The Woodcraft Industry Of The Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road

A study was conducted along the Victoria Falls to Bulawayo Road to document the woodcraft industry. One of the objectives was1 to analyze the rules and regulations governing wood use in the industry and the institutional arrangements around these. Secondly, the study aimed at documenting the contributions that carving makes to the local economy. Thirdly, the study focused on the ecological impact of the industry on the local woodlands. A total of 24 markets were counted between Victoria Falls and Bulawayo with major concentrations around the tourist resorts ofHwange National Park and Victoria Falls. Monthly incomes of carvers ranged between $42 and$4000. A total of 940 beneficiariesfrom seven markets were counted. Marketing strategies are mostly dependent on the flow of tourists along the road. There was, little evidence for damaging impact on local woodlands resulting from the carving activities. The amount of wood used by the carvers is equivalent to a small proportion of the “waste” of commercial logging companies. The study calls for the support of this budding industry and establishing mechanisms to enhance the status and incomes from this activity on a sustainable basis.Forestry Commission's Research and Development Division

The Southern Africa Fire Network (SAFNet) Regional Burned-area Product-validation Protocol

The development of appropriate validation techniques is critical to assess uncertainties associated with satellite-data-based products, to identify needed product improvements and to allow products to be used appropriately. At regional to global scales, there are several outstanding issues in the development of robust validation methodologies, including the need to increase the quality and economy of product validation by developing and promoting international validation standards and protocols. This paper describes a protocol developed to validate a regional southern Africa burned-area product derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 500m time series data. The protocol is based upon interpretations by members of the Southern Africa Fire Network (SAFNet) of multitemporal Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM + ) data to derive maps of the location and approximate date of burning. The validation data are derived using Landsat ETM+ scenes distributed to encompass representative regional variation in the conditions for which the MODIS burned-area product was generated and to capture the more important factors that influence product performance. The protocol was developed by consensus to ensure inter-comparison of the independent data derived by the different SAFNet members and to allow these data to be scaled up to provide regional validation of the MODIS burned-area product. Biomass burning in southern Africa, the ETM+ sampling rationale, the interpretation and mapping approach, SAFNet member fire activities, and illustrative 2001 results and difficulties encountered with the protocol are described

Temporal Growth Variation in High-Elevation Forests: Case Study of Polylepis Forests in Central Andes

Polylepis species form the dominant high-altitude forests in the tropicalAndes, one of the most vulnerable regions to future climate change scenarios. Thestudy of the growth of these forests provides useful information about their ontogenyand the environmental conditions where they develop. The identification ofgrowth patterns is relevant for understanding the dynamics of the forests in responseto climatic variables. In this chapter, we present a brief review of dendroecologicalstudies on Polylepis species. We also developed for the first time in the centralAndes of Peru three new Polylepis ring-width chronologies together with a diametergrowth modeling for the following species: Polylepis rodolfo-vasquezii, Polylepisrugulosa, and Polylepis tarapacana. Dendrochronological techniques together with a biologically based model help us to obtain information on forestry traits ofPolylepis species. P. rodolfo-vasquezii to growth response to summer temperature ofthe current growth period determined radial growth, whereas spring and summerprecipitation from the previous growth period determined the radial growth in P.rugulosa and P. tarapacana, respectively. The radial growth models indicated differencesin the growth of the three Polylepis species with P. rodolfo-vasquezii reachingthe highest rate (0.11 cm/yr), while P. tarapacana showed the lowest (0.08 cm/yr). Due to the low growth rates of these Polylepis species, long periods (>100 years)are required to establish and provide ecosystem services. As these forests face thechallenge of climate change and anthropogenic pressure, there is a clear need toobtain precise information in order to formulate guidelines for the conservation ofthese forests, and the application of dendroecology is indispensable in this context.Fil: Requena Rojas, Edilson Jimmy. Universidad Continental; PerúFil: Crispín DelaCruz, Doris B.. Universidad Continental; PerúFil: Ticse-Otarola, Ginette. Universidad Continental; PerúFil: Rusbelth Quispe Melgar, Harold. Universidad Continental; PerúFil: Inga Guillen, Janet G.. Universidad Continental; PerúFil: Camel Paucar, Vladimir. Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina; PerúFil: Guerra, Anthony. Universidad Nacional del Centro del Perú; PerúFil: Ames Martinez, Fressia Nathalie. Universidad Continental; PerúFil: Morales, Mariano Santos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; Argentin