Optimizing Hotspot Areas for Ecological Planning and Management Based on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

The significance of biodiversity and ecosystem services are gradually recognized by human as an approach towards sustainability, so it is important to understand relationships and congruence between them to support conservation planning, especially in the hotspot areas with a prominent role in conservation. However, the management of most conservation hotspots mainly focused on biodiversity, and rarely concerned with ecosystem services. With the aim of proposing criteria for conservation strategies that contribute to the optimization of biodiversity and ecosystem services, in this study, a Geographic Information System(GIS)-based approach was designed to estimate and map the biodiversity and ecosystem services in Chongqing Municipality of China. Furthermore, the distributions of hotspot areas for biodiversity and ecosystem services were mapped based on the relationship between cumulative ecosystem services and areas. Finally the statistical analysis was processed focused on specific conservation objectives. The results showed that hotspot areas can conserve the most biodiversity but with the least ecosystem services under the conservation plans target to biodiversity conservation. In contrast, depending on the ecosystem services of interest, hotspot areas can conserve the largest ecosystem services but with the least biodiversity. By integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services into conservation plan, we found that the conservation and regeneration of these small areas, would contribute to a conservation of 44% of the biodiversity hotspot and 14%–42% of the ecosystem services hotspot. Moreover, the current nature reserve selection was not maximize the biodiversity and ecosystem services compared to integration strategy, indicating that hotspot areas conservation and selection is vital for optimization protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and has practical significance for natural resources and ecosystem management.

Energy potential assessment and techno-economic analysis of micro hydro-photovoltaic hybrid system in Goda Warke village,Ethiopia

Rural Ethiopia has significant untapped potential for hydro and solar energy generation systems.However,challenges arise from seasonal variations and unfavourable topographic positions of flowing rivers,hindering the efficient exploitation of these resources.Despite the country’s abundance in hydro and solar energy resources,>75%of the population still lack access to electricity from the national grid.This work deals with energy resource potential assessment and techno-economic analysis of micro hydro-photovol-taic(PV)hybrid systems,considered in the case study of Goda Warke village,located in the Yaya Gulele district.A novel framework is proposed that utilizes the Natural Resource Soil Conservation Service curve number method to assess the energy potential of micro-hydro energy in ungauged basins,specifically at the exit point of the Girar River basin catchment.The average monthly flow rate in the basin is 0.975 m3/s,while the area exhibits a solar radiation potential of 5.39 kWh/m^(2)/day.Energy policy promotes expanding ac-cess to modern energy sources and utilization of indigenous energy resources.Simulation results indicate that the hydro/PV/diesel generator(DG)/battery and hydro/PV/battery systems are the most optimal choices based on net present cost,with the inclusion of a DG for economic comparison.Micro-hydro energy covers most of the electric load in the area,achieving a capacity factor of 47.5%.The cost of energy and net present cost were found to be sensitive to variables such as the price of diesel fuel,pipe head loss,and the growth of the village load.The optimized system demonstrated a hydro energy potential of 1405.37 MWh/year and a PV energy output of 274.04 MWh/year,resulting in a levelized cost of energy of 0.0057 and 0.049$/kWh for the hydro and PV components,respectively.