International experience: Natural resource education overseas

What are the unique challenges and benefits of natural resource education overseas? This session addressed these questions in the context of short-term study programs in forestry and other natural resource fields. The panel included Tom Hammett, Virginia Tech, who leads summer programs in Australia; Geoff Habron, also of Michigan State University, who leads a summer program in the Brazilian Amazon; Bruce Bongarten of the University of Georgia, which offers several month-long courses in conservation issues, including one to South Africa; Kim Steiner of Pennsylvania State University, which has an exchange study program with Freiburg University in Germany; Gary Blank and Steve McKeand, NC State University, who coordinate an exchange study program with SLU in Sweden; and Ingrid Schmidt and Kristi Hubbard of the NC State Study Abroad Office. My experience with international natural resource education is designing and leading spring-break trips to Latin America. We also had input from many other faculty who have led-or are planning-study programs in natural resource issues around the world

MIGRANT FARM WORKERS ON VIRGINIA'S EASTERN SHORE: AN ANALYSIS OF ECONOMIC IMPACTS

The economic impact of migrant farmworkers on an agriculture-dependent region is investigated. The direct effects of inflows of state and federal dollars for migrant services, and production of high-valued commodities are computed. Indirect and induced effects are modelled through the use of the IMPLAN input output model. Various alternatives to migrant labor are investigated, including production of less labor-intensive crops, acreage retirement, and contract H2A workers. Migrants are found to create substantial economic activity on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.Economic impact, Input-output, Migrant labor, Labor and Human Capital,

Energy, gender and development: what are the linkages ? where is the evidence ?

This report reviews the literature on the links between energy access, welfare, and gender in order to provide evidence on where gender considerations in the energy sector matter and how they might be addressed. Prepared as a background document for the 2012 World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development, and part of the Social Development Department's ongoing work on gender and infrastructure, the report describes and evaluates the evidence on the links between gender and energy focusing on: increased access to woodfuel through planting of trees and forest management; improved cooking technologies; and access to electricity and motive energy. The report's main finding is that energy interventions can have significant gender benefits, which can be realized via careful design and targeting of interventions based on a context-specific understanding of energy scarcity and household decision-making, in particular how women's preferences, opportunity cost of time, and welfare are reflected in household energy decisions. The report focuses on the academic peer-reviewed literature and, although it applies fairly inclusive screening criteria when selecting the evidence to consider, finds that the evidence on many of the energy-gender linkages is often limited. There is thus a clear need for studies to evaluate interventions and identify key design elements for gender-sensitive project design.

The regional market for non-timber forest products

The fate of tropical forests is shaped by their perceived value, which in turn depends on awareness of their benefits.  Regional markets for non-timber forest products (NTFPs) could both help rural people generate income from forests and raise urban awareness of forest benefits.  We assess the urban market for NTFPs in Belém do Pará, the largest metropolitan area in the Brazilian Amazon, through a survey of consumers in 2006 – 2009.  We segmented the urban consumer market in order to explore patterns in consumption and knowledge about NTFPs.  We find that the market segments that consume the greatest number of NTFPs were characterized by relatively higher income and education as well as more recent migration to Belém.  This suggests that demand for non-timber forest products does not fade with improved socioeconomic status.  However, environmental education is needed to convert this demand into recognition of the benefits provided by forests, as many consumers are not aware that the products they consume come from the forest.  In the two largest consumer segments, most consumers could not spontaneously list any forest product they consume, even though when a list of NTFPs was presented, many (>75%) indicated that they did consume the two most popular forest products: açaí palm fruit (Euterpe oleraceae) and Brazil nuts (Bertholletia excelsa).  Consumers in these largest segments have lower incomes, are more likely to have been born in Belém and are less likely to have completed postsecondary education.  In addition to not recognizing that they consume forest products, many of these consumers had no direct experience of the forest: less than half of the survey respondents in these segments reported that they had ever visited the forest, despite living in a city located in the midst of the largest tropical forest in the world

Creating an appropriate tenure foundation for REDD+: The record to date and prospects for the future

Attention to tenure is a fundamental step in preparation for REDD+ implementation. Unclear and conflicting tenure has been the main challenge faced by the proponents of subnational REDD+ initiatives, and accordingly, they have expended much effort to remedy the problem. This article assesses how well REDD+ has performed in laying an appropriate tenure foundation. Field research was carried out in two phases (2010-2012 and 2013-2014) in five countries (Brazil, Peru, Cameroon, Tanzania, Indonesia) at 21 subnational initiatives, 141 villages (half targeted for REDD+ interventions), and 3,754 households. Three questions are posed: 1) What was the effect of REDD+ on perceived tenure insecurity of village residents?; 2) What are the main reasons for change in the level of tenure insecurity and security from Phase 1 to Phase 2 perceived by village residents in control and intervention villages?; and 3) How do intervention village residents evaluate the impact of tenure-related interventions on community well-being? Among the notable findings are that: 1) tenure insecurity decreases slightly across the whole sample of villages, but we only find that REDD+ significantly reduces tenure insecurity in Cameroon, while actually increasing insecurity of smallholder agricultural land tenure in Brazil at the household level; 2) among the main reported reasons for increasing tenure insecurity (where it occurs) are problems with outside companies, lack of title, and competition from neighboring villagers; and 3) views on the effect of REDD+ tenure-related interventions on community well-being lean towards the positive, including for interventions that restrain access to forest. Thus, while there is little evidence that REDD+ interventions have worsened smallholder tenure insecurity (as feared by critics), there is also little evidence that the proponents' efforts to address tenure insecurity have produced results. Work on tenure remains an urgent priority for safeguarding local livelihoods as well as for reducing deforestation. This will require increased attention to participatory engagement, improved reward systems, tenure policy reform, integration of national and local efforts, and "business-as-usual" interestsThis research is part of CIFOR’s Global Comparative Study on REDD+ (www.cifor.org/gcs). The funding partners that have supported this research include the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) [grant numbers QZA-10/0468, QZA-12/0882, QZA-16/0110], the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) [grant numbers 46167, 63560], the European Commission (EC) [grant number DCI-ENV/2011/269-520], the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) [grant number KI II 7 - 42206-6/75], the United Kingdom Department for International Development (UKAID) [grant number TF069018], and the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (CRP-FTA) [grant number TF No. 069018], with financial support from the donors contributing to the CGIAR Fund. David Solis provided a valuable service in reviewing our methods for taking into account attrition of households over time

Ultra-rare genetic variation in common epilepsies: a case-control sequencing study

BACKGROUND:Despite progress in understanding the genetics of rare epilepsies, the more common epilepsies have proven less amenable to traditional gene-discovery analyses. We aimed to assess the contribution of ultra-rare genetic variation to common epilepsies. METHODS:We did a case-control sequencing study with exome sequence data from unrelated individuals clinically evaluated for one of the two most common epilepsy syndromes: familial genetic generalised epilepsy, or familial or sporadic non-acquired focal epilepsy. Individuals of any age were recruited between Nov 26, 2007, and Aug 2, 2013, through the multicentre Epilepsy Phenome/Genome Project and Epi4K collaborations, and samples were sequenced at the Institute for Genomic Medicine (New York, USA) between Feb 6, 2013, and Aug 18, 2015. To identify epilepsy risk signals, we tested all protein-coding genes for an excess of ultra-rare genetic variation among the cases, compared with control samples with no known epilepsy or epilepsy comorbidity sequenced through unrelated studies. FINDINGS:We separately compared the sequence data from 640 individuals with familial genetic generalised epilepsy and 525 individuals with familial non-acquired focal epilepsy to the same group of 3877 controls, and found significantly higher rates of ultra-rare deleterious variation in genes established as causative for dominant epilepsy disorders (familial genetic generalised epilepsy: odd ratio [OR] 2·3, 95% CI 1·7-3·2, p=9·1 × 10-8; familial non-acquired focal epilepsy 3·6, 2·7-4·9, p=1·1 × 10-17). Comparison of an additional cohort of 662 individuals with sporadic non-acquired focal epilepsy to controls did not identify study-wide significant signals. For the individuals with familial non-acquired focal epilepsy, we found that five known epilepsy genes ranked as the top five genes enriched for ultra-rare deleterious variation. After accounting for the control carrier rate, we estimate that these five genes contribute to the risk of epilepsy in approximately 8% of individuals with familial non-acquired focal epilepsy. Our analyses showed that no individual gene was significantly associated with familial genetic generalised epilepsy; however, known epilepsy genes had lower p values relative to the rest of the protein-coding genes (p=5·8 × 10-8) that were lower than expected from a random sampling of genes. INTERPRETATION:We identified excess ultra-rare variation in known epilepsy genes, which establishes a clear connection between the genetics of common and rare, severe epilepsies, and shows that the variants responsible for epilepsy risk are exceptionally rare in the general population. Our results suggest that the emerging paradigm of targeting of treatments to the genetic cause in rare devastating epilepsies might also extend to a proportion of common epilepsies. These findings might allow clinicians to broadly explain the cause of these syndromes to patients, and lay the foundation for possible precision treatments in the future. FUNDING:National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and Epilepsy Research UK

GWAS meta-analysis of over 29,000 people with epilepsy identifies 26 risk loci and subtype-specific genetic architecture

Epilepsy is a highly heritable disorder affecting over 50 million people worldwide, of which about one-third are resistant to current treatments. Here we report a multi-ancestry genome-wide association study including 29,944 cases, stratified into three broad categories and seven subtypes of epilepsy, and 52,538 controls. We identify 26 genome-wide significant loci, 19 of which are specific to genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE). We implicate 29 likely causal genes underlying these 26 loci. SNP-based heritability analyses show that common variants explain between 39.6% and 90% of genetic risk for GGE and its subtypes. Subtype analysis revealed markedly different genetic architectures between focal and generalized epilepsies. Gene-set analyses of GGE signals implicate synaptic processes in both excitatory and inhibitory neurons in the brain. Prioritized candidate genes overlap with monogenic epilepsy genes and with targets of current antiseizure medications. Finally, we leverage our results to identify alternate drugs with predicted efficacy if repurposed for epilepsy treatment

Genome-wide identification and phenotypic characterization of seizure-associated copy number variations in 741,075 individuals

Copy number variants (CNV) are established risk factors for neurodevelopmental disorders with seizures or epilepsy. With the hypothesis that seizure disorders share genetic risk factors, we pooled CNV data from 10,590 individuals with seizure disorders, 16,109 individuals with clinically validated epilepsy, and 492,324 population controls and identified 25 genome-wide significant loci, 22 of which are novel for seizure disorders, such as deletions at 1p36.33, 1q44, 2p21-p16.3, 3q29, 8p23.3-p23.2, 9p24.3, 10q26.3, 15q11.2, 15q12-q13.1, 16p12.2, 17q21.31, duplications at 2q13, 9q34.3, 16p13.3, 17q12, 19p13.3, 20q13.33, and reciprocal CNVs at 16p11.2, and 22q11.21. Using genetic data from additional 248,751 individuals with 23 neuropsychiatric phenotypes, we explored the pleiotropy of these 25 loci. Finally, in a subset of individuals with epilepsy and detailed clinical data available, we performed phenome-wide association analyses between individual CNVs and clinical annotations categorized through the Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO). For six CNVs, we identified 19 significant associations with specific HPO terms and generated, for all CNVs, phenotype signatures across 17 clinical categories relevant for epileptologists. This is the most comprehensive investigation of CNVs in epilepsy and related seizure disorders, with potential implications for clinical practice