Improving local land governance? : exploring the linkages between land governance reforms, institutional pluralism and tenure security in Burundi

Reforms in land governance are assumed to significantly enhance the security of tenure in conflict-affected countries, through stimulating the resolution of land disputes, contributing to better control of property rights and reorganising the institutional framework for land management. Yet, this paper highlights the ambiguous outcomes of such reforms in situation of institutional multiplicity. Fieldwork in Ngozi province in northern Burundi points out how land-related reforms such as decentralising the administrative authority at the communal and hill levels and policy reforms in the formalisation of property rights have positive impacts in terms of dealing with specific land disputes and fostering local feelings of tenure security in the aftermath of the 2000 Arusha Peace Agreement. However, land governance reforms have also fuelled the proliferation of land governing institutions and fostered confusion among state and non-state authorities about which rules to apply and their roles in mitigating tensions over landownership and enforcing property rights. Actually, while introducing new laws, policies, institutions and practices, land governance reforms have produced mixed effects in securing local tenure for most community members and increased contestations against the authority of government representatives at the local level.ASC – Publicaties niet-programma gebonde

Correlation between Associated Trees, Cocoa Trees and Carbon Stocks Potential in Cocoa Agroforests of Southern Cameroon

This study was conducted in the Cocoa Agro-Forests (CAF) of Mengomo’s locality. The aim was to evaluate the influence of some factors on carbon stocks. The sampling was done in 30 plots of 25 x 25 m 2 in which all trees with a dbh?10 cm were inventoried. The Shannon, Simpson and Evernnessindexes were calculated to characterize the diversity of trees associated with cocoa. 62 species belonging to 48 genera and 27 families were identified, the Anacardiaceae, Moraceae, Caesalpiniaceae,  Mimosaceae and Rutaceae, were revealed the most diverse families, with 5 species each. Shannon’s (3.66), Evernness’s (0.76) and Simpson’s (0.96) indexes have reflected a low diversity, dominated by some fewspecies. The average density of cocoa trees is 1028 trees/ha. They store about 22.51±5.86 Mg C/ha. Associated trees stored 124.20±60.05Mg C/ha for tree density of 113 trees/ha. These CAF sequestered about 146.71Mg C/ha. The multiple correspondence analyses showed that carbon stocks in the CAF are positively correlated with the associated trees and the age of the CAF and negatively correlated with the abundance of cocoa trees. The biomass of cocoa is independent of the associated trees, but is inversely related to the density of the associated trees

Post-conflict land governance reform in the African Great Lakes region. Part III - Securing tenure of smallholder peasants.

Constellations of governanc

La réforme post-conflit de la gouvernance foncière dans la région des Grands Lacs en Afrique. Partie II - Remaniement foncier en faveur du

Constellations of governanc

La réforme post-conflit de la gouvernance foncière dans la région des Grands Lacs en Afrique. Partie III - Garantir les droits fonciers des petits exploitants paysans

Constellations of governanc

La réforme post-conflit de la gouvernance foncière dans la région des Grands Lacs en Afrique. Partie III - Garantir les droits fonciers des petits exploitants paysans

Constellations of governanc

Bio-energy retains its mitigation potential under elevated CO2

Background If biofuels are to be a viable substitute for fossil fuels, it is essential that they retain their potential to mitigate climate change under future atmospheric conditions. Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration [CO2] stimulates plant biomass production; however, the beneficial effects of increased production may be offset by higher energy costs in crop management. Methodology/Main findings We maintained full size poplar short rotation coppice (SRC) systems under both current ambient and future elevated [CO2] (550 ppm) and estimated their net energy and greenhouse gas balance. We show that a poplar SRC system is energy efficient and produces more energy than required for coppice management. Even more, elevated [CO2] will increase the net energy production and greenhouse gas balance of a SRC system with 18%. Managing the trees in shorter rotation cycles (i.e. 2 year cycles instead of 3 year cycles) will further enhance the benefits from elevated [CO2] on both the net energy and greenhouse gas balance. Conclusions/significance Adapting coppice management to the future atmospheric [CO2] is necessary to fully benefit from the climate mitigation potential of bio-energy systems. Further, a future increase in potential biomass production due to elevated [CO2] outweighs the increased production costs resulting in a northward extension of the area where SRC is greenhouse gas neutral. Currently, the main part of the European terrestrial carbon sink is found in forest biomass and attributed to harvesting less than the annual growth in wood. Because SRC is intensively managed, with a higher turnover in wood production than conventional forest, northward expansion of SRC is likely to erode the European terrestrial carbon sink

The duration of protection of school-aged BCG vaccination in England: a population-based case–control study

BACKGROUND: Evidence of protection from childhood Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) against tuberculosis (TB) in adulthood, when most transmission occurs, is important for TB control and resource allocation. METHODS: We conducted a population-based case–control study of protection by BCG given to children aged 12–13 years against tuberculosis occurring 10–29 years later. We recruited UK-born White subjects with tuberculosis and randomly sampled White community controls. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using case–cohort Cox regression, adjusting for potential confounding factors, including socio-economic status, smoking, drug use, prison and homelessness. Vaccine effectiveness (VE = 1 – hazard ratio) was assessed at successive intervals more than 10 years following vaccination. RESULTS: We obtained 677 cases and 1170 controls after a 65% response rate in both groups. Confounding by deprivation, education and lifestyle factors was slight 10–20 years after vaccination, and more evident after 20 years. VE 10–15 years after vaccination was 51% (95% CI 21, 69%) and 57% (CI 33, 72%) at 15–20 years. Subsequently, BCG protection appeared to wane; 20–25 years VE = 25% (CI –14%, 51%) and 25–29 years VE = 1% (CI –84%, 47%). Based on multiple imputation of missing data (in 17% subjects), VE estimated in the same intervals after vaccination were similar [56% (CI 33, 72%), 57% (CI 36, 71%), 25% (–10, 48%), 21% (–39, 55%)]. CONCLUSIONS: School-aged BCG vaccination offered moderate protection against tuberculosis for at least 20 years, which is longer than previously thought. This has implications for assessing the cost-effectiveness of BCG vaccination and when evaluating new TB vaccines

The European land and inland water CO2, CO, CH4 and N2O balance between 2001 and 2005

Globally, terrestrial ecosystems have absorbed about 30% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions over the period 2000–2007 and inter-hemispheric gradients indicate that a significant fraction of terrestrial carbon sequestration must be north of the Equator. We present a compilation of the CO2, CO, CH4 and N2O balances of Europe following a dual constraint approach in which (1) a landbased balance derived mainly from ecosystem carbon inventories and (2) a land-based balance derived from flux measurements are compared to (3) the atmospheric data-based balance derived from inversions constrained by measurements of atmospheric GHG (greenhouse gas) concentrations. Good agreement between the GHG balances based on fluxes (1294±545 Tg C in CO2-eq yr−1), inventories (1299±200 Tg C in CO2-eq yr−1) and inversions (1210±405 Tg C in CO2-eq yr−1) increases our confidence that the processes underlying the European GHG budget are well understood and reasonably sampled. However, the uncertainty remains large and largely lacks formal estimates. Given that European net land to atmosphere exchanges are determined by a few dominant fluxes, the uncertainty of these key components needs to be formally estimated before efforts could be made to reduce the overall uncertainty. The net land-to-atmosphere flux is a net source for CO2, CO, CH4 and N2O, because the anthropogenic emissions by far exceed the biogenic sink strength. The dual-constraint approach confirmed that the European biogenic sink removes as much as 205±72 Tg C yr−1 from fossil fuel burning from the atmosphere. However, This C is being sequestered in both terrestrial and inland aquatic ecosystems. If the C-cost for ecosystem management is taken into account, the net uptake of ecosystems is estimated to decrease by 45% but still indicates substantial C-sequestration. However, when the balance is extended from CO2 towards the main GHGs, C-uptake by terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems is offset by emissions of non-CO2 GHGs. As such, the European ecosystems are unlikely to contribute to mitigating the effects of climate change.JRC.H.2-Air and Climat

The prevalence and risk factors for human Brucella species infection in a cross-sectional survey of a rural population in Punjab, India

Brucellosis is an important neglected zoonosis. Effective cattle vaccines are available but are infrequently used in India, where rural households commonly own one or two cattle as sources of protein and income. We assessed the prevalence of infection and risk factors in humans