Assessing the long- and short-run asymmetrical effects of climate change on rice production: empirical evidence from India

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In recent years, environmental change has arisen as a ubiquitous problem and gained environmentalist’s attention across the globe due to its...     

Heat waves and health risks in the northern part of Senegal: analysing the distribution of temperature-related diseases and associated risk factors

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The Sahelian zone of Senegal experienced heat waves in the previous decades, such as 2013, 2016 and 2018 that were characterised by temperatures...     

Photocatalytic degradation of endocrine disruptor Bisphenol-A in the presence of prepared CexZn1-xO nanocomposites under irradiation of sunlight

Photocatalytic degradation of Bisphenol A （BPA）, a representative endocrine disruptor chemical, was carried out under irradiation of sunlight in the presence of CexZn1-xO nanophotocatalyst. Cerium （Ce） ions were successfully incorporated into the bulk lattice of ZnO by simple co-precipitation process. The CexZn1-xO composite nanostructures exhibited higher photocatalytic efficiency than pure ZnO in the degradation of BPA under sunlight irradiation and nearly complete mineralization of BPA was achieved. The degradation rate was strongly dependent on factors such as the size and structure of catalyst, doping material concentration, BPA concentration, catalyst load, irradiation time and pH levels. This work suggested that the CexZn1-xO assisted photocatalytic degradation is a versatile, economic, environmentally benign and efficient method for BPA removal in the aqueous environment.     

On Sustainable Development of Social Forestry in Bangladesh: Experiences from Sal (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Shorea Robusta</Emphasis>) Forests

Sustainability in forestry is a complex amalgam of trade-offs among its various dimensions and there is no easy route to achieve sustainable development. It is important that policy process and implementation strategy of these policies should be based on sound information about these trade-offs. There is a growing consensus amongst key forest decision-makers in Bangladesh that traditional forestry is needed to make the transition to more sustainable forestry, which is likely to involve local people in forest management. As a result, the government has initiated a social forestry program from 1981 with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) grant and operated mainly in Sal forest areas. The most important objective of this program is to protect, manage, and develop forests in a sustainable way by involving local communities. Although several studies have focused on the management issues of social forestry, none of these studies has evaluated the indicators of sustainable social forestry. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the criteria of sustainable development of social forestry in Bangladesh. The study is based on primary cross-sectional data collected using the multistage stratified sampling technique. In total, 581 social forestry farmers were selected randomly and interviewed using a pre-tested questionnaire. The study evaluated some important components of sustainable development and identified the following conditions of social forestry in Bangladesh:(i) almost all the components of sustainable development of social forestry, although not at the aspiration level, were at good condition;(ii) participants were interested and committed to work with Forest Department in developing social forestry;(iii) they had been utilizing both hard and soft technology in practicing social forestry, although there exists ample scope of development;(iv) income of participants after involving in social forestry had increased, although not at satisfactory level; and(v) process of producing social and material goods had been under progress.However, there exist plenty of scopes for sustainable social forestry development through improving the sustainable development components more carefully.Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Factors Affecting Participating Farmers’ Willingness-to-pay for the Tree Farming Fund: A Study in a Participatory Forest in Bangladesh

This paper examined the factors that might influence participating farmers’ willingness-to-pay for the Tree Farming Fund (TFF) established for sustainable development of participatory forest management (PFM). Information on willingness-to-pay, socioeconomic characteristics, and attitudes of participating farmers toward TFF were obtained from interviews with 581 participating farmers. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the dominant factors that might influence participating farmers’ willingness-to-pay for the TFF. The results showed that participating farmers’ willingness-to-pay was significantly affected by (i) family income; (ii) education level; (iii) confidence that his aspired benefits will be received; (iv) agreement with the statement that ‘PFM is sustainable under the present state of management’; (v) agreement with the statement that ‘PFM is a good strategy for forest conservation’; and (vi) knowledge of PFM strategies. Thus, participating farmers with a higher level of education, higher income and positive attitudes toward TFF tended to express more willingness-to-pay. Establishment of TFF could be an effective strategy in implementing sustainable PFM in Bangladesh. For this strategy to succeed, however, active partnership between the participating farmers and Forest Department is required. Participating farmers’ attitudes toward TFF should therefore be taken into consideration as should the results of this study, which are important indicators of participating farmers’ positive attitudes toward TFF.     

Particulate matters and gaseous pollutants in indoor environment and Association of ultra-fine particulate matters (PM1) with lung function

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Real-time particulate matters (PM1, PM2.5, PM4, PM7, PM10, and TSP) with AEROCET 531S (USA), gaseous pollutants (NO2 and TVOC) with Aeroquel 500 gas...     

Study of the water quality close to urban sewers in eastern Ligurian coast by means of bioluminescence tests and conventional analyses

Five municipal sewers with small flow rates (Manarola, Riomaggiore, Portovenere, Tellaro, Bocca di Magra) were studied using the Microtox^® test and a bacterial luminescence bioassay in order to evaluate the water quality in these areas of the eastern Ligurian coast. The work was performed including chemical analysis, microbiological and ecotoxicological assays. Analyses were carried out on both the effluents and the water body close to the pipe discharge. None of the measured chemical parameters exceeded the permitted limits, both in the effluents and in the seawater samples, even if some slightly critical situations were highlighted by the Microtox^® test on the effluents. On the other hand, the Microtox^® appeared to be less effective than another ecotoxicological assay based on the luminescent fraction of epibacteria for the evaluation of seawater quality. The good water quality of the considered areas was assessed although a slightly worse condition was encountered in Bocca di Magra.     

Adsorptive removal of iron and manganese ions from aqueous solutions with microporous chitosan/polyethylene glycol blend membrane

Microporous chitosan (CS) membranes were directly prepared by extraction of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) from CS/PEG blend membrane and were examined for iron and manganese ions removal from aqueous solutions. The different variables affecting the adsorption capacity of the membranes such as contact time, pH of the sorption medium, and initial metal ion concentration in the feed solution were investigated on a batch adsorption basis. The affinity of CS/PEG blend membrane to adsorb Fe(II) ions is higher than that of Mn(II) ions, with adsorption equilibrium achieved after 60 min for Fe(II) and Mn(II) ions. By increasing CS/PEG ratio in the blend membrane the adsorption capacity of metal ions increased. Among all parameters, pH has the most significant effect on the adsorption capacity, particularly in the range of 2.9-5.9. The increase in CS/PEG ratio was found to enhance the adsorption capacity of the membranes. The effects of initial concentration of metal ions on the extent of metal ions removal were investigated in detail. The experimental data were better fitted to Freundlich equation than Langmuir. In addition, it was found that the iron and manganese ions adsorbed on the membranes can be effectively desorbed in 0.1 mol/L HCl solution (up to 98% desorption efficiency) and the blend membranes can be reused almost without loss of the adsorption capacity for iron and manganese ions.     

Distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the sediments of the Adriatic Sea

Distribution of the sixteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) indicated from USEPA as priority pollutants was studied in surface sediments of two coastal areas of the Adriatic Sea. PAHs were recovered from the sediments by solvent extraction and then analyzed by means of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Total concentrations of the analytes in the range 24.1-501.1 ng/g were detected. The observed distribution has been discussed taking into account different aspects, such as the fluvial inputs and the grain size of the sediments. By using a molecular marker approach and characteristic compositional patterns it was possible to ascribe to combustion processes the main source of PAHs. Furthermore a good correlation between benzo[a]pyrene and the total concentration of PAHs (r=0.953) has been pointed out.     

Summer distribution of trace metals in the western sector of the Ross Sea, Antarctica

The more important water masses generated by the interaction of Circumpolar Deep Water and the shelf waters in the western sector of the Ross Sea are characterized for trace element contents. The distribution of cadmium, lead, copper, zinc, iron, manganese and chromium during the austral summer is analysed and discussed according to the physical, chemical and biological processes which affect the composition of the water masses. The Cd concentration is found to have a relative high variability that can be related to biological activity and the water mass age, MCDW presents a mean dissolved concentration (SD) of 0.77 (0.07) nmol kg(-1), while the HSSW and AASW have a mean concentration of 0.63 (0.06) and 0.61 (0.16) nmol kg(-1), respectively. Lead features the typical distribution of a scavenged element with a surface maximum ranging between 22 and 130 pmol kg(-1) decreasing to 11 pmol kg(-1) in deep waters. However, the vertical distribution in the shelf area features a maximum concentration in intermediate/deep waters and we can hypothesize that the distribution may be influenced by more than one source. The surface dissolved concentration of zinc and copper were un-homogeneously distributed, the mean (SD) values were 5.25 (2.92) and 1.99 (1.49) nmol kg(-1) for zinc and copper, respectively and increased with depth for both the elements. We may therefore hypothesize enrichment in the dissolved phase deriving from recycling in deep waters. 95% of the chromium was in dissolved form and showed a superficial depletion; the mean concentrations were 1.6 +/- 0.2 and 2.6 +/- 0.8 nmol kg(-1) for surface and deep waters respectively. The vertical distribution of dissolved manganese was quite homogeneous with a mean concentration 0.96 +/- 0.7 nmol kg(-1). The particulate iron and manganese concentration trends are similar and feature a significant bottom increase implying a significant input from resuspension; the mean concentration of particulate ranged between 1.4 and 7.4 nmol kg(-1) for iron and ranged between 0.072 and 0.29 nmol kg(-1) for manganese.