Environmental and habitat management: the case of Ethiopia and Ghana

This article examines the environment and habitat management experiences of Ethiopia and Ghana in the postindependence period (1960–2000). Based on extensive archival research, semistructured focused interviews of environment and habitat officers of the World Bank, the United Nations System and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and personal professional field experiences, the paper argues that the uncritical adoption of externally generated discourses, narratives, policy guidelines, and strategies of environmental and habitat management has structured thought and action in both countries. The experience of both countries in defining and responding to environmental and human settlement management is explored from a political ecology perspective. The analysis indicates that both countries have essentially adopted a technocratic, state-centered, and unsustainable management strategy framework based on population control, poverty reduction, sustainable development, and capacity-building. It also suggests that international organizations such as the World Bank, INCN, and the United Nations system have been important sources of thought and action in both countries. Conversely, regional international organizations such as the Economic Commission for Africa, the Organization of African Unity and the African Development Bank have largely served as conduits for the diffusion of global discourses, narratives, policies and strategies. The need for adopting management policies and strategies that are based on principles of multiple engagement, decentralization, incentives, public education, and participation is underscored.     

An Integrated Framework for Public Sector Environmental Management in Developing Countries

/ Achieving successful and well-integrated environmental management depends on principled and orderly assignment of responsibilities within and between public sector organizations. Guidelines for making these assignments can be found by considering different modes of public response in light of a framework based on some distinguishable patterns in the complexity they exhibit. The basic dimensions of environmental problems can be used to identify these patterns. Two examples from current environmental problems in Taiwan are given, illustrating how this framework can be put to use.     

Experimental rewilding may restore abandoned wood-pastures if policy allows

Large herbivores play key roles in terrestrial ecosystems. Continuous defaunation processes have produced cascade effects on plant community composition, vegetation structure, and even climate. Wood-pastures were created by traditional management practices that have maintained open structures and biodiversity for millennia. In Europe, despite the broad recognition of their biological importance, such landscapes are declining due to land-use changes. This calls for finding urgent solutions for wood-pasture conservation. To test whether introducing an ecological replacement of an extinct wild horse could have positive effects on wood-pasture restoration, we designed a 3-year rewilding experiment. Horses created a more open wood-pasture structure by browsing on seedlings and saplings, affected tree composition via selective browsing and controlled the colonization of woody vegetation in grassland-dominated areas. Thus, rewilding could be a potential avenue for wood-pasture restoration and biodiversity conservation. However, such benefits may not materialize without a necessary paradigm and political shift.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01320-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Contemporary forest loss in Myanmar: Effect of democratic transition and subsequent timber bans on landscape structure and composition

This study addresses the effect of political transition and subsequent timber bans on forest loss in Myanmar, in the context of identified drivers. Cook’s Distance (CD) was applied to remotely sensed time-series forest loss dataset to measure the effect of the events. Forest loss derived fragmentation metrics were linked to drivers at a landscape scale. Results show that at the national level, the political transition in 2011 had maximum effect (CD 0.935) on forest loss while the timber bans decreased forest loss by 612.04 km² and 213.15 km² in 2015 and 2017 (CD 0.146 and 0.035), respectively. The effect of the events varied for different States/Regions. The dominant drivers of change shifted from plantations in 2011 to infrastructure development in 2015. This study demonstrates the effects of policy on forest loss at various scales and can inform decision-makers for forest conservation, planning and development of mitigation measures.     

Response of soil CO2 efflux to precipitation manipulation in a semiarid grassland

Soil CO_2efflux(SCE) is an important component of ecosystem CO_2 exchange and is largely temperature and moisture dependent, providing feedback between C cycling and the climate system. We used a precipitation manipulation experiment to examine the effects of precipitation treatment on SCE and its dependences on soil temperature and moisture in a semiarid grassland. Precipitation manipulation included ambient precipitation, decreased precipitation(- 43%), or increased precipitation(+ 17%). The SCE was measured from July2013 to December 2014, and CO_2 emission during the experimental period was assessed.The response curves of SCE to soil temperature and moisture were analyzed to determine whether the dependence of SCE on soil temperature or moisture varied with precipitation manipulation. The SCE significantly varied seasonally but was not affected by precipitation treatments regardless of season. Increasing precipitation resulted in an upward shift of SCE–temperature response curves and rightward shift of SCE–moisture response curves,while decreasing precipitation resulted in opposite shifts of such response curves. These shifts in the SCE response curves suggested that increasing precipitation strengthened the dependence of SCE on temperature or moisture, and decreasing precipitation weakened such dependences. Such shifts affected the predictions in soil CO_2 emissions for different precipitation treatments. When considering such shifts, decreasing or increasing precipitation resulted in 43 or 75% less change, respectively, in CO_2 emission compared with changes in emissions predicted without considering such shifts. Furthermore, the effects of shifts in SCE response curves on CO_2 emission prediction were greater during the growing than the non-growing season.     

Experimental study on the minimum explosion concentration of anthracite dust: The roles of O2 mole fraction,inert gas and CH4 addition

The explosion characteristics of anthracite coal dust with/without small amount of CH₄ (1.14 vol %) were investigated by using a 20 L spherical explosion apparatus with an emphasis on the roles of oxygen mole fraction and inert gas. Two methods based on overpressure and combustion duration time were used to determine the minimum explosion concentration (MEC) or the lower explosion limit (LEL) of the pure anthracite coal dust and the hybrid coal-methane mixtures, respectively. The experiment results showed that increasing oxygen mole fraction increases the explosion risk of coal dust: with increasing oxygen mole fraction, the explosion pressure (P_ex) and the rate of explosion pressure rise ((dp/dt)_ex)) increase, while MEC decreases. The explosion risk of anthracite dust was found to be lower after replacing N₂ with CO₂, suggesting that CO₂ has a better inhibition effect on explosion mainly due to its higher specific heat. However, the addition of 1.14% CH₄ moderates the inhibition effect of CO₂ and the promotion effect of O₂ on anthracite dust explosion for some extent, increasing explosion severity and reducing the MEC of anthracite dust. For hybrid anthracite/CH₄ mixture explosions, Barknecht's curve was found to be more accurate and conservative than Chatelier's line, but neither are sufficient from the safety considerations. The experimental results provide a certain help for the explosion prevention and suppression in carbonaceous dust industries.     

土壤水分变化对外来入侵植物飞机草生长的影响

以外来入侵植物飞机草为研究对象,设计3个水分梯度(15mm,10mm,5.83mm),研究飞机草的叶绿素含量、生物量、光合生理特征等指标对土壤含水量变化的响应。结果表明,随着土壤水分含量的降低,飞机草的单位叶面积干质量、叶绿素含量、净光合速率、气孔导度、蒸腾速率、胞间CO2摩尔分数、光饱和点等都呈下降趋势。同时,根冠比和水分利用率随着水分胁迫的加重而有所提高,表明飞机草对土壤水分胁迫有一定的适应能力,但总体而言,土壤水分胁迫不利于飞机草的生长,限制了其向降雨量较少的地区入侵。     

2006~2015年北京市不同地区O3浓度变化

对2006~2015年北京市定陵、官园、琉璃河和前门这4个站点的O₃连续监测数据进行分析,探讨其浓度水平、变化趋势、时间变化规律以及和前体物、气象要素的关系.结果表明,定陵站十年平均浓度水平最高（65.2 μg·m^-3）,其次为琉璃河（53.4 μg·m^-3）、官园（49.6 μg·m^-3）和前门（40.4 μg·m^-3）.定陵O₃浓度呈下降趋势［0.5 μg·（m³·a）^-1］,而官园［0.9 μg·（m³·a）^-1］、琉璃河［0.3 μg·（m³·a）^-1］和前门［0.3 μg·（m³·a）^-1］均呈上升趋势.从月变化来看,各站点O₃浓度最高值均出现在6~8月,出现频次最高的为7月（17次）,平均月均浓度为99.8 μg·m^-3;最低值均出现在11、12月和1、2月,出现频次最高的为1月（14次）,平均月均浓度为16.6 μg·m^-3.从日变化来看,近年来O₃浓度峰值出现的时间明显提前,近3年峰值均在15：00~16：00出现,提前了1~2 h.2015年定陵站O₃重污染天数达到11 d,比2013年增加了10 d,表明近年来夏季北京下风向山区的O₃重污染状况愈发严重.与前体物的相关性分析表明,定陵站O₃浓度与NO₂浓度呈正相关,其余站点两者浓度均呈负相关,暗示定陵站O₃生成的前体物控制区可能为NO₂控制区,而其他站点为VOCs控制区.与气象要素的相关性分析表明,O₃浓度与温度呈正相关关系,与湿度和气压呈负相关关系,温度对O₃浓度的影响最大,其次是气压和湿度.当日最高温度超过30℃,相对湿度介于30%至70%之间时,北京市O₃日最大8 h滑动平均浓度超过200 μg·m^-3的概率较高,空气质量级别会达到轻度至中度污染的级别.