Glyphosate, introduced by Monsanto Company under the commercial name Roundup in 1974, became the extensively used herbicide worldwide in the last few decades. Glyphosate has excellent properties of fast sorption in soil, biodegradation and less toxicity to nontarget organisms. However, glyphosate has been reported to increase the risk of cancer, endocrine-disruption, celiac disease, autism, effect on erythrocytes, leaky-gut syndrome, etc. The reclassification of glyphosate in 2015 as ‘probably carcinogenic’ under Group 2A by the International Agency for Research on Cancer has been broadly circulated by anti-chemical and environmental advocacy groups claiming for restricted use or ban of glyphosate. In contrast, some comprehensive epidemiological studies involving farmers with long-time exposure to glyphosate in USA and elsewhere coupled with available toxicological data showed no correlation with any kind of carcinogenic or genotoxic threat to humans. Moreover, several investigations confirmed that the surfactant, polyethoxylated tallow amine (POEA), contained in the formulations of glyphosate like Roundup, is responsible for the established adverse impacts on human and ecological health. Subsequent to the evolution of genetically modified glyphosate-resistant crops and the extensive use of glyphosate over the last 45 years, about 38 weed species developed resistance to this herbicide. Consequently, its use in the recent years has been either restricted or banned in 20 countries. This critical review on glyphosate provides an overview of its behaviour, fate, detrimental impacts on ecological and human health, and the development of resistance in weeds and pathogens. Thus, the ultimate objective is to help the authorities and agencies concerned in resolving the existing controversies and in providing the necessary regulations for safer use of the herbicide. In our opinion, glyphosate can be judiciously used in agriculture with the inclusion of safer surfactants in commercial formulations sine POEA, which is toxic by itself is likely to increase the toxicity of glyphosate.

Environmental degradation caused by various human activities has been a subject of attention over the globe. There is a concern on how to maintain a clean environment and at the same time achieve optimum production of food and non-food products amidst global energy demand. To this end, this study examines the impact of agricultural development, energy use, and economic growth on CO₂ emissions in the emerging seven countries that comprises China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Indonesia, and Turkey for the annual time frequency from 1990 to 2016. The study uses a battery of econometrics techniques for soundness of analysis the consist of pooled mean group autoregressive distributed lag methodology, dynamic ordinary least squares, and fully modified ordinary least squares as estimation techniques alongside Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test for the direction of causality analysis. Empirical results revealed that value-added agriculture and economic growth are drivers of CO₂ emission in the E7 countries, and the rise in renewable energy causes a reduction in CO₂ emissions, while in the short run, economic growth has a positive impact on emissions in the focus countries. Causality analysis shows that there is a feedback causality between economic growth and emissions, between value-added agriculture and energy usage, between emission and value-added agriculture, and between economic growth and agricultural development. Furthermore, energy use does not cause emissions directly; it causes economic growth and value-added agriculture which causes emissions. This position aligns with the advocacy of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN-SDG) Targets 7 and 13 of clean energy access and mitigation of climate changes issues.

South Korea is pursuing an energy transition policy (ETP) of expanding the use of renewable energy and natural gas and decreasing that of nuclear energy and coal in total generation. An investigation of whether the public is for or against the ETP is needed by the government. This article explores the public preference toward the ETP employing the data collected through a survey of 1000 individuals. They were asked to reveal their preference for the ETP on a five-point scale in the survey. Overall, there are more advocates of the ETP than those who opposed it. For the purpose of analyzing the determinants of advocacy and opposition of the ETP, an ordered probit model is employed. The results suggest that people living in the Seoul Metropolitan area think that the environment is more important than new jobs, or know the renewable energy 100% campaign before the survey is more favorable to the ETP than others. However, people who use electricity for heating tend to be negative about the ETP. As the age increases, people approve of the ETP, but when age goes beyond a certain level, they oppose it.

Continuous threat posed by climate change caused by carbon dioxide emission has reignited global advocacy to confront its negative ramification with the greatest possible firmness. Global food security and agriculture face major challenges under climate change as a result of the potential negative effect of production and implementation of sectoral action to limit global warming. Overall, agricultural greenhouse emissions continue to rise and the analysis of superior data on emissions from farming, livestock, and fisheries can help countries identify opportunities to contemporaneously reduce emissions and address their food security. This study seeks to contribute to the recent literature by examining the causal relationship between agriculture production and carbon dioxide emissions in selected emerging economies for the period 1971 to 2013. The study, therefore, disaggregated agriculture production into crop production index and livestock production index to explicate the distinct and to find individual variable contribution to carbon dioxide emissions. By using FMOLS and DOLS, empirical results indicate that 1% increase in economic growth, crop production index, and livestock production index will cause a proportional increase in carbon dioxide emission by 17%, 28%, and 28% correspondingly, while 1% increase in energy consumption and population improves the environment of emerging economies. The direction of causality among the variables was, accordingly, examined using PMG estimator. Potentially, for emerging countries to achieve Sustainable Development Goal of ensuring zero hunger for their citizenry requires the need to alter their farming production techniques and also adopt agricultural technology method, which is more environmentally friendly.