No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
The Ghubbah Mangroves Restoration Project as a Disaster Response in the Socotra Archipelago World Heritage Site (Yemen) Using a Sustainable Development Approach: A Case Study on Local Livelihoods Alternatives
Abstract
This research focuses on assessing the socio-economics impact of the case study: The Ghubbah Mangroves Restoration Project. Such assessment is essential to explore the positive and negative impacts of such projects and determine if the project effectively achieves its goals. The Study is the first of its kind on the Socotra Archipelago. It collected quantitative and qualitative data through the status assessment of the Planted Mangroves, interviews and household surveys conducted in October 2021. Using the "Social Assessment of Protected and Conserved Area" (SAPA) tool, the study provides evidence that the project has achieved its primary goal, and the positive impacts have already begun to emerge in the community's livelihoods.
The study concludes that to achieve sustainability of its activities any conservation project needs to consider economic and social implications of these activities. The local communities are the key driver behind the success of any project of this kind. The project has met four Sustainable Development Goals (1, 2, 13 and 14).
It is recommended to thoroughly document the project’s processes and develop guidelines for good practice in planning and implementing conservation projects, especially mangroves restoration projects. The study recommends adopting the sustainable development approach in disaster response actions.
Furthermore, regular assessments of projects social and economic impacts ensure better effects and outcomes. There is a need to enhance the communication and outreach strategy of the project because they are critical to promoting conservation projects and obtaining community and government advocacy.
Keywords: sustainable development, social impact, climate change, disasters, local community, Socotra, Ghubbah, Yemen, mangroves, world heritage, tourism.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
About IUCN IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges. IUCN's work focuses on valuing and conserving nature, ensuring effective and equitable governance of its use, and deploying nature-based solutions to global challenges in climate, food, and development. IUCN supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world, and brings governments, NGOs, the UN, and companies together to develop policy, laws, and best practices.
The topical collection ‘Twenty years of biodiversity research and nature conservation in the Socotra Archipelago’, in short ‘Socotra biodiversity research and nature conservation’ was conceived at the 18th Friends of Socotra annual meeting and Socotra conference which took place at the Orto Botanico di Palermo, Palermo, Italy, 26–29 September, 2019. In total, 13 research papers are included in the collection, which covers a selection of the latest scientific progress on the fauna and flora of the terrestrial and aquatic environments of the Socotra Archipelago UNESCO World Heritage Site (Yemen). Topics include conservation, taxonomy, ecology, biology and biogeography. The focus is mainly on biodiversity conservation and aimed at identifying current challenges, trends and processes that may impact on local ecosystems and livelihoods, based on analysis of data collected over the last decades. With this collection, we wish to emphasise the importance of taking into account science-based conservation approaches in future strategic steps towards safeguarding the ecosystems of Socotra.
This chapter describes Soqotra’s contemporary pastoral economy as the legacy of a transition process engendered by a state-initiated disarticulation between the subsistence economy of the hinterland and the northern coast-based political economy of the state. This process transformed the practice of pastoralism in Soqotra from a core economy to an auxiliary livelihood. This state-initiated process suggests a contrary narrative to the conventional thesis that pastoralism is axiomatically a political strategy employed by pastoralists for resisting state encapsulation or domination. Accordingly, this chapter describes the key aspects of the current functioning of the pastoral economy of Soqotra Island. The introductory section offers a brief historical narrative of this disarticulation process through a synoptic description of the political economy of four mainland-imposed regimes on the island. The second section briefly explains the origin of the mistaken identification of Soqotran pastoralists as “Bedouins.” Subsequently, the chapter details the workings of pastoralism as an auxiliary livelihood through an analytical description of the three key spheres of activity in any system of livelihood: production, distribution, and consumption. Finally, it concludes with a brief exploration of the sustainability of pastoralism by considering the likely future scenarios about its prospects on the island.
Owing to the limited length of observed tropical cyclone data and the effects of multidecadal internal variability, it has been a challenge to detect trends in tropical cyclone activity on a global scale. However, there is a distinct spatial pattern of the trends in tropical cyclone frequency of occurrence on a global scale since 1980, with substantial decreases in the southern Indian Ocean and western North Pacific and increases in the North Atlantic and central Pacific. Here, using a suite of high-resolution dynamical model experiments, we show that the observed spatial pattern of trends is very unlikely to be explained entirely by underlying multidecadal internal variability; rather, external forcing such as greenhouse gases, aerosols, and volcanic eruptions likely played an important role. This study demonstrates that a climatic change in terms of the global spatial distribution of tropical cyclones has already emerged in observations and may in part be attributable to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
The use of mangroves as a travel and tourism destination has not received much attention, but provides a high-value, low impact use of these important ecosystems. This work quantifies and maps the distribution of mangrove visitation at global scales using keyword searches on user-generated content of the popular travel website, TripAdvisor. It further explores the use of user-generated content to uncover information about facilities, activities and wildlife in mangrove tourism locations world-wide. Some 3945 mangrove “attractions” are identified in 93 countries and territories. Boating is the most widespread activity, recorded in 82% of English-language sites. Birdlife is recorded by visitors in 28% of sites, with manatees/dugongs and crocodiles/alligators also widely reported. It is likely that mangrove tourism attracts tens to hundreds of millions of visitors annually and is a multi-billion dollar industry.
Small-scale livelihood projects are widely used in forest conservation and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD)þ initiatives; however, there is limited information on how effective these projects are at delivering livelihood and conservation benefits. We explored local perceptions of the effectiveness of small-scale livelihood projects in delivering livelihood and conservation benefits in eastern Madagascar. Our results suggest that small-scale livelihood projects vary greatly in their ability to deliver livelihood benefits, and that the type of livelihood project (e.g., agriculture, beekeeping, fish farming, or livestock production) has a significant impact on which livelihood benefits are delivered. Many small-scale livelihood projects, regardless of project type, are perceived to contribute to forest conservation efforts. Our study highlights that small-scale livelihood projects have the potential to contribute to both improved livelihoods and enhanced forest conservation, but also illustrates the need for more information on the factors that lead to project success. ARTICLE HISTORY
Concerns about the social consequences of conservation have spurred increased attention the monitoring and evaluation of the social impacts of conservation projects. This has resulted in a growing body of research that demonstrates how conservation can produce both positive and negative social, economic, cultural, health, and governance consequences for local communities. Yet, the results of social monitoring efforts are seldom applied to adaptively manage conservation projects. Greater attention is needed to incorporating the results of social impact assessments in long‐term conservation management to minimize negative social consequences and maximize social benefits. We bring together insights from social impact assessment, adaptive management, social learning, knowledge coproduction, cross‐scale governance, and environmental planning to propose a definition and framework for adaptive social impact management (ASIM). We define ASIM as the cyclical process of monitoring and adaptively managing social impacts over the life‐span of an initiative through the 4 stages of profiling, learning, planning, and implementing. We outline 14 steps associated with the 4 stages of the ASIM cycle and provide guidance and potential methods for social‐indicator development, predictive assessments of social impacts, monitoring and evaluation, communication of results, and identification and prioritization of management responses. Successful ASIM will be aided by engaging with best practices – including local engagement and collaboration in the process, transparent communication of results to stakeholders, collective deliberation on and choice of interventions, documentation of shared learning at the site level, and the scaling up of insights to inform higher‐level conservation policies‐to increase accountability, trust, and perceived legitimacy among stakeholders. The ASIM process is broadly applicable to conservation, environmental management, and development initiatives at various scales and in different contexts.
In aiming to halt global biodiversity loss, it is essential to address underlying societal processes. The concept of ecosystem services claims to bridge between biodiversity and society. At the same time there is a considerable research gap regarding how ecosystem services are provided, and how societal activities and dynamics influence the provision of ecosystem services. Interactions and dependencies between ecosystem services supply and demand come to the fore but context-specific dynamics have largely been neglected. This article is a critical reflection on the current research of ecosystem services supply and demand. We argue that there is a functional relation between the supply and demand for ecosystem services, with the two influencing each other. Scientific interest should focus on both the temporal and spatial dynamics of ecosystem services supply and demand. Presenting two studies from Socotra Archipelago, Yemen and the Sahel regions in Senegal and Mali, West Africa, we illustrate that the society behind the demand for ecosystem services is highly interrelated with ecosystem services supply. We thus advocate the adoption of a social-ecological perspective for current research on ecosystem services supply and demand in order to address these context-specific temporal and spatial dynamics.
Book reviewing different options for assessing the social impacts of conservation initiatives
The Socotra Archipelago is situated in the Gulf of Aden where tropical and “pseudo-temperate” conditions combine to create a unique marine ecosystem. The diversity, ecology, productivity and fisheries of the coastal fish assemblages are still relatively understudied and no update of the scientific knowledge existed. The islands support unique coastal and coral-associated fish assemblages in spite of the limited biogenic reef frameworks. Fish diversity is the highest among comparable Arabian eco-regions, and fish biomass productivity high too by Indian Ocean standards. The production of the once traditionally-managed small-scale fishery is severely declining and whether it is sustainable nowadays is extremely doubtful. At a time when Yemen is torn apart by a severe political and humanitarian crisis it is timely to review and update the current state of knowledge for scientists and managers, and thereby ease access to existing information, facilitating follow-on studies and evidence-based conservation and fisheries management.
Coastal zone of Yemen on the Red Sea harbors luxuriant growth of mangroves, whereas that of Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea are barren except for few patches mainly because of the exposed nature of the habitat. Mangroves in Yemen have been subjected to continuous threats and anthropogenic stresses, which include urbanization, aquaculture, tourism, wood cutting, oil pollution, dumping of solid wastes, cattle grazing, fishing activities, land fill and domestic sewage.
The Soqotra Archipelago is Yemen's ultimate frontier, straddling the African Continent and the Arabian Peninsula. Its approximately 50,000 inhabitants occupy a hyphenated geographical place as well as an interstitial cultural space. Soqotra, the main island of the Archipelago, is a community of once predominantly non-nomadic transhumant pastoralists, who are now engaged in,increasingly non-pastoralist fivelihoods, with a unique language and a mixed ethnic composition undergoing an accelerated change process driven by a dual incorporation process: on the one hand, the Yemeni government's modernization of its infrastructure and consolidation of its political incorporation the national community; and, on the other, all United Nations led internationalization of its economy through the implementation of an environmental protection and ecotourism development program. This paper situates these recent initiatives, as the latest phase, within a historical process of change by retracing the genealogy,of Soqotra's engagement with a modernization process. It suggests that this process was primarily driven by a series of acts of political incorporation by mainland actors. These acts are seen as the crucible of the island's history, as they set in motion the mechanism of change through the reconfiguration of its local institutions resulting in the transformation of its internal social structure as well as of the associated cultural practices. Accordingly, the paper, first, offers a historical periodization of the island's transformation process through a description of the four administrative regimes introduced under the different phases of political incorporation. Second, it describes the internal adjustments engendered by each of these administrative regimes in terms of polity formation, economic strategy, and their sociocultural ramifications. Third, it concludes with the emerging dysfunctional aspects of this change process and recommends the prioritization of cultural diversity as a potential solution.
The climate of Socotra, influenced by the Indian Ocean Monsoon, is poorly known, hampering understanding
of its paleoclimate and (endemic) biodiversity. Mean annual rainfall and temperature, measured
in a network of meteorological stations from 2002 to 06, were 216 mm and 28.9 �C. Combined with cloud
cover information from satellite images, this data provides clear ideas on inter- and intra-annual
variability. Precipitation derived from the northeast (NE) winter monsoon influences especially the NE
plateaus and windward side of the Haggeher Mountains because of orographic effects. The southwest
(SW) summer monsoon concentrates at the southern half of the island and generally produces less
rainfall. During the SW summer monsoon, clouds cover the highlands and plateaus south of the
Haggeher Mountains, creating fog. Preliminary measurements suggest that at higher altitudes, fogderived
moisture may constitute up to two-thirds of total moisture, amounting up to 800 mm. The
predominant SW aspect of the enigmatic dragonblood tree underlines the importance of fog. Long-term
weather observations by Socotri put these short-term meteorological observations into a longer
perspective. Socotri informants also described the drought years when livestock populations crashed,
after which windows of opportunities for the regeneration of dragonblood and other grazing-sensitive
trees may have occurred.
Gremlins intervened in the preparation of my paper “The Economic Effects of Climate Change” published in the Spring 2009 issue of this journal. In Table 1 of that paper, titled “Estimates of the Welfare Impact of Climate Change,” minus signs were dropped from the two impact estimates, one by Plambeck and Hope (1996) and one by Hope (2006). In Figure 1 of that paper, titled “Fourteen Estimates of the Global Economic Impact of Climate Change,” and in the various analyses that support that figure, the minus sign was dropped from only one of the two estimates. The corresponding Table 1 and Figure 1 presented here correct these errors. Figure 2 titled, “Twenty-One Estimates of the Global Economic Impact of Climate Change” adds two overlooked estimates from before the time of the original 2009 paper and five more recent ones.
The Socotra Archipelago (Republic of Yemen; 12°-13°N, 52°-55°E) occupies a unique biogeographical situation at the junction between the northwest extreme of the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. The islands are subject to reversing monsoonal conditions and exposed to cold-water upwelling during the Southwest Monsoon (May to September), resulting in temporary exposure to more temperate conditions in an otherwise tropical environment. A hierarchical littoral and sublittoral marine biotope classification scheme was developed from field surveys between 1998 and 2000. The littoral environment consists of both exposed and sheltered sand and cobble beaches, interspersed with rock cliffs, headlands and platforms and areas of uplifted relict reef. Seagrasses and mangroves are locally rare and restricted to the main island of Socotra. Seagrasses were most abundant in a sheltered lagoon on the northwest coast of Socotra. Sublittoral communities on exposed southern shores consist of mixed macroalgal and coral communities and naturally intergrade with diverse, yet patchy, typically coral-dominated communities on northern shores. Coral communities rarely form reef frameworks, and those formed are typically located in the sheltered lee of headlands or bays. The spatial extent of the marine (littoral and sublittoral) biotopes identified from the field surveys were mapped using Landsat 7 ETM+ satellite data to provide a basis for both monitoring and management. The results show that this technology can be effective for mapping shallow tropical marginal non-reefal coral and macroalgal communities and demonstrate its utility in the selection and design of marine protected areas for zoning and integrated coastal zone management. The distribution and diversity of marine biotopes around the Socotra Archipelago is discussed in relation to the complexity of the physical oceanography affecting the islands and the characteristics of neighbouring biogeographical provinces.
During a typical Indian Ocean Dipole mode (IOD) event the weakening and reversal of winds in the central equatorial Indian Ocean lead to the development of unusually warm sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the western Indian Ocean. Here we report an analysis of model results and observations for the 1990-1999 period, showing the anomalous warming that occurred during 1997-1998 and 1994-1995 IOD events in the western Indian Ocean. It was primarily the result of the internal oceanic processes within the Arabian Sea rather than a direct response to external forcing from the eastern Indian Ocean as previously suggested. We compare the evolution of subsurface temperatures in the Arabian Sea just prior to (1996-1997: Representative of a normal year) and during the IOD event (1997-1998) to infer the physical processes responsible for the anomalous warming during the IOD events. In a normal year such as 1996 the existence of a unique open ocean upwelling feature, the Arabian Sea Dome (ASD), raises the thermocline in the southern Arabian Sea, a result of the positive wind stress curl of the winter monsoon. During an IOD year (1997), with the collapse of the monsoon wind system in the Arabian Sea the cold tongue, the strip of cool water indicative of ASD that normally occupies the southern Arabian Sea, fails to develop. As a result, the thermocline remains deep, which in turn enhances the heat content of the upper ocean, leading to warm SSTs. Volume-integrated heat budget terms in the ASD region illustrate the role of horizontal and vertical advection in the upper ocean warming. An implication is that SSTs remain higher than 28°C in the southern Arabian Sea, thereby supporting large-scale deep convection in the atmosphere during the winter monsoon. A band of deep convective cloud forms directly over the warm ASD region during the IOD events, which bring greater than average rainfall over the southern Arabian Sea and east Africa, whereas convection is suppressed over the cold ASD region during the normal years resulting in less than average rainfall.
The “International Principles for Social Impact Assessment” is a statement of the core values of the SIA community together with a set of principles to guide SIA practice and the consideration of ‘the social’ in environmental impact assessment generally. It is a discussion document for the impact assessment community to be used as the basis for developing sector and national guidelines. In the process of being developed explicitly for an international context, increasing pressure was placed on the conventional understanding of SIA and a new definition, with official imprimatur of an international professional body, has been formalised. “Social Impact Assessment includes the processes of analysing, monitoring and managing the intended and unintended social consequences, both positive and negative, of planned interventions (policies, programs, plans, projects) and any social change processes invoked by those interventions. Its primary purpose is to bring about a more sustainable and equitable biophysical and human environment.”
a b s t r a c t This paper examines the value of ecosystem services provided by mangroves. It presents a meta-analysis of the economic valuation literature and applies the estimated value function to assess the value of mangroves in Southeast Asia. We construct a database containing 130 value estimates, largely for mangroves in Southeast Asia. Values are standardised to US/ha/year respectively. The values of mangrove ecosystem services are highly variable across study sites due to, amongst other factors, the bio-physical characteristics of the site and the socio-economic characteristics of the beneficiaries of ecosystem services. We include explanatory variables in the meta-analysis to account for these influences on estimated mangrove values. A geographic information system (GIS) is used to quantify potentially important spatial variables, including the abundance of mangroves, the population of beneficiaries, and the density of roads in the vicinity of each study site. The meta-analytic value function is used to estimate the change in value of mangrove ecosystem services in Southeast Asia under a baseline scenario of mangrove loss for the period 2000–2050. The estimated foregone annual benefits in 2050 are US 1.6–2.8 billion. & 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
The ability to measure and demonstrate the impact of conservation interventions is critical for management, accountability, and lesson-learning, yet most organizations struggle to implement appropriate, effective monitoring and evaluation. This is particularly so for community-based projects and livelihoods-focused interventions that require the use of social science methods unfamiliar to most conservation biologists. Quantitative surveys and indicator-based approaches are commonly used but are limited in their utility, and ignore a wealth of potentially valuable qualitative and anecdotal information on impact and change. Here we describe a method for standardizing the collection and analysis of stories of change that originated in, and is commonly employed by, the development sector. Trials of the use of the Most Significant Change method in a range of Fauna & Flora International's partnership projects revealed not only its value as a monitoring tool alongside more familiar surveys and quantitative data collection but also as a participatory management tool that improved staff capacity and project adaptive management and responsiveness. Although initially time-consuming to establish and implement, it has been embraced by these projects as a beneficial addition to monitoring and evaluation. The consequent interest it has raised amongst other conservation practitioners suggests that it warrants further testing and application. Conservationists would do well to learn from the tools and experiences of the development sector when exploring the social impacts of conservation projects.
The Socotra Archipelago (Yemen) is globally recognized for its outstanding biodiversi-ty and endemism, designated on this basis a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. The island underwent long geological and political isolation, ensuring preservation of unique ecosystems un-til the start of the new millennium. Now, Socotra Island is undergoing rapid development, out of balance with conservation. Major causes for biodiversity loss in other global insular ecosystems such as habitat fragmentation and degradation, pollution, invasive species and the impact of tour-ism, are becoming pressing issues that deserve close attention. Unsustainable resource use, the loss of traditional land management and illegal trade in biota are worrying phenomena that further increase the pressures on Socotra's ecosystems. We provide the first comprehensive review of potential human impacts on Socotra before the 21 st century, an updated discussion of some of the principal threats to its biodiversity in recent times, discussing local examples within a historical context of known extinction processes on islands, and underline the importance of traditional knowledge in the protection of Socotran ecosystems.
Mangrove ecosystems provide a range of non-market as well as marketed goods and services, both on and off-site. Yet the full value of mangrove products is not easily recognised, and is, therefore, often neglected in development planning. As a result it is often concluded that mangrove forests should be converted to uses which generate directly marketable products, such as aquaculture. Economic valuation methods offer a more comprehensive assessment of the many goods and services provided by mangrove ecosystems, and hence may contribute to more informed decision-making. The objective of this paper is to review and analyse the scope and limitations of different valuation methods for assessing management alternatives for mangrove ecosystems. The paper compares a range of studies on mangroves with regard to the methodologies employed and the range of products and services valued. It includes a discussion of the benefits of valuation methods for assessing management alternatives, with particular reference to the goods and services of Pagbilao Bay in the Philippines - the study site of the project Economic Valuation of Mangrove-Fishpond Interactions, for which this paper was written. The literature review and the discussion of the Pagbilao case study illustrate the potential of valuation methods for evaluating management alternatives, as well as the practical limitations to their application. In principle, methods are available but the lack of data and quantitative knowledge regarding some key ecological relationships affirm the need to for further inquiry. CREED Working Paper No. 14; Contact: Jacqueline.Saunders@iied.org
The Socotra Archipelago, situated in the north-western part of the Indian Ocean at the entrance of the Gulf of Aden, has a unique zoogeographical position, as the transition between the Arabian and Red Seas and East African shores. The Socotran marine environment, however, is as yet poorly studied, with only sparse and incomplete reference to the field of crustaceans. The current work presents results from a survey of the intertidal decapod assemblages of Socotra Island conducted in spring 1999.
The information from 185 sites sampled around the island is summarized in a map with short descriptions of representative intertidal habitats, their relative area and distribution. Both rocky shores and cobble beaches have the largest diversity of decapods. Sandy beaches are dominated mainly by Ocypode saratan and Coenobita scaevola, whilst rocky shores are dominated by Grapsus albolineatus, G. tenuicrustatus, Plagusia tuberculata, Pachygrapsus minutus, Metopograpsus messor and Eriphia smithii. In cobble beaches, Pseudozius caystrus, Leptodius exaratus, Xanthias sinensis, Clibanarius signatus and Clibanarius virescens are the most common species. Cardisoma carnifex and Uca inversa are common bordering mud flats and coastal lagoons. As fishing pressure is low, mud flats surrounding wadis and coastal lagoons host small undisturbed populations of Scylla serrata and Fenneropenaeus indicus. There is only a reduced number of mangrove trees and area of mangrove, most of which is already destroyed or under severe human and environmental pressure. The largest and most representative stand has an unusual structure: species diversity is strikingly low, it is disconnected from the sea by a sand bar or dune, and is completely dry.
Interesting zoogeographical findings are detailed, and a list of intertidal decapod fauna, relating each species to its common habitat is presented. This list is compared with previous studies, and other intertidal decapod assemblages from the Arabian Gulf, Red Sea and East Africa.
To assess evidence from randomised clinical trials about the effectiveness of extracts of Boswellia serrata (frankincense).
Systematic review.
Electronic searches on Medline, Embase, Cinahl, Amed, and Cochrane Library. Hand searches of conference proceedings, bibliographies, and departmental files.
All randomised clinical trials of B serrata extract as a treatment for any human medical condition were included and studies of B serrata preparations combined with other ingredients were excluded. Titles and abstracts of all retrieved articles were read and hard copies of all relevant articles were obtained. Selection of studies, data extraction and validation were done by the author. The Jadad score was used to evaluate the methodological quality of all included trials.
Of 47 potentially relevant studies, seven met all inclusion criteria (five placebo controlled, two with active controls). The included trials related to asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, osteoarthritis, and collagenous colitis. Results of all trials indicated that B serrata extracts were clinically effective. Three studies were of good methodological quality. No serious safety issues were noted.
The evidence for the effectiveness of B serrata extracts is encouraging but not compelling.
For the tropical Pacific and Atlantic oceans, internal modes of variability that lead to climatic oscillations have been recognized, but in the Indian Ocean region a similar ocean-atmosphere interaction causing interannual climate variability has not yet been found. Here we report an analysis of observational data over the past 40 years, showing a dipole mode in the Indian Ocean: a pattern of internal variability with anomalously low sea surface temperatures off Sumatra and high sea surface temperatures in the western Indian Ocean, with accompanying wind and precipitation anomalies. The spatio-temporal links between sea surface temperatures and winds reveal a strong coupling through the precipitation field and ocean dynamics. This air-sea interaction process is unique and inherent in the Indian Ocean, and is shown to be independent of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation. The discovery of this dipole mode that accounts for about 12% of the sea surface temperature variability in the Indian Ocean--and, in its active years, also causes severe rainfall in eastern Africa and droughts in Indonesia--brightens the prospects for a long-term forecast of rainfall anomalies in the affected countries.
Natural disasters cause serious economic and human losses. Yet there remains ambiguity in the existing literature with regard to their impact on the economy at large. This study re-examines the relationship between natural disasters and economic growth. It aims to contribute to a fairly limited literature on the economy-wide and sector-specific consequences of natural disasters in the short-to-medium term (up to 5 years). Further, it examines whether the disaster impacts are dependent on a country’s level of development. Based on panel data consisting of 102 (29 developed and 73 developing) countries over the period 1981–2015, it looks at the growth effects of four types of natural disasters, namely, floods, droughts, storms and earthquakes that were explored using the system generalised method of moments (GMM) approach. The results indicate that natural disasters have diverse economic impacts across economic sectors depending on disaster types and their intensity. The study confirms the findings of previous studies that the economic impacts of natural disasters are statistically stronger in developing countries. These findings may stimulate the policymakers especially in developing countries to explore the efficacy of viable ex-ante disaster risk financing tools (such as insurance, micro-insurance and catastrophic bonds). This would not only safeguard population and physical assets but also ensure adherence to the sustainable development goals.
JEL Classification: Q54, O10
The Ecosystem Services Toolkit is a technical guide to ecosystem services assessment and analysis that offers practical, step-by-step guidance for governments at all levels, as well as for consultants and researchers. The approach is fully interdisciplinary, integrating biophysical sciences, social sciences, economics, and traditional and practitioner knowledge. It provides guidance on how to consider and incorporate ecosystem services analysis in a variety of different policy contexts such as spatial planning, environmental assessment, and wildlife management, among others. It contains numerous innovative tools and resources designed to enhance users’ understanding of ecosystem services and to support analysis and decision-making. Canadian examples are featured throughout the guide.
Protected areas are the most widely applied policy tool for biodiversity conservation. However, effective management of protected areas is often obstructed by conflicts mainly associated with the social impacts imposed on local communities and other users by their establishment. Despite the importance of these social impacts they remain significantly under-researched. There is now an increasing need to incorporate social impacts in decision making processes by providing accurate estimations and develop ways to forecast their change in the future. Considering the increase of studies identifying this need, the present paper aims to indicate three main directions that will assist in designing effective tools for measuring and most importantly understanding social impacts: a) perceptions on social impacts of individuals who are directly affected by protected areas need to be incorporated in management evaluation techniques in a meaningful and accurate way and be combined with objective measurements of impact; b) understanding the factors determining the actual and perceived levels of social impacts is a key step for the design of effective management frameworks of protected areas and c) social impacts should not be seen as static concepts but should be seen as a dynamic and long-term factor which needs to be incorporated in decision-making processes.
Despite their importance in sustaining livelihoods for many people living along some of the world's most populous coastlines, tropical mangrove forests are disappearing at an alarming rate. Occupying a crucial place between land and sea, these tidal ecosystems provide a valuable ecological and economic resource as important nursery grounds and breeding sites for many organisms, and as a renewable source of wood and traditional foods and medicines. Perhaps most importantly, they are accumulation sites for sediment, contaminants, carbon and nutrients, and offer significant protection against coastal erosion. This book presents a functional overview of mangrove forest ecosystems; how they live and grow at the edge of tropical seas, how they play a critical role along most of the world's tropical coasts, and how their future might look in a world affected by climate change. Such a process-oriented approach is necessary in order to further understand the role of these dynamic forests in ecosystem function, and as a first step towards developing adequate strategies for their conservation and sustainable use and management. The book will provide a valuable resource for researchers in mangrove ecology as well as reference for resource managers.
The two new species Boswellia bullata and B. dioscoridis from Socotra (Yemen) are described and illustrated.
The potential impact of climate change on Dracaena cinnabari, a spectacular relict of the Mio-Pliocene Laurasian subtropical forest in Socotra (Yemen), was analysed. Current distri-bution, abundance and vertical structure of D. cinnabari populations were assessed with 74 plots in nine remnant areas. A deterministic regression tree analysis model was used to examine environmental variables related to the current species distribution. Using this model, a current potential map and a predicted potential map for the $2080 climatic sce-nario were generated. D. cinnabari has an altitudinal range from 323 to 1483 m a.s.l., with a mean annual temperature of 19.8–28.6 °C and an annual precipitation of 207–569 mm. The current distribution and abundance of D. cinnabari is correlated to three factors: moisture index (i.e. the ratio between the annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration), mean annual temperature and slope. According to this model, D. cinnabari occupies only 5% of its current potential habitat. This potential habitat is expected to be reduced with 45% by 2080 because of a predicted increased aridity. Only two out of the nine remnant areas should be considered as potential refugia. The boundaries of the strictly protected Skund Nature Sanctuary, where no (road) infrastructure is allowed, should be extended to include both areas. The construction of new roads leading towards these areas, thereby increasing permanent settlements and grazing pressure, should also be discouraged.
Between the late 1980s and early 1990s, significant sections of the Belizean coast came under escalating pressure from development. The resulting habitat loss highlighted the need for a comprehensive assessment of the extent, characteristics and use of the country’s remaining mangrove.This paper reports on the resulting study, and confirms the presence of three true mangroves—Rhizophora mangle, Avicennia germinans and Laguncularia racemosa, plus one mangrove associate—Conocarpus erectus. Twenty different sub-communities are distinguished on the basis of physiographic setting, vegetation structure and species composition. Of these, Rhizophora scrub is the most widespread, accounting for over 60% of the country’s mangrove habitats. True forest sub-communities account for only 10%, the remainder comprises thickets or hypersaline supra-tidal savannas.GIS analysis of 1990 remote sensing data reveals that Belize’s mangroves covers 78,511 ha, equivalent to 3.4% of the country’s land area and approximately 2% of the mangrove remaining in the Americas. Through the examination of early aerial photos, historical records and ground conditions, it is estimated that about 98% of Belize’s original mangrove cover (80,016 ha) remained at this time. However, more recent mapping for the Belize City area, using 1992 aerial photos, reveals that a further 519 ha has been cleared, a 0.7% reduction in the national total in just two years.The main geographical factors controlling the distribution of mangroves in Belize are the presence of the barrier reef, the coastline’s shallow gradient and the narrow tidal range. Mangrove distribution is further influenced by local subsidence, geomorphology, drainage, hinterland soils and past hurricane tracks. How much mangrove cover Belize may support in the future is thought to largely depend on two factors—hurricane activity and human influence.
Socotra Conservation Status -IUCN World Heritage Outlook. TAYF-The Soqotra Newsletter
- H Abedalhaleem
Abedalhaleem, H. (2019). Socotra Conservation Status -IUCN World Heritage Outlook.
TAYF-The Soqotra Newsletter. FoS.
Socotra Fundraising Projects Report Response to Cyclones Impacts. TABE'A programme. Manama: The Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage
- H S Abedalhaleem
- E M Salem
- S M Kassem
Abedalhaleem, H. S., Salem, E. M., & Kassem, S. M. (2017). Socotra Fundraising
Projects Report Response to Cyclones Impacts. TABE'A programme. Manama:
The Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage and IUCN.
Mangroves ecosystem restoration project Response to the impact of hurricanes attacked Socotra
- H Abedalhaleem
- K Van Damme
Abedalhaleem, H., & Van Damme, K. (2019). Mangroves ecosystem restoration project
Response to the impact of hurricanes attacked Socotra.
Sustainable Development: A recommended approach for disaster resilience
- H Abedalhaleem
- K Van Damme
- I Salim
Abedalhaleem, H., Van Damme, K., & Salim, I. (2020). Sustainable Development: A
recommended approach for disaster resilience. In S. Labad, A. Jopela, & P.
Taruvinga, World Heritage and Sustainable Development in Africa:
Implementing the 2015 Policy (pp. 12-27). Midrand: The African World Heritage
Fund,.
State of Conservation, Socotra Archipelago (Yemen)
- T Abulhawa
- H Abdulhalim
Abulhawa, T. and Abdulhalim, H. (2013). State of Conservation, Socotra Archipelago
(Yemen).
Retrieved
Jan
2020,
from
UNESCO-WHC:
https://whc.unesco.org/en/soc/1925
Eldery Women and the mother of the Chairman of Al Tamek Association
- Al Tamek
Al Tamek, F. (2021, October 12). Eldery Women and the mother of the Chairman of Al
Tamek Association. (H. Abedalhaleem, Interviewer, & J. A. Son), Translator)
Climate Change and livelihoods in Yemen: Policy Implications for Sustainable Rural Development Strategy: The Case of Socotra
- W Ali
- F Alkadasi
Ali, W., & Alkadasi, F. (2012). Climate Change and livelihoods in Yemen: Policy
Implications for Sustainable Rural Development Strategy: The Case of Socotra.
UNDP.
in the series, Protected Landscapes and Seascapes
- T Amend
Amend T., B. J. (2008). Protected Landscapes and Agrobiodiversity Values. Volume 1 in
the series, Protected Landscapes and Seascapes. Kasparek Verlag, Heidelberg. :
IUCN & GTZ.
Mangrove Area Restoration Project Proposal
- Iucn Arc-Wh
ARC-WH and IUCN. (2018, October 08). Mangrove Area Restoration Project Proposal.
Manama.
Toolkit for the Indicators of Resilience in Socio-ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes. Rome: UNU-IAS
- R Vernooy
Vernooy, R. (2014). Toolkit for the Indicators of Resilience in Socio-ecological
Production Landscapes and Seascapes. Rome: UNU-IAS; Bioversity
International, Rome (Italy); IGES; UNDP.
Retrieved from Local Governance in Yemen: Resource Hub
- Socotra
Socotra. Retrieved from Local Governance in Yemen: Resource Hub:
https://yemenlg.org/governorates/socotra/
Reef-building corals and coral communities of the Socotra Islands, Yemen: A zoogeographic 'crossroads' in the Arabian Sea. Fauna of Arabia
- L M Devantier
- G De'ath
- R Kluas
- S L Al-Moghrabi
- M Abdalaziz
- G B Reinicke
- C P Cheung
Devantier, L. M., De'ath, G., Kluas, R., Al-Moghrabi, S. L., Abdalaziz, M., Reinicke, G.
B., & Cheung, C. P. (2004). Reef-building corals and coral communities of the
Socotra Islands, Yemen: A zoogeographic 'crossroads' in the Arabian Sea. Fauna
of Arabia, 20, 117-168.
Global warming has 'changed' spread of tropical cyclones around the world
- D Dunne
Dunne, D. (2020, May 4). Global warming has 'changed' spread of tropical cyclones
around the world. Retrieved January 2020, from Carbon Brief Clear on Climate:
https://www.carbonbrief.org/global-warming-has-changed-spread-of-tropicalcyclones-around-the-world
Archaeological frankincense
- R P Evershed
- P F Van Bergen
- T M Peakman
- E C Leigh-Firbank
- M C Horton
- D Edwards
Evershed, R. P., van Bergen, P. F., Peakman, T. M., Leigh-Firbank, E. C., Horton, M. C.,
Edwards, D.,... Rowley-Conwy, P. A. (1997). Archaeological frankincense.
Nature, 390, 667-668.