Land Use Change on Coffee Farms in Southern Guatemala and its Environmental Consequences

Changes in commodity prices, such as the fall in coffee prices from 2000 to 2004, affect land use decisions on farms, and the environmental services they provide. A survey of 50 farms showed a 35 % loss in the area under coffee between 2000 and 2004 below 700 m with the majority of this area (64 %) being coffee agroforest systems that included native forest species. Loss of coffee only occurred on large and medium-scale farms; there was no change in area on cooperatives. Coffee productivity declined below 1,100 m altitude for sun and Inga shade coffee, but only below 700 m altitude for agroforest coffee. Coffee productivity was 37–53 % lower under agroforests than other systems. Increases in rubber and pasture were related to low altitude large-scale farms, and bananas and timber plantations to mid-altitude farms. Average aboveground carbon stocks for coffee agroforests of 39 t C ha^?1 was similar to rubber plantations, but one-third to one half that of natural forest and timber plantations, respectively. Coffee agroforests had the highest native tree diversity of the productive systems (7–12 species ha^?1) but lower than natural forest (31 species ha^?1). Conversion of coffee agroforest to other land uses always led to a reduction in the quality of habitat for native biodiversity, especially avian, but was concentrated among certain farm types. Sustaining coffee agroforests for biodiversity conservation would require targeted interventions such as direct payments or market incentives specifically for biodiversity.     

Brazilian biofuels and social exclusion: established and concentrated ethanol versus emerging and dispersed biodiesel

Increasing interest in biofuels trade between developed and developing countries has spurred worldwide discussions on issues such as subsidies and the ‘food for fuel’ crisis. One issue missing in recent discourse is the pressure exerted on developing countries to adopt large-scale mechanized farming practices to increase economic efficiencies. Such approaches often exclude small-scale farmers from participating in the emerging biofuels market, thus exacerbating poverty and social exclusion. Drawing on both qualitative and technical data, we discuss such pressures using Brazilian ethanol and biodiesel production. Pressure from international markets to become more economically efficient may contribute towards the erosion of recent schemes to encourage social benefits for small farmers in biodiesel production. We conclude with trade and policy implications.     

A composite measure of habitat loss for entire assemblages of species

Habitat destruction is among the greatest threats facing biodiversity, and it affects common and threatened species alike. However, metrics for communicating its impacts typically overlook the nonthreatened component of assemblages. This risks the loss of habitat going unreported for species that comprise the majority of assemblages. We adapted a widely used measure for summarizing researcher output (the h index) to provide a metric that describes natural habitat loss for entire assemblages, inclusive of threatened and nonthreatened species. For each of 447 Australian native terrestrial bird species, we combined information on their association with broad vegetation groups with distributional range maps to identify the difference between the estimated pre-European and current extents of potential habitat, defined as vegetation groups most closely associated with each species. From this, we calculated the loss index (LI), which revealed that 30% of native birds have each lost at least 30% of their potential natural habitat (LI = 30). At the subcontinental scale, LIs ranged from 15 in arid Australia to 61 in the highly transformed southeastern part of the country. Different subcomponents of the assemblage had different LI values. For example, Australia's parrots (n = 52 species) had an LI of 38, whereas raptors (n = 32 species) had an LI of 25. The LI is simple to calculate and can be determined using readily available spatial information on species distributions, native vegetation associations, and human impacts on natural land cover. This metric, including the curves used to deduce it, could complement other biodiversity indices if it is used for regional and global biodiversity assessments that compare the status of natural habitat extent for assemblages within and among nations, monitor changes through time, and forecast future changes to guide strategic land-use planning. The LI is an intuitive tool that can be used to summarize and communicate how human actions affect whole assemblages, not just threatened species.     

资源、环境管理与经济发展——发展中国家的资源环境管理与经济政策

在许多地区,自然资源基础(通常是经济发展的关键)正受到人口迅猛增长的威胁和破坏,只有进行有效的政策干预,才能改变国家经济生活中与环境有关的开发利用资源的各种活动。因此,自然资源管理应该成为宏观经济与部门经济中必须考虑的问题。政府要消除有关的制度和体制方面的障碍,制定新的政策和法令,以增进部门间的合作,避免权限重叠,防止由于既得利益的影响使新政策不能发挥效力。     

Environmental supply chain dynamics

This paper investigates the circumstances under which “environmental supply chain dynamics” (ESCD) emerge. ESCD are a phenomenon where environmental innovations diffuse from a customer firm to a supplier firm. Its relevance is based on the argument that systemic approaches are needed to understand the environmental implications of industrial systems, of which supply chains are a key component. Furthermore, buyer–supplier relationships play a critical role in the decision-making processes of most suppliers, which in turn has the potential to stimulate environmental change within the supply chain. Based on case studies in the British and Japanese food retail sector and the British aerospace industry, it will be shown that ESCD emerge if there is a channel leader with sufficient channel power over their suppliers, technical competencies, and are themselves under specific environmental pressure.