Implementation Of Sustainable Management Practices Research Articles

Impact of Pesticide Training on Safety Climate Perception Among French Cereal Farmers.

Background: The training of farmers in pesticide safety is of prime importance for reducing pesticide use and exposure through the implementation of sustainable management practices. This study aimed to assess the impact of compulsory training on the knowledge and perceptions of cereal farmers, with the help of a safety climate scale. Method: We approached cereal farmers throughout France during compulsory training and certification procedures for pesticide-related activities. Trainees were asked to complete a safety climate questionnaire at the start and end of the course. In total, 733 cereal farm managers or workers completed the questionnaire at the start of the study, 131 of whom declined to complete the questionnaire at the end of the training session, leaving 602 subjects available for pre-training/post-training comparisons. Statistical analyses were based on paired t-tests and mixed models for repeated measures. Findings: The mean safety climate score increased from 82.37 to 88.22 after the training course (7.1 %, p < .001) in both univariate and multivariate analyses. Mean increases were also found for each of its seven dimensions (p < .001), ranging from 2.8% for "rules and best practices" to 12.4% for "communication and feedback." Few covariate-by-time interactions were found to be significant. Conclusion/Application to Practice: This study demonstrates that pesticide training is highly effective in increasing safety climate perception among cereal farmers and provides hints for improving the design of educational programs. Promoting the development and facilitation of lifelong learning with continuously updated training programs should be a top priority for minimizing pesticide exposure.

Wainganga River Back Water Environmental Impact Assessment in Gose Dam

The construction of Gose Dam along the Wainganga River has given rise to a significant backwater area, prompting a comprehensive assessment of its environmental impacts. This multidisciplinary study examines ecological, hydrological, and socio-economic dimensions to unravel the complexities of the altered ecosystem. Ecological analyses reveal shifts in habitat structure, biodiversity, and water quality, while hydrological assessments scrutinize changes in flow patterns, sediment dynamics, and flood regimes. Socio- economic investigations explore the ramifications on local communities, including shifts in livelihoods and land use practices. Through field surveys, remote sensing techniques, and stakeholder consultations, this assessment aims to inform evidence-based decision-making and facilitate the implementation of sustainable management practices. By elucidating both challenges and opportunities, this study contributes to the conservation of the Wainganga River ecosystem, ensuring its resilience and well-being for future generations.

Evaluating the Enablers of Effective Sustainable Management Practices for Public Ultra-Modern Market Infrastructure in Niger-Delta Region

This research investigates the pivotal factors facilitating the successful implementation of sustainable management practices in public ultra-modern markets, essential components of urban landscapes facing numerous challenges. Despite the growing acknowledgment of sustainability in urban development, a significant gap exists in comprehending the specific drivers behind effective management within these bustling market infrastructures. Utilizing a mixed-method approach, combining cross-sectional surveys and personal interviews, 239 administered questionnaires with a 76.7% response rate, reveals this study employs a pragmatic case study design focused on the Niger-Delta Region, Nigeria. Questionnaires were distributed, and interviews and observations conducted in New Town Market (Port Harcourt, Rivers State), Swali Market (Yenegoa, Bayelsa State), and Uvwie Market (Warri, Delta State). The study, based on key enablers of sustainable management, including organizational structure design, teamwork ethos, knowledge sharing, commitment levels, good governance, regular sustainable management meetings, and motivation for the management practice team. Quantitative data were analyzed through frequency tabulation, percentages, mean, and Relative Importance Index (RII), while qualitative data underwent transcription and analysis employing data reduction, content analysis, and thematic analysis. The findings underscore the significance of these enablers in enhancing infrastructure management effectiveness within public ultra-modern markets in Nigeria.

Effect of farmers’ management practices on safety and quality standards of cocoa production: A structural equation modeling approach.

The adoption and implementation of sustainable management practices in the cocoa sector remain crucial in the research and policy agenda in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study aimed to investigating the ...

Looking for insight: The role of parasite tester opinions in farm management

Gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infections cause millions of dollars of economic loss annually. Increasing cases of anthelmintic resistance have resulted in calls for restricted drug use and implementation of sustainable management practices to slow the rate of resistance. The limited uptake of available management systems and advice has sparked multiple surveys into the psychology and behaviours preventing uptake. These surveys have looked mainly at the farmers, the majority of whom have reported they rely on the advice of their local veterinarian or suppliers for treatment and management. However, there is little research into the psychology of veterinarians and people performing animal health testing on this topic. In the current study, a short survey of people performing faecal egg counts on animals was conducted. The survey focused on identifying areas for improving diagnosis to encourage uptake, and found other areas of interest worth further investigation. Respondents most frequently named manual labour as the main contributor to the cost of testing (65% of respondents) with analysis (42%) and sample preparation (32%) being the main contributors to time. In the survey comments, there was little consistency or commonality in the issues raised. The disparity between onsite and laboratory testers is an area worth investigation, particularly into how to co-ordinate behaviour and advice between proactive farmers and parasitology/veterinary services. Further investigation could provide better insight into how to encourage and maintain sustainable practices on farms.

Crop Residue Burning in India: Policy Challenges and Potential Solutions.

India, the second largest agro-based economy with year-round crop cultivation, generates a large amount of agricultural waste, including crop residues. In the absence of adequate sustainable management practices, approximately 92 seems a very small number of metric tons of crop waste is burned every year in India, causing excessive particulate matter emissions and air pollution. Crop residue burning has become a major environmental problem causing health issues as well as contributing to global warming. Composting, biochar production and mechanization are a few effective sustainable techniques that can help to curtail the issue while retaining the nutrients present in the crop residue in the soil. The government of India has attempted to curtail this problem, through numerous measures and campaigns designed to promote sustainable management methods such as converting crop residue into energy. However, the alarming rise of air pollution levels caused by crop residue burning in the city of Delhi and other northern areas in India observed in recent years, especially in and after the year of 2015, suggest that the issues is not yet under control. The solution to crop residue burning lies in the effective implementation of sustainable management practices with Government interventions and policies. This manuscript addresses the underlying technical as well as policy issues that has prevented India from achieving a long-lasting solution and also potential solutions that have been overlooked. However, effective implementation of these techniques also requires us to look at other socioeconomic aspects that had not been considered. This manuscript also discusses some of the policy considerations and functionality based on the analyses and current practices. The agricultural waste sector can benefit immensely from some of the examples from other waste sectors such as the municipal solid waste (MSW) and wastewater management where collection, segregation, recycling and disposal are institutionalized to secure an operational system. Active stakeholder involvement including education and empowerment of farmers along with technical solutions and product manufacturing can also assist tremendously. Even though the issue of crop residue burning touches many sectors, such as environment, agriculture, economy, social aspects, education, and energy, the past governmental efforts mainly revolved around agriculture and energy. This sectorial thinking is another barrier that needs to be broken. The government of India as well as governments of other developing countries can benefit from the emerging concept of nexus thinking in managing environmental resources. Nexus thinking promotes a higher-level integration and higher level of stakeholder involvement that goes beyond the disciplinary boundaries, providing a supporting platform to solve issues such as crop residue burning.

Fish consumption of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) in north western Iceland assessed by DNA metabarcoding and morphological analysis

Understanding ecological relationships between humans and marine predators is crucial for the implementation of sustainable management practices. Comprehensive estimation of pinniped diet is essential for assessing interaction with fisheries and often has an important conservational value. Due to uncertainty regarding the accuracy of methods traditionally used to estimate harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) diet it is necessary to improve analysis methods. We investigated the diet of harbour seals hauling out in an estuary area in north-western Iceland between May and August of 2010 and 2011 by genetic (molecular) analysis of prey in faeces using DNA metabarcoding. The results were compared to previously published results from morphological analysis. Our results showed that species consumed were mainly sandeels (Ammodytes sp.), flatfishes (Pleuronectidae), gadoids (Gadidae), herring (Clupea harengus) and capelin (Mallotus villosus). The results from molecular and morphological analyses were similar in regards to important prey species, but species diversity was lower in the morphological analysis and 38% of the samples included prey items that were unidentifiable in the morphological analysis. Notably, despite Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), brown trout (Salmo trutta) and Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) availability in the study area, neither of the methods found evidence of salmonids in the harbour seal diet. Recently, a severe decline has been observed in the Icelandic harbour seal population. Since the main reason for culling harbour seals in Iceland is to reduce predation on salmonids, findings presented in this paper have essential conservation implications and suggest that culling needs to be reassessed.

Indicadores microbiológicos de qualidade do solo em recuperação de um sistema agroflorestal

A verificação da qualidade do solo é um instrumento importante para monitorar a sua degradação, e planejar a implantação de práticas sustentáveis de manejo. Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a qualidade do solo em três áreas com sistema agroflorestal localizadas na Associação de Pais e Amigos dos Excepcionais (APAE RURAL) de Campo Mourão, Paraná. As três áreas apresentam estágios distintos: uma inicial, com características de atividade de degradação do solo (Área 1); uma intermediária, onde foi implantado o sistema agroflorestal há um ano (Área 2); e uma avançada, apresentando formação florestal mais madura e perene (Área 3). Foram utilizados três grupos funcionais de microrganismos em cada uma das áreas, sendo eles: fungos totais, bactérias aeróbias e bactérias produtoras de celulase. Todos os microrganismos foram quantificados por Unidades Formadoras de Colônia por grama (UFC/g) de solo diluído. A Área 1 exibiu menor abundância de microrganismos totais, na ordem de 105 UFC; Área 2 apresentou composição intermediária de fungos totais, bactérias aeróbias e bactérias produtoras de celulase, com UFC em torno de 107 para os três grupos funcionais; Área 3 apresentou maior quantidade dos microrganismos em estudo, com maior quantidade de fungos (108), bactérias aeróbias (1010) e bactérias produtoras de celulase (1011). Quando comparadas as áreas dentro de cada grupo funcional, destacou-se a menor quantidade de bactérias aeróbias na Área 1 (107), assim como maior quantidade de bactérias produtoras de celulase na Área 3 (1011). Esses resultados mostram que as áreas têm qualidades distintas em relação a micro-organismos. A Área 1 com menos micro-organismos, a Área 2 com quantidades intermediárias e a Área 3 com mais colônias formadas conforme o esperado devido ao tempo de implantação do sistema agroflorestal em cada área.

Biomass Estimation of Xerophytic Forests Using Visible Aerial Imagery: Contrasting Single-Tree and Area-Based Approaches

A large part of arid areas in tropical and sub-tropical regions are dominated by sparse xerophytic vegetation, which are essential for providing products and services for local populations. While a large number of researches already exist for the derivation of wall-to-wall estimations of above ground biomass (AGB) with remotely sensed data, only a few of them are based on the direct use of non-photogrammetric aerial photography. In this contribution we present an experiment carried out in a study area located in the Santiago Island in the Cape Verde archipelago where a National Forest Inventory (NFI) was recently carried out together with a new acquisition of a visible high-resolution aerial orthophotography. We contrasted two approaches: single-tree, based on the automatic delineation of tree canopies; and area-based, on the basis of an automatic image classification. Using 184 field plots collected for the NFI we created parametric models to predict AGB on the basis of the crown projection area (CPA) estimated from the two approaches. Both the methods produced similar root mean square errors (RMSE) at pixel level 45% for the single-tree and 42% for the area-based. However, the latest was able to better predict the AGB along all the variable range, limiting the saturation problem which is evident when the CPA tends to reach the full coverage of the field plots. These findings demonstrate that in regions dominated by sparse vegetation, a simple aerial orthophoto can be used to successfully create AGB wall-to-wall predictions. The level of these estimations’ uncertainty permits the derivation of small area estimations useful for supporting a more correct implementation of sustainable management practices of wood resources.

Soil Loss Vulnerability Assessment in the Mekong River Basin

The Mekong River plays an extremely important role in Southeast Asia. Flowing through six countries, including China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos PDR, Cambodia, and Vietnam, it is a site of great biological and ecological diversity and the habitat of numerous species of fish. It also supports a very large population that lives along the river basin. Therefore, much attention has been focused on the giant Mekong River Basin, particularly, its soil erosion and sedimentation problems. In fact, many methods have been used to calculate and simulate these problems. However, in the case of the Mekong River Basin, the available data is limited because of the extreme size of the area (about 795,000 ㎢) and lack of equipment systems in the countries through which the Mekong River flows. In this study, we applied the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) model in a GIS (Geographic Information System) framework to calculate the amount of soil erosion and sediment load during the selected period, from 1951 to 2007. The result points out dangerous areas, such as the Upper Mekong River Basin and 3S Basin (containing the Sekong, Sesan, and Srepok Rivers) that are suffering the serious consequences of soil erosion problems. Moreover, the present model is also useful for supporting river basin management in the implementation of sustainable management practices in the Mekong River Basin and other basins.

Biodiversity in forest ecosystems and landscapes: A conference to discuss future directions in biodiversity management for sustainable forestry

Maintaining biodiversity has become a global concern and requires the implementation of sustainable management practices at a range of spatial scales. Forested ecosystems are no exception, and we report on an IUFRO conference to address biodiversity and sustainable forest management. The conference was structured into four key themes: (1) Natural disturbance and biodiversity in forests and landscapes, (2) Biodiversity, climate change and ecosystem function, (3) Biodiversity in managed forests, and (4) Monitoring of forest biodiversity at different spatial scales. The conference provided a stimulating environment to discuss conceptual and applied forest management issues, highlighting advances in our understanding of responses to natural and managed disturbances, and the role that large-scale drivers such as climate change will play. Field trips to landscapes affected by an extensive bark beetle outbreak, and to large-scale silviculture experiments provided an ideal backdrop for this conference to reconcile concepts with operational challenges.

The Problem of Common Land: Towards Stakeholder Governance

This paper examines the current governance of common land with the intention of updating a story last examined in detail in studies in the late 1980s. In addition, the paper draws on recent conceptualizations of stakeholders and governance. A brief history of common land shows that governance systems are highly localized and dependent on custom and practice. Such a dependence suggests the need for governance which is based on the incorporation of stakeholders using consensus building approaches. The paper suggests that local governance systems are crucial to the successful implementation of sustainable management practices but that this may be overlooked by land managers and policy makers. Consequently, comprehensive national legislation for common land is not a viable option but legislation can play a valuable role in particular circumstances. The need to give further consideration to the role of legislation and an appropriate policy framework for commons within the context of stakeholder governance is particularly important given the significance of common land for agriculture, nature conservation, landscape, heritage and recreation across England and Wales.