Climate change and agriculture: theory and application of mitigation policies

Agriculture’s contribution to climate change is controversial as it is a significant source of greenhouse gases but also a sink of carbon. Hence its economic and technological potential to mitigate climate change have been argued to be noteworthy. However, social profitability of emission mitigation is a result from factors among emission reductions such as surface water quality impact or profit from production. Consequently, to value comprehensive results of agricultural climate emission mitigation practices, these co-effects to environment and economics should be taken into account. The objective of this thesis was to develop an integrated economic and ecological model to analyse the social welfare of crop cultivation in Finland on distinctive cultivation technologies, conventional tillage and conservation tillage (no-till). Further, we ask whether it would be privately or socially profitable to allocate some of barley cultivation for alternative land use, such as green set-aside or afforestation, when production costs, GHG’s and water quality impacts are taken into account. In the theoretical framework we depict the optimal input use and land allocation choices in terms of environmental impacts and profit from production and derive the optimal tax and payment policies for climate and water quality friendly land allocation. The empirical application of the model uses Finnish data about production cost and profit structure and environmental impacts. According to our results, given emission mitigation practices are not self-evidently beneficial for farmers or society. On the contrary, in some cases alternative land allocation could even reduce social welfare, profiting conventional crop cultivation. This is the case regarding mineral soils such as clay and silt soils. On organic agricultural soils, climate mitigation practices, in this case afforestation and green fallow give more promising results, decreasing climate emissions and nutrient runoff to water systems. No-till technology does not seem to profit climate mitigation although it does decrease other environmental impacts. Nevertheless, the data behind climate emission mitigation practices impact to production and climate is limited and partly contradictory. More specific experiment studies on interaction of emission mitigation practices and environment would be needed. Further study would be important. Particularly area specific production and environmental factors and also food security and safety and socio-economic impacts should be taken into account.

Integrating biodiversity and conservation with modern agricultural landscapes

To achieve food security and meet the demands of the ever-growing human populations, farming systems have assumed unsustainable practices to produce more from a finite land area. This has been cause for concern mainly due to the often-irreversible damage done to the otherwise productive agricultural landscapes. Agro-ecology is proclaimed to be deteriorating due to eroding integrity of connected ecological mosaics and vulnerability to climate change. This has contributed to declining species diversity, loss of buffer vegetation, fragmentation of habitats, and loss of natural pollinators or predators, which eventually leads to decline in ecosystem services. Currently, a hierarchy of conservation initiatives is being considered to restore ecological integrity of agricultural landscapes. However, the challenge of identifying a suitable conservation strategy is a daunting task in view of socio-ecological factors that may constrain the choice of available strategies. One way to mitigate this situation and integrate biodiversity with agricultural landscapes is to implement offset mechanisms, which are compensatory and balancing approaches to restore the ecological health and function of an ecosystem. This needs to be tailored to the history of location specific agricultural practices, and the social, ecological and environmental conditions. The offset mechanisms can complement other initiatives through which farmers are insured against landscape-level risks such as droughts, fire and floods. For countries in the developing world with significant biodiversity and extensive agriculture, we should promote a comprehensive model of sustainable agricultural landscapes and ecosystem services, replicable at landscape to regional scales. Arguably, the model can be a potential option to sustain the integrity of biodiversity mosaic in agricultural landscapes.

Community-managed forests and wildlife-friendly agriculture play a subsidiary but not substitutive role to protected areas for the endangered Asian elephant

Global conservation policy is increasingly debating the feasibility of reconciling wildlife conservation and human resource requirements in land uses outside protected areas (PAs). However, there are few quantitative assessments of whether or to what extent these `wildlife-friendly' land uses fulfill a fundamental function of PAs-to separate biodiversity from anthropogenic threats. We distinguish the role of wildlife-friendly land uses as being (a) subsidiary, whereby they augment PAs with secondary habitat, or (b) substitutive, wherein they provide comparable habitat to PAs. We tested our hypotheses by investigating the influence of land use and human presence on space-use intensity of the endangered Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) in a fragmented landscape comprising PAs and wildlife-friendly land uses. We applied multistate occupancy models to spatial data on elephant occurrence to estimate and model the overall probability of elephants using a site, and the conditional probability of high-intensity use given that elephants use a site. The probability of elephants using a site regardless of intensity did not vary between PAs and wildlife-friendly land uses. However, high-intensity use declined with distance to PM, and this effect was accentuated by an increase in village density. Therefore, while wildlife-friendly land uses did play a subsidiary conservation role, their potential to substitute for PAs was offset by a strong human presence. Our findings demonstrate the need to evaluate the role of wildlife-friendly land uses in landscape-scale conservation; for species that have conflicting resource requirements with people, PAs are likely to provide crucial refuge from growing anthropogenic threats. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Co-benefits, trade-offs, barriers and policies for greenhouse gas mitigation in the agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector

The agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector is responsible for approximately 25% of anthropogenic GHG emissions mainly from deforestation and agricultural emissions from livestock, soil and nutrient management. Mitigation from the sector is thus extremely important in meeting emission reduction targets. The sector offers a variety of cost-competitive mitigation options with most analyses indicating a decline in emissions largely due to decreasing deforestation rates. Sustainability criteria are needed to guide development and implementation of AFOLU mitigation measures with particular focus on multifunctional systems that allow the delivery of multiple services from land. It is striking that almost all of the positive and negative impacts, opportunities and barriers are context specific, precluding generic statements about which AFOLU mitigation measures have the greatest promise at a global scale. This finding underlines the importance of considering each mitigation strategy on a case-by-case basis, systemic effects when implementing mitigation options on the national scale, and suggests that policies need to be flexible enough to allow such assessments. National and international agricultural and forest (climate) policies have the potential to alter the opportunity costs of specific land uses in ways that increase opportunities or barriers for attaining climate change mitigation goals. Policies governing practices in agriculture and in forest conservation and management need to account for both effective mitigation and adaptation and can help to orient practices in agriculture and in forestry towards global sharing of innovative technologies for the efficient use of land resources. Different policy instruments, especially economic incentives and regulatory approaches, are currently being applied however, for its successful implementation it is critical to understand how land-use decisions are made and how new social, political and economic forces in the future will influence this process.

Exploitation of soil biota ecosystem services in agriculture: a bioeconomic approach

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Production and conservation of nutrient-rich small fish (SIS) in ponds and wetlands for nutrition security and livelihoods in South Asia: Proceedings of a World Bank/SAFANSI funded regional workshop on small fish and nutrition, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1st - 2nd March 2014

Small indigenous fish species (SIS) are an important source of essential macro- and micronutrients that can play an important role in the elimination of malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies in the populations of many South and Southeast Asian countries. Of the 260 freshwater fish species in Bangladesh, more than 140 are classified as SIS and are an integral part of the rural Bangladeshi diet. As many SIS are eaten whole, with organs and bones, they contain high amounts of vitamins and minerals, including calcium, and iron and zinc. Some SIS, such as mola, are also rich in vitamin A. SIS are often cooked with vegetables and a little oil, so they contribute to the food diversity of the rural poor.SIS are recognized as a major animal-source food group, contributing to improved food and nutrition security and livelihoods of the people of South and Southeast Asia. The purpose of this workshop is to bring together policy makers, extension agents, researchers, non-governmental and development organizations to share knowledge about small fish, their contribution to better nutrition, production technologies, and strategies for wider dissemination of pond culture and wetland based-production and conservation technologies. The workshop is expected to generate ideas for further research and development of sustainable technologies for production, management and conservation of SIS for the benefit of the people of Bangladesh as well as the South and Southeast Asian region.

The role of satellite lakes in conservation of fish species diversity in the Lake Kyoga basin

Lakes Victoria and Kyoga had, a diverse fish fauna, which was important as food for local population and valuable in scientific studies. Over the past twenty years, the diversity of fish in these lakes had declined due to over-exploitation, introduction of new fish species including the piscivorous Nile perch and degradation of fish habitat. Studies of satellite lakes in the Victoria and Kyoga lake basins suggested that some of these lakes harboured species which had been lost from the main lakes. In order to better understand the extent, to which these satellite lakes may serve as refugia, a faunal survey was undertaken to determine the distribution and nature of the taxa found. Seven satellite lakes and the eastern end of the main Lake Kyoga adjacent to these minor lakes were surveyed over a two-year period for fish species diversity. A total of 68 fish species were recorded of which 41 were haplochromines. Almost all the native non cichlids which occurred in the main lakes (Victoria and Kyoga) before the Nile perch upsurge recorded. Lakes Nawampasa, Gigati, Kawi, Agu and Nyaguo had the highest fish species and trophic diversity. The trophic diversity of haplochromines (based on Shannon Weaver Index) was highest in Lake Nawampasa (1.28), followed by Gigati (1.25), Kawi (1.18), Agu (0.8), Lemwa (0.81), Nyaguo (0.35) and was lowest in the main Lake Kyoga. Potential threats to these lakes were from collectors of ornamental fish species, especially the haplochromines, the spread of the predatory Nile perch and the water hyacinth, which are already in Lake Kyoga, and the destruction of macrophytes through harvesting of papyrus and reclamation for agriculture. The human population around these lakes harvested the fishes for food but the levels of exploitation were still low because the lakes were adjacent to main Lake Kyoga, the major supply of fish. Ornamental fish dealers were encouraged to start captive breeding of the fish for export to reduce pressure on the lakes and demonstrations for breeding were set up at FIRI in Jinja. Meetings and seminars were held with some of the communities living around the lakes sampled and the importance of fish species found in these lakes and the dangers of destructive practices discussed. Representatives of all taxa of fish caught from the lakes were preserved, catalogued and stored in the FIRI Museum. Results from this survey support the motion that these satellite lakes are important refugia for endemic diversity. Based on survey, we recommend that SaIne of these lakes like Nawampasa, Gigati, Kawi, Agu and Nyaguo could be designated as conservation areas of species threatened in the main lakes. One of the factors that seem to have prevented the spread of Nile perch into Kyoga Minor lakes seems to have been the presence of extensive swamps around these lakes and the low oxygen levels that exist in these habitats. Clearing of swamps and vegetation that separate Kyoga minor lakes from the main lake should be avoided to prevent Nile perch from spreading into these lakes.

Brazilian savanna forest : conservation, medicinal reservoir and bioprospecting

This study aimed to analyse the Brazilian savanna forest from a Legal Reserve (LR) area from a perspective of conservation, reservoir of organic carbon and medicinal biomass for a prospective use of native medicinal plants. An ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological survey was carried out close to a community settled in the rural area in the south of Tocantins, being selected 9 of the most cited species (cajuí- Anacardium othonianum; inharé-Brosimum gaudichaudii; jatobá-Hymenaeae courbaril; jenipapo-Genipa americana, aroeira-Myracrodruon urundeuva; negramina-Siparuna guianensis; barbatimão- Stryphnodendron obovatum; assa peixe-Vernonia brasiliana, embaúba-Cecropia pachystachya). Crude foliar extracts were subjected to a preliminary phytochemical prospection and triage of secondary metabolites with antimicrobial activity of potential interest in health and familiar agriculture. Phenolic compounds, terpenes and flavonoids were detected in the extracts of most species, which suggests the presence of antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-insect activities. It was evident the need to better know the LR as a reservoir of medicinal biomass in an area under ecological tension where 35% (610ha) of the property is LR and should be protected by law. Therefore, a forest inventory of live woody species was performed using the allometric or indirect method. This identified a rare remnant of Semidecidual Seasonal Forest amidst the largest world savannah, the Cerrado biome. An analysis of the forest average productivity per basal area (m².ha), aerial live biomass (ton.ha-1) and carbon stock was carried out. The forest fragment was considered relatively rich in species and diversity, although showing signs of disturbance and dominance by a few species. Its horizontal structure suggests biotic regeneration conditions. It is an important reservoir of medicinal plants. Of the families (57.5%) presenting medicinal species, 19 from a total of 33 are represented in the area and contain 44% (27) of the total species (61) and 63% (432) of the total individuals catalogued. Medicinal species have ecological importance for the equilibrium of the local flora and represent 80% of the 10 species with higher Importance Value Index (IVI): Tetragastris altissima, Chrysophyllum marginatum, Oenocarpus distichus, Sclerolobium paniculatum, Simarouba versicolor, Alibertia macrophylla, Siparuna guianensis, Maprounea guianensis, Licania parvifolia e Physocalymma scaberrimum. Medicinal productivity was high for this type of phytophysionomy: 183,2 ton. ha-1 of biomass and 91,51 ton. ha-1 of carbon representing 66% of the total biomass and carbon of this Cerrado forest. From this stage S. guianensis (Siparunaceae) was selected for performing bioassays in order to verify its biological activity against microorganisms of health and agricultural relevance. This is a native aromatic medicinal plant recommended as priority for conservation, with local popular medicinal validation and availability of medicinal feedstock (3300 Kg.ha-1), with the foliar fraction giving 38Kg/ha of crude extract and 5L/ha of essential oil. Foliar crude extracts and essential oil were obtained and tested in vitro using a disk diffusion bioassay. Different concentrations of these natural products were tested against gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213), gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and ATCC 35218; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 10145) and fungi (Candida albicans ATCC 6258 e Fusarium oxysporum). The essential oil inhibited the growth of S. aureus in its crude concentration (380μg.mL-1), as well as diluted to half (190μg.mL-1) and a quarter strength (95μg.mL-1). It’s likely that such action is due to sesquiterpenes major components, such as bisabolol and bisabolene (10.35%), measured by gas chromatography (GC-MS, GC-FID). Extracts did not exhibit any antimicrobial activity against the microorganisms tested. The native medicinal plants prospective market is an alternative that favours the conservation of biodiversity while generating benefits for the development of sustainable family productive activities within local ecosystems instead of the current inappropriate uses. This strengthens conservation policies of Legal Reserve in rural settlements and is in agreement with public policy on global warming and climate changes.

Rapport à la nature et stratégies intégrées de conservation et développement : le cas de São Tomé et Principe

Depuis les années 90, les Projets Intégrés de Conservation et Développement ont été présentés comme des modèles fonctionnels de développement durable pour un site spécifique dans une perspective de réalisation. Le but est d’intégrer les objectifs biologiques de la conservation aux objectifs sociaux et économiques du développement. Ces projets, qui répondent à de multiples dénominations et stratégies, sont implantés dans des contextes naturellement hétérogènes et dynamiques, où l’aménagement du territoire ne doit pas être un outil de planification étatique, désigné et imposé dans une logique conservationniste. Les aires protégées représentent une certaine vision du rapport entre l’être humain et la nature, apparue dans le contexte nord-américain avec la création des premiers grands parcs nationaux en 1870. Aujourd'hui, la forte volonté d'impliquer la population se heurte avec la difficulté de concilier la gestion de ces espaces avec les pratiques, les nécessités et les intérêts locaux. Le parc naturel Obô, qui occupe 30% du territoire de São Tomé et Principe, doit affronter la difficile intégration entre les représentations de la nature et les usages locaux avec les objectifs globaux des politiques conservationnistes, ainsi qu’avec les intérêts touristiques et économiques des investisseurs locaux et étrangers. Les représentations sociales de la nature, établissant une forme de connaissance pratique, déterminent la vision du monde et la relation qu'un certain groupe social peut avoir avec le territoire. Ainsi, chaque communauté possède ses propres mécanismes d'adaptation au milieu basés sur ce système représentationnel. Dans le cas des communautés sãotoméennes, la nature présente un caractère spirituel (associé à des croyances, des rites et des pratiques médicales traditionnelles) et utilitaire (la nature, à travers l'agriculture, la récolte ou la chasse, répond au besoin de subsistance). L’objectif de ce projet de thèse est donc de mieux comprendre la synergie existante entre savoir endogène et gestion de la biodiversité pour adapter l’aménagement du territoire à la réalité des populations qui y vivent.

Sustainability of Medicinal Plants in Kerala Economic Considerations in Domestication and Conservation of Forest Resources

The present study on the sustainability of medicinal plants in Kerala economic considerations in domestication and conservation of forest resources. There is worldwide consensus on the fact that medicinal plants are important not only in the local health support systems but in rural income and foreign exchange earnings. Sustainability of medicinal plants is important for the survival of forest dwellers, the forest ecosystem, conserving a heritage of human knowledge and overall development through linkages. More equitable sharing of the benefits from commercial utilization of the medicinal plants was found essential for the sustainability of the plants. Cultivation is very crucial for the sustainability of the sector. Through a direct tie-up with the industry, the societies can earn more income and repatriate better collection charges to its members. Cultivation should be carried out in wastelands, tiger reserves and in plantation forests. In short, the various players in the in the sector could find solution to their specific problems through co-operation and networking among them. They should rely on self-help rather than urging the government to take care of their needs. As far as the government is concerned, the forest department through checking over- exploitation of wild plants and the Agriculture Dept. through encouraging cultivation could contribute to the sustainable development of the medicinal plant sector.

Balancing Economic Development with Environmental Conservation: Challenges Facing the North and South

This paper critically explores how development policies tend to ignore pressing environmental concerns. In the first section development in the North and South and the Bhopal disaster will be juxtaposed to show how development without environmental governance can be deadly. The article then turns to the way in which the Sri Lankan government’s Moragahakanda Development Project strives for economic development without concern for the environment. It will be contended in this article that governments and big companies in the North and South have tended to carelessly use scarce resources for development.

The Importance of Agriculture-Dominated Landscapes and Lack of Field Border Effect for Early-Succession Songbird Nest Success

In recent decades, many early-succession songbird species have experienced severe and widespread declines, which often are related to habitat destruction. Field borders create additional or enhance existing early-succession habitat on farmland. However, field border shape and the landscape context surrounding farms may influence the effectiveness of field borders in contributing to the stabilization or increase of early-succession bird populations. We examined the influence of linear and nonlinear field borders on farms in landscapes dominated by either agriculture or forests on nest success and Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) brood parasitism of Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) and Blue Grosbeak (Passerina caerulea) nests combined. Field border establishment did not affect nest survival probability and brood parasitism frequency of Indigo Bunting and Blue Grosbeak nests. Indigo Bunting/Blue Grosbeak nest success probability was more than twice as high in agriculture-dominated landscapes (39%) than in forested landscapes (17%), and brood parasitism frequency was high (33%) but did not differ between landscapes. Edges in agriculture-dominated landscapes can be higher-quality habitats for early-succession birds than edges in forest-dominated landscapes, but our field border treatments did not enhance nest success for these birds on farms in either landscape.

Estimated Mortality of Selected Migratory Bird Species from Mowing and Other Mechanical Operations in Canadian Agriculture

Mechanical operations such as mowing, tilling, seeding, and harvesting are well-known sources of direct avian mortality in agricultural fields. However, there are currently no mortality rate estimates available for any species group or larger jurisdiction. Even reviews of sources of mortality in birds have failed to address mechanical disturbance in farm fields. To overcome this information gap we provide estimates of total mortality rates by mechanical operations for five selected species across Canada. In our step-by-step modeling approach we (i) quantified the amount of various types of agricultural land in each Bird Conservation Region (BCR) in Canada, (ii) estimated population densities by region and agricultural habitat type for each selected species, (iii) estimated the average timing of mechanical agricultural activities, egg laying, and fledging, (iv) and used these values and additional demographical parameters to derive estimates of total mortality by species within each BCR. Based on our calculations the total annual estimated incidental take of young ranged from ~138,000 for Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) to as much as ~941,000 for Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis). Net losses to the fall flight of birds, i.e., those birds that would have fledged successfully in the absence of mechanical disturbance, were, for example ~321,000 for Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) and ~483,000 for Savannah Sparrow. Although our estimates are subject to an unknown degree of uncertainty, this assessment is a very important first step because it provides a broad estimate of incidental take for a set of species that may be particularly vulnerable to mechanical operations and a starting point for future refinements of model parameters if and when they become available.

Off-road sampling reveals a different grassland bird community than roadside sampling: implications for survey design and estimates to guide conservation

Grassland bird species continue to decline steeply across North America. Road-based surveys such as the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) are often used to estimate trends and population sizes and to build species distribution models for grassland birds, although roadside survey counts may introduce bias in estimates because of differences in habitats along roadsides and in off-road surveys. We tested for differences in land cover composition and in the avian community on 21 roadside-based survey routes and in an equal number of adjacent off-road walking routes in the grasslands of southern Alberta, Canada. Off-road routes (n = 225 point counts) had more native grassland and short shrubs and less fallow land and road area than the roadside routes (n = 225 point counts). Consequently, 17 of the 39 bird species differed between the two route types in frequency of occurrence and relative abundance, measured using an indicator species analysis. Six species, including five obligate grassland species, were more prevalent at off-road sites; they included four species listed under the Canadian federal Species At Risk Act or listed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada: Sprague’s Pipit (Anthus spragueii), Baird’s Sparrow (Ammodramus bairdii), the Chestnut-collared Longspur (Calcarius ornatus), and McCown’s Longspur (Rhynchophanes mccownii). The six species were as much as four times more abundant on off-road sites. Species more prevalent along roadside routes included common species and those typical of farmland and other human-modified habitats, e.g., the European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), the Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia), and the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). Differences in avian community composition between roadside and off-road surveys suggest that the use of BBS data when generating population estimates or distribution models may overestimate certain common species and underestimate others of conservation concern. Our results highlight the need to develop appropriate corrections for bias in estimates derived from roadside sampling, and the need to design surveys that sample bird communities across a more representative cross-section of the landscape, both near and far from roads.