Quantitative Targets Research Articles

Policy effects on the sustainable development of resource-based cities in China: A case study of Yichun City

Resource-based cities, which provide material support for economic and social development, have been recognized as unsustainable worldwide. In China, such cities have been facing more severe challenges in achieving sustainable development. Despite the extensive studies on the development of such cities in China, they did not answer the policy effect. Taking Yichun City as an example, this article attempts to fill the gap of evaluating policy effects on such cities and explores future priorities. This paper treats the quantitative targets of related policies and planning as multi-dimensional indicators. We consider policy effects on sustainable development based on the distance and direction of performance towards planning targets in 2020. The distance reflects what extent has been achieved towards goals, while the direction indicates the coordination level between various subsystems and indicators. Moreover, we analyze factors affecting the policy effects by grey relational analysis. We draw the following main conclusions and suggestions: (1) Future policies should give priority to the economic transformation; (2) The government should coordinate the development of all subsystems to promote its overall sustainable development; (3) Governments should take different strategies because the determinants that impact the development of overall sustainability and subsystems are various.

Forest relevant targets in EU policy instruments - can progress be measured by the pan-European criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management?

Several forest related EU policy instruments have set forest relevant quantitative or qualitative targets. We identify the forest relevant targets in current EU policy instruments, and examine whether the pan-European Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management (Forest Europe, 2015a) are sufficient to satisfy the information needs of EU policy makers when monitoring progress towards these targets. We apply a computer-based quantitative analysis of forest related EU policy instruments, using key words.In the policy instruments we analysed, forest relevant targets are completely integrated with targets for other sectors in a wider context. Relatively few of the identified forest relevant targets are quantitative; qualitative targets are predominant. In our analysis we show that the pan-European Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management, as they stand, would require adjustments to several of the indicators to provide information on progress towards the identified forest relevant quantitative and qualitative targets.Our results can contribute to reporting on progress towards forest-relevant targets in EU forest related policies, notably by identifying what parameters could be measured and might facilitate forest related target setting in revisions and development of policy instruments, particularly the revision of the EU Forest Strategy.

Breeding Habitat Associations of Eastern Whip‐Poor‐Wills in Managed Forests

ABSTRACTPopulations of the eastern whip‐poor‐will (Antrostomus vociferus; whip‐poor‐will) have declined throughout most of its range, making it a species of high conservation concern in nearly every state and province where it occurs. Researchers have reported whip‐poor‐wills are associated with forest stands with open canopies, and thus silviculture may be a promising means for promoting their populations, yet the ecological literature does not quantify fine‐scale habitat relationships capable of assisting with silviculture prescriptions. Our objective was to quantify the associations between whip‐poor‐wills, canopy openness, and other vegetation characteristics to provide managers with guidance for whip‐poor‐will management. Based on prior research, we hypothesized that whip‐poor‐wills may be associated with intermediate levels of canopy retention and that their numbers would also be affected by understory characteristics. We surveyed whip‐poor‐wills with point counts in managed forest at the Fort Drum Army installation in New York, USA, during 2015 and 2016 and collected vegetation measurements at each point count location to relate whip‐poor‐will occupancy with vegetation structure and composition. Whip‐poor‐will occupancy was strongly related to intermediate levels of basal area, with peak occupancy at 13.8 m2/ha, a value that corresponds to forest denser than most shrublands but more open than closed‐canopy forest. Whip‐poor‐will presence was negatively related to understory height, which is consistent with prior studies. These findings provide managers with quantitative targets that can be used to increase or maintain whip‐poor‐will numbers and abundance of other disturbance‐associated species similarly unable to persist in unmanaged forests stands. © 2021 The Wildlife Society.

Environmental Drivers of Seagrass-Associated Nekton Abundance Across the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Small variations in environmental parameters can substantially alter species composition, but the extent to which different species respond to these changes remains obscure. A synoptic survey of seagrass-associated faunal communities was performed across the Gulf of Mexico using otter trawls coupled with seagrass and water quality assessments. The abundance of eight central seagrass inhabitants, representing a range of functional groups, were quantified to identify factors that best predicted their prevalence across environmental gradients and the consistency of these ecological relationships. Seagrass density and drift algal biomass generally had the strongest influence on animal abundance (40–67%), although relationships with drift algae were species specific and seemingly related to faunal size and mobility. Abundances of free-swimming pinfish, pigfish, and silver perch were negatively related to drift algae biomass (0.7, 0.7, and 1.0% Δ per 1 g·m−2 drift algae, respectively), whereas the abundance of pipefish (Syngnathus spp.) and brown/pink shrimp (Penaeus spp.) tended to be positively related to algal biomass (0.8 and 1.6% Δ per 1 g·m−2 drift algae). Shrimp abundances increased by 3.6% per 1% increase in light attenuation while the abundance of a higher-order visual predator, silver perch, negatively responded to light attenuation (1.1% Δ per 1% Δ vertical light attenuation). Additionally, bivariate plots of organismal abundance and salinity or canopy height indicated a unimodal relationship with peaks in abundance associated with intermediate values for several species. This study explored the extent species and functional groups responded to variation in key elements of the abiotic and biotic environment, providing insight into community development and offering resource managers quantitative targets for aspects of habitat quality.

Can Forest Managers Plan for Resilient Landscapes? Lessons from the United States National Forest Plan Revision Process.

The United States Forest Service, a federal agency entrusted with managing 78 M hectares of national forestlands under a broad multiple-use mandate, has seen recent shifts in policy direction emphasizing ecological restoration, consideration of climate change impacts, and a focus on managing for resilient landscapes. The process of revising the comprehensive plans guiding national forest management presents opportunities to reorient objectives, activities, and commitments toward these goals. Here we analyze case studies of three national forests that have completed the forest plan revision process since 2014: the Francis Marion National Forest in coastal South Carolina, the Kaibab National Forest in northern Arizona, and the Rio Grande National Forest in southern Colorado. We analyze plan revision participants' perspectives on the opportunities and barriers to reorienting national forest management toward resilient landscapes and the broader political, social, and institutional factors that influence these dynamics. Key opportunities included better promoting resilient landscape objectives by revising fire management guidelines, incorporating scientific data and modeling from multiple agency and non-agency partners, and building opportunities for adaptive management via long-term trust networks. Major barriers included inconsistent higher-level support for resilience objectives, an emphasis on meeting narrow quantitative performance targets, and under-investments in monitoring.

Improving government and business coordination through the use of consistent SDGs indicators. A comparative analysis of national (Belgian) and business (pharma and retail) sustainability indicators

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015 are a widely recognized framework to guide sustainable development policies and actions. This papers aims to analyze the potential of SDGs to improve government and business coordination by aligning their reporting practices. To do so, we assess the consistency between the sustainability indicators at the national level (Belgian) and of businesses (pharmaceutical and retail sectors). We aim to answer the following questions: Do they measure the same SDGs issues? Do they develop similar quantitative targets on similar issues? And, for both sets of indicators and targets, how can data from one level be used by the other in order to better coordinate their respective actions? Firstly, we show that indicators are developed for each SDG at the national level but fall behind at the business level on several issues, especially regarding goals 9, 10 and 11. Secondly, it appears that there is a general disconnect between both levels' quantitative targets. Thirdly, we show that business measures are poorly focused on issues and goals which are critical at the national level, i.e. facing unfavorable evolutions. Finally, a focus on GHG emissions shows that Belgian GHG targets at the national level are not compatible with reaching the climate objective of 1.5°, while some business targets (scope 1 & 2) seem consistent with this goal, despite measurement uncertainties. These results show room for improvement of indicators in order to ease the coordination of actors and also for public intervention to align businesses on the achievement of SDGs.

Molecular design targets and optimization of low-temperature thermal desalination systems

Directional solvent extraction (DSE) is an emerging membrane-free liquid-liquid extraction process to desalinate water using low-grade heat. Several unique features make DSE a potentially disruptive desalination technology: 1) it is thermally driven and utilizes low-grade heat; 2) it does not require the use of membranes; 3) there are opportunities to intensify, modularize and customize the process; 4) there is a vast solvent molecular design space. This work establishes a technoeconomic modeling framework to simultaneously optimize and heat integrate the DSE process. We perform rapid bottom-up screening to predict the energy intensity and levelized cost of water (LCOW) of organic acid and ionic liquid directional solvents (DS) in an optimized DSE process. Likewise, we perform top-down analysis to set continuous solvent property targets necessary to realize a LCOW of less than $0.5/m3. LCOW is most sensitive to the solubility of the DS in water and thermoresponsive ability (a.k.a. yield) of the solvent, i.e., the change in the solubility of water in the DS with temperature. Despite their lower cost, organic acids have a small thermoresponsive ability and LCOW of at least $1.3/m3. In contrast, we set modest quantitative thermophysical property targets for ionic liquid DS to achieve below $0.5/m3 LCOW.

Organization of antibiotic stewardship in Europe: the way to go.

SummaryIt is more than two decades ago that a European Union conference on “The Microbial Threat” hosted by the Danish Government in Copenhagen in September 1998 issued recommendations to encourage good practice in the use of antimicrobial agents and reduce inappropriate prescribing. Essential components of those recommendations were antimicrobial teams in hospitals and the use of feedback to prescribers as well as educational activities. Two decades later, important surveillance systems on both antimicrobial resistance as well as on antibiotic consumption are functioning at the European level and in most European countries; European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) has thoroughly re-evaluated, standardized and harmonized antibiotic susceptibility testing and breakpoints; there have been educational activities in many countries; and stewardship teams are now included in many guidelines and policy papers and recommendations. Yet, antimicrobial resistance problems in Europe have shifted from methicillin-resistant Staphylococus aureus (MRSA) to vancomycin-resistent Enterococcus faecium (VRE) and to multidrug-resistant gramnegative bacteria, while antibiotic consumption volumes, trends and patterns across countries do not show major and highly significant improvements. The way to go further is to recognize that better prescribing comes at a cost and requires investment in expert personnel, practice guideline drafting, and implementation aids, and, secondly, the setting of clear goals and quantitative targets for prescribing quality.

Novel Deep Reinforcement Algorithm With Adaptive Sampling Strategy for Continuous Portfolio Optimization

Quantitative trading targets favorable returns by determining patterns in historical data through statistical or mathematical approaches. With advances in artificial intelligence, many studies have indicated that deep reinforcement learning (RL) can perform well in quantitative trading by predicting price change trends in the financial market. However, most of the related frameworks display poor generalizability in the testing stage. Thus, we incorporated adversarial learning and a novel sampling strategy for RL portfolio management. The goal was to construct a portfolio comprising five assets from the constituents of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and to achieve excellent performance through our trading strategy. We used adversarial learning during the RL process to enhance the model’s robustness. Moreover, to improve the model’s computational efficiency, we introduced a novel sampling strategy to determine which data are worth learning by observing the learning condition. The experimental results revealed that the model with our sampling strategy had more favorable performance than the random learning strategy. The Sharpe ratio increased by 6 %–7 %, and profit increased by nearly 45 %. Thus, our proposed learning framework and the sampling strategy we employed are conducive to obtaining reliable trading rules.

Stimulating Innovation or Managing Numbers?

We examine the effects of China’s new policy target of doubling the number of invention patents per 10,000 people in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015). Although this per-capita target policy is more challenging for local governments of less innovative provinces, we find an increase in patent outputs but not R&D inputs of Chinese firms in provinces that are less innovative but set patent-related policy targets. However, these increased patents are incremental innovations rather than technological breakthroughs. We also find evidence supporting that these patent increases are driven by government subsidies. Our results thus highlight the unintended consequences of setting quantitative policy targets to promote science and technology.

The formation and transmission of upstream and downstream sectoral carbon emission responsibilities: Evidence from China

Abstract The design of scientific and reasonable policies for emission reduction depends on an understanding of the formation and transmission of upstream and downstream carbon emission (UCE and DCE) responsibilities at the sectoral level along production chains. By extending subsystem analysis from UCEs to DCEs, this study investigates the formation mechanism of sectoral emission responsibilities in both directions. The approach is illustrated through the case of Zhejiang Province from 2002 to 2012. Moreover, multi-temporal structural path analysis is applied to identify the crucial UCE and DCE transmission paths and the perturbation factors for path regulation priorities. The results show that: (1) sectoral emission responsibilities exhibit significant disparities from the entire production chain perspective, and Mining (MS2), Electricity, Steam, Gas and Water Production and Supply (MS18), and Other Services (MS24) are the primary emission sources. (2) The spillover effect plays the dominant role in the formation of UCEs and DCEs. (3) Setting quantitative direct carbon intensity reduction targets for Electricity, Steam, Gas and Water Production and Supply (MS18) and optimizing consumption structures of emission-intensive intermediate products can significantly reduce the spillover effects of UCEs and DCEs. (4) Emission regulation priorities for crucial transmission paths depend on the path types, path emission transfers, and path economic multipliers.

Improving Evaluation of Energy Policies with Multiple Goals: Comparing Ex Ante and Ex Post Approaches.

Sustainability policies are often motivated by the potential to achieve multiple goals, such as simultaneously mitigating the climate change and air quality impacts of energy use. Ex ante analysis is used prospectively to inform policy decisions by estimating a policy's impact on multiple objectives. In contrast, ex post analysis of impacts that may have multiple causes can retrospectively evaluate the effectiveness of policies. Ex ante analyses are rarely compared with ex post evaluations of the same policy. These comparisons can assess the realism of assumptions in ex ante methods and reveal opportunities for improving prospective analyses. We illustrate the benefits of such a comparison by examining a case of two energy policies in China. Using ex post analysis, we estimate the impacts of two policies, one that targets energy intensity and another that imposes quantitative targets on SO2 emissions, on energy use and pollution outcomes in two major energy-intensive industrial sectors (cement, iron and steel) in China. We find that the ex post effects of the energy intensity policy on both energy and pollution outcomes are very limited on average, while the effects of the SO2 emissions policy are large. Compared with ex ante analysis, ex post estimates of benefits of the energy intensity policy are on average smaller, and differ by location in both sign and magnitude. Accounting for firm-level heterogeneity in production processes and policy responses, as well as the use of empirically grounded counterfactual baselines, can improve the realism of ex ante analysis and thus provide a more reliable basis for policy design.

Demonstrating an Integrated Antibiotic Resistance Gene Surveillance Approach in Puerto Rican Watersheds Post-Hurricane Maria.

Comprehensive surveillance approaches are needed to assess sources, clinical relevance, and mobility of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in watersheds. Here, we examined metrics derived from shotgun metagenomic sequencing and relationship to human fecal markers (HFMs; crAssphage, enterococci) and anthropogenic antibiotic resistance markers (AARMs; intI1, sul1) in three distinct Puerto Rican watersheds as a function of adjacent land use and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) input 6 months after Hurricane Maria, a category V storm. Relative abundance and diversity of total ARGs increased markedly downstream of WWTP inputs, with ARGs unique to WWTP and WWTP-impacted river samples predominantly belonging to the aminoglycoside and β-lactam resistance classes. WWTP and other anthropogenic inputs were similarly associated with elevated resistome risk scores and mobility incidence (M%). Contig analysis indicated a wide variety of mobile β-lactam ARGs associated with pathogens downstream of WWTP discharge that were consistent with regional clinical concern, e.g., Klebsiella pneumoniae contigs containing KPC-2 within an ISKpn6-like transposase. HFMs and AARMs correlated strongly with the absolute abundance of total ARGs, but AARMs better predicted the majority of ARGs in general (85.4 versus <2%) and β-lactam ARGs in particular. This study reveals sensitive, quantitative, mobile, clinically relevant, and comprehensive targets for antibiotic resistance surveillance in watersheds.

Identification of thresholds in relationships between specific antibiotic use and carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAb) incidence rates in hospitalized patients in Jordan.

Antibiotic resistance is a major threat to public health worldwide. The relationship between the intensity of antibiotic use and resistance might not be linear, suggesting that there might be a threshold of antibiotic use, beyond which resistance would be triggered. To identify thresholds in antibiotic use, below which specific antibiotic classes have no significant measurable impact on the incidence of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAb), but above which their use correlates with an increase in the incidence of CRAb. The study took place at a tertiary teaching hospital in Jordan. The study was ecological in nature and was carried out retrospectively over the period January 2014 to December 2019. The outcome time series for this study was CRAb cases. The primary explanatory variables were monthly use of antibiotics and the use of alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR). Non-linear time-series methods were used to identify thresholds in antibiotic use. Non-linear time-series analysis determined a threshold in third-generation cephalosporin and carbapenem use, where the maximum use of third-generation cephalosporins and carbapenems should not exceed 8 DDD/100 occupied bed days (OBD) and 10 DDD/100 OBD, respectively. ABHR had a significant reducing effect on CRAb cases even at lower usage quantities (0.92 L/100 OBD) and had the most significant effect when ABHR exceeded 3.4 L/100 OBD. The identification of thresholds, utilizing non-linear time-series methods, can provide a valuable tool to inform hospital antibiotic policies through identifying quantitative targets that balance access to effective therapies with control of resistance. Further studies are needed to validate the identified thresholds, through being prospectively adopted as a target for antimicrobial stewardship programmes, and then to evaluate the impact on reducing CRAb incidence.

Differentially expressed urinary exo-miRs and clinical outcomes in kidney recipients on short-term tacrolimus therapy: a pilot study.

Aim: To analyze the expression of urinary exosome-derived miRNAs (exo-miRs) in kidney recipients on tacrolimus-based therapy. Patients & methods: Clinical and drug monitoring data were recorded from 23 kidney recipients. Expression of 93 exo-miRs was measured by quantitativePCR array and mRNA targets were explored. Results: 16exo-miRswere differentially expressed, including marked upregulation of miR-155-5p, and downregulation of miR-223-3p and miR-1228-3p. Expression of miR-155-5p and miR-223-3p correlated with tacrolimus dose (p<0.05), miR-223-3p with serum creatinine (p<0.05), and miR-223-3p and miR-1228-3p with blood leukocytes (p<0.05). 12miRNAs have predicted targets involved in cell proliferation, apoptosis, stress response, PIK3/AKT/mTOR and TGF-βsignaling pathways. Conclusion: Differentially expressed urinary exo-miRs may be useful markers to monitor tacrolimus therapy and graft function in kidney transplantation.

Ecological Scarcity Based Impact Assessment for a Decentralised Renewable Energy System

Increasing the share of renewable energies in electricity and heat generation is the cornerstone of a climate-friendly energy transition. However, as renewable technologies rely on diverse natural resources, the design of decarbonized energy systems inevitably leads to environmental trade-offs. This paper presents the case study of a comprehensive impact assessment for different future development scenarios of a decentralized renewable energy system in Germany. It applies an adapted ecological scarcity method (ESM) that improves decision-support by ranking the investigated scenarios and revealing their main environmental shortcomings: increased mineral resource use and pollutant emissions due to required technical infrastructure and a substantial increase in land use due to biomass combustion. Concerning the case study, the paper suggests extending the set of considered options, e.g., towards including imported wind energy. More generally, the findings underline the need for a comprehensive environmental assessment of renewable energy systems that integrate electricity supply with heating, cooling, and mobility. On a methodical level, the ESM turns out to be a transparent and well adaptable method to analyze environmental trade-offs from renewable energy supply. It currently suffers from missing quantitative targets that are democratically sufficiently legitimized. At the same time, it can provide a sound basis for an informed discussion on such targets.

Implementation of Teleworking Policy in Israel - Benefits, Challenges and the Day after COVID-19 יישום מדיניות עבודה מרחוק בישראל – תועלת, אתגרים והיום שאחרי מגפת הקורונה (COVID-19)

תקציר בעברית: בשל הצפי לגידול האוכלוסייה ולהתרחבות הגודש בכבישים צפויות להחמיר גם ההשפעות הסביבתיות של ענף התחבורה בישראל. לשם התמודדות עם שינויים אלה יש לצמצם משמעותית את הנסועה הפרטית. אחד מכלי המדיניות שיוצרים שינוי בביקוש לנסיעות הוא עבודה מרחוק, המאפשרת לעובדים להימנע מנסיעות באזורי ביקוש ובשעות השיא. מאמר זה סוקר את הידע הקיים בנושא מדיניות עבודה מרחוק, את ההשלכות האפשריות של יישום מדיניות זו בישראל בכלל, ולנוכח השפעות מגפת הקורונה (COVID-19) בפרט.לעבודה מרחוק יש פוטנציאל לתועלת משקית רבה, כגון חיסכון בעלויות החיצוניות מהנסועה, הגדלת הפריון והעלאת פרודוקטיביות העובדים, חיזוק הפריפריה, צמצום פערים מגדריים והנגשת שוק העבודה לאוכלוסיות מוחלשות. עם זאת, עבודה מרחוק יוצרת גם אתגרים לא מעטים: ניהוליים, טכנולוגיים, חברתיים ונוספים. שיעור העובדים מרחוק בישראל נמוך משמעותית ביחס למערב, אך נמצא במגמת עלייה במגזר הפרטי. לעומת זאת, הסכמי השכר במגזר הציבורי אינם מאפשרים עבודה מרחוק מלבד במקרים בודדים. דו"ח ועדת מומחים שפורסם לאחרונה ממליץ לממשלת ישראל לקדם תוכנית לאומית לעידוד עבודה מרחוק, שתכלול הצבת יעדים כמותיים לעבודה מרחוק במשק, תמיכה בתוכניות פיילוט ומתן תמריצים למגזרים השונים. מגפת הקורונה חשפה עובדים ומעסיקים רבים במשק לאפשרות של עבודה מרחוק, וזו הפכה לאחד הסממנים הבולטים של התקופה ויושמה לראשונה במגוון ענפים במשק, לרבות המגזר הציבורי. נראה כי להתנסות לא מתוכננת זו תהיה השפעה גם בתום תקופת המשבר על מיסוד והטמעה של עבודה מרחוק במשק הישראלי, וייתכן שבתנאים מסוימים אף על היקף הגודש בכבישים. יש לזכור כי בחלק גדול מהמשק בוצע מעבר חירום לא מתוכנן לעבודה מרחוק, ללא הכשרה מתאימה לעובדים ולמנהלים, ללא תיעוד ובקרה נאותה הנדרשים מפיילוט שמופעל במצב שגרה, וללא שימוש במרכזי תעסוקה משותפים המותאמים לעבודה מרחוק. למרות זאת, המשבר יצר הזדמנות חשובה לקידום עבודה מרחוק בישראל ולזיהוי פרקטיקות אפקטיביות לעבודה מהבית. התובנות שעולות כיום ושימשיכו להצטבר בעקבותיו יאפשרו למקבלי ההחלטות לקדם ולמסד הסדרי עבודה גמישים במשק הישראלי גם לאחריו.English Abstract: The projected population growth and the expansion of traffic congestion, are expected to exacerbate the environmental impacts of the transportation sector in Israel. To deal with these changes, the mileage of private transportation must be significantly reduced.Teleworking (telecommuting) is one of the policy tools that can alter road travel demand, by allowing employees to avoid travelling in peak hours and in high demand areas. This paper reviews the existing knowledge on teleworking policy, the possible consequences of implementing this policy in Israel in general, and in light of the COVID-19 pandemic effects in particular. Teleworking has a great potential for economic and social benefits, such as transportation externalities saving, increasing productivity, strengthening the periphery areas, reducing gender inequality and making the labor market accessible to underprivileged populations. However, teleworking also creates quite a few challenges: administrative, technological, social and more. The rate of teleworking in Israel was significantly lower than in western countries, but is now on the rise in the private sector. In contrast, public sector employment contracts prohibit teleworking, except in very few specific cases. A recently published expert opinion report recommends that the Israeli government promotes a national plan to encourage teleworking, which will include setting quantitative targets for teleworking, supporting pilot programs and providing incentives to the various sectors.The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many employees and employers to the possibility of working remotely, which has become one of this period's prominent features and was implemented for the first time in a variety of sectors and industries, including the public sector. It seems that this unplanned natural experiment will also have a positive effect on the institutionalization and assimilation of teleworking in the Israeli economy, beyond the pandemic, and under certain conditions even on the extent of traffic congestion. It should be noted that in a large part of the labor market, an unplanned emergency transition to teleworking has occurred, without proper training, documentation and proper control required from a pilot program in routine conditions, and without the use of hubs, adapted for teleworking. Despite this, the crisis has created an important opportunity to promote teleworking in Israel and to identify effective practices for working from home. The insights that arise today and will continue to accumulate in its wake, will enable decision-makers to promote and establish flexible working arrangements in the Israeli economy after the pandemic.

Malaysian Early Childcare and Childhood Education (ECCE) Curriculum: Perspectives of Malaysian ECCE Educationists

Upon realising the importance of early childhood education for the nation’s development, Malaysian government began to enhance the quality of the ECCE curriculum through policies and legislation. Such developments are evident in the government agenda and several initiatives, including the National Key Result Areas (NKRA) in the 11th Malaysia Plan, the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and the Education Blueprint 2013-2025. The quality of the ECCE curriculum in Malaysia has not yet received the required attention, as the focus continues to remain largely on achieving quantitative academic targets. This qualitative study examined educationists’ perspectives on the quality of current Malaysian Early Childcare and Childhood Education (ECCE) curriculum. The study employed a semi-structured interview protocols to probe the views from 11 Malaysian educationists. It concludes that educationists believe the documented Malaysian ECCE curriculum today is already aligned with the holistic child development philosophy, but the country may need a higher impact programs of teacher education and training, to produce qualified and competent teachers who would implement the curriculum effectively.

Catalyzing Capital for the Transition toward Decarbonization: Blended Finance and Its Way Forward

Climate finance is at the center of discussions about how the international community can shift to low-emission, climate-resilient development pathways. The world needs to invest trillions of dollars annually in order to keep warming within 1.5°C. Current global climate finance flows, however, are vastly inadequate. The demand for additional capital is particularly acute in developing countries, where choices to be made over the next decade will play a major role in determining the future course of the global climate system. Blended finance, a structuring mechanism with potential to mobilize significant capital and investment from diverse actors, has emerged as one promising solution to help economies decarbonize and deliver the goals of the Paris Agreement. As blended finance has gained traction in the past few years, its principles and characteristics have also been extensively assessed, with its promises increasingly promoted as well as questioned. Attention on blended finance thus far has largely focused on volumetric contributions of blended finance, partly because of the quantitative financial targets set by the international community. Often missing is a qualitative assessment of blended finance that examines the processes and mechanisms through which sources of capital are mobilized and operationalized. Having a clearer picture of the internal governance configuration of blended finance vehicles and their investment strategy will greatly facilitate efforts to assess and determine additionality, scalability, and transformative impact of climate finance. Only then can public and private actors effectively determine the ways to mobilize, structure, and coordinate flows of climate finance towards sustainable and decarbonized development pathways at scale. This paper explores blended finance both in principle and in practice based on extensive literature review and case studies of blended finance vehicles. Specifically, the paper examines the role and application of blended finance for decarbonization in developing countries, organizing them around five themes: 1) changing features of climate finance, where we observe a shift from a model of direct investment to a layered mechanism with thicker and lengthened value chains; 2) governance of blended finance, focusing on how blended vehicles originate, structure, and function; 3) transparency, which has significant implications on monitoring and evaluation, scalability, and impact; 4) additionality, whose interpretation and application need to be broadened to improve the quality and effectiveness of climate finance; and 5) transformative impact, which every blended finance vehicle strives to achieve but with various interpretations and applications. The paper investigates, and draws insights from, three cases: the Global Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund (GEEREF), the Climate Public Private Partnership (CP3), and Climate Investor One (CI1). The paper concludes with a proposed research agenda that can assist in enhancing the potential for blended finance.

How forest data catalysed change in four successful case studies

This paper presents four case studies in which forest data catalysed shifts in public policy and corporate activities. Brazil greatly reduced deforestation during the period between 2005 and 2014; Cameroon introduced a structured forest concessions regime; Viet Nam achieved their forest transition; and corporate operations around the world invested in supply chain management to alleviate deforestation concerns. We break the problem-solving required for these achievements into four steps: problem recognition, proposal and choice of solution, putting the solution into effect, and monitoring results. At each of these steps, we consider the relevant forest data. Data helped place issues on policymaker agendas, supported reaching sound decisions and enabled quantitative targets. Policy instruments for implementing change were built around available data and forest monitoring helped evaluate progress. The details of these successes can be an inspiration to those interested in improving collection of data on forests that can effectively support decision-making and better policies. There have been impressive recent improvements to many developing countries’ national forest monitoring capabilities. The successful examples of data application presented and evaluated here provide insight into how these new data can be effectively leveraged.