Deforestation and the Limited Contribution of Forests to Rural Livelihoods in West Africa: Evidence from Burkina Faso and Ghana

Forest degradation in West Africa is generally thought to have negative consequences on rural livelihoods but there is little overview of its effects in the region because the importance of forests to rural livelihoods has never been adequately quantified. Based on data from 1014 rural households across Burkina Faso and Ghana this paper attempts to fill this knowledge gap. We demonstrate that agricultural lands and the non-forest environment including parklands are considerably more valuable to poor as well as more well-off rural households than forests. Furthermore, product types supplied by the non-forest environment are almost identical with those from forests. Accordingly, forest clearance/degradation is profitable for and, hence, probably performed by rural people at large. We attribute rural people's high reliance on non-forest versus forest resources to the two countries' restrictive and inequitable forest policies which must be reformed to promote effective forest conservation, e.g., to mitigate climate change.     

Rehabilitating mussel beds in Coffee Bay,South Africa: Towards fostering cooperative small-scale fisheries governance and enabling community upliftment

Along the coast of South Africa, marine resources play a significant role in supporting livelihoods and contributing to food security in impoverished rural communities. Post-apartheid fisheries laws and policies have begun to address traditional fishing rights and development needs, and new management arrangements are being implemented. One such initiative has been the Mussel Rehabilitation Project in Coffee Bay, which piloted a resource rehabilitation technique at several over-exploited fishing sites. Mussel stocks in these exploited areas had dropped to under 1 % mussel cover, and during the project period, stocks increased to >80 % cover, supporting a sustainable harvest well above national daily bag limits. This stock enhancement was achieved only after the project had started to address social challenges such as the lack of local management institutions and the need to enhance food security. The project embarked on training and institution-building; it formed a robust community mussel management committee; and developed a local resource management plan, facilitating increased community participation in the day-to-day management of the resource. The project also saw the initiation of various ancillary projects aimed at improving food security and stimulating the local economy and hence alleviating pressure on the marine resources. Here we review this 10-year project’s outcomes, and present lessons for small-scale fisheries governance in South Africa and internationally. We show, through empirical experience, that balancing stock rebuilding needs in a context of widespread poverty and dependency on natural resources by a local fisher community can only be addressed through an integrated approach to development. Participation of resource users and a thorough understanding of the local context are imperative to negotiating appropriate small-scale fisheries governance approaches. We recommend that the implementation of South Africa’s newly minted Small-Scale Fisheries Policy should begin with bottom-up, demonstrative resource management measures such as mussel rehabilitation. This type of initiative can deliver short-term food security benefits and foster social learning towards sustainable and cooperative fisheries governance.     

Relying on nature: wild foods in northern Nigeria

In rural Africa, wild foods provide diversity, vitamins and minerals in the diet. They are also important at times of food shortage. This paper discusses issues concerning wild food use in semiarid West Africa, and presents the results of a study of the use of wild plant foods in northeast Nigeria. Interviews with farmers and herders identified a total of 67 wild foods, coming from 53 species of plant. Knowledge of wild foods varied according to ethnic group and gender. Some wild foods caused side effects if eaten in excess. Land-use change due to agricultural expansion seems to be increasing the areas where wild foods are most commonly found. Wild foods are important as a supplement to daily diet, and at times of food scarcity. In addition, they provide an opportunity to generate income when they are collected and traded. The paper concludes that wild foods are an important coping strategy for rural communities. Further research is needed to determine whether local institutions and community-based natural resource management regimes are sufficient to conserve this resource.     

废旧混凝土用作水泥稳定基层的实验研究

随着城市建设的发展,城市道路改建时产生的大量的废弃混凝土块的有效利用成了一个亟待解决的问题。结合宜昌市东山大道改建项目,将废弃的混凝土面板加工形成再生集料用作水泥稳定碎石基层,达到节约资源和保护环境的目的。实验分析了再生集料的颗粒级配、压碎值、针片状颗粒含量、表观密度和吸水率等工程性质指标,同时对水泥稳定再生碎石的级配、最佳水泥掺量进行了设计,并对水泥稳定再生碎石的无侧限抗压强度指标进行了研究。研究表明,废旧混凝土经加工形成的再生集料具有良好的路用性能,其颗粒级配、压碎值以及主要指标均达到了路面基层材料的要求;掺3%、5%和7%水泥稳定再生集料7 d浸水抗压强度均达到路面基层的要求,水泥稳定再生集料用作路面基层是可行的;掺3%水泥稳定的再生集料可以用在公路的底基层,掺5%及7%水泥稳定的再生集料可以分别用作路面下基层和上基层。     

Resilience and sustainable development: building adaptive capacity in a world of transformations

Emerging recognition of two fundamental errors underpinning past polices for natural resource issues heralds awareness of the need for a worldwide fundamental change in thinking and in practice of environmental management. The first error has been an implicit assumption that ecosystem responses to human use are linear, predictable and controllable. The second has been an assumption that human and natural systems can be treated independently. However, evidence that has been accumulating in diverse regions all over the world suggests that natural and social systems behave in nonlinear ways, exhibit marked thresholds in their dynamics, and that social-ecological systems act as strongly coupled, complex and evolving integrated systems. This article is a summary of a report prepared on behalf of the Environmental Advisory Council to the Swedish Government, as input to the process of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa in 26 August 4 September 2002. We use the concept of resilience--the capacity to buffer change, learn and develop--as a framework for understanding how to sustain and enhance adaptive capacity in a complex world of rapid transformations. Two useful tools for resilience-building in social-ecological systems are structured scenarios and active adaptive management. These tools require and facilitate a social context with flexible and open institutions and multi-level governance systems that allow for learning and increase adaptive capacity without foreclosing future development options.     

The Potential Environmental Impact of Waste from Cellulosic Ethanol Production

Abstract

The increasing production of ethanol has been established as an important contributor to future energy independence. Although ethanol demand is increasing, a growing economic trend in decreased profitability and resource conflicts have called into question the future of grain-based ethanol production. Growing emphasis is being placed on utilizing cellulosic feedstocks to produce ethanol, and the need for renewable resources has made the development of cellulosic ethanol a national priority. Cellulosic ethanol production plants are being built in many areas of the United States to evaluate various feed-stocks and processes. The waste streams from many varying processes that are being developed contain a variety of components. Differences in ethanol generation processes and feedstocks are producing waste streams unique to biofuel production, which could be potentially harmful to the environment if adequate care is not taken to manage those risks. Waste stream management and utilization of the cellulosic ethanol process are equally important components of the development of this industry.     

Allelopathic potential of oil seed crops in production of crops: a review

Agricultural production enhancement has been realized by more consumption of fossil energy such as fertilizer and agrochemicals. However, the production provides the present human with sufficient and diversified commodities, but at the same time, deprives in some extent the resources from the future human as well. In the other hand, it is known that synthetic herbicides face worldwide threats to human’s health and environment as well. Therefore, it is a great challenge for agricultural sustainable development. The current review has been focussed on various oilseed crop species which launch efficient allelopathic intervention, either with weeds or other crops. Crop allelopathic properties can make one species more persistent to a native species. Therefore, these crops are potentially harmful to both naturalized as well as agricultural settings. On the other side, allelopathic crops provide strong potential for the development of cultivars that are more highly weed suppressive in managed settings. It is possible to utilize companion plants that have no deleterious effect on neighbor crops and can be included in intercropping system, thus, a mean of contributing to agricultural sustainable development. In mixed culture, replacement method, wherein differing densities of a neighbor species are planted, has been used to study phytotoxic/competitive effects. So, to use alternative ways for weed suppression has become very crucial. Allelochemicals have the ability to create eco-friendly products for weed management, which is beneficial for agricultural sustainable development. Our present study assessed the potential of four oilseed crops for allelopathy on other crops and associated weeds.     

Managing air quality in a rapidly developing nation: China

As the world gets ready to begin the second decade of the twenty-first century, global climate change has been recognized as a real threat to civilization as we know it. The rapid and successful economic growth of developing nations, particularly China and India, is contributing to climate change. The route to initial economic success in China followed that of the developed nations through the development of industries. Unfortunately, China's environmental protection efforts have not been the same as in developed countries because China is vastly different culturally, socially, economically and, especially, politically from developed nations. When China started to deal with environmental concerns in the late 1970s, it took advantage of the experiences of other countries in establishing environmental standards and regulations, but it did not have a model to follow when it came to implementing these standards and regulations because of the abovementioned differences. Economically, China is transitioning from an agricultural base into an industrial base; however, even now, 60% of the population remains farmers. China has been and still is heavily dependent upon coal for energy, resulting in serious atmospheric particulate pollution. While growing efforts have been expended on the environment, at this juncture of its economic development, China would be well served to revisit the traditional “develop first and clean up later” approach and to find a balance between development and protecting the environment. Against this backdrop, a reflective look of the effort to manage air quality from 1949–2008 (with an emphasis on the past 30 years) in China is presented in this paper. The environmental component of the 2008 Olympic Games is examined as a special example to illustrate the current measures being used to improve air quality in China.     

Healthy and happy: animal welfare as an integral part of sustainable agriculture

Good animal welfare is necessary if an agricultural system is to be sustainable. Although we have been concerned about the welfare of our animals since we first domesticated them and became dependent on their health and reproduction, this article focuses mainly on the development of the animal welfare debate since the 1960s. It presents animal welfare as a science that arose from society's concern about the way animals are kept. These moral and ethical concerns lead to it having a value framework that must also be taken into consideration. Different definitions of animal welfare, as well as examples of research, are presented and discussed in the light of developments in this area. For example, in recent years there has been an increased interest among consumers for animal-friendly products, as there has been for environment friendly products, and this has stimulated the move from experimental studies of animal welfare to its application in practice and to monitoring animal welfare on farms. Traditionally such measurements have been resource based, e.g. specifying the minimum amount of feeding space or the maximum stocking density, but now the trend is toward animal-based measures, such as the numberof lame animals, body condition, etc.     

Conservation and development in Amazonian extractive reserves: the case of Alto Juruá

Extractive reserves constitute an innovative approach to match conservation and development objectives, which were originally envisaged as part of a land struggle by forest dwellers in Brazil. In spite of the idea's popularity and the attempts to apply the concept to different tropical regions, there has been little analysis of the combined conservation and development performance of extractive reserve programs. We present a detailed analysis of deforestation and demographic and socioeconomic changes in Alto Juruá, the first extractive reserve created in Brazil in 1990. Forest cover has remained fairly stable. Population has declined slightly, with some internal displacements. The cash economy base has shifted from the original rubber production to a diversified portfolio of agriculture and livestock, and there has been a dramatic rise in nonagrarian income. We conclude that the Reserve represents a very dynamic setting with positive conservation and development outcomes during its first decade.     

Preliminary assessment of risk of ozone impacts to maize (Zea mays) in southern Africa

Surface ozone concentrations in southern Africa exceed air quality guidelines set to protect agricultural crops. This paper addresses a knowledge gap by performing a preliminary assessment of potential ozone impacts on vegetation in southern African. Maize (Zea mays L.) is the receptor of interest in the main maize producing countries, i.e. South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Surface ozone concentrations are estimated for the growing season (October to April) using photochemical modelling. Hourly mean modelled ozone concentrations ranged between 19.7 and 31.2 ppb, while maximums range between 28.9 and 61.9 ppb, and are near 30 ppb over South Africa and Zambia, while in Zimbabwe, they exceed 40 ppb and translate into monthly AOT40 values of over 3,000 ppb h in five of the seven months of the growing season. This study suggests that surface ozone may pose a threat to agricultural production in southern African, particularly in Zimbabwe.     

Presenting Triple-Wins? Assessing Projects That Deliver Adaptation,Mitigation and Development Co-benefits in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa

The concept of climate compatible development (CCD) is increasingly employed by donors and policy makers seeking ‘triple-wins’ for development, adaptation and mitigation. While CCD rhetoric is becoming more widespread, analyses drawing on empirical cases that present triple-wins are sorely lacking. We address this knowledge gap. Drawing on examples in rural sub-Saharan Africa, we provide the first glimpse into how projects that demonstrate triple-win potential are framed and presented within the scientific literature. We identify that development projects are still commonly evaluated in terms of adaptation or mitigation benefits. Few are framed according to their benefits across all three dimensions. Consequently, where triple-wins are occurring, they are likely to be under-reported. This has important implications, which underestimates the co-benefits that projects can deliver. A more robust academic evidence base for the delivery of triple-wins is necessary to encourage continued donor investment in activities offering the potential to deliver CCD.     

The Water Table: The Shifting Foundation of Life on Land

Hyperarid, arid, and semi-arid lands represent over a third of the Earth’s land surface, and are home to over 38 % of the increasing world population. Freshwater is a limiting resource on these lands, and withdrawal of groundwater substantially exceeds recharge. Withdrawals of groundwater for expanding agricultural and domestic use severely limit water availability for groundwater dependent ecosystems. We examine here, with emphasis on quantitative data, case histories of groundwater withdrawals at widely differing scales, on three continents, that range from the impact of a few wells, to the outcomes of total appropriation of flow in a major river system. The case histories provide a glimpse of the immense challenge of replacing groundwater resources once they are severely depleted, and put into sharp focus the question whether the magnitude of the current and future human, economic, and environmental consequences and costs of present practices of groundwater exploitation are adequately recognized.     

Fishermen's interests and cooperation: preconditions for joint management of Swedish coastal fisheries

The participation of fishermen in fisheries management is discussed with varying ideas under the notions of "co-management", "participatory management" or "local management". Empirical studies within Swedish fishery have thrown new light on the preconditions for fishermen's participation in fisheries management. Among the important factors influencing failure or success are the two which we discuss here: the question of articulation, organization and representation of interests of fishermen and the question of trust between the groups that are usually cooperating in resource management, fishermen, governmental administrators and researchers. The research summarized has addressed the interests of fishermen with regard to resource management, local fisheries management, and participation of fishermen. The overarching question connecting the three themes is: How can the interests of fishermen be represented better within fisheries management? Interests and trust, "soft facts", can be as important for the success or failure of fisheries management and participation as can "hard facts" such as ownership rights, quantity and quality of resources or monetary value of resources.     

Demarcating coastal vegetation buffers with multicriteria evaluation and GIS at Saldanha Bay, South Africa

The Saldanha-Langebaan coastal zone forms an integral part of the South African coastal resource base. As elsewhere in the world, an acute need exists to balance development and economic growth and conservation in the coastal zone as an exploitable resource frontier area. Vegetated buffers and greenways are conservation concepts that have been used with great success in such conservation efforts. They are applied in the study area through the use of a Geographic Information System (GIS) as spatial decision-support system to legitimize the demarcation of a vegetated buffer zone. The method of multicriteria evaluation, as applied here, incorporates public decision-making in constructing an objective model for buffer zone demarcation. Representatives from interested and affected parties participated in model construction and calibration, resulting in the spatial delimitation of a multifunctional vegetated buffer. It conforms to a range of functional criteria and can serve as an environmental element in coastal conservation planning frameworks.     

Soil carbon sequestration in degraded semiarid agro-ecosystems--perils and potentials

The Kyoto Protocol opens new possibilities for using the biosphere as a carbon sink. Using agro-ecosystems as carbon sinks may be the most appropriate practice from both environmental and socioeconomic points of view. Degraded agro-ecosystems in Africa might benefit significantly from the improved land management that would be part of a carbon sequestration program. There are vast areas of these agro-ecosystems in Africa and their rehabilitation is an urgent matter. We agree with UNEP that there are potentially important synergies to be made between the Convention on Climate Change, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and the UN Convention on Biodiversity. In this paper, we have investigated the potential for increasing soil carbon content in semiarid agro-ecosystems in the Sudan and found that increasing fallow periods will result in increased soil carbon content and converting marginal agricultural areas to rangeland will restore the carbon levels to 80% of the natural savannah carbon levels in 100 years. The economic gain from a future carbon sequestration program has the potential of a significant contribution to the household economy in these agro-ecosystems.     

Continuous Infrared Analysis of N2O in Combustion Products

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) levels in the atmosphere are increasing, potentially contributing to the greenhouse effect and depletion of stratospheric ozone. From a limited data base, combustion sources have been identified as a major anthropogenic source of N₂O. However, the existing data base (obtained by traditional grab sampling techniques followed by gas chromatographic analysis) is in question due to the discovery of a sampling artifact. A continuous on-line N₂O analyzer would enable and facilitate the accurate characterization of combustion sources over a range of operating conditions, and also aid in the development of an appropriate sampling technique. This paper addresses the development of a continuous measurement technique, and the evaluation and initial use of a field prototype continuous N₂O analyzer developed at the UCI Combustion Laboratory in cooperation with a major instrument manufacturer. The analyzer is capable of measuring N₂O levels down to a few ppm. The analyzer has been evaluated and used to study the N₂O emissions from a pulverized coal-fired boiler. The N₂O levels found with the analyzer are substantially lower than levels previously attributed to such sources. Initial N₂O measurements made with the analyzer suggest that N₂O levels are not a substantial fraction of the NO_X levels, as previously suggested.     

Small-scale fisheries,population dynamics,and resource use in Africa: the case of Moree,Ghana

We consider population dynamics and sustainable use and development of fishery resources in Moree, a small-scale fishing and coastal community of 20,000 people in the Central Region of Ghana near Cape Coast. Moree suggests that relationships between population dynamics and fishery resources are more complex than the concept of Malthusian overfishing implies. Reasons include changing biophysical characteristics of the upwelling system along the coast of West Africa; qualitative as well as quantitative changes in fishing activity throughout the year; the market nature of fishing activity and nonlocal demands for fish; regular fishery migration; and institutions regulating fishery resource access at home and at migration destinations. Population and resource relationships in Moree may be the effects of fishery resource and economic changes on migration rather than population pressure on fishery resources. Fisheries management policies must take into account processes that lie beyond the influence of local fishermen.     

Urban air pollution modelling and measurements of boundary layer height

An urban field trial has been undertaken with the aim of assessing the performance of the boundary layer height (BLH) determination of two models: the Met Office Unified Model (UM) and a Gaussian-type plume model, ADMS. Pulsed Doppler lidar data were used to measure mixing layer height and cloud base heights for a variety of meteorological conditions over a 3 week period in July 2003. In this work, the daily growth and decay of the BLH from the lidar data and model simulations for 5 days are compared. The results show that although the UM can do a good job of reproducing the boundary layer growth, there are occasions where the BLH is overestimated by 30–100%. Within dispersion models it is the BLH that effectively limits the height to which pollution disperses, so these results have very important implications for pollution dispersion modelling. The results show that correct development of the boundary layer in the UM is critically dependant on morning cloud cover. The ADMS model is used routinely by local authorities in the UK for local air-quality forecasting. The ADMS model was run under three settings; an ‘urban’ roughness, a ‘rural’ roughness and a ‘transition’ roughness. In all cases, the ‘urban’ setting over estimated the BLH and is clearly a poor predictor of urban BLH. The ‘transition’ setting, which distinguishes between the meteorological data input site and the dispersion modelling site, gave the best results under the well mixed conditions of the trial.     

Perceptions of the sustainable city and implications for fresh water resources management

Following the emergence of sustainable development as a key environmental management concept in the late 1980s, much discussion and debate has occurred on how the general concept can be understood in the context of particular resources, economic sectors and fields of academic study. This paper attempts to integrate two such particular areas of study, urban development and fresh water resources management. Following an overview of the concept of sustainable development, where the fresh water resource base is used to illustrate different interpretations of sustainability, the paper advances a number of perceptions of the sustainable city and the implications for fresh water management. Key concepts that emerge include a need to reduce the urban ecological sphere of influence, best understood in the context of a quasi-autonomous vision of the sustainable city, requiring a radical shift away from 'engineering-fix' water supply augmentation towards demand management and other approaches that sit more easily with the prime need to maintain the functional integrity of ecosystems.