The cost of environmental degradation (COED) report focuses on Georgia’s coastal zone. Georgia’s coastal zone is crucial to the national economy but has been affected by substantial environmental degradation. This report estimates the impact of degradation that occurred in 2017, as a result of pollution, flooding, coastal erosion, and agricultural soil and forest degradation in eight of coastal Georgia’s municipalities. Economic values are expressed in 2017 prices. This study is a first attempt to estimate the COED of Georgia’s coastal zone and so features some uncertainties regarding data and information used for cost estimates. Therefore, estimates of this report provide an order of magnitude of the COED for selected areas affected by degradation. Raising awareness of the magnitude of coastal degradation is a critical step towards enacting positive change. Therefore, this report focuses on coastal Georgia’s eight municipalities, estimating, in monetary terms, the COED in 2017. Estimates provide an indication of the real magnitude of damage and of the urgency of action needed to protect Georgia’s coastal zone. The report is organized as follows: chapter one gives introduction. Chapter two provides an overview of the methods used for estimating the COED and covers the report limitations. Chapter three reports estimate of costs related to pollution, chapter four addresses the cost of flooding and coastal erosion, while chapter five analyzes costs associated with soil and forest degradation. Chapter six qualifies potential risks due to climate change in the coastal zone of Georgia. Chapter seven outlines some recommendations that Georgia may take to reduce annual degradation costs.

The cost of environmental degradation (COED) report focuses on Georgia’s coastal zone. Georgia’s coastal zone is crucial to the national economy but has been affected by substantial environmental degradation. This report estimates the impact of degradation that occurred in 2017, as a result of pollution, flooding, coastal erosion, and agricultural soil and forest degradation in eight of coastal Georgia’s municipalities. Economic values are expressed in 2017 prices. This study is a first attempt to estimate the COED of Georgia’s coastal zone and so features some uncertainties regarding data and information used for cost estimates. Therefore, estimates of this report provide an order of magnitude of the COED for selected areas affected by degradation. Raising awareness of the magnitude of coastal degradation is a critical step towards enacting positive change. Therefore, this report focuses on coastal Georgia’s eight municipalities, estimating, in monetary terms, the COED in 2017. Estimates provide an indication of the real magnitude of damage and of the urgency of action needed to protect Georgia’s coastal zone. The report is organized as follows: chapter one gives introduction. Chapter two provides an overview of the methods used for estimating the COED and covers the report limitations. Chapter three reports estimate of costs related to pollution, chapter four addresses the cost of flooding and coastal erosion, while chapter five analyzes costs associated with soil and forest degradation. Chapter six qualifies potential risks due to climate change in the coastal zone of Georgia. Chapter seven outlines some recommendations that Georgia may take to reduce annual degradation costs.

Precise measurements of discharges at the outlet of a small catchment, using high resolution sensing equipment, can currently be done without difficulty. In particular, measurements can take place even during dry periods, when high temperatures increase actual evapotranspiration on the catchment and diurnal streamflow fluctuation changes occur in a harmonic wave at any time of the day. Some 10-15 years ago, a current runoff measurement record based on a high resolution equipment clearly recognizing a diurnal wave-shape fluctuation could hardly be available. The measurement of discharge ordinates from the catchment, and from free water pan evaporation, showed an undulating fluctuation tendency. However, the discharge minima appeared at day time and their maxima at night. The measured discharge data are represented not only by a fluctuating form, but also by a mild form, an even straight line, or by a flat depletion curve. For the purpose of analyzing the wave shape of discharge we implemented the Fourier series model, simulating the measured data through the Fourier input, output, and transformation coefficients. The purpose of this analysis was to use the Fourier equations in order to substitute the missing data (when the discharge or evaporation measurements collapsed). Due to very sensitive data, when the measured discharge series are jagged, the equation can be smoothed by the harmonic approximation or by the polynomial approximation. Our study was carried out on the small experimental catchment of the Starosuchdolsky Brook, in the vicinity of the campus of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. The harmonic analysis provided an interesting outcome, as well as innovative methodology.

In this study the values of true digestibility of DM, OM, CP, NDF and starch determined either by the nylon capsule method or conventional in vivo method were compared. Four intact crossbred dairy cows (mean milk yield 21.9 kg/d) were used in two experimental periods. TMR consisted of maize silage, lucerne hay and concentrate. Nylon capsules (external diameter 10 mm) were made of nylon cloth (pore size 42 µm). Capsules were filled with TMR and at the beginning of the in vivo trial they were administered orally as a paper bolus into the cows. The values of true digestibility (after washing loss correction) of DM and OM, as determined by means of the nylon capsule method were lower than those estimated by the in vivo method. The respective differences were -6.9 and -7.3% (P < 0.05). Insignificant differences were found in CP, NDF and starch.

A water deficiency in some areas of the state, a growing population, with added irrigated acreage will increase the use and re-use of agricultural waters and tend to pollute and degrade them to the point of becoming a serious problem.

The agricultural sector serves as the cornerstone of the Kenyan economy, wielding significant economic influence by directly contributing 33% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and another 27% of the GDP indirectly through linkages with other sectors (FAO, 2025). The sector accounts for 65% of total export earnings and sustains informal livelihoods of more than 80% of the Kenyan population in meeting employment, income and food security needs and contributes to improving nutrition through production of safe, diverse and nutrient dense foods. The sector also employs over 40% of the total population and more than 70% of the rural population (Central Bank of Kenya, 2023; World Bank Group 2021). The sector is also the main driver of the non-agricultural economy including manufacturing, providing inputs and markets for non-agricultural operations such as building or construction, transportation, tourism, education and other social services. This underscores the pivotal role of the agricultural sector in driving Kenya’s economy and providing livelihoods for a substantial portion of the population. Climate change poses significant threat to the Kenyan economy due to its dependence on natural resources such as water for food and energy, and the country’s exposure to climate-sensitive sectors, especially agriculture. The rising frequency of extreme weather events is the main driver of climate change-related impact on the Kenyan economy. Kenya’s agricultural sector is heavily reliant on rain-fed smallholder subsistence farming, which exposes the sector to profound impacts of climate change. Increasing variability of rainfall patterns, increasing temperature interspersed with prolonged drought periods and flash floods directly affecting crop and livestock productivity. This impact is varied across the country with higher temperatures having a positive impact in highland areas but a negative effect in lowland areas, with this being pronounced in the ASAL regions. Smallholder farmers who make up majority of Kenyan farmers, are highly vulnerable to climatic and environmental hazards as their options for diversifying their resources and income sources are limited. Droughts negatively affect access to credit for agriculture, as the value and availability of farm assets to serve as collateral decline. Further, their vulnerability is worsened by lack of access to adequate water, low levels of technology and education and institutional mismanagement. These challenges exacerbate the vulnerability and dampen adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers to climate shocks, particularly in the food basket regions.

The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted under the Paris Agreement propose a country’s contribution to global mitigation efforts and domestic adaptation initiatives. This paper provides a systematic analysis of NDCs submitted by South Asian nations, in order to assess how far their commitments might deliver meaningful contributions to the global 2°C target and to sustainable broad-based adaptation benefits. Though agriculture-related emissions are prominent in emission profiles of South Asian countries, their emission reduction commitments are less likely to include agriculture, partly because of a concern over food security. We find that income-enhancing mitigation technologies that do not jeopardize food security may significantly augment the region’s mitigation potential. In the case of adaptation, analysis shows that the greatest effort will be directed towards protecting the cornerstones of the ‘green revolution’ for ensuring food security. Development of efficient and climate-resilient agricultural value chains and integrated farming bodies will be important to ensuring adaptation investment. Potentially useful models of landscape level climate resilience actions and ecosystem-based adaptation are also presented, along with estimates of the aggregate costs of agricultural adaptation. Countries in the region propose different mixes of domestic and foreign, and public and private, adaptation finance to meet the substantial gaps.