An approach to assess actor's preferences and social learning to enhance participatory forest management planning

Forest management planning is often challenged by the need to address contrasting preferences from several actors. Participatory approaches may help integrate actors’ preferences and demands and thus address this chal- lenge. Workshops that encompass a participatory approach may further influence actors’ opinions and knowledge through social interaction and facilitate the development of collaborative landscape-level planning. Nevertheless, there is little experience of formal assessment of impacts of workshops with participatory approaches. This re- search addresses this gap. The emphasis is on the development of an approach (a) to quantify actors’ preferences for forest management models, post-fire management options, forest functions, and ecosystem services; (b) to assess the impact of participatory discussions on actors’ opinions; and (c) to evaluate the effect of social interac- tion on the actors’ learning and knowledge. The methodology involves a workshop with participatory approach, matched pre- and post-questionnaires, a non-parametric test, the Wilcoxon Signed-rank test for paired samples, and a self-evaluation questionnaire. We report results from an application to a joint forest management area in Vale do Sousa, in North-Western Por- tugal. Findings suggest that workshop and participatory discussions do contribute to social knowledge and learn- ing about forest management models. Actors debated alternatives that can address their financial and wildfire risk-resistance concerns. Also, during the participatory discussions, actors expressed their interest in multifunc- tional forestry. These findings also suggest an opportunity to enhance forest management planning by promoting landscape-level collaborative forest management plans that may contribute to the diversification of forest man- agement models and to the provision of a wider range of ecosystem services. However, more research is needed to strengthen the pre- and post-questionnaire approach, giving more time to actors to reflect on their preferences, to improve methods for quantifying social learning and to develop actors’ engagement strategiesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Climate Change Impacts on Net Ecosystem Productivity in a Subtropical Shrubland of Northwestern México

The sensitivity of semiarid ecosystems to climate change is not well understood due to competing effects of soil and plantâ mediated carbon fluxes. Limited observations of net ecosystem productivity (NEP) under rising air temperature and CO2 and altered precipitation regimes also hinder climate change assessments. A promising avenue for addressing this challenge is through the application of numerical models. In this work, we combine a mechanistic ecohydrological model and a soil carbon model to simulate soil and plant processes in a subtropical shrubland of northwest México. Due to the influence of the North American monsoon, the site exhibits net carbon losses early in the summer and net carbon gains during the photosynthetically active season. After building confidence in the simulations through comparisons with eddy covariance flux data, we conduct a series of climate change experiments for nearâ future (2030â 2045) scenarios that test the impact of meteorological changes and CO2 fertilization relative to historical conditions (1990â 2005). Results indicate that reductions in NEP arising from warmer conditions are effectively offset by gains in NEP due to the impact of higher CO2 on water use efficiency. For cases with higher summer rainfall and CO2 fertilization, climate change impacts lead to an increase of ~25% in NEP relative to historical conditions (mean of 66 g C mâ 2). Net primary production and soil respiration derived from decomposition are shown to be important processes that interact to control NEP and, given the role of semiarid ecosystems in the global carbon budget, deserve attention in future simulation efforts of ecosystem fluxes.Key PointsModel simulation accurately captured the seasonality of vegetation activityNet ecosystem productivity decreased under reduced summer rainfall and increased temperature scenariosElevated CO2 scenarios offset the negative impacts of meteorological conditionsPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142969/1/jgrg20992_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142969/2/jgrg20992.pd

Community partnered projects: A case study of a collaborative effort to improve sanitation in a marginalized community in northwest Mexico

There is a growing recognition in developing countries that community participation in water and sanitation projects is a necessary strategy in sustainable development. The main advantage of following such an approach is that, if participation can encourage a sense of ownership of the projects, the benefits of the project are more likely to extend over the long term. The case study at hand focuses on the challenges faced in implementing a wastewater treatment system to solve an environmental and public health problem in a rural community, Rosario de Tesopaco, in northwest Mexico. Until recently, the community has been unable to implement an effective plan to treat the wastewater generated in the community. The problems faced by the community can be attributed to the political arrangement of water and sanitation decentralization in Mexico that occurred in the mid 1980\u27s, whereby communities were required to meet wastewater treatment standards, but were not given the technical and political guidance needed to achieve this goal. However, in this instance, cooperation between the authorities in Rosario de Tesopaco, the federal agency for social development, and an academic institution has led to the successful design and approval of a wastewater treatment project. This achievement can be attributed to the use of an effective collaborative strategy, tailoring the project to the needs and capacity of the local community, positioning the community as the leaders and owners of the project. A model for following this strategy for developing rural sanitation projects in Mexico is proposed. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media B.V

Distributed hydrologic modeling in northwest mexico reveals the links between runoff mechanisms and evapotranspiration

Adistributed hydrologicmodel is used to evaluate howrunoffmechanisms-including infiltration excess (R I), saturation excess (R S), and groundwater exfiltration (R G)-influence the generation of streamflow and evapotranspiration (ET) in amountainous region under the influence of theNorthAmericanmonsoon (NAM). The study site, the upper SonoraRiver basin (~9350 km 2) inMexico, is characterized by a wide range of terrain, soil, and ecosystem conditions obtained from best available data sources. Three meteorological scenarios are compared to explore the impact of spatial and temporal variations of meteorological characteristics on land surface processes and to identify the value of North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) forcing products in the NAM region. The following scenarios are considered for a 1-yr period: 1) a sparse network of ground-based stations, 2) raw forcing products from NLDAS, and 3) NLDAS products adjusted using available station data. These scenarios are discussed in light of spatial distributions of precipitation, streamflow, and runoffmechanisms during annual, seasonal, and monthly periods. This study identified that the mode of runoff generation impacts seasonal relations between ET and soilmoisture in the water-limited region. In addition, ET rates at annual and seasonal scales were related to the runoff mechanism proportions, with an increase in ET when R S was dominant and a decrease in ET when R I was more important. The partitioning of runoffmechanisms also helps explain themonthly progression of runoff ratios in these seasonallywet hydrologic systems. Understanding the complex interplay between seasonal responses of runoff mechanisms and evapotranspiration can yield information that is of interest to hydrologists and water managers. © 2012 American Meteorological Society

Waterborne disease-related risk perceptions in the Sonora River Basin, Mexico

Waterborne disease is estimated to cause about 10% of all diseases worldwide. However, related risk perceptions are not well understood, particularly in the developing world where waterborne disease is an enormous problem. We focus on understanding risk perceptions related to these issues in a region within northern Mexico. Our findings show how waterborne disease problems and solutions are understood in eight small communities along a highly contaminated river system. We found major differences in risk perceptions between health professionals, government officials, and lay citizens. Health professionals believed that a high level of human-waste-related risk existed within the region. Few officials and lay citizens shared this belief. In addition, few officials and lay citizens were aware of poor wastewater-management-related disease outbreaks and water contamination. Finally, aside from health professionals, a few interviewees understood the importance of basic hygiene and water treatment measures that could help to prevent disease. Our results add to the literature on environmentally-related risk perceptions in the developing world. We discuss recommendations for improving future human-wastewater-related risk communication within the region. © 2011 Society for Risk Analysis

Hydrological assessment of proposed reservoirs in the Sonora River Basin, Mexico, under historical and future climate scenarios

© 2014, © 2014 IAHS. A semi-distributed hydrological model and reservoir optimization algorithm are used to evaluate the potential impacts of climate change on existing and proposed reservoirs in the Sonora River Basin, Mexico. Inter-annual climatic variability, a bimodal precipitation regime and climate change uncertainties present challenges to water resource management in the region. Hydrological assessments are conducted for three meteorological products during a historical period and a future climate change scenario. Historical (1990–2000) and future (2031–2040) projections were derived from a mesoscale model forced with boundary conditions from a general circulation model under a high emissions scenario. The results reveal significantly higher precipitation, reservoir inflows, elevations and releases in the future relative to historical simulations. Furthermore, hydrological seasonality might be altered with a shift toward earlier water supply during the North American monsoon. The proposed infrastructure would have a limited ability to ameliorate future conditions, with more benefits in a tributary with lower flood hazard. These projections of the impacts of climate change and its interaction with infrastructure should be of interest to water resources managers in arid and semi-arid regions

Exploring the application of participatory modeling approaches in the Sonora River Basin, Mexico

This study presents the results from evaluation of a hydrologic modeling workshop for 46 water resource decision makers in Hermosillo, Mexico. This region has serious, ongoing water quantity and quality problems. Our goals were to assess participants\u27 perceptions of our workshop and associated hydrologic and water quality models and to learn whether it changed their perceptions of local water resource-related problems, causes, and solutions. We administered on-site pre-and post-workshop surveys to assess any changes and to collect evaluations of the workshop and models. A few about water quality problems changed significantly over the course of the workshop, but most measured perceptions did not. On average, participants rated the workshop highly and believed that the presented models could assist their future decision-making. These results could contribute to future watershed modeling workshop efforts. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

Modeling riverine pathogen fate and transport in Mexican rural communities and associated public health implications

The discharge of untreated or poorly treated wastewater to river systems remains a major problem affecting public and environmental health, particularly in rural communities of less developed countries. One of the primary goals in setting policies for wastewater management is to reduce risks to human health associated with microbial contamination of receiving water. In this study, we apply a surface water quality model to develop an Escherichia coli based indicator that reflects the quality of surface water and the potential impact to recreational users in a large, rural river in northwest Mexico (upper Sonora River). The model assesses the relative importance of streamflow variations and the uncertainty in E. coli removal coefficient parameters for the predictions of E. coli concentrations in the river. Given the sparse information on streamflow, we use a physically-based, distributed hydrologic model to generate tributary contributions to the river. We determined the best estimate and uncertainty of E. coli removal rates to explore the impacts of parameter uncertainty on the transport of E. coli downstream from two wastewater discharge zones. Our results depict the regions in the river that are in noncompliance with fresh water pathogen norms. The impact of streamflow variability and uncertainty in the removal rates of pathogen indicators was used to derive a range of river distances in noncompliance. The comparison between two sites with different streamflow behaviors was used to illustrate the impacts of streamflow spatiotemporal variability on pathogen indicators. We derive a simple relationship that can be used to assess the relative importance of dilution (ratio of wastewater discharge to river discharge) and pathogen removal (ratio of residence time to reaction time). © 2012 Elsevier Ltd

Using a Sensitivity Analysis and Spatial Clustering to Determine Vulnerability to Potentially Toxic Elements in a Semiarid City in Northwest Mexico

The Getis-Ord Gi* statistic clustering technique was used to create a hot spot exposure map using 14 potentially toxic elements (PTEs) found in urban dust samples in a semiarid city in northwest Mexico. The dust distribution and deposition in this city are influenced by the seasonal wind and rain from the North American Monsoon. The spatial clustering patterns of hot spots were used in combination with a sensitivity analysis to determine which variables most influenced the PTE hot spot exposure base map. The hot spots areas (%) were used as indicators of environmental vulnerability, and a final integrated map was selected to represent the highest vulnerability of PTEs with a 99% level of confidence. The results of the sensitivity analysis indicated that the flood zones and pervious and impervious zones were the most sensitive variables due to their weight in the spatial distribution. The hot spot areas were reduced by 60.4% by not considering these variables. The hot spot analysis resulted in an effective tool that allowed the combination of different spatial layers with specific characteristics to determine areas that present greater vulnerability to the distribution of PTEs, with impacts on public and environmental health