Spatial Autoregressive Models for House Price Dynamics in Italy

This paper elaborates a Spatial Autoregressive and Spatial Error Model (SAR-SE Model) to investigate the Italian house price dynamics. House prices in real terms have been modelled for the period 1995-2008 in all the 103 Italian provinces along with affordability ratio, persistency term, some social-economic variables and credit market variables. One of the key results of this paper, is the evidence on house price spatial autocorrelation, verified through the Baltagi, Song and Koh (2003) LM test. On the contrary, no evidence of housing price overvaluation has been found, in comparison with the fundamental values determined by interest rates, households income, rents, employment and construction cost.house prices, fundamentals, mean reversion, serial correlation, spatial dependence

Prediction of palm-tree ganoderma affection degree by reflectance spectroscopy: Proposed methodology

The aim of this study was thus to test the relevance of statistical methods to detect the variations in spectral signature of oil-palm trees correlated to Ganoderma disease, a fungus responsible of high loss of yield and trees in palm groves. The objective is too discriminate infected palm trees and to establish a ranking in the degree of infection. Some previous studies (Lanore, 2006; et Brégand, 2007) revealed that it is feasible, but the number of individuals was too small to lead to statistically reliable models; thus, it is still to confirm and validate. More especially, the present study focuses on the possibility of infected palm-tree discrimination in accordance to four sickness degrees: Healthy, Low, Medium and High infection. It will test this potential at several scales: the leaflet, the canopy, and by remote sensing. (Résumé d'auteur

An assessment tool and integrated index for sustainable oil palm production

Many prominent sectors of the international agricultural commodities market have been calling upon their stakeholders to define and implement social responsibility and sustainability benchmarks, aiming at product quality and production practices certification. One of these initiatives, the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), is compelling all producing parties (plantations as well as smallholders) to comply with proposed Principles, Criteria and Indicators (PC&I), in an international social responsibility assurance movement. In addition to these PC&I, an integrated sustainability assessment procedure is being sought out in a Cirad / Embrapa / Partners coordinated effort, as a complementary method for the environmental management of oil palm plantations. The aim is to assure both procedural social responsibility (PC&I compliance) and actual environmental and biodiversity conservation in the field. The proposed action to fulfill this objective has been the adaptation of a 'System for Weighted Environmental Impact Assessment in Oil Palm Production' (APOIA-OilPalm). The present document reports on the conceptual basis, the methodological adaptation and the validation field trials carried out for consolidation of the proposed APOIA-OilPalm sustainability index. The experience attained in the development and international negotiation of this proposed sustainability index, dedicated to such an important productive sector such as that of palm oil, can be instrumental for other environmental management and eco-certification initiatives, such as the Roundtables on Responsible Soy, Sustainable Biofuels, and Sustainable Forests; the Better Sugarcane Initiative, among others. (Résumé d'auteur

Palmier à huile et déficit hydrique, production, techniques culturales adaptées

L'alimentation hydrique est un facteur limitant prépondérant pour la production du palmier à huile. Une meilleure connaissance de la physiologie de la plante devrait aboutir à terme à l'établissement de modèles dynamiques de la production permettant notamment de quantifier l'effet des déficits hydriques. Jusqu'à présent, l'effet du déficit hydrique sur la production est étudié par la mise au point de modèles statistiques simples (corrélation déficit hydrique - production) qui ne sont valables que dans les conditions précises pour lesquelles ils sont établis. Lors de ces études, il est apparu des périodes de sensibilité particulière des palmiers. Certaines techniques culturales permettent d'annuler ou de réduire l'effet néfaste des déficits hydriques. Les résultats obtenus dans divers essais en champs sont présentés. Les effets néfastes de certaines techniques sont également discutés. La relation existant entre la nutrition potassique et le déficit hydrique souligne la nécessité des essais en champs pour l'établissement des niveaux critiques et des courbes de réponse aux engrai

Impacts agri-environnementaux du palmier à huile : des indicateurs pour les estimer

Un nombre croissant d'organisations non-gouvernementales mettent en cause les systèmes actuels de développement du palmier à huile, accusés d'être responsables d'une dégradation des ressources naturelles et de problèmes environnementaux. Cela a conduit, depuis 2003, à la constitution d'une table ronde pour la production durable d'huile de palme réunissant les différents acteurs de la filière, à laquelle participe le Cirad. La démarche s'appuie sur la définition de principes et critères pour une production durable et sur l'utilisation d'un guide de bonnes pratiques. Ces orientations, pour être efficaces, doivent être accompagnées d'indicateurs qualitatifs et quantitatifs précis. (Résumé d'auteur

La fertilisation du palmier à huile : une gestion rigoureuse de la fertilité des sols

Le palmier à huile est la plante oléagineuse la plus productive au monde. Elle fournit couramment 6 tonnes d'huile à l'hectare, et parfois même plus de 8 tonnes. Malgré l'absence d'éléments minéraux dans l'huile produite, des quantités importantes de nutriments sont mobilisées par la plante pour sa croissance végétative et sa production. Cultivé sur des sols tropicaux généralement très altérés, le palmier à huile a besoin de quantités assez importantes d'engrais pour atteindre de bonnes productions. De ce fait les dépenses relatives à la fertilisation atteignent jusqu'à 60 à 65% des coûts d'entretien d'une plantation. (Résumé d'auteur

Palmier à huile : le management environnemental des plantations : le cheminement de PT. Smart

PT. Smart, an Indonesian oil palm plantations company, technically manages all plantings of Golden Agri-Resources (GAR). Recently challenged by several environmental NGOs, accusing the society of violating the durability, despite its accession to the panel for the production of sustainable palm oil (RSPO), the company has re-affirmed its commitment, strengthening its governance with the goal of becoming not only a leader in its field of production, but also in terms of environmental and social sustainability, implementingcoordination activities and exchanges to findworkable solutions to problems. Recognizing that some mistakes were made, the company insists, however, that many economic initiatives, social and environmental development marked its action since the early 1980s according to the advance of scientific knowledge, and the existence of operational tools to implement them. What the company calls ''the road towards sustainability''. (Résumé d'auteur

LCA of Palm Oil in Sumatra, Comparison of Cropping Systems

The agricultural sector is facing a huge increase in consumption patterns and food needs. This growth is likely to worsen the pressures on the local and global environments. The CIRAD, within the frame of the ADEME project called Agri-BALYSE, is in charge of assessing the environmental impacts of palm oil. The chosen methodology is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Today, Indonesia is the first world producer of palm oil. The Riau Province in Sumatra is one of the most dynamic regions in terms of palm oil production, and has therefore been chosen for our case study. The data inventory was carried out with the assistance of SMARTRI, the research center of PT-SMART. In the study area, diverse types of palm oil producers were identified and characterised in order to produce the relevant LCA for the diverse cropping systems. Data were collected in the field for the company and diverse types of smallholders, i.e. plasma, and independent smallholders with or without advices from the company on the agricultural management. We used SIMAPRO® to build up the LCAs and compare the environmental impacts of the different types of palm oil producers in Sumatra. We present here the preliminary results of the study. The functional unit was one metric ton of crude palm oil (CPO). The hierarchy of impacting cropping systems varied with the type of producers. Globally the Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) yields were lower per hectare for the independent smallholders and impacts per metric ton of CPO were larger. Despite the management advices that some independent smallholders received, their yields were still lower than those of the company probably due to non-selected plant materials. Further field data collection is still needed however, i) to survey more smallholders and insure the representativeness of modelled cropping systems, and ii) to gather more data on differential agricultural managements, notably on very diverse organic fertilizers used by smallholders. (Résumé d'auteur

Seismic vulnerability assessment of clustered historical centers: fragility curves based on local collapse mechanisms analyses

open5noProtection and preservation of minor historical centres against earthquakes effects are not trivial tasks, particularly in the cases, quite common, of complex aggregate buildings. The paper aims at evaluating the seismic vulnerability of historical clustered buildings on a urban scale, through the analysis of local collapse mechanisms, carried out with a parametric approach. This procedure is applied to four historical centres of L’Aquila province struck by the 2009 earthquake. The identification of the significant parameters is related to the definition of representative typologies within the city centres. Each typology is characterized by recurring features, mainly recognizable with a survey performed outside the buildings. After the identification of the relevant aspects, local mechanisms of collapse analyses are carried out, by varying the parameters between defined range of values, in order to take into account possible uncertainties in the data collection. A set of fragility curves for each identified typology is defined and the obtained results are compared to the damage data gathered in the post-earthquake phase for the buildings. This approach allows for possible extensions to buildings that may be included in the typology categories here defined.openTaffarel, S.; Caliman, M.; Valluzzi, M.R; da Porto, F.; Modena, C.Taffarel, Sabrina; Caliman, M.; Valluzzi, MARIA ROSA; DA PORTO, Francesca; Modena, Claudi