Ecosystem services of the Niger Delta Forests, Nigeria

This research aimed to appraise the Niger Delta forest ecosystem services. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment framework was used to categorize the potential benefits from the Niger Delta forests. Data was collected from 90 respondents drawn from selected rural and urban communities. While the urban respondents were aware of all the range of services provided by the forest, the rural respondents had zero knowledge of many of the services. Despite the good knowledge of ecosystem services by the urban respondents, only 42.5% were aware of fresh water provisioning services and only 27.5% were aware of water purification services. Both the urban and rural respondents had preference for the “provisioning services”. Rural populations were particularly dependent on consumptive and extractive benefits for livelihoods and wellbeing. The results highlighted the dependency of local people on provisioning services for basic livelihood requirements and the asymmetric distribution of education and information regarding forest benefits between urban and rural populations. The need for environmental awareness creation and improved access to information of the unseen and un-valued benefits of the Niger Delta forest ecosystem is emphasized.Keywords: Livelihoods, forest, ecosystem, services, Niger-Delt

Health economics of targeted intraoperative radiotherapy (TARGIT-IORT) for early breast cancer: a cost-effectiveness analysis in the United Kingdom

Objective: The clinical effectiveness of targeted intraoperative radiotherapy (TARGIT-IORT) has been confirmed in the randomised TARGIT-A (targeted intraoperative radiotherapy-alone) trial to be similar to a several weeks’ course of whole-breast external-beam radiation therapy (EBRT) in patients with early breast cancer. This study aims to determine the cost effectiveness of TARGIT-IORT to inform policy decisions about its wider implementation. Setting TARGIT-A randomised clinical trial (ISRCTN34086741) which compared TARGIT with traditional EBRT and found similar breast cancer control, particularly when TARGIT was given simultaneously with lumpectomy. Methods: Cost-utility analysis using decision analytic modelling by a Markov model. A cost-effectiveness Markov model was developed using TreeAge Pro V.2015. The decision analytic model compared two strategies of radiotherapy for breast cancer in a hypothetical cohort of patients with early breast cancer based on the published health state transition probability data from the TARGIT-A trial. Analysis was performed for UK setting and National Health Service (NHS) healthcare payer’s perspective using NHS cost data and treatment outcomes were simulated for both strategies for a time horizon of 10 years. Model health state utilities were drawn from the published literature. Future costs and effects were discounted at the rate of 3.5%. To address uncertainty, one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed. Main outcome measures: Quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). Results: In the base case analysis, TARGIT-IORT was a highly cost-effective strategy yielding health gain at a lower cost than its comparator EBRT. Discounted TARGITIORT and EBRT costs for the time horizon of 10 years were £12 455 and £13 280, respectively. TARGIT-IORT gained 0.18 incremental QALY as the discounted QALYs gained by TARGIT-IORT were 8.15 and by EBRT were 7.97 showing TARGIT-IORT as a dominant strategy over EBRT. Model outputs were robust to one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. Conclusions: TARGIT-IORT is a dominant strategy over EBRT, being less costly and producing higher QALY gain

Biodiversity and Cultural Ecosystem Service Indicators Workshop

The biodiversity and cultural ecosystem service (CES) workshop explored ways of measuring different components of CES linked to biodiversity. Sixty-four nature-sector professionals from academic, government and NGO institutions participated in four group based workshop activities and an informal plenary session. The workshop aimed to inspire stimulating debate on CES topics for participants, whilst generating useful indicators and insights for the social science component of the Wessex-Bess research project

The Potential Contribution of Agroforestry to Net Zero Objectives. Report for the Woodland Trust

The aim of this report, for the Woodland Trust, is to examine the potential contribution of agroforestry to net zero objectives in the United Kingdom over the next 40-50 years, with a focus on 2050. As part of the drive to net zero greenhouse gas emissions, the UK Government and the Committee for Climate Change has proposed an expansion in tree cover of 30-70,000 hectares a year across the UK. These are above any level of tree planting seen in the UK in recent years and the majority of such planting will need to occur on farmland. Agroforestry, the integration of trees on farms, whilst sustaining agricultural production, is one approach to increase tree cover whilst supporting other objectives such as the maintenance of livelihoods, provision of wildlife habitats, and reduced nutrient pollution. The report draws on and synthesises previously published literature in journal papers, academic reports, and on-going research

Farmer perception of benefits, constraints and opportunities for silvoarable systems: preliminary insights from Bedfordshire, England

Silvoarable agroforestry integrates the use of trees and arable crops on the same area of land, and such systems can be supported by national governments under the European Union’s (EU) Rural Development Regulations (2014–2020). In order to improve the understanding of farmers’ perceptions of such systems, detailed face-to-face interviews were completed with 15 farmers in Bedfordshire, England. Most of these farmers thought that silvoarable systems would not be profitable on their farms and that benefits would tend to be environmental or social rather than economic. Most farmers also thought that management and use of machinery would become more difficult. They felt that the tree component could potentially disrupt field operations and drainage and expressed concerns over the uncertain and long-term nature of timber revenue and the effect of intercrop yield reductions on crop revenue. Even so, 20% of the farmers stated they would use silvoarable systems if convinced that they were more profitable than conventional arable farming. A further 20% said they would farm the intercrop area belonging to someone else, if the rent was reduced to compensate for crop yield reductions. These results suggest that for most arable farmers, an economic advantage over current practice needs to exist before silvoarable systems are likely to be adopted. However, a minority might rent the crop component of a silvoarable system from another party or implement a full system for perceived environmental or social benefits

Financial and economic benefits of integrated crop-livestock-tree systems in Europe

•Agricultural monocultures have societal costs •Role for agroforestry •Introducing AGFORWARD •Two case studies on the financial and economic benefits of agroforestry in EuropeEuropean Union’s Seventh Framework Program for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 61352

Likely Impacts of Future Agricultural Change on Upland Farming and Biodiversity

Recent decades have witnessed substantial losses of biodiversity in Europe, partly driven by the ecological changes associated with intensification of agricultural production. These changes have particularly affected avian (bird) diversity in marginal areas such as the uplands of the UK. We developed integrated ecological-economic models, using eight different indicators of biodiversity based on avian species richness and individual bird densities. The models represent six different types of farms which are typical for the UK uplands, and were used to assess the outcomes of different agricultural futures. Our results show that the impacts of these future agricultural scenarios on farm incomes, land use and biodiversity are very diverse across policy scenarios and farm types. Moreover, each policy scenario produces un-equal distributions of farm income changes, and gains and losses in alternative biodiversity indicators. This shows that generalisations of the effects of land use change on biodiversity can be misleading. Our results also suggest that a focus on umbrella species or indicators (such as total richness) can miss important compositional effects

Do charismatic species groups generate more cultural ecosystem service benefits?

The relationship between nature and cultural ecosystem service (CES) benefits is well accepted but poorly understood, as is the potential role of biodiversity in the relationship. By means of a public questionnaire survey in Wiltshire, UK, the relationship between the presence of a range of common species groups, species group ‘charisma’, group abundance in the landscape, and the benefit that people felt that they derived from the species groups was investigated for a lowland multifunctional landscape. Findings showed that species group charisma influenced the benefit reported by respondents for current abundance levels, and influenced their response to potential increases or decreases in abundance. Respondents reported high levels of benefit from species groups hypothesised to be charismatic (birds, flowering plants, butterflies) and there was high consistency in the pattern of response. Respondents reported less benefit from groups hypothesised to be less charismatic (beetles/bugs, brambles and nettles), the latter response patterns showing much greater variation. These results could be used to promote a more holistic understanding of the value of biodiversity by educating and informing the public so that they derive benefit not just from the charismatic, but also from the everyday, the commonplace and less obviously charismatic species

Modelling and valuing the environmental impacts of arable, forestry and agroforestry systems: a case study

The use of land for intensive arable production in Europe is associated with a range of externalities that typically impose costs on third parties. The introduction of trees in arable systems can potentially be used to reduce these costs. This paper assesses the profitability and environmental externalities of a silvoarable agroforestry system, and compares this with the profitability and environmental externalities from an arable system and a forestry system. A silvoarable experimental plot of poplar trees planted in 1992 in Bedfordshire, Eastern England, was used as a case study. The Yield-SAFE model was used to simulate the growth and yields of the silvoarable, arable, and forestry land uses along with the associated environmental externalities, including carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen and phosphorus surplus, and soil erosion losses by water. The Farm-SAFE model was then used to quantify the monetary value of these effects. The study assesses both the financial profitability from a farmer perspective and the economic benefit from a societal perspective. The arable option was the most financially profitable system followed by the silvoarable system and forestry. However, when the environmental externalities were included, silvoarable agroforestry provided the greatest benefit. This suggests that the appropriate integration of trees in arable land can provide greater well-being benefits to society overall, than arable farming without trees, or forestry systems on their own

Leisure activities and social factors influence the generation of cultural ecosystem service benefits

The relationship between cultural ecosystem services (CES) and the many diverse aspects of biodiversity is complex and multi-faceted. A large public survey in Wiltshire, UK, was used to assess associations between public benefits from certain species groups in the local countryside, and (i) social antecedents, (ii) engagement in different outdoor leisure activities (iii) indirect nature experience via media-related activities and (iv) species group charisma and abundance. Practitioners of leisure activities with a nature-related theme, whether outdoor activities or indoor media-related activities, reported significantly higher levels of benefit from named species groups, as did respondents whose personal background demonstrated an elevated degree of nature-relatedness. Benefits were also related to the charisma of the species group: enhanced benefit through nature-related activities and social factors was significant for less charismatic species, but inconclusive for more charismatic species. Respondents who participated in outdoor leisure activities without a nature focus were unlikely to report enhanced benefits from species groups in the local landscape. To maximise people’s CES benefits from broader aspects of biodiversity it may be necessary to encourage an active interest in biodiversity, leading people to participate or seek knowledge and understanding, and in turn develop a stronger sense of connectedness to nature