A Glimpse of Blue Sheep (Pseudois nayaur) Hunting in Api Nampa Conservation Area (ANCA) Nepal

Higher altitudes of Api Nampa Conservation Area have become a hunting destination for the local people bringing a threat to blue sheep and other wildlife. Blue sheep has been a national concern in Nepal due to being the main prey species of snow leopard and trophy hunting. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of hunters in Api Nampa Conservation Area (ANCA), Darchula, Nepal. This study was carried out around Api Nampa Conservation Area in 2016. Mixed methods of questionnaires were developed to collect data, and quantitative analysis was done by applying SPSS 16. A hundred percent of hunters like to hunt in this protected area. The hunted animals were goral, blue sheep, barking deer, boar and tahr. Site-specific characteristics like vegetation density, terrain and rugged land topography often vary markedly across surveys. Due to the regular and yearly use of grazing by the livestock in the area, it becomes imperative to study their feeding habits and document their food plants. Consequently, poaching and livestock grazing are important challenges for the conservation of blue sheep. Hunting, deforestation, forest fires, grazing and shifting agriculture are identified as major threats to the wildlife of Api Nampa Conservation Area. Envisioning, critical thinking, building partnership in decision-making, awareness, and stringent action against hunting activities must be adopted early. Api Nampa Conservation Area has received little research attention from grassland ecologists and specialists in pastoral management.

Commons Research and Pastoralism in the Context of Variability

Research has shown that pastoralism and the management of the commons are connected (Bollig and Lesogorol 2016). In this article I discuss how the concept of variability, which emerged from discussions of dryland ecologies in the 1980s (Homewood 2008), can inform and enhance research on the commons and vice versa. Research on the commons can further elucidate the understanding of pastoralist practices. I conclude with reflections drawn from some empirical examples in the literature, the use of the socio-ecological systems (SES) framework, and discuss the benefits and potential problems when applied to heterogeneous and flexible pastoralist practices and to the pastoral management of the commons.

Forest Disturbances in Polish Tatra Mountains for 1985–2016 in Relation to Topography, Stand Features, and Protection Zone

For more than four centuries, the Tatra Mountains were affected by many factors, such as forest and pastoral management, mining and metallurgy, windthrows, snow avalanches, and bark beetle outbreaks. Due to the availability of the long-running Landsat program enabling acquisition of spatially and spectrally consistent information, it is possible to the use these data for forest disturbance analysis. The main aim of this study was to analyze the relationships between the frequency of disturbances detected over the period of 1985–2016 and selected topographic features, such as elevation, exposure, and slope, derived from a digital elevation model (DEM); stand features, such as vegetation community type, age, structure, and degree of naturalness of the stand; and the management protection zone, which was extracted from thematic layers of the Tatra National Park (TNP). Using the normalized difference moisture index (NDMI), we detected forest disturbances in each year and analyzed them in the context of these topographic features, forest stand characteristics, and the management protection zone. We observed that forest stands in the lower montane zone, slopes between 10°–30°, and eastern exposures were primarily affected by disturbances. These consisted of artificially planted spruce stands aged between 51 and 100 years old.

Wind erosion in Moroccan argan woodlands under extensive agro-silvo-pastoral management

<p>The Moroccan argan woodlands form a unique ecosystem that is at acute risk of degradation and desertification. Beside the great impact on local and regional socio-economical structure, the characteristic landscape is assumed to protect populated and agriculturally productive areas such as the Souss-Massa-region against desertification processes from the adjacent desert areas in Southwest Morocco and Algeria.</p><p>The experimental-empirical study with the Trier Portable Wind Simulator was conducted to quantify sediment mobilisation by wind on various surface characteristics associated to argan woodlands under extensive agro-silvo-pastoral management. Tested surfaces included physical and biological crusts, stone and litter cover and ploughed surfaces.</p><p>We found that the argan woodlands of the Souss region may be a significant source of wind eroded sediment particularly facing effects of overexploitation and climate change. An adapted land management is key to prevent severe dust production and mitigate possible impacts of land use change and climate change related shifts in wind and rainfall patterns.  </p>

Wołosi/Vlasi z terenów Hercegowiny w świetle defterów osmańskich z XV i XVI wieku

Defter's are an excellent source for historians, especially in demographic and socio-economic research, they are also very useful in researching the Vlachian communities.Analysis of material contained in Ottoman defter's from the Herzegovina area leads to the following conclusions:1. In the area of Herzegovina, in the second half of the fifteenth century, Vlachs lived in a mostly nomadic lifestyle. Their number was at least sixty thousand people.2. In the second half of the fifteenth century, many abandoned villages were recorded. Abandoned villages were gradually settled by migratory Vlachs, which contributed to their change of lifestyle on semi-settled and settled. In 1585, Vlachs - shepherds who were not associated with a village were rare.3. In the Ottoman state, Vlachs those who lead an nomadic way of living, as well as those living in the Vlachian villages, were tax-favored, paid only a lump grazing tax for the state (a filuria with allowances), and did not pay any benefits to the timar owner. In the event that they served as derbenci's or vojnuc's, they were exempted from all taxes.4. Settling in the former agricultural villages, in particular related to undertaking agricultural activities, was most often associated with an additional burden of tithing for the sipahi. Departure from pastoralism meant degradation to a group of raya, most often in these villages mixed-agricultural-pastoral management was conducted. Newly settled villages rarely received the status of the vlachian villages, because such status freed residents from additional benefits even in the case of agricultural classes.5. The flat-rate grazing tax, filuria, in the fifteenth century had a fixed value and equaled 45 akçe, while at the end of the sixteenth century it was different for various Vlachs groups and could range from 60 to 200 akçe. Considering the fact that additional fees for sheep or tents were liquidated and that the value of employment fell akçe significantly compared to the fifteenth century, the real amount of taxes did not increase, and in some cases it decreased.6. Not much on the basis of defilers can be said about the language used by the Herzegovina Vlachs. In defeats from the fifteenth century they bear mostly Slavic names, but sometimes there are also names only in the Vlachs: Radu, Bratul, Dabija, the same also applies to local names.7. Gradually, Islamization processes took place. In the fifteenth century, they are almost invisible among the Vlachs, almost all of them wore Christian names. At the end of the sixteenth century, a significant percentage of Vlachs wore Muslim names. The Islamization process seems to be faster among the Vlachs settled than the Vlachs nomads, but there is no rule.8. In the light of the defters in the area of Herzegovina, there is no difference between Muslims and non-Muslims in burdens to the state, but defters do not include the cizye, or headship, collected from non-Muslims.