Human Wildlife Conflict and Likelihood to report the loss: A Case Study of Nepal

Globally, populations living in proximity to conservation areas have experienced some level of wildlife conflict, ranging from crop loss to severe human injury. Various compensation schemes already exist in developed nations where victims report the conflict and receive compensation for the loss sustained. However, in developing countries, victims face more challenges pertaining to reporting losses to authorities. We used the Banke National Park in Nepal, where literature addressing human-wildlife conflict issues is lacking, as a case study to explore possible factors influencing the propensity to report losses. We surveyed 197 participants; 100% reported suffering from crop raids by wild animals, and about 60% reported livestock death. Results revealed that socio-demographic factors such as age, gender and family size, in addition to the wild animal species responsible for loss, were statistically significant in influencing the likelihood of reporting loss. We used our findings to suggest improvements to policy measures for compensation schemes by tailoring the program to affected populations. Data and implications of this study can benefit conservation stakeholders in Nepal as well as other areas in the world that experience similar conflicts

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF INDIAN TEXTILE INDUSTRY: AN INSIGHT INTO INCLUSIVE GROWTH AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Textile industry has been a symbol of India's cultural heritage, which has worked to connect the people and played an important role in their economic interests. This sector is mainly divided into several disciplines at the unorganized level, it has made its identity as a cottage industry in every state of India. In the present paper, the textile industry has been focused on inclusive development and social obligations. The main purpose of this paper is to see how the textile sector is contributing in inclusive development. In order to reach the conclusions, both primary and secondary data has been analyzed in qualitative analysis. Finding of this research reveals that the textile is contributing towards employment generation and inclusiveness but in terms of social responsibility it is not playing positive role because of its unorganized structure

Socio-economic Impacts of Climate Change on Rural United States

Directly or indirectly, positively or negatively, climate change will affect all sectors and regions of the United States. The impacts, however, will not be homogenous across regions, sectors, population groups or time. The literature specifically related to how climate change will affect rural communities, their resilience, and adaptive capacity in the United States (U.S.) is scarce. This article bridges this knowledge gap through an extensive review of the current state of knowledge to make inferences about the rural communities vulnerability to climate change based on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios. Our analysis shows that rural communities tend to be more vulnerable than their urban counterparts due to factors such as demography, occupations, earnings, literacy, poverty incidence, and dependency on government funds. Climate change impacts on rural communities differs across regions and economic sectors; some will likely benefit while others lose. Rural communities engaged in agricultural and forest related activities in the Northeast might benefit, while those in the Southwest and Southeast could face additional water stress and increased energy cost respectively. Developing adaptation and mitigation policy options geared towards reducing climatic vulnerability of rural communities is warranted. A set of regional and local studies is needed to delineate climate change impacts across rural and urban communities, and to develop appropriate policies to mitigate these impacts. Integrating research across disciplines, strengthening research-policy linkages, integrating ecosystem services while undertaking resource valuation, and expanding alternative energy sources, might also enhance coping capacity of rural communities in face of future climate change

Socio-economic Impacts of Climate Change on Rural United States

Directly or indirectly, positively or negatively, climate change will affect all sectors and regions of the United States. The impacts, however, will not be homogenous across regions, sectors, population groups or time. The literature specifically related to how climate change will affect rural communities, their resilience, and adaptive capacity in the United States (U.S.) is scarce. This article bridges this knowledge gap through an extensive review of the current state of knowledge to make inferences about the rural communities vulnerability to climate change based on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios. Our analysis shows that rural communities tend to be more vulnerable than their urban counterparts due to factors such as demography, occupations, earnings, literacy, poverty incidence, and dependency on government funds. Climate change impacts on rural communities differs across regions and economic sectors; some will likely benefit while others lose. Rural communities engaged in agricultural and forest related activities in the Northeast might benefit, while those in the Southwest and Southeast could face additional water stress and increased energy cost respectively. Developing adaptation and mitigation policy options geared towards reducing climatic vulnerability of rural communities is warranted. A set of regional and local studies is needed to delineate climate change impacts across rural and urban communities, and to develop appropriate policies to mitigate these impacts. Integrating research across disciplines, strengthening research-policy linkages, integrating ecosystem services while undertaking resource valuation, and expanding alternative energy sources, might also enhance coping capacity of rural communities in face of future climate change

Study of prevalence of secondary hyperparathyroidism in chronic renal failure in hadoti region

Background: Secondary hyperparathyroidism is known and early complication of chronic renal failure patients. Aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of secondary hyperparathyroidism and correlation between serum parathyroid hormone level with biochemical parameters in renal failure patients in tertiary care hospital in Kota, Rajasthan.Methods: A cross sectional observational study was carried out in 50 patients who had creatinine clearance of 30ml/min/1.73m2 or less for greater than 6 weeks attended the OPD of department of General Medicine, New Medical College hospital, Kota, Rajasthan from May 2018 to November 2018. Investigations like complete blood count, renal function test, urine routine microscopy and USG abdomen with serum parathyroid hormone, serum phosphorus, serum calcium levels were done. Serum parathyroid hormone level was done by calorimetric method.Results: The prevalence of secondary hyperparathyroidism in our study was 72%.In hyperparathyroidism patient’s serum calcium level was low and the difference was highly significant (p<0.001). There is negative correlation between S.PTH and S. calcium level (r=-0.536). Mean serum calcium level in our study is 1.6mmol/l. In hyperparathyroidism patient’s serum phosphate level was high and the difference was highly significant (p<0.001). There was positive correlation between S.PTH and S.PO4 level (r=0.402). Mean serum phosphorus level in our study is 5.7 mg/dl. Prevalence of hyperparathyroidism was high among CRF patients with normal BP than hypertensive patients and with normal sugar than diabetics but the difference in proportion was not significant (p=0.87, p=0.98 respectively). 90% patients were on haemodialysis while 10% patients were on conservative management.Conclusions: Early detection of secondary hyperparathyroidism in chronic renal failure patients can reduce its complications like bone fracture and cardiovascular complications

Phytoremediation: A Synergistic Interaction between Plants and Microbes for Removal of Petroleum Hydrocarbons

Rapid industrialization leads to the deterioration of quality of life and the environment. Petroleum hydrocarbon pollution is one of the contributing factors to that. Petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) are natural products, and under high temperature and pressure, they are produced by the anaerobic conversion of biomass. Excessive use of PHCs leads to pollution in the agriculturally important soils and the ultimate source of potability of water, that is, groundwater which is gaining significant attention throughout the world. The fortuitous release of PHCs such as gasoline, diesel, and heating oil are common sources of groundwater contamination. The PHC concentrations in groundwater are often above drinking water standards and bioremediation actions have to be taken. Due to their organic nature, PHCs are difficult to degrade as unavailable for microbial action. Due to this, PHCs are the most widespread environmental contaminants. Plant-microbe synergistic association for remediation of PHCs is comprehensive and it is an effective tool for reclamation of soil and environment from these kinds of undesirable materials. In addition to providing plant growth promotion, microbes can degrade PHCs effectively

Adapting Extension and Outreach Content to Audiences\u27 Educational Interests

For various, largely unknown reasons, decision makers do not have equal interest in all Extension and outreach topics pertinent to a particular concept. This situation hampers Extension\u27s ability to effectively deliver information and efficiently allocate limited resources. Using survey data, we identified heterogeneous preference for various topics related to the concept of woody bioenergy, our case study subject, and built profiles of forestland owners who expressed interest in topics that received above-average and below-average preference rates. Given our results, we argue for using this approach in objectively ranking audiences\u27 educational interests in various forest and nonforest products and services and subsequently allocating time, space, and other Extension resources to the topics of interest

Potential Economic Impacts of Allocating More Land for Bioenergy Biomass Production in Virginia

The growing attention to renewable energy and rural development has created greater demand for production of biomass feedstock for bioenergy. However, forest growth rates and the amount of land in most existing forests may not be sufficient to sustainably supply the forest biomass required to support existing forest products industries and the expanding bioenergy industry. Additionally, concerns about agricultural land use competition have dampened expansion of biomass production on agricultural land base. One of the ways to meet the growing forest biomass feedstock demand for bioenergy production is by allocating currently marginal non-forested land for growing bioenergy feedstocks. In Virginia, about 80% of forestland is under nonindustrial private forest ownership. The land use allocation decisions of these private owners are critical for the supply of the forest biomass feedstock to support bioenergy production. We apply a computable general equilibrium model to assess the economy-wide impacts of forestland owners’ willingness to plant pine on non-forested land for woody bioenergy in Virginia. We consider three counterfactual scenarios of biomass feedstock supply increase as intermediate demand for bioenergy production based on forestland owners’ willingness to accept biomass bid prices to set aside more non-forested land for biomass production in Virginia under general equilibrium conditions. Overall, the results show an increase in social welfare and household utility but a marginal decline in GDP. However, increased demand of biomass from logging sector depressed the manufacturing sector (the wood manufacturing sub-sector particularly), which also relies on the logging sector for its intermediate inputs. Results from this study provide insights into the bioenergy land use competition debate, and pathways towards sustainable bioenergy feedstock supply

Financing the Sustainable Management of Rwanda’s Protected Areas

Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park is a biodiversity hotspot with the most endemic species in the ecoregion as well as the highest number of threatened species internationally. In addition to great biological diversity, Nyungwe National Park supplies significant ecosystem services to the Rwandan population including water provisioning and tourism services. Tourism in the Park has strong potential for improving the sustainable management of the Park for continued provision of natural habitat and critical ecosystem services. This paper explores quantitatively the economic impacts of adjustment in Park visitation fees and tourism demand as a source of revenues to improve Park tourism opportunities and ongoing operations and maintenance where budgetary restrictions are particularly acute. The methods developed in this paper are novel in integrating the results of stated preference techniques with regional economy-wide modelling approaches to capture multi-sectoral, direct, indirect and induced impacts. Such methods have strong potential for assessing revenue generation alternatives in other contexts where Park Managers are faced with the need to generate additional revenue for sustainable park management while facing diminishing budget allocations.Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS