The role of social capital in the promotion of conservation farming: The case of 'landcare' in the southern Philippines

'Social capital' refers to the relationships of trust, communication, and cooperation that facilitate collective action in a community. It is particularly relevant to soil conservation in developing countries, which requires collective efforts to raise awareness of soil degradation, provide effective training in soil conservation practices, and implement soil conservation measures on individual farms. The Landcare Program in the Southern Philippines promotes simple conservation practices in upland environments through establishing and supporting community landcare groups and municipal landcare associations, thus augmenting the social capital of farmers in these locations. An evaluation of the Landcare Program in Barangay Ned, South Cotabato, based on a survey of 313 farm households and case studies of nine landcare groups, shows that, despite extreme isolation and difficult working conditions, farmers responded by rapidly forming landcare groups and a landcare association, and adopting contour barriers on their maize farms. They utilized the bonding social capital inhering in their local communities to build stocks of bridging social capital, linking them to information, training and resources from outside their immediate locality. A logistic regression model of the factors affecting adoption of contour barriers shows that farmers who had undergone the practical, farmer-based training provided by the Landcare Program, and who were members of a landcare group, were significantly more likely to adopt conservation measures. These results confirm the value of investing in social capital to promote soil conservation. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Community involvement in urban nature conservation : case studies of the Urban Wildlife Group 1980-85

The effectiveness of the strategies employed by the Urban Wildlife Group (a voluntary conservation organisation) to provide and manage three urban nature parks has been evaluated, using a multiple methods methodology. Where the level of community interest and commitment to a project is high, the utilisation of the community nature park strategy (to maximise benefits to UWG and the community) is warranted. Where the level of interest and commitment of the local community is low, a strategy designed to encourage limited involvement of the community is most effective and efficient. The campaign strategy, whereby the community and UWG take direct action to oppose a threat of undesirable development on a nature park, is assessed to be a sub-strategy, rather than a strategy in its own right. Questionnaire surveys and observations studies have revealed that urban people appreciate and indeed demand access to nature parks in urban areas, which have similar amenity value to that provided by countryside recreation sites. Urban nature parks are valued for their natural character, natural features (trees, wild flowers) peace and quiet, wildlife and openness. People use these sites for a mixture of informal and mainly passive activities, such as walking and dog walking. They appear to be of particular value to children for physical and imaginative play. The exact input of time and resources that UWG has committed to the projects has depended on the level of input of the local authority. The evidence indicates that the necessary technical expertise needed to produce and manage urban nature parks, using a user-oriented approach is not adequately provided by local authorities. The methods used in this research are presented as an `evaluation kit' that may be used by practitioners and researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of a wide range of different open spaces and the strategies employed to provide and manage them.

Organisational system and performance of post-disaster reconstruction projects

Un document accompagne la thèse et est disponible pour consultation au Centre de conservation des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal (http://www.bib.umontreal.ca/conservation/).

Revised Iowa State Energy Conservation Plan : 1979 - 1980, 1979

The Revised Iowa Energy Conservation Plan: 1979-1980 is a blue print for the state's continued participation. The original Plan contained descriptions of more than 70 programs underway or conceived for state implementation with federal dollars. The Revised Plan contains only those programs to be funded in Federal dollars. The projects include five mandatory programs identified by DOE and several projects selected for funding by the Iowa Energy Policy Council (EPC), the policy making board which governs the state energy agency. The 18-member Council selected the conservation programs at its March 20-21, 1979 meeting. The Council retains the right to amend both the Plan and the budget at any time for the duration of the three-year program.

Biodiversity offsetting and restoration under the European Union Habitats Directive: balancing between no net loss and deathbed conservation?

Biodiversity offsets have emerged as one of the most prominent policy approaches to align economic development with nature protection across many jurisdictions, including the European Union. Given the increased level of scrutiny that needs to be applied when authorizing economic developments near protected Natura 2000 sites, the incorporation of onsite biodiversity offsets in project design has grown increasingly popular in some member states, such as the Netherlands and Belgium. Under this approach, the negative effects of developments are outbalanced by restoration programs that are functionally linked to the infrastructure projects. However, although taking into consideration that the positive effects of onsite restoration measures leads to more leeway for harmful project development, the EU Court of Justice has recently dismissed the latter approaches for going against the preventative underpinnings of the EU Habitats Directive. Also, the expected beneficial outcomes of the restoration efforts are uncertain and thus cannot be relied upon in an ecological assessment under Article 6(3) of the Habitats Directive. Although biodiversity offsets can still be relied upon whenever application is being made of the derogation clause under Article 6(4) of the Habitats Directive, they cannot be used as mitigation under the generic decision-making process for plans and programs liable to adversely affect Natura 2000 sites. We outline the main arguments pro and contra the stance of the EU Court of Justice with regards to the exact delineation between mitigation and compensation. The analysis is also framed in the ongoing debate on the effectiveness of the EU nature directives. Although ostensibly rigid, it is argued that the recent case-law developments are in line with the main principles underpinning biodiversity offsetting. Opening the door for biodiversity offsetting under the Habitats Directive will certainly not reverse the predicament of the EU’s biodiversity. A reinforcement of the preventative approach is instrumental to avert a further biodiversity loss within the European Union, even if it will lead to additional permit refusals for unsustainable project developments.

Status of river basin projects, Connecticut : October 1987 /

"March 1988."

Multi-level, Multi-stage and Stochastic Optimization Models for Energy Conservation in Buildings for Federal, State and Local Agencies

Energy Conservation Measure (ECM) project selection is made difficult given real-world constraints, limited resources to implement savings retrofits, various suppliers in the market and project financing alternatives. Many of these energy efficient retrofit projects should be viewed as a series of investments with annual returns for these traditionally risk-averse agencies. Given a list of ECMs available, federal, state and local agencies must determine how to implement projects at lowest costs. The most common methods of implementation planning are suboptimal relative to cost. Federal, state and local agencies can obtain greater returns on their energy conservation investment over traditional methods, regardless of the implementing organization. This dissertation outlines several approaches to improve the traditional energy conservations models. Any public buildings in regions with similar energy conservation goals in the United States or internationally can also benefit greatly from this research. Additionally, many private owners of buildings are under mandates to conserve energy e.g., Local Law 85 of the New York City Energy Conservation Code requires any building, public or private, to meet the most current energy code for any alteration or renovation. Thus, both public and private stakeholders can benefit from this research. The research in this dissertation advances and presents models that decision-makers can use to optimize the selection of ECM projects with respect to the total cost of implementation. A practical application of a two-level mathematical program with equilibrium constraints (MPEC) improves the current best practice for agencies concerned with making the most cost-effective selection leveraging energy services companies or utilities. The two-level model maximizes savings to the agency and profit to the energy services companies (Chapter 2). An additional model presented leverages a single congressional appropriation to implement ECM projects (Chapter 3). Returns from implemented ECM projects are used to fund additional ECM projects. In these cases, fluctuations in energy costs and uncertainty in the estimated savings severely influence ECM project selection and the amount of the appropriation requested. A risk aversion method proposed imposes a minimum on the number of “of projects completed in each stage. A comparative method using Conditional Value at Risk is analyzed. Time consistency was addressed in this chapter. This work demonstrates how a risk-based, stochastic, multi-stage model with binary decision variables at each stage provides a much more accurate estimate for planning than the agency’s traditional approach and deterministic models. Finally, in Chapter 4, a rolling-horizon model allows for subadditivity and superadditivity of the energy savings to simulate interactive effects between ECM projects. The approach makes use of inequalities (McCormick, 1976) to re-express constraints that involve the product of binary variables with an exact linearization (related to the convex hull of those constraints). This model additionally shows the benefits of learning between stages while remaining consistent with the single congressional appropriations framework.

Geographical distribution and conservation of Cucurbita in Brazil.

The collection and conservation of the Cucurbita genus in Brazil happened in so dispersed institutions, an assessment of the storage conditions and the genetic diversity is needed, making it possible to identify new priorities for the genus. This work constitutes diagnosis of geographical distribution, storage conditions in situ and ex situ and on genetic diversity of the Cucurbita genus in Brazil. Research was done in herbariums, databases, literature and in situ (expeditions to rural areas and (markets) to map the areas of occurrence of the species. During these expeditions, questionnaires were applied to obtain information about the property and genus Cucurbita. Questionnaires were sent to 173 Brazilian institutions regarding the preservation conditions ex situ. A genetic variability of the Cucurbita genus was found in traditional Brazilian agriculture. Collections must be prioritized in the northern and southern regions (all states); the southeastern region, all states, except Minas Gerais; central-west, in Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso; the northeastern region, the states of Alagoas, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí and Sergipe. Currently 5.545 entries are being conserved in the Germplasm banks, however, C. pepo, C. ficifolia, C. argyrosperma and wild species are poorly represented. The characterization level of conserved entries is low in the ex situcollections. Participative research projects must be financed as a way to stimulate the farmers to continue planting their local varieties. A coleta e conservação do gênero Cucurbita no Brasil aconteceu de forma dispersa pelas instituições, sendo necessário um diagnóstico sobre as condições de conservação e sobre a diversidade genética, tornando possível identificar novas prioridades para o gênero. Este trabalho realizou diagnóstico sobre distribuição geográfica, condições de conservação in situ e ex situ e sobre diversidade genética do gênro Cucurbita no Brasil. Para mapear as áreas de ocorrência das espécies, foram realizados levantamentos de informações em herbários, banco de dados, literatura e levantamentos in situ (expedições para áreas rurais, feiras livres e CEASAs). Nessas expedições foram aplicados questionários, buscando informações sobre a propriedade e o gênero Cucurbita. Em relação as condições de conservação ex situ, foram enviados questionários para 173 instituições brasileiras. Foi constatado que existe variabilidade genética do gênero Cucurbita na agricultura tradicional brasileira. Devem ser priorizadas coletas nas regiões Norte e Sul (todos os estados); região Sudeste, todos os estados, exceto Minas Gerais; região Centro-Oeste, no Mato Grosso do Sul e Mato Grosso; região Nordeste, os estados de Alagoas, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí e Sergipe. Atualmente estão sendo conservados nos Bancos de Germoplasma 5.545 acessos, no entanto C. pepo, C ficifolia, C. argyrosperma e espécies silvestres estão pouco representadas. É baixa a taxa de caracterização dos acessos conservados nas coleções ex situ. Devem ser financiados projetos de pesquisa participativa como uma forma de estimular e dar condições aos agricultores de continuarem cultivado suas variedades locais.

Geographical distribution and conservation of Cucurbita in Brazil.

The collection and conservation of the Cucurbita genus in Brazil happened in so dispersed institutions, an assessment of the storage conditions and the genetic diversity is needed, making it possible to identify new priorities for the genus. This work constitutes diagnosis of geographical distribution, storage conditions in situ and ex situ and on genetic diversity of the Cucurbita genus in Brazil. Research was done in herbariums, databases, literature and in situ (expeditions to rural areas and (markets) to map the areas of occurrence of the species. During these expeditions, questionnaires were applied to obtain information about the property and genus Cucurbita. Questionnaires were sent to 173 Brazilian institutions regarding the preservation conditions ex situ. A genetic variability of the Cucurbita genus was found in traditional Brazilian agriculture. Collections must be prioritized in the northern and southern regions (all states); the southeastern region, all states, except Minas Gerais; central-west, in Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso; the northeastern region, the states of Alagoas, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí and Sergipe. Currently 5.545 entries are being conserved in the Germplasm banks, however, C. pepo, C. ficifolia, C. argyrosperma and wild species are poorly represented. The characterization level of conserved entries is low in the ex situcollections. Participative research projects must be financed as a way to stimulate the farmers to continue planting their local varieties. A coleta e conservação do gênero Cucurbita no Brasil aconteceu de forma dispersa pelas instituições, sendo necessário um diagnóstico sobre as condições de conservação e sobre a diversidade genética, tornando possível identificar novas prioridades para o gênero. Este trabalho realizou diagnóstico sobre distribuição geográfica, condições de conservação in situ e ex situ e sobre diversidade genética do gênro Cucurbita no Brasil. Para mapear as áreas de ocorrência das espécies, foram realizados levantamentos de informações em herbários, banco de dados, literatura e levantamentos in situ (expedições para áreas rurais, feiras livres e CEASAs). Nessas expedições foram aplicados questionários, buscando informações sobre a propriedade e o gênero Cucurbita. Em relação as condições de conservação ex situ, foram enviados questionários para 173 instituições brasileiras. Foi constatado que existe variabilidade genética do gênero Cucurbita na agricultura tradicional brasileira. Devem ser priorizadas coletas nas regiões Norte e Sul (todos os estados); região Sudeste, todos os estados, exceto Minas Gerais; região Centro-Oeste, no Mato Grosso do Sul e Mato Grosso; região Nordeste, os estados de Alagoas, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí e Sergipe. Atualmente estão sendo conservados nos Bancos de Germoplasma 5.545 acessos, no entanto C. pepo, C ficifolia, C. argyrosperma e espécies silvestres estão pouco representadas. É baixa a taxa de caracterização dos acessos conservados nas coleções ex situ. Devem ser financiados projetos de pesquisa participativa como uma forma de estimular e dar condições aos agricultores de continuarem cultivado suas variedades locais.

Collective actions for environmental monitoring and conservation: citizen science, informal environmental education, and participatory approach

This PhD was driven by an interest for inclusive and participatory approaches. The methodology that bridges science and society is known as 'citizen science' and is experiencing a huge upsurge worldwide, in the scientific and humanities fields. In this thesis, I have focused on three topics: i) assessing the reliability of data collected by volunteers; ii) evaluating the impact of environmental education activities in tourist facilities; and iii) monitoring marine biodiversity through citizen science. In addition to these topics, during my research stay abroad, I developed a questionnaire to investigate people's perceptions of natural areas to promote the implementation of co-management. The results showed that volunteers are not only able to collect sufficiently reliable data, but that during their participation in this type of project, they can also increase their knowledge of marine biology and ecology and their awareness of the impact of human behaviour on the environment. The short-term analysis has shown that volunteers are able to retain what they have learned. In the long term, knowledge is usually forgotten, but awareness is retained. Increased awareness could lead to a change in behaviour and in this case a more environmentally friendly attitude. This aspect could be of interest for the development of environmental education projects in tourism facilities to reduce the impact of tourism on the environment while adding a valuable service to the tourism offer. We also found that nature experiences in childhood are important to connect to nature in adulthood. The results also suggest that membership or volunteering in an environmental education association could be a predictor of people's interest in more participatory approaches to nature management. In most cases, the COVID -19 pandemic had not changed participants' perceptions of the natural environment.

Experiences From The Brazilian Atlantic Forest: Ecological Findings And Conservation Initiatives.

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest hosts one of the world's most diverse and threatened tropical forest biota. In many ways, its history of degradation describes the fate experienced by tropical forests around the world. After five centuries of human expansion, most Atlantic Forest landscapes are archipelagos of small forest fragments surrounded by open-habitat matrices. This 'natural laboratory' has contributed to a better understanding of the evolutionary history and ecology of tropical forests and to determining the extent to which this irreplaceable biota is susceptible to major human disturbances. We share some of the major findings with respect to the responses of tropical forests to human disturbances across multiple biological levels and spatial scales and discuss some of the conservation initiatives adopted in the past decade. First, we provide a short description of the Atlantic Forest biota and its historical degradation. Secondly, we offer conceptual models describing major shifts experienced by tree assemblages at local scales and discuss landscape ecological processes that can help to maintain this biota at larger scales. We also examine potential plant responses to climate change. Finally, we propose a research agenda to improve the conservation value of human-modified landscapes and safeguard the biological heritage of tropical forests.

Molecular Genetic Variability Of Commercial And Wild Accessions Of Passion Fruit (passiflora Spp.) Targeting Ex Situ Conservation And Breeding.

Passiflora species are distributed throughout Latin America, and Brazil and Colombia serve as the centers of diversity for this genus. We performed cross-species amplification to evaluate 109 microsatellite loci in 14 Passiflora species and estimated the diversity and genetic structure of Passiflora cincinnata, Passiflora setaceae and Passiflora edulis. A total of 127 accessions, including 85 accessions of P. edulis, a commercial species, and 42 accessions of 13 wild species, were examined. The cross-species amplification was effective for obtaining microsatellite loci (average cross-amplification of 70%). The average number of alleles per locus (five) was relatively low, and the average diversity ranged from 0.52 in P. cincinnata to 0.32 in P. setacea. The Bayesian analyses indicated that the P. cincinnata and P. setacea accessions were distributed into two groups, and the P. edulis accessions were distributed into five groups. Private alleles were identified, and suggestions for core collections are presented. Further collections are necessary, and the information generated may be useful for breeding and conservation.

Development And Characterization Of Microsatellite Markers For Piptadenia Gonoacantha (fabaceae).

• Microsatellite primers were designed for Piptadenia gonoacantha (Fabaceae) and characterized to estimate genetic diversity parameters. The species is a native tree from the Atlantic Forest biome commonly used in forest restoration; it has medicinal potential and the wood is economically useful. • Twenty-eight microsatellite loci were identified from an enriched genomic library. Fifteen loci resulted in successful amplifications and were characterized in a natural population of 94 individuals. Twelve loci were polymorphic, with allele numbers ranging from three to 15 per locus, and expected and observed heterozygosities ranging from 0.2142 to 0.8325 and 0.190 to 0.769, respectively. • The developed markers will be used in further studies of population genetics of P. gonoacantha, aimed at conservation and management of the species in natural populations and in forest restoration projects.

Condutividade e difusividade térmica do figo (Ficus carica L.) Roxo de Valinhos

The post harvest cooling and/or freezing processes for horticultural products have been carried out with the objective of removing the heat from these products, allowing them a bigger period of conservation. Therefore, the knowledge of the physical properties that involve heat transference in the fig fruit Roxo de Valinhos is useful for calculating projects and systems of food engineering in general, as well as, for using in equations of thermodynamic mathematical models. The values of conductivity and thermal diffusivity of the whole fig fruit-rami index were determined, and from these values it was determined the value of the specific heat. For these determination it was used the transient method of the Line Heat Source. The results shown that the fig fruit has a thermal conductivity of 0.52 W m-1°C, thermal diffusivity of 1.56 x 10-7 m² s-1, pulp density of 815.6 kg m-3 and specific heat of 4.07 kJ kg-1 °C.

Influence of spawning procedure on gametes fertilization success in Salminus hilarii Valenciennes, 1850 (Teleostei: Characidae): Implications for the conservation of this species

Artificial reproduction and gamete fertilization were evaluated in Salminus hilarii wild and domesticated broodstocks. Wild and domesticated broodstocks were artificially induced to reproduction using a carp pituitary treatment. Four groups were considered: Group 1 (G1), fish caught in the wild maintained for three years in the same conditions as the domesticated broodstocks and spawned naturally; Group 2 (G2), broodstock born and raised in captivity and spawned naturally; Group 3 (G3), wild broodstocks, which were manually stripped for gamete collection and dry fertilization; and Group 4 (G4), domesticated males and females, also manually stripped. Oocytes, eggs, and larvae were sampled at different time intervals throughout embryonic development. Yolk sac absorption occurred approximately 24-29 h after hatching. Twenty-six h after hatching, the larvae mouths opened. Cannibalism was identified just 28-30 h after hatching. There was no morphological difference in embryonic development among all groups. The number of released eggs per gram of female was: G1: 83.3 ± 24.5 and G2: 103.8 ± 37.4; however, the fertilization success was lower in G2 (42.0 ± 6.37 %) compared with G1 (54.7 ± 3.02%) (P = 0.011). Hand-stripping of oocytes was not successful and the fertilization rate was zero. The reproduction of this species in captivity is viable, but it is necessary to improve broodstock management to enhance fertilization rates and obtain better fingerling production for restocking programs.