Tourism: economic development without increasing CO2 emissions in Pakistan

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Globally, the national and cultural resources of a country are major sources of attraction for tourism. Pakistan is gifted with abundant natural and...     

Strategies for Rebuilding Closer Links between Local Indigenous Communities and Their Customary Fisheries in Aotearoa/New Zealand

There is a growing recognition that knowledge of indigenous communities, based on accumulated observations and experience over time, is significant for sustainable environmental management in collaboration with modern scientific knowledge. A number of innovative policy initiatives are currently being implemented in New Zealand to enable indigenous Maori tribes and sub-tribes to rehabilitate and manage their local fisheries in accordance with customary values and practices. These policies are an important milestone from an historical perspective as they are meant to recognise and empower the role of Maori as Treaty partners. The fisheries management regime in New Zealand now provides for Maori representation at the local level within a co-management framework that enables local Maori communities to exercise their customary rights. These institutional arrangements have been crafted to facilitate Maori input, based on customary values and practices, to complement modern Western management practices for sustainable harvesting of marine resources. Nevertheless, the degree to which these initiatives constitute an adequate response to Maori Treaty aspirations is debatable. A major constraint in this respect is that the government is compelled to recognise the needs of other, economically and politically more dominant, non-Maori user-groups in allocating and managing access to fishery resources and the marine environment.     

Groundwater Remediation and Aquifer Clean-Up: A Case Study

Groundwater was being remediated with pump and treat technology at a facility where the groundwater was contaminated with commonly used degreaser solvents. Hydraulic conductivity of the heterogeneous residuum was beneficiated by applying pneumatic fracturing technology. The remedial system was controlled and monitored by a sophisticated remote telemetry system. A case history follows.     

Decision making for multiple utilization of water resources in New Zealand

The Clutha is the largest river in New Zealand. The last two decades have witnessed major conflicts centered on the utilization of the water resources of the upper Clutha river. These conflicts have by no means been finally resolved. The focus of this article is on institutional arrangements for water resource management on the Clutha, with particular reference to the decision-making processes that have culminated in the building of the high dam. It critically evaluates recent experiences and comments on future prospects for resolving resource use conflicts rationally through planning for multiple utilization in a climate of market led policies of the present government.The study demonstrates the inevitable conflicts that can arise within a public bureaucracy that combines dual responsibilities for policy making and operational functions. Hitherto, central government has been able to manipulate the water resource allocation process to its advantage because of a lack of clear separation between its two roles as a policy maker and developer. The conflicts that have manifested themselves during the last two decades over the Clutha should be seen as part of a wider public debate during the last two decades concerning resource utilization in New Zealand. The Clutha controversy was preceded by comparable concerns over the rising of the level of Lake Manapouri during the 1960s and has been followed by the debate over the think big resource development projects during the 1980s.The election of the fourth Labour government in 1983 has heralded a political and economic policy shift in New Zealand towards minimizing the role of public intervention in resource allocation and major structural reforms in the relative roles of central and regional government in resource management. The significance of these changes pose important implications for the future management of the Clutha.     

NGOs come and go but business continues: lessons from co-management institutional arrangements for governance of the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Reserve in Kenya

The objective of this paper is to examine the current institutional arrangements for governance of the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Reserve (ASFR) and show their major contribution in the ASFR co-management business of conserving the forest and providing livelihoods to the poor forest-dependent communities. Despite the fact that funding from non-governmental organizations ended, the ASFR co-management business did not stall. The institutional arrangements for co-management were deemed to be the major component that contributed to the continuation of the ASFR co-management business. To demonstrate this hypothesis, the paper explores four main areas that shape the institutional arrangement of the ASFR co-management regime, informed by common property theories: (1) how governance arrangement structures for the ASFR are organized; (2) villagers’ perceptions and awareness of the co-management structure; (3) co-management arrangement for access, ownership and use of the various forest resources; and (4) importance of the forest resources to the households. The co-management piloting and non-piloting communities adjacent to the forest and who have been depending on the forest as a source of their livelihoods are compared in order to understand the role of the ASFR co-management institutional arrangements in the sustainability of its business.     

Spectroscopy properties and optimization for the detection of mercury（Ⅱ） with series hydroxyl-porphyrins

结合紫外分光光度法研究系列羟基卟啉与汞离子的显色反应,并优化其检测条件.在pH=7.5的条件下,以N,N-二甲基甲酰胺（DMF）作为溶剂,加入0.4 mL表面活性剂Tween-80,系列羟基卟啉与Hg2＋发生配位反应,发现其最大吸收峰与卟啉环上（meso）位苯基对位上的羟基数目相关.热力学研究表明,单羟基卟啉化合物对Hg2＋检测效果最好,形成1∶1配位化合物,检测限可达0.042μg.L-1,且在0—50 mg.L-1范围内符合比尔定律.     

Drinking water quality assessment in Southern Sindh (Pakistan)

The southern Sindh province of Pakistan adjoins the Arabian Sea coast where drinking water quality is deteriorating due to dumping of industrial and urban waste and use of agrochemicals and yet has limited fresh water resources. The study assessed the drinking water quality of canal, shallow pumps, dug wells, and water supply schemes from the administrative districts of Thatta, Badin, and Thar by measuring physical, chemical, and biological (total coliform) quality parameters. All four water bodies (dug wells, shallow pumps canal water, and water supply schemes) exceeded WHO MPL for turbidity (24%, 28%, 96%, 69%), coliform (96%, 77%, 92%, 81%), and electrical conductivity (100%, 99%, 44%, 63%), respectively. However, the turbidity was lower in underground water, i.e., 24% and 28% in dug wells and shallow pumps as compared to open water, i.e., 96% and 69% in canal and water supply schemes, respectively. In dug wells and shallow pumps, limits for TDS, alkalinity, hardness, and sodium exceeded, respectively, by 63% and 33%; 59% and 70%, 40% and 27%, and 78% and 26%. Sodium was major problem in dug wells and shallow pumps of district Thar and considerable percent in shallow pumps of Badin. Iron was major problem in all water bodies of district Badin ranging from 50% to 69% and to some extent in open waters of Thatta. Other parameters as pH, copper, manganese, zinc, and phosphorus were within standard permissible limits of World Health Organization. Some common diseases found in the study area were gastroenteritis, diarrhea and vomiting, kidney, and skin problems.     

Bioenergy to save the world

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Following to the 2006 climate summit, the European Union formally set the goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. But even today, climate change is already affecting people and ecosystems. Examples are melting glaciers and polar ice, reports about thawing permafrost areas, dying coral reefs, rising sea levels, changing ecosystems and fatal heat periods. Within the last 150 years, CO2 levels rose from 280 ppm to currently over 400 ppm. If we continue on our present course, CO2 equivalent levels could approach 600 ppm by 2035. However, if CO2 levels are not stabilized at the 450-550 ppm level, the consequences could be quite severe. Hence, if we do not act now, the opportunity to stabilise at even 550 ppm is likely to slip away. Long-term stabilisation will require that CO2 emissions ultimately be reduced to more than 80% below current levels. This will require major changes in how we operate. RESULTS: Reducing greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels seems to be the most promising approach to counterbalance the dramatic climate changes we would face in the near future. It is clear since the Kyoto protocol that the availability of fossil carbon resources will not match our future requirements. Furthermore, the distribution of fossil carbon sources around the globe makes them an even less reliable source in the future. We propose to screen crop and non-crop species for high biomass production and good survival on marginal soils as well as to produce mutants from the same species by chemical mutagenesis or related methods. These plants, when grown in adequate crop rotation, will provide local farming communities with biomass for the fermentation in decentralized biogas reactors, and the resulting nitrogen rich manure can be distributed on the fields to improve the soil. DISCUSSION: Such an approach will open new economic perspectives to small farmers, and provide a clever way to self sufficient and sustainable rural development. Together with the present economic reality, where energy and raw material prices have drastically increased over the last decade, they necessitate the development and the establishment of alternative concepts. CONCLUSIONS: Biotechnology is available to apply fast breeding to promising energy plant species. It is important that our valuable arable land is preserved for agriculture. The opportunity to switch from low-income agriculture to biogas production may convince small farmers to adhere to their business and by that preserve the identity of rural communities. PERSPECTIVES: Overall, biogas is a promising alternative for the future, because its resource base is widely available, and single farms or small local cooperatives might start biogas plant operation.     

Advanced microbial fuel cell for waste water treatment—a review

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Petroleum, coal, and natural gas reservoir were depleting continuously due to an increase in industrialization, which enforced study to identify...     

Contrasts in Livelihoods and Protein Intake between Commercial and Subsistence Bushmeat Hunters in Two Villages on Bioko Island,Equatorial Guinea

Across West and Central Africa, wildlife provides a source of food and income. We investigated the relation between bushmeat hunting and household wealth and protein consumption in 2 rural communities in Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. One village was dedicated to commercial hunting, the other trapped game primarily for food. We tested whether commercial‐hunter households were nutritionally advantaged over subsistence‐hunter households due to their higher income from the bushmeat trade and greater access to wild‐animal protein. We conducted bushmeat‐offtake surveys in both villages (captures by hunters and carcasses arriving to each village). Mammals (including threatened primates: black colobus [Colobus satanas], Preussi's guenon [Allochrocebus preussi], and russet‐eared guenon [Cercopithecus erythrotis]), birds, and reptiles were hunted. The blue duiker (Philantomba monticola), giant pouched rat (Cricetomys emini), and brush‐tailed porcupine (Atherurus africanus) contributed almost all the animal biomass hunted, consumed, or sold in both villages. Monkeys and Ogilbyi's duikers (Cephalophus ogilbyi) were hunted only by commercial hunters. Commercial hunters generated a mean of US$2000/year from bushmeat sales. Households with commercial hunters were on average wealthier, generated more income, spent more money on nonessential goods, and bought more products they did not grow. By contrast, households with subsistence hunters spent less on market items, spent more on essential products, and grew more of their own food. Despite these differences, average consumption of vegetable protein and domestic meat and bushmeat protein did not differ between villages. Our results highlight the importance of understanding the socioeconomic and nutritional context of commercial and subsistence bushmeat hunting to correctly interpret ways of reducing their effects on threatened species and to enable the sustainable offtake of more productive taxa. Contrastes en el Sustento y la Ingesta de Proteínas entre Carne de Caza de Subsistencia y Comercial en Dos Aldeas en Isla Bioko, Guinea Ecuatorial