Seed system security assessment : Southern Sudan : November-December 2010

Juba, South Suda

Seed system security assessment: Southern Sudan

A Seed System Security Assessment (SSSA) was carried out across Southern Sudan in November–December 2010. It reviewed the functioning of the seed systems farmers use, both formal and informal, and assessed whether farmers could access seed of adequate quantity and quality in the short and medium term. The work covered 8 states and 16 counties, chosen to anticipate the range of possible seed security constraints. Field research encompassed 885 farmer interviews, seed/grain market analysis, interviews with 70 traders, over 25 focus group discussions (including discussions with women’s groups), and key-informant sessions. Background papers were also commissioned on: a) the formal breeding sector’s structures and processes; b) the formal seed sector’s structures and processes; and c) current decentralized seed multiplication and distribution initiatives. This is among the more comprehensive agricultural and seed security assessments carried out nationwide, across Southern Sudan, in many decades

Public opinion on energy crops in the landscape: considerations for the expansion of renewable energy from biomass

Public attitudes were assessed towards two dedicated biomass crops – Miscanthus and Short Rotation Coppice (SRC), particularly regarding their visual impacts in the landscape. Results are based on responses to photographic and computer-generated images as the crops are still relatively scarce in the landscape. A questionnaire survey indicated little public concern about potential landscape aesthetics but more concern about attendant built infrastructure. Focus group meetings and interviews indicated support for biomass end uses that bring direct benefits to local communities. Questions arise as to how well the imagery used was able to portray the true nature of these tall, dense, perennial plants but based on the responses obtained and given the caveat that there was limited personal experience of the crops, it appears unlikely that wide-scale planting of biomass crops will give rise to substantial public concern in relation to their visual impact in the landscape

Forest regeneration on European sheep pasture is an economically viable climate change mitigation strategy

Livestock production uses 37% of land globally and is responsible for 15% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Yet livestock farmers across Europe receive billions of dollars in annual subsidies to support their livelihoods. This study evaluates whether diverting European subsidies into the restoration of trees on abandoned farmland represents a cost-effective negative-emissions strategy for mitigating climate change. Focusing on sheep farming in the United Kingdom, and on natural regeneration and planted native forests, we show that, without subsidies, sheep farming is not profitable when farmers are paid for their labour. Despite the much lower productivity of upland farms, upland and lowland farms are financially comparable per hectare. Conversion to 'carbon forests' is possible via natural regeneration when close to existing trees, which are seed sources. This strategy is financially viable without subsidies, meeting the net present value of poorly performing sheep farming at a competitive $4/tCO2eq. If tree planting is required to establish forests, then ~$55/tCO2eq is needed to break-even, making it uneconomical under current carbon market prices without financial aid to cover establishment costs. However, this break-even price is lower than the theoretical social value of carbon ($68/tCO2eq), which represents the economic cost of CO2 emissions to society. The viability of land-use conversion without subsidies therefore depends on low farm performance, strong likelihood of natural regeneration, and high carbon-market price, plus overcoming potential trade-offs between the cultural and social values placed on pastoral livestock systems and climate change mitigation. The morality of subsidising farming practices that cause high greenhouse gas emissions in Europe, whilst spending billions annually on protecting forest carbon in less developed nations to slow climate change is questionable

Seeing the landscape for the trees: metrics to guide riparian shade management in river catchments

Rising water temperature (Tw) due to anthropogenic climate change may have serious consequences for river ecosystems. Conservation and/or expansion of riparian shade could counter warming and buy time for ecosystems to adapt. However, sensitivity of river reaches to direct solar radiation is highly heterogeneous in space and time, so benefits of shading are also expected to be site specific. We use a network of high-resolution temperature measurements from two upland rivers in the UK, in conjunction with topographic shade modelling, to assess the relative significance of landscape and riparian shade to the thermal behaviour of river reaches. Trees occupy 7% of the study catchments (comparable with the UK national average) yet shade covers 52% of the area and is concentrated along river corridors. Riparian shade is most beneficial for managing Tw at distances 5 to 20 km downstream from the source of the rivers where discharge is modest, flow is dominated by near-surface hydrological pathways, there is a wide floodplain with little landscape shade, and where cumulative solar exposure times are sufficient to affect Tw. For the rivers studied, we find that approximately 0.5 km of complete shade is necessary to off-set Tw by 1°C during July (the month with peak Tw) at a headwater site; whereas 1.1 km of shade is required 25 km downstream. Further research is needed to assess the integrated effect of future changes in air temperature, sunshine duration, direct solar radiation and downward diffuse radiation on Tw to help tree planting schemes achieve intended outcomes

Exploring the potential of Google Earth as a communication and engagement tool in collaborative Natural Flood Management planning

This paper considers the development and evaluation of a Google Earth “virtual globe” tour for communicating spatial data and engaging stakeholders in the early stages of a natural flood management (NFM) planning scenario, using a rural UK river catchment that suffered significant flooding in 2007. With a range of diverse stakeholder interests to consider, early engagement and the development of trust before decision‐making are essential for the long‐term success of such catchment‐wide projects. A local catchment group was consulted to identify key information requirements, and from this a “virtual globe” tour was created. The process involved specialist skills and expert leadership, but the end result was accessible to a range of audiences. User evaluation indicated that it was easy to navigate and can be used to stimulate interest and engage stakeholders. Participants trusted the content and valued the interactivity of the tour. It was helpful for communicating and educating participants about the catchment, the issues it faces, and the potential to incorporate NFM, particularly for those with little or no prior knowledge. More abstract information was harder to convey and there were limitations in the availability of suitable data for some variables and the in quality of satellite imagery. This exploratory research found that a Google Earth “virtual globe” tour can be a valuable tool in the initial stages of an NFM project, but there are also opportunities to use this technique in the more advanced stages of the planning process. The approach could be used as part of a wider toolkit for communication and engagement and has potential as a decision support tool in other environmental management scenarios with requirements for public participation, enabling the views of a range of participants to be captured through online distribution and to generate discussion in workshop setting

Modelling short-rotation coppice and tree planting for urban carbon management - a citywide analysis

© 2015 British Ecological Society The capacity of urban areas to deliver provisioning ecosystem services is commonly overlooked and underutilized. Urban populations have globally increased fivefold since 1950, and they disproportionately consume ecosystem services and contribute to carbon emissions, highlighting the need to increase urban sustainability and reduce environmental impacts of urban dwellers. Here, we investigated the potential for increasing carbon sequestration, and biomass fuel production, by planting trees and short-rotation coppice (SRC), respectively, in a mid-sized UK city as a contribution to meeting national commitments to reduce CO2 emissions. Iterative GIS models were developed using high-resolution spatial data. The models were applied to patches of public and privately owned urban greenspace suitable for planting trees and SRC, across the 73 km2 area of the city of Leicester. We modelled tree planting with a species mix based on the existing tree populations, and SRC with willow and poplar to calculate biomass production in new trees, and carbon sequestration into harvested biomass over 25 years. An area of 11 km2 comprising 15% of the city met criteria for tree planting and had the potential over 25 years to sequester 4200 tonnes of carbon above-ground. Of this area, 5·8 km2 also met criteria for SRC planting and over the same period this could yield 71 800 tonnes of carbon in harvested biomass. The harvested biomass could supply energy to over 1566 domestic homes or 30 municipal buildings, resulting in avoided carbon emissions of 29 236 tonnes of carbon over 25 years when compared to heating by natural gas. Together with the net carbon sequestration into trees, a total reduction of 33 419 tonnes of carbon in the atmosphere could be achieved in 25 years by combined SRC and tree planting across the city. Synthesis and applications. We demonstrate that urban greenspaces in a typical UK city are underutilized for provisioning ecosystem services by trees and especially SRC, which has high biomass production potential. For urban greenspace management, we recommend that planting SRC in urban areas can contribute to reducing food-fuel conflicts on agricultural land and produce renewable energy sources close to centres of population and demand

Cross-Sector Review of Drivers and Available 3Rs Approaches for Acute Systemic Toxicity Testing

Acute systemic toxicity studies are carried out in many sectors in which synthetic chemicals are manufactured or used and are among the most criticized of all toxicology tests on both scientific and ethical grounds. A review of the drivers for acute toxicity testing within the pharmaceutical industry led to a paradigm shift whereby in vivo acute toxicity data are no longer routinely required in advance of human clinical trials. Based on this experience, the following review was undertaken to identify (1) regulatory and scientific drivers for acute toxicity testing in other industrial sectors, (2) activities aimed at replacing, reducing, or refining the use of animals, and (3) recommendations for future work in this area

Controlling occupational cancers in Australia

Lin Fritschi, Renae C Fernandez, Deborah A Vallance, Terry J Slevin, Alison Reid, Timothy R Driscoll, Deborah C Glas