Diversity and carbon storage across the tropical forest biome

Tropical forests are global centres of biodiversity and carbon storage. Many tropical countries aspire to protect forest to fulfil biodiversity and climate mitigation policy targets, but the conservation strategies needed to achieve these two functions depend critically on the tropical forest tree diversity-carbon storage relationship. Assessing this relationship is challenging due to the scarcity of inventories where carbon stocks in aboveground biomass and species identifications have been simultaneously and robustly quantified. Here, we compile a unique pan-tropical dataset of 360 plots located in structurally intact old-growth closed-canopy forest, surveyed using standardised methods, allowing a multi-scale evaluation of diversity-carbon relationships in tropical forests. Diversity-carbon relationships among all plots at 1 ha scale across the tropics are absent, and within continents are either weak (Asia) or absent (Amazonia, Africa). A weak positive relationship is detectable within 1 ha plots, indicating that diversity effects in tropical forests may be scale dependent. The absence of clear diversity-carbon relationships at scales relevant to conservation planning means that carbon-centred conservation strategies will inevitably miss many high diversity ecosystems. As tropical forests can have any combination of tree diversity and carbon stocks both require explicit consideration when optimising policies to manage tropical carbon and biodiversity.Additional co-authors: Kofi Affum-Baffoe, Shin-ichiro Aiba, Everton Cristo de Almeida, Edmar Almeida de Oliveira, Patricia Alvarez-Loayza, Esteban Álvarez Dávila, Ana Andrade, Luiz E. O. C. Aragão, Peter Ashton, Gerardo A. Aymard C., Timothy R. Baker, Michael Balinga, Lindsay F. Banin, Christopher Baraloto, Jean-Francois Bastin, Nicholas Berry, Jan Bogaert, Damien Bonal, Frans Bongers, Roel Brienen, José Luís C. Camargo, Carlos Cerón, Victor Chama Moscoso, Eric Chezeaux, Connie J. Clark, Álvaro Cogollo Pacheco, James A. Comiskey, Fernando Cornejo Valverde, Eurídice N. Honorio Coronado, Greta Dargie, Stuart J. Davies, Charles De Canniere, Marie Noel Djuikouo K., Jean-Louis Doucet, Terry L. Erwin, Javier Silva Espejo, Corneille E. N. Ewango, Sophie Fauset, Ted R. Feldpausch, Rafael Herrera, Martin Gilpin, Emanuel Gloor, Jefferson S. Hall, David J. Harris, Terese B. Hart, Kuswata Kartawinata, Lip Khoon Kho, Kanehiro Kitayama, Susan G. W. Laurance, William F. Laurance, Miguel E. Leal, Thomas Lovejoy, Jon C. Lovett, Faustin Mpanya Lukasu, Jean-Remy Makana, Yadvinder Malhi, Leandro Maracahipes, Beatriz S. Marimon, Ben Hur Marimon Junior, Andrew R. Marshall, Paulo S. Morandi, John Tshibamba Mukendi, Jaques Mukinzi, Reuben Nilus, Percy Núñez Vargas, Nadir C. Pallqui Camacho, Guido Pardo, Marielos Peña-Claros, Pascal Pétronelli, Georgia C. Pickavance, Axel Dalberg Poulsen, John R. Poulsen, Richard B. Primack, Hari Priyadi, Carlos A. Quesada, Jan Reitsma, Maxime Réjou-Méchain, Zorayda Restrepo, Ervan Rutishauser, Kamariah Abu Salim, Rafael P. Salomão, Ismayadi Samsoedin, Douglas Sheil, Rodrigo Sierra, Marcos Silveira, J. W. Ferry Slik, Lisa Steel, Hermann Taedoumg, Sylvester Tan, John W. Terborgh, Sean C. Thomas, Marisol Toledo, Peter M. Umunay, Luis Valenzuela Gamarra, Ima Célia Guimarães Vieira, Vincent A. Vos, Ophelia Wang, Simon Willcock & Lise Zemagh

Passive Screening and Diagnosis of Sleeping Sickness with New Tools in Primary Health Services: An Operational Research

Introduction: The integration of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) activities into primary health services is gaining importance as a result of the decreasing incidence of HAT and the ongoing developments of new screening and diagnostic tools. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, this integration process faces multiple challenges. We initiated an operational research project to document drivers and bottlenecks of the process. Methods: Three health districts piloted the integration of HAT screening and diagnosis into primary health services. We analysed the outcome indicators of this intervention and conducted in-depth interviews with health care providers, seropositives, community health workers and HD management team members. Our thematic interview guide focused on factors facilitating and impeding the integration of HAT screening. Results: The study showed a HAT-RDT-positive rate of 2.2% in Yasa Bonga, 2.9% in Kongolo and 3% in Bibanga, while the proportion of reported seropositives that received confirmatory examinations was 76%, 45.6% and 68%, respectively. Qualitative analyses indicated that some seropositives were unable to access the confirmation facility. The main reasons that were given included distance, RDT rupture, lack of basic screening equipment and financial barriers (additional hospital fees not included in free treatment course), fear of lumbar puncture and the perception of HAT as a disease of supernatural origin. Conclusion: Passive screening using HAT RDTs in primary health services inevitably has some limitations. However, regarding the epidemiological context and some obstacles to integrated implementation, this cannot on its own be a relevant alternative to the elimination of HAT by 2020. Funding: We acknowledge the agency that provided financial support for this study, the Belgian Development Cooperation. The funder had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. Philippe Mulenga received financial support thanks to a doctoral grant from the Belgian Development Cooperation under the FA4 agreement. Funding for the study and Rapid Service Fees was provided by the Epidemiology and Tropical Diseases Unit of the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Feasibility of integration of Human African Trypanosomiasis control in basic health services: Preliminary results from an operational research

info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublishe

PERCEPTION OF THE INTEGRATION OF HUMAN AFRICAN TRYPANOSOMIASIS CONTROL INTO BASIC HEALTH SERVICES: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

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Integration of Human African Trypanosomiasis Control Activities into Primary Health Services in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Qualitative Study of Stakeholder Perceptions.

Human African trypanosomiasis is close to elimination in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The diagnosis and treatment is currently rapidly being integrated into first-line health services. We aimed to document the perspective of stakeholders on this integration process. We conducted 12 focus groups with communities in three health zones of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and held 32 interviews with health-care providers, managers, policy makers, and public health experts. The topic guide focused on enabling and blocking factors related to the integrated diagnosis and treatment approach. The data were analyzed with NVivo using a thematic analysis process. The results showed that the community mostly welcomed integrated care for diagnosis and treatment of sleeping sickness, as they value the proximity of first-line health services, but feared possible financial barriers. Health-care professionals thought integration contributed to the elimination goal but identified several implementation challenges, such as the lack of skills, equipment, motivation and financial resources in these basic health services. Patients often use multiple therapeutic itineraries that do not necessarily lead them to health centers where screening is available. Financial barriers are important, as health care is not free in first-line health centers, in contrast to the population screening campaigns. Communities and providers signal several challenges regarding the integration process. To succeed, the required training of health professionals, as well as staff deployment and remuneration policy and the financial barriers in the primary care system need to be addressed, to ensure coverage for those most in need.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Plot Data from "Diversity and carbon storage across the tropical forest biome."

Tropical forests are global centres of both biodiversity and carbon storage. Many tropical countries aspire to protect forest to fulfil biodiversity and climate mitigation policy targets, but the conservation strategies needed to achieve these two functions depend critically on the tropical forest diversity-carbon relationship and this remains largely unexplored. Attempts to assess and understand this relationship in tropical forest ecosystems have been hindered by the scarcity of inventories where carbon storage in aboveground biomass and species identifications have been simultaneously and robustly quantified. Here, we compile a unique pan-tropical dataset of 360 plots located in old-growth closed-canopy forest, surveyed using standardised methods, allowing a multi-scale evaluation of the relationship between carbon storage and tree diversity. We find strongly contrasting variation in diversity and carbon among continents. Thus, on average, African forests have high carbon storage but relatively low diversity, Amazonian forests have high diversity but less carbon, and Southeast Asian forests have both high diversity and high carbon storage. Carbon-diversity relationships among all plots across the tropics are absent, and within continents are either weak (Asia) or absent (Amazonia, Africa). Within 1 ha plots a weak positive relationship is detectable, indicating that diversity effects in tropical forests may be scale dependent. The absence of clear diversity-carbon relationships at scales relevant to most conservation planning means that carbon-centred conservation strategies alone would miss many high diversity ecosystems. As tropical forests can have any combination of tree diversity and carbon stocks both will require explicit consideration when optimising policies to manage tropical carbon and biodiversity