Local institutions and adaptive capacity of rural households in the Niger Delta

The study examined the role local institutionsplay in promoting adaptive capacity of households to environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.The survey was conducted amongst 610 households across Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa states. The questionnaire instrument was employed ineliciting data from the respondents. The study shows that respondents belonged to about 106 formal and informal local institutions spreadacross the study communities. Findings revealed that local institutions serves as safety nets and sources of local insurance as they provide households opportunities for resources and materials exchange as well as galvanizing collective action that promotes livelihoods and adaptive capacity. The hypothesis test result indicated that  membership to local institutions has a significant effect on  adaptive capacity. The study hence concluded that membership to local institutions significantly promote the capacity of households to adapt to environmental degradation in the Niger Delta. The study hence recommends that the institutional capacities of these institutions should be enhanced through knowledge and resource sharing by means ofincreasingly engaging with external actors like the government and civil society who can provide external support to the communities.Keywords: LocalInstitutions, Adaptive Capacity, Rural  Households, Niger Delta

Where are the missing baryons in clusters?

Observations of clusters of galaxies suggest that they contain significantly fewer baryons (gas plus stars) than the cosmic baryon fraction. This `missing baryon' puzzle is especially surprising for the most massive clusters which are expected to be representative of the cosmic matter content of the universe (baryons and dark matter). Here we show that the baryons may not actually be missing from clusters, but rather are extended to larger radii than typically observed. The baryon deficiency is typically observed in the central regions of clusters (~0.5 the virial radius). However, the observed gas-density profile is significantly shallower than the mass-density profile, implying that the gas is more extended than the mass and that the gas fraction increases with radius. We use the observed density profiles of gas and mass in clusters to extrapolate the measured baryon fraction as a function of radius and as a function of cluster mass. We find that the baryon fraction reaches the cosmic value near the virial radius for all groups and clusters above 5e13 solar masses. This suggests that the baryons are not missing, they are simply located in cluster outskirts. Heating processes (shock-heating of the intracluster gas, plus supernovae and AGN feedback) that cause the gas to expand are likely explanations for these results. Upcoming observations should be able to detect these baryons.Comment: Submitted to PNA