Collective action in pest management

Since crop and animal pests destroy farmers' production, this brief looks at the ways pests can be controlled either by individual farmers, by public programmes, or by "neighbors working together". This brief examines those cases where technology is not the answer and where farmer collaboration of farmers is the essential element in successful management of pests. The author writes, "Because of the transboundary nature of many pest problems, technical solutions—whether based on the use of pesticides or on biological principles—are rarely sufficient." She concludes that extension programs, like farmer field schools, "should (1) promote an understanding of the spatial dimensions of pest ecology and (2) provide communication techniques that will enable groups of farmers to approach neighboring farmers to invite them to take part in coordinated pest management." from Text.Pests Management ,Collective behavior ,Poverty alleviation ,Property rights ,Collective action ,

Creative Problem Solving Using Visual Thinking

Creative Problem Solving Using Visual Thinking This project explores the concept of visual and semantic thinking and how they can be incorporated into Creative Problem Solving sessions. Visual thinking is the ability to conjure mental images as part of the thinking process. This type of thinking is hard-wired into the human brain and can be seen in individual behavior and language. Meanwhile, semantic thinking is using language and grammar to convey meaning. It is a sequential process that depends on cultural and social references. The project argues that both types of thinking are essential and recommends specific guidelines for including visual thinkers in Creative Problem Solving sessions. These guidelines are based on the understanding that all individuals fall on a spectrum, from highly visual to highly semantic thinkers. We can all benefit from including visual thinking in problem-solving sessions

Selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides with ammonia over microporous zeolite catalysts

With increasing legislative demands to remove nitrogen oxides (NOx) from automotive diesel exhaust, new catalyst systems are investigated and intensely studied in industry as well in academia. The most prevailing catalytic method of choice is the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) where non-toxic urea is used as a reductant for practical reasons. Usually urea is stored in a separate tank and once injected into the exhaust system it hydrolyses into the more aggressive reductant NH3 and CO2. 4 NH3 + 4 NO + O2 -> 4 N2 + 6 H2O (NH3-SCR reaction) In regions where vanadium is not banned cost effective V2O5/WO3/TiO2 NH3-SCR catalyst systems can be used. Vanadium based are well understood, but they do however not provide stability above ca. 550 °C for longer periods of time. In exhaust treatment systems where the temperature is either high or where high temperature excursions are experienced from e.g. regeneration of particulate filters, zeolite based catalysts are therefore today the most promising candidates as high-temperature stable and non-toxic catalysts for the NH3-SCR reaction. Among the most promising candidates are the Cu- and Fe-based zeolites. Usually Fe based zeolites show good performance in the temperature range 250-500 °C and reasonable stability, whereas Cu-based zeolites show good low-temperature activity in the 180-400 °C range. The presence of copper does however also lead to a lower stability of the catalyst material. Since the low-temperature activity is of paramount importance it is necessary to improve this behavior. Therefore the purpose of this project is to investigate: - The deactivation mechanism of copper based zeolites - The influence of the zeolite framework on stability and activity These investigations should mostly be carried out on model systems such as Cu-ZSM-5 and Cu-IM-5. Recently it was found that zeolite materials with the CHA-type structure show increased hydrothermal stability, most likely originating from the small 8-MR window openings in the structure. Part of the project should therefore also include investigations on this type and other similar structures, and therefore entail: - Synthesis, in-depth characterization and catalytic testing of Cu-SSZ-13 and Cu-SAPO-34 (both structures having the CHA-type framework) - Theoretical DFT calculations on relevant parameters found by the in-depth investigation of the afore-mentioned materials - Synthesis and testing of similar materials with 8-MR windows to elucidate the influence of the zeolite sub-structure i.e. if different ring sizes in the structure influences the catalytic performance Relevant characterization techniques include, besides conventional methods, in situ methods such as: high resolution (transmission) electron microscopy, infrared (and raman) spectroscopy together with X-ray absorption spectroscopy. These are all techniques that will complement each other to produce invaluable results. Zeolites are today applied in many and diverse applications both within automotive and environmental catalysis, but also within the petrochemical and renewable chemistry. The findings of this project are therefore also believed to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of this class of materials, relevant to many areas of heterogeneous catalysis, and therefore have the potential, to create research and business with very high impact.Vennestrom, PNR. (2014). Selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides with ammonia over microporous zeolite catalysts [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/43217TESI

User participation in watershed management and research:

Many watershed development projects around the world have performed poorly because they failed to take into account the needs, constraints, and practices of local people. Participatory watershed management—in which users help to define problems, set priorities, select technologies and policies, and monitor and evaluate impacts—is expected to improve performance. User participation in watershed management raises new questions for watershed research, including how to design appropriate mechanisms for organizing stakeholders and facilitating collective action. Management of a complex system such as a watershed may also require user participation in the research process itself. An increasing number of watershed research projects are already participatory, however challenges remain to institutionalizing user participation in both watershed management and research.

Collective action in ant control:

Leaf-cutting ants (Atta. cephalotes) represents a serious problem to farmers in many parts of Latin America and accounts of ants eating up a whole cassava plot or destroying one or more fruit trees overnight are not uncommon. Ants do not respect farm boundaries. Therefore, farmers who control anthills on their own fields might still face damage on their crops caused by ants coming from neighboring fields where no control measures are taken. In that sense, crop damage caused by leaf-cutting ants constitutes a transboundary natural resource management problem which, in addition to technical interventions, requires organizational interventions to ensure a coordinated effort among farmers to be solved. This paper reports on a research effort initiated by CIAT and implemented jointly between CIAT and farmers in La Laguna - a small community in the Andean Hillsides of Southwestern Colombia. The objective of the research effort was two-fold: i) to identify low cost technical options for ant control, and ii) to analyze and visualize the transboundary nature of the ant control problem and thus identify organizational options to enable collective or coordinated ant control.

Institucionalidad para la gestión del agua en Nicaragua

El estudio del marco institucional para la gestión del agua en Nicaragua es el inicio del programa de investigación comparativa: “Competencia por el agua: entendiendo el conflicto y la cooperación en la gestión local del agua”, en la que colaboran cinco países: Vietnam, Zambia, Malí, Bolivia y Nicaragua. En Nicaragua, el programa se enfoca geográficamente en Condega. Esta investigación se desarrollará en un período de tres años, y finalizará con la presentación de resultados en el V Foro Mundial del Agua que se realizará en Estambul, Turquía, en 2009. El programa de investigación en su conjunto tiene como objetivo “contribuir a la gestión local sostenible del agua, en apoyo a los pobres rurales y a otros grupos en desventaja en los países en desarrollo, a través del conocimiento sobre la extensión y la intensidad de los conflictos, y de la cooperación local por el agua, así como sobre sus impactos políticos, económicos y sociales, y cómo esto puede cambiar con el incremento de la competencia por el agua.” (www.diis.dk/water). El objetivo de este informe es hacer una revisión de la institucionalidad existente en torno al agua, para poder entender la política y el contexto legal-administrativo tanto a nivel nacional como local. En otras palabras, se pretende conocer las reglas para acceder al uso del agua y controlarlo, y señalar cuáles son los límites de lo que se puede hacer o no en el país y en las comunidades con respecto a este recurso clave

Payment for environmental services as a mechanism for promoting rural development in the upper watersheds of the tropics

The project “Payment for environmental services as a mechanism for promoting rural development in the upper watersheds of the tropics” aimed to investigate and analyze the environmental externalities as a driver to promote social investment and a new dynamic and harmonic development in the rural sector. The environmental externalities were primarily waterrelated, which were quantified for selected Andean pilot watersheds. In these sites, the areas with higher potential to generate positive environmental externalities (environmental services) were prioritized. Moreover, in the prioritized areas the social and economic benefits (including multiplier effects by additional employments and income generated) derived from proposed land use changes to deliver environmental services were also assessed. Through the development of this project, the research team developed a methodological approach for quantifying and valuating the environmental services. Based on early results, the project through its development partners, Contents CPWF Project Report Page | 3 make direct investments in the selected watersheds to test if financial or economic mechanisms (e.g. PES) were viable and feasible for providing environmental services under the existing socioeconomic context. Between 2005 and 2008, the socioeconomic conditions changed drastically in the Andean region posing new challenges for the design and development of these financial mechanisms. This influenced the potential of environmental services as drivers of new rural. The project learned that private profitability of delivering these services is related to the type of watershed, and in general is low though can produce very high social benefits. When investment on infrastructure measures is proposed for improving a water-related environmental externality, this is rarely profitable at private prices. In most cases the investment is recouped by agricultural producers that not necessarily are the ones capturing the highest share of derived benefits and those sectors that do, do not contribute to pay back the investment cost neither compensate for the associated environmental benefit

Vi ikke alene har et ansvar; vi er også parat til at påtage os det!

Bæredygtighed og grøn omstilling er nogle af første ord, der møder en i disse år, når man tjekker ind på brancheorganisationen Forsikring & Pensions hjemmeside. ”Alle har et ansvar for at bidrage til den grønne omstilling” hedder det, når man klikker sig videre på hjemmesiden. Lignende velkomster møder besøgende på de enkelte pensionskassers hjemmesider og læsere af deres årsrapporter

Conservación de biodiversidad en el contexto de pobreza, avaricia e instituciones débiles

Gobiernos nacionales en todo el mundo se han comprometido a contribuir con la conservación y al uso sostenible de la diversidad biológica, por ejemplo, a través de la Convención de las Naciones Unidas sobre Diversidad Biológica de 1992. Las áreas protegidas constituyen un elemento importante en los esfuerzos para cumplir con estos compromisos. No obstante, muchas veces la declaración de áreas protegidas se encuentra con la oposición local. Durante las últimas décadas la respuesta ha sido buscar el apoyo local para la conservación a través de proyectos que combinan ésta con esfuerzos de desarrollo. Las acciones llevadas a cabo por el gobierno de Nicaragua, en parte apoyado por Danida, de promover la conservación y el desarrollo de la Reserva Biológica Indio Maíz (RBIM) y su zona de amortiguamiento, en el municipio de El Castillo, son parte de estos esfuerzos. Sin embargo, a nivel mundial los resultados tanto con respecto al desarrollo como a la conservación están generando decepción. Con base en una investigación colaborativa en El Castillo, llevada a cabo por investigadores nicaragüenses y daneses,1 este informe señala algunos problemas asociados a estas acciones de integrar objetivos de conservación y desarrollo. Entre éstos: Los esfuerzos orientados a generar apoyo local para la conservación a través de iniciativas de desarrollo, incluyendo incentivos económicos como los ensayos incipientes sobre pagos por servicios ambientales, tienden a llegar solamente a parte de la población. Muchas iniciativas que tratan de integrar conservación con desarrollo tienden a enfocar la atención hacia las necesidades de desarrollo y la conciencia ambiental de la población local. Pero frecuentemente son los actores externos y poderosos quienes poseen los intereses relacionados con la madera y con la tierra. Muchas áreas protegidas están ubicadas en zonas de frontera agrícola, las cuales tienden a ser caracterizadas por la ausencia de redes sociales extensas, confianza y seguridad. En tales áreas es poco probable que la población local ejerza el control social para asegurar la conservación y el uso sostenible de los recursos naturales, particularmente si la población local no puede contar con el respaldo consistente de las instituciones ambientales y de justicia