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... Most deforestation occurs in the SH ? T (Curtis et al. 2018;Li et al. 2018;FAO 2020;Winkler et al. 2021). The impacts on terrestrial (soil and vegetation) Hg mobilization remain poorly understood, particularly in the SH ? ...
... T compared to afforestation in the NH (Winkler et al. 2021), the trends in Hg 0 vegetation uptake are different in the SH than in the NH. In the NH, increasing vegetation cover since 1990 (Nemani et al. 2003;Zhao and Running 2010;Shi et al. 2019;FAO 2020) has strengthened the role of vegetation as a sink for NH atmospheric Hg, removing an estimated additional 140 Mg y -1 of Hg 0 from the atmosphere . Meanwhile, the simultaneous deforestation in the SH is expected to have substantially reduced the atmospheric Hg sink to vegetation, although the magnitude of the effect to date has not previously been quantified. ...
... The reduction in the vegetation sink is expected to be particularly large in the southern Amazon, where conversion of forests to agriculture is occurring at one of the highest rates in the world (Salazar et al. 2007;FAO 2020;Feinberg et al. 2022). Specifically for the Brazilian Amazon, it has been estimated that about 450,000 km 2 of forest have been deforested since 1990, with deforestation rates that increased by a further 47-75% between 2019 and 2021, relative to 2018 values (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais 2022). ...
Environmental mercury (Hg) contamination is a global concern requiring action at national scales. Scientific understanding and regulatory policies are underpinned by global extrapolation of Northern Hemisphere Hg data, despite historical, political, and socioeconomic differences between the hemispheres that impact Hg sources and sinks. In this paper, we explore the primary anthropogenic perturbations to Hg emission and mobilization processes that differ between hemispheres and synthesize current understanding of the implications for Hg cycling. In the Southern Hemisphere (SH), lower historical production of Hg and other metals implies lower present-day legacy emissions, but the extent of the difference remains uncertain. More use of fire and higher deforestation rates drive re-mobilization of terrestrial Hg, while also removing vegetation that would otherwise provide a sink for atmospheric Hg. Prevalent Hg use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining is a dominant source of Hg inputs to the environment in tropical regions. Meanwhile, coal-fired power stations continue to be a significant Hg emission source and industrial production of non-ferrous metals is a large and growing contributor. Major uncertainties remain, hindering scientific understanding and effective policy formulation, and we argue for an urgent need to prioritize research activities in under-sampled regions of the SH.
... According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, net loss of forest land globally has been nearly six million hectares annually during the last decade [34]. Moreover, the regional authority in Uusimaa estimates that around one thousand hectares of forest areas are transformed into other land uses annually -most prominently into urban areas Page 2 of 20 AUTHOR SUBMITTED MANUSCRIPT -ERL-115190 .R1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t [35]. ...
... Furthermore, we estimate that roughly 6 000 -36 000 ha of designated forest plantations are required to satisfy the different demand levels presented in the development scenarios. FAO [34] details that nearly 2 M ha of new forest areas were planted annually in the past decade. Furthermore, roughly 100 thousand hectares of idle areas suitable for reforestation have been recently discovered in Finland [36]. ...
... The applicability is directed primarily to regions where forest areas experience positive annual net growth. These regions are Europe (EU), Asia (AS), and Oceania (OC) [34]. Table 4 presents the minimum urban densities required to meet CSF.1 conditions in all global regions with Building 100 -wooden buildings. ...
Urban areas have experienced exponential growth since the industrial revolution and by virtue, the urban population has followed. Current projections suggest that this growth has yet to reach its peak implying that urban developments will continue to sprawl into untouched territories. This growth and subsequent sprawl will undoubtedly come at the expense of forested areas. This study presents a Carbon Storage Factor indicator for new urban developments. It is a novel concept which integrates urban planning, land use changes and wooden construction. The factor sets a carbon storage requirement for new urban areas that are developed at the expense of forested areas. The study is conducted in four parts. First, we estimate the carbon storage potential of forest areas via existing literature and databases. Then we collect all new development and construction estimates up to the year 2050 for the whole metropolitan region in Finland. Next, we conduct scenario analyses for different demand levels of wood in projected residential developments. Finally, we compare the carbon storage potential of the future building stock to the forest areas planned for development. The data used is provided by the regional authority. The results detail that the future residential building stock can store between 128–733 kt of carbon. The lower level implies that current construction methods can only partially preserve the carbon storage of an area in buildings. However, the higher level suggests future buildings to be able to exceed the carbon storage potential of forest areas by nearly 47 tC/ha. The study reminds that an increased use of wood is dependent on sustainable forest management practices. Furthermore, it is not our purpose to promote urban development into entirely new areas but rather encourage urban planners to consider the carbon balance when it is the only viable option.
... Between 1990 and 2020, it is estimated that 420 million ha of forests were lost, with more than 90% of this deforestation having occurred in the tropics (FAO, 2020). The rate of deforestation, however, has declined, both at the global and tropical scales, with an annual deforestation rate of 10.2 million ha and 9.3 million ha, respectively, between 2015 and 2020 (FAO, 2020). ...
... Between 1990 and 2020, it is estimated that 420 million ha of forests were lost, with more than 90% of this deforestation having occurred in the tropics (FAO, 2020). The rate of deforestation, however, has declined, both at the global and tropical scales, with an annual deforestation rate of 10.2 million ha and 9.3 million ha, respectively, between 2015 and 2020 (FAO, 2020). Such levels of deforestation are associated with 37% (Houghton and Nassikas, 2018) and 12% (Le Quéré et al., 2018) of total gross and net anthropogenic carbon emissions, respectively, making deforestation the second largest source of global carbon emissions (van der Werf et al., 2009), and thus still an important driving force of climate change (Seymour and Busch, 2016). ...
... Peru has the second largest forest area in South America, totaling 72 million ha as of 2020 (FAO, 2020), 68 million ha of which (94%) are located within the Amazon Basin (MINAM, 2016a). Recent official estimates indicate that deforestation between 2001 and 2019 totaled 2.4 million ha and that the annual forest loss area has increased from 83,000 ha in 2001 to 148,000 ha in 2019. 1 As part of its national environmental goals and international commitments, the Peruvian government has developed a national strategy for reducing deforestation as a contribution to climate change mitigation (MINAM, 2016b). ...
Between 2015 and 2020, 9.3 million hectares of tropical forests were annually deforested. Deforestation represents the second largest source of carbon emissions globally, reduces biodiversity and ecosystem services, and threatens livelihoods. Reducing deforestation is considered a cost-effective climate change mitigation strategy and key to achieve sustainable development goals in tropical regions. The last decade has seen significant investments in designing and implementing forest conservation policies. Yet their environmental and socioeconomic impacts, as well as trade-offs between these, are rarely evaluated. Such an understanding is crucial for designing better forest conservation interventions and avoiding unintended negative effects on local populations.
This thesis provides a three-step methodological approach to analyze the environmental effects of forest conservation interventions, their costs and benefits, and trade-offs between avoiding deforestation cost-effectively and welfare effects. I provide policy makers with evidence-based policy recommendations to design and implement conservation interventions in the Peruvian Amazon. Peru is a good study case because although the government is increasingly trying to stop forest clearing, the deforestation rate is still increasing and policies against deforestation have seldom been evaluated.
First, I identify the factors that affected the effectiveness of Peru’s National Forest Conservation Program (Programa Bosques) during its pilot phase (2011-2015). Programa Bosques provides cash transfers to individual indigenous communities, conditional on avoided deforestation and the adoption of sustainable production systems for a period of five years. I use a spatially explicit quasi-experimental and counterfactual approach to assess the program’s effectiveness. Between 2011 and 2015, Programa Bosques reduced deforestation by about 557 (± 490) hectares. This reduction was the result of spillover effects on land not enrolled for conservation. Avoided deforestation was negligible because enrolled areas presented low deforestation threats.
Second, I estimate the net economic benefit of Programa Bosques’ avoided deforestation by means of a cost benefit analysis. I consider spatial heterogeneity in conservation opportunity costs as well as uncertainty across a wide range of parameters by applying the Monte Carlo method. I use the social cost of carbon to value benefits. Costs and benefits are considered from the perspectives of the local communities, the country, and the global society. Results indicated that deforestation was avoided at a net cost (USD 13.7 Million). This poor conservation performance was due to high implementation costs (~67% of total budget), and the short permanence of the avoided deforestation in time (≤ 5 years). The Peruvian economy bore most of these costs and only marginal benefits were provided to the local communities and the global society.
Third, I explore alternative policy design options that incorporate a mix of incentives and disincentives to mitigate the potential trade-offs between cost-effective deforestation reductions and landholders’ income losses. I develop a spatially explicit model simulating landholders’ decision to deforest and use it to estimate the costs, cost-effectiveness, and welfare effects of a policy-mix of payments for ecosystem services and fines for deforestation. Simulations showed that a policy approach solely based on fines is more cost effective than one based on payments. Nevertheless, results indicated a trade-off between cost-effectiveness and welfare because rural incomes were considerably reduced when only fines were applied. Introducing payments mitigated this trade-off by compensating the income losses of landholders that reduced deforestation.
These findings highlight the importance of accounting for spatially heterogeneous contexts to increase forest conservation effectiveness. In turn, to increase forest conservation’s net benefits, it is necessary to secure the permanence of the avoided deforestation as long as possible, and minimize implementation costs, whilst paying attention to distributional outcomes. Finally, regarding policy mixes to avoid deforestation, there is no silver bullet that will deliver both high cost-effectiveness and welfare gains. Nevertheless, adding payments to a command and control approach could compensate otherwise high-income losses among vulnerable populations, making such a policy mix more politically viable.
... Data for Omaheke and Khomas is lacking. This map is the basis of the five-yearly reporting of Namibia to FAO (FAO 2005) and applied the term forest similarly to FAO (Box 1). Figure 2 shows that most forests were concentrated in the northeastern parts of the country in 1992. Western Ohangwena and northern Omusati used to have a much higher forest cover but there was a lot of deforestation before Independence (Erkkilä and Löfman 1999). ...
... It can not exceed 100% (Jennings et al. 1999). Graz, 1992in FAO 2005. Forest cover includes only the dense, medium, open forest classes. ...
... All areas reported to FAO are based on desktop studies with rough extrapolations of the 1992 data. A deforestation rate of on average 1% is used and some savannah classes were converted to forest classes (FAO 2005). The forested area reported for 2020 was 6,638,900 ha or 8.1% of the total land area, considerably less than the 9.8% reported in 2000 (FAO 2020). ...
This baseline study on sustainable forest management in Namibia was published as part of the ‘Promoting Sustainable Forest Management in the Kavango-Zamebzi Region in Namibia’ project, an initiative implemented by the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) Namibia together with the Desert Research Foundation of Namibia (DRFN). The report is also available on the Think Namibia website: https://www.thinknamibia.org.na/images/projects/forest/pdf/Baseline_Study_final-komprimiert_2x_compressed.pdf
... Global planted forests have been expanding rapidly to supply the growing demands of the wood industry and environmental services such as biodiversity, carbon sequestration and watershed protection (Kanninen 2010). During the period between 1990 -2015, there were 60.4 million ha of new plantations established worldwide (FAO 2015). By 2015, the total area of plantation forest globally was 277.9 million ha; 56% in the temperate zone, 15% boreal, 20% tropical, and 9% subtropical (FAO 2015). ...
... During the period between 1990 -2015, there were 60.4 million ha of new plantations established worldwide (FAO 2015). By 2015, the total area of plantation forest globally was 277.9 million ha; 56% in the temperate zone, 15% boreal, 20% tropical, and 9% subtropical (FAO 2015). ...
In Vietnam, approximately 1.3 M ha of acacia and eucalypt plantations have been
established in the past three decades to supply a growing local and international demand for pulp and sawlog. Wood production over successive rotations does not appear sustainable as yields are declining and soils, especially on steep sites, are being eroded and negatively impacted. There is concern that current practices, i.e. burning harvest residues and only applying a small dose of fertilisers at planting are in part responsible for this situation and need to be changed. This thesis examines if changes in the current practices i.e. the retention of harvest residues and increased P fertilization will improve the soil properties and productivity of Eucalyptus hybrid (Eucalyptus urophylla × E. pellita) and Acacia mangium plantations planted on steep slopes in northern Vietnam.
The first study investigated whether the decomposition of retained A. mangium
harvest residues (branches, leaves and bark) could provide sufficient nutrients for the next rotation. The biomass and nutrient content of above-ground stand components of the previous 7-year-old Acacia mangium rotation were examined at harvest, and the rates of decomposition and nutrient release from the harvest residues determined. The decomposition constant k, half-life t0.5 and release of nutrients (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) were monitored by using the litterbag technique for a 1.5-year-period. At harvesting, the total above-ground stand biomass of the previous rotation was 60.8 t ha-1, comprising stemwood (42.7 t ha-1), bark (8.9 t ha-1), branches (6.6 t ha-1) and leaves (2.5 t ha-1). The retained bark on site made up one-third of the mass of all residues (harvest residues + litter + understorey vegetation) and conserved 6% Mg, 14% K, 18% P, 30% N and 41% Ca content for recycling. The decomposition rate of the leaves was the most rapid (k =1.47 year-1; t0.5 = 0.47 year), then branches (k = 0.54 year-1; t0.5 = 1.29 year) and bark (k= 0.22 year-1; t0.5 = 3.09 year). During decomposition, the loss of nutrients from harvest residues was K ≈ Ca > N > P> Mg. Over 1.5 years of the study period, as much as 137.1 kg N ha-1, 4.7 kg P ha-1, 20.8 kg K ha-1, 94.5 kg Ca ha-1 and 2.2 kg Mg ha-1 were recycled.
The N, Ca and K, though not P and Mg released from decomposing A. mangium harvest residues are potentially able to meet a significant part of the demand by trees growing in the next rotation.
The second study examined whether the retention of residues, and application of
phosphorus fertilizer at higher rates than the current practice, can increase rates of growth and vigour of trees, i.e. better tree form and lesser crown damage, of eucalypt and acacia plantations. A factorial combination of residue management (burning vs. retention) and phosphorus (P) fertilizer application at planting (15 vs. 100 kg ha-1) treatments was applied at a steeply sloping site (slope rages from 8 – 40 ̊). Two adjacent experiments were established, one with A. mangium and the other with E. hybrid. Standing volume (V) and leaf area index (LAI) in A. mangium were greater following burning; this was mostly attributable to the significantly higher survival rate of seedlings. Burning of residues was associated with increases in the number of large branches per tree, and a higher crown damage index (CDI). In the E. hybrid, diameter and height responses to the higher rate of fertilizer was observed at age 6 and 12 months, but not beyond. High P application also led to higher CDI. Standard fertilizer treatment, applied in amounts equivalent to 17, 15 and 8 kg ha-1 of N, P, K, respectively, was adequate to meet the early growth requirement of eucalypt and acacia plantations at this site.
The third study examined the effect of two contrasting harvest residue management
treatments (burning vs. residue-retention) on soil properties i.e. soil total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), extractable P (ext-P), exchangeable K (exch-K) and soil bulk density (BD) of E. hybrid and A. mangium plantations. In this study, soil samples were collected in plots treated with similar amounts of fertiliser (applied at the current rate) but subject to contrasting residue management treatments (burning vs. residue-retention). The soil properties were assessed at pre-establishment, and at age one and two years following planting. The results showed that the soil properties in either E. hybrid or A. mangium plantations were not significantly different between residue retention and residue burning inter-rotational treatments. However marked variations observed in soil TC, exch-K and ext-P suggest that position on the slope masked any overall trends.
In summary, the relatively low amounts of harvest residues and high fertility levels
at the site may be associated with the lack of significant growth and soil responses to the silvicultural treatments applied in this study. However, it is clear that the decomposition of harvest residues and the associated rate of nutrient release can supply a significant amount of nutrients required for stand development in the next rotation. The variation in standing volume, crown health and soil properties between slope positions suggest that factors driving any correlation of tree productivity with slope, for example surface runoff and soil erosion will need careful management to arrest potential yield decline on steeply sloping sites. Thus, harvest residue retention with adequate weed and termite control may be preferential to burning on a steep slope because the residue not only can provide nutrients but reduce water run-off and soil erosion.
... Estimated direct and total economic contribution of the world's forest sector to gross domestic product, by subsector, 2015 18 2 Total direct formal and informal employment in the forest sector, by region and subsector, 2011-2013 and 2017-2019 19 3 Programmes combining poverty alleviation and ecological restoration in China, 2012-2019 25 4 Annual technical and cost-effective mitigation potential of the main forest climate-change mitigation options globally, 2020-2050 30 5 Cost data retrieved from the literature on forest restoration in tropical and subtropical countries (23 studies) 2 Global area of other land with tree cover, 1990-2020 8 3 Density of people living near trees on agricultural land, 2019 12 4 Forest ecosystem services wealth per capita, 1995-2018 14 5 Percent change in forest ecosystem services and timber wealth per capita, by region, 1995-2018 15 6 The relationship between the System of National Accounts and the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting -Ecosystem Accounting in the valuing of forest ecosystem services 16 7 Trends in the production of two main types of paper product, 1961-2020 20 8 "Hotspots" map showing the predicted distribution of zoonotic disease emergence risk from wildlife 32 9 The relative proportions of different restoration intervention types in Brazil, El Salvador, Mexico (Quintana Roo state), Rwanda and the United States of America, as of 2018 42 10 Internal rates of return (a) and benefit-cost ratio (b) for restoration in nine major biomes 45 11 Projected global material extraction, 2015-2060, assuming a continuation of current trends 49 12 Material balance in the sawmilling process for non-coniferous sawnwood 52 5.3 Strengthening local producer groups is a means for engaging small-scale actors in local recovery and development 88 5.4 Increasing capacity and co-producing knowledge with smallholders, local communities and Indigenous Peoples will support forest-based recovery and resilience 92 5.5 Digital technologies accelerate access to data, information, knowledge and markets 95 5.6 Inclusive recovery and the development of local forest-based value chains needs the participation of women and youth 99 1. Halting deforestation and maintaining forests could avoid emitting 3.6 +/-2 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO 2 e) per year between 2020 and 2050, including about 14 percent of what is needed up to 2030 to keep planetary warming below 1.5 °C, while safeguarding more than half the Earth's terrestrial biodiversity. ...
... 11 Forest degradation is difficult to quantify but is likely increasing The total carbon stock in forests was estimated at 662 Gt in 2020, at an average of 163 t per ha. 19 About 45 percent of the forest carbon stock in 2020 was in living biomass, 45 percent was in soil organic matter and 10 percent was in dead wood and litter. 20 The global forest carbon stock decreased between 1990 and 2020 but forest carbon stock per ha increased, likely partly due to improved forest management. ...
FAO. 2022. The State of the World’s Forests 2022. Forest pathways for green recovery and building inclusive, resilient and sustainable economies. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, FAO.
... To feed the increasing human population, natural areas such as forestland and wetlands continue to be converted to agriculture (Harris et al., 2021). Since 1990, about 420 million ha (Mha) of forest have been lost globally through deforestation (Estoque, 2022;FAO, 2020), and about 30 − 50% of original wetlands have been converted to agricultural and other land uses (Dixon et al., 2016;Davidson, 2014). Elsewhere, marginal agricultural lands are being abandoned, allowing spontaneous reversion to forest (Renwick et al., 2013;MacDonald et al., 2000). ...
... There is also much forestation 3 globally, including forest plantations established to meet the demand for timber, and to address local environmental concerns such as for erosion control and to sequester carbon (C) (Payn et al., 2015;Winjum and Schroeder et al., 1997). The global plantation area has increased by 123 Mha since 1990(FAO, 2020. It is expected that trends in the simultaneous loss of natural forests and establishment of new plantations will continue (Schmitz et al., 2014). ...
Land-use change (LUC) can lead to the uptake or release of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). Here we summarize and statistically analyze available observations on changes in soil organic C (SOC), total N (TN), total P (TP), and their stoichiometries (C:N, C:P, and N:P) after LUC and try to identify any controlling factors. We analyzed 1110 published data sets of changes in SOC, TN, and TP and their stoichiometries. Conversion of forest to cropland greatly decreased SOC (–33.1%) and TN (–27.8%), but forest to grassland conversion increased both slightly (SOC: 5.6%, TN: 15.9%). Conversion of cropland to forest increased SOC (193%) and TN (102%). Conversion of grassland to forest did not change SOC but decreased TN (–17.0%). Converting forest to cropland or grassland increased TP by 10.6% and 14.9%, respectively, and forestation of cropland or grassland decreased TP by 39.7% and 48.3%, respectively. Across all LUCs, changes in SOC and TN were generally linearly correlated, with a ratio close to 1, except after forestation, when large SOC increases sometimes exceeded TN increases. Changes in TP following LUC were positively correlated with changes in P fertilizer application rates. Following some LUCs, changes in SOC, TN, and TP and their stoichiometries were correlated with temperature or rainfall, but few generalities emerged. Forestation with deciduous trees increased SOC (29.9%), TN (22.2%), and TP (14.4%), but forestation with conifers reduced SOC (–27.0%), TN (–35.5%), and TP (–6.7%). After converting forest to cropland or grassland, C:N, C:P, and N:P all decreased, whereas forestation of cropland or grassland increased C:N, C:P, and N:P. This suggests that SOC enhancements following LUC could be constrained by TN and TP availability, which might need to be overcome through extra nutrient additions to achieve maximal C storage.
... Forest ecosystems near human activity areas are exposed to nitrogen deposition, which lowers plant diversity (Gilliam, 2006;Bobbink et al., 2010). Gaps created by logging also significantly affect plant diversity (Roberts and Gilliam, 1995;Gibson et al., 2011), and most forest ecosystems have experienced logging (Morales-Hidalgo et al., 2015;FAO, 2020). ...
The increasing deer population and their expanding distribution have altered the diversity and biomass of the plant community in the northern hemisphere. Furthermore, anthropogenic disturbances such as nitrogen deposition and logging threaten plant diversity in many parts of the forests. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the effects of deer on plant communities under nitrogen deposition and logging conditions to understand and conserve plant diversity in forest ecosystems. We conducted a field experiment that controlled three levels of deer densities (exclosure: 0 deer/km 2 , low: 10 deer/km 2 , and high: 20 deer/km 2) and four anthropo-genic disturbances (without anthropogenic disturbances [control], nitrogen addition, logging, and nitrogen addition and logging combined) in a cool temperate secondary forest in northern Japan for nine years. We surveyed the effects of deer density and anthropogenic disturbance treatments on species richness and vegetation cover of life forms (forbs, ferns, trees, graminoids, unpalatable species, vines, and shrubs) and all species of understory vascular plants. We estimated the constant effect (without the elapsed year) and the temporary effect (with the elapsed year) of deer density, anthropogenic disturbances, and their interactions on the species richness , vegetation cover, and Simpson's index as separate parameters in full models and selected the best model. The high deer density negatively affected the species richness of some life forms and all species and accelerated these effects over time for all species. The vegetation covers of most of the life forms were negatively affected by high deer density, and the effect was reduced over time. In contrast, the exclosure negatively affected the species richness of some life forms and positively affected the vegetation cover of most of the life forms and all species. The effect on the cover accelerated over time. Nitrogen addition accelerated the negative effect of high deer density on the species richness of shrubs. On the other hand, logging reduced the negative effect of high deer density on the species richness of all species. The cover of unpalatable species in the high deer density site with logging was approximately nine times higher than that in the high deer density site without anthropogenic disturbances in the last surveyed year. The high deer density and logging decreased the Simpson's diversity index score. These results indicate that the effects of deer density, anthropogenic disturbances, and their interactions vary with time. These interactions must be considered to manage deer's effect on forest ecosystems.
... This was noted as a controversial result since deforestation is prevalent in developing countries because of new infrastructure and urban sprawl (FAO, 2020;Viscarra & Zutta, 2022). Besides, all deforestation cases involve forest cutting; therefore, forest service involvement is inevitable. ...
Urban forests are becoming more critical as climate-induced disasters and disturbances tend to increase and affect cities. Forest managers are the responsible technical people on the ground to implement forestry-related climate policies. There is limited knowledge on the capacities of forest managers related to climate change issues. In this study, we surveyed 69 forest district managers of 28 provinces and compared their responses with actual data to understand their perceptions of urban green areas and climate change issues. We used a set of digital maps of the 1990–2015 period to identify land cover changes. To calculate the urban forest cover in the city centers, we used the city limit delineation shapefiles produced by the EU Copernicus program. We also employed the land consumption rate/population growth rate metric and a principle component analysis (PCA) to identify and discuss the provinces’ land and forest cover changes. The results showed that forest district managers were aware of the general condition of the forests in their provinces. Still, there was a considerable inconsistency between actual land use changes (i.e., deforestation) and their responses. The study also revealed that the forest managers were aware of the increasing influence of climate change issues but were not knowledgeable enough to establish the connection between their tasks and climate change. We concluded that the national forestry policy should prioritize the urban-forest interaction and develop the capacities of district forest managers to improve the efficiency of climate policies on a regional scale.
... Yanan orman alanları, yıllara göre değişkenlik göstermektedir. Örneğin FAO tarafından 2015 yılında yaklaşık olarak 98 milyon ha kadar bir orman alanının yangınlardan zarar gördüğü ve bunun üçte ikisinden fazlasının Afrika ve Güney Amerika'da olduğu açıklanmaktadır (FAO, 2020). ...
Türkiye’de 2021 yılı, orman yangınları konusunda bir felaket yılı olarak tarihe geçti.
Son 50 yıl içinde gerçekleşen en büyük 20 yangının 11’inin yaşandığı, mega yangınlar
olarak adlandırılan bir çok yangına şahit olduğumuz 2021 yılı içinde toplam 2.793
yangında 139.503 hektar orman ekosistemimiz zarar gördü.
Tüm ülkeyi derinden etkileyen orman yangınları, orman yangınlarıyla mücadele
yöntemlerimizin sorgulanması gerektiğini ortaya koymaktadır. Nitekim ülkemizde
orman yangınlarıyla mücadelede, öncelikle çıkan yangınların erken tespiti, erken
müdahale ile kısa zamanda söndürülmesi üzerine odaklanılmıştır. Ancak yangınlarla
mücadelede risk yönetimi ve risk azaltımı konuları üzerinde hiç durulmamaktadır.
Orman yangınlarında risk azaltımı kapsamında büyük çoğunluğu insan kaynaklı
yangınların sayısının azaltılması, yangın riskini artıran tesislere ormanlarda izin verilmemesi ve izin verilmiş olan tesislerin denetlenmesi, denetimli yangınlarla yanıcı
madde yükünün azaltılması, ormanla iç içe yaşayanların yangınlar konusunda farkındalığının artırılması gibi çalışmalara önem verilmesi gerekmektedir (Tolunay, 2021).
İçinde bulunduğumuz süreç, ne yazık ki karar vericiler tarafından orman yangınlarının nedenleri ve yarattığı yıkımlar konusundaki değişimin fark edilmediğini gösteriyor. Öte yandan 2021 yılında maruz kaldığımız orman yangınlarının yarattığı
yıkımlar konusundaki sorumluluk da ortada kalmış, karar verici kurum ve kişiler herhangi bir sorumluluk üstlenmemiştir. Oysa ormancılık örgütünün karadan, havadan,
denizden müdahaleyi önceden planlaması, kendi ormancılık teşkilatını tam kapasiteyle kullanması ve hatta diğer devlet kurumlarıyla yangınla mücadelede iş birliği
yapmayı önceden planlaması gerekmektedir (Atmiş, 2021; Atmiş vd., 2022). Bu tür
çalışmaları yapabilmek için de, orman yangınları hakkındaki kayıtların doğru tutulması ve bu kayıtlardaki verilerin, yapılacak mücadeleye yol göstermesi için sağlıklı
analiz edilmesi gerekmektedir.
Bu başlık altında dünya ve Avrupa’daki orman yangınlarının yanı sıra ülkemizde 1937
yılından beri yaşanmış olan orman yangınları hakkında öne çıkan sayısal veriler irdelenmeye çalışılmıştır. Çünkü orman yangınlarını önleyici çalışmaların ilk aşamasını
yangın çıkış nedenlerinin analiz edilmesi oluşturmaktadır. Yangın sayılarının azaltılması ancak analiz edilen bu nedenlerin ortadan kaldırılmasıyla sağlanabilecektir.
... The average forest area is 0.52 hectares per person in the world but the areas are highly variable in different parts of the world. (FAO, 2020). There was enormous literature on the degradation of vegetation because of population pressure mostly in developing countries (Carr 2004, Jha & Bawa 2006, Mani & Griffiths 1997, Ryan et al. 2017. ...
Monitoring of Spatio-temporal vegetation dynamic is one of the most important indicators used to track environmental quality. Spatial and temporal dynamics of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values are the most useful and reliable technique to analyze the general vegetation dynamics at the regional level. Thus, this study analyzed the spatial pattern and temporal trend of NDVI values of naturally vegetated areas in the Madi Watershed of Nepal relating to its geomorphic and built-up density factors in 2000, 2010,and 2020. Lands at images were used to derive NDVI values and SRTM DEM and the topographic map were used to derive geomorphic factors and built-up density. This study excluded cultivated land, built-up area, water body, cliff, snow-cover area, glacier, and glacier moraine areas to derive only naturally vegetated areas. Human population data was collected from the population censuses. Field observation and information collected from the field to verify ground reality in 15 different watersheds. This study revealed that there is a significant increase in natural vegetation in all parts of the watershed. However, there is the highest rate of increase in vegetation in lower plain areas, where the population density is the highest. The overall increase in natural vegetation is because of the decreasing human and livestock population, changes in lifestyle, etc. The highest increase in natural vegetation in lower plain areas is because of the alternative use of cooking energy and building materials in urban and accessible areas, decreasing the number of livestock. Thus, it can be concluded that there is a significant impact of population dynamics on vegetation in the Madi Watershed of Nepal.
... Globally, bamboo grows on at least 37 million ha and covers 3.2% of the forest area of the host countries, or about 1.0% of the global forest area (Lobovikov et al., 2007;Chaowana, 2013). A slightly different number is provided by the Global Forest Resource Assessment (2020), which states that bamboo covers 35 million hectares globally (FAO, 2020;Wafiq et al., 2022). Worldwide, there are more than 75 genera and 1250 species of bamboos, distributed over humid tropical, subtropical and temperate regions (Subramaniam, 1998). ...
India has the second richest diversity of bamboos, with a wide variety of indigenous and exotic bamboo species. They are found in and around forest and non-forest areas and have immense socioeconomic, cultural, and ecological significance. The various uses of bamboo mean that it is an important non-timber forest product that has multiple roles in the maintenance, development and protection of the environment. The Himalayan region has untapped bamboo resource potential; and this study reviews the existing literature. It is supported by research experience on the bamboo resources of the western Himalaya region of India (mainly focused on distribution, utilization and marketing). The western Himalayas have 14 bamboo species with a scattered to moderate distribution in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Jammu and Kashmir have low bamboo diversity. A survey of the major markets in the western Himalaya revealed that there is a wide range of useful and decorative bamboo products available in the market. Bamboo is an important resource in western Himalaya and an increase in bamboo cultivation and its use could help boost livelihoods while providing a number of environmental benefits.
... Forests have undergone major human-induced changes and today 75% of the world's forests are altered by humans (FAO, 2020). Anthropogenic impacts on forests can alter tree cover completely through land-use changes (e.g. ...
After centuries of deforestation, many industrialised countries are experiencing an increase in forest area and biomass due to changes in land- and forest-use since the mid-20th century. At the same time, the impacts of climate change on forests are aggravating, but the interplay between past land- and forest-use (i.e. land- and forest-use legacies) and climate change in forest functioning remains elusive. Here using network theory and linear mixed models, we quantified how land- and forest-use legacies modulate tree growth synchrony in response to climate change. We analysed tree growth data from European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) stands with different histories of forest management at the species rear edge. We found that tree growth synchrony increased following heatwaves, late spring frosts, and reduced precipitation. Interestingly, the greatest tree growth synchrony occurred in recently-established forests, while stands containing large trees and heterogeneous tree sizes showed much lower growth synchrony. Our results highlight the importance of maintaining large trees and structurally heterogeneous forests to mitigate the negative effects of climate change on forest productivity, and thereby, increase forest resilience to future forest climate risks.
... The highest proportion of shelterbelt forests is in Asia (26%), and 33% have been reported in East Asia. The shelterbelt forests in China account for the most areas (60 Mha of the total 83 Mha) [31]. About 6.67 Mha poplar plantations are widely distributed in China. ...
As one of the world’s largest ecological rehabilitation programs, the three-north (Northern China, Northeastern China, and Northwestern China) shelterbelts program in China were not well evaluated on its effects on multiple soil properties. This paper aims to quantify this. Seven hundred twenty soils from paired plots of farmlands and neighbor shelterbelts were sampled from six regions of Songnen Plain in northeastern China. Multivariate analysis of variance and regression analysis were used to detect the impacts of shelterbelt plantations. For the overall 1 m soil profiles, shelterbelt plantations had a 4.3% and 7.4% decreases in soil bulk density and soil moisture (p = 0.000), a 4.8% increase in soil porosity (p = 0.003). It also evidently recovered soil fertility with a 40% increase in total P, a 4.4% increase in total K, and a 15.1% increase in available K (p < 0.05). However, without overall changes were in SOC and N (p > 0.05). Compared with farmland, shelterbelt plantations produced a 7.8% SOC increase in 20–40 cm soil and much more minor changes in surface soil (0–20 cm). Compared with the younger plantation, mature shelterbelts tended to sequestrate more SOC in soils (from a 0.11% decrease to a 3.31% increase) and recover total K from a 2.24% decline to a 16.5% increase. Correlation analysis manifested that there is a significant relationship between SOC sequestration and the changes in bulk density, porosity, soil moisture, pH, EC, total N, total P, and alkaline hydrolyzed N. In contrast, the strongest relationship was observed between total N and SOC (r > 0.50, p < 0.001). The increase in total N was accompanied by 1.01–1.67-fold higher SOC sequestration in deep soils >20 cm in poplar forests. Our results highlight that the over-40-year shelterbelts afforestation on farmland in northeastern China could strongly affect soil physics, soil water, and nutrient of P and K. The effects on SOC sequestration were dependent on soil depths, growth stages, and regions. Our data support the precise soil evaluation of agroforestry projects in the black soil region in the high-latitude northern hemisphere.
... Afforestation has been viewed as the most widely recognized and effective measure to restore the rocky desertification and erosive degraded land (Cui et al. 2020;Yao et al. 2019). As of 2020, the afforestation area has increased markedly to 290 million ha and occupied about 7% of the global forest area (FAO 2020). The Danjiangkou Reservoir is a core water source for inter-basin water transfer, studying its pollution control measures (e.g., afforestation) can help guide how large reservoirs ensure water quality around the world. ...
Aims
Afforestation is considered as an effective method to restore degraded ecosystem. The effects of afforestation on soil fertility, microbial communities assembly have been broadly studied in the whole soil, yet gaps still exist at the aggregate scale.
Methods
In the Danjiangkou Reservoir area, we set up 3 quadrats (20 m × 20 m) for bareland, farmland and woodland, respectively, and separated the collected soil into four aggregate size fractions (<0.25 mm, 0.25–1 mm 1–3 mm and > 3 mm). Soil fertility, enzyme activities, microbial communities composition were determined for all aggregate fractions.
Results
Afforestation promoted soil fertility, enzyme activities and their aggregational differentiation. E.g., invertase activity in woodland was 3.6 times higher than in bareland. Interestingly, the aggregational differentiation of bacterial alpha-diversity (P < 0.05) was more sensitive to afforestation than fungal alpha-diversity (P > 0.05). Conversely, afforestation caused that more fungal taxa (16 Ascomycota and 3 Basidiomycota taxa) were susceptible to aggregates than bacterial taxa (5 Proteobacteria taxa). In bareland, deterministic process (83.3%) was the decisive factor for bacterial communities, while fungal communities was determined by stochastic (48.5%) and deterministic (51.5%) processes. Afforestation transformed assembly processes, with dispersal limitation (53%) occurring in bacterial communities and variable selection (68.2%) in fungal communities.
Conclusions
Overall, afforestation enhanced soil fertility, enzyme activities and their variation with aggregate. Moreover, responses of fungal and bacterial assembly to afforestation vary at the soil aggregate level. This study demonstrated the importance of soil aggregates in predicting and quantifying the impact of afforestation on soil fertility and microbial communities.
... Climate change and land use change may negatively influence soil biodiversity [46]. According to the FAO [47], the soil is the largest C pool in the forest and potentially a large sink or source of greenhouse gas. Makiuppa et al. [48], in their study, found that climate change affects biomass due to decomposition rate. ...
Climate change has drawn the attention not only of scientists but of politicians and societies
worldwide. The aim of this paper is to present a method for selecting research studies on climate
change, waste management and the role of microbes in the recycling of organic matter in soil that
analyze the role of organic agriculture as the main connection between agricultural losses and climate
change. VOSviewer version 1.6.18 free software tool was used in this study in order to achieve
the bibliometric and mapping approach for studies on the effects of climate change in terms of soil
recycled organic matter and microbe interaction. Scopus database (accessed 29 September 2022)
indexed a total of 1,245,809 bibliographic items classified into paradigms. The presented documents
were downloaded from Scopus as graph-based maps and as distance-based maps in order to reflect
the strength of the relation between the items. Climate change includes changes in soil and soil
microorganisms as affected by natural climate variations and local weather, which have beneficial or
negative effects on soil organic matter. From the examination of the selected papers, it was concluded
that climate change and changing precipitation patterns are having an impact on microorganisms,
particularly bacterial groups, and thus ecosystem function.
... Carbon and water cycles in forest ecosystems are coupled ecological processes regulated by leaf stomata, which control carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) absorbed during photosynthesis and water vapor loss during transpiration (Cowan and Farquhar, 1977). Global forests cover 31% of the total land area and store 662 Gt of carbon (FAO, 2020). Plant transpiration accounts for approximately 65% of terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) (Good et al., 2015). ...
... The world has 4.1 billion hectares of tree coverage, which accounts for 31% of the total land area 1 . The global number of trees is approximately 3 trillion, and they make great contributions to carbon sequestration, timber stocks, water and air quality control, etc 2,3 . ...
Large numbers of leaves fall on the earth each autumn. The current treatments of dead leaves mainly involve completely destroying the biocomponents, which causes considerable energy consumption and environmental issues. It remains a challenge to convert waste leaves into useful materials without breaking down their biocomponents. Here, we turn red maple dead leaves into an active three-component multifunctional material by exploiting the role of whewellite biomineral for binding lignin and cellulose. Owing to its intense optical absorption spanning the full solar spectrum and the heterogeneous architecture for effective charge separation, films of this material show high performance in solar water evaporation, photocatalytic hydrogen production, and photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics. Furthermore, it also acts as a bioplastic with high mechanical strength, high-temperature tolerance, and biodegradable features. These findings pave the way for the efficient utilization of waste biomass and innovations of advanced materials.
... Remote sensing technology provides up-to-date, quality, efficient, and relatively inexpensive land cover data and comprehensive area coverage for an adequate inventory and monitoring of land cover changes [27]. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has adopted remote sensing technology in conducting Forest Resources Assessments since the 1990s [35,36]. ...
... Due to the extensive historical human impact, the proportions of primary forests and forests designated for biodiversity conservation are both low in Europe, while the area of forests managed for production is the highest among the continents (FAO, 2020;Sabatini et al., 2018). Forested habitats are nonetheless hosting a substantial part of Europe's terrestrial biodiversity, compelling conservation, and timber production efforts to be intertwined (Bastrup-Birk et al., 2016;Storch et al., 2020). ...
Forest management integrating nature conservation aspects into timber production focuses increasingly on small-scale interventions. However, the ecological consequences of gap cuttings remain ambiguous in oak-dominated forests. In the Pilis Gap Experiment, we analyze how combinations of different gap shapes (circular and elongated), and gap sizes (150 m2 and 300 m2) affect the microclimate and biota of a mature sessile oak-hornbeam forest in Hungary. We first report the changes in direct and diffuse light, soil moisture, daily air and soil temperatures, and relative air humidity in the experimental cuttings in the vegetation season directly following their implementation. Diffuse light had a central maximum and a concentric pattern. Direct light was distributed along a north-south gradient, with maxima in northern gap parts. Soil moisture was determined by gap shape: it increased significantly in the centre of circular gaps, with multiple local maxima in the southern-central parts of large circular gaps. Its pattern was negatively related to direct light, and larger spatial variability was present in circular than in elongated gaps. The daily mean air temperatures at 1.3 m increased in all, especially in large gaps. Soil and ground-level temperatures remained largely unchanged, reflecting light and soil moisture conditions affecting evaporative cooling. Relative humidity remained unaltered. Even though the opening of experimental gaps changed microclimatic conditions immediately, effect sizes remained moderate. Gap size and gap shape were both important determinants of microclimate responses: gap size markedly affected irradiation increase, gap shape determined soil moisture surplus, while soil and air temperatures, and air humidity depended on both components of the gap design. We conclude that 150-300 m2 sized management-created gaps can essentially maintain forest microclimate while theoretically providing enough light for oak regeneration; and that the manipulation of gap shape and gap size within this range are effective tools of adaptive management.
... Forests cover about 30% of the Earth's surface (FAO, 2020). The strong coupling of forest carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) assimilation and water loss, as well as its feedback to climate change and human activities at multiple spatial and temporal scales, has a substantial impact on the Earth-climate system Hatfield and Dold, 2019). ...
Forests are essential in regulating global carbon and water cycles and are critical in mitigating climate change. Water-use efficiency, defined by the ratio of plant productivity per unit water use, is widely used to quantify the interactions between forest carbon and water cycles and could be potentially used to manage the carbon and water tradeoffs of forests under different environmental conditions. This paper reviews the literature on how biophysical variables and management practices affect forest water-use efficiency. We found that water-use efficiency varies greatly with forest type, species, age, environmental conditions, and forest management practices. Climatic stresses (e.g., drought and heatwave) often pose negative effects on forest instantaneous water-use efficiency (WUE ins), particularly over a short term. Unexpectedly, plantations and natural forests have no statistical differences in WUE ins. In addition, WUE ins can be effectively improved by forest thinning. These results have important implications for managing the tradeoffs between carbon sequestration and water yield of forests. Finally, four important knowledge gaps, including species-specific water-use efficiency, long-term forest water-use efficiency dynamics, water-use efficiency responses to forest management, and the integrated effects of human and natural disturbances on plantation water-use efficiency are identified and discussed.
... Teak (Tectona grandis L.f ) is a tropical pioneer species growing on more than 260,000 hectares in Ghana [1] and accounts for approximately 70% of the exotic species in the plantation base [2]. Teak in Ghana has been reported to be genetically associated with those in central Laos [3]. ...
To test whether radial variation of wood specific gravity (WSG) is controlled by tree age or tree size in teak (Tectona grandis L.f) plantation trees, opposing different-length pith-to-bark strips which represents the differential lateral growth rate was compared using mixed-effects model which considers the heterogeneity of variances and dependency in the data to gain insight into the stochastic processes that govern the wood formation process. Various models were tested in devising an appropriate radial WSG model. Models that accounted for serial correlation in WSG data performed better than the simple structure that assumes zero correlation between measurements. The autoregressive plus random tree effect structure performed better in describing the radial variation pattern. The variability of the data related to random fluctuations during tree development and the wood formation process is modeled by the autoregressive parameter revealing the intrinsic complexity of wood formation. Since they cannot be attributed to observed factors, models should consider temporal or serial correlations when assessing wood quality. The results revealed that tree age is a decisive factor in controlling the WSG of wood, while tree size is statistically less important. Furthermore, the core wood production period varies with the growth rate. It is shown that the core wood area decreased with slow growth. Findings presented here appear to provide the first demonstration of radial variation in WSG with respect to growth rate and age for planted teak growing in Ghana.
... Steep slopes, sensitive sites, regeneration difficulty, or lack of adequate resource information may exclude an area from operational treatment. According to a global analysis (FAO 2001) about 60 percent of the North American temperate forest is considered accessible (not reserved or high elevation and within 15 miles of major transportation infrastructure). A summary of National Forest land management plans from 1995 also found that about 60 percent of the Western National Forest timberland base is considered "suitable" for timber production operations (this is only 37 percent of the forestland base). ...
... Remote sensing technology provides up-to-date, quality, efficient, and relatively inexpensive land cover data and comprehensive area coverage for an adequate inventory and monitoring of land cover changes [27]. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has adopted remote sensing technology in conducting Forest Resources Assessments since the 1990s [35,36]. ...
... It is widely accepted that forest ecosystems are suffering a level of degradation at the moment [1], which is complicated to evaluate [2,3]. This is a result of the fact that different countries use various methods of phenomenon estimation and also because degradation is caused by miscellaneous factors: human intervention, climate events, pests, fire, and diseases, to mention a few. ...
Estimating the efficiency of the investments that generate public benefits is not an easy task, as there are various methods proposed for evaluating the value of public goods and services. The novelty of the study consists of the proposed cost–benefit methodology adapted to a real-value cost concept for estimating the efficiency of the investment in the hydrographic Fâncel watershed, in the center of Romania, using a set of five indicators. The results prove that an investment of RON 1,323,226.29, at the value of 2018, would be paid in 5 years, 0 months, and 15 days. The estimated income is RON 505,327.8/year, so at a 5% financial-discount rate and an estimated period of use of 30 years, the net present value is RON 5,612,730.67. The internal rate of return was calculated as 22%, whereas the value of the savings-to-investment ratio is 3.6%. The main findings of the analysis of the economic-efficiency indicators offer a synthetic and relevant image of the fact that the investment has proven to be effective under the analyzed conditions. The results offer arguments to assume that the decision to consider that particular investment a good practice is fulfilled.
... Planted forests are trees established through planting and/or deliberate seeding of native or introduced tree species (FAO, 2005). China has carried out the most extensive afforestation and reforestation projects since the 1970s (Cao et al., 2011;Tong et al., 2020;Farooq et al., 2021), establishing more than one fourth of the total global planted forest area (FAO, 2021). These planted forests are now widely perceived to have great greenhouse gas emissions reduction potential and to mitigate the influence of global climate change (Pan et al., 2011;Harris et al., 2021). ...
About a third of New Caledonia is covered with ultramafic soils (UM) which hosts a rich flora (endemism > 85%) threatened by mining activities. This combination makes the ultramafic vegetation a floristic hotspot within a biodiversity hotspot. UM soils are distributed from sea level to 1618 m elevation with about two-thirds forming a large continuous unit while the remaining forms numerous relatively small isolated units. Here, we provide a synthesis of the distribution of forest and tree species across 22 UM units. We compiled an extensive tree occurrence dataset (109,896 occurrences and 1,065 species) and a new expert-based forest map at a 1:3000 spatial resolution. Only 10% of these species represented more than 50% of the occurrences, while 10% of the species had only one or two occurrences. A quarter of the UM area did not contain any occurrences, and we estimated that on average a quarter of the species remained to be inventoried in the 22 units. Forest covers about one-third of the UM areas with forest coverage ranging from 1.7% to 72.3% in the different UM units. Forest coverage increased from 14.6% on sea level to 93.3% at 1,200 m of elevation. About 30% of the forest and 90% of the species were located within mining concessions, while 14.5% and 73%, respectively, were located within protected areas. We recommend setting up new protected areas on ultramafic substrate, specially in the Northern province, to protect more forest and the diversity it harbours.
The launch of NASA's Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) mission in 2018 opens new opportunities to quantitatively describe forest ecosystems across large scales. While GEDI's height-related metrics have already been extensively evaluated, the utility of GEDI for assessing the full spectrum of structural variability-particularly in topographically complex terrain-remains incompletely understood. Here, we quantified GEDI's potential to estimate forest structure in mountain landscapes at the plot and landscape level, with a focus on variables of high relevance in ecological applications. We compared five GEDI metrics including relative height percentiles, plant area index, cover and understory cover to airborne laser scanning (ALS) data in two contrasting mountain landscapes in the European Alps. At the plot level, we investigated the impact of leaf phenology and topography on GEDI's accuracy. At the landscape-scale, we evaluated the ability of GEDIs sample-based approach to characterize complex mountain landscapes by comparing it to wall-to-wall ALS estimates and evaluated the capacity of GEDI to quantify important indicators of ecosystem functions and services (i.e., avalanche protection, habitat provision , carbon storage). Our results revealed only weak to moderate agreement between GEDI and ALS at the plot level (R 2 from 0.03 to 0.61), with GEDI uncertainties increasing with slope. At the landscape-level, however, the agreement between GEDI and ALS was generally high, with R 2 values ranging between 0.51 and 0.79. Both GEDI and ALS agreed in identifying areas of high avalanche protection, habitat provision, and carbon storage, highlighting the potential of GEDI for landscape-scale analyses in the context of ecosystem dynamics and management.
The Paris Agreement encourages Parties to prepare and submit long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies (LT-LEDS) to the United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). LT-LEDS are national strategies that identify pathways or scenarios for low-emission development to reach a long-term vision and/or target, while considering broader socio-economic goals. The development of a LT-LEDS is a national process, driven by national priorities and goals, with each country facing different obstacles, and requiring distinctive approaches, priorities, and actions for the required transformation. In this work, a novel five-step back-casting approach is developed to assess alternative mitigation pathways for Tajikistan in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, presenting an initial assessment and mapping, and providing the country with a starting point for LT-LEDS development. The approach is based around a set of variables of policy interest, which are areas in which climate mitigation policies, actions, or programmes of incentives can be designed and implemented. Major strengths of the approach are the consistency with the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and the national greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventory. Four mitigation pathways are defined for Tajikistan, each incorporating different policy intensity levels for the variables of policy interest. It is found that although each of the four mitigation pathways provides a significant GHG emission reduction potential, only one reaches carbon neutrality by 2050, namely, the pathway that focusses on considerable policy efforts in all sectors of the economy and incorporates intensive policy efforts for both nature-based and technological carbon dioxide (CO2) removal.
To assess the status and change trend of forest in China, an indicator framework was developed using SDG sub-indicators. In this paper, we propose an improved methodology and a set of workflows for calculating SDG indicators. The main modification include the use of moderate and high spatial resolution satellite data, as well as state-of-the-art machine learning techniques for forest cover classification and estimation of forest above-ground biomass (AGB). This research employs GF-1 and GF-2 data with enhanced texture information to map forest cover, while time series Landsat data is used to estimate forest AGB across the whole territory of China. The study calculate two SDG sub-indicators: SDG15.1.1 for forest area and SDG15.2.1 for sustainable forest management. The evaluation results showed that the total forest area in China was approximately 219 million hectares at the end of 2021, accounting for about 23.51% of the land area. The average annual forest AGB from 2015 to 2021 was estimated to be 105.01Mg/ha, and the overall trend of forest AGB change in China was positive, albeit with some spatial differences.
Studies suggest that the restoration of degraded land through planting bamboo could be a viable strategy for forest landscape restoration. As part of more extensive landscape restoration, planting bamboo in degraded and marginal landscapes have the potential to restore its productive use and ecosystem services, thus improving the adaptive capacity and resilience of such systems under the accelerated climate change phenomenon. However, using bamboo in landscape restoration has yet to receive significant attention primarily due to data scarcity, scattered or even missing in the literature, and general poor perception, thus contributing to less attention at policy and development planning levels. The lack of adequate information has hindered the potential usefulness of bamboo in landscape restoration and climate change adaptation and mitigation. Therefore, this chapter aims to review and assemble existing knowledge on bamboo resources related to its ability to restore the degraded forest landscape and its contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation. The chapter, therefore, also aims to highlight promising practices deemed viable to inform decision-makers and to upscale in Africa, which has a bamboo potential of about 115 species covering 7.2 million ha. We highlighted specific key characteristics of bamboo in forest landscape restoration, such as rapid growth, soil binding, and erosion control properties, adaptive capability, nutrient and water conservation, and the provision of a continuous and permanent canopy. Furthermore, we examined its contributions to direct and indirect human well-being through ecosystem services. It is concluded that bamboo has enormous potentiality in landscape restoration vis-a-vis climate change adaptation and mitigation. Finally, it is suggested to initiate an action call for good practices to restore degraded forest landscapes in Africa within frameworks of initiatives such as the REDD + strategy, Bonn Challenge, Afr100 initiative, and the Great Green Wall incorporating bamboo as one of the essential components.KeywordsBamboo resourceForest landscapeRestorationEcosystem servicesClimate mitigation and adaptationPractical lessonsAfrica
Temperate broadleaf forests in the Western Himalaya support a large number of local agro-pastoral communities and provide numerous ecosystem services. Several authors have raised serious concerns about the sustainability of current extractive pressures in these forests. We conducted a detailed ecological study on different forests in Askot Wildlife Sanctuary area to assess their current status in terms of species composition and regeneration of dominant tree species. We quantified structure and composition, population structure and regeneration pattern in six major forest types and compared the findings of a previous study conducted by other authors in the same area about 20 years ago. A total of 180 plots in 18 sites were sampled following the standard phytosociological methods. Canonical component analysis was used to predict the impact of environmental factors on forest communities, and land use land cover changes detected influence of ongoing anthropogenic pressures in the area. The study revealed that extractive pressures in the study area have increased since then, which resulted in the decline of the forested area. However, there has been an expansion of Macaranga pustulata, Quercus leucotrichophora and Quercus lanuginosa since the year 2000 and there is a decline in the regeneration of Quercus semecarpifolia. Considering the significance of high-altitude forests and the ecological sensitivity of Q. semecarpifolia, it is recommended to initiate urgent conservation measures in the region.
Ethiopia harbours the Eastern Afromontane and Horn of Africa hotspots of biodiversity.The general objective of this study was to investigate the floristic composition and diversity of species, the structure and the regeneration status of the Hurubu natural forest. Three parallel transects was systematically laid across the forest with an interval of 200m in north to southt direction. Thirty sample quadrats of 20 m × 20 m was placed along transects at an interval of 100 m for mature trees and shrubs, while for the purpose of seedling and sapling inventory, four sub-quadrates of 1 m × 1 m was laid at each corner of the main quadrat. A total of 32 woody species representing 25 families was recorded consisting of trees and shrubs. The lower storey consisted of all woody plant species except Ekebergia capensis tree species. The middle storey consisted about 14.41% of the tree species while the upper storey involved only 2.35% of the total individual trees in the forest. The total basal area of woody plants in Hurubu forest was 90 m ² per ha. The three most important woody species with the highest IVI were Juniperus procera, Osyris quadripartite, & Myrsine Africana in decreasing order. The general regeneration status of the tree species of the study site was satisfactory at the community level showing a ‘fair’ regeneration status. Therefore, special conservation actions should be implemented for the poorly and not regenerating woody species of the forest.
Bamboo is one of the most sustainable materials in nature due to its fast growth, rapid regeneration, outstanding mechanical properties, and applications in numerous industries. Latest technological advances have been allowing the plant to be studied and applied to exciting new projects. Being bamboo an icon of sustainable development, this book approaches the latest developments in the study of the plant, either as a natural resource or as a source of inspiration for more efficient designs. With the global urging demand for more sustainable practices, innovations in bamboo science and technology are key to the development of environmentally sound solutions.
Remaining intact forests still covered 519 million ha in the Asia-Pacific region in 2020. Of these, 378 million ha are intact contiguous forests. This area is wider than the 140 million ha reported by countries to the FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment (2015) as “primary forests.”
• Large-scale remote-sensing assessments of some formations, notably seasonal forest and woodland types, need to be complemented by field surveys to properly identify and map the different primary forest types corresponding to FAO’s definition.
• While the vast diversity of forest formations in the Asia-Pacific region is known, there is a considerable lack of knowledge about the eco-floristic variation observed within each forest type, the possible causes of this variability, and the distribution and population dynamics of many tree species important for primary forest conservation.
Large-scale ecological vegetation mapping and related socio-ecological surveys integrating altitudinal zonation, edaphic conditions and vegetation, including floristic information, need to be developed and become standard.
• Primary forests and natural landscapes in Asia and the Pacific are under increasing pressures and threats driven by population growth, migrations and conflicts, globalization and economic growth, urbanization, mining and infrastructure development, agriculture and planted forest expansion, forest fires, invasive species and disease outbreaks. Many of these threats are increasingly exacerbated by climate change. Policy coherence across sectors and scales and context-specific action plans, at fine scale of management, are needed to address these threats. A large part of the remaining intact forests falls outside protected areas and is used for multiple objectives. Hence, different mechanisms and tools, including other area-based conservation measures, integrated landscape approaches and community based management, need to be mobilized at different scales. These mechanisms and tools come in addition to and in support of legal protection, to allow effective protection and conservation of primary forests to cope with a broad range of
threats in a variety of situations and to ensure socio ecological sustainability.
Understanding the village characteristics linked to forest networks is essential for the scientific management of forest resources. Forests are complex socio-ecological systems. This study classifies the resources and characteristics of forest networks and neighboring villages using unsupervised learning algorithms: self-organizing maps (SOM) and geographic-self-organizing maps (Geo-SOMs). Considering ecological, economic, and socio-cultural indicators, 18 covariates of 379 villages in two forest networks of the Baekdudaegan Mountain Range in South Korea were analyzed. The data visualizing map size was fixed based on changes in quantization and topographic errors of the same grid maps, and the number of clusters was determined by comparing K-means and hierarchical clustering techniques. An optimal map size of 17 × 12 grids and six clusters was used for further classification of the input data for both SOM and Geo-SOM analyses. The common characteristics of villages were identified using SOM classification, whereas geographically bounded characteristics were identified using Geo-SOM. The approach introduced in this study can be applied to socio-ecological classification and the design of sustainable forest management policies that link the remote sensing and geographic information systems.
This chapter presents an overview of the current state of natural resources—biodiversity, water resources and climate change both in the context of the world and Bangladesh—based on the analysis of available macro-data. The discussion illustrates the degrading trend of nature in general and the severity of the problems faced by developing countries in particular. Specifically, the findings underscore that biodiversity resources are degrading at the most expeditious rate, water resources are unevenly distributed and unsustainably managed by the countries and climate change has emerged as a challenge for governing global commons resulting in inequality. In the latter part, the chapter explains the scope and approach of the book in detail where it also highlights the key variables of the alternative resource governance framework that has been developed in this book. The final section ends with outlining the organisation of the chapters throughout the book.
Forest trees provide critical ecosystem services for humanity that are under threat due to ongoing global change. Measuring and characterizing genetic diversity is key to understanding adaptive potential and developing strategies to mitigate negative consequences arising from climate change. In the area of forest genetic diversity, genetic divergence caused by large-scale changes at the chromosomal level have been largely understudied. In this study, we used the RNA-seq data of twenty co-occurring forest trees species from genera including Acer, Alnus, Amelanchier, Betula, Cornus, Corylus, Dirca, Fraxinus, Ostrya, Populus, Prunus, Quercus, Ribes, Tilia, and Ulmus sampled from Upper Peninsula of Michigan. These data were used to infer the origin and maintenance of gene family variation, species divergence time, as well as gene family expansion and contraction. We identified a signal of common whole genome duplication events shared by core eudicots, and a signal of recent duplication events specific to particular species. We also found rapid evolution, namely fast expansion or fast contraction of gene families, in plant-pathogen interaction genes amongst the diploid species studied. Finally, the results lay the foundation for further research on the genetic diversity and adaptive capacity of forest trees, which will inform forest management and conservation policies.
Exotic timber plantations have expanded in the montane habitats of the Western Ghats in the last century, often replacing the natural grassland-rainforest mosaic. This has inadvertently increased tree connectivity across the landscape, affecting arboreal mammals in varied ways. Here we report that the endemic Indian giant squirrel nests in exotic timber plantations in the Palani Hills, a behaviour not previously described. An extensive survey of timber plantations revealed a total of 70 nests, with 73% of the nests found on exotic Eucalyptus trees. An investigation of the landscape and environmental factors that were associated with the choice of nesting locations revealed that nest sites were significantly closer to rainforest patches. Squirrels also nested on east-facing slopes, away from human disturbances like agriculture. This study is the first to report giant squirrel nesting behaviour in exotic timber plantations across a landscape mosaic. We suggest that policymakers and managers proceed with caution while clearing plantations in an attempt to restore native vegetation.
Este libro presenta una colección de artículos de investigación que bajo distintos ámbitos de conocimiento realizan avances de interés en la ciencia y la tecnología. La sociedad del siglo XXI se distingue de la de épocas pretéritas por su capacidad analítica. A diferencia de lo que ocurría en otras épocas, en nuestro mundo contemporáneo tenemos demasiada información y avanzar en el conocimiento significa realizar una investigación original sobre otros antecedentes previos y analizar una gran cantidad de datos para poder extraer conclusiones que signifiquen un desarrollo, un avance entre la situación anterior y la posterior, aunque sea a pequeña escala en un contexto local y en un ámbito científico muy concreto. La suma de miles de esos pequeños avances y la interconexión mundial sostienen a la ciencia y la tecnología del siglo XXI.
Este es el objetivo de este libro, realizar avances en la ciencia y la tecnología para el desarrollo ambiental, cultural y socioeconómico, desde un posicionamiento académico, comprometido con el rigor científico y el desarrollo del ser humano. Para ello se han compendiado veintidós artículos de investigación en dos apartados, ciencia y tecnología. En el primer conjunto nos encontramos con artículos que desde las ciencias ambientales o las ciencias sociales realizan propuestas de mejora de aspectos concretos sobre hidrología, regeneración de suelo agrícola, cuidado ambiental, recursos humanos, ciudades igualitarias o paisajes culturales. En el segundo bloque, se agrupan trabajos de ingeniería química, ingeniería industrial o ingeniería forestal que relatan avances en distintas tecnologías, relacionadas con el biogás de los vertederos de residuos, los usos de nuevos materiales sintéticos, la química de determinados productos y su toxicidad, o las características bioestructurales de la madera de roble.
Tropical forests are under strong anthropogenic pressures that need to be identified so that appropriate measures can be taken for their sustainable management. It is in this context that this study was carried out from April to June 2017 in the Teaching and Research Forest of the University of Dschang, located in the Deng-Deng forest landscape, East-Region of Cameroon. The overall objective of this work was to contribute to the sustainable management of the forest by providing quantitative and qualitative information on the dynamics of land use and carbon stocks. To achieve this, a forest inventory at 1% sampling rate was conducted across the forest. ArcGIS and Envi softwares were used for processing, analyzing and interpreting Landsat images of 1984, 2000 and 2016. Interviews with resource persons and field observations were used to propose a sustainable management strategy for the area. The results of this study showed that the main driver of deforestation and degradation is agriculture, which is also the main activity of carried out by local communities, followed by illegal timber logging along roads, in agricultural plots and fallow. In terms of land-use dynamics, the results showed that the average annual rate of net deforestation in the Deng-Deng landscape over the last 32 years is 0.12%. this rate is 0.48% in the Teaching and Research Forest of the University of Dschang and its peripheral zone including the villages Ndemba I and II. Inventories identified 7 main types of land use/land cover, including mature secondary forests (64.10%), young secondary forests (7.54%), swampy forests (7,39%), fallows (3.63%), savanna (9.59%), cocoa plantations (4.28%) and mixed cropping fields (3.47%). It was found that mature secondary forests have the highest carbon stock per hectare, ie 232.75 tC/ha, whereas mixed crop fields have the lowest (94.67 tC/ha), highlighting the impact of agricultural activities on both forest cover and carbon stocks. The proposed strategy aims to ensure an integrated, inclusive and sustainable management of the Unversity's forest. This study revealed that the forest is gradually invaded by agricultural plantations and it is therefore urgent to act in favor of its sustainable management by intensifying research activities and by associating the riparian communities to its management.
Key words: Teaching and Research Forest of the University of Dschang, land use, spatial and temporal dynamics, satellite imagery, carbon stocks
Informative data for public health reform against impacts of unsustainable environmental degradation is fragmented across disciplines, while discreet and spatial evidence is particularly limited for marine and coastal ecosystems. For poor, marginal communities experiencing limitations in health sector interventions, such knowledge could be vital. We investigated mangrove-health relationships in Ghana to inform identification and design of most suitable health-supporting ecosystem interventions in such societies.Academic, health, media, and conservation key informants were interviewed alongside mangrove residents, about influences of human-mangrove interactions on health, and consequences of ecosystem and health sector interventions. Reports show that mangroves diversely supply vital health-impacting ecosystem services, support services for fisheries being the strongest health link. Efficacies and constituents of mangrove-sourced medicines remain unverified, and while reliance on these has declined over time, some minimal indigenous knowledge yet survives. Little knowledge about pollution remediation services of mangroves emerged, with disease vector and pathogen regulation perceived as health disservices. These findings elucidate and reaffirm aspects of the neglected but crucial mangrove-health nexus, for which further exploration constitutes a compelling nature-based opportunity to enhance wellbeing in marginal societies.Mangrove ecosystem interventions maximise economic benefits that expand access to wider health improvement options, but social and rural-urban public health success disparities persist. Customization of conservation strategies can elicit preferred health impacts, offset shortfalls in non-uniform implementation of health sector interventions and guarantee more equitable and sustainable cross-sector outcomes.
Background and aims – Forests are among the most threatened ecosystems worldwide, and endemic plants are often a vulnerable component of the flora of a given territory. So far, however, understory forest endemics of southern Europe have received little attention and are poorly known for several aspects.
Material and methods – We developed the first list of native vascular plants that are restricted to Italian forests. Available information on taxonomy, regional distribution, ecology, biology, functional traits, and conservation status was collected for each taxon, allowing to identify major knowledge gaps and calculate baseline statistics.
Key results – The list includes 134 taxa, most of which are linked to closed-canopy forest habitats, while the others are also found in margins and gaps. The forest and non-forest Italian endemic flora differed in terms of taxonomic and life-form distribution. The rate and density of forest endemism increased with decreasing latitude and were highest in Sicily, Calabria, and Basilicata, where paleoendemic mono- or oligotypic genera also occur. Endemic phanerophytes were especially numerous on islands. Beech and deciduous oak forests were the most important habitats, but hygrophilous woodlands also host numerous endemics. Overall, the ecology, biology, and functional traits of the forest endemic taxa are still poorly known. The ratio diploids/polyploids was highest in the south and on the islands. Almost 24% of the taxa were assessed as “Critically Endangered”, “Endangered”, or “Vulnerable”, and 24% were categorized as “Data Deficient”, based on the IUCN system. Increasing frequency and intensity of fires was the most frequent threat.
Conclusions – This work can contribute to implement the European forest plant species list and serve as a basis for further research on a unique biological heritage of the continent. However, more knowledge about these globally rare taxa is needed, to support their conservation in changing forest landscapes.
Humans have been altering the Mediterranean landscapes for millennia. To diminish the probability of encounters with domestic animals, humans and their activities, many species adjust their behavior to become more nocturnal. Even habitat-generalist species, such as red fox and stone marten that are somehow tolerant to environmental changes, might be affected by anthropic disturbances. Nevertheless, only a small number of studies were implemented in Iberia targeting these mesocarnivores’ activity patterns, and fewer have assessed the temporal ecology of these species in Eucalyptus plantations, the current main forest cover in Portugal. Based on camera traps, we aimed to analyze: 1) the temporal and spatio-temporal activity patterns of red fox and stone marten; and 2) how they are affected by distinct human disturbances (i.e., humans, livestock, dogs, plantations, and hunting). Foxes presented a higher crepuscular activity, while martens were entirely nocturnal, suggesting some avoidance behavior. Both mesocarnivores showed a higher overlap with dogs’ activity than with humans or livestock. Foxes’ activity patterns vary between seasons and habitats but were not influenced by the hunting period. Results suggest that both mesocarnivores, besides setting apart their activity from humans related disturbances, also show a tendency to temporally avoid each other. While the increase of nocturnality may indicate an anthropic disturbance impact, a reduction of activity overlap between mesocarnivores may be a strategy to reduce competition. These results may help support the sustainable management of landscapes by highlighting critical periods where activity overlaps may occur, and thus the anthropic impacts on wildlife are higher.
Land use change in pastures is considered one of the leading drivers of tropical deforestation in the Ecuadorian Amazon Region (EAR). To halt and reverse this process, it is necessary to understand, among other factors, the local livelihoods, income from grazing area and the appropriate options to foster sustainable production, incorporating the land-sparing and land-sharing approach. This work was conducted using 167 household surveys along an altitudinal gradient within the buffer and transition zone of the Sumaco Biosphere Reserve (SBR) in the EAR. The results of a comparative analysis of the main capital variables (human, social, natural, financial, and physical), and the opportunity cost of grazing area assessment provides the following key findings: (a) the concepts of land sparing and land sharing should be considered as complementary local strategies, including household livelihoods and the opportunity cost of the grazing area; (b) we should encourage markets with differentiated restoration rights, based on households engaged in low grazing areas’ opportunity costs, and making less impact on capitals’ livelihood a key element of economic and conservation initiatives; and (c) sectoral policy implications, including moderate intensification and technological improvements to strengthen the pastureland-sparing and -sharing approach, are discussed.
Afforestation processes, natural and anthropogenic, involve the conversion of other land uses to forest, and they represent one of the most important land use transformations, influencing numerous ecosystem services. Although remotely sensed data are commonly used to monitor forest disturbance, only a few reported studies have used these data to monitor afforestation. The objectives of this study were two fold: (1) to develop and illustrate a method that exploits the 1985–2019 Landsat time series for predicting afforestation areas at 30 m resolution at the national scale, and (2) to estimate afforestation areas statistically rigorously within Italian administrative regions and land elevation classes. We used a Landsat best-available-pixel time series (1985–2019) to calculate a set of temporal predictors that, together with the random forests prediction technique, facilitated construction of a map of afforested areas in Italy. Then, the map was used to guide selection of an estimation sample dataset which, after a complex photointerpretation phase, was used to estimate afforestation areas and associated confidence intervals. The classification approach achieved an accuracy of 87%. At the national level, the afforestation area between 1985 and 2019 covered 2.8 ± 0.2 million ha, corresponding to a potential C-sequestration of 200 million t. The administrative region with the largest afforested area was Sardinia, with 260,670 ± 58,522 ha, while the smallest area of 28,644 ± 12,114 ha was in Valle d’Aosta. Considering elevation classes of 200 m, the greatest afforestation area was between 400 and 600 m above sea level, where it was 549,497 ± 84,979 ha. Our results help to understand the afforestation process in Italy between 1985 and 2019 in relation to geographical location and altitude, and they could be the basis of further studies on the species composition of afforestation areas and land management conditions.
Mikania micrantha, commonly known as mile-a-minute, is one of the problematic invasive species confined in low lands of Nepal, particularly, in and around Chitwan National Park. This study assessed the alteration caused by Mikania micrantha on regeneration diversity, density and biological (carbon) sequestration in Kumrose Buffer zone forest. Equal numbers of sampling plots were taken in each forest block invaded and non-invaded by Mikania micrantha. The regeneration status was estimated through density and Shannon diversity indices whereas, soil organic carbon and biomass carbon stock were determined, analyzed and compared with available standard methodologies. The regeneration density and diversity were significantly higher in the non-invaded forest. Regeneration of major desirable forest species viz. Dalbergia sissoo, Acacia catechu and Bombax ceiba were recorded in the noninvaded forest whereas regeneration of these species was absent in invaded forest. Higher regeneration diversity and density in the non-invaded forest (Shannon diversity index was 1.42) shows better forest conditions for the growth and development of tree species than in the invaded forest. Similarly, total carbon stock was 1.14 times higher in non-invaded forests indicating that Mikania micrantha can dramatically alter carbon sequestration. Though total carbon stock was higher in non-invaded forests, soil and undergrowth carbon stock was higher in the invaded forest. Overall findings demonstrate that Mikania micrantha can alter both forest regeneration and carbon storage ability of the forest. The study highly recommends to concern authorities control the further invasion of this species to conserve the rich riverine forest ecosystem.
Robinia pseudoacacia L. (commonly known as black locust) is an economically and environmentally important plant, native to the eastern USA, and introduced into several European countries, including Hungary. An early successional leguminous tree, the black locust is characterized by tolerance to degraded sites, rapid growth rate, dense and rot-resistant wood, and heavy flowering. Due to its economic potential and environmental impact, the historic Hungarian breeding strategy targeted not only increased wood production but also in wood and honey-production quality. However, because many important features of the species are under polygenic control, genome-wide genetic data provided by high-throughput sequencing technology could make possible the identification of gene variants with identifiable functional effects on complex traits. Furthermore, the evaluation of the breeding efforts carried out so far would be also achievable, by comparing bred/selected genotypes with those from the original habitat. This paper provides a genomic dataset with highly variable SNP markers from native American and Hungarian Robinia pseudoacacia L. individuals. These SNP loci can be used to assess genetic differentiation, and to detect signatures of polygenic determination of economically important traits, providing a basis for further research into this species.
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