Scenarios of land-use change in a deforestation corridor in the Brazilian Amazon: combining two scales of analysis

Local, regional, and global processes affect deforestation and land-use changes in the Brazilian Amazon. Characteristics are: direct conversions from forest to pasture; regional processes of indirect land-use change, described by the conversion of pastures to cropland, which increases the demand for pastures elsewhere; and teleconnections, fueled by the global demands for soybeans as animal fodder. We modeled land-use changes for two scenarios Trend and Sustainable Development for a hot spot of land-use change along the BR-163 highway in Mato Grosso and Pará, Brazil. We investigated the differences between a coupled modeling approach, which incorporates indirect land-use change processes, and a noncoupled land-use model. We coupled the regional-scale LandSHIFT model, defined for Mato Grosso and Pará, with a subregional model, alucR, covering a selected corridor along the BR-163. The results indicated distinct land-use scenario outcomes from the coupled modeling approach and the subregional model quantification. We found the highest deforestation estimates returned from the subregional quantification of the Trend scenario. This originated from the strong local dynamics of past deforestation and land-use changes. Land-use changes exceeded the demands estimated at regional scale. We observed the lowest deforestation estimates at the subregional quantification of the Sustainable Development story line. We highlight that model coupling increased the representation of scenario outcomes at fine resolution while providing consistency across scales. However, distinct local dynamics were explicitly captured at subregional scale. The scenario result pinpoints the importance of policies to aim at the cattle ranching sector, to increase land tenure registration and enforcement of environmental laws.

     

Land cover effects on water balance partitioning in the Colombian Andes: improved water availability in early stages of natural vegetation recovery

Regional Environmental Change - Vegetation actively affects different components of the water budget in multiple spatial and temporal scales. Changes in vegetation cover and structure—such as...     

Social-ecological resilience and the quest for sustainability as object of science

The term ‘sustainability science’ has been employed to refer to a scientific trend, movement or program aimed at studying problems related to human–nature interactions. However, since it does not have its own set of principles for knowledge building and lack of a definition of a study object, sustainability science is not a science, at least in the usual sense of the word. A study object is the conceptual delimitation of the problems tackled by a science, and therefore, its search in the context of a science of sustainability requires exploring different notions of sustainability. This article presents different perspectives on the concept of sustainability and analyzes the viability to assume them as study object of sustainability science. Such exploration demands concepts based on a processual ontology that directs the researcher toward the dynamic, historic and temporal and social-ecological character of problems of unsustainability. The concept of social-ecological resilience seems to comply with such requirements.     

Infiltrating citizen-driven initiatives for sustainability

To examine how citizen-driven initiatives for sustainability strive to bring about change and spread their practices, efforts to link social movement, grassroots innovation and green-consumption movements theory are built upon. Göteborg’s citizen-driven waste-prevention initiatives, such as food waste recovery, creating common reuse spaces in housing blocks, exchanging used toys and repairing abandoned bicycles, are considered with data from observations, workshops, documents, social media communications and in-depth interviews. Citizen-driven initiatives succeeded in mobilizing material resources, displaying and reframing various rationales, and creating collaborative local networks to develop their waste-prevention practices. These practices infiltrated the municipal administration, matching incipient institutional mandates to minimize waste. By so doing, they bring within mainstream institutions radical rationales that can become activated in the future, contributing to diachronic change.     

Genotoxicity assessment of human peripheral Lymphocytes induced by thallium(I) and thallium(III)

Thallium is a non-essential metal with a wide range of industrial uses. However, thallium is also a potential pollutant with high potential toxicity to humans. In the present study, we analyzed and compared the cellular and genotoxic effects of thallium in two main oxidation states by applying chromosome aberration assays to human peripheral lymphocytes. We observed that thallium(I) sulfate reduced the mitotic index at all tested concentrations (0.5, 1, 5, 50 and 100 μg/mL), whereas thallium(III) chloride was toxic at concentrations ≥1 μg/mL. Thallium(I) and thallium(III) treatment significantly increased structural chromosomal aberrations, with and without gaps, and increased the percentage of aberrant cells without gaps. Furthermore, satellite associations and numerical chromosomal aberration tests showed significant differences at a few of the tested concentrations. The satellite association test is related to aneuploidy. Thallium salts increased satellite associations when hyperploid cells were observed. Our results indicated that the two oxidation states of thallium induced toxicity in vitro – i.e. cyto/genotoxic (clastogenic and aneuploidogenic) effects.     

Double genetically modified symbiotic system for improved Cu phytostabilization in legume roots

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Excess copper (Cu) in soils has deleterious effects on plant growth and can pose a risk to human health. In the last decade, legume-rhizobium...     

Ashes from fluidized bed combustion of residual forest biomass: recycling to soil as a viable management option

Although bottom ash (BA) [or mixtures of bottom and fly ash (FA)] from clean biomass fuels is currently used as liming agent, additive for compost, and fertilizer on agricultural and forest soils in certain European countries, in several other countries most of the ashes are currently disposed in landfills. This is due to both a lack of a proper classification of the materials and of regulatory barriers.Chemical characterization including analysis of an array of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) proved that over 100,000 tons of BA currently landfilled every year in Portugal actually complied with legal limits for PTEs for soil fertilizers applied in other countries. Pot experiments were conducted, testing three dosages of BA and FA (1, 2.5, and 5%, in weight) in three mining soils with different properties. Additions of ash materials to soils led to an increase in the pore water pH relative to control pots (0% of ash added) and had a clear impact on DOC and on the solubilization of both macro- and micronutrients (notably Cu).The results from the case study using BA and FA from a Portuguese biomass thermal power plant demonstrate that it is imperative to further develop a regulatory framework to alleviate technological and environmental barriers for biomass ash utilization as raw material for fertilizers and/or soil liming agent, in accordance with the goals of the circular economy. A more harmonized view on how to assess the merits and risks of the re-use of these materials is also needed.     

Phytoextraction of Pb,Cr, Ni,and Zn using the aquatic plant Limnobium laevigatum and its potential use in the treatment of wastewater

In order to study the bioaccumulation of Pb, Cr, Ni, and Zn and the stress response, the floating aquatic plant Limnobium laevigatum was exposed to increasing concentrations of a mixture of these metals for 28 days, and its potential use in the treatment of wastewater was evaluated. The metal concentrations of the treatment 1 (T1) were Pb 1 μg L⁻¹, Cr 4 μg L⁻¹, Ni 25 μg L⁻¹, and Zn 30 μg L⁻¹; of treatment 2 (T2) were Pb 70 μg L⁻¹, Cr 70 μg L⁻¹, Ni 70 μg L⁻¹, and Zn 70 μg L⁻¹; and of treatment 3 (T3) were Pb 1000 μg L⁻¹, Cr 1000 μg L⁻¹, Ni 500 μg L⁻¹, and Zn 100 μg L⁻¹, and there was also a control group (without added metal). The accumulation of Pb, Cr, Ni, and Zn in roots was higher than in leaves of L. laevigatum, and the bioconcentration factor revealed that the concentrations of Ni and Zn in the leaf and root exceeded by over a thousand times the concentrations of those in the culture medium (2000 in leaf and 6800 in root for Ni; 3300 in leaf and 11,500 in root for Zn). Thus, this species can be considered as a hyperaccumulator of these metals. In general, the changes observed in the morphological and physiological parameters and the formation of products of lipid peroxidation of membranes during the exposure to moderate concentrations (T2) of the mixture of metals did not cause harmful effects to the survival of the species within the first 14 days of exposure. Taking into account the accumulation capacity and tolerance to heavy metals, L. laevigatum is suitable for phytoremediation in aquatic environments contaminated with moderated concentrations of Cr, Ni, Pb, and Zn in the early stages of exposure.

     

Technical and economic evaluation of biogas capture and treatment for the Piedras Blancas landfill in Córdoba,Argentina

Landfill gas (LFG) management is one of the most important tasks for landfill operation and closure because of its impact in potential global warming. The aim of this work is to present a case history evaluating an LFG capture and treatment system for the present landfill facility in Córdoba, Argentina. The results may be relevant for many developing countries around the world where landfill gas is not being properly managed. The LFG generation is evaluated by modeling gas production applying the zero-order model, Landfill Gas Emissions Model (LandGEM; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA]), Scholl Canyon model, and triangular model. Variability in waste properties, weather, and landfill management conditions are analyzed in order to evaluate the feasibility of implementing different treatment systems. The results show the advantages of capturing and treating LFG in order to reduce the emissions of gases responsible for global warming and to determine the revenue rate needed for the project’s financial requirements. This particular project reduces by half the emission of equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) compared with the situation where there is no gas treatment. In addition, the study highlights the need for a change in the electricity prices if it is to be economically feasible to implement the project in the current Argentinean electrical market.

Implications: Methane has 21 times more greenhouse gas potential than carbon dioxide. Because of that, it is of great importance to adequately manage biogas emissions from landfills. In addition, it is environmentally convenient to use this product as an alternative energy source, since it prevents methane emissions while preventing fossil fuel consumption, minimizing carbon dioxide emissions. Performed analysis indicated that biogas capturing and energy generation implies 3 times less equivalent carbon dioxide emissions; however, a change in the Argentinean electrical market fees are required to guarantee the financial feasibility of the project.     

Assessing equity and sustainability of water allocation in Colombia

Based on the national database of 28,104 water rights (concessions) granted in Colombia, this paper presents an analysis of how the principles of equity and sustainability are reflected in water allocation. Concessions appear to be an exclusionary mechanism since only a minority of small water users have concessions and the distribution of water volumes among those who have them is extremely inequitable. The 2009 Gini coefficient calculated for water concessions granted for agriculture was 0.90 compared with the rural land Gini of 0.88 (both indicators grouping holdings under the same entity). More than half of the Colombian departments have a higher Gini coefficient for water than for land, suggesting that water rights are at least as unequally distributed as land, in one of the most inequitable countries in Latin America. Water allocated to domestic, agriculture and hydropower use indicates a lack of consistency of water allocation criteria across regions. The volumetric and administrative attributes of water allocation in Colombia do not account for environmental flows or the concerns of marginalised groups of society that have limited access to the mechanism. Water allocation as a technical task, with limited transparency and secluded from public scrutiny, does not contribute to the solution of increasing water-related conflicts.