The new economy of nature:can carbon pay for nature conservation? The case of the Hong Kong Country Parks

The Country Parks of Hong Kong occupy 40%of the total landmass of Hong Kong,and consists of vast areas of secondary woodlands,scrublands,grasslands,and reservoirs.That vegetation-and the soil underneathsubtract carbon from the atmosphere,which has a market value.The aim of this paper is to estimate the value of that carbon,to assess whether that value would be sufficient to pay for the upkeep of the Country Parks,and to compare that value to the costs of alternative ways to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide.To do this,we compare the land cover of 1978,1991,1997 and 2004 using remote sensing,and identify the three predominant land covers(woodlands,scrublands,grasslands) .We then estimate the amount and value of the carbon sequestered by the vegetation and soil of the Country Parks,and compare it to the budget available to the Agriculture,Fisheries and Conservation Department to run the Country Parks(HK$234 million in 2009/2010) .We extrapolate our results over 50 years,from 1978 to 2028.We conclude that by 2028 the carbon sequestered would be valued over HK$800 million,but the value of the additional carbon subtracted yearly would only cover approximately 7%of the total budget needed to run the Country Parks.We also conclude that because of the large budget allocated to the Country Parks,alternative methods of carbon sequestration-represented by the EU ETS price of carbon-are much cheaper.

The Environmental Risks Posed by the Oil and Gas Development and Its Potential Impacts on Mangrove Ecosystems and the Coastal Community’s Well-Being

Guyana is an oil-producing country with oil and gas exploration and production operations approximately 190 km offshore. The coastal communities selected as the study areas in Region 1 and Region 2 are adjacent to the coast and 5 to 10 km inshore. In the event of oil spills, Shell Beach Protected Areas and the other selected communities will be negatively impacted, particularly the mangrove ecosystems and the community’s well-being. The research aims to investigate the potential environmental risks posed by oil and gas exploration and production activities. It followed a qualitative approach and employed semi-structured interviews with the Toshaos of the coastal communities. The data analysis strategy was thematic analysis using the Nvivo software. The major themes included community assets, the importance of mangrove ecosystems, and the impacts of mangrove ecosystem damage through oil spills. Oil spill pollution will negatively impact mangrove ecosystems and the coastal community well-being in Region 1 and Region 2. The major results include damage to cultural artefacts, saltwater intrusion of major creeks, reduced fish catch levels, and agriculture products, which are the main economic activities in the selected communities. Consuming contaminated agriculture and marine products will lead to adverse health problems. Mangrove ecosystems provide considerable benefits to coastal community residents, including shields against river bank erosion, natural habitats for wildlife and source of income, shared traditions, social values, recreational facilities, and tourist attractions. These benefits contribute to the overall coastal community’s well-being. The mangrove forests must be protected and conserved to avoid environmental damage.

Economic Viability Analysis of Investment Alternatives for the Use of Biogas in a Pig Farming in the Middle East Area of Brazil

This paper presents an economic viability analysis of two investment alternatives for a pig farming located in the city of Jatai, Goias State, Brazil. The first investment alternative consists of the implementation of a biodigester, being the biogas burned in a flare. The second alternative also consists of a biodigester, nevertheless the produced biogas is used to generate electricity. The methodologies to estimate the methane production in anaerobic reactors are presented, as well as those for the quantification of the baseline and project emissions and of the electricity that can be generated. The results showed that the use of biogas for the electricity generation is the alternative more economically viable.

Spatiotemporal Monitoring for Deforestation and Forest Degradation Activities in Selected Areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)

The global significance of forest ecosystems requires precise determination of the amount of carbon stored in different forest ecosystems. Regular monitoring of forests can aid in designing efficient climate change control strategies at national and global scale specially in reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation strategies. This research is designed to focus on determining deforestation of study area from 2001 to 2011 using Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. This research provided rate and amount of degradation of forests in the study area and was quite helpful in formulating a strategy to earn carbon credits consistently and, therefore, will help in the uplifting of the standards of local population.

Performance-Economic and Energy Loss Analysis of 80 KWp Grid Connected Roof Top Transformer Less Photovoltaic Power Plant

In India most part receives 4 - 7 kWh of solar radiation per square meter per day with 200 - 250 sunny days in a year. Tamilnadu state also receives the highest annual radiation in India. In this paper, the grid connected photovoltaic plant has a peak power of 80 KWp supplies electricity requirement of GRT IET campus during day time (7 hrs) and reduces load demand and generates useful data for future implementation of such PV plant projects in the Tamilnadu region. Photovoltaic plant was installed in April 2015, monitored during 6 months, and the performance ratio and the various power losses (power electronics, temperature, soiling, internal, network, grid availability and interconnection) were calculated. The PV plant supplied 64,182.86 KWh to the grid from April to September 2015, ranging from 11,510.900 to 10,200.9 kWh. The final yield ranged from 143.886 (h/d) to 127.51 (y/d), reference yield ranged from 201.6 (h/d) to 155.31 (h/d) and performance ratio ranged from 71.3% to 82.1%, for a duration of six months, it had given a performance ratio of 83.82%, system efficiency was 4.16% and the capacity factor of GRT IET Campus for six months was 18.26%. Payback period in years = 9 years 4 months, energy saving per year = 204,400 KWh, cost reduction per year = 1,737,400, Indian rupee = 26,197.30 USD and total CO2 reductions per year = 102,200 tons CO2/year.

Carbon mitigation potential of different forest ecosystems under climate change and various managements in Italy

This study reviews carbon stocks and carbon dynamics in diferent types of forest land in Italy:ordinary managed forests,forest plantations,old growth forests,and trees outside forests.Forest management,combined with global environmental changes,increases the capacity of carbon uptake of ordinary managed forests.Forest plantations,particularly the ones subject to short-rotation forestry systems,potentially have high soil carbon accumulation,especially in agricultural lands.Old growth forests,recently discovered as a carbon sink,cover a significant surface area in Italy.Moreover,the trees outside forests may represent a sensible carbon stock,especially in the context of urban environments.Our study points out the management actions that can be implemented in Italy to increase the carbon stocks of different forest ecosystems,such as increasing the mean annual increment in managed forests,enhancement of the national network of old growth forests,and expansion of forest plantations in suitable areas.These aspects have important implications after the recent recognition of the Land Use,Land Use Change and Forestry sector in the EU target within the 2030 Climate and Energy Policy Framework.