scholarly journals Biosphere Reserves in the Southwest of Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Semegnew Tadese ◽  
Teshome Soromessa ◽  
Tesefaye Bekele ◽  
Brhane Meles
Keyword(s):  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Selection Criterion ◽  
Biosphere Reserve ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Shannon Index ◽  
Forest Conversion ◽  
Biosphere Reserves ◽  
Ecological Gradient ◽  
The Government ◽  
Plant Families

Forests that have a wide ecological gradient, diversity, and significant cover are confined in the southwestern part vis-à-vis other parts of Ethiopia, while the country is fronting biodiversity losses. The intention of this paper is comparative assessment of Majang, Kafa, Sheka, and Yayo biosphere reserves, located in the southwest of Ethiopia, regarding their status of plant diversity, challenges, and efforts of conservation. To this end, an extensive review of different journals, articles, and proceedings was made. Relevance to the objectives of the review was a selection criterion for sources inclusion. Consequently, the review indicates that all the biosphere reserves contained myriad plant biodiversity, specifically the “hotspot” of Afromontane rainforest biodiversity, with some degree of dissimilarities among them. For instance, the values of Shannon index illustrated a decreasing order in plant diversity as Sheka followed by Kafa, Yayo, and Majang biosphere reserve. Besides, out of the top ten documented plant families, the species richest families are Rubiaceae (15) in Yayo, Asteraceae (12) in Kafa, Euphorbiaceae (11) in Majang, and Asteraceae (11) in Sheka biosphere reserve, while the least species found in the families are as follows: Aspleniaceae and Sapindaceae in Majang; Poaceae, Solanaceae, and Araceae in Sheka; Celastraceae and Piperaceae in Kafa; and Fabacae and Solanaceae in Yayo. However, many challenges were encountered in all the biosphere reserves. The driving force behind is commercial coffee-tea plantation, agriculture expansion, overgrazing, firewood, charcoal, and other factors. Hence, to reduce forest conversion and biodiversity loss, the government of Ethiopia is creating conservation mechanism like the establishment of the protected area and biosphere reserve which is controlled and managed by the community and the government.

scholarly journals Comparative Analysis between the Role of Local Communities in Regional Development inside Japanese and Russian UNESCO’s Biosphere Reserves: Case Studies of Mount Hakusan and Katunskiy Biosphere Reserves

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10422
Author(s):  
Aida Mammadova ◽  
Christopher D. Smith ◽  
Tatiana Yashina
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Regional Development ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Biosphere Reserve ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Nature Protection ◽  
Biosphere Reserves ◽  
The Government

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization has designated the Man and Biosphere Program to foster a better relationship between the environment and people. The topic of this study is to elucidate the role of local communities in the regional development of Biosphere Reserves with a focus on management roles (top-down or participatory) and the motivational drivers of the people involved (ecocentric or anthropocentric). Based on qualitative interviews taken from the two case studies of the Mount Hakusan Biosphere Reserve in Japan and the Katunskiy Biosphere Reserve in Russia, a comparative analysis was conducted to explore the differences between the engagement of locals in the management of their biosphere reserves. This analysis examined relationships between the government and the local communities, the attitudes of the locals towards the biosphere reserves, and the historical perception on nature protection for each community. The findings showed that Russian biosphere reserves are mainly managed by local people who live inside the protected area while Japanese biosphere reserves are governed by local authorities and administration offices. This allows the Russian communities to have greater access to management processes, and therefore play a larger role in regional development.

Environmental Degradation in the Ikorodu Sub-Urban Lagos - Lagoon Coastal Environment, Nigeria

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shakirudeen Odunuga ◽  
Samuel Udofia ◽  
Opeyemi Esther Osho ◽  
Olubunmi Adegun
Keyword(s):  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Coastal Environment ◽  
Resource Exploitation ◽  
Average Growth ◽  
Awareness Campaigns ◽  
The Government ◽  
State Of The Environment

Introduction:Human activities exert great pressures on the environment which in turn cause environmental stresses of various intensities depending on the factors involved and the sensitivity of the receiving environment.Objective:This study examines the effects of anthropogenic activities along the sub-urban lagoon fragile coastal ecosystem using DPSIR framework.Results:The results show that the study area has undergone a tremendous change between 1964 and 2015 with the built up area increasing to about 1,080 ha (17.87%) in 2015 from 224 ha (1.32%) in 1964 at an average growth rate of 16.78ha per annum. The nature of the degradation includes an increasing fragility of the ecosystem through the emergence and expansion of wetlands, flooding and erosion as well as a reduction in the benefits from the ecosystem services. Population growth, between 2006 and 2015 for Ikorodu LGA, estimated at 8.84% per annum serves as the most important driving force in reducing the quality of the environment. This is in addition to Pressures emanating from anthropogenic activities. The state of the environment shows continuous resource exploitation (fishing and sand mining) with the impacts of the pressures coming from water pollution, bank erosion, biodiversity loss and flooding. Although there has been a strong policy formulation response from the government, weak implementation is a major challenge.Recommendation:The study recommends public awareness campaigns and the implementation of existing policies to ensure a sustainable sub-urban lagoon coastal environment..

scholarly journals Embodied Carbon as a Material Selection Criterion: Insights from Sri Lankan Construction Sector

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2202
Author(s):  
Amalka Nawarathna ◽  
Muditha Siriwardana ◽  
Zaid Alwan
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Material Selection ◽  
Selection Criterion ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Rating Systems ◽  
Embodied Carbon ◽  
The Government

The choice of materials is crucial in responding to the increasing embodied carbon (EC) impacts of buildings. Building professionals involved in material selection for construction projects have a vital role to play in this regard. This paper aimed to explore the extent to which building professionals in Sri Lanka considered EC as a material selection criterion. A questionnaire survey was conducted among a sample of building professionals in Sri Lanka. The results indicated that the consideration of EC as a material selection criterion remained low among key professionals, such as architects, engineers, and sustainability managers, despite their reasonable influencing powers and knowledge of EC. Those respondents who had considered EC as a selection criterion said they had been primarily driven by green building rating systems and previous experience. Those respondents who had not considered EC during material selection commonly reported that they had been prevented from doing so by the lack of regulations and the lack of alternative low carbon materials. Respondents believed that the involvement of actors, such as the government, professional bodies, environmental organizations, activist groups, and the public, may be significant in promoting the greater consideration of EC during material selection.

scholarly journals Use of forest land for national-priority infrastructures in Nepal

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-64
Author(s):  
U. R. Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Forest Area ◽  
Forest Conversion ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Infrastructure Projects ◽  
Forest Land ◽  
National Priority ◽  
Equivalent Area ◽  
Strict Enforcement ◽  
The Government ◽  
Forest Lands

 Forest conversion has been identified as one of the several bottlenecks affecting upon the major infrastructure projects in Nepal, especially in the energy and transport sectors. Nepal’s policy requires at least 40% of its land cover under forest. This means if any forest land is converted to non-forest land, it must be compensated with an equivalent area, preferably in the similar ecotype in the nation. In addition, a specified number of trees must be planted for the number of trees felled in the project site, and the site must be managed and protected for five years by the developers. These provisions have led to growing resentment between the developers and the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation (MFSC), leading to delay in providing forest lands for infrastructure projects. With a view to develop mechanisms for the government to rapidly provide forest land for nationally important infrastructure projects, the Government databases were examined to analyze the forests handed over to the developers for non-forestry uses. The data showed that a total of 14,028.4 ha of forest area were handed over to the developers for non-forestry uses until the end of 2015. On an average, 263.8 ha forest area was found to be handed over to the developers between the period of 2010–2013. However, there is a declining trend of forest handed over for non-forestry purposes in the recent years. The decline could be due to the strict enforcement of the legal provision which limits the conversion of forest areas to non-forest areas except in the case of the “national priority projects”. It has been recommended that the conversion of forest for infrastructure development should be examined with a holistic perspective by taking all the related components of forest conversion into consideration, from providing forest land for replacement planting. It is recommended that the Forest Product Development Board (FPDB), a parastatal organization under the MFSC, should be entrusted with the work of plantation related to forest conversion. The fund for this work should flow directly from the developers to the FPDB. The possibility of forming a land bank to facilitate the work of the FPDB is also recommended.Banko Janakari, Vol. 27, No. 1, Page: 60-64

scholarly journals Heading forward to the "Mura-Drava-Danube transboundary biosphere reserve"

2014 ◽  
pp. 267-279
Author(s):  
Milos Petrovic
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Biosphere Reserve ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Danube River ◽  
Biosphere Reserves ◽  
Multilateral Cooperation ◽  
Legal Documents ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Danube River Basin

At ministry assembly in Budapest in March 2011, republics such as Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia and Serbia, were signatories of common Declaration on the preparation of the establishment of the ?Mura - Drava - Danube Transboundary Biosphere Reserve?(MDD-TBR). Even though this document does not have obligatory character for states that signed it, this declaration represents the obvious course these states will follow in order to improve their cooperation. Beside political, economic, cultural and other well developed forms of cooperation, a multilateral cooperation emerges within the areas of conservation, protection and improvement of flora and fauna of the Danube and rivers Drava and Mura that belong to The Danube River Basin. In this article the author provided a short review of basic international legal documents that refer to Biosphere Reserves regarding specifically the overall Danube Strategy by European Union and belonging Action Plane to Danube Strategy. The author analyzed the paramount clauses of Declaration MDD - TBR, with intention to reveal this little known document to scientific and professional public. In that sense, the principles for selecting the actual biosphere reserve have become a priority as well as the elemental objectives a biosphere reserve should accomplish and its spatial organization.

Post-fire invasion in Torres del Paine Biosphere Reserve: the role of seed tolerance to heat

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 160
Author(s):  
Susana Paula ◽  
Daniela L. Labbé
Keyword(s):  
Plant Invasion ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Biosphere Reserve ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Soil Seed Banks ◽  
Exotic Plant Invasion ◽  
Soil Temperatures ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Torres Del Paine

Biological invasions are one of the major causes of biodiversity loss. Anthropogenic alteration in fire regimes has promoted plant invasion in several regions and ecosystems worldwide, especially in those where fires are historically rare. This is the case of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Torres del Paine National Park (TPNP), located in southern South America. In this study, we hypothesised that the seeds of native species of the TPNP do not resist fire-related high soil temperatures as do exotic plants, which could facilitate the spread of exotic plant invasion in post-fire environments. To test this hypothesis, we exposed seeds of plant species collected from the TPNP to different heat doses (60°C, 5min; 90°C, 5min; 90°C, 10min; 120°C, 5min) and compared their final germination and viability with those of unheated seeds. The study was conducted on five native species and three aliens inhabiting the TPNP. Almost all the seeds of native species died after exposure to temperatures higher than 60°C, whereas seeds of the alien species resisted higher heat doses. The on-site resistance of the aliens (through fire-tolerant soil seed banks) and the fire sensitivity of native seeds contribute to our understanding on post-fire invasion in the TPNP.

Impacts of nitrogen deposition on terrestrial plant diversity: a meta-analysis in China

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1025-1033 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Juan Han ◽  
Jia-Yu Cao ◽  
Jin-Liang Liu ◽  
Jia Jiang ◽  
Jian Ni
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
N Deposition ◽  
Shannon Index ◽  
N Addition ◽  
Terrestrial Plant ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Experiment Duration

AbstractAimsWith the global atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition increasing, the effect of N deposition on terrestrial plant diversity has been widely studied. Some studies have reviewed the effects of N deposition on plant species diversity; however, all studies addressed the effects of N deposition on plant community focused on species richness in specific ecosystem. There is a need for a systematic meta-analysis covering multiple dimensions of plant diversity in multiple climate zones and ecosystems types. Our goal was to quantify changes in species richness, evenness and uncertainty in plant communities in response to N addition across different environmental and experimental contexts.MethodsWe performed a meta-analysis of 623 experimental records published in English and Chinese journals to evaluate the response of terrestrial plant diversity to the experimental N addition in China. Three metrics were used to quantify the change in plant diversity: species richness (SR), evenness (Pielou index) uncertainty (Shannon index).Important FindingsResults showed that (i) N addition negatively affected SR in temperate, Plateau zones and subtropical zone, but had no significant effect on Shannon index in subtropical zones; (ii) N addition decreased SR, Shannon index and Pielou index in grassland, and the negative effect of N addition on SR was stronger in forest than in grassland; (iii) N addition negatively affected plant diversity (SR, Shannon index and Pielou index) in the long term, whereas it did not affect plant diversity in the short term. Furthermore, the increase in N addition levels strengthened the negative effect of N deposition on plant diversity with long experiment duration; and (iv) the negative effect of ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) addition on SR was stronger than that of urea (CO(NH2)2) addition, but the negative effect of NH4NO3 addition on Pielou index was weaker than that of CO(NH2)2 addition. Our results indicated that the effects of N addition on plant diversity varied depending on climate zones, ecosystem types, N addition levels, N type and experiment duration. This underlines the importance of integrating multiple dimensions of plant diversity and multiple factors into assessments of plant diversity to global environmental change.

scholarly journals Angiosperms, Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve, Veracruz, Mexico

Check List ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 787 ◽  
Author(s):  
Víctor Arroyo-Rodríguez ◽  
Jacob C. Dunn ◽  
Julieta Benítez-Malvido ◽  
Salvador Mandujano
Keyword(s):  
Introduced Species ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Biosphere Reserve ◽  
Los Tuxtlas ◽  
Check List ◽  
Forest Reserve ◽  
Field Station ◽  
Breast Height ◽  
Mexican Government ◽  
Different Levels

The Los Tuxtlas Reserve has been heavily deforested and fragmented since the 1970’s. Although the flora of Los Tuxtlas has been described previously, most floristic lists come from the large forest reserve of the Los Tuxtlas field station. Here we present a check list of Angiosperms recorded in 45 rainforest fragments (< 1 to 266 ha) located in three landscapes with different levels of deforestation. We sampled all trees, shrubs, lianas, palms and herbs with diameter at breast height (dbh) Ā 2.5 cm within ten 50 m x 2 m plots per fragment. We recorded 9,435 plants belonging to 73 families and 372 species. Fabaceae, Rubiaceae, and Moraceae were best represented. Eight species are classified as Endangered by the Mexican government, and five are human-introduced species. We conclude that the conservation and restoration of all the remaining rainforest fragments are necessary to effectively preserve the plant diversity of this region.

The role of community participation in the effectiveness of UNESCO Biosphere Reserve management: evidence and reflections from two parallel global surveys

2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. STOLL-KLEEMANN ◽  
A. C. DE LA VEGA-LEINERT ◽  
L. SCHULTZ
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Community Participation ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Biosphere Reserve ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Biosphere Reserves ◽  
Participatory Conservation ◽  
Reserve Management

SUMMARYBiodiversity management has traditionally followed two contradictory approaches. One champions ecosystem protection through rigorous law enforcement and exclusion of humans. The other promotes community-based sustainable use of natural resources. Participatory conservation, a major paradigm shift, nowadays strongly guides the concept of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves (BRs). In this paper, the rationale for community participation, and the perception of its effectiveness among BR managers are analysed. Within the World Network of BRs (553 sites in 107 countries) diverse participatory approaches are being tried to advance community-based natural resource management (CBNRM). Data from two parallel surveys, involving managers from 276 BRs worldwide, reveal how far this participation paradigm shift has really occurred, and its influence on managers’ self-evaluated effectiveness. There is substantial regional disparity, although in general BR managers endorse inclusive conservation, despite critical implementation hurdles. The process of participatory conservation carries new dangers for effective biosphere reserve management, when the aspirations of communities and other stakeholders do not ‘fit’ with a predetermined interpretation of sustainable development.

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