Effects of board density and mixing ratio on the physio-mechanical properties of cement-bonded particle board produced from Ceiba pentandra Sawdust

The study evaluated the physical and mechanical properties of cement–bonded particleboards produced from the sawdust of Ceiba pentandra. The production variables investigated were two board densities (1300kg/m3 and 1200kg/m3) and three different mixing ratios (1:2, 1:2.5 and 1:3). Mean values of Water absorption (WA) and Thickness swelling (TS) after immersion in cold water for 24 hours ranged from 7.64 % to 9.53 % and 2.36 % to 2.99 % respectively. Board density at 1300kg/m3 and mixing ratio 1:3 had the highest average Modulus of Rupture (MOR), Modulus of Elasticity (MOE) and Impact Bending (IMB) of 4.32 Nmm-2, 1262.03 Nmm-2 and 12.70J/M2 respectively. The board density had a significant influence (P < 0.05) on the physical and mechanical properties of the boards. Based on the result, 1300kg/m3 board density and 1:3 mixing ratio produced the best board for mechanical properties and dimensional stability and can be used for several structural applications.Keywords: Ceiba pentandra, Sawdust, Board density, mixing ratio, physio-mechancial propertie

Low-cost adaptation options to support green growth in agriculture, water resources, and coastal zones

The regional climate as it is now and in the future will put pressure on investments in sub-Saharan Africa in water resource management, fisheries, and other crop and livestock production systems. Changes in oceanic characteristics across the Atlantic Ocean will result in remarkable vulnerability of coastal ecology, littorals, and mangroves in the middle of the twenty-first century and beyond. In line with the countries' objectives of creating a green economy that allows reduced greenhouse gas emissions, improved resource efficiency, and prevention of biodiversity loss, we identify the most pressing needs for adaptation and the best adaptation choices that are also clean and affordable. According to empirical data from the field and customized model simulation designs, the cost of these adaptation measures will likely decrease and benefit sustainable green growth in agriculture, water resource management, and coastal ecosystems, as hydroclimatic hazards such as pluviometric and thermal extremes become more common in West Africa. Most of these adaptation options are local and need to be scaled up and operationalized for sustainable development. Governmental sovereign wealth funds, investments from the private sector, and funding from global climate funds can be used to operationalize these adaptation measures. Effective legislation, knowledge transfer, and pertinent collaborations are necessary for their success

Low-cost adaptation options to support green growth in agriculture, water resources, and coastal zones

The regional climate as it is now and in the future will put pressure on investments in sub-Saharan Africa in water resource management, fisheries, and other crop and livestock production systems. Changes in oceanic characteristics across the Atlantic Ocean will result in remarkable vulnerability of coastal ecology, littorals, and mangroves in the middle of the twenty-first century and beyond. In line with the countries' objectives of creating a green economy that allows reduced greenhouse gas emissions, improved resource efficiency, and prevention of biodiversity loss, we identify the most pressing needs for adaptation and the best adaptation choices that are also clean and affordable. According to empirical data from the field and customized model simulation designs, the cost of these adaptation measures will likely decrease and benefit sustainable green growth in agriculture, water resource management, and coastal ecosystems, as hydroclimatic hazards such as pluviometric and thermal extremes become more common in West Africa. Most of these adaptation options are local and need to be scaled up and operationalized for sustainable development. Governmental sovereign wealth funds, investments from the private sector, and funding from global climate funds can be used to operationalize these adaptation measures. Effective legislation, knowledge transfer, and pertinent collaborations are necessary for their success

Effects of customized climate services on land and labor productivity in Burkina Faso and Ghana

Climate services favor adopting strategies to increase agricultural productivity, enhance sustainable development, and adapt to unavoidable climate variability and change. However, for climates services to be effective, they must be accessible and suitable to user needs. This study investigated the effects of customized climate services (CCS) on land and labor productivity. Portraying the case of CCS delivered in the districts of Bolgatanga (Northern Ghana), Dano and Ouahigouya (western and northern Burkina Faso) in West Africa, it used: i) historical panel data of daily rainfall, yields, agricultural input, and output prices; ii) cost statements of farm operations and iii) other survey data from beneficiaries of on-farm demonstrations (pilot sites). Different results were found across farmers on the demonstrator sites, with Dano and Bolgatanga recording the best land and labor productivity. Strong and positive effects were observed in Dano, where land productivity increased by 200% and labor productivity doubled despite consecutive pluviometric extremes such as heavy rain events and prolonged dry spells in the 2017 and 2018 cropping seasons. Further investigation showed that CCS was particularly favorable to land and labor productivity of farmers who were committed to the advisory given by the CCS providers. Therefore, as perishable goods, the success of CCS applications would require thorough coproduction, delivery, and monitoring for their effectiveness in improving land and labor productivity for agriculture in semi-arid regions of West Africa

Fire severity assessment of an Alpine forest fire with SENTINEL-2 imagery

Abstract. Fire is a common phenomenon in many forests and is considered an important ecological tool. Fire severity mapping presents an effective way to assess post-fire management intervention and is helpful in environmental and climate change research. The objective of this study was to determine the severity of a forest fire event that occurred from 24th to 27th October 2019 at Taibon Agordino using Sentinel-2A satellite images and creating a severity map suitable as a decision-making tool for post-fire management intervention. The Sentinel-2A satellite data was classified into the following five classes: Unburned, Low Severity, Moderate Severity, High Severity, and Shadow with the non-parametric Random Forest (RF) classifier, and the resulting classified image was validated using validation sites. The RF classifier was applied first to the ten original band reflectance of Sentinel-2. In a second step, additional variables were added to the classification, namely the digital elevation model (DEM), the slope, and five vegetation indices (i.e., Differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR), Relative Differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (RdNBR), Differenced Bare Soil Index (dBSI), Global Environmental Monitoring Index (GEMI) and Burn Area Index (BAI)) The inclusion of vegetation indices and DEM-related variables increased the classification accuracy from 99.26% to 99.61% and the overall accuracy from 70.51% to 83.33%. In the classification with the ten original band reflectance, the variable of importance plot ranked the Red-Edge-3, Red, and SWIR 1 band reflectance as the top three most important input features, while for the classification with 17 variables, RdNBR, DEM and dNBR were the top three most important input features

Prevalence and severity of bacterial blight and anthracnose diseases of cassava in different agroecological zones of Nigeria

Published online: 30 April 2008Geo-referenced surveys were conducted in 2001 and 2003 to assess the prevalence and severity of cassava bacterial blight (CBB) and cassava anthracnose disease (CAD) in different agro-ecological zones of Nigeria. A total of 132 fields were visited in 2001 as follow: humid forest (HF) 42, derived savannah (DS) 38, southern guinea savannah (SGS) 16, northern guinea savannah (NGS) 16 and Sudan savannah (SS) 20. In 2003, 277 fields were visited: HF (83), DS (143), SGS (22), NGS (11), and SS (18). CBB prevalence was greater than 70% in all ecozones in 2001; 33.7% in HF, 65.7% in DS and greater than 90% in others in 2003. CAD prevalence was greater than 90% in HF for the two surveys, 44.7% and 61.5% for 2001 and 2003 respectively in DS, while it was not observed in the other zones. In both surveys, more than 80% of CBB infected fields in all ecozones were moderately severe, except in SS where 47% of fields in 2003 were highly severe. In both HF and DS, more than 30% of fields in 2001, and less than 20% in 2003, had highly severe CAD symptoms. Prevalence of CBB was negatively correlated with annual precipitation and positively correlated with maximum temperature of the ecozones, while prevalence of CAD had strong positive relationship with the annual precipitation and negative association with maximum temperature. The distribution patterns of the diseases found in this study provide a baseline for disease management programme in the rapidly expanding cassava industry in Nigeria, and implications of the results for cassava industry were discussed