Sustainable use of wildlife resources in Central Asia

Initially,hunting was the primary means for getting food for the survival of ancient people.As time passed,people started to breed livestock and develop agriculture,gradually reducing their reliance on unpredictability of hunting.People,however,continued to hunt and,even though their survival did not depend on hunting.During the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(USSR)period,attitudes toward the use of natural resources fluctuated significantly,and after the establishment of new reserves for wildlife protection,the government soon weakened protections it had introduced.In the current,the organizations in dependent countries of the USSR that are chartered to protect areas with wildlife diversity are very weak and have no sufficient material resources to provide any real control of poaching,especially when hunting weapons and ammunition are easily available.Trophy hunting companies exploit wildlife resources but do not make protecting wildlife from poaching as a priority in their work;they just use whatever resources are available as if they are unlimited.To help solve this problem,we suggest to organize the local people to join the wildlife protection societies and give them official rights to benefit from the development of hunting tourism in the future.There are numerous examples of successful and very profitable hunting businesses in different countries in the world.In Central Asia,all the prerequisites exist for organizing highly effective trophy hunting tourism,maintaining the richness of biodiversity,and at the same time providing a sustainable and significant income for local communities as the country as a whole.The sustainable use of wildlife resources is a very tangible challenge in the countries of Central Asia,and the most important consideration is to establish and enforce hunting laws equally,irrespective of a person’s social status or financial assets,otherwise no laws will work.

Sustainable Intensification and Large-scale Operation of Cultivated Land Use at the Farmers’ Scale:A Case Study of Shandong Province,China

Sustainable intensification of cultivated land use(SICLU) and large-scale operations(LSO) are widely acknowledged strategies for enhancing agricultural performance.However,the existing literature has faced challenges in precisely defining SICLU and constructing comprehensive indicators,which has hindered the exploration of factors influencing LSO within the SICLU framework.To address this gap,we integrated self-efficacy theory into the design of an index framework for evaluating SICLU.We subsequently employed econometric models to analyze the significant factors that impact LSO.Our findings reveal that SICLU can be divided into four key dimensions:intensive management,efficient output,resource conservation,and ecological environment optimization.Furthermore,it is crucial to incorporate belief-based cognitive factors into the index system,as farmers’ understanding of fertilizer and pesticide application significantly influences their willingness to engage in LSO.Moreover,we identify grain market turnover as the most influential factor in promoting LSO,with single-factor contribution rates reaching 70.9% for cultivated land transfer willingness and 62.5% for the total planting areas.Interestingly,unlike irrigation and agricultural machinery inputs,increased labor inputs correspond to larger planting areas for farmers.This trend may be attributed to reduced labor availability because of rural labor migration,whereas the reduction in irrigation and agricultural input is contingent on innovations in production practices and the transfer of cultivated land management rights.Importantly,SICLU dynamically influences LSO,with each index related to SICLU having an optimal range that fosters LSO.These insights offer valuable guidance for policymakers,emphasizing farmers as their central focus,with the adjustment of input and output factors as a means to achieve LSO as the ultimate goal.In conclusion,we propose research avenues for further enriching the SICLU framework to ensure that it aligns with the specific characteristics of regional agricultural development.

Evaluating rural sustainable land use from a system perspective based on the ecosystem service value

Rural sustainable land use(RSLU) is important to China’s implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals and the goals of rural revitalization strategy in China. Research on RSLU is key to understanding the impact of human activities on rural sustainability. This paper explored the evaluation method of RSLU from a system perspective based on the ecosystem service value(ESV). Three systems were proposed for consideration when conducting this evaluation method. One was the sustainability of the land system, the other was the sustainability of the ecoeconomic system, and the rest was the sustainability of the land-eco-economy system. Indicators including(1) land use intensity and land system stability,(2) gross domestic production(GDP), ESV, and the eco-economic harmony degree(EEHD), and(3) coupling degree and coupling coordination degree were used to analyze the sustainability of the land, eco-economic, and landeco-economic systems, respectively. An empirical research on Yanhe ecovillage was conducted and the study period extended from 2008 to 2020. The results showed that forest land had always accounted for more than 81.20% of the total area in Yanhe eco-village from 2008 to 2020, which greatly influenced land system stability and restricted economic development. This feature contrasted with RSLU. The total ESV of Yanhe eco-village declined by 1.60×106CNY during 2008–2020 because of land use changes. The EEHD was –0.01, which presented that there was a very slight unharmonious between ecology and economy. The coupling degree and coupling coordination degree showed that the development between the land and ecoeconomic systems exhibited a coupling coordination relationship. The results indicated that ecology and economy in Yanhe eco-village will change significantly in response to land use changes in rural areas, which further revealed the dynamic linkage between human beings and nature. Moreover, opposite variation tendencies in land system stability and ESV revealed that the contradiction between the high stability of the land system and well development of the eco-economic system. The results of this study implied that it is necessary and useful to integrate ESV into land management to achieve RSLU.

Relationship between Sustainable Land Use and Rural Economic Development:A Case Study of Meining Village,Pingma Town in Guangxi

For a long time,rural economic development has put economic benefits in the first place,ignoring the impact of unreasonable land use on local land resources and ecological environment,which is not conducive to the long-term high-quality development of local economy and sustainable land use.There is an urgent need to study the relationship between sustainable land use and rural economic development in order to achieve the coordinated development of the two.By using the methods of literature research and field investigation,this paper studies Meining Village,Tiandong County,Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.The study found that farmers tend to plant pure eucalyptus forest,single land use structure,short-term rotation planting model and traditional afforestation and land preparation technology are not conducive to sustainable land use in forest areas,and affected by economic and educational factors,farmers livelihood is relatively simple,so the development of rural economy will be restricted.In view of the above problems,this paper puts forward the following solutions:changing the land use model of Meining Village to promote sustainable land use;introducing advanced science and technology and diversified livelihood ways to promote the sustainable development of rural economy;building a virtuous circle of sustainable land use and rural economic development.

Integrating landscape ecological principles and land evaluation for sustainable land use

Many existing methods for appraisal of agricultural areas and farming systems are short of dynamics and spatial analysis. The main objective of this paper is to merge approaches in classical land evaluation, largely based on soil science, and newer approaches in landscape ecology, which are rather based on the relationships between spatial patterns (physiography, land use and farming system design, vegetation etc.) and processes (farming activities, scale changes, geomorphological processes, bio ecological processes). Rapid changes in rural areas have an impact on both processes and patterns. Planning for sustainable use of these areas should include the assessment of the interrelations between these patterns and processes.

Analysis on the Spatio-Temporal Changes of Sustainable Land Use in Tibet

By constructing evaluation indicator system of sustainable land use of Tibet from three aspects of ecological environment, economic development, resources and social advancement, this article studies the following contents respectively in two dimensions of time and space： the changes of sustainable land use of Tibet in recent 20 years and spatial characteristics of sustainable land use of Tibet in 2002. The following conclusions can be drawn from evaluation results .① With regard to com- prehensive evaluation value of sustainable land use, the trend of Tibet sustainable land use evaluation values from 1983 to 2002 are very close to the comprehensive evaluation values of ecological environment, which is up trend; ② sustainable utilization degree of land use in eastern region of Tibet is much higher than that of western region. ③ the sustainable land use evaluation value of Nyingtri County is the highest, and the counties with relatively higher land sustainable use values include Lhasa, Lhoka, Chamdo. While Nakchu, Ngari, Shigatse counties have the relatively lower evaluation values; ④ By analyzing each evaluation indicator＇s weight on sustainable land use, it can be concluded that the key limiting factors of sustainable Tibet land resource utilization are land desertification, grassland degradation and low economic level.

Assessment of Institutional and Legal Framework for Sustainable Land Use Management Practices in Ashi River Watershed,China

Nonpoint source(NPS)pollutants resulting from land degradation(LD)have been a key influential factor on the deterioration of water quality.Consequently,sustainable land use management(SLM)practices have been employed to reduce the impacts of LD globally.However,the adoption of SLM practices is often not effective to protect water resources despite its capability of improving water quality.Empirically,evidence shows that activities of land users directly influence SLM practices and NPS pollution of water resources in watersheds,but invariably this has not been clearly understood.Understanding how SLM practices adoption could prevent NPS pollution of water resources in watershed is a necessity.Therefore,the primary aim of the investigation is to comprehend the status of SLM practices with the legal framework supporting the adoption of such practices in the Ashi River watershed.A survey instrument involving structured questionnaire was implemented to collect data.A randomly based lottery method was applied to sample information from 150 land users in two control units’communities.Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze the data.This research revealed that there is low adoption of SLM practices of the study site.The low adoption is due to weak capacity building and enforcement of regulations in the watershed.Occupation and age of the residents are the strongest predictors of SLM adoption rate.Residents connected with farming are more sensitive to the adoption status of SLM.It is our recommendation that policy makers should ensure capacity building,and enforcement of regulations can specifically compel farmers to adopt SLM technologies.This approach would complement other strategies to solve the NPS pollution issue of Ashi River.

Sustainable Utilization of Agricultural Land in Chengdu Metropolitan Area Based on Emergy Analysis

[Objectives]This study aimed to analyze the sustainable use of agricultural land in the Chengdu metropolitan area from 2006 to 2016.[Methods]Using Odum's emergy theory,an index system was constructed to evaluate the sustainable use of agricultural land,including total emergy input-output ratio,industrial emergy input-output ratio,environmental load index and sustainable use index of agricultural land based on emergy,to reflect the sustainable use of agricultural land in the Chengdu metropolitan area.The data base was a unified standard that was converted from various types of energy stored and flowing in the agricultural land system of the Chengdu metropolitan area,that is,emergy.[Results]From 2006 to 2016,the total emergy input-output ratio of agricultural land in the metropolitan area fluctuated and decreased,lower than the national average.The industrial emergy input-output ratio was generally in a fluctuating downward trend.The environmental load index of agricultural land in the metropolitan area was lower than the national average.However,it has been on the rise since 2012.During the corresponding period,the sustainable use index of the region also showed a downward trend.[Conclusions]The utilization rate of emergy in this area was low.The dependence of industrial emergy input-output ratio on industrial subsidiary energy and the degree of agricultural mechanization are constantly improving.The environmental resources in this area still have room for accommodation and have not been fully utilized.The sustainable use of agricultural land has been declining.

Effect of Sustainable Land Management Practices on the Soil Erodibility at the Plateau of Abomey (Centre of Benin)

The soils of Benin in general and those of the department of Zou, in particular, are highly degraded. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of sustainable land management practices on soil erodibility in two villages in the Plateau of Abomey. Soil samples were collected on plots under Sustainable Land Management (SLM) measures (direct seeding, maize residue management and soybean-cereal rotation) and on their adjacent control. The soil samples were prepared and analyzed in laboratory to determine variables such as soil permeability, organic matter content, and particle size. Soil erodibility was determined as proposed by Wischmeier & Smith. The effect of SLM practices was significant (0.02) on soil permeability. On plots under SLM measurements, soil permeability is higher with an average of 93.97 mm/h at Folly and 82.43 mm/h at Hanagbo. SLM measurements significantly (0.04) added organic matter to the soil. The average organic matter of the plots under SLM measures in Folly varies from 0.73% to 1.39% while it varies from 0.49% to 0.73% in the control plots. In Hanagbo, the average organic matter of the plots under SLM measures varies from 1.86% to 2.48% against 1.41% to 1.66% for the control plots. Regarding soil erodibility, it was found that the influence of SLM measures is significant in both villages. In villages, direct seeding and maize residue management significantly (0.008) reduced soil erodibility compared to their adjacent controls, while the soybean-cereal rotation measure increased soil erodibility compared to plot witnesses. The average soil erodibility of plots under SLM measures varies by 0.21 t⋅h/Mj⋅mm at 0.38 t⋅h/Mj⋅mm in the village of Hanagbo and 0.25 t⋅h/Mj⋅mm at 0.38 t⋅h/Mj⋅mm in the village of Folly. It varies from 0.24 t⋅h/Mj⋅mm at 0.28 t⋅h/Mj⋅mm for the control plots at Hanagbo and 0.31 t⋅h/Mj⋅mm at 0.37 t⋅h/Mj⋅mm in Folly. These practices can therefore be used for the sustainable use of agricultural land.

Biological Corridors as a Connectivity Tool in the Region of the Great American Chaco:Identification of Biodiversity Hotspots in the Ecoregions of the Paraguayan Chaco

This work presents the main biodiversity hotspots existing in the Paraguayan Chaco and is an update of the results obtained in the first Ecoregional Assessment of the Great American Chaco.These are the results of a series of workshops that included scientific and technical discussions carried out by local experts in zoology,botany,forestry,soil science,and hydrogeology applying a biodiversity vision of 25-30 years for the territory,after overlapping the maps of the first assessment with that of the advance of the changes of land use in the territory.Criteria for detecting biodiversity hotspots were discussed,including:permanent and temporary watercourses,other bodies of water such as fresh and salty lagoons,reserve areas of different categories,as well as important bird areas(IBAs),RAMSAR areas and others,which must be connected in the future,combining the production areas with the conservation of biodiversity.

Botanic Garden Collections—An Under-Utilised Resource

Botanic gardens and arboreta around the world are repositories of diverse collections of useful plants in their gardens and seed banks. However, the crop and forestry communities often overlook these collections, and so they are an underutilised resource. For example, in analysis of the ex situ conservation status of 6,941 socio-economically important plant taxa using data from forestry and crop collections, but omitted collections in botanic gardens and arboreta. In this paper, we compared the socio-economically important taxa identified by Khoury et al. from GRIN-Global World Economic Plants (WEP) with data on living and seed collections held in botanic garden and arboreta, as recorded in BGCI’s global PlantSearch and ThreatSearch datasets. This analysis produced an assessment of the proportion of these taxa that are found in botanic gardens and arboreta, the number of gardens or arboreta they are found in and what potential they have to contribute to research, conservation and sustainable use. We also compared the species conservation comprehensiveness assessments carried out by Khoury et al. with the threatened status of those species, according to the IUCN Red List and other threat assessment methodologies in order to ascertain whether threatened, useful species are well-conserved in botanic gardens. At least 6017 of the 6941 socio-economically important WEP taxa (86.7%) were currently found in the living and seed collections of botanic gardens and arboreta with 1456 taxa (21%) held in >40 collections. Khoury et al. suggested that 6748 of the WEP taxa are of either medium or high conservation priority. However, our analysis suggested that just 1153 taxa have been assessed as threatened at a national or international level. We concluded that the botanic garden/arboretum community can contribute significantly to plant conservation and sustainable development, including data and material from many collections of socio-economically important taxa that are not present in the crop and forestry communities. We examined the reasons why botanic garden/arboreta collections are currently under-utilised and make recommendations for increasing their visibility and use.

Sustainable water environment and water use： A perspective on water resource utilization

The 6th International Water Association Asia Pacific Regional Grouping （IWA-ASPIRE） Conference and Exhibition was held on September 20-24, 2015, in Beijing. The conference was hosted by the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences （RCEES） of Chinese Academy of Sciences （CAS）; with strong support provided by CAS, Chinese Academy of Engineering （CAE）, National Science Foundation of China （NSFC）,

Land Conversions and Forest Dynamics in a Riparian Forest Zone in South East Nigeria

The rate at which forest ecosystems are lost and modified across tropical landscapes are alarming,yet proper documentation and proactive measures to curtail this still remains a huge challenge in most areas.This research focused on elucidating the ongoing land use change patterns of a riparian forest landscape,its current impacts on the ecosystem and land surface temperature,as well as its likely future scenarios for the zone.LANDSAT images were downloaded for 1988,2003 and 2018 and used to show the dynamics for the zone,its drivers and their varying temperatures.Maximum Likelihood Classification algorithm was used for the classification and the land-use classes were categorized as:Water body,Farms and Sparse Vegetation,Built-up Areas,Bare Surface,and Thick Vegetation.Furthermore,Markov Chain Analysis was employed for understanding the future patterns of land use change in the zone.Land use categories experienced changes over the three epochs,but among all,farmlands/sparse vegetation and thick vegetation had the most significant changes from 7.70 to 58.67 percent and 73.56 to 20.58 percent,respectively;implying that much of the forestland use/cover(which constituted the bulk of the land initially;73.56 percent)were converted to agricultural land use.This same trend at which agriculture grew in the zone was seen to affect the land surface temperature for zone(Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.99 with p=0.0058 at 0.05 level of significance).Future projection for the zone equally showed that agricultural land use will likely dominate the entire landscape in the coming years and a consequent impact on the climate and ecosystem expected as well.On that note,intensive agricultural practices that seek to maximize allocated farm units were advocated.Such initiatives will help to ensure that agricultural growth is contained within delimited zones so that haphazard cultivations,reductions in ecological value of the forest landscape and consequent climatic impacts could be managed across the region.

Forest-grassland biodiversity hotspot under siege:land conversion counteracts nature conservation

We report extent and rate of land use/land cover change in a forest-grassland mosaic of Rio Grande do Sul,Brazil,during a recent period of increasing conflicts between native habitat protection and conversion.The area is part of the Atlantic rain forest biome,a Global Biodiversity Hotspot.Analyzing Landsat and Google Earth imagery,and calculating an effective conservation risk index(ECRI)as ratio of converted to remnant area,we specifically compared the effectiveness of designated fully protected areas(FP-PAs)and Sustainable Use areas(SU-PAs)in preventing conversion of native forest and grassland hab-itats for agri-and silviculture,relative to areas outside.Grassland area decreased by 17%,corresponding to a net loss of 59,671 ha,in the entire area.Forest gains exceeded losses,and ECRI was zero inside Full Protection PAs.Non-native tree plantation area increased by 94%over the entire study area;cropland increased by 7%.Conversion for silviculture predominated outside the designated PAs and conversion for agriculture predominated inside the designated PAs.ECRI was generally higher for grassland than forest,and in SU-PAs,grassland ECRI was several times higher than in areas without any protection status.These developments are in stark contrast to the high standards of the Brazilian protected area system and corre-sponding International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources categories.They are due to protracted regularization of land conversion and establishment of designated protection areas.Further-more,they reveal the dilemma of previously managed grasslands in strictly protected areas being eventually succeeded by forest,and the hazards of broad interpretation of the term“sustainable development”.

Effect of an integrated mangrove-aquaculture system on aquacultural health

Mangroves are unique intertidal halophyte formations growing in sheltered tropical and subtropical coastal areas.Due to the increasing population and economic development,mangroves have faced degrada-tion and loss,which has been mainly caused by land conversion into aquaculture ponds in Asia.In the past several decades,the rapid growth of aquaculture has induced water pollution.Using mangroves for effluent treatment from coastal aquaculture ponds could be a suitable approach for wastewater treatment and healthy aquaculture development.An Integrated Mangrove-Aquaculture System(IMAS)was established to test whether the idea of a mangrove in situ treatment for aquaculture wastewater is feasible.The monocultures of three mangroves,Sonneratia caseolaris,Kandelia obo-vata,and Aegiceras corniculatum were established with area proportions of 45%,30%,or 15%,respectively.One control pond without mangroves was also set up.The results indicated that the mangroves had different toler-abilities to long-term inundation.The aquaculture ponds had different fishery yields,considering the mangrove species and area proportions.The water quality of most of the experimental ponds was better than the control pond,except for the planted Sonneratia.It is concluded that mangroves can reduce the concentration of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphate,buffer the pH value and increase the concertration of dissolved oxygen in aqua-culture water bodies effectively.It is suggested to use 15%of the Aegiceras corniculatum area to conduct in situ purification of aquaculture wastewater and to enhance aquaculture production.