Background: Ghanas transition forests, neighbouring savannahs and timber plantations in the Ashanti region face a constant degradation due to the increased occurrence of fires. In most cases the fires are deliberately set by rural people for hunting purposes. Main target is a cane rat, here called grasscutter (Thryonomys swinderianus), whose bushmeat is highly esteemed throughout the country. The animal is a wild herbivorous rodent of subhumid areas in Africa south of the Sahara. The grasscutter meat is an important source of animal protein. Existing high-value timber plantations (mainly Teak, Tectona grandis) are affected by fires for hunting purposes. Thus resulting in growth reduction, loss of biomass or even complete destruction of the forest stands. It became obvious that solutions had to be sought for the reduction of the fire risk. Objectives: Since 2004 the Institute for World Forestry of the Federal Research Centre for Forestry and Forest Products, Hamburg, Germany is cooperating with a Ghanaian timber plantation company (DuPaul Wood Treatment Ltd.) the German Foundation for Forest Conservation in Africa (Stiftung Walderhaltung in Afrika) and the Center for International Migration with the purpose to improve the livelihood of the rural population in the surroundings of the forest plantation sites and simultaneously to safeguard and improve the timber plantations. The introduction of grasscutter rearing systems to local farmers accompanied by permanent agricultural and agroforestry practices appeared to be a promising approach for the prevention of fires in the susceptible areas. Additionally a functioning grasscutter breeding system could contribute to the improvement of food security, development of income sources and the alleviation of poverty. The following measures are implemented: - Identification of farmers interested in grasscutter captive breeding, - Implementation of training courses for farmers on grasscutter rearing, - Delivery of breeding animals, - Supervision of rearing conditions by project staff, - Development of a local extension service for monitoring activities, - Evaluation of structures for grasscutter meat marketing. Results: After identification of key persons for animal rearing training courses were successfully passed and animals were delivered subsequently. Further investigations will evaluate the effects of the grasscutter rearing in the project region. This will be assessed through the - Acceptance of grasscutter rearing by farmers, - Success of the animal caging, - Reproduction rate, - Meat quality, - Marketing success of meat, - Reduction of fire in the vicinity of the timber plantations, - Improvement of peoples livelihood.
Background: An increasing frequency of massive flooding along the lower Yangtse River in China ended in a disastrous catastrophe in summer 1998 leaving several thousand people homeless, more than 3.600 dead and causing enormous economic damage. Inappropriate land-use techniques and large scale timber felling in the water catchment of the upper Yangtse and its feeder streams were stated to be the main causes. Immediate timber cutting bans were imposed and investigations on land use patterns were initiated by the Chinese Government. The Institute for World Forestry of the Federal Research Centre for Forestry and Forest Products was approached by the Yunnan Academy of Forestry in Kunming to exchange experiences and to cooperate scientifically in the design and application of appropriate afforestation and silvicultural management techniques in the water catchment area of the Yangtse. This cooperation was initiated in 1999 and is based on formal agreements in the fields of agrarian research between the German and Chinese Governments. Objectives: The cooperation was in the first step focussing on the identification of factors which caused the enormous floodings. After their identification measures of prevention were determined and put into practice. In this context experiences made in past centuries in the alpine region of central Europe served as an incentive and example for similar environmental problems and solutions under comparable conditions. Relevant key questions of the cooperation project were: - Analysis of forest related factors influencing the recent floodings of the Yangtse, - Analysis and evaluation of silvicultural management experiences from central Europe for know-how transfer, - Evaluation of rehabilitation measures for successful application in Yunnan, - Dissemination of knowledge through vocational training. Results: - Frequent wild grazing of husbandry is a key factor for forest degeneration beyond unsustainable timber harvests, forest fires and insect calamities leading to increased water run-off in the mountainous region of Yunnan; - Browsing of cattle interrupts succession thus avoiding natural regeneration and leaving a logging ban ineffective; - Mountain pasture in the Alps had similar effects in the past in central Europe. The introduction of controlled grazing has led to an ecologically compatible coexistence of pasture and ecology. Close-to-nature forestry can have positive effects in this sensitive environment. - Afforestation with site adopted broadleaves and coniferous tree species was implemented on demonstration level using advanced techniques in Yunnan.
Zusammensetzung und Menge der organischen Bodensubstanz (OBS) werden durch die Landnutzungsform beeinflußt. Die OBS läßt sich nach ihrer Abbaubarkeit und nach ihrer Löslichkeit in verschiedene Pools einteilen. So kann die wasserlösliche organische Bodensubstanz (DOM) als Maßzahl für die abbaubare OBS herangezogen werden. Mit Natriumpyrophosphat-Lösung als Extraktionsmittel läßt sich ein weit größerer Anteil der OBS erfassen, da der stabilisierende Bindungsfaktor zwischen OBS und Bodenmineralen entfernt wird. Extrahiert man zuerst mit Wasser und anschließend mit Natriumpyrophosphat-Lösung, erhält man im letzten Schritt den schwer abbaubaren OBS-Anteil. Über die funktionelle Zusammensetzung der organischen Substanz dieser Pools und deren Abhängigkeit von Landnutzungsformen ist relativ wenig bekannt. Ziel der geplanten Untersuchung ist es, den Pool der löslichen abbaubaren und schwer abbaubaren OBS zu quantifizieren und deren funktionelle Zusammensetzung mittels FT-IR Spektroskopie zu erfassen. Die so gewonnenen Daten sollen der Validierung von Soil Organic Matter Turnover modellen (z.B. Roth 23.6) dienen und die im Modell berechneten Pools um einen qualitativen Term ergänzen. In Zusammenarbeit mit anderen Arbeitsgruppen sollen im DFG-Schwerpunktprogramm 1090: ;Böden als Quelle und Senke für CO2 die Pools der löslichen abbaubaren und schwer schwer löslichen, schwer abbaubaren organischen Bodensubstanz (OBS) quantifiziert, die funktionelle Zusammensetzung dieser Pools mittels FT-IR Spektroskopie erfasst und Abbaubarkeit der erhaltenen Extrakte überprüft werden, um Mechanismen, die zur Stabilisierung der OBS führen, aufzuklären.
The ZEF research focuses on the Tungabhadra basin in south India, which is one of the four basins studied in the project. Tungabhadra river is a tributary of the Krishna river. ZEF will be mainly active in Work Package (WP) 9 IWRM in the twinned Tungabhadra and Tejo/Tagus river basins, with a focus and land and water use interactions . The research focuses on the interaction between irrigated and rainfed farming in the lower Tungabhadra basin, in the border area of the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The districts on the Karnataka side are Raichur, Koppal and Bellary, on the Andhra Pradesh side Mahbubnagar and Kurnool. Some of the sub-themes ZEF will look at, together with other partners, are: 1) Flows and relations (people (livelihood linkages, labour), nutrients and energy, money/income, water); 2) Institutional and policy (dis)integration (departmental coordination, agency coordination, policy contradictions and alignments); 3) Innovations (water saving farming systems (SRI and other), (tiered) water users associations, water pricing and water rights, substitutability of technical and institutional solutions to water problems); 4) History (heads and tails of different kinds: the spatial dimension of social differentiation; evolution of policy regimes, natural resources degradation/conservation in historical perspective, land and water use change over time and its implications). It is part of the research design to compare the situation in the Tungabhadra basin with that in the Tajo/Tegus basin in Spain/Portugal. Other basins studied in the larger project are the Glomma basin in Norway and the Sesan basin in Vietnam/Cambodia).
Wildfires are a major problem for many European societies threatening human lives and property with disastrous impacts particularly at the wildland-urban interface. On the other hand humans always used fire as a tool to regulate nature and traditional use of fire is known in many regions of Europe. The understanding of this paradox, is thus essential for finding solutions for integrated wildland fire management.This concept requires considering the various aspects of fire, from its use as a planned management practice (prescribed fire) to the initiation and propagation of unplanned fires (wildfires) and to the use of fire in fighting wildfires (suppression fire). Prescribed or suppression fires will therefore set the limits for wildfires by vontrolling their spatial extent, intensity and impacts. This is the main approach adopted aiming at the creation of the scientific and technological bases for new practices and policies under integrated wildland fire management and in the development of strategies for its implementation in Europe. Three major domains of related activities were considered: research, development and dissemination. In research, the project will focus on understanding the machanisms and modelling the processes associated with fire, from physics to biology and social sciences. Experimental and sampling methods will be used. The scientific and technical knowledge gathered will allow the development of a technological platform that will integrate the fire model, the temporal and spatial variability of fuels and weather, and the potential ecological and social-economical impacts. Documentation and demonstration platforms will also be extensively used for dissemination, focusing in the development of stategies for public awarness, academic and professional training using new communication technologies and networks, and for the implementation of new practices, policies and regulations under the concept of integrated wildland fire management. Prime Contractor: Universidade Tecnica de Lisboa, Instituto Superior de Agronomia; Lisboa; Portugal.
FOOTPRINT aims at developing a suite of three pesticide risk prediction and management tools, for use by three different end-user communities: farmers and extension advisors at the farm scale, water managers at the catchment scale and policy makers/registration authorities at the national/EU scale. The tools will be based on state-of-the-art knowledge of processes, factors and landscape attributes influencing pesticide fate in the environment and will integrate innovative components which will allow users to: i) identify the dominant contamination pathways and sources of pesticide contamination in the landscape; ii) estimate pesticide concentrations in local groundwater resources and surface water abstraction sources; iii) make scientifically-based assessments of how the implementation of mitigation strategies will reduce pesticide contamination of adjacent water resources. The three tools will share the same overall philosophy and underlying science and will therefore provide a coherent and integrated solution to pesticide risk assessment and risk reduction from the scale of the farm to the EU scale. The predictive reliability and usability of the tools will be assessed through a substantial programme of piloting and evaluation tests at the field, farm, catchment and national scales. The tools developed within FOOTPRINT will allow stakeholders to make consistent and robust assessments of the risk of contamination to water bodies at a range of scales relevant to management, mitigation and regulation (farm, catchment and national/EU). They will in particular i) allow pesticide users to assess whether their pesticide practices ensure the protection of local water bodies and, ii) provide site-specific mitigation recommendations. The FOOTPRINT tools are expected to make a direct contribution to the revision of the Directive 91/414/EC, the implementation of the Water Framework Directive and the future Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides. Prime Contractor: Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières; Paris; France.
To protect the health of populations and individuals, policies need to integrate environmental and health issues. The aim of HENVINET is to support such informed policy making. HENVINET will review, exploit and disseminate knowledge on environmental health issues based on research and practices, for wider use by relevant stakeholders. Further, it will lead to validation of tools and results with emphasis on the four priority health endpoints of the EHAP 2004-2010, and will provide structured information overview that may be utilized by other actors relevant to Environment and Health Strategy. Building on activities such as AirNET, CLEAR, PINCHE, INTARESE and SCALE, HENVINET will collect, structure and evaluate new material and present it in a consistent manner, which will lend itself to transparency and identification of knowledge gaps. HENVINET will establish an overview of results, activities, projects and tools existing in Europe and will promote stakeholder networking through workshops and conferences. Knowledge, best practices and decision support tools will be reviewed to allow wider exploitation by the relevant stakeholders such as policy makers. Recognizing that dissemination of knowledge, best practices and decision support tools is crucial in supporting the implementation of the European EHAP, the project will define ways to disseminate information in collaboration with main stakeholders, with emphasis on the needs of users of information, more than of those producing it. To allow for efficient data gathering, information exchanges, and targeted dissemination, the project will utilize state-of-the-art internet solutions and methodologies. To further promote interactions with stakeholders and relevant international organisations, an external Reference group will be set up.
This study has to be understood in the frame of the global Energy Policy. A great part of world energy production is currently based on non-renewable sources: oil, gas and coal. Global warming and restricted fossil energy sources force a strong demand for another climate compatible energy supply. Therefore, fossil energy sources will nearly disappear until the end of this century. The question is to find a viable replacement. By using viable' it is meant a low-cost and environmental friendly energy. In other words, the question is to find an alternative to nuclear energy among all proposed but still not mature renewable energies. One of the solutions proposed is solar energy. Yet, two major concerns slow down its development as an alternative: first, it lacks of technological maturity and secondly it suffers from alternating supply during days and nights, winters and summers. The idea proposed by Glaser in the sixties to bypass this inconvenient is to take the energy at the source (or at least, as near as possible): in other words, to put a solar station on orbit that captures the energy without problems of climatic conditions and to redirect it through a beam to the ground. That is the concept of Solar Power Satellites. Its principal feasibility was shown by DOE / NASA in 1970 years studies (5 GW SPS in GEO). Project objectives: This phase 1 study activity is to be seen as the initial step of a series of investigations on the viability of power generation in space facing towards an European strategy on renewable, CO2 free energy generation, including a technology development roadmap pacing the way to establish in a step-wise approach on energy generation capabilities in space. The entire activity has to be embedded in an international network of competent, experienced partners. As part of this, an interrelationship to and incorporation of activities targeting the aims of the EU 6th FP ESSPERANS should be maintained. In particular, the activities related to following objectives are described: The generation of scientifically sound and objective results on terrestrial CO2 emission free power generation solutions in comparison with state-of-the-art space based solar power solutions The detailed comparison and trades between the terrestrial and the space based solutions in terms of cost, reliability and risk The identification of possible synergies between ground and space based power generation solutions The assessment on terrestrial energy storage needs by combining ground based with space based energy generation solutions The investigation of the viability of concepts in terms of energy balance of the complete systems and payback times.
Objective: IPCC climate change scenarios have a global perspective and need to be scaled down to the local level, where decision makers have to balance risks and investment costs. Very high investments might be a waste of money and too little investment could result in unacceptable risk for the local community. PREPARED is industry driven, 12 city utilities are involved in the project and the RDT carried out is based on the impacts of climate change the water supply and sanitation industry has identified as a challenge for the years to come. The result of PREPARED will be an infrastructure for waste water, drinking water and storm water management that will not only be able better cope with new scenarios on climate change but that is also managed in a optimal way. We will have complexes monitoring and sensor systems, better integration and handling of complex data, better exploitation of existing infrastructures through improved real time control, new design concepts and guidelines for more flexible and more robust infrastructures. PREPARED will involve the local community in problem identification and in jointly finding acceptable system solutions, that are supported by all, through active learning processes. Activities and solutions in PREPARED will be based on a risk assessment and risk management approach for the whole urban water cycle, through the development of innovative Water Cycle Safety Plans. Other innovations are sensors and models that will enable faster and better actions on changes and new design rules for more resilient design. We will combine European knowledge with valuable knowledge from Australia and the USA, to make the European Water sector more competitive. This to enable our industrial partners to export the products developed in PREPARED to other regions of the world, thus contributing to the Lisbon Goals but also to the MDGs. To ensure this exploitation the PREPARED consortium consist of more than 50% industrial partners and is demand driven.
Wirksame Maßnahmen zum Gewässerschutz, wie sie von der EG-Wasserrahmenrichtlinie als Bestandteil des nachhaltigen Land- und Wassermanagements gefordert werden, setzen fundierte Kenntnisse zu Stoffretentions- und -umsatzprozessen in Landschaften voraus. Vergleiche von Stoffaus- und -einträgen wie auch mit den Fließgewässern ausgetragene Frachten belegen das hohe Stoffretentionspotenzial pleistozäner Einzugsgebiete und Fließgewässersysteme. Forschungsbedarf besteht zur Quantifizierung und Modellierung der dafür auf Landschaftsebene maßgeblichen Transport- und Transformationsprozesse unter den durch Wechselfeuchte und Wassermangelperioden gekennzeichneten hydrologischen Verhältnissen des pleistozänen Tieflands. Die vorliegenden pfadbezogenen Konzepte mit sehr unterschiedlicher Flächendifferenzierung unterscheiden zwischen Stofftransport auf der Landoberfläche (Oberflächenabfluss, Bodenabtrag) und im Boden/Grundwasserleiter. Problematisch gestalten sich Übertragung und Parametrisierung dieser Prozesse auf der Mesoskala (Einzugsgebiete). Weniger gut beschreibbar sind ebenso die Prozesse des Bodenabtrags, zu deren Quantifizierung auch verbesserte prozessorientierte Modelle benötigt werden, und die komplexen geo- und biogeochemischen Stofftransformationsprozesse in der nicht durchwurzelten ungesättigten und gesättigten Zone. Stofffrachten, die sich bereits auf dem unterirdischen Pfad befinden, erfahren noch vor ihrem Übertritt in die Gewässer eine Reduktion in den oft vermoorten Gewässerrandbereichen. Auch der oberirdische Stofftransfer aus dem Einzugsgebiet in das Gewässer kann in solchen, aquatische und terrestrische Ökosysteme verbindenden Landschaftselementen vermindert werden. Kenntnisse zur Quantifizierung, Bewertung und Steuerung des Stoffumsatz- und -retentionsvermögens kleinerer Fließgewässersysteme der Ober- und Mittelläufe sowie feuchter Senkenareale in Binneneinzugsgebieten werden benötigt, um Handlungsoptionen zum Gewässerschutz ableiten zu können und tatsächlich in Unterliegergewässer und -gebiete gelangende Stofffrachten abzuschätzen. Dabei zu lösende Aufgaben sind die Aufklärung der Stoffretentions- und -freisetzungsprozesse, insbesondere für die gewässergüterelevanten Stoffe N, P, C und O, die Quantifizierung von Retentionspotenzialen für geohydro- und gewässermorphologische Typen, die Ableitung von Leitprozessen und -parametern sowie Bioindikatoren und die Erarbeitung von Algorithmen zur Quantifizierung der Potenziale auf mesoskaliger Ebene. Projektziel: Entwicklung verbesserter skalen- und pfadbezogener Methoden und Modelle zur Quantifizierung der Transport- und Transformationsprozesse wassergelöster Stoffe sowie deren Wechselwirkungen in den Kompartimenten von Einzugsgebieten des pleistozänen Tieflands als Grundlage für die Beschreibung und Bewertung der Stoffretentionspotenziale sowie der Wirkung von Landnutzungsänderungen auf die Stoffbelastung kleiner Stand- und Fließgewässer.
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