Perceived barriers to and drivers of community participation in protected‐area governance

Protected areas (PAs) are a frequently used conservation strategy, yet their socioeconomic impacts on local communities remain contentious. A shift toward increased participation by local communities in PA governance seeks to deliver benefits for human well‐being and biodiversity. Although participation is considered critical to the success of PAs, few researchers have investigated individuals’ decisions to participate and what this means for how local people experience the costs and benefits of conservation. We explored who participates in PA governance associations and why; the perceived benefits and costs to participation; and how costs and benefits are distributed within and between communities. Methods included 3 focus groups, 37 interviews, and 217 questionnaire surveys conducted in 3 communities and other stakeholders (e.g., employees of a nongovernmental organization and government officials) in PA governance in Madagascar. Our study design was grounded in the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the most commonly applied behavior model in social psychology. Participation in PA governance was limited by miscommunication and lack of knowledge about who could get involved and how. Respondents perceived limited benefits and high costs and uneven distribution of these within and between communities. Men, poorer households, and people in remote villages reported the highest costs. Our findings illustrate challenges related to comanagement of PAs: understanding the heterogeneous nature of communities; ensuring all households are represented in governance participation; understanding differences in the meaning of forest protection; and targeting interventions to reach households most in need to avoid elite capture.     

Process modeling of chemical looping combustion (CLC) of municipal solid waste

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) of MSW could serve as a potential treatment method for the disposal of MSW and the recovery of energy because it...     

Ecological risks of phenolic endocrine disrupting compounds in an urban tropical river

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The distribution of emerging organic contaminants in drinking water sources in Africa is a subject with very scanty data and information. In order to...     

Constructing regional scenarios for sustainable agriculture in European Russia and Ukraine for 2000 to 2070

This study estimates the consequences of climate change on cropland with and without implementation of adaptation measures, paying special attention to the maintenance of soil organic carbon (C) stocks. We examine the possibility for regional sustainable agricultural management practice that combines both maintenance and gain in soil carbon level with profit maximization. Future scenarios of Regional Agricultural Production Systems (RAPS) were constructed for 2000–2070 based on linking the effects of global climate change, predicted change in productivity parameters for the main agricultural crops, land-use and soil database parameters. The RAPS were used to examine profitability and feasibility of alternative agricultural scenarios, based on an economic model. A number of recommendations for decision making were proposed based on an assessment of the efficiency of adaptation in animal husbandry and in the crop production sector, after analysis of current percentage of perennial grass in rotation in comparison with future economic scenarios. Figures in color are available at     

Estimating the quantity of solid waste generation in Oyo, Nigeria.

The study established waste multipliers that could be used in conjunction with the population figure of a city to estimate the quantity of solid waste generation in the developing world. Oyo, a traditional city in Nigeria was the focus of the study. Two sets of data were collected. The first was the information on the socio-economic attributes of residents obtained from 648 households through questionnaires administered using a systematic random sampling technique. The second was the measurement of waste generated in 25% of the households for a week in each of the 12 months of the year. The study established that 23.3% of the residents surveyed have educational qualifications beyond secondary school, with 51.2% engaged in occupations requiring very little or no formal education and 50.9% were in the low-income group. The daily per capita solid waste generation was 0.129 kg. The highest (9.8%) and lowest (6.5%) of the annual quantities of waste were produced in October and February, respectively. Similarly, 20.2% of the weekly generation was produced on Saturday and the 10.2% produced on Thursday was the lowest. Animal dung, which accounted for 18.0%, constituted the highest component of the total solid waste generated. The study further established that the organic component of the waste generation was 75.4%. The results of the regression analysis R2 significant at 0.001 showed that income, household size, social status, occupation, education and season of the year explained 88.8% of waste generation in Oyo. It was established that 50.90 tonnes of solid waste was generated per day in the city in 2005, and the daily generation in the year 2008 is estimated to be 55.20 tonnes. The study concluded that with an average annual population growth of 13 000 people for the town, an additional 1.3 acres of land will need to be legally acquired annually, implying that 10.92-19.68 hectares ill be required as dump site(s) over the next 20-30 years.     

Lake pollution in Ibadan,Nigeria

An investigation was made of the sources and degree of pollution of Ogunpa lake, situated in Ibadan, Nigeria. It was shown that the lake receives a variety of waste effluents from domestic and industrial sources which discharge into the Ogunpa stream. These waste effluents have caused an odour nuisance in the lake, and little or no dissolved oxygen is present. The discharge of nutrients (N and P) to the lake has resulted in excessive growth of aquatic weeds. All these impacts on the lake have resulted in a reduced fish production. Some suggestions for the prevention of pollution and the recovery of the lake are presented.     

Anthropogenic disturbance of deep-sea megabenthic assemblages: a study with remotely operated vehicles in the Faroe-Shetland Channel,NE Atlantic

The effects of local-scale anthropogenic disturbance from active drilling platforms on epibenthic megafaunal abundance, diversity and assemblage pattern were examined in two west of Shetland hydrocarbon fields at 420 and 508 m water depth. These areas were selected to include a range of disturbance regimes and contrasting faunal assemblages associated with different temperature regimes. Remotely operated vehicle (ROV) video provided high-resolution megafaunal abundance and diversity data, which were related to the extent of visible disturbance from drilling spoil. These data, in conjunction with a study deeper in the Faroe-Shetland Channel, have allowed comparison of the effects of disturbance on megabenthos across a range of sites. Disturbance to megafaunal assemblages was found to be high within 50 m of the source of drill spoil and in areas where spoil was clearly visible on the seabed, with depressed abundances (Foinaven 1,900 individuals ha⁻¹; Schiehallion 2,178 individuals ha⁻¹) and diversity (H′ = 1.75 Foinaven; 1.12 Schiehallion) as a result of smothering effects. These effects extended to around 100 m from the source of disturbance, although this was variable, particularly with current regime and nature of drilling activity. Further from the source of disturbance, megafaunal assemblages became more typical of the background area with increased diversity (H′ = 2.02 Foinaven; 1.77 Schiehallion) and abundance (Foinaven 16,484 individuals ha⁻¹; Schiehallion 5,477 individuals ha⁻¹). Visible effects on megafaunal assemblages as a result of seabed drilling were limited in extent although assemblage responses were complex, being controlled by differing effects to individual species often based on their motility.     

Dynamics of Carbon Pools and Fluxes in Russia's Forest Lands

The state and results of studies on the carbon cycle of forests on lands of the Russian forest fund (total area 1172 × 10⁶ ha) are analyzed at the federal level. Consideration is given to changes in the areas of different categories of forest lands, the age structure of stands, the pool and deposition of carbon in the phytomass, and the organic carbon pool of soils over the period from 1966 to 1998; the dynamics of activity in the forest industry by years and the extent of pyrogenic transformation of the forest cover between 1990 and 2001; and carbon fluxes associated with forest exploitation, including carbon emission resulting from fires.     

Changes in the Population Phenetic Structure of the Lacebug Dictyla humuli (Fabr.) (Heteroptera,Tingidae) in the Usman' Forest (Voronezh Oblast) in 1999–2001

Russian Journal of Ecology -