The Knowledge about the Potential Health Risks of Illegal Bushmeat Activities among Local Communities Adjacent to Western Nyerere National Park, Tanzania

Establishing knowledge of local communities regarding the potential health risks of illegal bushmeat hunting and its related practices is among the essential means to developing effective conservation and public health programs. To reveal the understanding of the local people regarding the potential health risks of bushmeat consumption and handling of wildlife products, we used a semi-structured questionnaire to survey 261 households in eight villages located adjacent to the western part of Nyerere National Park. Also, we interviewed eight key informants, including conservation personnel and veterinary officers, in the study area. The proportion of local people who were unaware that handling of wildlife products and bushmeat consumption were risky behaviours towards acquiring zoonotic diseases was slightly higher (57%) than the proportion of respondents who were aware of the likely risks of zoonotic diseases from the practices. After all, the majority (83%) of local people admitted having come into contact with wildlife products, while over 70% reported having consumed bushmeat. We found that local communities living closer to the park boundaries (<15 km) have a higher likelihood of contacting wildlife products, and that community members who have lived in the area for more than ten years have experienced more contact with wildlife products than immigrants. Moreover, the age of inhabitants and length of stay were found to be the most significant factors in determining the likelihood of bushmeat consumption. Most people seemed to prefer bushmeat to domestic meat, arguing that bushmeat is far more flavorful, tender, not tainted with chemicals, and has less fat, making it safer. Our study demonstrated that local communities participate in risky practices without contemplating the health consequences that could emerge should a zoonotic disease outbreak occur. Among other strategies, we recommended conservation and public health institutions to increase awareness campaigns on the possible health risks of zoonotic diseases associated with wildlife.

Evaluating the Relationship between National Park Management and Local Communities’ Perceptions Based on Survey, a Case of Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda

A sustainable management of national park requires collaboration between park staff, NGOs, local organizations and stakeholders, and government intervention. This collaboration promotes community-based welfare and inspires a sense of responsibility, thus promoting more benefits than conflicts. A survey administered to residents surrounding Nyungwe National Park was used to evaluate the relationship between Nyungwe National Park management and local communities. The residents acknowledged a positive attitude towards participating in conservation organizations where there was involvement, while a negative response revealed weak community mobilization. The community’s opinions about protection and tourism progression noted weak conflict resolution, but a positive attitude towards tourism activities in the area since they believed employment was likely as a result. In addition, the residents asked for support from government investments and stakeholders to develop the local private sector, and asked to be involved during the planning process. Approaches including the design of coordination mechanisms and integrated conservation and developments projects are suggested to promote a management structure leading to community involvement in conservation and tourism activities. This will increase visitor numbers and contribute to economic development not only in the region but also in the whole country. Empirical studies along with the factors shaping tourism and conservation activities should be considered as the basis for sustainable decision and policy making for sustainable management, and will contribute to government, stakeholders and park manager collaborations at Nyungwe national park.

Contribution of Sumalindo Company:In Managing Forest Resources with Local Communities:Mahakam Ulu-East Kalimantan

The role of HPH(Forest Logging Concession)in developing rural communities is very significant.SLJ(Sumalindo Lestari Jaya)as HPH company has an important contribution in empowering local communities,especially in opening land transportation in the interior and helping to build agriculture and gardens.The existence of Sumalindo company participates in developing forest resource management with local communities,among others,increasing livelihoods,maintaining and developing biodiversity conservation and maintaining climate change.These efforts are in accordance with the regulations of the KLHK(Ministry of Environment and Forestry),that every HPH holder is required(mandatory)to obtain a certificate of“PHAPL”(Sustainable Production Natural Forest Management)and an“eco label”from the Indonesian Eco Label Institute.Besides,it is recommended that the holders of HPH concessions and HTI(Industrial Timber Plantations)have an FSC(Forest Stewardship Council)certificate from the EU(European Union),and must meet three indicator elements,namely economic,social and ecological in SFM(Sustainable Forest Management).This article examines three critical questions that show the role of Sumalindo Company in economic,ecological and social development and managing forest resources with the community as follows:(1)The role of Sumalindo company contributes to the development of road infrastructure in the interior;(2)The role of Sumalindo in improving livelihoods and economic and social empowerment of local communities;(3)The role of Sumalindo with local communities in managing forest resources,including maintaining and developing biodiversity conservation and maintaining climate change.

Post-war Sustainability-Driven School Buildings: A Review of the Literature

The Safe Schools Declaration of 2015 is an inter-governmental political agreement signed by several countries designed to protect the schooling of the school-aged population during armed conflicts.Yet,in countries where civil war erupted,schools were demolished.Several school-aged children were either forcibly recruited by governments or coerced by rebel groups to serve in armed fights.As a result,several children were deprived of their education and have remained suffering from deep psychological scars.The central question of the study is:What kind of sustainability-driven school buildings can be initiated in countries that are now enduring peace so that the learning environments are more comfortable and improve the well-being of the war-impacted children and school employees?After reviewing the literature,a strategic conceptual framework that incorporated the synergistic relationship between economic,social,and environmental aspects of sustainability was initiated to map out sustainable school buildings.In short,the conceptual framework proposed to construct school buildings in some of the war-affected developing countries includes assembling cost-efficiency and eco-effectiveness inputs,using renewable energy sources powered by natural sunlight,collecting rainwater in mud cisterns,reducing emissions of carbon oxides,and empowering the local community to be the main actors to design sustainable buildings during the preconstruction,construction,and post-construction stages to serve as learning spaces for the war-affected occupants and their neighborhoods.

Forest cover change and its effects on the livelihood of the dependent local people:the case of Sesheke district of Zambia

Objective-To investigate forest cover change in Masese Local Forest Reserve and its effects on the livelihoods of the dependent communities;to establish the occurrence of forest cover change in Masese Local Forest Reserve;to determine the extent of forest cover change in Masese from 1990to 2005;to determine the tree species that have been affected by forest cover change in Masese; and to assess the effects of forest cover change on the livelihoods of the dependent communities. Methods-Interviews and questionnaire were conducted with a proportion of 36households from Maondo and 84households from Mulimambango settlements.Scenes of landsat images of 1990,2000, 2005and Earth Google image for Masese were used for map analysis.Also remote sensing was used to analyze landsat images and Google image to detect forest and non-forest classes.Results and Conclusion-Forest cover change has adverse implication on the provision of wood forest products and nonwood forest products to the dependent local communities.The declining status of dominant Baikiaea Forest that has exploitable species for building materials and fuel wood has affected the livelihoods of the dependent local communities.There is also increased cost and shortage of fire wood and building materials due to deforestation in Masese Forest Reserve.

Seed-Oriented Local Community Detection Based on Influence Spreading

In recent years,local community detection algorithms have developed rapidly because of their nearly linear computing time and the convenience of obtaining the local information of real-world networks.However,there are still some issues that need to be further studied.First,there is no local community detection algorithm dedicated to detecting a seed-oriented local community,that is,the local community with the seed as the core.The second and third issues are that the quality of local communities detected by the previous local community detection algorithms are largely dependent on the position of the seed and predefined parameters,respectively.To solve the existing problems,we propose a seed-oriented local community detection algorithm,named SOLCD,that is based on influence spreading.First,we propose a novel measure of node influence named k-core centrality that is based on the k-core value of adjacent nodes.Second,we obtain the seed-oriented local community,which is composed of the may-members and the must-member chain of the seed,by detecting the influence scope of the seed.The may-members and the must-members of the seed are determined by judging the influence relationship between the node and the seed.Five state-of-art algorithms are compared to SOLCD on six real-world networks and three groups of artificial networks.The experimental results show that SOLCD can achieve a high-quality seed-oriented local community for various real-world networks and artificial networks with different parameters.In addition,when taking nodes with different influence as seeds,SOLCD can stably obtain high-quality seed-oriented local communities.

Gendered Perceptions of Climate Variability and Change among Lo­cal Communities Living around Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda

Climate change affects both men and women which,in turn,shapes their varied and contrasting perceptions of climate variability and change.This paper examined the gendered perceptions of climate variability and change among local communities in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.The objectives are threefold:-identify climatic shocks faced by the local communities;examine the perceptions of men and women of climate variability and change;and to compare their perceptions with empirical meteorological data.This study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods,with data collected from 215 respondents using survey,interviews and focused group discussions.From the findings,indicators of climate variability and change included reduced flooding events,occurrence of human diseases,increasing crop pests and diseases,dry spells and intensity of rains.There was increasing significant temperatures while rainfall was declining.Both male and female significantly associated with increasing temperatures and reduced flooding events.While climatic shocks affected both males and females,the impact was more pronounced depending on distinct livelihood activities and roles and responsibilities undertaken.The study concluded that people’s perceptions of climate change should be taken on by the government and integrated in the national climate programs that support people’s livelihoods and survival mechanisms.

Exploitation of Pangolins (Pholidota, Mammalia) by Communities Living in and around the Tayna Nature Reserve (RNT) North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Pangolin exploitation has recently increased in diverse forms such as bushmeat consumption;species or parts trade, medical use. This species is protected in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and worldwide, unfortunately it is threatened by numerous human actions. The purpose of this study was to determine the profiles of actors using pangolins, the reasons for pangolin exploitation and its products and their use within the local community in and surrounding the reserve. We carried out surveys in the households of hunters, farmers and people practicing other professions in 12 villages, located within the Tayna Nature Reserve (RNT) and surroundings areas. Two interview techniques were used: the individual interview and the participatory diagnostic technique. During one month of data collection, 175 respondents were interviewed. Respondents had diverse profiles according to sex, age, education level and ethnicity. Men were more represented as actors in pangolin exploitation (71.70%) than women (28.30%);the most represented age interval was 20 - 30 years. The education level is distinct amongst respondents: illiterate (37%), primary school (32.4%) and graduate from university (2.9%). An average number of respondents are motivated to consume pangolin as meat obtained by hunting at 50%. The main reason for its consumption is preference (44%) and habit (33%). The scales are pangolin derivatives most recognized by local people and widely used in the pharmacopoeia. Consequently, pangolin protection needs some rigorous measures to reinforce the current law implementation.

Opinion of Stakeholders on the Management of Ecotourism in the Benue National Park of the North Region of Cameroon

Local communities living around protected areas stand high chance of benefiting from economic development and livelihood improvement through ecotourism if well planned. The objective of this study was to contribute to the understanding of stakeholders’ opinions on the valorization of ecotourism in order to propose alternative sustainable strategies. The study used a research method based on purposive sampling. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 125 household heads and 10 stakeholders were also interviewed with a question guide. The results were inputted into a student statistical package (SPSS) version 16. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square was used to compare means. The results revealed that the test of dependence (Chi2) between the variables showed a significant difference at (p < 0.05). 51.9% of the respondent in ZIC 5 said that ecotourism has increased employment while respondents in the other sectors (ZIC 1, 4 and 9) who make up 76% of the respondents said ecotourism-related jobs in the park are seasonal and not frequent. Regarding the dependence of local communities on the park’s resources, 25% of ZIC 5 is highly dependent on the park, whereas, in the other sectors, only 18% are dependent on the park for their household income. This result is explained by the inaccessibility of local communities to the parks. The results of the impacts of ecotourism on the livelihoods of communities in localities reflect a general feeling of dissatisfaction with 88.8% of respondents manifesting their dissatisfaction with park authorities. Thus, 87.2% of respondents think that ecotourism does not bring significant economic benefits to the host communities. If ecotourism was planned, the benefits that accrue from activity could boost the economy of the area and support the conservation of the park, which so far remains insignificant. However, the strategy for enhancing ecotourism should be a participatory approach.

Ecotourism in nature reserves in China:current situation,problems and solutions

Our presentation focuses on some important issues associated with ecotourism in nature reserves in China's Mainland. Conducting ecotourism in certain areas in nature reserves is important for its protection. However, some problems do exist because of special conditions in our society and in the current projects of nature reserves themselves, such as water and air pollution, unplanned construction of roads and facilities, damage of core zones and buffer zones, and confused ownership of nature reserves. These problems are discussed and solutions are proposed in detail, and we emphasize the participation of local communities in order to help residents fight against poverty.

Community participation in cultural heritage and environmental policy formulation in Botswana

Cultural heritage does not have direct economic benefits. However, if properly managed it can stimulate social cohesions, improving the environment and have beneficial economic spin offs for the local communities. This paper discusses the role of communities in the formulation of the policies concerning their local environment. It argues that community engagement by policy makers is important in giving legitimacy and ownership of the policies. Furthermore, this paper discusses the potential of cultural heritage in diversifying the economy in Botswana. This paper recommends for the re-assessment of the relationship between the state and local communities which is critical in resuscitating the seemingly ailing community business organizations. In conclusion, it argues for the sustainable management of cultural heritage as a social and economic resource in the next 50 years of Botswana's independence.

Governance of protected areas: Kara Kara National Park, Victoria

This study explains various modes that can be applied for protected area. It analyses the requirements for good governance of protected area. A study area(Kara Kara National Park) is selected for identifying key challenges for implementing good governance of protected area. The challenges of good governance of protected area were investigated in this paper. The last part is based on the results from the third section and explores the strategies for addressing these challenges.

Sustainable Development Opportunities Driven by Geotourism in the Republic of Bashkortostan (Toratau Geopark, Republic of Bashkortostan, the Russian Federation)

This article presents a proposal for the development of the Toratau Geopark in the Republic of Bashkortostan in the Russian Federation.This proposal is based on the broad appeal of the geopark’s unique natural objects,including hills known as“shikhans”and the Usolka section(GSSP1),which has been cited as a new stratigraphic unit of global significance.The article describes the proposed approach to the spatial,infrastructural,and experiential development of the territory as a centre for geotourism.The article concludes that the proposed geopark model is beneficial for the development of the region’s local and indigenious communities,economy,and entrepreneurship.

Local people’s knowledge on the adverse impacts and their attitudes towards growing Eucalyptus woodlot in Gudo Beret Kebele, Basona Worena district, Ethiopia

Introduction:Growing Eucalyptus at a farm level in the form of woodlot has become popular among rural households in Ethiopia.For example,rural households mainly establish Eucalyptus woodlot as a component of livelihood improvement and diversification to meet household wood demand and generating cash income.However,there is lack of information on the growth parmeters of Eucalyptus woodlot and the factors influencing the household decision on their establishment at the individual farmland level.The objective of this study was to examine local people’s knowledge on the adverse impacts and their attitudes towards growing Eucalyptus woodlot in Gudo Beret Kebele.We hypothesized that local people’s knowledge on the adverse impacts and their attitudes towards growing Eucalyptus woodlot in Gudo Beret Kebele is affected by socioeconomic and cognitive variables.Methods:A structured questionnaire comprising closed-and open-ended questions was developed and administered to a total of n=94 households to collect information on local people’s knowledge on the adverse impacts and their attitudes towards growing Eucalyptus woodlot.The households were randomly selected through a lottery system based on their house identification numbers.Descriptive statistics,binary logit,and multiple linear regression were used to analyze and interpret the data.Results:The results revealed that about 92%of the respondents noted that growing Eucalyptus woodlot had positive impacts on the socioeconomic situation of the community considering that it contributes to economic benefits through the sale of wood products,such as poles,construction materials,and fuelwood.However,only 8%of the respondents noted that the negative impacts of Eucalyptus woodlot were attributed to the decline in crop and forage production due to its allelopatic effect,and the reduction in ground water availability.Majority of the respondents(about 68%)preferred to grow Eucalyptus woodlot in Gudo Beret Kebele.Thus,most of the respondents(about 69%)had strongly agreed to have a positive attitude towards growing Eucalyptus woodlot.On the other hand,the binary logit regression model explained about 70.6%of the variance of local people’s knowledge on the adverse impacts of Eucalyptus woodlot.Overall,the multiple linear regression model revealed that socioeconomic and cognitive variables had significant effect on local people’s attitudes towards growing Eucalyptus woodlot(39.5%variance explained).Conclusions:We recommended that foresters,natural resource experts and managers,environmentalists,land use planners,and policy-makers should take the right and careful decision by assessing the overall socioeconomic and ecological aspects of Eucalyptus woodlot based on the interests of various stakeholders including local communities.

Distributed Energy and Reserve Scheduling in Local Energy Communities Using L-BFGS Optimization

Encouraging citizens to invest in small-scale renewable resources is crucial for transitioning towards a sustainable and clean energy system.Local energy communities(LECs)are expected to play a vital role in this context.However,energy scheduling in LECs presents various challenges,including the preservation of customer privacy,adherence to distribution network constraints,and the management of computational burdens.This paper introduces a novel approach for energy scheduling in renewable-based LECs using a decentralized optimization method.The proposed approach uses the Limitedmemory Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno(L-BFGS)method,significantly reducing the computational effort required for solving the mixed integer programming(MIP)problem.It incorporates network constraints,evaluates energy losses,and enables community participants to provide ancillary services like a regulation reserve to the grid utility.To assess its robustness and efficiency,the proposed approach is tested on an 84-bus radial distribution network.Results indicate that the proposed distributed approach not only matches the accuracy of the corresponding centralized model but also exhibits scalability and preserves participant privacy.

Local perceptions of ecosystem services and protection of culturally protected forests in southeast China

Introduction:Culturally protected forests(CPFs),preserved and managed by local people on the basis of traditional practices and beliefs,have social and ecological functions.Local residents’perceptions were investigated in three types of CPFs(community forests,ancestral temple forests,and cemetery forests)in five villages in southeast China.In semi-structured interviews(232 questionnaires),residents were asked about their perceptions concerning ecosystem services and protection of CPFs.Outcomes:The survey results showed that resource utilizationwasnot high inCPFs than inforests without culturally protected.Important ecosystem services provided by CPFs included air quality improvement,water retention,recreation,and aesthetic value.Respondents were satisfied with different cultural services provided by CPFs,including aesthetic value of community forests,ecotourism of ancestral temple forests,and cultural heritage of cemetery forests.Informal rules and traditional customswere used as themainmeasures to govern forests in daily life;however,the most effective measures,in order of importance,were setting fines or punishment by laws,using informal rules and village regulations,or protection by government agencies.Only half of the respondents were willing to pay for maintaining ecosystem services of CPFs,but 77.8%respondents were willing to spend time on protection.From apolicy perspective,educational programs were as important as traditions,and they are crucial to explain the ecological importance of CPFs.Conclusion:The conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services of CPFs will benefit if government agencies consider incorporating CPFs into policy and legislative frameworks,maintain CPFs as collectively owned forests,and introduce ecological compensation mechanisms.

Priority-based Residential Demand Response for Alleviating Crowding in Distribution Systems

The dynamic pricing environment offers flexibility to the consumers to reschedule their switching appliances.Though the dynamic pricing environment results in several benefits to the utilities and consumers,it also poses some challenges.The crowding among residential customers is one of such challenges.The scheduling of loads at low-cost intervals causes crowding among residential customers,which leads to a fall in voltage of the distribution system below its prescribed limits.In order to prevent crowding phenomena,this paper proposes a priority-based demand response program for local energy communities.In the program,past contributions made by residential houses and demand are considered as essential parameters while calculating the priority factor.The non-linear programming(NLP)model proposed in this study seeks to reschedule loads at low-cost intervals to alleviate crowding phenomena.Since the NLP model does not guarantee global optima due to its non-convex nature,a second-order cone programming model is proposed,which captures power flow characteristics and guarantees global optimum.The proposed formulation is solved using General Algebraic Modeling System(GAMS)software and is tested on a 12.66 kV IEEE 33-bus distribution system,which demonstrates its applicability and efficacy.

Beyond neutrality:adding habitat filtering to neutral models

Background:Understanding the processes that structure species is one of the primary focuses in community ecology.Hubbell’s neutral model shows stochastic processes alone can describe the two macro-ecological patterns,species richness and species-area relationship,of the community.Although Hubbell’s neutral model can explain the macro-ecological patterns of the species at large scales,it paid less attention to construct the spatial structure of the community.Previous studies suggest that such spatial structures are mostly due to habitat filtering processes work at the intermediate spatial scales.Therefore,Hubbell’s neutral model does not explain the full picture of the community structuring due to its fully stochastic nature.Results:In this study,we proposed a two-schema model that has the habitat filtering component and the stochastic component to construct the species assemblages seen in the community level.The proposed model uses one additional parameter(i.e.number of individuals in habitat)in addition to Hubbell’s three-parameter neutral model(i.e.fundamental bio-diversity number(θ),dispersal limitation(m)and speciation(v)).The proposed model works at two spatial scales:habitat filtering at the intermediate scales and stochastic processes at the large and very small spatial scales.The model coupled the local community dynamics with the meta-community dynamics.The local community has a fixed area with carrying capacity that is proportional to the local community size.The number of habitats in the proposed model can vary.Individuals are placed into habitats with probabilities according to the habitat suitability.Species richness and species composition in each habitat were calculated.The model is fitted for differentθvalues,m values,and a different number of habitats.Conclusions:We assume that habitat filtering plays an important role together with stochastic processes to structure species in forests.Therefore,the proposed model with only four parameters can explain a large proportion of the species structuring of the communities.We found that more species can be maintained in a heterogeneous environment than a uniform environment.Therefore,habitat conservation is highly important for maintaining species diversity in forest communities.