Key factors that influence households’ tree planting behaviour

Despite a decrease in indigenous forests and a growing demand for tree products in developing countries, tree planting activities are not considerably expanding in Tanzania. In this paper, we analyse factors that influence households’ tree planting behaviour, as well as the number of trees planted. Coast and Morogoro regions in the east of Tanzania were selected as the case, and data was gathered from 202 households in 11 villages in these regions where tree planting programmes have been or still are active. A Heckman model is used to analyse the factors that drive tree planting behaviour. Results indicate that households get wood energy from forest reserves (57%), in addition to their own planted trees (9.1%). Emperical findings show that the most important factors have significantly positive effects on households’ tree planting behaviour, as well as the extent to which it was implemented. These factors include households’ land sizes, households’ awareness of tree planting programmes, tree planting for wood energy, and the age of the head of the household. The right/freedom to harvest and transport tree products, households’ attitudes towards tree planting, and family size have significantly negative effects on households’ tree planting behaviour. This paper is perhaps the first comprehensive study to analyse the factors that influence households’ tree planting behaviour in Tanzania, and it uncovers results that are useful, even for other developing countries with similar conditions.     

Mode choice model for vulnerable motorcyclists in Malaysia

OBJECTIVE: In developing countries, motorcycle use has grown in popularity in the past decades. Commensurate with this growth is the increase in death and casualties among motorcyclists in these countries. One of the strategic programs to minimize this problem is to reduce motorcyclists exposure by shifting them into safer modes of transport. This study aims to explore the differences in the characteristics of bus and motorcycle users. It identifies the factors contributing to their choice of transport mode and estimates the probability that motorcyclists might change their travel mode to a safer alternative; namely, bus travel. METHODS: In this article, a survey of 535 motorcycle and bus users was conducted in seven districts of Selangor state, Malaysia. A binary logit model was developed for the two alternative modes, bus and motorcycle. RESULTS: It was found that travel time, travel cost, gender, age, and income level are significant in influencing motorcyclists' mode choice behavior. The probability of motorcycle riders shifting to public transport was also examined based on a scenario of a reduction in bus travel time and travel cost. CONCLUSIONS: Reduction of total travel time for the bus mode emerges as the most important element in a program aimed at attracting motorcyclists towards public transport and away from the motorcycle mode.     

Mitigation of environmental problems in Lake Victoria, East Africa: causal chain and policy options analyses

Lake Victoria is an international waterbody that offers the riparian communities a large number of extremely important environmental services. Over the past three decades or so, the lake has come under increasing and considerable pressure from a variety of interlinked human activities such as overfishing, species introductions, industrial pollution, eutrophication, and sedimentation. In this paper we examine the root causes for overfishing and pollution in Lake Victoria and give possible policy options that can help remediate or mitigate the environmental degradation.     

Spatial patterns reveal negative density dependence and habitat associations in tropical trees

Understanding how plant species coexist in tropical rainforests is one of the biggest challenges in community ecology. One prominent hypothesis suggests that rare species are at an advantage because trees have lower survival in areas of high conspecific density due to increased attack by natural enemies, a process known as negative density dependence (NDD). A consensus is emerging that NDD is important for plant-species coexistence in tropical forests. Most evidence comes from short-term studies, but testing the prediction that NDD decreases the spatial aggregation of tree populations provides a long-term perspective. While spatial distributions have provided only weak evidence for NDD so far, the opposing effects of environmental heterogeneity might have confounded previous analyses. Here we use a novel statistical technique to control for environmental heterogeneity while testing whether spatial aggregation decreases with tree size in four tropical forests. We provide evidence for NDD in 22% of the 139 tree species analyzed and show that environmental heterogeneity can obscure the spatial signal of NDD. Environmental heterogeneity contributed to aggregation in 84% of species. We conclude that both biotic interactions and environmental heterogeneity play crucial roles in shaping tree dynamics in tropical forests.     

Optimising of Scenedesmus sp. biomass production in chicken slaughterhouse wastewater using response surface methodology and potential utilisation as fish feeds

Production of Scenedesmus sp. biomass in chicken slaughterhouse wastewater (CSWW) is a promising alternative technique for commercial culture medium due to the high nutritional content of the generated biomass to be used as fish feeds. The current work deals with optimising of biomass production in CSWW using response surface methodology (RSM) as a function of two independent variables, namely temperature (10–30 °C) and photoperiod (6–24 h). The potential application of biomass yield as fish feeds was evaluated based on carbohydrate, protein and lipid contents. The results revealed that the best operating parameters for Scenedesmus sp. biomass production with high contents of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids were determined at 30 °C and after 24 h. The actual and predicted values were 2.47 vs. 3.09 g, 1.44 vs. 1.27 μg/mL, 29.9 vs. 31.60% and 25.75 vs. 28.44%, respectively. Moreover, the produced biomass has a high concentration of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) as follows: 35.91% of C15:1; 17.58% of C24:1 and 14.11% of C18:1N9T. The biomass yields have 7.98% of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5N3) which is more appropriate as fish feeds. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis of biomass revealed that the main functional groups included hydroxyl (OH), aldehyde (=C–H), alkanes and acyl chain groups. Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopic analysis (EDS) indicated that the surface morphology and element distribution in biomass produced in BBM and CSWW were varied. The findings have indicated that the biomass produced in CSWW has high potential as fish feeds.

     

Risk assessment and remediation suggestion of impacted soil by produced water associated with oil production

Produced water is water trapped in underground formations that is brought to the surface along with oil or gas production. Oilfield impacted soil is the most common environmental problem associated with oil production. The produced water associated with oil-production contaminates the soil and causes the outright death of plants, and the subsequent erosion of topsoil. Also, impacted soil serves to contaminate surface waters and shallow aquifers. This paper is intended to provide an approach for full characterization of contaminated soil by produced water, by means of analysis of both the produced water and the impacted soil using several recommended analytical techniques and then identify and assay the main constituents that cause contamination of the soil. Gialo-59 oilfield (29N, 21E), Libya, has been chosen as the case study of this work. The field has a long history of petroleum production since 1959, where about 300,000 bbl of produced water be discharged into open pit. Test samples of contaminated soil were collected from one of the disposal pits. Samples of produced water were collected from different points throughout the oil production process, and the analyses were carried out at the labs of Libyan Petroleum Institute, Tripoli, Libya. The results are compared with the local environmental limiting constituents in order to prepare for a plan of soil remediation. The results showed that the main constituents (pollutants) that impact the soil are salts and hydrocarbon compounds. Accordingly; an action of soil remediation has been proposed to remove the salts and degradation of hydrocarbons.     

Harvesting of microalgae biomass from the phycoremediation process of greywater

The wide application of microalgae in the field of wastewater treatment and bioenergy source has improved research studies in the past years. Microalgae represent a good source of biomass and bio-products which are used in different medical and industrial activities, among them the production of high-valued products and biofuels. The present review focused on greywater treatment through the application of phycoremediation technique with microalgae and presented recent advances in technologies used for harvesting the microalgae biomass. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are discussed. The microbiological aspects of production, harvesting and utilization of microalgae biomass are viewed.     

Assessing the impact of microfinance programming on children: an evaluation from post‐tsunami Aceh

This paper presents an evaluation of the long‐term impact of microfinance programmes on Acehnese children during the post‐tsunami recovery. The study, conducted from June to August 2010, examined the impact of microfinance programming six years after the tsunami. The sample consisted of 185 microfinance participants, with a comparison group of 192 individuals who did not participate in microfinance programmes. All respondents were parents, interviewed through a structured survey. The study used four child protection indicators—diet, health, childcare and education—in contrast to traditional repayment rate indicators. The primary results were insignificant with respect to all four child protection indicators, suggesting that, with respect to these indicators, there was no long‐term difference between the impact of microfinance on beneficiaries' children and non‐beneficiaries' children. These findings signify a need for microfinance actors to move beyond traditional indicators of economic success to evaluate the social changes microfinance programmes are presumed to effect.     

Effect of spent engine oil on the growth parameters and chlorophyll content of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Corchorus olitorius</Emphasis> Linn

The effect of spent engine oil on the height, leaf number, leaf area, stem girth, chlorophyll, and moisture contents of Corchorus olitorius grown on 0, 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8%, 1.0%, 2.0%, and 3.0% (v/w oil/soil) oil-contaminated soil was investigated. The engine oil at all concentrations delayed the germination of C. olitorius by 2 days (compared to control) and there was a general significant reduction in all the growth parameters in plants grown on contaminated soil compared to control plants. The highest leaf area of 26.8 cm² was found in the control plant and least was found in the 0.6% soil (0.11 cm²) after 3 weeks while no values were recorded on the 0.8–3.0% engine-oil-contaminated soil after 5 weeks of experiment. The highest chlorophyll content was also found in the control plant (11.5 mg/l). This showed that spent engine oil has an adverse effect on the growth of C. olitorius plant.