Analyses of Socioeconomic Factors influencing on-farm Conservation of Remnant Forest Tree Species: Evidence from Ghana

The contribution of remnant trees in traditional agro forestry systems in recent times has attracted significant attention from policy makers, stakeholders, and academicians due to their important role in conserving biodiversity within agricultural systems, reserves of genetic resources and provision of other important environmental services. The study seeks to determine socioeconomic factors influencing farmers’ decision to maintain remnant trees in agricultural landscape. Data was solicited from 220 households in three rural communities through structured interviews and on farm visitations. We employed Poison and Negative Binomial Regressions to determine factors influencing rural farm households’ decision to retain remnants forest tree species in agro ecosystem. The regression results indicated that the key factors strongly affecting farmers’ on-farm conservation decision to retain remnant forest trees in agricultural landscape were age, gender, years of schooling, religion, land tenure, farmers’ perceptions to current environmental problems, distance to farm land, erosion and the size of the landholdings. The study recommends that forest governance with focus on collaborative forest resource management and equitable distribution of benefits generated from extraction of forest resources should be given high impetus in policy formulation. The needs and concerns of forest fringe communities should feature paramount in this regard

Comparison of post-fire planted and natural dry semi-deciduous forest communities in Ghana

Peer reviewe

Effects of Contaminated Soil on the Survival and Growth Performance of European (Populus tremula L.) and Hybrid Aspen (Populus tremula L. × Populus tremuloides Michx.) Clones Based on Stand Density

This study was conducted to assess the survival rates, growth, and chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) of four hybrid aspen (14, 191, 27, 291) and two European aspen (R3 and R4) clones cultivated in creosote- and diesel oil-contaminated soil treatments under three different plant densities: one plant per pot (low density), two plants per pot (medium density), and six plants per pot (high density) over a period of two years and three months. Evaluating the survival, growth, and Fv/Fm values of different plants is a prerequisite for phytoremediation to remediate polluted soils for ecological restoration and soil health. The results revealed that contaminated soils affected all plants’ survival rates and growth. However, plants grown in the creosote-contaminated soil displayed a 99% survival rate, whereas plants cultivated in the diesel-contaminated soil showed a 22–59% survival rate. Low plant density resulted in a higher survival rate and growth than in the other two density treatments. In contrast, the medium- and high-density treatments did not affect the plant survival rate and growth to a greater extent, particularly in contaminated soil treatments. The effects of clonal variation on the survival rate, growth, and Fv/Fm values were evident in all treatments. The results suggested that hybrid aspen clones 14 and 291, and European aspen clone R3 were suitable candidates for the phytoremediation experiment, as they demonstrated reasonable survival rates, growth, and Fv/Fm values across all treatments. A superior survival rate for clone 291, height and diameter growth, and stem dry biomass production for clone 14 were observed in all soil treatments. Overall, a reasonable survival rate (~75%) and Fv/Fm value (>0.75) for all plants in all treatments, indicating European aspen and hybrid aspen have considerable potential for phytoremediation experiments. As the experiment was set up for a limited period, this study deserves further research to verify the growth potential of different hybrid aspen and European aspen clones in different soil and density treatment for the effective phytoremediation process to remediate the contaminated soil

Farmers’ willingness to supply biomass for energy generation: evidence from South and Central Poland

The objective of this survey-based study was to investigate farmers’ willingness to supply biomass for power generation in the south and in the centre of Poland. In total, 210 farmers participated in this study by filling in a self-instructed questionnaire. The results indicate that the majority of farmers (two-thirds) in both regions appeared unwilling to collect, store and transport biomass to the market or to the energy production facility. It is likely that an unstable biomass market marked by low demand and low prices has led to unwillingness by farmers to engage in bioenergy production in Poland. Increasing the role of biomass as a renewable energy resource and recovering the farmers’ confidence in the market would require fixing the shortcomings in the biomass market and the provision of clear public policies that aim at long-term market stability

Impacts of forests on children’s diet in rural areas across 27 developing countries

Micronutrient deficiency affects about a third of the world’s population. Children in developing countries are particularly vulnerable. Consequences include impaired cognitive and physical development and increased childhood morbidity and mortality. Recent studies suggest that forests help alleviate micronutrient deficiency by increasing dietary diversity. However, evidence is mostly based on weakly designed local case studies of limited relevance to global policies. Furthermore, impacts of forests on diet vary among communities, and understanding this variation can help target actions to enhance impact. We compile data on children’s diets in over 43,000 households across 27 developing countries to examine the impacts of forests on dietary diversity. We use empirical designs that are attentive to assumptions necessary for causal interpretations and that adequately account for confounding factors that could mask or mimic the impact. We find that high exposure to forests causes children to have at least 25% greater dietary diversity compared to lack of exposure, a result comparable to the impacts of some nutrition-sensitive agricultural programs. A closer look at a subset of African countries indicates that impacts are generally higher for less developed communities, but highest with certain access to markets, roads, and education. Our results also indicate that forests could help reduce vitamin A and iron deficiencies. Our study establishes the causal relationship between forests and diet and thus strengthens the evidence for integrating forest conservation and management into nutrition interventions. Our results also suggest that providing households some access to capital can increase the impact of forest-related interventions on nutrition

Public Perceptions of MSW Management in Wrocław City, Poland

Elevating public awareness of waste management at the household level is a cost effective and a win-win social, economic and environmental approach on the table of policymaking. Modern and effective waste management bring about broader economic efficiency and social equity, mitigate consumerism, thus, promoting the conservation of natural resources. In this article, a survey study was conducted among the citizens of Wrocław city, Poland. The city is dynamic, touristic, and industrial. Through random sampling, 160 respon-dents filled in the questionnaire. The results revealed that the participantsappeared aware of the benefits of waste management (WM); however the current WM systems and infrastructures are not very satisfying. The partici-pants identified several shortcomings in the current WM systems such as the lack of sufficient colored bins forglass recycling, overfilled bins and heavy lids, and irregular waste collection system. The study proposes a pub-lic -oriented outreach campaign targeting waste separation and less-waste be-haviors as economically and environmentally beneficial, accompanied by continuous development of WM regulations and infrastructures and linked it to waste-to-energy systems and technologies to assist in achieving the long-term energy and emissions-reduction targets

Forest Conservation: A Potential Nutrition-Sensitive Intervention in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Rasolofoson, Ricketts, Jacob, Johnson, Pappinen and Fisher. Childhood undernutrition yearly kills 3.1 million children worldwide. For those who survive early life undernutrition, it can cause motor and cognitive development problems that translate into poor educational performance and limited work productivity later in life. It has been suggested that nutrition-specific interventions (e.g., micronutrient supplementation) that directly address the immediate determinants of undernutrition (e.g., nutrient intake) need to be complemented by nutrition-sensitive interventions that more broadly address the underlying determinants of undernutrition (e.g., food insecurity). Here, we argue that forest conservation represents a potentially important but overlooked nutrition-sensitive intervention. Forests can address a number of underlying determinants of undernutrition, including the supply of forest food products, income, habitat for pollinators, women\u27s time allocation, diarrheal disease, and dietary diversity. We examine the effects of forests on stunting—a debilitating outcome of undernutrition—using a database of household surveys and environmental variables across 25 low- and middle-income countries. Our result indicates that exposure to forest significantly reduces child stunting (at least 7.11% points average reduction). The average magnitude of the reduction is at least near the median of the impacts of other known nutrition interventions. Forest conservation interventions typically cover large areas and are often implemented where people are vulnerable, and thus could be used to reach a large number of the world\u27s undernourished communities that may have difficult access to traditional nutrition programs. Forest conservation is therefore a potentially effective nutrition-sensitive intervention. Efforts are needed to integrate specific nutrition goals and actions into forest conservation interventions in order to unleash their potential to deliver nutritional benefits

Farmers' perceptions of the challenges facing the biomass market in Poland; a case study from South and Central Poland

Farmers’ perceptions and values are a fundamental part of a polycentric approach aimed at improving the financial feasibility of biomass-based enterprises. In this survey-based study, 210 farmers from central (Torun province) and southern (Upper Silesia region) Poland completed a self- instructed questionnaire dealing with their perceptions of the challenges currently facing the biomass market and their willingness to change from traditional farming to feedstock production for energy generation. The results indicate that only 12% of the farmers are willing to switch to biocrop cultivation. Moreover, selected socio-economic and demographic variables (gender, age) had an impact on their willingness to adopt energy crops. All the presented challenges appeared to be of high relevance to the farmers who participated in this study. However, farmers from Torun province attributed substantial relevance to the social transformation in the agriculture sector, and to the lack of seasonal workers. In the Upper Silesia region, the lack of a well-established biomass market was of greatest relevance. A cross-tabulation method revealed statistical differences between the perceived value of farming and the farmers’ perceptions toward the challenges facing the biomass market. These findings are insightful for policies that aim to address the shortcomings in current biomass market development in Poland