Hectares Of Forest Area Research Articles

Fungal endophytes: A study on molecular taxonomy, nanoformulation, biophysical characterization and entomopathogenicity against insect pests of tropical timber trees In India

Forest cover of India aims to increase thirty three per cent by 2030 through planting trees outside forests boundaries, cultivating and breeding in private farmer’s wastelands. Despite efforts to boost greenery, approximately one million hectares of forest area are lost annually to insect pests, underscoring the need for effective pest management. Synthetic organic insecticides are widely used, with India accounting for 3 % of global pesticide usage, leading to environmental and health concerns. To address this, ecologically sound pest management strategies are imperative. Biological control, particularly using microorganisms, offers a promising approach. Endophytic fungi, found in commercially important tree species like Teak, Ailanthus, Red Sanders, and Gmelina, show potential for insect pest management. In this study, 112 endophytic fungi were isolated, with eight common across all species. Fourteen species, identified through molecular taxonomy, exhibit entomopathogenic properties, paving the way for the development of novel biopesticides.

FIRE WEATHER INDEX AND FOREST FIRE DANGER MAPPING: INSIGHTS FROM A CASE STUDY IN ANTALYA - MANAVGAT FOREST, TURKIYE

Abstract. Forest fires in Türkiye, like in other regions, have detrimental effects on wildlife habitats, water quality, air pollution, climate change, and the economy. These fires become particularly concerning during the dry summer months. In 2021, forest fires affected over 150 thousand hectares of land across the country, with the Manavgat district in Antalya province alone witnessing the burning of approximately 60 thousand hectares of forest area. This study aims to assess the applicability and suitability of Fire Weather Index (FWI) data derived from meteorological station data in the Antalya region, as well as EFFIS FWI data generated using satellite-based meteorological information, for fire danger mapping during the Manavgat forest fire that occurred between 28 July and 6 August 2021. Additionally, correlation analyses were performed between the two FWI datasets and other relevant variables, including the difference in Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR), the difference in Land Surface Temperature (dLST), and Fire Radiative Power (FRP) data detected from MODIS and VIIRS satellites. The results of the correlation analysis indicated that the FWI values obtained using in-situ meteorology station data showed much higher correlations than FWI values obtained from EFFIS, with the highest correlation (73%) observed with dLST data. Consequently, the fire danger map was created using the in-situ meteorological data, given its stronger correlation. The results prominently revealed a widespread high-risk level across the entire Antalya province, with the Manavgat district classified into the "Extreme" and "Very Extreme" FWI classes, emphasizing the critical importance of utilizing in-situ meteorological data for precise fire danger assessments and proactive fire management strategies.

Productive Carbon Forest: Agroforestry with high economic forest commodities to increase carbon stocks and community welfare in Garut Indonesia

24.7 million hectares of Forest areas are not covered with forest, and the community limits its management because it is prohibited by law. However, the forestry sector only contributes 0.6% of Indonesia’s GDP. Therefore, IPB University collaborates with ASTRA International to develop a productive carbon forest in Garut Regency. Agroforestry uses highly economic forest commodities. This program was very well received by the community there. Around 52.86 hectares of tea gardens and other plantations became productive carbon forests and are expected to be fruitful and profitable three years later. It planted 13,082 avocado trees, 71,070 coffee trees, and 8,270 hardwood trees. Assistance was carried out from the beginning of the program about six months ago and will continue until the fruit harvesting. This program is expected to continue for 20 years and give a profit of around IDR 596,567,022 (USD 3,9846) /hectare/year. It is anticipated that this undertaking will serve as a pilot project for improving the social forest in Indonesia and could increase both the ecology and community welfare. Nevertheless, this productive carbon forest is expected to succeed in Indonesia’s FoLU (Forest and Other Land Use) Net Sink 2030 and Indonesia’s domestic carbon market, established at the end of September 2023.

Forest Fire Risk Mapping Using GIS Based Analytical Hierarchy Process Approach

Turkiye is located in a region sensitive to forest fires due to the Mediterranean climate, vegetation and topography of the south and west coasts. Every year, forest fires for various reasons cause thousands of hectares of forest area to be burned. Fires damage the ecosystem as well as have economic consequences. While the Mediterranean, Aegean and Marmara coasts, where the Mediterranean climate and fire-sensitive tree species are dominant, are at primary risk against forest fires, the forests located on the Black Sea coasts where the Black Sea climate is dominant are less risky in terms of fire. For an effective fight against forest fires, it is crucial to identify zones with fire risk based on various parameters such as forest structures (tree species, crown closure, stand age), topographic features (slope, aspect), climate, and proximity to certain points (such as roads, settlements, agricultural areas). Fire risk data will shed light on the measures that can be taken against fire. In this study, GIS (Geographic Information Systems) based Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, one of the well know MCDA (Multi-criteria Decision Making Analysis) methods, was used to develop the fire risk map of Mersin Forestry Regional Directorate (FRD) within the Mediterranean region of Turkiye. Then, the accuracy of the fire risk map was evaluated by taking into account the previous fires in the regional directorate. As a result, it was found that 13.87% of the study area was classified as very high, 25.87% high, 24.68% medium, 22.44% low and 13.14% very low risk areas. The results showed that tree species are the most effective risk factor in forest fires, and followed by stand age factor. The accuracy of the fire risk map was evaluated by using the location information of a total of 562 fires in Mersin FRD between 2003-2022 that damaged forest areas. In order to determine the accuracy of the fire risk map, ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) curve method was used in ArcGIS environment. As a result, the AUC (Area Under Curve) value was found to be approximately 74%, and these values showed that the fire risk map developed for Mersin FRD was moderately reliable. With this study, it has been demonstrated that it is possible to produce reliable fire risk maps in a short time using the GIS-based AHP method.

Leveraging Google Earth Engine (GEE) for determining land use and land cover changes around Tasik Chini Malaysia.

This study explores the capability of Google Earth Engine in determining land use and land cover changes around Tasik Chini Malaysia which is one of the tourism areas severely affected by landscape changes. Two Landsat satellite composite data spanning ten years of difference and Machine Learning Approach algorithm namely Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector machine (SVM) are used to create landuse land cover changes (LULCC) map of the area. GEE is capable of processing time series data as well as performing temporal aggregation. In our case median metrics is used in creating many different alternatives of image composites for creating the LULC map with ease but accurate result. It is an excellent alternative for geospatial and big data analysts for both advance and novice users in processing long term EO dataset especially in dealing with many imageries. The best classification accuracy with the highest Overall Accuracy (OA) is by using Random Forest classifier with 81.58% for the year 2010 and 83.59% for 2020. The Kappa coefficient of both years are 0.75 and 0.78. It is found using this technique, Tasik Chini lost about 6600 hectares of forest area and an increase of bareland and develop area especially around the Tasik Chini lake due to the reported increase of mining activities for the past few years.

Environmental Threat of Soil Erosion in the Gwang Khola Watershed, Chure Region of Nepal

Chure, also known as the foothills of the Himalayas that extends from east to west of Nepal, is an essential region due to the hotspot of biological diversity and various natural resources, including recharge groundwater for the Tarai region of the country. However, the Chure region has a high rate of soil erosion due to human activities and natural processes, a severe issue in the Chure region. This study looked at soil erosion in the Gwang Khola watershed in the Chure region. We used the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model to measure soil loss by soil erosion. The results showed that about 547,992.9 tons of soil were lost annually in the Gwang Khola watershed. The results indicated that 5,259.87 hectares of the land area were in a very low-risk zone for soil erosion. Similarly, 317.79 hectares of land had a moderate risk of soil degradation, while 13.59 hectares of forest area posed a high threat. The extreme-risk erosion area was situated above 1,250 m. In contrast, the moderate and the low-risk regions of soil erosion had a lower elevation range of 950 m to 1,250 m and 650 m to 950 m, respectively. The findings of this study may aid planners and policymakers in preventing soil erosion and protecting the ecosystem in this watershed and those with similar circumstances.

THE IMPACTS OF INVESTMENT IN THE FORESTRY SECTOR ON THE INDONESIAN ECONOMY

Indonesia has abundant forest resources, reaching 120 million hectares of forest area. However, the forestry sector's contribution to the national economy continues to decline. The low performance of the forestry sector cannot be separated from the limited availability of round-wood materials for its processing industries and insufficient development of the multi-businesses activities among the forestry companies. Therefore, increasing the forestry sector's productivity is necessary through raising investment. This study investigates the impacts of investment in the forestry sector on Indonesian economic performance, including output, income, employment, and import, using the Input-Output (I-O) Model. The results show that investment in the forestry sector will increase output, income, and labour in the forestry sector and its related sectors. However, with the increase in its output, the demand for inputs, including round-wood materials, will also increase, encouraging a rise in imports. Thus, an increase in investment in the forestry sector needs to be balanced with the availability of roundwood materials and other associated inputs in Indonesia. For the follow-up research, it is important to separate the investment into upstream and downstream activities along the forestry value chain and include a regional aspect in the analysis.

Mainstreaming Ecosystem Services from Indonesia’s Remaining Forests

With 120 million hectares of forest area, Indonesia has the third largest area of biodiversity-rich tropical forests in the world, and it is well-known as a mega-biodiversity country. However, in 2020, only 70 percent of this area remained forested. The government has consistently undertaken corrective actions to achieve Sustainable Development Goal targets, with a special focus on Goals #1 (no poverty), #2 (zero hunger), #3 (good health and well-being), #7 (affordable and clean energy), #8 (decent work and economic growth), #13 (climate action), and #15 (life on land). Good environmental governance is a core concept in Indonesia’s forest management and includes mainstreaming ecosystem services as a framework for sustainable forest management. This paper analyzes efforts to mainstream Indonesia’s remaining forest ecosystem services. We review the state of Indonesia’s forests in relation to deforestation dynamics, climate change, and ecosystem service potential and options and provide recommendations for mainstreaming strategies regarding aspects of policy, planning, and implementation, as well as the process of the articulation of ecosystem services and their alternative funding.

Potential Economic and Environmental Benefits of Faecal Sludge Derived Compost and Char Briquettes: The case of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

The concept of resource recovery, particularly from waste has recently gained much attention and popularity. The aim of this study was to quantify the potential economic and environmental benefits of recovering nutrients and energy from faecal sludge (FS). The empirical data were collected from three unplanned settlements of Dar es Salaam City at Keko, Kipawa and Manzese. Two scenarios were developed to recover nutrients and energy. The estimations of potential amounts of compost and char briquettes were performed by using the resource value mapping (REVAMP) tool. Results from REVAMP indicated daily economic benefits across the study areas ranging between 680 and 950 USD for energy and up to 7,000 USD for nutrients recovered, based on the faecal sludge composition. In general, FS derived compost was found more profitable than FS derived briquettes. The analyzed environmental benefits include saving the estimated to 5 hectares of forest area from being cut when substituting the use of wood charcoal with FS-derived briquettes. Since the composting process resulted to be more profitable option between the two, this study recommends the adoption and scaling up. However, guidelines and standards should be developed for proper practices.
 Keywords: Faecal sludge; resource recovery; resource value mapping; briquettes; compost; economic benefits; environmental benefits

ASSESSMENT OF THE VISIBILITY CAPABILITIES OF FOREST FIRE LOOKOUT TOWERS: THE CASE OF GEMLIK, BURSA, TURKEY

Abstract. In Turkey, there are forest areas that are sensitive to fire in the first degree, especially along the coastline in the Marmara region and the Aegean and Mediterranean regions. As a result of forest fires, which is one of the biggest environmental disasters on forest resources, approximately 10000 hectares of forest area is damaged annually. One of the important elements of combating forest fires is early detection. In order to achieve this goal, the correct positioning of fire lookout towers is of great importance. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate visibility capabilities of forest fire lookout tower in Gemlik Forestry Enterprise Chief (FEC) located in the city of Bursa. Firstly, the visibility analysis was implemented using in ArcGIS 10.4.1 to evaluate the existing fire tower in the FEC, and then considering the potential fire lookout tower in the study area, the visible areas from both existing and new tower were determined. According to the results, while 63.55% of the study area was visible from the existing tower, this ratio increased to 77.39% when the second tower was added. When only the forest areas are evaluated, the existing tower could see 71.73% of the forest areas, while the visible forest areas have increased to 83.36% when the two towers were taken into account. It has been seen that the visibility capacities of existing towers and potential towers can be evaluated effectively by using GIS-based visibility analysis.

Juniperus L. for Restoration of Degraded Forest Lands in Turkey

Degraded forests are among of the most important environmental and commercial problems around the world. Turkey has 22.74 million hectares of forest area, out of which 9.656 million ha (42%) are unproductive. To transform these unproductive forests into productive ones, forest restoration including rehabilitation is one of the best actions. In this sense, juniper species play an important role for degraded lands because they are drought-tolerant and withstand aridity and poor soils better than most timber species grown in Turkey. Therefore, this review presents the ecological considerations for the restoration of degraded forest lands in Turkey under the conditions of climate change. Within this framework, it focuses on the production of planting stock of juniper species, the significance of site-species matching, and post-planting site maintenance for successful rehabilitation.

Forest cover dynamics in Palas Valley Kohistan, Hindu Kush-Himalayan Mountains, Pakistan

Forest cover change in the mountainous region is driven by a variety of anthropogenic and natural factors. The Hindu Kush-Himalayan Mountains has experienced a considerable vegetation cover change due to intensive human activities, such as population growth, proximate causes, accessibility, unstable political situations, government policy failure and poverty. The present study seeks to find out the impact of population growth and road network expansion on forest cover of Palas valley based on remotely sensed data and employing geospatial techniques. Changes in forest cover were determined by classifying time-series satellite images of Landsat and Sentinel 2A. The images of October 1980, 2000, 2010 and 2017 were classified into six land cover classes and then the impact of population growth and accessibility on forest cover was analyzed. Furthermore, forest cover and land-use change detection map was prepared using classified images of 1980 and 2017. The data were collected mainly from field visits (ground verification), census reports, Communication and Works Department, Kohistan. Satellite imageries were obtained from the United States Geological Survey’s websites and classified in ERDAS imagine 2014 and ESRI ArcGIS 10.2.1 using supervised classification-maximum likelihood algorithm. Result of this study revealed that a substantial reduction in forest cover has taken place mainly in the proximity of human settlements. On the average, during the study period, annually more than 460 hectares of forest area has been converted into other uses.

Convolutional neural network for smoke and fire semantic segmentation

In recent decades, global warming has contributed to an increase in the number and intensity of wildfires destroying millions hectares of forest areas and causing many casualties each year. Firemen must therefore have the most effective means to prevent any wildfire from breaking out and to fight the blaze before being unable to contain and extinguish it. This article will present a new network architecture based on Convolutional Neural Network to detect and locate smoke and fire. This network generates fire and smoke masks in an RGB image by segmentation. The purpose of this work is to help firemen in assessing the extent of fire or monitor an incipient fire in real time with a camera embedded in a vehicle. To train this network, a database with the corresponding images and masks has been created. Such a database will allow to compare the performances of different networks. A comparison of this network with the best segmentation networks such as U-Net and Yuan networks has highlighted its efficiency in terms of location accuracy, reduction of false positive classifications such as clouds or haze. This architecture is also efficient in real time.

CBS TABANLI AĞ ANALİZİ YÖNTEMİ KULLANILARAK YANGIN İLK MÜDAHALE EKİPLERİNİN DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ

The forest areas located along the coastline of the Mediterranean region in Turkey are sensitive to forest fires in the first degree. According to the fire statistics, about 21000 hectares of forest areas are damaged by forest fires annually. In order to fight forest fires effectively, the firefighting teams should reach the fire location and start fire extinguishing activities within the critical response time. GIS-based network analysis method can be used to evaluate the performance of the firefighting teams in a specified area. In this study, the locations of three firefighting teams within and around Yayla Forest Enterprise Chief (FEC) in the city of Balıkesir in Turkey was evaluated using "Network Analyst" module of ArcGIS software. In the first step, the optimum routes which provided the fastest access from the locations of firefighting teams to the possible fire areas were determined by using “New Closest Facility” method under "Network Analyst" module. Then, “New Service Area” method under the same module was used to calculate how far the firefighting teams can reach in the study area within a specific critical response time. It was found that 16 out of 19 potential fire areas could be reached by the teams within the critical response time. In addition, 83% of the forest areas in Yayla FEC was found to be reachable by the firefighting teams within the critical response time. The results suggested that the locations of the firefighting teams were found to be suitable for effective firefighting activities in the study area.

Connecting social forestry to conservation policies in Tanah Papua

Papua is the region with the largest remaining forest resources in Indonesia. This amounts to 42,224,840 hectares of forest areas, which in other words means that 95% of its total area is listed as forests. The breadth of forest coverage is formalized by Forestry Ministerial Decree of Indonesia no. 891/Kpts-II/1999 on the Designation of Provincial Forest Area and Inland Waters in Tanah Papua. Meanwhile, forest resources plays an important part of people’s lives in Tanah Papua and holds an important function among customary communities in Papua. Nevertheless, as yet there has been no meaningful social forestry program that provides direct benefits to communities. As a response to the special autonomy of Papua, several initiatives aimed at providing formal access and support services to local people in forest resource management. Ironically however, such initiatives are discouraged by the central government, arguing that they should originate from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. Despite these circumstances, Tambrauw and West Papua have declared themselves to be a conservation district and conservation province, respectively. This article attempts to briefly portray the dynamics of these conservation initiatives and the possibilities of developing synergy with social forestry programming in Tambrauw District and West Papua Province.

Analisis Vegetasi dan Pendugaan Cadangan Karbon Tersimpan di Hutan Lindung Adat Ghimbo Bonca Lida Kampar Riau

Indonesia is one country that has the largest tropical forests in the world with an area of 133.69 million hectares of forest area. However, the presence of Indonesian forest threatened by deforestation and forest degradation. Efforts to overcome performed with the use of forests as providers of ecological and sink carbon. Analysis study conducted to determine the composition and structure of vegetation and carbon content in indigenous Protected Forest Ghimbo Bonca Lida, to obtain data on land use biomass part terraced plot (20x100 m) combined with traffic method. Carbon As for content used data allometric equation Kettering (2001) BK = 0.11 r D2.62 . The result showed 76 species and 116 individuals belonging to 32 families. The dominant species on the level of the tree that is Syzygium cf filiformis. Carbon stocks of plant life at the top of the Indigenous Protected Forest Ghimbo Bonca Lida at 23.864,72 kg/ha and the carbon stocks nekromass of 39.071,06 kg/ha. The total carbon stocks in the Indigenous Protected Forest Ghimbo Bonca Lida of 134.529,96 kg/ha or 134,53 ton/ha

Case study of a derecho wind storm on August 11-12, 2017 in Poland: part one

Windstorms belong to the most costly natural threats in Poland. On August 11-12, 2017, a strong thunderstorm happened which resulted in a catastrophic damage in three provinces: Wielkopolskie, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, and Pomorskie. This disaster has resulted in the death of 6 people, injuries to several dozen people, and enormous property losses including approximately 16,000 residential, utility and public buildings, 80,000 hectares of forest area, 67,000 hectares of agricultural crops, in excess of 300 overhead power line poles, and over 200 cables were downed. The trees felled by the wind blocked and partially damaged local and municipal roads over a length of about 1100 km. Over 500,000 consumers were deprived of electricity at the peak of the disaster. The purpose of this paper is to describe, analyse, and learn from such a dangerous extreme weather event. In order to achieve this, a cause of the thunderstorm, its important meteorological data, the severity of damage to buildings, civil infrastructure and environment, processes of damage surveys, ideas for reconstruction and removing of all damage, financial assistance from the central government, local authorities, and public collections were studied for better preparation of all services and people for mitigation of the effects of a natural disaster which may happen in the future. An example of a building with improved stiffness as the solution for better resistance of wind forces is presented.

Potencial de almacenamiento de carbono en áreas forestales en un sistema ganadero

El rápido aumento de la producción ganadera ha provocado impactos ambientales, como la deforestación, la pérdida de biodiversidad, la degradación del suelo y las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero (GEI). En el estado de Chiapas, dichas emisiones han aumentado especialmente por la conversión de tierras forestales a pastizales y la fermentación entérica del ganado. La remoción de CO2 atmosférico por actividades forestales y agroforestales dentro de las unidades de producción ganadera puede reducirlas significativamente. El principal objetivo de esta investigación fue conocer el potencial de almacenamiento de carbono en áreas forestales, para conocer su contribución en la mitigación de GEI dentro de una unidad de producción ganadera en Villaflores, Chiapas. Se establecieron 12 parcelas de muestreo en áreas forestales y potreros para evaluar el carbono en biomasa viva aérea, biomasa de raíces, hojarasca, madera muerta y carbono orgánico del suelo. El promedio de almacenamiento de carbono en áreas forestales fue 144.45 Mg C ha-1 comparado con 75.95 Mg C ha-1 en los potreros. El almacén de carbono en biomasa viva, como se esperaba fue más alto en áreas forestales que en potreros, pero no hubo diferencia significativa en el reservorio de carbono orgánico del suelo. El rancho en estudio posee 24.7 ha (40 % de la superficie) de áreas forestales con alta diversidad de especies arbóreas, y si se decidiera deforestar para establecer pasturas contribuiría con 6 353.95 Mg de emisiones de CO2. Los resultados permitirán estimar la remoción anual de carbono con futuras remediciones.

Forest fire hazard classification in Poland

Klasyfikacja zagrożenia pożarowego lasów Polski