Agroforestry reduces vulnerability of agricultural systems to extreme weather events,and contributes to enhancing livelihoods and environmental resilience in the landscape
Tag: environmental impact
Amazonie peruvienne: la perseverance de la famille Riquez
En 1992, Gregorio Riquez a quitté la haute jungle péruvienne pour Ucayali, province faiblement peuplée, située dans les basses terres très humides du Bassin amazonien. Au début, quand il a quitté ses montagnes, Gregorio voyait les basses terres de l’Amazonie comme une sorte d’Eldorado où les gens, pour peu qu’ils soient déterminés et durs à la tâche, ne pouvaient que réussir. Mais il n’a pas tardé à déchanter devant la difficulté de la besogne; et, même si ses lopins de terre étaient plus vastes que ceux qu’il cultivait auparavant, il a découvert qu’il était pratiquement impossible de survivre dans cet environnement, l’un des plus hostiles au monde. C’était arrivé à un point tel qu’avec sa femme, Julia Flores et leurs enfants, ils se sont très vite retrouvés au bord de la famine. Ils ont eu beau essarter, débroussailler, cultiver leur terre tant et plus, rien n’y a fait; ils devenaient de plus en plus pauvres. Ils regardaient, impuissants, les pluies torrentielles emporter la terre arable dans leurs flots. Mais le pire est arrivé avec la mort de deux de leurs enfants: leur fils de 13 ans, emporté par une maladie causée par les vers; et leur fille, un bébé de 8 mois, qui a succombé à la fièvre. Pour Monsieur Riquez, plus que la maladie, c’est surtout le manque d’argent et de médicaments qui a tué ses deux enfants.
An Outline of requirements for a spatial information and negotiation support system
This report describes the outcomes of a 45-day consultancy undertaken for RUPES, from August to November 2003. The purpose of the consultancy was to investigate the design requirements for a RUPES spatial information and negotiation support system (SINSS). Such a system would allow standardized and consistent assessment of RUPES action research sites and outcomes, and promote transparent and informed negotiation between stakeholders involved in the development of environmental service rewards schemes (ESRSs). It would also establish an important baseline for spatial targeting, impact monitoring and adaptive management.
An introduction to the conceptual basis of RUPES
Payments for environmental servic es are normally discussed in terms of ‘ buyers ’ and ‘ sellers ’ – as if there are only two sides of a coin. Taking this analogy, we may see the ‘ brokers ’ (those that act as a third party between the buyers and the sellers) as the third side of the coin. However, the chance that a coin will land on this side and reach a stable equilibrium is small – it normally falls to either of the two other sides. What is presented are twenty ‘aspects’ of Rewarding the Upland Poor in Asia for Envir onmental Services Th ey Provide (RUPES), suggesting that rewarding upland poor for environmental services ES is a well-polished diamond, rather than a coin. All these aspects can co-exist and all reveal insights into what is at the core, yet none of them are the full and only truth. We start with an ecologists view that not all environmental services are the same (or some are more so than others), and suggest that the different phases and stages in histories of land use change offer different opportunities for protection and rehabilitation. An economics perspective blends in with insights ranging from some firm ‘micro’ economical theory of how farmers may modify their decisions in the face of changing price incentives to the fully empirical ‘macro’ perspectives of how the concept of ‘economic growth’ can and should be corrected for non-sustainable resource exploi tation. We then move to a social perspective and some of the ethical questions of whether access to environmental services is part of the ‘human birth right’ or whether they can be seen as subject to economic transactions. Looking at ‘ management ’ aspects of multi- stakeholder Integrated National Resource Managed (INRM) we see that ‘lack of trust’ and conflict are dominant aspects of the current ‘loose-loose’ for both the rural poor and environmental services, and that stopping bad pr actice might initially be more effective than looking for new mechanisms. The distinction between ‘ bonding ’ and ‘ bridging ’ forms of social capital then leads us to a ‘ political ecology ’ of trust as the basis for successful partnership between the poor providers of ES and the (slightly) better off beneficiaries
Environmental implications of high metal content in soils of a titanium mining zone in Kenya
Mining activities contribute to an increase of specific metal contaminants in soils. This may adversely affect plant life and consequently impact on animal and human health. The objective of this study was to obtain the background metal concentrations in soils around the titanium mining in Kwale County for monitoring its environmental impacts. Forty samples were obtained with half from topsoils and the other from subsoils. X-ray fluorescence spectrometry was used to determine the metal content of the soil samples. High concentrations of Ti, Mn, Fe, and Zr were observed where Ti concentrations ranged from 0.47 to 2.8 %; Mn 0.02 to 3.1 %; Fe 0.89 to 3.1 %; and Zr 0.05 to 0.85 %. Using ratios of elemental concentrations in topsoil to subsoil method and enrichment factors concept, the metals were observed to be of geogenic origin with no anthropogenic input. The high concentrations of Mn and Fe may increase their concentration levels in the surrounding agricultural lands through deposition, thereby causing contamination on the land and the cultivated food crops. The latter can cause adverse human health effects. In addition, titanium mining will produce tailings containing low-level titanium concentrations, which will require proper disposal to avoid increasing titanium concentrations in the soils of the region since it has been observed to be phytotoxic to plants at high concentrations. The results of this study will serve as reference while monitoring the environmental impact by the titanium mining activities. © 2016, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
A Quick Biodiversity Survey (QBS) for Rapid Agro-Biodiversity Appraisal (RABA)
As diversity of fauna and flora in the landscape is disappearing with natural forests around the world, efforts to save biodiversity have increased over the years. Many man-managed systems (e.g. jungle rubber) are becoming increasingly important as biodiversity reservoirs. Different mechanisms of’payment for environmental services’ or PES are being developed that aim to’reward’ local people for their contribution to conservation practice. The Rapid Agro-Biodiversity Appraisal or RABA (Kuncoro et al. 2006) approach was developed as an analytical framework to identify the information necessary for providers and beneficiaries of biodiversity protection in order to engage in environmental service agreements. While the approach deals well with the perspectives of both the sellers and the potential buyers of conservation services, the approach does not include a’rapid’ assessment of existing biodiversity in the target are. The assumption that biodiversity data for potential sites are available is not always correct and even when data is available, these tend to be outdates. As time, resources and expertise required for comprehensive inventory of flora and fauna are often limited; one often has to resort to short-cut checks, using selected indicators of biodiversity, for reasonably good indication of existing biodiversity. The Quick Biodiversity Survey (QBS), under development, is a combination of quick inventories of plants, birds, beetles, bats, primates and mammals adapted for rapid checking of these’visible’ biodiversity. The plants and animal groups are surveyed in sample points, at every 100 metres along 1-2 km transects. Some biophysical measurements such as temperature of soil and air, soil pH, humidity, seasonal rainfall, distance from village and human population are also recorded. Generally, the field work takes about two weeks, followed by another two weeks of analysis and interpretation. The QBS method is currently under test in a range of agro-ecosystems in Indonesia. Further refinement and fine-tuning should be possible based on context and need.
An Assessment of the Socio-Economic and Ecological Impacts of Environmental Changes on Rural Livelihood: A Study Across Addado, Buhodle and Northern Galkaayo of Central and Northern Somalia
The international community has long recognized desertification as a significant global social, economic and environmental problem of concern with detrimental effects on the livelihoods of people in many countries world-wide. To explore this critique, this study examined local people’s views on the causes, effect and socio-economic impact of desertification and degradation to the community. The study involved a cross-sectional survey conducted with four community categories, namely nomadic pastoralist, agro-pastoralists, villagers and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), from Addado, Buhodle and northern Galkaayo of central and northern part of Somalia; through questionnaire-based interviews. Descriptive statistics attribute environmental changes to negative implications of human activities on the environment: the menace of which led to a decline in forage, current loss of biodiversity and the related changes in the environment, permanent migration, increased poverty and health problems. The startling results of this study conclusively demonstrate that the challenges involve proper interventions for tree planting against desertification as well as for community empowerment through public education and formation of community based environmental associations to coordinate the overall environmental management activities and to raise public awareness.
Buyers’ perspectives on Environmental Services (ES) and commoditization as an approach to liberate ES markets in the Philippines
A study was conducted to understand the perspectives of buyers on environmental services (ES) markets in the Philippines. A total of 25 companies involved in various ES markets served as respondents. Of these, 56 percent we re from government-owned companies and 44 percent from privately-owned companies. The majority of these companies, mostly government-owned, are engaged in water services. Privately-owned companies are primarily engaged in biodiversity and provision of landscape beauty. Most companies or buyers are compelled to pay for ES by the mandate of law, or for regulatory compliance. Some companies view ES from a business perspective and are therefore motivated by the business case in ES markets, as well as some ethical values. A total of 84% of the respondent companies are convinced about the business case of the concept of Payments for Environmental Services (PES), but have differently interpreted this concept. On the buyers’ side, a growing demand for ES is an important precondition in ES markets. Some ES beneficiaries perceived payments as a generous way of s howing environmental awareness and advocacy. There are ES markets that have strong economic potential, and commoditization is seen as a viable approach to encourage them. A means to commoditize some environmental services to liberate ES markets is proposed in this study.
Bundling of payments/rewards for environmental services a viable incentive system under development in the uplands of Northern Vietnam
Mechanisms for Payments for Environmental Services (PES) and Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) are developing in the world in general and in Vietnam in particular. It is clear in Vietnam that single payments for water as an environmental service from forest, or for forest carbon through a REDD mechanism, gives forest owners insufficient income, thereby limiting livelihood improvements and forest protection. A viable incentive system that contains rewards, payments and livelihood options — ‘bundling’ payments for ecosystem services or ‘co – investment for PES’ — being developed in Ba Be district, Bac Kan province, is an option to this limitation (Photo 1 ). Bac Kan was chosen owing to it 40 % poverty rate, 55 % forest cover and complex landscape
Bats as environmental service providers in Bungo, Jambi, Indonesia. Bogor, Indonesia
Findings 18 species of bats from 5 families were found in different land use systems (mixed garden, young rubber, old rubber, disturbed forest and primary forest)