narrative begins with a description of the predecessor regional group the Codex europaeus, and then proceeds to key areas affecting human health: 1) food additives, 2) food hygiene, and 3) pesticides residues.

Following the Second World War, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) teamed up to construct an international Codex Alimentarius (or “food code”) in 1962. Inspired by the work of its European predecessor, the Codex Europaeus, these two UN agencies assembled teams of health professionals, government civil servants, medical and scientific experts to draft food standards. Once ratified, the standards were distributed to governments for voluntary adoption and implementation. By the mid-1990s, the World Trade Organization (WTO) identified the Codex as a key reference point for scientific food standards. The role of science within this highly political and economic organization poses interesting questions about the process of knowledge production and the scientific expertise underpinning the food standards. Standards were constructed and contested according to the Codex twin goals of: (1) protecting public health, and (2) facilitating trade. One recent criticism of Codex is that these two aims are opposed, or that one is given primacy over the other, which results in protectionism. Bearing these themes in mind, in this dissertation I examine the relationship between the scientific and the ‘social’ elements embodied by the Codex food standards since its inception after the Second World War. I argue that these attempts to reach scientific standards represent an example of coproduction– one in which the natural and social orders are produced alongside each other. What follows from this central claim is an attempt to characterize the pre-WTO years of the Codex through a case study approach. The narrative begins with a description of the predecessor regional group the Codex europaeus, and then proceeds to key areas affecting human health: 1) food additives, 2) food hygiene, and 3) pesticides residues.

This thesis provides an analysis of recent attempts to regulate the governance of genetic resources through the initiation of new global commons regimes. These attempts have arisen out of a combination of the growing recognition of genetic resources' value and global nature; a new resurgence in support for the common property paradigm; and, during a period in which the world is becoming increasingly globalised, with many governance competencies moving to the supranational level. They can be viewed as part of a broader effort to proffer the common property approach as a legitimate alternative in the property regime debate: a debate that has increasingly become trapped in the public-private dichotomy at the dawn of the twenty-first century. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the success of these attempts, and offer suggestions about how future attempts might be more successful. While there are a multitude of books, articles, opinion pieces and media reports produced that concern themselves with property theory, intellectual property theory, the efficacy or morality of applying property regimes to living materials, and the threats and promises of globalisation, all of which influence the notion of a potential global genetic commons, relatively little has been written directly on the idea of applying global common property regimes to genetic resource governance issues. The first part of this thesis constructs a theory of a global genetic commons, drawing inspiration from a variety of sources, while the second part tests this theory in order to analyse the outcomes of the recent attempts, and suggest directions for future research. The thesis finds that the conception of a global genetic commons is indeed a valid one, and that while not all attempts so far have been successful, the common property paradigm does offer valuable insights for the future governance of genetic resources at the global level.

This thesis discusses the global regime complex concerning the management of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, and how different regimes concerning these resources cooperate or stand in opposition to each other. Because of changes in US patent law and the establishment of TRIPS, patent claims over plant genetic resources has increased dramatically globally. This, amongst other things, in turn has lead to the development of CBD which in turn lead to the creation of access and benefit laws in many countries. To create a free flow of genetic resources for food and agriculture the ITPGRFA, with its multilateral system, were negotiated. The aim of this thesis is to investigate which consequences the regime complex concerning plant genetic resources for food and agriculture can have on the rights of small farmers, agricultural research and food security in the global South. The thesis shows how patents and strict access laws creates a situation where more and more actors has exclusive rights which excludes others from using these, for the global food security, essential resources. Further it is shown that there also are processes going on within the UPOV that risk to take away farmers right to save seeds, and thereby make them dependent on the more and more monopolistic global seed markets dominated by a few multinational corporations. It is established that ITPGRFAs multilateral system is an opening in this hyperownership of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture; but that the international community at the same time has to see to that the patent claims on plant genetic resources not violate farmers’ rights to their resources. / Denna uppsats behandlar det globala regimkomplexet för förvaltningen av växtgenetiska resurser för livsmedel och jordbruk, samt hur avtalen rörande dessa resurser samverkar eller står i motsättning till varandra. I och med förändringar i amerikansk patentlagstiftning och upprättandet av TRIPS har patentanspråk på växtgenetiska resurser ökat dramatiskt, vilket i sin tur påverkade tillkomsten av CBD vilken innefattar upprättandet av lagstiftning rörande tillträde till och den rättvisa fördelningen av nyttor härstammande från, genetiska resurser. För att möjliggöra ett relativt fritt flöde av växtgenetiska resurser har ITPGRFA med dess multilaterala system fram förhandlats. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vilka konsekvenser den nuvarande globala förvaltningen av växtgenetiska resurser för livsmedel och jordbruk kan få för jordbruksforskning, småbönders rättigheter och matsäkerhet i Syd. Uppsatsen visar på hur patent och tillträdeslagstiftningar skapar en situation där fler och fler parter innehar rättigheter att utestänga andra från att nyttja dessa, för den globala matsäkerheten, essentiella resurser. Vidare visas på hur det samtidigt pågår processer inom UPOV som riskerar att undanta bönder rätten att spara utsäde och därmed göra dem beroende av de i allt högre grad monopolartade frömarknaderna, vilka domineras av att fåtal multinationella företag. Här konstateras även att ITPGRFAs multilaterala system är en öppning i detta hyperägande, men att det internationella samfundet samtidigt måste försäkra att patentanspråk inte kränker bönders rättigheter till sina resurser.