Adapting cropping systems to climate change in Nepal: a cross-regional study of farmers’ perception and practices

Climate change is a global challenge that has a particularly strong effect on developing countries such as Nepal, where adaptive capacity is low and where agriculture, which is highly dependent on climatic factors, is the main source of income for the majority of people. The nature and extent of the effects of climate change on rural livelihoods varies across Nepal in accordance with its highly diverse environmental conditions. In order to capture some of this variability, a comparative study was performed in two different ecological regions: Terai (lowland) and Mountain (upland) in the western development region of Nepal. The study focuses on perceptions of, and on adaptations to climate change by farmers. Information was collected from both primary and secondary data sources. Climate data were analyzed through trend analysis. Results show that most farmers perceive climate change acutely and respond to it, based on their own indigenous knowledge and experiences, through both agricultural and non-agricultural adaptations at an individual level. The study also shows that there is a need to go beyond the individual level, and to plan and provide support for appropriate technologies and strategies in order to cope with the expected increasing impacts of climate change.     

The reuse of reclaimed water for irrigation around the Mediterranean Rim: a step towards a more virtuous cycle?

Regional Environmental Change - Climate change and a growing population around the Mediterranean Rim are increasing the need for water and, consequently, the pressure on resources in terms of both...     

Challenges of diverse knowledge systems in landscape analysis of the Murray–Darling Basin,Australia

Regional Environmental Change - Geographic information systems are a means to develop a common framework for the integration of a range of perspectives into natural resources management decisions....     

Perceptions of American and Russian environmental scientists of today’s key environmental issues: a comparative analysis

Modern science is global. This is particularly true of environmental science, which has been guided to a considerable extent by international environmental policy. Accordingly, one might expect the standards of scientific research around the globe to have unified over the last 30 years. Yet environmental scientists from different nations and scientific schools have demonstrably dissimilar views on key environmental issues. This is the conclusion we reached after a series of in-depth interviews with prominent American and Russian environmental scientists. The greatest difference was found in the perception of two global issues—stratospheric ozone depletion and climate change.     

Analysis of cost–benefit in life-cycle of plastic solid waste: combining waste flow analysis and life cycle cost as a decision support tool to the selection of optimum scenario

Millions of tons of plastic are consumed annually in the world due to its significant characteristics such as durability, flexibility, and low weight. High consumption has made plastic one of the most important municipal solid waste compounds, the quantity of which has increased in recent decades. Plastic solid wastes are known as a threat to the environment, and its efficient management in various aspects such as cost–benefit requires decision-making tools. This study was assessing the cost–benefit of plastic solid waste management by development of an economic model, and definition of different scenarios to change plastic solid waste management status. The results showed that 8971 tons of plastic solid waste were generated annually in the studied city. The plastic solid wastes were finally transferred to either recycling or landfilling site through 5 identified routes. 83 percent of the total recycled plastic solid waste was due to post-separation routes, and only 7.7 percent of the total plastic solid waste was recycled from the source separation route. The economic comparison of scenarios showed that with the aggregation of post-separation routes, the net revenue of plastic solid waste management increases by 334,000 euro per year while increasing the public participation and the ratio of source separation route raises net revenue by 875,000 euro per year, which was the best economic condition among the scenarios. Using life cycle cost method and it’s respected developed economic model truly satisfied the conditions of both, the current plastic solid waste management and the alternative scenarios, and hence can be adopted as a tool for decision-making.

     

Once there was a river: a benefit–cost analysis of rehabilitation of the Jordan River

The Jordan River is among the world’s most famous and culturally and historically significant waterways. The lower stretch of the river, however, has been a victim of development in a water scarce region, with current flows less than 5 % of historical levels. Furthermore, as it functions as an international border in a region of conflict, access to the river and its potential as a tourist attraction has been limited. Recently, there have been numerous calls for rehabilitation of the river. This study presents a first estimate of the economic benefits of such rehabilitation and compares them to the estimated costs. Identical contingent valuation method surveys were administered in Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority. Evidence from this study shows that, despite the large opportunity costs of increasing environmental flows, rehabilitation of the lower Jordan would produce positive net economic benefits. This is true even though the study estimated only the benefits to local populations, and not to international tourists or those outside the region. Net benefits are maximized when taking a regional, as opposed to strictly national, approach.     

Marine biodiversity and sustainability of fishing resources in Brazil: a case study of the coast of Paraná state

The subtropical coastal zone of Paraná state in southern Brazil is only 80 km long yet environmentally diverse, with relatively pristine coastal landscapes and high marine and coastal biodiversity supporting important artisanal fishing grounds. However, this region began to change in the early 1970s. The development of industrial harbors, as well as unregulated tourism and urban settlement and pollution caused the loss of natural habitats. In addition, commercial shrimp trawlers began to operate in the adjacent shallow shelf areas. Biodiversity was seriously affected, and local fish stocks have decreased drastically in the last four decades. This article describes a long-term program to protect coastal habitats, recover marine biodiversity and diversify the economic base of fishing communities in order to guarantee fish stocks for future generations, hence preserving the social and cultural identities of these communities. Although it is difficult to change traditional fishing practices, fishing communities may exploit alternate components of the marine biological resources in order to achieve environmental, social and cultural sustainability in the long term.     

Development of an educational model for sustainability science: challenges in the Mind–Skills–Knowledge education at Ibaraki University

Modern society confronts multiple sustainability challenges, including population growth, resources limitations, and a deteriorating environment. As a response, sustainability science education plays a major role in developing human capacity to manage these issues. This paper proposes the concept of “sustainability science education across Mind–Skills–Knowledge” as well as the competencies to be acquired and its pedagogy. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of such an educational system and its method of implementation using the example of the Graduate Program on Sustainability Science (GPSS), which was started at Ibaraki University in 2009.     

Application of a tri-capital community resilience framework for assessing the social–ecological system sustainability of community-based forest management in the Philippines

This study proposes and empirically tests a framework that integrates the concepts of community resilience and social–ecological system (SES) resilience through community forestry case studies. The framework provides a possible approach for assessing community resilience based on the development and allocation of socio-cultural, economic, and natural capital of individual households within a given forest community. Furthermore, aspects of SES resilience and system dynamics are used to define the potential state thresholds of community resilience. This exploratory attempt to quantify community resilience, using the proposed framework, aims to advance understanding of the conceptual overlaps of SES and community resilience as applied to forestry management. We consider community forestry groups as SES examples in which the community is an important stakeholder in managing natural forest capital. We selected pioneer communities under the community-based forest management (CBFM) Program in the Philippines as our case studies. We found that, on average, CBFM group members demonstrated moderate levels of resilience according to their acquired levels of capital. Although economic capital remained the weakest capital, the CBFM program had a positive effect in increasing the socio-cultural and natural capital of an entire community.     

Enchytraeus albidus (Enchytraeidae): a test organism in a standardised avoidance test? Effects of different chemical substances

Enchytraeids (Enchytraeus albidus) directly improve the pore structure of the soil and are indirectly involved in regulating the degradation of organic matter. Due to their behavior they are able to avoid unfavorable environmental conditions. Avoidance tests allow a first assessment of toxicity of a contaminated or spiked soil within 48 h, by using the reaction of the enchytraeids as measurement endpoint. In this period, the organisms can choose between the control soil and the test soil. In the tests reported here, enchytraeids were exposed to LUFA 2.2 soil spiked with the following set of toxic substances: copper chloride, zinc chloride, cadmium chloride, phenmedipham, benomyl, carbendazim, dimethoate, atrazine, pentachlorophenol, chlorpyriphos, lindane, TBTO, Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonates (LAS) and boric acid. Different chemical concentrations were tested. EC50s ranged from 8 mg/kg (Carbendazim) to >1000 mg/kg (e.g. LAS). While the tested heavy metals showed clear dose-response relationships, the effect pattern differed considerably in the tests with organic chemicals, e.g. no avoidance behaviour was observed in LAS, even at very high doses. Here we proposed to standardize the Enchytraeid avoidance test in a way similar to what is currently done for the earthworm and collembolan avoidance tests by the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO).     

Crop–livestock interactions along agro-ecological gradients: a meso-level analysis in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, India

Although conceptually simple and often idealized, disentangling crop–livestock interactions typically proves more complex in practice. Part of the complexity arises from their changing nature along agricultural intensification gradients. Such interactions increase in scope when extensive systems intensify, but decline in importance as already intermediate systems intensify further. This changing nature of crop–livestock interactions in relation to the system’s developmental stage implies that these exchanges can both contribute but also undermine system sustainability. We examine crop–livestock interactions in the Indo-Gangetic Plains as an empirical case, drawing from village surveys to explore and illustrate these relations and implications along the agro-ecological gradient of this vast and important eco-region. Such an understanding is increasingly needed as adapting crop residue management practices is recognized as the key to address sustainability concerns in the prevailing rice–wheat systems and as a stepping stone towards conservation agriculture. The agricultural R&D community needs to incorporate this understanding more proactively into its R&D agenda if it is to succeed in sustaining productivity gains, improving rural livelihoods equitably, and securing environmental sustainability.     

Climate change adaptation and mitigation in smallholder crop–livestock systems in sub-Saharan Africa: a call for integrated impact assessments

African mixed crop–livestock systems are vulnerable to climate change and need to adapt in order to improve productivity and sustain people’s livelihoods. These smallholder systems are characterized by high greenhouse gas emission rates, but could play a role in their mitigation. Although the impact of climate change is projected to be large, many uncertainties persist, in particular with respect to impacts on livestock and grazing components, whole-farm dynamics and heterogeneous farm populations. We summarize the current understanding on impacts and vulnerability and highlight key knowledge gaps for the separate system components and the mixed farming systems as a whole. Numerous adaptation and mitigation options exist for crop–livestock systems. We provide an overview by distinguishing risk management, diversification and sustainable intensification strategies, and by focusing on the contribution to the three pillars of climate-smart agriculture. Despite the potential solutions, smallholders face major constraints at various scales, including small farm sizes, the lack of response to the proposed measures and the multi-functionality of the livestock herd. Major institutional barriers include poor access to markets and relevant knowledge, land tenure insecurity and the common property status of most grazing resources. These limit the adoption potential and hence the potential impact on resilience and mitigation. In order to effectively inform decision-making, we therefore call for integrated, system-oriented impact assessments and a realistic consideration of the adoption constraints in smallholder systems. Building on agricultural system model development, integrated impact assessments and scenario analyses can inform the co-design and implementation of adaptation and mitigation strategies.F     

Rural change and multidimensional analysis of farm’s vulnerability: a case study in a protected area of semi-arid northern Nicaragua

This paper presents an empirical research in a protected area of northern Nicaragua, aimed at: (a) classifying predominant narratives surrounding present and future pathways of the local rural system, drivers of change, features of livelihoods’ vulnerability; (b) understanding current functioning of local metabolic patterns of rural systems by developing a typology of farms and (c) comparing types’ vulnerability to current drivers of change. To achieve these objectives, we integrated qualitative and quantitative analytical approaches. The different visions of rural spaces, which emerge from the analysis of the narratives, and the five types of farms, characterized by specific land-time budget and energy and monetary flows, suggest two emerging dynamics of local restructuration in protected areas: (1) a dominant land re-concentration process which is generating increasing inequality in access to resources and a progressive marginalization of the self-sufficient economy of landless and subsistence households; (2) an emergence of a paradigm of ‘environmentalization’ of rural spaces together with a valorization of small and medium-scale diversified economies. Moreover, the vulnerability assessment focuses on multidimensional features of types’ sensitivity to crisis, i.e. risk unacceptability, production instability, economic inefficiency, food and exosomatic energy dependency, as well as capacity to buffer and adapt to change, i.e. access to assets, including labour for men and women, social safety nets and degrees of economic diversification. The discussion highlights the occurrence of trade-off between the solutions adopted by farms within different development paths, suggesting the relevance of the proposed framework of analysis at the interface between science and policy.     

Economic feasibility of autonomous hybrid wind–diesel power systems for residential loads in hot regions: a step to mitigate the implications of fossil fuel depletion

Today, energy occupies a pivotal position around which all socio-economic activities revolve. No energy means no life, and supply of energy in a cheap, plentiful, long-sustainable and environmentally safe form is a boon for everyone. In the light of rising cost of oil and fears of its exhaustion coupled with increased pollution, the governments worldwide are deliberating and making huge strides to promote renewable energy sources such as wind. Integration of wind machines with the diesel plants is pursued widely to reduce dependence on fossil-fuel-produced energy and to reduce the release of carbon gases that cause global climate change. The literature indicates that commercial/residential buildings in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consume an estimated 10–40% of the total electric energy generated. The aim of this study is to analyse wind-speed data of Dhahran (East-Coast, KSA) to assess the economic feasibility of utilising autonomous hybrid wind–diesel power systems to meet the electrical load of 100 typical residential buildings (with annual electrical energy demand of 3512 MWh). The monthly average wind speeds range from 3.3 to 5.6 m/s. The hybrid systems simulated consist of different combinations of 600 kW commercial wind machines supplemented with diesel generators. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's hybrid optimisation model for electric renewables software was employed to perform the techno-economic analysis.

The simulation results indicate that for a hybrid system comprising 600 kW wind capacity together with a 1.0 MW diesel system (two 500 kW units), the wind penetration (at 50 m hub-height, with 0% annual capacity shortage) is 26%. The cost of generating energy (COE, $/kWh) from this hybrid wind–diesel system was found to be 0.070 $/kWh (assuming diesel fuel price of 0.1 $/l). The study exhibits that for a given hybrid configuration, the number of operational hours of diesel generator sets (gensets) decreases with an increase in the wind-farm capacity. Concurrently, emphasis has also been placed on wind penetration, un-met load, effect of hub-height on energy production and COE, excess electricity generation, percentage fuel savings and reduction in carbon emissions (relative to diesel-only situation) of different hybrid systems, cost breakdown of wind–diesel systems, COE of different hybrid systems, etc.     

Sustainable development in a natural resource rich economy: the case of Chile in 1985–2004

Searching for practical means to assessing economic growth’s sustainability, we extend a standard theoretical model to calculate “true” income measures for Chile, during the 1985–2004 period, and use estimates of natural capital depreciation to obtain genuine national saving measures. We found that, for the period, Chile’s economic growth was sustainable, even when approximately 2.5% of the income recorded by national accounts corresponded to depreciation of natural resources plus costs of atmospheric pollution. This performance can be partially explained by policies implemented to force fiscal responsibility and to assure wise public investment and expending during a natural resource driven growth. This evidence reinforces recent findings contradicting the natural resource curse, and the indirect negative effect of resource abundance over growth that would operate through the quality of institutions.     

Human–carnivore conflict: ecological and economical sustainability of predation on livestock by snow leopard and other carnivores in the Himalaya

Human communities in the Trans-Himalayan region depend on the dynamics of the agro-pastoral system for survival. Humans, livestock and wild predators share common resources in the region, and this leads to human–wildlife interactions that have the potential to threaten the continued viability of this fragile ecosystem and impact the local economy. This study explored the interaction between livestock and predators in the upper Mustang region of Nepal in terms of economic and ecological impacts. A total of 1,347 km² of pasture land were grazed by 30,217 livestock belonging to local people from six village development committees. It was found that the seasonal movement patterns of livestock, from higher to lower elevations (closer to villages), coincided with elevation movements of wild ungulate prey and snow leopards into this smaller land area. The number of livestock reported to have been killed by predators during the study period was 706, 75 % of which was attributed to snow leopards. An estimated US$ 44,213 was lost between October 2009 and June 2011 due to livestock predation. These losses of livestock to snow leopards and other carnivores provoked retaliatory killings by villagers, and this in turn may significantly affect the viability of predator populations in this region. We suggest four approaches to mitigate human–carnivore conflict in the region: (a) introduce a livestock insurance policy, (b) promote the use of predator-proof livestock corrals and sheds, (c) involve local people in alternative income generating activities, and (d) increase conservation education in these regions.     

Community-led reforestation: cultivating the potential of virtuous cycles to confer resilience in disaster disrupted social–ecological systems

Human relationships with trees can result in widespread citizen-led reforestation projects that catalyze social–biological-reinforcing feedback loops and set in motion virtuous cycles that restore perturbed social–ecological systems. These virtuous cycles confer resilience in such systems that counterbalance the tendency for vicious cycles to be triggered by destructive behavior and neglect. Given this argument, we ask: how do we cultivate the potential for virtuous cycles to confer resilience in social–ecological systems? To answer this question, we review feedback mechanisms and identify virtuous cycles catalyzed via ecological restoration to highlight their importance to the resilience of social–ecological systems. We then conceptualize these cycles with a causal map (also known as a causal loop diagram) illustrating an example where restoration activities and civic ecology practices contributed to feedbacks and virtuous cycles. Following from this example, we discuss approaches for recognizing and investing in virtuous cycles that accompany social–ecological systems and outline approaches for managing such cycles.