Buffalo Habitat for Humanity: The Challenges and Prospects of Green Building

Habitat for Humanity Buffalo has operated since 1985, and in that time has rehabilitated or built more than 150 homes in the cities of Buffalo and Lackawanna. An affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), Habitat builds affordable housing for qualified low-income people. Once approved, homeowners must put 500 hours of “sweat equity” into Habitat projects, including their homeowner education. In return, they receive a zero-interest mortgage, the proceeds of which pay their property taxes and homeowner’s insurance, as well as support the rehabilitation or construction of more Habitat homes in the Buffalo area

Subsurface biodegradation of crude oil in a fractured basement reservoir, Shropshire, UK

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Guide for the Wildlife Practices in the 1966 Ohio Agricultural Conservation and Cropland Adjustment Programs

PDF pages: 1

Climate risks in West Africa: Bobo-Dioulasso local actors’ participatory risks management framework

The paper focuses on the role of multilevel governance in climate change adaptation and risk management, and draws out lessons from the implementation of the UN Habitat Cities and Climate Change Initiatives (CCCI) in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. It describes the process for the formulation of a participatory risk management framework for local actors drawing from empirical investigations undertaken in Bobo-Dioulasso. The paper argues that adaptation needs to be mainstreamed and implemented at local level and to include risk management. Moreover, regulatory capacity of public authorities and balance of power and resources play a major role in this process. After presenting the specific knowledge on climate and environmental challenges and CCCI implementation in Bobo-Dioulasso, the paper describes challenges and opportunities in the implementation of the participatory risk and management framewor

Elephants

Existing models of open-access resources are applicable to non-storable resources, such as fish. Many open-access resources, however, are used to produce storable goods. Elephants, rhinos, and tigers are three prominent examples. Anticipated future scarcity of these resources will increase current prices, and current poaching. This implies that, for given initial conditions, there may be rational expectations equilibria leading both to extinction and to survival. Governments may be able to eliminate extinction equilibria by promising to implement tough anti-poaching measures if the population falls below a threshold. Alternatively, they, or private agents, may be able to eliminate extinction equilibria by accumulating a sufficient stockpile of the storable good.

Environmental Impacts of Mountain Biking: Science Review and Best Practices

Mountain biking is still a relatively new activity whose environmental impact and contribution to trail degradation is poorly understood. As with all recreational pursuits, it is clear that mountain biking contributes some degree of environmental degradation. In the absence of adequate research, land and trail managers have frequently been cautious, implementing restrictive regulations in some instances (Edger 1997). Surveys of managers have shown that they frequently perceive mountain biking to be a substantial contributor to trail degradation but lack scientific studies or monitoring data to substantiate such concerns (Chavez and others 1993; Schuett 1997). In recent years, however, a small number of studies have been conducted that help clarify the environmental impacts associated with mountain biking. This article describes the general impacts associated with recreational uses of natural surface trails, with a focus on those studies that have examined mountain biking impacts

Aquaculture and Marine Protected Areas: Exploring Potential Opportunities and Synergies

This new publication, aims at exploring potential opportunities and synergies between aquaculture and conservation. Acknowledging that both aquaculture and MPA may benefit from each other in striving for global sustainable development, here are some of the questions the brochure explores: Under what circumstances can MPAs and aquaculture come together? How could MPAs boost aquaculture growth? How could aquaculture activities provide financial support to MPAs? And how can we minimize negative interactions

Spreading of virulence regarding spatial distribution resistant cultivars inferred from population modeling coupled with genetics

One of the control strategies of fungal crop diseases is planting highly resistant varieties. However selection pressure on the pathogen, imposed by major resistance genes, leads to the development of new virulent races. In most cases breakdown of resistance has been reported for crop-pathogen systems with a genetically uniform crop distributed over large areas [2]. Des choix stratégiques en matière de construction et de déploiement de génotypes résistants combinant des gènes de résistance se pose aujourd’hui de manière aigüe afin de tendre vers une agriculture à résistance durable. To reach this objective, we start a study that combined population modeling with genetics to (1) identify keys traits of life of the pathogen involved in resistance breakdown (2) simulate virulence spreading regarding spatial host distribution

Biology and fishery of Florida's commercial sponges

This fact sheet gives information on the biology and commercial value of sponges found in Florida. Five species in Florida are harvested commercially. Three of these, sheepswool sponge, yellow sponge, and the grass sponge are the primary marketed sponges. (2pp.