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Ecosystem health is one of the most important topics for ecosystem management and it is also the main core in ecosystem assessment. In this study, a regional ecosystem health assessment (REHA) method is adopted to develop a spatial ecosystem health framework for Gorgan Township, North-Eastern Iran. The REHA methodology refers to an ecosystem mosaic's ability to both maintain physical health and guarantee the supply of the Ecosystem Services (ES) necessary for human communities. In order to spatially quantify ecosystem health, an integrated evaluation of land use land cover (LULC) change and ecosystem services modelling was implemented. The analysis revealed that during 1987–2005, there was a slight decline in the mean regional ecosystem health that occurred in Gorgan Township (−0.86), especially within urban vegetation and suburban areas. The built-up areas and expansion of agricultural fields into natural lands were influential factors affecting the overall regional ecosystem health value. Our result showed that among all the ecosystem health indicators, ecosystem resilience and ecosystem vigour were the most important factors positively and negatively influenced the REH in the study area. Relations between land use patterns, Ecosystem Health (EH), and ES in the study area indicate high intricacy of the structure-functional interaction within the landscape. Providing local managers with their integrative model may become a useful tool for efficient natural resource management on the one hand, and the protection of valuable ecosystems on the other.

A permanent assessment of climate regime in forest sites has a key role in forest resource conservation and preservation of ecosystem services, biodiversity and landscape multi-functionality, informing sustainable forest management. In this view, time-series of meteorological data relative to several monitoring sites from the ICP-Forest network in Italy, were analyzed with the aim to define the number of site-specific observations, which can be considered adequate for further analysis on forest resource management. The relative importance of each factor accounted in our analysis (season, year, variable, plot, sampling proportion) was investigated comparing results through the use of descriptive statistics.

Negative environmental changes generally addressed as ‘syndromes’ areevaluated in the context of Soil Degradation (SD) and interpreted by usinga ‘Land-Use/Land Cover Changes’ (LULCCs) framework in order to dis-entangle ‘past trajectories’, ‘present patterns’, and ‘future changes’. Thisapproach allows to discuss the potential impact on SD processes and itrepresents an informed basis for identifying measurable outcomes of SD.This study focuses on the case of Emilia Romagna, a region located inthe North of Italy with high-value added agricultural productions. A multi-temporal analysis of land-use changes between 1954 and 2008 has been proposed, discussing the evolution of associated SD syndromes in EmiliaRomagna. The contributing information have been used as a baseline forSustainable Land Management (SLM) strategies. This framework of analysisprovides useful tools to investigate and to monitor the effects of SD in theMediterranean basin where several regions underwent common developmentpatterns yelding global pathological symptoms of environmental degradation.

This article investigates the relationship between firms’ carbon intensity, carbon management practices, and their financial performance. The extant literature on firms’ financial performance and their environmental performance has mostly considered a single dimension of firms’ environmental performance leading to restricted, and often, mixed outcomes. With panel data collected on financial statements and climate change related activities from 136 corporate firms in the U.S. between 2011 and 2018, this article integrates a process dimension based on an environmental management score with an outcome dimension represented by firms’ carbon emissions intensity. A regression model is employed to investigate the relationships between corporate environmental performance and corporate financial performance. We find evidence of a nonlinear relationship between corporate firms’ environmental performance and financial performance across both high and low-carbon intensive sectors. Specifically, we find that for firms in the high-carbon intensive sector, a U-shaped relationship exists between firms’ corporate environmental performance outcome dimension and their financial performance while for the low-carbon intensive sector, the converse is the case. The results show that the interaction between the outcome dimension of environmental performance and financial performance is moderated by the process dimension of environmental performance for firms in the low- and high-carbon intensive sectors.

Inspiration is an essential service within cultural ecosystem services. However, there is little research on the inspirational value due to the limitations of the available data. A large number of Chinese poetries mention a variety of ecological elements that inspired poets' creativity. This collection of poetries is the embodiment of the inspirational cultural ecosystem service and provides a new data source for evaluating the inspirational value of cultural ecosystem services. We established the ecological element diversity index and inspirational value index model to evaluate inspirational service. We investigated the poetry from the West Lake in Hangzhou City and the Yunlong Lake in Xuzhou City, China. The results showed the following: (1) The calculation of the ecological elements yielded four levels. The value of the first level was more than four times that of the fourth level. (2) The inspirational value index of plants is the highest in the classification of the ecological elements, followed by meteorological elements, animals, bodies of water, and topography. (3) Among the specific ecological elements, the wood-inspired value index is the highest, 108,855.24, followed by wind and birds, which are 100,665.80 and 89,305.85, respectively, and 71.05% of the value index is between 0 and 10,000. (4) The inspirational value index of the West Lake is 7076.13, and it is 17.08 for the Yunlong Lake. Therefore, the research method of this study provides a new way to evaluate the inspirational value of cultural ecosystem services.

On the Ground • Agroecosystem research often focuses on biophysical processes and productivity without incorporating human dimensions research and/or stakeholder engagement. • Connecting individual and community well-being to agro-innovation research is required for agro-ecological transformation to sustainable intensification. • Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) Network sites have historically had varied degrees of human dimensions research within their research plan; however, LTAR's human dimensions capacity has grown. • To capitalize on this capacity, we propose a four-step framework for the LTAR Network to evolve a cohesive human dimensions strategy that brings together the social and ecological. • Continued institutional support is required to maintain and further pursue research that will support stakeholder co-developed science that facilitates agroecosystem transformations benefiting society.

Over the last decades, the evolution of technology has helped us to facilitate various types of works in areas related to land and property management as well as spatial planning. The exploitation of new tools and methods has prompted the international interest in the recording and modeling of geospatial information in more than two dimensions depicted in traditional projects, until then. This has contributed to address a series of issues related to intense urbanization, as well as challenges in identifying complex ownership and building structures. A relatively recent such method is the mapping of buildings and wider spatial units by using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that has contributed to the production of 3D models by using the appropriate software. This technology finds resonant in recent years in Greece. However, it has not been applied to the mapping of large spatial units such as urban areas. This research paper performs a wide area mapping using UAV. Its purpose is to investigate to what extent the UAVs can do it successfully. For this reason, a brief evaluation is attempted, taking into account the accuracy of the data as well as the cost and time required in relation to traditional techniques. The result justifies the specific technique that appears to produce good quality metering and quality data while helping to save resources.

On the Ground • Multi-jurisdictional rangeland “mega-fires” are becoming more common. • Using interview data, we examined cross-boundary collaboration after the Soda Fire that burned approximately 113,312 ha (280,000 acres) of southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon. • We found relationships established in other management contexts were activated by individuals within agencies to share funding and resources to rehabilitate the landscape after the Soda Fire. • The fire's spatial proximity to Boise, Idaho, and temporal proximity to important federal policy decisions were primary collaboration drivers. • Barriers to collaborative efforts still exist; however, interviewees highlighted the importance of individual agency (bottom-up) changes in lessening top-down constraints.

Abstract. This research provides a systematic overview of psychological areas using assimilation and accommodation to explain development and adaptation processes from 1998 to 2018. We primarily aimed to identify the main psychological research areas connected to assimilation and accommodation. We used assimilation and accommodation as keywords to extract data from SpringerLink, PsycINFO, and PsycARTICLES. Of 500 articles, 473 were included in the analysis. Ten categories were identified to allow systematization along with different research areas and development trajectories. The meanings of these terms were analyzed in terms of scientific impact, their connection to Piaget and Baldwin, application, and research methods. Our analysis has distilled the most driving and scientifically relevant approaches to assimilation and accommodation within psychological research, with the work of Baldwin and Piaget influencing practically all views. Thus, we have identified a common understanding of assimilation and accommodation, although the direction of the adaptation process should be made explicit in the future. Based on our analyses, we were able to identify white spots on the research map that should be focused on in future work: the need to better understand the interdependence and synchronicity of both processes, the connection to affects and emotions, and the potential co-research with artificial intelligence.

With the growing interest in renewable energy systems, studies on the sustainability of small-scale wind turbines have been published in recent years. A literature review was conducted in this study to compile scientific studies conducted to evaluate the environmental effects of medium and small-sized wind energy systems using the life cycle assessment. Life cycle assessment is a method of evaluating the environmental sustainability of a product, process, or system that is becoming more important in the context of decisions and policies in the energy sector. The environmental effects of medium and small-sized wind turbines on the life cycle size have been investigated in this study, which looked at studies conducted since 2004. The vast majority of these studies conducted environmental sustainability assessments based solely on a few environmental impact indicators such as global warming potential. There are only a few studies that consider a wider range of environmental effects. The collection and analysis of studies examining the life cycle environmental sustainability of medium and small-scale wind turbines are important for determining the future vision of small-scale energy production systems., Son yıllarda yenilenebilir enerji sistemlerine olan ilginin artmasıyla birlikte küçük ölçekli rüzgâr türbinlerinin sürdürülebilirliği konusunda çalışmalar yayınlanmıştır. Bu çalışmada, yaşam döngüsü analizi yöntemi kapsamında orta ve küçük ölçekli rüzgâr enerji sistemlerinin çevresel etkilerinin değerlendirilmesine yönelik yapılan bilimsel çalışmaların derlenmesi amacıyla bir literatür çalışması yapılmıştır. Yaşam döngüsü analizi enerji sistemlerinin çevresel sürdürülebilirliğini değerlendirmek ve bu alandaki kararlar ve politikalar bağlamında giderek daha önemli hale gelen bir yöntemdir. Bu araştırmada öncelikle orta ve küçük ölçekli rüzgâr türbinlerinin yaşam döngüsü boyutunda çevresel etkileri konularında 2004 yılından bu yana yapılmış olan çalışmalar taranmıştır. Bu çalışmaların çoğunluğu yalnızca dar bir gösterge aralığı göz önüne alınarak çevresel değerlendirmeler gerçekleştirmiştir. Daha geniş bir çevresel etki yelpazesini dikkate alan az sayıda çalışma vardır. Orta ve küçük ölçekli rüzgâr türbinlerinin yaşam döngüsü çevresel sürdürülebilirliklerini analiz eden çalışmaların derlenerek irdelenmesi küçük ölçekli enerji üretim sistemlerinin gelecek vizyonun belirlenmesi açısından büyük önem taşımaktadır.

Fire is a natural phenomenon that has played a critical role in transforming the environment and maintaining biodiversity at a global scale. However, the plants in some habitats have not developed strategies for recovery from fire or have not adapted to the changes taking place in their fire regimes. Maps showing ecological vulnerability to fires could contribute to environmental management policies in the face of global change scenarios. The main objective of this study is to assess and map ecological vulnerability to fires on a global scale. To this end, we created ecological value and post-fire regeneration delay indices on the basis of existing global databases. Two ecological value indices were identified: biological distinction and conservation status. For the post-fire regeneration delay index, various factors were taken into account, including the type of fire regime, the increase in the frequency and intensity of forest fires, and the potential soil erosion they can cause. These indices were combined by means of a qualitative cross-tabulation to create a new index evaluating ecological vulnerability to fire. The results showed that global ecological value could be reduced by as much as 50 % due to fire perturbation of poorly adapted ecosystems. The terrestrial biomes most affected are the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest, tundra, mangroves, tropical and subtropical coniferous forests, and tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests., This research has been supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (grant no. RTI2018- 097538-B-I00) and the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (grant no. PRE2019-089208).

“Digitalization of forest”, as this phrase itself suggests the sustainable implementation of cutting-edge technologies into forests for improving the current trends that are being used for forest environment monitoring, data acquisition, and analysis in the field of research and development. Technologies that can be used effectively for achieving these objectives include the Internet of Things, Wireless Sensor Networks, Internet of Trees, Deep Learning, etc. In this study, we will be exploring and assimilating the limitless possibilities for technological interventions in forests to drastically improve their ecosystem. Intelligent systems for sensing, monitoring, and methods for analysis to be used in applications such as forest fire incidents, illegal logging of trees, poaching, etc. have been discussed briefly. In addition to that, generalized architectures have been proposed which can be used directly in the future for advancements in research and development related to data collection and processing applications like flora analysis, forest fire predictions, etc. without the need for any changes in forest deployment systems. Various methods for enhancement of tribal livelihood, high yield marketing of minor forest produces, and wildlife monitoring is also discussed relating to the areas concentric on the forest environment. Effective connectivity, sustained deployment of real-time sensing systems, and energy harvesting are some of the vital recommendations included and addressed in this study for aiding the proper implementation of digital networks in the forest ecosystem.

Understanding and predicting large-scale ecological responses to global environmental change requires comparative studies across geographic scales with coordinated efforts and standardized methodologies. We designed, applied and assessed standardized protocols to measure tundra herbivory at three spatial scales: plot, site (habitat), and study area (landscape). The plot and site-level protocols were tested in the field during summers 2014-2015 at eleven sites, nine of them comprising warming experimental plots included in the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX). The study area protocols were assessed during 2014-2018 at 24 study areas across the Arctic. Our protocols provide comparable and easy-to-implement methods for assessing the intensity of invertebrate herbivory within ITEX plots and for characterizing vertebrate herbivore communities at larger spatial scales. We discuss methodological constraints and make recommendations for how these protocols can be used and how sampling effort can be optimized to obtain comparable estimates of herbivory, both at ITEX sites and at large landscape scales. The application of these protocols across the tundra biome will allow characterizing and comparing herbivore communities across tundra sites and at ecologically relevant spatial scales, providing an important step towards a better understanding of tundra ecosystem responses to large-scale environmental change. CGB was funded by the Estonian Research Council (grant IUT 20-28), and the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence EcolChange). JDMS was supported by the Research Council of Norway (262064). OG and LB were supported by the French Polar Institute (program “1036 Interactions”) and PRC CNRS Russie 396 (program “ICCVAT”). DSH, NL, MAG, JB and JDR were supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada). NL, MAG, JB and JDR were supported by the Polar Continental Shelf Program. NL was supported by the Canada Research Chair program and the Canada Foundation for Innovation. NL and JB were supported by Environment Canada and Polar Knowledge Canada. NL and MAG were supported by the Government of Nunavut, the Igloolik Community, and Université de Moncton. NL, MAG and JB were supported by the Northern Scientific Training Program. JMA was funded by Carl Tryggers stiftelse för vetenskaplig forskning and Qatar Petroleum (QUEX-CAS-QP-RD-18_19). IHM-S was funded by the UK Natural Environmental Research Council Shrub Tundra (NE/M016323/1) grant. ISJ was funded by the University of Iceland Research Fund. Fieldwork in Yamal peninsula (Erkuta, Sabetta and Belyi) for DE, NS and AS was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (No: 18-05-60261 and No: 18-54-15013), Fram Centre project YaES (No: 362259), the Russian Center of Development of the Arctic, and the “Yamal-LNG” company. Fieldwork in Utqiaġvik was supported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Fieldwork in Svalbard was supported by the Norwegian Research Council (AFG No: 246080/E10), the Norwegian Polar Institute, Climate-ecological Observatory for Arctic Tundra – COAT, the Svalbard Environmental protection fund (project number 15/20), and the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) and the AB-338/AB-838 students of 2018. Sampling at Billefjorden was supported by GACR 17- 20839S.

Space debris is an increasing problem. Unlike terrestrial debris, there are no natural systems, other than exponentially diminishing atmospheric drag, to self-correct. This creates a self-perpetuat...

Deteriorating water quality leads to the freshwater biodiversity crisis. The interrelationships among water quality parameters and the relationships between these parameters and taxa groups are complicated in affecting biodiversity. Never-theless, due to the limited types of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors available on the market, a large number of chemical and biological parameters still rely on laboratory tests. With the latest advancement in artificial intelligence and the IoT (AIoT), this technique can be applied to real-time monitoring of water quality, and further conserving biodiversity. In this paper, we conducted a comprehensive literature review on water quality parameters that impact the biodiversity of freshwater and identified the top-10 crucial water quality parameters. Among these parameters, the interrelationships between the IoT measurable parameters and IoT unmeasurable parameters are estimated using a general regression neural network model and a multivariate polynomial regression model based on historical water quality monitoring data. Conventional field water sampling and in-lab experiments, together with the developed IoT-based water quality monitoring system were jointly used to validate the estimation results along an urban river in Hong Kong. The general regression neural network model can successfully distinguish the abnormal increase of parameters against normal situations. For the multivariate polynomial regression model of degree eight, the coefficients of determination results are 0.89, 0.78, 0.87, and 0.81 for NO3-N, BOD5, PO4, and NH3-N, respectively. The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed systems and models were validated against laboratory results and the overall performance is acceptable with most of the prediction errors smaller than 0.2mg/L, which provides insights into how AIoT techniques can be applied to pollutant discharge monitoring and other water quality regulatory applications for freshwater biodiversity conservation.

Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona, in the Sonoran Desert, provides an excellent opportunity to understand residents’ preferences for desert-adapted xeric landscaping. While much is known about the relationships between sociodemographics and broad environmental values on xeric landscaping choices, the influence of other variables remains unexplored, especially interactions with and attachments to the desert. We therefore examined the influences of recreational visits to local desert mountain parks and symbolic meanings associated with the native desert on household xeric landscaping preferences. Within a larger study, select questions captured socio-demographics, visitation to desert parks and open spaces, place identity, and xeric landscape preferences. Using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression, we confirmed that homeownership and a shorter residency predicted preference for xeric landscapes. Hispanics were less likely to prefer xeric landscaping. Interestingly, the novel factor of identity with the desert significantly and positively predicted xeric landscaping preference while visitation to desert parks and open spaces did not. Findings provide several important management implications. First, Phoenix has an opportunity to foster connections with the surrounding environment through its extensive desert mountain parks. Increasing connections between residents and the parks may help shift personal preferences to xeric yard types. Park managers might also work to further stress how household decisions can affect the desert environment. Second, park visitation alone may not suffice to create connections with the desert environment. Instead, park managers should focus on creating opportunities for visitors to recognize the unique, living aspects of the parks and build personal relationships with the ecosystem. Interpretation encouraging emotional connections to the desert environment may aid in fostering an identity with the desert. In addition, messaging and signage campaigns that link people to the parks may prove a novel way of combatting lawn water usage within desert cities. Given their opportunities to foster place identity, urban parks may be important influencers in promoting native plant landscaping. In conclusion, connecting people to their surrounding environments can influence preferences for similar landscape types at the household level.

Reckless construction and overextraction of resources have placed tremendous stress on the Sultanate of Oman's coastal ecosystems at Al-Batinah. The rate of sea level rise (SLR) intensifies under t...

Flooding causes serious impacts on the old town of Venice, its residents, and its cultural heritage. Despite this existence-defining condition, limited scientific knowledge on flood risk of the old town of Venice is available to support decisions to mitigate existing and future flood impacts. Therefore, this study proposes a risk assessment framework to provide a methodical and flexible instrument for decision-making for flood risk management in Venice. We first use a state-of-the-art hydrodynamic urban model to identify the hazard characteristics inside the city of Venice. Exposure, vulnerability, and corresponding damage are then modeled by a multi-parametric, micro-scale damage model which is adapted to the specific context of Venice with its dense urban structure and high risk awareness. Furthermore, a set of individual protection scenarios are implemented to account for possible variability in flood preparedness of the residents. This developed risk assessment framework was tested for the flood event of 12 November 2019 and proved able to reproduce flood characteristics and resulting damage well. A scenario analysis based on a meteorological event like 12 November 2019 was conducted to derive flood damage estimates for the year 2060 for a set of sea level rise scenarios in combination with a (partially) functioning storm surge barrier, the Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico (MOSE). The analysis suggests that a functioning MOSE barrier could prevent flood damage for the considered storm event and sea level scenarios almost entirely. A partially closed MOSE barrier (open Lido inlet) could reduce the damage by up to 34 % for optimistic sea level rise prognoses. However, damage could be 10 % to 600 % higher in 2060 compared to 2019 for a partial closure of the storm surge barrier, depending on different levels of individual protection.

In Bangladesh, riverbank erosion has turned into one of the most frequently occurring natural disasters, and it affects the socio-economic and livelihood status as well as the environment of the adjoining areas. Kirtankhola River in Barishal, is this kind of river. This study assesses the amount of erosion-accretion, examines river profile, detecting key anthropogenic factors behind it, and signifying channel shifting of the river within 10 years (from 2009 to 2019). The study used Landsat Satellite imageries, geospatial techniques, and a semi-structured questionnaire survey throughout the study area. The study showed that erosion dominants at the left bank of river (17.1 ha/year), whereas the accretion rate is higher at the right (19.72 ha/year). Besides, cross-section at selected points of the river providing an evident indication of the river widening thus river course shifting. According to 61% of the participants in the questionnaire, high waves generated through water vehicles are the main culprit for this extensive erosion. The number of launches has increased significantly within the studied time-period, and most of the launches run over 30 km/h velocity, where it should be less than 20km/h. The study explored a mechanism of how centrifugal force produced by water vehicles increases the intensity of riverbank erosion in the meandering area.

The keys to realizing spatial restructuring in rural areas are the optimization of the spatial pattern of rural settlements and the integration of rural resources. Based on a 2015 Google Earth remote sensing image, this study employed kernel density estimation (KDE), the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) method, and a logistic regression model to apply quantitative analysis to the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of a rural area. The results revealed that the density of rural settlements is significantly spatially different in Baota District; the density core area in the district was located in the valley area with industrial agglomeration. Rural settlements in Baota District were located near the county seat and township seat, near a river, farmland and county-level road, on sunny slopes. Traffic accessibility to the townships had a greater impact on the spatial distribution of rural settlements than the traffic accessibility to the county. Thus, county-level road development plays a more important role in the optimization of town-village systems. Hence, we suggest constructing a complete transportation network system in the optimization of the town-village spatial pattern in the county, thereby improving the central service functions of towns to strengthen the spatial connection between townships and the central agglomeration effects of towns.

Catastrophic weather has significantly battered the U.S. Gulf Coast in recent years and exposed critical deficiencies in the resilience across communities and organizations. These deficiencies compel the devising of strategies to identify critical infrastructure components that require more attention with regard to building resilience. This article presents a holistic approach to assessing urban resilience by studying the coresilience of infrastructure networks. For this purpose, Tallahassee, Florida is used as a case study with a focus on both power and roadway networks and includes real-life disaster data from three extreme weather events that recently hit the study area. This article contributes to the coresilience concept through: 1) ­developing a geographical information system-based information-gathering approach to obtain an integrated infrastructure network and feed the causality models, 2) developing novel coresilience metrics to spatially identify and evaluate the high-risk locations, and 3) presenting a comprehensive case study and application of the developed approaches by using real-life data from three major storms that hit the study area.

In the context of an ongoing debate on the type of institutions or tenurial arrangements that are appropriate for the sustainable management of common pool resources (CPRs), this article examines the role played by local institutions in determining the conditions of two forests located in the Middle Hills of Nepal. The institutional robustness of the forests’ governance systems is evaluated using Ostrom's (1990) design principles that characterize the configuration of rules devised and used by long-enduring CPR institutions. The findings show that the two forests are different in level of historical degradation as well as present condition, and these differences are generally explained by the structural characteristics of the local institutions governing the forests. The analysis indicates that Ostrom's design principles are useful for analyzing institutional robustness of local forest governance systems. However, some of the principles need modification or expansion if they are to be prescribed for fores...

Climate change (CC) is expected to significantly affect biodiversity and ecosystem services. Adverse impacts from CC in the Global South are likely to be exacerbated by limited capacities to take adequate adaptation measures and existing developmental challenges. Insect pests today are already causing considerable yield losses in agricultural crop production in East Africa. Studies have shown that insects are strongly responding to CC by proliferation, shift in distribution, and by altering their phenology, which is why an impact on agriculture can be expected. Biological control (BC) has been proposed as an alternative measure to sustainably contain insect pests, but few studies predict its efficacy under future CC. Using the species maximum entropy modeling (Maxent) approach, we predict the current and future distribution of three important lepidopteran stem borer pests of maize in Eastern Africa, i.e., Busseola fusca (Fuller, 1901), Chilo partellus (Swinhoe, 1885), and Sesamia calamistis (Hampson, 1910), and two parasitoids that are currently used for BC, i.e., Cotesia flavipes (Cameron, 1891) and Cotesia sesamiae (Cameron, 1906). Based on these potential distributions and data collected during household surveys with local farmers in Kenya and Tanzania, also future maize yield losses are predicted for a business-as-usual scenario and a sustainable development scenario. We found that BC of the stem borer pests by C. flavipes and C. sesamiae will be less effective under more severe CC resulting in a reduced ability to curb maize yield losses caused by the stem borers. These results highlight the need to adapt BC measures to future CC to maintain its potential for environmentally friendly pest management strategies. The findings of this research are thus of particular relevance to policymakers, extension officers, and farmers in the region and will aid the adaptation of smallholder agricultural practices to the impacts of CC.

In the last decades, several studies have revealed how critical the urban heat island (UHI) effect can be in cities located in cold climates, such as the Canadian one. Meanwhile, many researchers have looked at the impact of the city design over the urban microclimate, and have raised concerns about the development of too dense cities. Under the effect of the “Places to Growth” plan, the city of Toronto is experiencing one of the highest rates of building development in North America. Over 48,000 and 33,000 new home permits were issued in 2012 and 2013 respectively, and at the beginning of 2015, almost 500 high-rise proposals across the Greater Toronto Area were released. In this context, it is important to investigate how new constructions will affect the urban microclimate, and to propose strategies to mitigate possible UHI effects. Using the software ENVI-met, microclimate simulations for the Church-Yonge corridor both in the current situation and with the new constructions are reported in this paper. The outdoor air temperature and the wind speed are the parameters used to assess the outdoor microclimate changes. The results show that the new constructions could increase the wind speed around the buildings. However, high-rise buildings will somewhat reduce the air temperature during day-time, as they will create large shadow areas, with lower average mean radiant temperature.

Why is disbelief in anthropogenic climate change widespread despite broad scientific consensus to the contrary? A widely-held explanation involves politically motivated (“system 2”) reasoning: Rather than helping uncover truth, people use their reasoning abilities to protect their partisan identities and reject beliefs that threaten those identities. Despite the popularity of this account, the evidence supporting it (i) does not account for the fact that partisanship is confounded with prior factual beliefs, and (ii) is entirely correlational with respect to the effect of reasoning. Here, we address these shortcomings by (i) measuring prior factual beliefs and (ii) experimentally manipulating participants’ extent of reasoning using cognitive load and time pressure while they evaluate arguments for or against anthropogenic global warming. The results challenge the politically motivated system 2 reasoning account: Rather than exacerbating the impact of partisanship per se, engaging in more reasoning led people to have greater coherence between judgments and their prior factual beliefs about climate change - a process that can be consistent with rational (unbiased) Bayesian reasoning. Thus, we challenge the dominant cognitive account of climate disbelief, and suggest that interventions aimed at providing accurate information about climate change may be effective in the long run.

Using distributed hydrological models to evaluate the effectiveness of reducing non-point source pollution by applying best management practices (BMPs) is an important support to decision making for watershed management. However, complex interfaces and time-consuming simulations of the models have largely hindered the applications of these models. We designed and developed a prototype web-based decision support system for watershed management (DSS-WMRJ), which is user friendly and supports quasi-real-time decision making. DSS-WMRJ is based on integrating an open-source Web-based Geographical Information Systems (Web GIS) tool (Geoserver), a modeling component (SWAT, Soil and Water Assessment Tool), a cloud computing platform (Hadoop) and other open source components and libraries. In addition, a private cloud is used in an innovative manner to parallelize model simulations, which are time consuming and computationally costly. Then, the prototype DSS-WMRJ was tested with a case study. Successful implementation and testing of the prototype DSS-WMRJ lay a good foundation to develop DSS-WMRJ into a fully-fledged tool for watershed management. DSS-WMRJ can be easily customized for use in other watersheds and is valuable for constructing other environmental decision support systems, because of its performance, flexibility, scalability and economy.

This dissertation addresses a conspicuous gap in the fisheries and environmental management literature by presenting a comparative study of the historical, social, cultural, and institutional processes that inform coastal fisheries comanagement in Samoa. In small-scale fisheries across the Pacific, comanagement has emerged as the preferred approach to governance. Comanagement is a collaborative, cross-scale approach that frequently incorporates existing traditional and local institutions and supports shared responsibility and authority between government agencies and local leaders. Comanagement principles also encourage local participation in management and decision-making. While comanagement has produced positive ecological and social results in many settings, there is inconsistency in social outcomes across contexts, with examples of elite capture, the exclusion of marginalized social groups, and the continuation of centralized state control over resources. It is critical to identify and understand the processes and factors that contribute to this inconsistency, in order to create more just and sustainable fisheries management. This dissertation explores the complexity behind participation and power-sharing as drivers and outcomes of fisheries comanagement with a case study in Samoa, where two approaches to resource governance developed in the late 1990’s: the Community-Based Fisheries Management Programme (CBFMP) and the Marine Protected Area (MPA) program. Both employed comanagement principles; however, the CBFMP integrated traditional Samoan institutions and village-scale marine tenure systems to improve fisheries productivity for food security; in contrast, the MPA was designed around larger ecological scales and implemented a new institutional organization that prioritized conservation. Samoa presents a unique opportunity to compare institutional and operational differences between two common forms of coastal marine management in a shared social-ecological context, and to examine the situated factors that contribute to divergent outcomes. Drawing from mixed-methods fieldwork including household surveys, interviews, and participant observation on the island of Upolu, this study uses qualitative and quantitative analytical methods to compare the institutional histories, political processes, community perceptions, and social outcomes of these programs. Mixed-methods are frequently used in comanagement research in order to provide multiple benefits to an integrated study of the perceptions, processes, and outcomes of comanagement (Cinner et al., 2012; Levine & Richmond, 2014). As complimentary methods, combined qualitative and quantitative approaches make it possible to triangulate data, but also to recontextualize the partial knowledge created by each, and produce findings that elucidate the meaning and interrelationships informing actions and behaviors (Nightingale, 2003; Plano Clark, 2016). This dissertation presents data collected in eleven villages, including six active CBFMP villages and five in the designated MPAs, and comparatively analyzed with deductive and inductive methodologies. The dissertation integrates three areas of study: first, it interrogates conceptualizations of participation, power-sharing and equity in natural resource management, especially fisheries comanagement contexts; second, it presents a critical analysis of colonial legacies, traditional institutions, and legal pluralism that inform Samoan coastal comanagement; third, it presents a comparative analysis of local control and participation in current management processes. The integration of traditional Samoan cultural values and institutions and the adaptation of colonial institutions as the foundation of governance significantly determined the adaptive capacity of the programs. Following the 2009 South Pacific Tsunami, the MPA program ceased operations, while the village-centered CBFMP continued to expand. While communities in both programs perceived authority over coastal areas (the gataifale) to reside with traditional village leaders, the CBFMP villages expressed greater self-reliance and local control, and had significantly higher rates of participation in management activities and awareness of fishing restrictions than former MPA villages. The integration of traditional institutions in the CBFMP improved adaptive capacity compared to former MPA villages; however, without external support to facilitate management processes, traditional hierarchies and social obligations shaped participation, resulting in the exclusion of women and young men from formal decision-making, and community perceptions of inequality in management outcomes. Still, marginalized groups can also influence their leaders through traditional, informal Samoan processes of deliberation and consensus-building. The findings of this dissertation demonstrate that while the integration of traditional and local institutions into fisheries comanagement can support program resilience, equitable comanagement requires attention to the internal and cross-scale power hierarchies that inform decision-making processes and the distribution of management benefits and costs.

Indonesia has high potential disasters. It was recorded that more than 1,800 disasters occurred in 2005-2015, of which 78% of the disasters were hydrometeorological (floods, landslides, drought, forest, and land fires). Previous research also stated that the West Kalimantan region has several threats of disasters, such as the threat of floods, landslides, forest fires, which are scattered with a percentage of the area of 82.96%. This study explores students' initial knowledge about their understanding of disaster mitigation in the Kalimantan area. This research is essential because there is no single research data that shows the condition of students' prior knowledge of disaster mitigation in Kalimantan. This research uses a quantitative descriptive approach. Samples were taken using the purposive sampling technique. Data were collected by observation and questionnaires. Data analysis techniques using percentages. Overall, the level of students' knowledge regarding natural disaster mitigation in wetlands was in the moderate category, namely 44.85%. Understanding natural disaster mitigation includes learning, emergency response planning, disaster warning, and resource mobilization. The government alone cannot take all mitigation measures in society. Therefore, disaster education is limited to school students and must also be promoted to families and communities, which is very important for elaborating mitigation knowledge.

Cambodia is witnessing a “Goldilocks moment” in demographic change concurrent with shifts in land use, hydrology, and climate. These trends interact and affect food production, food costs, and food security. Drivers of these trends are typically examined separately with interacting factors considered along disciplinary margins. While science models to explore these interacting effects have been proposed, there remains an applied research gap in integrating these pieces and assessing interdisciplinary opportunities for developing food security solutions. Developed following a request from USAID to elucidate food security conditions in Cambodia, here the authors present their geospatial synthesis of the biophysical and socioeconomic drivers of current food security risk, as well as explore future trends for those conditions. The overall structure shows several interlocking or mutually reinforcing trends in systems that point towards a significant intensification of food insecurity in the near future. They offer an assessment of future targets for food systems innovation.

On account of the uneven level of ecological and environmental protection in the countries along the Belt and Road, infrastructure construction and investment cooperation around natural resource-intensive industries such as steel, energy, and nonferrous metals can easily induce serious ecological problems. It is necessary and practical to provide enterprises with timely and effective ecological circumstantial information of Belt and Road and pilot the establishment of the Belt and Road infrastructure construction activities with appropriate ecological risk prevention and control mechanisms. In this study, we researched the ecological risk level distribution of the countries along the Belt and Road by using ESA global land cover data and ecological risk index mode of land use. Kuwait, one of the most representative countries along the Belt and Road, was selected to analyze its spatial distribution of ecological risk by using ordinary Kriging interpolation. The results show several aspects. There existed high-ranking ecological risks in the following countries: Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, Turkmenistan in the Central Asian, Mongolia in East Asia and Pakistan in South Asia and so on; the medium ecological risks appear in the following countries: Ukraine in Eastern Europe, India, Bangladesh in South Asian, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia the low ecological risk countries mainly include Russia, most Eastern European countries represented by Poland, and most Southeast Asian countries represented by Thailand. In the case, Kuwait's risk level is high in urban areas, medium in desert areas, and low along the Persian Gulf, showing a layered and striped distribution. Most areas in Kuwait are medium ecological risk zones with a relatively small area of high ecological risk and low ecological risk areas clustered in the eastern part of Kuwait. To effectively lower the ecological risk levels of countries along B&R, we suggest establishing B&R ecological risk prevention and control mechanisms while ecological conservation technologies are also worth noting.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how, in forming their policy towards open data (OD), art museums interact with the OD ecosystems they are part of, comprising internal and external components such as cultural policy, legal frameworks, user groups and economic conditions and incentives.Design/methodology/approachThe authors structure their research as a multiple case study based on three OD ecosystems, each defined by a mid-sized European art museum at its centre. Qualitative analysis of the case studies proceeds from interviews with museum management staff and policy-related agencies in three European countries, in addition to document analysis.FindingsThe results of this study suggest that museums are sensitive towards their environments and respond to their ecosystem based on what is communicated within their networks. However, museums are not effective in communicating with their users, limiting the informational interdependence necessary for well-functioning OD ecosystems. EU policy appears to be a driving force along with national financial incentives, though institutional conditions are limiting progress. Advancing the field relies instead on an epistemological shift to understand the museum as part of a larger information network.Originality/valueAs the first comparative case study of art museum OD ecosystems that the authors are aware of, the study provides a qualitative analysis of the complex dynamics impacting OD policy within the mid-sized art museum. The authors identify specific dynamics that are thus far restricting further development of the OD ecosystem of the mid-sized European art museum.

Soils and landscapes can show complex, non-linear evolution, especially under changing climate or land use. Soil-landscape evolution models (SLEMs) are increasingly equipped to simulate the development of soils and landscapes over long timescales under these changing drivers, but provide large data output that can be difficult to interpret and communicate. New tools are required to analyse and communicate large model output. In this work, I show how spatial and temporal trends in previously published model results can be summarized and conceptualized with evolutionary pathways, which are possible trajectories of the development of soil patterns. Simulated differences in rainfall and land use control progressive or regressive soil development and convergence or divergence of the soil pattern. These changes are illustrated with real-world examples of soil development and soil complexity. The use of evolutionary pathways for analysing the results of SLEMs is not limited to the examples in this paper, but they can be used on a wide variety of soil properties, soil pattern statistics and models. With that, evolutionary pathways provide a promising tool to analyse and communicate soil model output, not only for studying past changes in soils, but also for evaluating future spatial and temporal effects of soil management practices in the context of sustainability.

The objective of this study is to identify and analyse the main characteristics of areas potentially degraded by desertification and of preserved areas using the Soil Surface Moisture Index (SSMI), alongside the Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The study is based on a set of points obtained in the field and from the RGB false colour image for the Environmental Protection Areas (EPA) of the Cariri, in the semi-arid region of Paraíba, using a space-time cross-section covering both rainy and dry periods. The results showed that at all points in Desertified Areas, the main characteristics were a low SSMI, high LST and low NDVI in both periods. The Preserved Areas, on the other hand, presented a high SSMI, moderate LST and high NDVI in the rainy period, with the same characteristics repeated in the dry period for SSMI and NDVI, but with a low LST. Timely identification of these characteristics, both in areas degraded by desertification and in better preserved areas, can provide useful information for future decisions relating to the physical and territorial management of the Conservation Unit. El objetivo de este estudio fue identificar y analizar las principales características de áreas potencialmente degradadas por desertificación y de áreas preservadas. Para ello se utilizaron el Índice de Humedad Superficial del Suelo (IHSS), junto con la Temperatura de la Superficie de la Tierra (TS) y el Índice de Vegetación de Diferencia Normalizada (IVDN). El estudio está basado en un conjunto de puntos obtenidos en el campo y en la composición de la imagen de falso color RGB para el Área de Protección Ambiental (APA) del Carirí, en la región semiárida de Paraíba, utilizando un corte espacio-temporal que abarca la estación lluviosa y seca. Los resultados mostraron que en todos los puntos de las Áreas Desertificadas las principales características fueron el IHSS bajo, TS alto y IVDN bajo en ambos períodos. Las Áreas Preservadas, por su parte, presentaron IHSS alto, TS moderado e IVDN alto en la época de lluvias, con las mismas características repetidas en el periodo seco para IHSS y IVDN, pero con TS bajo. La identificación puntual de estas características, tanto en áreas degradadas por desertificación como en las más conservadas, puede aportar información útil para la toma de decisiones futuras relacionadas con la gestión territorial y física de la Unidad de Conservación.

Over the last 2 decades the importance of Andean glaciers, particularly as water resources, has been recognized in both scientific literature and the public sphere. This has led to the inclusion of glaciers in the environmental impact assessment and the development of glacier protection laws in both Chile and Argentina. However, these laws are limited in their ability to protect, manage, and monitor water resources as they do not differentiate between glacier types. We propose three glacier categories that aim to group glaciers based on their sensitivity to environmental changes as a framework that could be adopted to match the level of protection to the current and future needs of society, be region-specific, and evolve through time. Finally, we review both national inventories with respect to this classification to facilitate the evaluation and/or management of water resources.

We explore the limits of in situ resource utilization (ISRU) on the Moon to maximize living off the land by building lunar bases from in situ material. We adopt the philosophy of indigenous peoples who excelled in sustainability. We are interested in leveraging lunar resources to manufacture an entire lunar base in such a fashion that is fully sustainable and minimizes supplies required from Earth. A range of metals, ceramics and volatiles can be extracted from lunar minerals to support construction of a lunar base that include structure, piping and electrical distribution systems. To 3D print a lunar base, we must 3D print the load-bearing structure, electrical distribution system, water-based heating system, drinking water system, air system and orbital transport system from in situ resources. We also address the manufacture of the interior of the lunar base from local resources. The majority of systems constituting a lunar base can be manufactured from in situ resources.

With a growing demand for hydroelectric energy, the number of reservoirs is dramatically increasing worldwide. These new water bodies also present an opportunity for the development of fishing activities. However, these reservoirs are commonly impounded on uncut forests, resulting in many immersed trees. These trees hinder fish assessments by disrupting both gill-netting and acoustic sampling. Immersed trees can easily be confused with fish schools on echograms. To overcome this issue, we developed a method to discriminate fish schools from immersed trees. A random forest algorithm was used to classify echo-traces at 120 and 200 kHz, recorded by an EK80 (SIMRAD) in narrowband (continuous wave) and in broadband mode (frequency modulated). We obtained a good discrimination rate between trees and schools, especially in broadband (90% ratio of good classification). We demonstrate that it is possible to discriminate fish schools from immersed trees and thus facilitate the use of fisheries acoustics in reservoirs.

Climate change is happening now, as is evident in the steady procession of record-breaking hurricanes, floods, droughts and firestorms. These emerging climate impacts represent interrelated and lik...

Due to a considerable number of tourists coming in, the festival tourism industry faces environmental issues. With several stakeholders in the decision-making process at various levels of influence, coupled with the seasonality component of festivals, the complexity of managing these emerging environmental concerns exacerbates. This work contributes to the emerging literature of greening festival management by illustrating a case study of the Sinulog festival—one of the grandest festivals in the Philippines. The conditions experienced by the festival organization resonates with most festivals, at least in the Philippines. This case study assesses the compliance of the festival organization towards green management using the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle. From those analyses, the findings show that the operations of the festival organization lack the green management agenda, and their view of such an agenda is myopic. The insights of the case, which also reflect most festivals, are crucial to green festival management.

With rising temperatures and events contributing climate change, the world is facing extreme weather patterns. Recently, Australia was hit hard by bushfires, the most devastating fires ever faced by the country. The economic damage reported was nearly one billion Australian dollars and an estimated 3 billion native animals killed or adversely affected. Given the extent and intensity of this damage, researchers are seeking effective solutions to enable the prediction of fire before it starts to increase the time available for firefighters to protect lives and assets and prepare to mitigate the fires. This motivated us to investigate an approach to address this critical problem. In this paper, we propose a Machine Learning (ML)–based approach that detects anomalies in spatiotemporal measurements of environmental parameters (e.g., temperature, relative humidity, etc.). In the proposed approach, an ML–based model learns the normal spatiotemporal behaviour of the environmental data (collected over a period of one year). This is carried out during a one-time training phase. Then, during the detection phase, any spatiotemporal pattern in the real–time data (received from the field sensors) that is different than the normal pattern will be identified by the model as anomaly which indicates a possible bushfire situation. Following this, we propose a supplementary classification model based on Moran’s I index to ensure that the detected anomalies are not due to either a sensor failure or a security attack (which are common in IoTs). We developed three different ML models for performance evaluation and comparison and used the Forest Fire dataset to train them. The results of our experiments confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach in the early detection of fire symptoms.

This study develops an empirical approach that underlines the effect of land use mix and development grain on pedestrian movement in the streets and public spaces of urban neighborhoods. The study begins with the end in mind; it compares two urban sectors in Abu Dhabi city with broadly recognized contrasting levels of pedestrian movement. The research works backward to identify the combination of built environment attributes that result in differing levels of pedestrian activity between the eastern and western sectors of Abu Dhabi city center. Using Geographic Information Systems maps/data files, direct observations, and field metrics, the study computes various indices related to land use mix, density, and street connectivity for Abu Dhabi central business district. The findings of this study highlight the land use, spatial and street network configurations that enhance pedestrian activity in urban centers. From a local perspective, the research outcome would inform future visions aimed at transforming the city of Abu Dhabi into a global metropolis that provides its citizens and visitors with unique and vibrant urban settings conducive to intra- and inter-neighborhood walkability.