A media framing analysis of urban flooding in Nigeria: current narratives and implications for policy

Regional Environmental Change - A critical element of current flood management is the importance of engaging key policy actors when policy decisions are to be made. However, there is still only...     

Agricultural productivity and environmental insecurity in the Usangu plain, Tanzania: policy implications for sustainability of agriculture

Sustainable agricultural development is a necessity for sustainable economic growth and social development in Africa. Sustainable agriculture largely depends on how effective natural and environmental resources are managed and utilized; it also depends on the security of continuous access to such resources. This research was aimed to look into trends in agricultural productivity, examine the persistence of the environmental insecurity, analyze the relationship between the two, and explore their links to the national development policies. The results are discussed in the context of relevance to national development policies and their implications on the sustainability of agriculture and rural livelihoods security. Literature survey, records collection from the stakeholders, village level participatory assessments (PAs), observations and questionnaire survey were tools used for data collection. The study shows significant (P < 0.01) declines in cereal crop yields, cattle milk yield and cattle calving rate, and increasing cattle mortality rate. Elements of environmental insecurity were found to account for decline in agricultural productivity; significant (P < 0.01) proportion (68%), of 266 households interviewed, reported land resources deterioration, declining soil fertility, and increasing drought frequencies as the causes of their low productivity. Declined fertilizer consumption and increasing variability in rainfall amount significantly (P < 0.01) accounted for 59% and 39%, respectively, of the variations observed in total annual production of rice and maize, which are major cereals in the study area. This study recommends measures to improve soil productivity such as improved fertilizer application and use of organic manures along with mineral fertilizers for maintaining soil productivity; education of farmers on sustainable use and management of land resources; and pro-poor rural policies in agricultural development and environmental governance. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Black granite mining and the implications for the development of sustainability in Zimbabwe: the case of Mutoko communities

Small- and large-scale mining land acquisitions and mining establishments continue to grow in Zimbabwe, but the question about the development of sustainability remains problematic. While mining establishments can be regarded as vehicles for development, the evidence of positive effects in terms of sustainability in this case is weak. The mining-sustainability nexus is characterized by conflicts regarding livelihoods, the environment, culture, and social relations. The paper argues that local sustainability challenges generated by mining activities cannot be resolved as long as there is institutionalized exclusion of local communities, hence, aspects such as revision of the current Mines and Minerals Act, involvement of communities affected by the extraction of granite, opportunities for skills development and training involving traditional leaders, children, youth, and women, extending community driven share-ownership schemes to granite mining and enforcing site remediation should be considered as crucial steps toward the development of sustainability in the mining sector.     

Social and ecological facets of pest management in Honduran subsistence agriculture: implications for IPM extension and natural resource management

In subsistence farming systems of the developing world, adoption of resource-conserving practices such as integrated pest management (IPM) is often strikingly low. This has partially been ascribed to researchers’ limited understanding of how technologies develop at the interface of the systems’ social and ecological components. In Honduras (Central America), there exists concern about limited adoption and diffusion of IPM technologies in certain smallholder production systems. In this study, we determine social and ecological drivers of IPM adoption in subsistence maize production in the country’s hillside environment. Honduran small-scale maize production is typified by a key insect pest (the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda) being partly kept at bay through action of a diverse natural enemy complex, including ants, social wasps, carabid beetles, and spiders. Local agricultural landscapes, primarily shaped through shifting cultivation, provide key resources to maintain this natural enemy diversity. These local ecological conditions and related natural enemy abundance strongly influence farmers’ agroecological knowledge and pest management practices. In the meantime, farmer practices are also affected by local communication networks, which help validate and spread IPM concepts and technologies. Based on our findings, we advocate a holistic approach to improve IPM extension through mapping of agroecological opportunities, visualization of regional patterns in farmer knowledge, and associated priority setting. Local IPM capacity could be built through institutional strengthening and adaptive comanagement, while IPM training should be linked with natural resource management initiatives. These approaches may eventually improve the way IPM is delivered to small-scale farmers who operate in the ecologically diverse environments of the tropics.     

Analysis of the cost-effectiveness for ecosystem service provision and rural income generation: a comparison of three different programs in Southern Ecuador

In recent years, new tools for funding nature conservation have been designed. Because poverty is often significant in areas with high biodiversity, the improvement of local livelihoods is frequently considered as a secondary goal of new financing mechanisms besides nature conservation. The buffer zone of the Podocarpus National Park in Ecuador is such a high biodiversity zone. In this paper, we compare the cost-effectiveness and development potential of three different mechanisms to finance nature conservation implemented in this buffer zone, namely (a) an organic coffee label, (b) the Socio Bosque Program, a nationwide payment scheme for private forest conservation, and (c) FORAGUA, a regional water fund. This paper describes the functioning and the scope of the mechanisms and analyses their environmental and socio-economic impacts which are compared to the total costs. Results show that the water fund has the highest additionality in ecosystem service provision, while the payment scheme is the most cost-effective both for current as for increased ecosystem service provision and for extra rural job creation. Organic coffee certification has the highest positive impact on rural income creation.     

Relationships between trace element concentrations in chorionic tissue of placenta and umbilical cord tissue: Potential use as indicators for prenatal exposure

The role of the placenta was assessed by comparing the profiles of methylmercury (MeHg), inorganic mercury (I-Hg), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), and copper (Cu) in freeze-dried chorionic tissue of the placenta and umbilical cord tissue. The significance of the placenta and cord tissue as predictors of prenatal exposure to these trace elements in pregnant women and newborns was also examined by comparing the element profiles among placenta and cord tissue, and maternal and cord blood red blood cells (RBCs). The samples were collected from 48 mother–child pairs at birth in the general population of Japanese. The concentrations of all elements, except for MeHg, were significantly higher in placenta than in cord tissue. In particular, the Cd showed the highest placenta vs. cord tissue ratio (59:1), followed by I-Hg (2.4:1), indicating that the placental barrier works most strongly against Cd among the examined toxic elements. Contrary to the other elements, the MeHg concentration in cord tissue was significantly higher (1.6 times) than that in placenta, indicating its exceptionally high placental transfer. The MeHg in placenta showed significant correlations with total mercury (T-Hg) in maternal and cord RBCs (r_s = 0.80 and 0.91, respectively). The MeHg in cord tissue also showed significant correlations with T-Hg in maternal and cord RBCs (r_s = 0.75 and 0.85, respectively). Therefore, both placenta and cord tissue are useful for predicting maternal and fetal exposure to MeHg. The Se concentration in placenta showed significant but moderate correlations with that in maternal and cord RBCs (r_s = 0.38 and 0.57, respectively). The Pb, Zn, and Cu concentrations in placenta and cord tissue showed no significant correlations with those in maternal and cord RBCs. As an exception, the Cd concentration in placenta showed a moderate but significant correlation (r_s = 0.41) with that in maternal RBCs, suggesting that the placenta is useful for predicting maternal exposure to Cd during gestation.     

Investigating the current status of geospatial data and urban growth indicators in Jordan and Irbid municipality: implications for urban and environmental planning

The increasing levels of urbanization with intensive use of resources became a common problem across all countries. Jordan is a country with limited resources that require periodic assessment and frequent monitoring. The geospatial data, maps and urban growth indicators are fundamental requirements to monitor and evaluate cities expansion, development and resources use. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate the availability and accessibility of geospatial data needed for city’s urban planning research and calculate recent urban growth indicators for Greater Irbid Municipality (GIM). All National governmental institutions were visited and surveyed. Landsat-8 images, geographic information system, classification workflow in ENVI-5 and statistical methods were used to assess selected urban growth indicators for GIM. The results showed that only one-fourth of Jordan national authorities use spatial data for urban planning. Researchers are expected to face complexities in identifying the available national geospatial data, accessing and acquisition of the available data with sufficient accuracy and comprehensiveness. The GIM showed lack of certain geospatial data (land use categories, population and built-up densities). These data were calculated, and results showed that the green, urban, open space densities for the year 2015 were 49, 25 and 26%, respectively. The population and built-up densities relative to the urban area was 7879 capita/km² and 20%, respectively. Therefore, the GIM is a dense city and its land use categories need to be monitored. Funds are needed to develop complete, comprehensive and accurate national geodata infrastructure that are governed with policies and regulations to facilitate researchers’ mission to support sustainability.     

The implications of cultural differences in laundry behaviours for design for sustainable behaviour: A case study between the UK,India and Brazil

Traditional research into sustainable design has typically focused on reducing the environmental impact of products during the manufacture and disposal stages of a products' lifecycle. The last decade, however, has seen an explosion of research into understanding and moderating user behaviour during the use phase of a products' lifecycle; often the most resource-intensive phase. One of the biggest factors that affects behaviour is a users cultural context; however, the effect of cultural context on design for sustainable behaviour has had little exploration in this relatively new research field.     

Seasonal changes of redox potential and microbial activity in two agricultural soils of tropical Australia: some implications for soil-to-plant transfer of radionuclides

Very little is known of the factors controlling soil-to-plant transfer of radionuclides in tropical environments. As part of an IAEA/FAO coordinated research project (CRP) designed to elucidate some of those factors, near-surface samples of two agricultural red-earth soils (Blain and Tippera) were collected from a study site in the Northern Territory. The climate is tropical monsoonal with crops being grown over the wet season from December to March/April. It is important to understand soil variables that may be related to this dramatic seasonality. In this investigation, soil redox state and microbial populations were assessed before and after the growing season with a view to generating hypotheses for future evaluation. The X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) technique was used to determine overall changes in the solid-state redox speciation of Fe and Mn in soils across the growing period. Fe speciation did not change but approximately 10% of the total Mn was oxidised from Mn(II) to Mn(III) and Mn(IV) in both soils between October 1999 and April 2000. An apparent disconnect between Fe and Mn was not unexpected given the >10 times higher concentration of Fe in the soils compared with Mn. These results have implications for the bioavailability of redox sensitive radionuclides such as Tc and Pu. Similarly, microbial population estimates were derived before and after the growing period. Total bacterial populations did not vary from 10(6) to 10(7) colonies per gram. Fungal populations increased over the growing season from 3-6 x 10(5) to 1-4 x 10(6) colonies per gram of soil. Fungi have the potential to decrease soil pH and hence increase the bioavailability of radionuclides such as Cs. In addition, fungi act to facilitate plant nutrition. This could lead to enhanced accumulation of nutrient analogues (e.g. Sr and Ra for Ca; Tc for Mn), but this effect may be masked by improved biomass production.     

Concentrations of brominated flame retardants in dust from United Kingdom cars, homes, and offices: causes of variability and implications for human exposure

Average concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in dust in 30 homes, 18 offices, and 20 cars were 260,000, 31,000, and 340,000 ng SigmaPBDEs g(-1) respectively. Concentrations of BDEs 47, 99, 100, and 154 in cars exceeded significantly (p<0.05) those in homes and offices. Average concentrations of 1,2-bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)ethane (TBE) and decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) in homes, offices, and cars respectively were lower at 120, 7.2, and 7.7 ng g(-1) (TBE) and 270, 170, and 400 ng g(-1) (DBDPE). BDE-209 concentrations in three samples are the highest to date at 2,600,000 (car), 2,200,000 (home), and 1,400,000 ng g(-1) (home). UK toddlers daily consuming 200 mg dust contaminated at the 95th percentile concentration, ingest 180 ng (Sigma)tri-hexa-BDEs and 310 microg BDE-209 day(-1). For TBE, exposure was lower than for PBDEs and hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs), while that for DBDPE was similar in magnitude to (Sigma)tri-hexa-BDEs, but less than for BDE-209 and HBCDs. BDE-209 concentrations recorded in ten samples taken at monthly intervals in one room varied 400-fold, implying caution when using single measurements of dust contamination for exposure assessment. Significant negative correlation was observed in one room between concentrations of BDE-47, 99, and 153 and dust loading (g dust m(-2) floor), suggesting "dilution" occurs at higher dust loadings.