Sustainability of Current Agricultural Practices in The Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Cameron Highlands is a mountainous region with steep slopes. Gradients exceeding 20^∘ are common. The climate is favourable to the cultivation of tea, sub-tropical vegetables and flowers (under rain-shelter). Crop production is sustained by high fertiliser and manure applications. However, agriculture in this environment is characterised by high levels of soil erosion and environmental pollution. A study on the sustainability of these agro-ecosystems was conducted. Results indicated that soil loss was in the range of 24–42 ton/ha/yr under vegetables and 1.3 ton under rain-shelter. Sediment load in the vegetable sub-catchment reached 3.5 g/L, 50 times higher than that associated with flowers under rain-shelter and tea. The sediments contained high nutrient loads of up to 470 kg N/ha/yr. The N, P and K lost in runoff from cabbage farms was 154 kg/season/ha, whereas in chrysanthemum farms it was 5 kg. In cabbage farms, the N, P, and K lost through leaching was 193 kg/season/ha. The NO₃–N concentration in the runoff from the cabbage farms reached 25 ppm but less than 10 ppm in runoff from rain-shelters. Inorganic pollution in the rivers was within the acceptable limit of 10 ppm. The sustainability of the agro-ecosystems is in the order of tea { > } rain–shelter ≫ vegetables.     

新疆发展有机食品生产与可持续发展

从地域优势、农产品特征、生态条件等方面,论述了新疆发展有机食品生产的适宜性和重要意义.认为新疆发展有机食品生产可以利用得天独厚的气候、水土等自然资源,以及工业污染环境影响较小的有利条件,保护和改善农村生态环境,充分发挥独特的农产品资源优势,提高农产品附加值,变资源优势为经济优势,并结合新疆区情,从多方面提出了新疆发展有机食品的思路和措施.     

企业可持续发展评价指标体系的选定原则及构建框架

为了制定企业可持续发展的战略决策,须制定可持续发展的指标体系,并依据这一体系对数据和资料进行收集、整理和分析,从而确定可靠而有效的政策方针。文中论述了可持续发展指标体系的定义、选定标准、原则和可持续发展的评价指标体系,提出了压力-状态-响应框架模型以及不同层次的指标体系框架。该指标体系分为总体层、系统层、状态层、变量层和要素层五个等级。对于持续发展的表征指标及对目前发展的可持续性评估,还需要长时间和切合实际的探讨。     

清洁生产纳入环境影响评价的意义

当前的环境影响评价在某种程度上更侧重于环境的末端治理,无法将污染控制与生产过程控制密切结合,资源和能源不能在生产过程中得到充分利用.而清洁生产在这方面却有着独特的特点和优势.根据清洁生产与环境影响评价的内在联系,尽快地将清洁生产纳入环境影响评价是具有重要意义的,清洁生产应该成为环境影响评价报告撰写中的重要内容.     

大力发展循环经济促进宁阳县可持续发展

宁阳县发展循环经济过程中所取得的初步成果,同时对当前存在的突出问题,提出了相应的对策和改进措施:制定促进循环经济发展的相关政策;构筑循环经济基本模式,推动建立生态工业园;建立循环经济发展的技术支撑体系;制定发展循环经济的长远规划;提高全民发展循环经济意识和公众参与水平.     

Indicators for sustainable energy development in Lithuania

This article summarizes some of the results from the application of the indicators for sustainable energy development (ISED) tool for analyzing Lithuania's energy sector, in terms of trends, setting energy policy goals and monitoring progress towards these goals. This experience illustrates the potential applicability of the ISED methodology for energy policy development in economies in transition, using Lithuania as an example. The article presents a summary of the results achieved and conclusions arrived at from the analysis of six priority areas in the context of the research project coordinated by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and provides recommendations for the development of sustainable energy policy using the ISED approach.     

Societal implications of sustainable energy action plans: from energy modelling to stakeholder learning

This article investigates the potential impact of sustainable energy action plans (SEAPs) on local development through a two-step methodology involving participatory planning and quantitative analysis. The first phase relies on a participatory system mapping (PSM) approach and generates a causal structure at the basis of the urban model. In the second phase, we transform the qualitative map into a system dynamic model which evaluates the effect of the SEAP on social, economic and environmental indicators. This methodology was applied to the case of Cascina Municipality (Italy). Through scenario analysis, we show that some indirect feedback can harm the achievement of the 20% emission reduction target. This process allows the local authority and stakeholders to evaluate the impact of emission reduction policies on CO₂ emissions and local development, thereby generating collective learning on the systemic implications of the plan. We show that this method can enhance the ambition of emission mitigation efforts by small towns.     

Ultrasound pretreatment of filamentous algal biomass for enhanced biogas production

The filamentous alga Hydrodictyon reticulatum harvested from a bench-scale wastewater treatment pond was used to evaluate biogas production after ultrasound pretreatment. The effects of ultrasound pretreatment at a range of 10–5000 J/mL were tested with harvested H. reticulatum. Cell disruption by ultrasound was successful and showed a higher degree of disintegration at a higher applied energy. The range of 10–5000 J/mL ultrasound was able to disintegrated H. reticulatum and the soluble COD was increased from 250 mg/L to 1000 mg/L at 2500 J/mL. The disintegrated algal biomass was digested for biogas production in batch experiments. Both cumulative gas generation and volatile solids reduction data were obtained during the digestion. Cell disintegration due to ultrasound pretreatment increased the specific biogas production and degradation rates. Using the ultrasound approach, the specific methane production at a dose of 40 J/mL increased up to 384 mL/g-VS fed that was 2.3 times higher than the untreated sample. For disintegrated samples, the volatile solids reduction was greater with increased energy input, and the degradation increased slightly to 67% at a dose of 50 J/mL. The results also indicate that disintegration of the algal cells is the essential step for efficient anaerobic digestion of algal biomass.     

Understanding the distribution of bushmeat hunting effort across landscapes by testing hypotheses about human foraging

Mitigating the massive impacts of defaunation on natural ecosystems requires understanding and predicting hunting effort across the landscape. But such understanding has been hindered by the difficulty of assessing the movement patterns of hunters in thick forests and across complex terrain. We statistically tested hypotheses about the spatial distribution of hunting with circuit theory and structural equation models. We used a data set of >7000 known kill locations in Guyana and hunter movement models to test these methods. Comparing models with different resistance layers (i.e., different estimates of how terrain and land cover influence human movement speed) showed that rivers, on average, limited movement rather than serving as transport arteries. Moreover, far more kills occurred close to villages than in remote areas. This, combined with the lack of support for structural equation models that included latent terms for prey depletion driven by past overhunting, suggests that kill locations in this system tended to be driven by where hunters were currently foraging rather than by influences of historical harvest. These analyses are generalizable to a variety of ecosystems, species, and data types, providing a powerful way of enhancing maps and predictions of hunting effort across complex landscapes.     

Traditional water bodies and ecosystem services: Empirical evidence from West Bengal,India

Traditional water harvesting systems are multi-functional in nature and provide a variety of ecosystem services that contribute to the overall wellbeing of local people. This study aims to identify and analyze the factors influencing the variations in the level of awareness across households residing around three selected traditional water bodies in the Indian state of West Bengal. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression models have been used to identify and analyze the determinants of household perception on ecosystem services from tank water bodies. Results show that while a majority of households have strong perceptions on the provisioning and cultural ecosystem services of the tanks, the household perceptions on regulating and supporting services of the tank is found to be relatively weak. Households belonging to lower caste and poor are likely to be more dependent on ecosystem services from tanks than upper caste and rich households, and hence they have better perceptions of provisioning ecosystem services. Households’ awareness about provisioning ecosystem services is negatively related to their level of education and wealth. It is observed that household awareness about regulating and supporting ecosystem services is positively associated with the level of education of the households, ownership of tube well and private tanks. While it is essential to consider household perception on all the ecosystem services for sustainable use and management of traditional water harvesting systems, incorporating the local norms, customs and preferences in policy design are critical for achieving effective conservation outcomes.