Managing Threats to the Health of Tree Plantations in Asia

Plantation forestry is making a significant positive contribution to the environment as well as to the livelihoods of millions of people in Asia. This chapter examines some of the major constraints facing commercial acacia and eucalypt plantations in South-east and East Asia and discusses adaptive actions in the face of climate change. Particular emphasis is placed on Vietnam and China but examples are also drawn from other parts of SE Asia where forest plantations are making a significant contribution to forest cover. The area of forest cover in Asia has declined greatly in the past 50 years due to an expanding population, and increasing demand for forest products and land for food and energy crops. For example, based on available documents, in 1943 Vietnam had 14.3 million ha of forests, with 43% forest cover; but by the year 1990 only 9.18 million ha remained, with a forest cover of 27.2%. During the period 1980 to 1990, the average forest lost was more than 100,000 ha each year. However, from 1990 to the present, the forest area has increased gradually, due to afforestation and rehabilitation of natural forest. Based on the official statement in Decision No. 1267/QD/BNN-KL-LN, dated 4 May 2009, as of 31 December 2009, the total national forest area was 13.2 million ha (forest cover of 39.1%), including 2.9 million ha of plantation forest. Recently, China too has also been able to reverse the decline in forest cover due to forest protection and afforestation. According to the 7th national forest resource inventory finished in 2008, there were 195.4 million ha (14.9 billion m3 of standing wood volume) of forest in China, an increase of 20.5 million ha (1.1 billion m3 standing wood volume) over the previous audit 5 years earlier. Of the increased forest area and volume, 3.9 million ha were from natural forests, and 8.4 million ha were from tree plantations. In the region, logging of natural forests is proceeding at alarming rates in some countries and is tightly controlled in others. In China, the “national natural forest protection program” was started in 2000, and any logging in natural forest is illegal, as is the case in Thailand. Following that the “national reforestation program” was initiated to established tree plantations in bare land for natural protection in north-west China and wood production in southern China. Forests are classified as ecological forests and natural forest reserves which the government will pay about 120 RMB per ha annually to the forest owners, or commercial forests for wood production. Likewise, the Government of Vietnam has given high priority to forest rehabilitation, as Program 327 and the 5 Million Hectare Rehabilitation Program (MHRP). Program 327, which lasted from 1993 until 1998, was effective in increasing afforestation and forest rehabilitation. The 5MHRP (1998 – 2010) had the objective of rehabilitating 5 million ha of forests and protecting existing forests, in order to increase forest cover to 43%. Unlike China and Thailand, Vietnam obtains more than 90% of its timber volume from natural forest

The relationship between educational level and choice sefl-medication or professional health care providers of patients in Hochiminh City

Self-medication is a common practice in many developing countries. In Vietnam, self-medication has grown in recent years due to the increasing availability of drug vendors and pharmacy shops throughout the country. Beside the convenience, time and cost saving, self-medication is associated with risks such as misdiagnosis, use of irrational drug dosage that lead to the harmful consequences not only for patient himself but also for community as a whole. This study focuses on examining the impact of educational level on self-medication practice in Ho Chi Minh city, the national center of educational and health care of the country. The descriptive statistics and econometric analyzes have been applied to answer the question whether the adult individuals with a higher education are more likely to be self-medicated. The study had been employed the theory of consumer choice as the foundation theory, the Andersen’s behaviour model, and two empirical studies to construct a health-seeking model which describes the way individuals make choices regarding health care utilization to get the highest level of utility. The findings based on the survey conducted by the author in Ho Chi Minh city show that the more educated individual is, the more self-medication they have in treating minor illness. However, the level knowledge of safe medicine use is relatively low among patients

Evaluation of Asaoka and Hyperbolic Methods for Settlement Prediction of Vacuum Preloading Combined with Prefabricated Vertical Drains in Soft Ground Treatment

This study evaluated the use of the Asaoka and hyperbolic methods to estimate the ultimate settlement of soft ground treated by vacuum preloading combined with prefabricated vertical drains. For this aim, a large-scale physical laboratory model was constructed. The model was a reinforced-tempered glass box containing a soil mass with dimensions of 2.0 × 1.0 × 1.2 m (length × width × depth). Physical models of this scale for the same purpose are rare in the literature. The soil was taken from a typical coastal region in Dinh Vu Hai Phong, Vietnam. The surface settlement near and between the two drains was measured right after the vacuum preloading started. Important properties of the soil were tested to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment method. The measured settlement was used in the Asaoka and hyperbolic methods to predict the potential ultimate settlement. The results showed the superiority of the vacuum consolidation approach in improving fundamental engineering properties of soft soil. Furthermore, the ultimate settlement predicted by both methods showed a good agreement with the measured value, proving that the Asaoka and hyperbolic methods are suitable for the estimation of the ultimate settlement of soft soil treated with vacuum consolidation

Biocontrol of Alternaria alternata YZU, a causal of stem end rot disease on pitaya, with soil phosphate solubilizing bacteria

Stem end rot is the most destructive disease caused by Alternaria alternata YZU in pitaya-growing regions of Vietnam. This study was conducted to characterize antagonistic phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) from rhizosphere soil for their biocontrol activities against A. alternata YZU and evaluate the effect of temperature, pH, and water activity on that antagonism. Among seven PSB isolated from 45 rhizosphere soil samples, PSB31 (identified as Bacillus sp. strain IMAU61039, Accession number: MF803700.1) exhibited the highest antagonistic activity against A. alternata YZU with an average inhibition diameter of 0.65 ± 0.05 cm. The results also show that the strain PSB31 controlled the mycelial growth of A. alternata YZU by secreting antifungal metabolites. The most potent inhibitory activity was identified under in vitro conditions of 25 °C, pH 7, and aw 1. The isolated PSB31 could be a potential biological control agent against A. alternata YZU

Les réactions de la communauté citadine de Hô Chi Minh-Ville aux inondations et à la fièvre hémorragique virale

Hô Chi Minh-Ville est une mégapole du Vietnam qui a connu un processus d’urbanisation rapide et anarchique au même titre que les autres mégapoles des pays en développement. L’augmentation du nombre de migrants ruraux qui viennent à Hô Chi Minh-Ville a mis la pression sur les services en charge de la gestion urbaine en général, de celle des infrastructures, et tout particulièrement de celle du système de drainage de la ville. Ceci a pour conséquence l’apparition d’inondations en ville dont les effets sont néfastes pour la santé des habitants, en particulier la prolifération des moustiques qui sont les vecteurs de la fièvre hémorragique virale. Notre recherche vise à explorer la perception qu’ont les gens de la relation de cause à effet qui peut exister entre les inondations et la dengue. Nos études ont porté sur trois districts périodiquement inondés représentant trois zones affectées différemment par l’urbanisation à Hô Chi Minh-Ville. Nous avons réalisé 458 questionnaires et 18 entretiens multiples semi-directifs de ménages touchés par la dengue. Questionnaires et entretiens nous ont également aidés à appréhender la perception que peuvent avoir les habitants de la gravité de la dengue et de leur sensibilité à celle-ci, ainsi que leur comportement face aux mesures de prévention mises en œuvre dans les trois zones étudiées.Ho Chi Minh City experiences a rapid urbanization. Like any other cities in the developing countries, the increasing number of rural migrants coming to Ho Chi Minh City caused many pressures on urban management, housing and infrastructure, especially on the city drainage system as the resources of the city are limited. Consequently, the occurrence of urban floods is very high and has adverse impacts on city residents’ health, including dengue hemorrhagic fever. To date, the literature review in Vietnam suggested there had been a minimum research about perception and responses of urban communities on dengue. This research aims to explore perception of people about the relationships between urban flood and dengue, the connections between social dimensions of vulnerability and appearance of dengue caused by flood hazard and prevention of health risks in the community. Observations and interviews were conducted in three flood-prone districts which have been chosen as representative of three areas variously impacted by urbanization in Ho Chi Minh City, including a rural area where urbanization just starts, a suburban area where urbanization strongly occurs and a central area where urbanization is stabilized. Empirical data were extracted from a structured questionnaire with 458 people and in-depth interviews with 12 households and six local health officers. The main quantitative and qualitative data gathering by the research team focuses on such issues as social-economic and residential characteristics of households living in the flood prone areas, people’s perception on the susceptibility and severity of dengue, fact of dengue in households and flood and dengue preventive behaviour of people. The main findings show that dengue in Ho Chi Minh City has tended to increase by time and, strongly associated with urban flood, appearance and spread of dengue, is closely linked with social-economic and residential characteristics of residential community dengue perception. Many constraints still remain in the preventive behaviour of people and existing preventive health activities are not yet received the sufficient investment and concern from various social actors. Thus, the geographical distribution of dengue, shows that suburban areas characterized with poor living conditions and most impacted by flood hazard are also the ones who suffer the highest rate of dengue. To reduce the prevalence of dengue in Ho Chi Minh City requires comprehensive solutions such as orientation of urbanization management, improvement of the living condition of urban poor communities and enhancement of dengue preventive activities of the official health sector

The role of green finance, eco-innovation, and creativity in the sustainable development goals of ASEAN countries

Recently, sustainable development has become a global requirement. Every country strives to achieve this essential goal, and this attracts the attention of researchers and policymakers. This study investigates the impact of green finance, eco-innovation, and creativity on the sustainable development goals in ASEAN countries. Using CUP-FM and CUP-BC techniques, the study examines the association between variables, and finds that green finance (such as green credit), renewable energy production, eco-innovation, and creativity, have positive associations with sustainable development goals. The control variable, economic growth, has a negative association with sustainable development goals. Based on the evidence, the ASEAN region must increase the quantity of green bonds as a part of green finance. This financial measure would guarantee adequate returns for private investors

Effects of palladium on the optical and hydrogen sensing characteristics of Pd-doped ZnO nanoparticles

Abstract The effect of palladium doping of zinc oxide nanoparticles on the photoluminescence (PL) properties and hydrogen sensing characteristics of gas sensors is investigated. The PL intensity shows that the carrier dynamics coincides with the buildup of the Pd-related green emission. The comparison between the deep level emission and the gas sensing response characteristics allows us to suggest that the dissociation of hydrogen takes place at Pd Zn -vacancies ([Pd 2+ (4d 9 )]). The design of this sensor allows for a continuous monitoring in the range of 0-100% LEL H 2 concentration with high sensitivity and selectivity. 126