#OpenForClimateJustice – OA Week 2022

SciAni, the knowledge-packed home of elucidating free-to-view outreach animations, is celebrating International Open Access Week 2022! Each year, SPARC run #OAWeek to raise awareness of how imperative it is that we collaborate and share our resources to tackle the world’s most pressing global problems. Between the 24thand the 30th of October, OA Week 2022 is focusing on the theme of climate justice.

Climate justice is the recognition that climate change is not just an ‘environmental’ problem: it’s the result of societal and economic injustices too. People are also disproportionately impacted by its effects, such as global warming – some are harder hit than others. As such, the solution to the climate crisis requires a multi-faceted and collaborative approach. To be #OpenForClimateJustice, we will need tactics that consider all these factors, so we can find just and fair responses to the climate conundrum.

Some of the initiatives already underway include providing environmental citizenship in times of environmental crisis and bridging the gap between climate science and farmers in Colombia. Others are looking at ways to manage the resources of our planet fairly to produce enough healthy food – without destroying our life-support system. We’re also highlighting some ingenious environmental sustainable approaches, such as using phytoplankton to help solve the climate emergency and how hemp could help us to achieve a Green Recovery. Watch the open access videos below on climate justice research.

Environmental citizenship in times of environmental crisis

Could you be an environmental citizen? Watch this inspiring video from the European Network of Environmental Citizenship to learn more about Environmental Citizenship and its importance in times of environmental crisis.

Bridging the gap between climate science and farmers in Colombia

The Local Technical Committees (LTACs) are now an essential tool for farmers in Latin America to manage their crops according to climate conditions. Decision-makers, the private sector, academic institutions and scientists, jointly with farmers, find in LTACs a space to design and implement effective actions to reduce agro-climatic risk. In this video, learn how LTACs work, where LTACs are established, and how they help to face climate change in agriculture.

 Ocean Nourishment: Can phytoplankton help solve the climate emergency?

Australian company Ocean Nourishment has pioneered the scientific exploration of macronutrient enhancement of primary productivity (ocean phytoplankton) in the world oceans for enhanced carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Their work has focused on large-scale carbon sequestration, plus the co-benefits of reduced surface ocean acidification and enhanced protein from small pelagic fisheries.

How to decipher the biodiversity–production mutualism in the global food security debate?

How do we manage the resources of our planet in a way that we produce enough healthy food for everyone – without destroying our life-support system? An answer to that question is the incorporation of agroecological principles in global food systems, which will inform assessments of green total factor productivity and help avoid possible lock-ins of the global food system through over-intensification and associated biodiversity loss.

Hemp: how can we achieve a Green Recovery?

The European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA) represents the common interests of hemp farmers, producers and traders working with hemp fibres, shives, seeds, leaves, and cannabinoids. Inspired by the principles of social, environmental and economic sustainability, EIHA believes in a sustainable economic model that reconciles agriculture, industry and the environment. For this reason, the association promotes the development in the EU territory of local, yet globally connected value chains, capable of delivering the multiple ecosystem services that hemp has to offer.