A Framework for analyzing socioeconomic, health and environmental impacts of wastewater use in agriculture in developing countries

Waste water management / Environmental degradation / Waterborne diseases / Water quality / Irrigation practices / Aquaculture / Economic analysis / Social aspects / Health / Environmental aspects / Agriculture / Developing countries / Policy

Ontwikkeling en implementatie van geïntegreerde bestrijding in zomerbloemen : toepassing van beschikbare producten en ontwikkeling van nieuwe natuurlijke vijanden

In 2008 en 2009 werden loslatingen verricht van de roofmijten Neoseiulus cucumeris en Amblyseius andersoni, soms aangevuld met Phytoseiulus persimilis, in de zomerbloemen rozenbottel, chrysant, Veronica, Alchemilla en Delphinium. Hierbij bleek dat roofmijten zich niet in alle gewassen in gelijke mate vestigen. In Alchemilla en Delphinium bleek al spontaan Neoseiulus cucumeris voor te kunnen komen. Als in deze gewassen nog geen roofmijten voorkomen, zal introductie van N. cucumeris zeker slagen, mits er geen breedwerkende middelen worden toegepast. Vooral Alchemilla bleek een goede roofmijtenplant te zijn. Behalve Neoseiulus cucumeris werden ook andere soorten gevonden. Roofmijten die in de handel zijn tegen spint, Phytoseiulus persimilis en Neoseiulus californicus, vestigen zich eveneens goed in dit gewas, in tegenstelling tot Amblyseius andersoni. Verder kunnen spontaan andere natuurlijke vijanden van plagen voorkomen: roofwantsen, gaasvliegen en galmuggen. Trips nam in beide jaren af gedurende de teelt of bleef op een laag niveau. Neoseiulus alpinus is een roofmijt, die eerder is verzameld van Alchemilla en in kweek genomen. Een loslating van deze roofmijt in Alchemilla slaagde in 2008 niet, maar in 2009 wel. In Delphinium was in 2008 vanaf het begin van de waarnemingen Neoseiulus cucumeris in het gewas aanwezig. Na introductie van Amblyseius andersoni werd ook deze soort teruggevonden. Spint kwam in 2008 niet tot ontwikkeling. Buiten de proef kwam plaatselijk cyclamenmijt voor. In 2009 werd in Delphinium zwavel verdampt tegen echte meeldauw. Er was geen goede vestiging van roofmijten in het gewas, ook niet van de roofmijt Phytoseiulus persimilis, waardoor chemische bestrijding van spint noodzakelijk was. In Veronica, chrysant en rozenbottel kwamen in vergelijking met Alchemilla en Delphinium minder roofmijten voor. Trips en spint waren in 2008 en 2009 geen probleem in Veronica, chrysant en rozenbottel. Op rozenbottel kwam zonder introductie Neoseiulus cucumeris voor. Andere soorten roofmijten, die soms spontaan optraden waren Neoseiulus reductus in Delphinium, Amblyseius graminis in Alchemilla en chrysant, en roofmijten die tot een andere groep (Bdelloidea) behoren, met name op chrysant en Veronica

Shared value: agricultural carbon insetting for sustainable, climate-smart supply chains and better rural livelihoods

The relentless advance of climate change negatively impacts farmers, businesses, and consumers by putting greater pressure on natural resources, making the weather more unpredictable, and depressing crop productivity. To cope with climate change requires multilateral efforts that draw on the experience of farmer groups, research and development organizations, and the private sector. One increasingly important focal point for such efforts is an approach referred to as carbon insetting, which offers the private sector a means to create shared value for the benefit of all stakeholders. The approach can make a company’s value chain more productive and resilient, sustaining supplies over the long term. By creating synergies between climate change mitigation and adaptation in agriculture (e.g., through practices such as agroforestry), carbon insetting can also generate incentives and funding for climate change adaptation while enhancing farmers’ livelihoods

The CLEANED Approach for Flagging and Addressing Environmental Issues

While livestock presents an important livelihood strategy for many smallholders, it is also held responsible for important environmental impacts. In this paper, we used an online survey to identify the perceptions of global livestock experts on environmental impacts of livestock and how these might be tackled. We then explored how the CLEANED environmental ex-ante assessment tool (Comprehensive Livestock Environmental Assessment for improved Nutrition, a secured Environment and sustainable Development = CLEANED) responds to this and how it can be used to influence decision making towards more environmentally-friendly livestock production. According to the survey, there was general agreement between researchers, development practitioners and policy makers alike that livestock production systems are at risk of global environmental change while at the same time contributing to it. The major risks are perceived to be climate-related. The major impacts associated with livestock production, on the other hand, are considered to be land-related (degradation and competition for land), closely followed by pressure on water and GHG emissions. More sustainable livestock production practices are cited as most promising to reducing livestock’s environmental impact. The preferred technologies include managed grazing, improved pastures, silvo-pastoral systems and planted forages. A lack of rapidly available, site- and system-specific knowledge about such solutions and their potential environmental impacts are considered an important barrier to their successful implementation. The CLEANED environmental ex-ante assessment model aims to fill part of this gap. It can compare the relevant environmental impact indicators of the different solutions brought forward. The model has also been designed to be flexible when applied to a wide variety of contexts and provide systems-specific results. The expert survey further revealed that researchers, development practitioners and policy makers all based decisions on information, obtained from a variety of sources such as journal papers, internet searches and professional networks. The importance of journal papers, however, decreases as an information source from researchers over policy makers to development practitioners, while the use of professional networks and internet searches increases for these groups. This finding points to the importance of the participatory approach taken by the CLEANED team and the need to present results in appropriate multi-stakeholder forums and targeted internet posts. Further recommendations are made for increasing the use of the tool, i.e. making the outputs from the tool easier to interpret and training a variety of stakeholders in its use

A formal account of dishonesty

International audienceThis paper provides formal accounts of dishonest attitudes of agents. We introduce a propositional multi-modal logic that can represent an agent's belief and intention as well as communication between agents. Using the language, we formulate different categories of dishonesty. We first provide two different definitions of lies and provide their logical properties. We then consider an incentive behind the act of lying and introduce lying with objectives. We subsequently define bullshit, withholding information and half-truths, and analyze their formal properties. We compare different categories of dishonesty in a systematic manner, and examine their connection to deception. We also propose maxims for dishonest communication that agents should ideally try to satisfy

Using the CLEANED approach to assess environmental impacts in the dual-purpose cattle value chain in Nicaragua

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundatio

Drinking water temperature modelling in domestic systems

Domestic water supply systems are the final stage of the transport process to deliver potable water to the customers' tap. Under the influence of temperature, residence time and pipe materials the drinking water quality can change while the water passes the domestic drinking water system. According to the Dutch Drinking Water Act the drinking water temperature may not exceed the 25°C threshold at point-of-use level. This paper provides a mathematical approach to model the heating of drinking water within the domestic water supply system. It appears that residence time influences the drinking water temperature more than the ambient temperature itself.</p

Laboratory methods for case finding in human psittacosis outbreaks: a systematic review.

Psittacosis outbreak investigations require rapid identification of cases in order to trace possible sources and perform public health risk assessments. In recent outbreaks in the Netherlands, such investigations were hampered by the non-specificity of laboratory testing methods to identify human Chlamydia psittaci infections