R4D Environment

An analysis of the Somali media environment.

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 08:50 GMT

Document Type: Report
Creator: Whitehead, S.; Larking, C.; Abdi, J.; Ibrahim, H.; Otieno, S.

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Whitehead, S.; Larking, C.; Abdi, J.; Ibrahim, H.; Otieno, S. An analysis of the Somali media environment. BBC World Service Trust, London, UK (2011) 138 pp.

Summary: In 2006 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST), funded by the UK Department for International Development, conducted research into media in 17 countries across sub-Saharan Africa in order to identify priorities for future media development initiatives. A series of African Media Development Initiative (AMDI) reports were produced, and this Media Sector Analysis builds on the Somalia component of that work. The study examines the state and role of media in Somali society and provides insight into the structures, relationships and practices which currently characterise the sector.

Impact of seawater intrusion control on the environment, land use and household incomes in a coastal area

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 07:32 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Tuong, T.P.; Kam, S.P.; Hoanh, C.T.; Dung, L.C.; Khiem, N.T.; Barr, J.; Ben, D.C.

Production Year: 2003

Citation: Tuong, T.P.; Kam, S.P.; Hoanh, C.T.; Dung, L.C.; Khiem, N.T.; Barr, J.; Ben, D.C. Impact of seawater intrusion control on the environment, land use and household incomes in a coastal area. Paddy and Water Environment (2003) 1 (2) 65-73. [DOI: 10.1007/s10333-003-0015-2]

Summary: Agricultural production in the coastal wetlands of Asia is often hindered by salinity intrusion caused by tidal fluctuation. This paper reports changes in environmental and socio-economic conditions that followed the phased construction and operation of sluices for controlling seawater intrusion from 1994 –2000 in a coastal area of the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam. Canal water salinity decreased rapidly upstream of sluices, allowing rice cropping intensification and increased rice production in the eastern part of the study area. However, the livelihoods of farmers in the western part were adversely affected due to cessation of supply of brackish water that was needed for brackish-water shrimp farming, while the acid sulphate soils present there posed problems for rice cultivation. The poor farmers and landless people suffered more because the fishery resource that they depended on declined sharply due to reduced salinity and increased acidity in the canal water. The findings confirmed that the environment and resource use in the coastal lands are very sensitive to external intervention. A clear understanding of the socio-economic and environmental impacts of salinity control measures in coastal areas can help planning to enhance farmers' incomes while minimizing negative environmental impacts. Land-use policy formulation, planning and management should adopt a more holistic approach, taking into account the interests of all resource users, especially the poor, instead of focusing on any particular sector.

Seed production environment and storage longevity of japonica rices (Oryza sativa L.)

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 04:43 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Kameswara Rao, N.; Jackson, M.T.

Production Year: 1996

Citation: Kameswara Rao, N.; Jackson, M.T. Seed production environment and storage longevity of japonica rices (Oryza sativa L.). Seed Science Research (1996) 6 (01) 17-21. [DOI: 10.1017/S0960258500002956]

Summary: Changes in seed dry weight, moisture content and germinability of three japonica cultivars of rice during development and maturation in the dry season (November–May) field multiplication at Los Baños, Philippines were compared with those in a cooler controlled environment (24°/18°C). Under field conditions, maximum dry weight accumulation, which indicates mass maturity, was attained 18–21 days after flowering in all cultivars. In the cooler environment however, mass maturity was achieved 21 days after flowering in Fujisaka 5 and Minehikare, and 28 days in Shuang cheng nuo. The moisture content of the seeds at mass maturity varied between 28 and 35% among cultivars in the two environments. Although the ability of seeds to germinate differed in early harvests (7 and 14 days) among cultivars and across two environments, germination of the mature seeds was similar in all. There were no significant differences in potential longevity of the seeds harvested at 28, 35 and 42 days after flowering within each cultivar, which was determined by the germination of seeds that had been hermetically stored with 15% moisture content at 35°C. Differences among cultivars within each seed production environment were also not significant. However, potential longevity of the seeds harvested from the cooler environment was higher than those from the field, which confirmed that japonica cultivars which evolved under temperate regions are sensitive to warmer seed production environments. However, the magnitude of differences in potential seed longevity between the two environments was not high. This indicates that the seed production environment during the dry season at Los Baños is not harsh for japonica cultivars.

Seed production environment, time of harvest and the potential longevity of seeds of three cultivars of rice (Oryza sativa L).

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:58 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Ellis, R.H.; Hong, T.D.; Jackson, M.T.

Production Year: 1993

Citation: Ellis, R.H.; Hong, T.D.; Jackson, M.T. Seed Production Environment, Time of Harvest, and the Potential Longevity of Seeds of Three Cultivars of Rice (Oryza sativa L.). Annals of Botany (1993) 72 (6) 583-590. [DOI: 10.1006/anbo.1993.1148]

Summary: Changes in seed quality (assessed by potential longevity, i.e. the value of the seed lot constant K1 of the seed viability equation) in three contrasting cultivars of rice (Oryza sativa L.) were monitored during seed development and maturation in two temperature regimes, viz 28/20°C and 32/24°C (12/12 h), provided by controlled environments. Mass maturity (defined as the end of the seed-filling phase) varied only between 18 and 20 d after 50% anthesis. In five of the six treatment combinations maximum potential longevity was not achieved until 12-19 d after mass maturity. In contrast, the maximum potential longevity of seeds of a japonica rice cultivar produced in the warmer regime was obtained in the first harvest after mass maturity. After mass maturity, the potential longevity of the japonica rice seed lots produced in the warmer environment was much less than that for the cooler environments. Maximum potential longevity was also consistently greater in the cooler than the warmer regime for the two indica cultivars, although the difference in K1 was small (0·3-0·5). The deleterious effect of increase in temperature on seed quality development was not detected until after mass maturity. Maximum potential longevity in the cooler regime was greatest in the glutinous indica (K1 = 3·9) and least in the japonica cultivar (K1 = 3·1). It is concluded that the japonica cultivar is not as well adapted to warm seed production regimes as the indica cultivars. Consequently, subject to confirmation, this research suggest that the seed production of japonica cultivars for long-term genetic conservation should be undertaken, whenever possible, in warm temperate environments.

Proportion of total N and fixed N in shoots of lentil and chickpea grown in a Mediterranean-type environment.

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:22 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Pilbeam, C.J.; Wood, M.; Jones, M.J.

Production Year: 1997

Citation: Pilbeam, C.J.; Wood, M.; Jones, M.J. Proportion of total N and fixed N in shoots of lentil and chickpea grown in a Mediterranean-type environment. Experimental Agriculture (1997) 33 (2) 139-148.

Summary: Shoot dry matter yield, shoot nitrogen yield and amount of nitrogen derived from fixation are collated for chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cv. ILC482 and lentil (Lens culinaris Medic.) cv. ILL8 grown at the ICARDA research station Tel Hadya, Syria over a period of 17 years. Regression analyses of shoot nitrogen yield on shoot dry matter and of the amount of nitrogen fixed on shoot nitrogen yield were undertaken for both species. The intercepts for both analyses with lentil were not significantly different from zero, so the slopes of the lines represented the concentration of nitrogen in the plant tissue (20.6 g kg-1 dry matter) and the proportion of nitrogen derived from fixation 0.75. Data for other cultivars of lentil grown at Tel Hadya and at four other locations in Syria fell within the 95% confidence limits of the original analyses. The intercept of the regression of shoot nitrogen yield on shoot dry matter yield for chickpea grown at Tel Hadya was not significantly different from zero, so the concentration of nitrogen in the plant tissue was constant (17.8 g kg-1 dry matter). The proportion of nitrogen derived from fixation increased asymptotically as the shoot nitrogen yield increased. Data for other cultivars of chickpea grown in different locations were generally similar to those for cv. ILC482 grown at Tel Hadya. It is proposed that generalized relationships between shoot nitrogen yield and shoot dry matter yield, and between amount of nitrogen fixed and shoot nitrogen yield can be established for lentil and chickpea grown in the West Asia–North Africa region. Consequently the amounts of nitrogen fixed by the two crops could be predicted from a knowledge of dry matter production alone.

Effects of environment on the in vitro growth and development of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides isolates from the Philippines

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:49 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Estrada, A.B.; Dodd, J.C.; Jeffries, P.

Production Year: 1993

Citation: Estrada, A.B.; Dodd, J.C.; Jeffries, P. Effects of environment on the in vitro growth and development of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides isolates from the Philippines. Acta Horticulturae (1993) 341: 360-370.

Summary: The environmental conditions that influence conidial germination, appressorium development and melanization, and appressorium germination in Colletotrichum gloeosporioides were investigated in vitro. The effect of relative humidities (RHs) between 39–100% and of temperatures of 20, 25 and 30°C were determined. Results differed when two isolates of the anthracnose pathogen isolated from Philippine mangoes were compared. The optimum temperature for production of appressoria by isolates I2 and I4 were 25 and 20°C, respectively. Both isolates however had a similar temperature requirement (25°C) for optimum cellulolytic activity. At 30°C, more appressoria became melanized than at lower temperatures but frequency of penetration was highest at 25°C. Under optimum conditions (25°C, 100% RH) only 25% of appressoria produced infection hyphae on a cellulose membrane after 3 days incubation. The effect of periods of low RH which preceded a 24 h period of high RH were also investigated. Conidia held at 63 and 86% RH for 1–2 weeks retained viability, and still formed appressoria when placed at 100% RH. The implication of these results in the use of a forecasting model developed previously are discussed.

Can REDD+ work for people and the environment in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia? CCAFS Working Paper No. 9.

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:48 GMT

Document Type: Working Paper
Creator: Fox, J.; Castella, J.C.; Ziegler, A.D.

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Fox, J.; Castella, J.C.; Ziegler, A.D. Can REDD+ work for people and the environment in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia? CCAFS Working Paper No. 9. CGIAR Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), Copenhagen, Denmark (2011) 36 pp.

Summary: Swidden (also called shifting cultivation) has long been the dominant farming system in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia (MMSEA). Today the ecological bounty of this region is threatened by the expansion of settled agriculture, including the proliferation of rubber plantations. In the current conception of REDD+, landscapes involving swidden qualify almost automatically for replacement by other land-use systems because swiddens are perceived to be degraded and inefficient with regard to carbon sequestration. However, swiddening in some cases may be carbon-neutral or even carbon positive, compared with some other types of land-use systems. In this paper we describe how agricultural policies and institutions have affected land use in the region over the last several decades and the impact these policies have had on the livelihoods of swiddeners and other smallholders. We also explore whether incentivizing transitions away from swiddening to the cultivation of rubber will directly or reliably produce carbon gains. We argue that because government policies affect how land is used, they also influence carbon emissions, farmer livelihoods, environmental services, and a host of other variables. A deeper and more systematic analysis of the multiple consequences of these policies is consequently necessary for the design of successful REDD+ policies in MMSEA, and other areas of the developing world. REDD + policies should be structured not so much to 'hold the forest boundary' but to influence the types of land-use changes that are occurring so that they support both sustainable livelihoods and environmental services, including (but not limited to) carbon

Extended System Dynamics modelling of the impacts of food system drivers on food security, livelihoods and the environment.

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 03:53 GMT

Document Type: Report
Creator: Muetzelfeldt, R.

Production Year: 2010

Citation: Muetzelfeldt, R. Extended System Dynamics modelling of the impacts of food system drivers on food security, livelihoods and the environment. (2010) 27 pp.

Summary: Food security research programmes, such as Global Environmental Change and Food Systems (GECAFS) and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), need to consider extremely complex systems, with many agricultural, environmental, social and economic subsystems interacting with each other on a variety of scales and at a variety of levels on each. This poses considerable challenges in terms of representing the current state of knowledge, exploring how these systems might evolve in the future in response to external drivers and human input, and displaying the behaviour of the many variables involved in a way which is meaningful for stakeholders and policy advisers.

This paper aims to explore how a modelling approach based on System Dynamics can be used to:

Represent influences and other relationships between the main agricultural and food system drivers and their consequences (i.e. outcomes) for the three areas of interest to CCAFS: food security, environment and livelihoods;
Quantify these influences and outcomes as far as possible over time; and if these cannot be simulated directly, show how outputs from other models and tools could be incorporated;
Represent dynamically the quantified outcomes on spider diagrams for CCAFS regional scenarios.
Indicate how policy and technical interventions can be ‘applied’ to the system so as to show impacts in terms of changes to the spider diagrams.

The approach will be demonstrated using Simile, a visual modelling software developed specifically to meet the needs of ecosystem modelling. Simile supports System Dynamics modelling, like a number of other modelling packages (e.g. Stella, Vensim and Powersim), but has a number of additional capabilities which make it particularly suitable, including the ability to model object-based and disaggregated systems. The heart of the paper is a consideration of how two forms of analysis used within food security.

The paper concludes with the proposition that an approach based on extended System Dynamics has the potential to represent complex systems interactions in a formal standardised way; and that such representations can also form the basis for computable qualitative or quantitative models. It therefore supports a methodology which allows informal conceptual thinking by stakeholders and domain experts to be transformed smoothly into quantitative predictive models.

APPP Background Paper 3. The investment and business environment for gold exploration and mining in Tanzania.

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 07:17 GMT

Document Type: Miscellaneous
Creator: Cooksey, B.

Production Year: 2011

Citation: London, UK, Africa Power and Politics Programme (APPP), 102 pp.

Summary: Tanzania is the third largest gold producer in Africa after South Africa and Ghana. Despite serious shortages of human capital and inadequate economic infrastructure and regulation, Tanzania has managed to attract unprecedented amounts of foreign direct investment (FDI) during the last fifteen years. This report examines the factors that encourage FDI and local investment in gold exploration and mining.

APPP Background Paper 2. The investment and business environment for export horticulture in northern Tanzania.

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 07:12 GMT

Document Type: Miscellaneous
Creator: Cooksey, B.

Production Year: 2011

Citation: London, UK, Africa Power and Politics Programme (APPP), 43 pp.

Summary: Cut rose exports from Tanzania to the Netherlands began in 1989. Since then, chrysanthemums and other flowers, cuttings, seeds, fruit and vegetables have joined the list of produce air freighted to Europe through Kilimanjaro, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam airports.

This report focuses on the commercial flower, cuttings and seed companies ("export horticulture"). There are fifteen or so companies growing flowers, flower cuttings and seeds for export. In addition, five companies export vegetables, vegetable seeds, and fruit. The report does not deal with smallholder horticulture, except where there are synergies between the two parts of the industry, for example concerning air freight. The study consists of a literature review, web trawls, and semi-structured interviews with key industry stakeholders in the Arusha-Moshi area in December 2009, and a brief second round of follow-up interviews in June 2010. The study builds on ethnographic work undertaken by Kelsall et al. in 2004-05 and is based on Terms of Reference drawn up in September 2009.