Conservation Of Natural Resources Research Articles

Exploring natural resource conservation mechanisms in Oromo orature: Ecopoetic study of selected Maccaa Oromo agricultural rites

The study explored biodiversity preservation mechanisms inscribed in Maccaa Oromo orature with special reference to their agricultural rituals. Both primary and secondary data were used to compile data for the study. Out of the major types of qualitative research designs, the study employed ethnographic methods of data collecting tools particularly observation, in-depth interviews, and focused-group discussions. The analyses of the rituals were undertaken through ecopoetic theoretical perspective. Hence, the study revealed that the Oromo people have hoarded practical knowledge of their environment through their culture which is the outcome of their lifelong experience. Through the ethics embedded in their agricultural rites, natural resources were preserved. Also, natural environments like land, rivers, water springs, and mountain are imbued with sacredness and therefore given special care. The study thus suggests due attention to be given by the concerned bodies to the farming system which is linked to the social, cultural, and belief systems and respect for nature; the environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable development. Also, institutions that recognize the rights of the local communities to share benefits arising from local knowledge should be established.

Missouri natural resource professionals share key insights for supporting agroforestry practices through cost-share funding available from USDA conservation programs

Abstract Agroforestry plantings offer a promising ecologically based solution to address agricultural resource concerns while simultaneously achieving conservation goals, because they provide multiple benefits including reduced soil erosion, decreased nutrient runoff, increased biodiversity and greater farm income stability. Despite these benefits, the adoption of agroforestry practices remains low throughout the United States. One approach intended to increase the implementation of these ecologically beneficial practices is to offer financial incentives for landowners. Several USDA conservation programs provide applicant landowners with financial and technical resources to implement approved conservation practices, including tree planting. Missouri offers a unique socio-political context for the application of agroforestry tree plantings in established conservation programs as it is currently the only state with an Environmental Quality Incentives Program fund pool dedicated to agroforestry and woody crop establishment. To gather initial information on the potential for agroforestry in Missouri, seven conservation professionals from prominent agencies, including Natural Resource Conservation Service and University of Missouri Extension, were interviewed. The purpose of these interviews was to gather in-depth knowledge on (1) the current dialogue around trees in conservation programs between natural resource professionals and landowners (2) the relationships between landowners and conservation agencies and (3) the professionals' knowledge of and familiarity with agroforestry practices. Preliminary findings suggest there are misconceptions about the requirements and regulations for conservation programs among landowners and conservation professionals. Another common theme was that conservation agencies face challenges in forming long-term connections with landowners, and they rely primarily on landowners to reach out for assistance. Lastly, conservation professionals are supportive of agroforestry but wish for greater knowledge of the practices before promoting them to landowners. Due to the small sample size of interview participants, these insights provide one perspective into the agroforestry knowledge of natural resource professionals. These initial findings will help direct future research on how well natural resource professionals understand agroforestry concepts and how they are engaging with Missouri farmers to support them in planting trees on their land.

Environmental factors influencing potential distribution of Schisandra sphenanthera and its accumulation of medicinal components.

Schisandrae Sphenantherae Fructus (SSF), the dry ripe fruit of Schisandra sphenanthera Rehd. et Wils., is a traditional Chinese medicine with wide application potential. The quality of SSF indicated by the composition and contents of secondary metabolites is closely related to environmental factors, such as regional climate and soil conditions. The aims of this study were to predict the distribution patterns of potentially suitable areas for S. sphenanthera in China and pinpoint the major environmental factors influencing its accumulation of medicinal components. An optimized maximum entropy model was developed and applied under current and future climate scenarios (SSP1-RCP2.6, SSP3-RCP7, and SSP5-RCP8.5). Results show that the total suitable areas for S. sphenanthera (179.58×104 km2) cover 18.71% of China's territory under the current climatic conditions (1981-2010). Poorly, moderately, and highly suitable areas are 119.00×104 km2, 49.61×104 km2, and 10.98×104 km2, respectively. The potentially suitable areas for S. sphenanthera are predicted to shrink and shift westward under the future climatic conditions (2041-2070 and 2071-2100). The areas of low climate impact are located in southern Shaanxi, northwestern Guizhou, southeastern Chongqing, and western Hubei Provinces (or Municipality), which exhibit stable and high suitability under different climate scenarios. The contents of volatile oils, lignans, and polysaccharides in SSF are correlated with various environmental factors. The accumulation of major secondary metabolites is primarily influenced by temperature variation, seasonal precipitation, and annual precipitation. This study depicts the potential distribution of S. sphenanthera in China and its spatial change in the future. Our findings decipher the influence of habitat environment on the geographical distribution and medicinal quality of S. sphenanthera, which could have great implications for natural resource conservation and artificial cultivation.

Evaluating the effects of Natural Resources Conservation Service project implementation on the disturbance-dependent avian community with implications for Blue-winged Warblers

Evaluating the effects of Natural Resources Conservation Service project implementation on the disturbance-dependent avian community with implications for Blue-winged Warblers

Implications of Natural Resource Conservation Policies on Local Community Livelihoods (LCL) in the Sengwa Wildlife Area (SWA), Gokwe South District, Zimbabwe

Implications of Natural Resource Conservation Policies on Local Community Livelihoods (LCL) in the Sengwa Wildlife Area (SWA), Gokwe South District, Zimbabwe

A scientometric review of the peer-reviewed research on high tunnels in the United States

Abstract This study assessed the extant literature related to the use of high tunnels (HTs) in agricultural systems in the United States since the 2009 launch of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) High Tunnel Initiative. This NRCS program led to an increase in HT adoption nationwide. The literature searches were conducted using the Web of Science (WoS) database. The final sample was 133 peer-reviewed articles published between 2009 and February 2023. We used CiteSpace 6.2.R1 and Gephi 0.9.2 to conduct co-citation, co-author, co-institution, and clustering techniques. The findings showed that the peer-reviewed literature about HT use has increased since 2009, substantially rising between 2017 and 2021. Horticulture was the top subject category in the literature, and most articles were published in peer-reviewed journals of the American Society for Horticultural Science (i.e., HortTechnology and HortScience). The research field evolved from general HT practices, nutrient management, and plant pathology to focus on trials of specific crops and integrated pest management. The institutions with the most contributions to the HT literature were Kansas State University, the University of Florida, Michigan State University, Purdue University, and the University of Minnesota. The patterns of HT research revealed in this study offer a greater understanding of the current state of knowledge to inform the focus of future research.

Change Detection of Vegetative Covers in Kalara Nala Watershed of Damoh District Using Remote Sensing and GIS

Remote sensing and GIS technologies have proven to be effective tools to analyse land use land cover (LULC) changes on watershed basis. The evaluation and monitoring of watershed development programmes are of prime importance to assess the conservation of natural resources and the efficiency of their utilization. The investigation aims to detect changes in vegetative cover due to water harvesting and recharging structures of the study watershed situated in Patharia block of Damoh district, Madhya Pradesh. The watershed development programme was executed during the period 2018-2022. All the processes related to the evaluation of watershed development activities were performed using remote sensing and GIS tools through pre and post development data in the GIS environment. The change detection in vegetative cover was done based on land use land cover patterns. By adopting unsupervised classification approach, high-resolution satellite data of Sentinel-2B for the years 2018 and 2022 were used for land use land cover (LULC) mapping and further analysis. During the year 2018, it was observed that the vegetative cover in the watershed was 37% of the watershed area however after the implementation of the watershed development programme total vegetative cover increased to 60% of the total watershed area in the year 2022. From the study, it can be concluded that remote sensing and GIS can prove to be viable tool for the evaluation of watershed development programmes.

Applying Performance Management in Public Apparatus Development at Regional Level

This study aims to analyze the performance of officials in the management of conservation areas at the Agency of Natural Resources Conservation Center (NRCC) of South Sulawesi Province. The study applies a qualitative descriptive approach and data were collected through interviews and document studies. The results of the study indicate that the implementation of performance management in the NRCC of South Sulawesi has not been optimal. This is due to the limited number of employees, a lack of training and education and problems in the management of conservation areas. However, the performance management process at the NRCC has been organasied consistently, starting from performance planning, performance implementation and performance evaluation.

Applying Performance Management in Public Apparatus Development at Regional Level

This study aims to analyze the performance of officials in the management of conservation areas at the Agency of Natural Resources Conservation Center (NRCC) of South Sulawesi Province. The study applies a qualitative descriptive approach and data were collected through interviews and document studies. The results of the study indicate that the implementation of performance management in the NRCC of South Sulawesi has not been optimal. This is due to the limited number of employees, a lack of training and education and problems in the management of conservation areas. However, the performance management process at the NRCC has been organasied consistently, starting from performance planning, performance implementation and performance evaluation.

Aspek Sosial, Ekonomi, dan Lingkungan Ekowisata Subak Sembung, Kelurahan Peguyangan, Kecamatan Denpasar Utara, Kota Denpasar, Provinsi Bali

Social, Economic, and Environmental Aspects in Subak Sembung as Ecotourism, Peguyangan Village, North Denpasar District, Bali
 Bali is part of the Indonesian territory that relies on the agricultural sector to meet the needs of the community as well as to support its tourism activities. Subak Sembung has been conserved and inaugurated as an ecotourism site in 2014 by the Denpasar City Government. Currently, Subak Sembung has 103 hectares of land and it has the largest green land in the city center, then known as the lungs of Denpasar City. This research is conducted with the aim of analyzing the social, economic, and environmental aspects in Subak Sembung as ecotourism in Peguyangan Village, North Denpasar District, Bali. The sample size is 35 people and generated by using simple random sampling. The data analysis method used is the descriptive qualitative analysis. The results shows that Subak Sembung as ecotourism in terms of social aspects measured from three indicators, namely the high level of knowledge of farmers about ecotourism, positive responses of farmers to ecotourism, and high skills of farmers in farming. The economic aspect measured in terms of economic benefits is relatively high, and the environmental aspect can be said to be good in terms of natural resource conservation is fairly high and facilities in the form of counseling and coaching are carried out quite often.

Structural supercapacitor electrolytes based on cementitious composites containing recycled steel slag and waste glass powders

Incorporating solid wastes into cement-based materials is beneficial for the waste disposal and the conservation of natural resources. In this study, cement-based electrolyte incorporated with recycled steel slag powder (SSP) and waste glass powder (GP) was proposed as a potential candidate for assembling structural supercapacitor cells (SSCs) with multi-functionality. Compared with pure cement devices, the 28-day conductivity and areal capacitance of the SSCs containing SSP and GP increased by up to 112% and 84%, respectively, at a current density of 0.1 mA cm−2. On the one hand, the addition of SSP and GP increased the pore volume in the cement-based electrolyte, which in turn resulted in more paths for ion transport. On the other hand, the presence of SSP and GP increased the concentration of major ions, such as Na+ and OH−, in pore solution. Both the increased ion transport paths and the improved ion concentration contributed substantially to the enhancement of the energy storage performances of the SSCs. At 28 days, an additional incorporation of 10% GP made up for the strength loss caused by SSP as an appropriate amount of GP with high pozzolanic activity resulted in an increased amount of C-S-H product, a reduction of porosity, and a denser microstructure. The proposed SSCs containing the cement-based electrolyte with cement partially replaced by 20% SSP and 10% GP is competitive for the development of green building energy storage devices.

Blue Economy in the EU-27

The blue economy can facilitate sustainable economic development and significantly contribute to the conservation of the environment and climate. The blue economy is characterized by a high potential for innovation and growth, facilitation of which can result in the sustainable development of the countries and conservation of natural resources also for future generations.

Los Diálogos en el territorio en la elaboración del Plan Nacional Ambiental para el Desarrollo Sostenible (PANDS) en Uruguay

In the context of an agro-export economic model that pollutes and depletes natural assets, such as water and soil, with serious health consequences for its population, developing participatory environmental planning processes in Uruguay, as well as implementing collaborative management, are key issues for ecological transition towards social justice, conservation and responsible use of natural resources. This article analyzes the participatory process carried out by Universidad de la República, towards the National Environmental Plan for Sustainable Development discussion, considering local actors’ priorities.

Ethnobioconservation with a Predict, Observe, Explain (POE) Strategy Against Student Cooperative Skills

Student cooperative skills are an internal representation of the conceptual understanding of Maluku's natural resource conservation biology. Currently, students still have difficulty explaining the relationship between biological conservation and biological, physical and chemical conditions of a natural resource phenomenon, at a concrete level. These difficulties require research, through Predict, Observe, Explain (POE) Strategy, Ethnobioconservation Development of Maluku Natural Resources. This study aimed to reveal the development and differences in students' cooperative skills after learning Bioconservation with POE and conventional learning. Indicators of students' cooperative skills were adapted from Johnson, & Holubec, (2002). The topic of Maluku Natural Resources Ethnobioconservation combined with the POE Strategy consists of five topics, namely 1) Burning rocks in Maluku Tenggara Barat Indonesia; 2) Sasi Lompa Opening Ceremony in Haruku Village, Maluku Indonesia; 3) Timba Laor, Latuhalat Village, Ambon Maluku Indonesia; 4) Meti Kei Ceremony in Southeast Maluku Indonesia; and 5) The Opening Ceremony of Sasi Teripang in Noloth Village, Saparua Island, Maluku Indonesia. The findings indicated that the POE strategy resulted in better student cooperative skills. The N-Gain scores of students in the class using the POE and conventional strategies were found to be 71.43 and 47.73, respectively. Meanwhile, the value of coopetarif skills was higher (36.67%) compared to conventional learning. Thus, it can be concluded that POE Strategy learning is effective in increasing the cooperative skills of students. This research recommends that POE is very important and useful for use in biology learning. because the POE strategy facilitates student concept change

Natural Resource Conservation, Poverty Alleviation, and Farmer Partnership

Agriculture has now been seen in its multiple roles like contributing to development as an economic activity, source of livelihood, provider of environmental services and a unique instrument to overall development. As an economic activity, it is a source of growth for national economy, food security, foreign exchange as well as provider of investment opportunities for agro-based industries and rural non-farm economy. As source of livelihood, it provides jobs to majority of the people, especially the small holders, landless and the poor. In terms of environmental services, being the major player in underground water depletion, agrochemical pollution, soil exhaustion and global climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions, agriculture can create good and bad environmental outcomes. Its environmental contributions in managing watersheds and preserving biodiversity are generally unrecognised and unremunerated. Agriculture has well established record as an instrument for poverty reduction1 as well as a leading sector for overall growth in the agriculture-based countries of the world [World Bank (2007)]. In future, agriculture has to commit more promises (e.g. bio-fuel) to the nation without compromising over primary responsibility of food security along with poverty alleviation, conservation of natural resource base, environment protection etc. Unfortunately, the agriculture has been vastly underused for development.

Economic Valuation of the Environment and the Travel Cost Approach: The Case of Ayubia Natioanl Park

Environmental and natural resource systems such as lakes, rivers, streams, estuaries, forests, and parks provide goods in terms of resources (e.g., flora, fauna, and minerals) and services (e.g., waste sink assimilation), a source of amenity services, use for recreational purposes, and life-support functions. Knowledge of the values of these services may be important for a variety of reasons. Access to such resources for recreation is typically not allocated through markets. Rather, access is typically open to all visitors at a zero price or a nominal entrance fee that bears no relationship to the cost of providing access. And there is no or little variation in these access prices over time or across sites to provide data for econometric estimation of demand functions [Freeman (1993); Nillesen (2002)]. Ever since the second half of the twentieth century, concern about current and future use of our natural resources and environment has emerged at an increasing rate. This growing concern is accompanied by an increasing interest in so-called nature-based ecotourism. Presently, both benefits and threats have been observed resulting from the growing importance of ecotourism in environmentally sensitive areas [Nillesen (2002)]. Ecotourism plays an important role in increasing natural resource conservation and economic growth. It may also lead to management and policy challenges.

PEMBERDAYAAN DAN PENINGKATAN KAPASITAS KELEMBAGAAN MASYARAKAT DESA MELALUI AGROWISATA BERBAHASA INGGRIS

Agribusiness utilizes inorganic waste that can be recycled to produce selling points such as basket bags from plastic waste and dolls from cloth waste. There is a superior product in this business unit, namely processed Jenitri seeds which are processed into handicrafts. Jenitri seeds are not only used as an ornamental tool. In certain beliefs, the work of Jenitri seeds is used as a worship tool and a medical device. Therefore, Jenitri seeds have a fairly high selling value compared to other handicrafts because of their various functions. Adiluhur Tourism Village is a village that is currently under development as a tourist spot with the name Kebumen English Tourism Village (KWIK) and is located in Adiluhur Village, Kec. Adimulyo, Kab. Kebumen. There are 3 business units that are superior and are still in the development stage, namely business units in the fields of tourism (agro-tourism), agriculture (agriculture), and handicrafts (agribusiness). Currently, the primary superior unit in Adiluhur Tourism Village is a business unit in the tourism sector. Agrotourism is managed by CV in collaboration with BUMDes (Village Owned Enterprise) Mulia Jaya. The tour featured in this unit is an introduction to several types of captive animals (various types of snakes, monitor lizards, sea urchins, iguanas, mongooses, Australian geckos, crocodiles, alligator fish, and many more) as well as a museum containing ancient agricultural tools (bronze spoon, harrows, sickles, hoes, nails, antique lamps, and many more). The potential that is being developed in this unit is outbound with the target visitor being Elementary Schools. Not only that, the agro-tourism manager plans to work with the BKSDA (Natural Resources Conservation Center) in caring for the animals in the unit.

Designing optimal agrosilvopastoral landscape by the potential for conservation use in Brazil

Land classification offers decision-makers a baseline to act assertively, improving the relationship between production and the conservation of natural resources. This work characterises the potential of land use concerning agrosilvopastoral use, soil conservation, and water production through a proof of concept to support landscape planning at the State level. The indexes range from low (1) to high (5) aptitude for agrosilvopastoral or conservation use in Google Earth Engine. We crossed land use classification from MapBiomas, Collection 5 (2019) with the PCU map to obtain areas suitable for agrosilvopastoral use (PCU≥3) or conservation use and the percentual of used land considering administrative, watershed, and municipality divisions. The balance observed between administrative regions regarding the potential for conservation use does not repeat when analysing watershed districts or municipalities, reinforcing that hydric management committees and cities must plan territorial use. Livestock has the highest percentage of land use in low PCU areas, followed by silviculture and agriculture, indicating the priority to include conservation use in the sustainable agriculture agenda. In Brazil, Minas Gerais State provides ecosystem services related to water supply beyond the state borders. Payment for environmental services is an alternative to increasing agrosilvopastoral activities' environmental performance. Well-designing the landscape use may promote productivity and reduce pressure under new areas for crop production.

Extraction rights allocation with liquidity constraints

We study the optimal allocation of a resource in a second-best world in which parties may be liquidity-constrained due to credit frictions and capital market imperfections. In this setting, common to various natural resource industries, agents are unable to bid more than their budget regardless of their valuation. While auction markets are widely used mechanisms for allocating natural resource extraction rights and conservation contracts, we show that in these circumstances the competitive market –which allocates items based on rank order of bids– fails to achieve the first-best allocation. The market outcome is welfare-dominated by a hybrid mechanism consisting of random assignment followed by resale in a secondary market. Via the initial lottery, the hybrid-mechanism allocates the items with positive probability to high-valuation low-wealth individuals who would not have been able to afford them in a competitive market. High-valuation high-wealth agents, on the other hand, acquire the items in the secondary market if they do not receive them in the initial lottery. Therefore, equity in the allocation of access to the resource may be justified not only by distributional concerns but also by economic efficiency. We illustrate our model using data from buybacks of harvesting rights in the seafood industry.

Modeling gridded urban fractional change using the temporal context information in the urban cellular automata model

The cellular automata (CA) based models have been extensively used in urban sprawl modeling to support sustainable urban planning. However, in most existing urban CA models, only abrupt conversion (i.e., from non-urban to urban) was considered, whereas the difference in urbanization levels among different grids, as well as the nature of continuous urban evolution process with gradually increasing urban densities, were commonly ignored. Here, we proposed an impervious surface area (ISA) based urban CA model that can simulate the urban fractional change within each grid, using annual urban extent time series data from satellite observations. We implemented the developed ISA-based urban CA model in Beijing (China) and evaluated its performance through model comparison and scenario analyses. We found the ISA-based urban CA model can well capture the dynamics of urban sprawl with improved performance compared to the traditional urban CA model. The spatial pattern of modeled ISA is generally consistent with observed satellite data, with the root mean square error between the modeled and referred results of 0.14 across all changed pixels. Besides, results from our developed model agree well with the binary urban CA model, with notably reduced overestimation errors. The urban fractional change within each grid revealed in our model can provide more details than the traditional binary urban CA models, showing great potential in supporting sustainable urban development. Furthermore, the developed ISA-based urban CA model can be used for regional, even global scale urban sprawl modeling with urban fractional information in each grid, to support decision-making on the sustainable management and conservation of natural land resources.