Natural Resource Management - Science topic

Implementing Industry 4.0 technologies and focusing on sustainable resource management are not mutually exclusive; they can be highly complementary. However, the effectiveness of each approach depends on the specific context, goals, and challenges of the agricultural sector in question.

Industry 4.0 technologies, such as IoT (Internet of Things), AI (Artificial Intelligence), robotics, big data analytics, and automation, can revolutionize agriculture by improving efficiency, productivity, and precision. Key benefits include:

However, implementing these technologies requires significant investment, technical expertise, and infrastructure, which may be challenging for small-scale farmers or regions with limited resources.

Sustainable resource management focuses on preserving and efficiently using natural resources like water, soil, and biodiversity. Key benefits include:

However, transitioning to sustainable practices may require changes in traditional farming methods, education, and sometimes initial investments in new techniques or equipment.

The most effective strategy would involve integrating Industry 4.0 technologies with sustainable resource management. For example:

Rather than choosing between the two, a balanced approach that leverages the strengths of both Industry 4.0 technologies and sustainable resource management is most effective. This integrated strategy can enhance productivity, ensure environmental sustainability, and build resilience in the agricultural sector. The specific focus should depend on local conditions, resource availability, and the priorities of the stakeholders involved.

ICARE 2025 is a well-organized and impactful academic conference with clear themes, offering a high-quality platform for researchers in agricultural and resource economics. Innovative topics for agriculture include leveraging AI and big data to optimize precision farming, monitor crop health, forecast yields, and improve resource allocation. Blockchain technology can enhance transparency, traceability, and trust in agricultural supply chains, especially for international markets. Emphasizing a circular economy in agriculture promotes waste recycling, resource efficiency, and sustainable practices. Strategies for climate-resilient farming, such as drought-resistant crops, carbon sequestration, and renewable energy integration, are critical for addressing environmental challenges. Supporting agri-tech startups fosters innovation and collaboration between academia, industry, and entrepreneurs. Additionally, policy simulation tools and economic modeling can assess the impacts of agricultural policies and resource management strategies. Finally, interdisciplinary research that integrates insights from economics, environmental science, and engineering is essential for tackling complex agricultural and resource challenges.

Suneel Kumar

Natural resources management for crop production involves the sustainable use and conservation of various resources essential for agricultural activities. These resources include soil, water, air, biodiversity, and energy. Here are some key aspects of natural resources management in crop production:

1. Soil Management: Soil is a fundamental natural resource for crop production, providing essential nutrients, water storage, and physical support for plant growth. Practices such as conservation tillage, crop rotation, cover cropping, and organic matter addition help improve soil health, reduce erosion, enhance water retention, and promote nutrient cycling.

2. Water Management: Efficient water management is crucial for sustainable crop production, especially in regions prone to water scarcity or drought. Techniques such as drip irrigation, micro-irrigation, rainwater harvesting, and soil moisture monitoring can optimize water use efficiency, minimize runoff and leaching, and maintain soil moisture levels conducive to crop growth.

3. Air Quality Management: Agriculture can impact air quality through emissions of greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide) and particulate matter from machinery, livestock, and fertilizer application. Implementing practices such as reduced tillage, precision agriculture, nutrient management, and agroforestry can help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality.

4. Biodiversity Conservation: Biodiversity is essential for maintaining ecosystem resilience, pollination services, pest control, and genetic diversity in crop plants. Agroecological practices such as integrated pest management, agroforestry, crop diversification, and habitat restoration promote biodiversity conservation while supporting sustainable crop production systems.

5. Energy Efficiency: Agriculture relies on energy inputs for various activities such as machinery operation, irrigation, and transportation. Improving energy efficiency through the use of renewable energy sources (e.g., solar, wind), energy-efficient technologies, and conservation practices can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower production costs, and enhance the sustainability of crop production systems.

6. Waste Management: Managing agricultural waste streams such as crop residues, manure, and packaging materials is essential for minimizing environmental pollution and maximizing resource recovery. Practices such as composting, anaerobic digestion, and recycling can help convert organic waste into valuable inputs for soil fertility and energy production while reducing the environmental footprint of crop production.

Overall, effective natural resources management for crop production involves adopting integrated and sustainable agricultural practices that optimize resource use efficiency, conserve biodiversity, minimize environmental impacts, and enhance the resilience of farming systems to climate change and other challenges. Collaboration among farmers, researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders is essential for promoting sustainable agriculture and ensuring the long-term viability of food production systems.

Yes

You can use MODIS Terra of 500m resolution for your NPP.

Also, you can estimate NPP with CASA model.

The CASA Model measures NPP by multiplying Light use Efficiency (LUE) by Absorbed photosyntically Active Radiation (APAR)

Microsoft Excel is a powerful spreadsheet software that allows users to create and manipulate data using formulas, equations, and models. Here are some key features and aspects related to using formulas, equations, and models in an Excel sheet:

Formulas:

Equations:

Models:

Data Analysis:

Tamjid Us Sakib depends on the type of technology selection and project

microlage is preferred in case of biological and if you have space and time with low cost investment however if you go via chemical route there are many like activated carbon, haaluminum sulphate or few other sales can also be used

Have you tried local institutes or universities?

First, the ways in which indigenous people interact with natural resources and the extent of their utilization of natural resources need to be analyzed using ANOVA statistical analysis. These outputs needs to be elaborated to evaluate the necessity of measuring the readiness from indigenous people. Hope this answer helps.

Al Jahiz's The Book of Living (mistranslated as The Book of Animals) explains the process of creation and how it is a sign or miracle of Allah s existence. Jahiz discusses how creatures can develop from water then become other creatures. He explains how some species transform and become hybrid. He explains that when people, animals and plants change move or are moved to a different environment they can acclimatize. For humans can become darker in hot areas, and the new characteristics they develop will be transformed genetically to their offspring. He says environment will also influence their psychology. He says humans can be influenced both physically as well as psychologically as when they move to an area of polluted water. He also says that animals and plants can become bigger or smaller, depending on the dryness and humidity of the new environment.

Al Jahiz explains the biological development/ transformation as a teleological argument, the A Proof of the Maker, an argument of the intelligent design, like the watchmaker analogy and like natural theology. But sadly, he is being widely misunderstood as an evolutionist, a Darwinian before Darwin. His book is an encyclopedia that discusses for example how lice can have different colors depending on the color of the hair and skin (its environment), he also explains how flies can develop from some plants, and how some animals develop from some plants, in a way of trying to explain the process of creation that Allah tells us to observe in nature, Allah says in the Quran (6th century),

Have they not considered how Allah originates the Creation, and then brings it back? That is an easy matter for Allah. Say: ‘Travel in the land and see how He started the Creation. Then Allah will originate the Everlasting Life. Allah has power over all things’” (The Spider 29: 19-20)

Allah creates things every day, as the new day from the night and night from day, He created darkness and light and made them as such, He created the male and female, He created the 7 skies and the earth, saying in the Quran

“Do the disbelievers not realize that the heavens and earth were one mass and We ripped them apart [the Big Bang], and we created from water every living thing, would they still not believe?” (The Prophets 21: 30)

Jahiz was one of the many Muslim scholars who discussed the process of creation as a sign for God's existence and greatness.

Allah says,

“His Kursi[1]outspreads[2]the Heavens and to the Earth, and preserving them does not burden Him, and He is the Most High, The Greatest” (The Cow 2: 255) and, “Indeed, Allah holds the heavens and the earth, lest they vanish” (The Originator 35: 41).

[1] Where one places their feet beneath the chair, the throne as well as the knowledge.

[2] Extends as far as or more than the distance of the heavens and earth combined.

How great is Allah? God is the Greatest, greater than our imagination, and we can barely imagine the greatness of earth, the solar system, the milky way or Laniakea itself!

Unfortunately, however, Al Jahiz and all Muslim scholars who discussed this process of creation have been erroneously mistaken as evolutionist. Draper called their studies "The Mohammedan theory of evolution", and still many scholars today talk about them as evolutionists trying to reject creationism.

Allah says,

"And how many a sign in the heavens and the earth that they pass by while they, therefrom, are turning away” (Joseph 12: 105).

And

“Through it He makes many go astrayand leads many to the right path, but it is only the defiantly disobedient” (The Cow 2: 26)

And

“And [by] the soul and who proportioned it, and inspired it with its wickedness and its righteousness, indeed, succeeded him who purified it, and indeed, failed him who buried it with corruption” (The Sun 91: 7-10)

I think in order for people to observe the reality of things, not the masks above it, one has to purify his self first, his life, his eyes, his spirit, are all buried under a mask he made for himself, preventing him from seeing the truth and masking reality with the mask each person makes from his corrupted lifestyle.

If you want to learn about Jahiz's environmental determinism you can consult

this book, it s a great source that explains everything about determinism in Islam and the process of creation which is mistermed as evolution:

and you can also relate to how Jahiz speaks about God in his discussion of ecology, environment, biological development, etc. from

James Montgomery's studies

you re also welcomed to check the discussion on

I hope this is helpful

Thank you Mario Zenteno Claros for your valuable suggestion and sharing link.

There is a great work with teme: "Red List of Baltic Sea underwater biotopes, habitats and biotope complexes", where the authors have explained and showed a way how to use red data list as a precautionary principle in natural resources management.

Published by:

HELCOM

Katajanokanlaituri 6 B

FI-00160 Helsinki

Finland

Quote: "A Red List is the outcome of a threat assessment using quantitative Red List criteria to identify the risk of collapse for biotopes, or the extinction of species.

The ten biotope complexes were all red-listed - eutrophication is thought to have affected most of the complexes in an adverse way. Construction has affected the ‘Estuaries’ to an extent where only very few estuaries retain the natural function causing the complex to be listed as CR: C1. The rare biotope complex ‘Submarine structures made by leaking gas’ is believed to be threatened in the future by tourism activities such as scuba diving."

If I do not know the annual rings, how to calculate

Sorry, in english:

Assessing the impacts of sustainable development projects in the Amazon: The DURAMAZ experiment - March 2013 - Sustainability Science 8(2):199-212 -DOI: 10.1007/s11625-013-0200-1

and

The DURAMAZ indicator system: A cross-disciplinary comparative tool for assessing ecological and social changes in the Amazon -June 2013

Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences 368(1619):20120475 - DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2012.0475

Our priority should be on the preservation and conservation of soil/land and environmental resources in relation to each ecological zone. The focus should be on the development of those resources in our environment based on comparative advantage. In view of what has happened globally and Africa in particular, we should focus seriously on development of our local resources using local content with sound and vigorous research instead of depending on mono economy through crude oil exploration without alternative source(s) of income/IGR/GDP. Our emphasis in Africa now is to develop large scale agriculture with full sense of environmental conservation to avoid future economic recession.

The plan or path should recognize one approach does not necessarily fit every circumstance. Some landscapes are more resilient than others. Some farming communities are open to conservation, while others need some approach from education, convincing, technical help, economic support through conservation easements, payments or tax credits, and in some cases policy and legal requirements. A good part of my career was directed at addressing impacts of excessive erosion and gullying from agricultural practices that left landscapes unproductive (eg, book - The Lands No One Wanted). The US NRCS and USFS are among agencies that have used varying means to help assess and address watershed issues and opportunities for improvement from agricultural and forestry practices. Getting to situations where farming and/or forestry livelihoods can become efficient enough or have funding supports to allow for some portion of the lands and investments be used for conservation, such as forested or grassed stream buffer zones, or low or no till approaches on erodible or low fertility lands. Certain benefits of stream buffers for hunting, fishing, water quality (downstream reservoirs, habitats, community or urban water supplies and treatment costs, etc), scenery, and other eco-functions have economic value that is sometimes difficult to determine as well as return benefits to the farmer for installing or incorporating best management practices of conservation on those lands. In some instances, an ounce of prevention is much more desireable when faced with a pound of cure.

Please go through the following PDF attachments.

I used tidyverse package in R to sample required number and let R do random sampling instead of worrying how I should do. This gives one subset out of several subsets using combination. R Code provided below writes resulting data into .csv file.:

write.csv(

# # sample_n (

# # tbl = select(

# # read_csv(

# # "<path>/file.csv"

# # ),

# # 'Var 1',

# # 'Var 2',

# # 'Var 3',

# # 'Var 4',

# # ),

# # size = 2500,

# # replace = FALSE,

# # weight = NULL,

# # .env = NULL,

# # ... = NULL

# # ),

# # file = "output.csv"

# # )

Forest hydrology is also an important aspect in Kokan region other than conventional watershed management studies will be suitable topics. You review first what aspects of forestry/ agroforestry in NRM are relevant in Kokan region.Your degree is M.Sc. forestry specilasation in NRM so choose accordingly.

HELLO

THANK YOU MUCH DISCUSSION ENOUGH IMPORATNT BRAVO FOR ALL PARTICIPANTS

A natural resource is described as non-renewable or exhaustible when its speed of destruction exceeds, largely or not, its speed of creation.

On the contrary, we speak of a renewable resource when their production is possible over a short period of time.

Renewable energy is energy that enjoys natural and rapid renewal, unlike non-renewable energies that are available in limited quantities.

But the question that arises.

What's stopping us from using renewable energy sources? The main reason is that, until recently, the production costs of these energies were much higher than those of fossil fuels. In addition, renewable energy sources are not constant: imagine, for example, that the wind suddenly falls or that clouds cover the sun. Optimal exploitation of these sources would also require the construction of facilities in remote areas, whose connection to the main network would be both expensive and difficult. However, the situation is changing rapidly. Policies put in place have increased the demand for renewable energy sources worldwide, leading to a rapid reduction in their production costs. Given the increase in the price of gas and oil in recent years and the initiatives taken by governments, there is no doubt that renewable energy sources have a bright future ahead of them.

You might have a look at my papers, especially if you are interested in forest or water management; or on the concept of sustainability.

Hi,

It may also be worth mentioning that in addition to the already stated responses, environmental subsidiarity should be considered in any reconciliation intervention between biodiversity conservation and sustainable utilization of natural resources in Africa.

Best wishes

You could try Elsevier’s Environmental Development. It is free and aims to be fast. But speed depends on the timely submission of reviewer responses.

Co-management is not just one standard arrangement of management-sharing. It is a spectrum of different levels of responsibility on the part of the parties to the co-management. At one end you have the government agency/agencies with the legal responsibility for the management holding nearly all the management control, and the non-government partner(s) being merely consulted on management. At the other it would be the non-government partner(s) holding nearly all the control (e.g. through "native title" legislation), with the government partner perhaps just "ticking the boxes" to indicate that all necessary things have been done. They type of co-management arrangement plays a big role in determining whether or not co-management will work in a particular situation.

Further, there are a whole lot of other factors that play a role in determining whether co-management will work, including: the number of stakeholders involved; the relationships among the stakeholders (cooperative, antagonistic, collegiate, etc.); the capacity of the stakeholders to manage (knowledge, experience, practical expertise, available necessary technology and other resources, etc.); and so on.

There is no simple yes/no answer to such an open question. In reality, "it all depends".

Thank you very much Jośe Luis Domínguez Figueirido

Hi.

In my opinion, Natura 2000 network has a great importance in the Canary Islands. There are some areas not protected by local laws in 1994 ("Red de Espacios Naturales de Canarias"), but they have been designed as Natura 2000 protected areas, so (at least for the moment) were saved from any important threat. In any case, it's true that some Natura 2000 protected sites are under different types of threats, like new tourist complexes in the surroundings, increasing human presence, alien predators of local fauna (mainly cats and rats), invasive alien plants, etc. One of the main problems in the management of such areas is the low degree of surveillance or wardening inside them, mainly in coastal sites (the situation is much better in the forests), as we have an important proportion of our territory under legal protection and is necessary to have more people working in the protected areas.

The history and traditions of a country have the potential to greatly influence the direction governments take in terms of resource management. Fiji is an excellent example, and there is a nice case study to be found here:

From me, climate resilient agriculture is also emerging issue in this field.

Without doubt , communities must be made responsible for managing common lands converted into forests or grasslands or silvi - pastures . However continous motivation and capacity building of communities are requred before excuting any such programme. I have seen that in Bikaner district of Rajasthan , India where a huge moving sand dune was on the verge of engulfing whole village . Local folk were sensitized effectively to go for vegetative sand dunecstabilization programme and villagers did all the required activities for sand sune stabilizaton themselves . Today that dune is well stabilized , trees and grasses are flurishing like any thing , villagers have set definite rules to protect the vegetation of the said dune. Only grasses are taken by villagers though cut & carry System under a controlled regime .Now said village is completely safe since last 20 years .

Whenever resources are used, somebody pays for them. In so far as the beneficiaries do not pay for them, people who have not benefited pay instead. Fairness obviously improves if the beneficiaries pay. The polluter-pays principle has therefore been adopted as an international norm, by OECD in the first instance (The UN tried unsuccessfully to get it called more accurately 'the user-pays principle').

The answer to your question is 'yes, of course'.

The challenges are firstly to identify the beneficiaries correctly and secondly to find ways of ensuring that they cannot escape paying.

see my Fair Principles for Sustainable Development: Essays on Environmental Policy in Developing Countries, editor and author of one chapter, Aldershot, Edward Elgar, 1993

The entire idea behind Green Chemistry is to be sustainable.  If it is called Green and it has no sustainability to the work then it is just a title and not really green..  I am a green building consultant and I see this in the green movement in building.  Every builder is now saying they are green yet they can not even define what is meant by the term.

This is unfortunate but the way of a capitalistic society.  If there is money to be made in the claim then the companies will claim what ever gets them to more profit.

We need to stop talking about how "Green" things are and start talking about how much better it is to be sustainable.  The term Green has been abused so much that most people think it is not real anymore.  I for the most part in my chemical research and in my green consulting talk about not just green but doing the right thing for our children and making a better decision today for a better tomorrow.  

I tell people that I refuse to make a decision today that in any way will jeopardize the lives of my children or make them clean up something that I have promoted.

Green is a movement to do better for the future and future generations and to stop being self centered and asses.  I am not perfect but if we all will just do what is possible we could change the world over night.

Green chemistry has to be the way we move to the future.  It must be more them just the word it must be real.

George   

Spherical densiometer (SD) may be the helpful equipment for canopy coverage. 

Yes, you can do with the help of GIS together. 

The paradigm of integrating territorial, value chains and livelihoods, as sure pathways to sustainable development based on approach for food, nutritional, health and livelihood security through climate smart territorial concept.

There's very few, if any, environmental protections in the RSPO guidelines, certainly not ones that protect forests.  In any case, they cover only a small fraction of oil palm production.   In the attached paper, we were not able to find any way to identify where oil-palm caused deforestation was impacted by the guidelines.  

You may have a look on this attached paper.

Dear Lzadi,

most of Fire scar detection in l using RADARSAT-1 and ERS-2 SAR data . multi-temporal RADARSAT-1 and ERS-2 SAR data has been conducted on a fire-disturbed. If you find the event of  monitoring the climet from space which conducted by EAS.

Go with the attachment

Hi Lazarus,

Please see: Austral Ecology (2010) 35, 374–391 and An Overview of Vegetation Models for Climate Change Impacts, US Forest Service, both online.

I hope this helps!

Andrew :-)

Listening is the most important thing outsiders can do. Then, ask clarifying questions-- people on the ground know a great deal.   

Big No Dr Kalra....

Dear Andres,

The observations made are correct and can be explained scientifically. Bulk density of soil is defined as the soil mass per unit volume. Due to trampling of grazing cattle, soil inside the exclosures got compacted (volume reduced) and thereby bulk density of the soil inside the exclosures increased. On the other hand, undisturbed soil outside had relatively lower bulk density.

Then due to continuous addition of cattle dung/ excreta and urine over a long period, soil inside the exclosures get enriched with C, N and Organic Matter, compared to the soil outside.

I hope you are convinced with the scientific explanation of the observed changes in soil.

That's also a main issue here in Portugal, mainly in agricultural fields but also in forests. Based in its stomach contents, blackberry is one of the plant species that goats prefer to eat (project "Extensity", LIFE03 ENV/P/505).

The best method could be the use of a mix of pasture species with different grazing strategies (e.g.: pigs, sheep and goats). Goats and sheep work well together. Goats browse and sheep graze. Pigs could be used to destroy stumps and to dig and turn over the soil. If grass seed is added, pigs will till it in.

Regards

Thanks Dr Abhishek for nice information regards

naveen kalra

yes i have good experience on environmental impact assessment especially on water supply projects, waste water treatment and hydro power projects 

Here is a relatively new paper on a holistic concept that provided a paradigm change in the whole environmental discussion during the recent 20+ years.

Hi,

I have developed an indicators based assessment framework for evaluating quality of governance of stakeholder participation in decision-making within development projects, and more broadly.

Please visit my profile, and papers.

you are welcome to contact me,

Tim

Dear Wilbert,

Contact the International Union of Conservation of Nature  (IUCN)

You can contact more precisely Mrs Jay ANDERSON at : caveskarst.iucn@gmail.com

With my best regards

Prof. Bachir ACHOUR

Gabriel,

The following web site just became available, it's a great source of information on many aspects on MPAs.

Tom

Definitely,I too strongly agree withProf B.Achour 

Embarking on an exclusive CBNRM may be problematic; in contemporary times, scholars and practitioners argue for a collaboration between community actors, state actors and NGOs to prudently create value for people and environment. Embarking on this requires some key social and technical processes. kindly follow the article below

Yeboah-Assiamah, E., Muller, K., & Domfeh, K. A. (2016). Rising to the challenge: A framework for optimising value in collaborative natural resource governance. Forest Policy and Economics, 67, 20-29.

Dear William,

 Looks like a good one ! I could certainly think about it.Thank you very much.

I hope you find inspiration in the attached.

Hi Ghulam,

I am attaching three papers here by Peluso and Vandergeest that present analyses of the Thai forest estate from a political ecology perspective (follow others who have cited them to find more recent work). I have also published a couple of papers on social aspects of Lao protected areas, which you may find relevant (though not Thai), these are also attached. I have worked for several years with WWF-Greater Mekong and would be happy to connect you to WWF-Thailand protected area managers, who may be able to help.

Best regards,

Micah

Dear Mr. Nagar,

        Based on my experience in assessing e-flow in respect of hydro-electricity project clearance from MoEF, I attach the required write-up for your use. Best method of e-flow assessment at present is to follow MIKE 11 tool.

 Environmental Flows

Riverine ecosystems are among the most impacted ecosystems worldwide. Human activities, such as the construction of dikes, dams, barrages and weirs, the straightening and deepening of river channels, the conversion of floodplains to agricultural land, water abstraction, water transfer and pollution; etc., have heavily modified most large lowland rivers. As a result, a large number of fish species became threatened or endangered and the fish productivity of most riverine ecosystems has declined. This is all the more troubling since, large lowland rivers support a significant proportion of the world’s fish diversity and their fisheries provide a major source of food, employment and income to society. Until now, the flow regimes of most large lowland rivers have been heavily manipulated to serve the needs of society. To balance the interests of different stakeholder groups, many countries have implemented water resources management plans. Water policy decisions are typically made with little or no consideration of fish conservation and fisheries, despite a high public perception of fish. The reason is not only the relative lower socioeconomic importance of fisheries compared to ecosystem services such as flood protection and navigation. Whereas the optimal flow regime for navigation, agriculture and flood protection (in terms of magnitude, timing and duration of flow events) is comparably easy to determine, the consequences for fish diversity and fisheries are much more difficult to quantify.

Environmental flow refers to the water considered sufficient for protecting the structure and function of an ecosystem and its dependent species. Environmental flows are required to be maintained through a river reach for sustaining its ecosystem and dependent species. It means enough water is to be released in the downstream of the river system after utilizing the water for the development projects in order to ensure downstream environmental, social and economic benefits. Realizing its importance, several countries have made ensuring environmental flows mandatory. For example, The Mekong River Agreement, 1995; South Africa’s National Water Act, 1998 and the Swiss Water Protection Act, 108. These legislations attempt to ensure required minimum flow in the river system to sustain ecosystem services. A wide range of environmental flow methodologies (EFMs) have been developed to determine flow thresholds for various objectives such as the preservation of natural conditions, the maintenance or restoration of ecological integrity and cultural and recreational values. Most of these methods were developed primarily to protect endangered fish species and to maintain fisheries resources in human-modified rivers. Until now, these methodologies have been mostly applied to small upland rivers and headwater streams. Although a growing body of literature summarizes the status of available EFMs the question remains whether or not these EFMs are suitable to protect fish diversity and fisheries resources in regulated large lowland rivers.

 Methodologies for estimation of environmental flows worldwide

Most currently available EFMs can be grouped in four main categories:

1. Hydrological methods

2. Hydraulic rating

3. Habitat simulation methods

4. Holistic methodologies.

In European countries, hydrological and habitat simulation are the prevailing methods, while some developing countries and countries with newer environmental legislation have focused on holistic methods. Hydrological methods rely primarily on flow measures and indices, which are drawn from historical time series data on annual or daily mean flow. Still widely used is the Tennant method (also known as Montana method), which relates the ratio between river discharge and fish habitat availability to certain percentages of annual flows to meet predefined requirements (Tennant, 1976). The Tennant method assumes similarity of aquatic habitats when carrying the same proportion of average flow but rarely considered the effective habitat quality at varying flows. The method lists eight categories of in-stream flow that range from maximum to severe degradation. Below the threshold of 10% mean flow, the environmental conditions for fish are judged to be degraded, whereas 50% provides for excellent conditions in terms of stream width, water depth and velocity. While the Tennant method does not explicitly consider duration or the timing of flow events, some extensions integrate flow duration and frequencies. Other hydrological methods include duration percentiles or single flow indices that are usually generated from historical stream flow databases. One example is the widely used 7Q10, which is defined as the ‘seven-day, consecutive low flow with a ten-year return frequency; the lowest stream flow for seven consecutive days that would be expected to occur once in ten years’ (United States Environmental Protection Agency) or similar discharge indices. 

 Hydraulic rating considers the channel morphology of a given river and calculates acceptable flows by relating river discharge with a variety of hydraulic characteristics such as water depth, velocity or wetted perimeter. These methods rely on transects measured across a river section comprising habitat factors that are assumed to be limiting factors for target biota. The wetted perimeter method considers the variation in wetted perimeter or river width with water discharge. Plotting the wetted perimeter against discharge shows a breakpoint where a comparable small decrease in discharge results in a comparably larger decrease in wetted perimeter. This breakpoint is used as a minimum in-stream flow recommendation. The widely used habitat simulation methods are sophisticated extensions of hydraulic rating methods within a framework addressing many ecological components of riverine ecosystems (IFIM, In-stream Flow Incremental Methodology, Bovee, 1982). Within the context of IFIM, a broad range of modelling tools such as PHABSIM aim to predict how physical habitat conditions (i.e. water depth, velocity, cover, substrata) change with discharge. Typically, detailed hydrological and hydraulic data for a grid of cells in a river stretch are compared with the habitat suitability of a target species. The habitat suitability is expressed as a habitat suitability curve (e.g. suitability index curve, probability of use or preference curve), often seasonally defined, which specifies the assumed seasonal requirements of different species, life stages or habitat guilds. The curves depict the relationship of target organism’s response to a gradual changing habitat variable scaling from unsuitable to suitable, which are usually obtained from existing data or field measurements. By comparing the curves with the predicted habitat area at various flows, the minimum flow thresholds can be defined in a way so that the discharge provides optimal habitat conditions, retains a percentage of habitats at average flow or provides a minimum amount of habitat area. Most commonly, the flow threshold is set at the breakpoint in the habitat/flow curve where proportionally more habitat is lost with decreasing flow than is gained with increasing flow. The commonly used output of, for example PHABSIM quantifies the suitability of a location for a target species in terms of a weighted usable area (WUA; expressed as, e.g. m2 1000m stream length1). More advanced software tools such as 2D and 3D models achieve greater hydraulic representation. Other models allow for inclusion of water quality, temperature and other biological factors such as prey densities, energy allocation and behavioral components. The complexity of current models is growing and there are many approaches to establish statistical techniques that improve the predictability of species abundance on the basis of biotic and abiotic variables. The growing recognition that rivers are closely connected to their watersheds has led to the realization that protecting and rehabilitating riverine ecosystems requires sensitivity, not only to the key hydrological, biological and ecological, but also to the economic and social aspects of a riverine ecosystem. Assuming that a natural flow system will maintain the ecological function of a riverine ecosystem, so-called holistic methodologies will define the critical environmental flows of an entire riverine ecosystem rather than focusing on the needs of a single species.

Holistic methods rely less on modelling and more on multidisciplinary panels covering biophysical disciplines such as hydrology, geomorphology, sedimentology, water chemistry, botany and zoology. Advanced methodologies such as DRIFT (Downstream Response to Intended Flow Transformations Methodology, King et al., 2003) consist of different modules that integrate biophysical, and economic and social factors and aim at participating stakeholder groups. Within the biophysical module, various EFMs such as habitat-modelling tools can also be implemented. The growing recognition that rivers are closely connected to their watersheds has led to the realization that protecting and rehabilitating riverine ecosystems requires sensitivity not only to the key hydrological, biological and ecological, but also to the economic and social aspects of a riverine ecosystem. Assuming that a natural flow system will maintain the ecological function of a riverine ecosystem so-called holistic methodologies will define the critical environmental flows of an entire riverine ecosystem rather than focusing on the needs of a single species. Holistic methods rely less on modelling and more on multidisciplinary panels covering biophysical disciplines such as hydrology, geomorphology, sedimentology, water chemistry, botany and zoology. Advanced methodologies such as DRIFT consist of different modules that integrate biophysical, and economic and social factors and aim at participating stakeholder groups. Within the biophysical module, various EFMs such as habitat-modelling tools can also be implemented.

 Analysis of Environmental flows

Mostly, to maintain specific river classes, the E-flows are estimated world-wide at monthly time-scale using the Flow-Duration curve analysis. For this, generally, a minimum of 25 years river discharge time series data is used. It is the management and planning authority, who decides the quantity of E-flow to be released to maintain a particular environmental management class (EMC) of the river. A river may be classified into six environmental management classes of A, B, C, D, E, and F depending on the following flow.

modification category (Kleynhans, 1996). The more pristine is the desired management class, the higher is the E-flow requirement.

 Class A (Natural): Pristine river condition or minor modification of in-stream and riparian habitat.

 Class B (Slightly modified): Largely intact biodiversity and habitats in the river despite water resources development and/or basin modifications

 Class C (Moderately modified): The river habitats and dynamics of the biota have been disturbed, but the basic ecosystem functions are still intact. Some sensitive species are lost/or reduced in extent; however, the alien species are present.

 Class D (Largely modified): There is large changes in the river natural habitats, biota and basic ecosystem functions with a clearly lower than expected species richness. A clearly lower than expected species richness.

 Class E (Seriously modified): Habitat diversity and availability have declined. A strikingly lower than expected species richness. Alien species invaded the ecosystem.

 Class F (Critically modified): Modifications have reached a critical level and ecosystem has been completely modified with almost total loss of natural habitat and biota. This river status is not acceptable at all.

Hence, the E-flow should be released from the dam so that it can maintain the EMC-B condition, which should not be less than the EMC-C condition in worst case.

Flow-Duration Curve (FDC) Method

The flow-duration curve is the plot between the percentages of time that flow in a stream is likely to equal or exceed some specified value of interest. The basic time unit used in preparing a flow-duration curve will greatly affect the nature of the curve. For most studies, mean daily discharges are used. These will give a steep curve. When the mean flow over a long period is used (such as mean monthly flow), the resulting curve will be flatter due to normalization of short-term peaks by averaging with intervening smaller flows during a month. The extreme discharge values are averaged out more and more, as the time period gets larger (e.g., for a flow duration-curve based on annual flows at a long-record station). The shape of a flow-duration curve in its upper and lower regions is particularly significant in evaluating the river and basin characteristics. The shape of the curve in the high-flow region indicates the type of flood regime the river basin is likely to have; whereas, the shape of the low-flow region characterizes the ability of the river basin to sustain low flows during dry seasons. A very steep curve (high flows for short periods) would be expected due to rainfall in small watersheds, as the watershed behave non-linearly to the rainfall-runoff transformation process. The floods due to snowmelt, which last for several days, or regulation of floods with reservoir storage, will generally result in a much flatter curve near the upper limit. In the low-flow region, an intermittent stream would exhibit periods of no flow; whereas, a very flat curve indicates that moderate flows are sustained throughout the year due to natural or artificial stream flow regulation, or due to a large groundwater capacity which sustains the base flow to the stream.

In this study, the available 10-daily averaged observed discharge time series in a particular month for different years are ranked using the Weibull plotting position method. The flow-duration curve for that specific month is represented by a table of flow values (percentiles) covering the entire range of probabilities of occurrence corresponding to 17 fixed percentage points: 0.01, 0.1, 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 95, 99, 99.9, and 99.99%. These percentage points ensure that the entire range of flows is adequately accounted for. The flow-duration curve developed using the historical data is termed as the reference class. For estimating the Environmental Flow (E-flow) requirement for different categories of EMC, the flow duration curve is shifted by one step, two steps, three steps, and four steps for EMC-A, EMC-B, EMC-C, and EMC-D, respectively. The E-flow is computed based on the 90% dependable flow of this FDC for different EMCs. The E-flow thus computed for different months is routed along the river reached downstream by using the MIKE 11 Hydrodynamic Model (DHI-Water & Environment, 2012) to simulate the spatial distribution of discharge, flow depth, and flow velocity at different sections of the river downstream under no lateral flow condition.

Habitat Simulation Method

The main issue with the FDC method is a limited justification of the permissible FDC shifts per EMC. The currently accepted step of a shift (one FDC table point per class) is based on limited calibration of the proposed method. It is very difficult to evaluate the results when there are no ecological data available to confirm or deny the suitability of the estimated EF. It is, in principle, possible to collect some limited hydraulic information for rivers and examine the characteristics of the available habitat (water depth, wetted area and velocity, for example) under different flow conditions (natural and FDC shifting method recommendations). This is not, however, a real substitute for scientific information on the relationships between ecological characteristics and flow.

Keeping this in view, a further assessment is to be carried out using habitat simulation and hydraulic modelling. Habitat requirements have to be established in different seasons for baseline data collected .

From baseline data, habitat requirement are to be established to protect fishes in the river limbs. Dependency of the local population on rivers for other needs e.g. domestic requirement, irrigation, navigation, commercial fisheries. is not there.

Flow modeling has to be carried out for different release scenarios in different seasons using Mike11. Flow simulations generally to be carried out for 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 40%, 50% and 100% releases of the average discharge in 90% dependable year of the flow series. Annual series may be further divided into Monsoon, Lean and pre & post monsoon period. Flow release recommendations are to be made using this approach to ensure habitat requirements are met with throughout the year.

MIKE 11 Hydrodynamic Model

The MIKE11 hydrodynamic model (DHI-Water & Environment, 2012) is widely used world-wide to model the 1-D flood wave movement in rivers under steady and unsteady flow conditions. This model solves the de Saint-Venant equations of continuity and momentum using six-point Abbot numerical scheme. The Saint-Venant equations of continuity and momentum are to be followed.

 The MIKE11 model uses the E-flow as the upstream boundary condition, which is then routed along the river downstream to estimate the discharge, flow depth and velocity at different sections of the river reach at different time levels. MIKE11 is accepted by US Federal Emergency Management Agency for use in the National Flood Insurance Program.

  Comments

The Report on Estimation of Environment Flows Requirement for tropical rivers like India typically may include the following;

 Baseline Data, broadly given below, may be elaborated.

 Secondary sources based on literature covering fish fauna of rivers rivers

 Primary sources – Based on sampling and analysis covering physico-chemical and biological characteristics

 ·         Physico–chemical Characteristics (water and sediment)                                                     

·         Periphyton, Phytoplankton and zooplankton                                                                     ·         Macro-Invertebrates (benthic) Fish Fauna

 ·         Fish species sampled during different seasons

·         Catch Per Unit Effort

·         Size/s of fish caught during sampling in different season

·         Habitat Characteristics of sites where sampling was conducted like substrate, river depth, flow velocity, etc.

 The data from the seasonal sampling on water quality and biological features (phytoplankton, zooplankton, macro-benthos, fishes, etc) are to be included in the report along with discussion on seasonal trend in parameters and correlation, if any, between water quality and biological parameters of key species.

 Establishing habitat requirement based on Ecological and Social needs in different seasons – Lean (Winter), Monsoon, pre and post monsoon, i.e., Flow Depth, Width, Velocity, Turbidity, Flood Peaks, Intermittent Wetting of Riparian vegetation during high flows, etc. needs to be elaborated in a report.

 Meeting of habitat requirement through environment flow may also be elaborated in a report.

 ·        

·                                                                                

·         Spills from dam during monsoon to be assessed

·         

Hydrology

MIKE 11 has been used for hydro-dynamic modelling and several runs for different discharges must  be made with number of inputs .

 Maximum number of river cross-sections on river limbs need to be used for modelling (at least 9-10 sections on each limb). The use of data for several sections would facilitate assessment of critical stretch.

 . The entire river reach needs to be represented in the model set up using all the cross sections provided.

             The model output should include flow depth, velocity of flow and top flow width at each cross section of the study reach for 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 40%, 50% & 100% flow of the average of leanest 4 months, 4 monsoon months & other 4 months in 90% dependable year.

 The flow simulation results, viz., depth of flow, velocity and top flow width of all the three seasons need to be correlated with the respective riverine fauna to estimate the environmental flow requirements.

Net Primary Productivity, NPP, is a technical concept very difficult to apply in the field at the forest ecosystem scale. It is the difference between net photosyntesis minus respiration. A good approximation is to evaluate the biomass balance equation: Inputs (Ingrowth, recruitment, regeneration) minus outputs (mortality, harvesting) plus minus changes in growth. Changes in growth are more or less approximated by using or fitting growth and yield models. The time scale is important; for very short time scales (less than 5 years assumption that inputs and outputs are equal can be made) and the model coalesces into the growth of the forest in this period of time. For larger time scales make sure you have the right dates of tree ingrowth and recruitment as well as mortality and harvesting becausethe modelis very sensitive to these dates. One good assumption is to evaluate ingrowth, recruitment, mortality andharvesting at the middle of the time period.

Hope this explanation address properly the evaluation of NPP.

Best WIshes and Kind Regards

Sincerely

Jose Navar, Ph.D Oklahoma State University 

Naveen,  although it is written for corn and soybean systems, we have a recent publication on systems WUE here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.13101/full and available on my profile page.  Our definition takes into account ET, drainage, and runoff.  Hope it helps!

Please follow the methodology of the paper in the link

The natural plant are life in harmony with their area and in this global change of climate Ithink that they will be more adapted in moiture areas but really it will be more catastrophic for the new "Dry land" but we can be sûr that many species will go and the resistant ones will prosper .....

You should also consider the work done by Mexico's Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. They have published several papers and books pertinent to your question, and you can find then online at www.conabio.gob.mx. And of course, yhere is the research done for decades by Eleanor Ostrom and her colleages.

Try to get in touch with BGCI https://www.bgci.org/

I send you the following references:

1. Mass, energy and material balances of SRF production process. Part 2: SRF produced from construction and demolition waste

Waste Management, Volume 34, Issue 11, Pages 2163-2170

Muhammad Nasrullah, Pasi Vainikka, Janne Hannula, Markku Hurme, Janne Kärki

2. Comparison of coal/solid recovered fuel (SRF) with coal/refuse derived fuel (RDF) in a fluidised bed reactor

Waste Management, Volume 31, Issue 6, Pages 1176-1183

S.T. Wagland, P. Kilgallon, R. Coveney, A. Garg, R. Smith, P.J. Longhurst, S.J.T. Pollard, N. Simms

3. Comparing hybrid Populus clones for SRF across northern Italy after two biennial rotations: Survival, growth and yield

Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 35, Issue 4, Pages 1524-1532

Pierluigi Paris, Leonardo Mareschi, Maurizio Sabatti, Andrea Pisanelli, Alfredo Ecosse, Fabrizio Nardin, Giuseppe Scarascia-Mugnozza

4. Techno-economic performance analysis of energy production from biomass at different scales in the UK context

Chemical Engineering Journal, Volume 171, Issue 3, Pages 986-996

C. Patel, P. Lettieri, S.J.R. Simons, A. Germanà

5. Gasification improvement of a poor quality solid recovered fuel (SRF). Effect of using natural minerals and biomass wastes blends

Fuel, Volume 117, Issue null, Pages 1034-1044

Filomena Pinto, Rui Neto André, Carlos Carolino, Miguel Miranda, Pedro Abelha, Daniel Direito, Nikos Perdikaris, Ioannis Boukis

All are available on ScienceDirect.

Scientific American letter publish February 2015, link attached https://www.researchgate.net/search.Search.html?type=publication&query=monarch+dremann

Nature has created vertical as well as horizontal layers of farming.

In a complex forest Leaf Area Index (LAI) is about 12-14. This means that in one meter square land area you have 14 meter square leaf area. In this forest you have halophytes and sciophytes along with facultative halophytes and facultative sciophytes. These plants have favourable on unfavourable associations. This canopy makes use of solar radiation which has 680 nm wave length and 700 nm wave length.

The multi tiered canopy has capacity to produce biomass 2.5 times more than the mono cultured crop. If the biomass is to be used as raw material for fulfilling human requirements in that case plant species useful to human beings should be selected.

We have got wonderful results on this experiments. If the demand is of food we have hundreds of forest trees having capacity to feed human race. Examples are Madhuka longifolis (Mahua) it gives carbohydrates, Fatty acids and protein to lesser extent; Phoenix sylvestris (Wild date palm) can be perennial source of sucrose fibres and fruits. There are hundreds of tuberous crops (as and under story of forest canopy) which can feed millions of people. It includes different kinds of yams and kudzu. The list is endless and every ecosystem will have its own flora and fauna.

Vedamani, you may refer to the specific examples that have been chronicled in different books as part of movements that people have participated in. This can also be related to the impacts that has brought in different societal elements together and how it has forced the industries to rethink about the environment-people connection. The latest in this case resulted in how Supreme Court granted relief to the locals and adivasis to be the rightful stakeholders in mining activities in Odhisa and HP, that was planned by state governments to be used for bauxite mining, So, I guess, the question can be exploded into a series of questions that would involve seeking answers on the socio-political-economic impacts and role of judicial activism to support it.  

Depending on exactly how you plan on collecting and organizing your data, you could create a Google Form and share it with your data collectors. Data is put straight into a Google Sheets spreadsheet for you, which can be exported to Excel if needed.

The traditional view is to place natural resources on the input side of a production function and measure its contribution to output and standard of living and general welfare gains. But your use of the term "exploitation" brings skepticism to that view. It requires one to address how natural resources are transformed into capital goods for producing more capital goods for future growth and consumption goods for people’s standard of living. This view tends to split ideologies into orthodox models that use only technical relationships of production such as productivity of capital, productivity of labor, capital-labor ratio etc.,  and Marxian models that uses departments.

There are a variety of sources at different scales geographically with varying accuracy to answer your question. If you want statewide estimates I recommend Myers an Ewel Ecosystems of Florida. I have work on this for the Charlotte Harbor portion of southwest Florida. The ecosystems section of the South Florida Multi-Species Recovery Plan is a good location for information for the area south and flanking lake Okeechobee inlcuding the Everglades, Big Cypress and the Keys  See http://www.fws.gov/verobeach/ListedSpeciesMSRP.html .

Hello Nelson.

The attached study used an ecologically based control strategy to try to reduce recolonization by an invasive grass after it had been removed by hand and herbicide. We tried to increase competition from native plants by re-establishing native species, in a semi-arid environment. The efforts largely failed, probably due to particularly low rainfall reducing seedling establishment.

Whatever typically limits seedling establishment in your ecosystem, a recommendation is to increase your chances of hitting a good year for establishment by seeding or planting in several years.

Also, watch out for strategies that may actually favour the invasive species or damage established native plants. We found that planting seedlings increased invasive seedling emergence and increased native forb mortality, probably due to the increased soil disturbance that is inevitable when you plant out.

Persistence is important. Best of luck to you.

steve woods

Dear Maria:

According to the Institute of Environmental Law, United Nations Environment Programme, McGill University, the construction of Environmental peace integrates the management of natural resources in conflict prevention, mitigation, resolution and recovery to build resilience in communities affected by conflict. This is because the majority of armed conflicts occur in developing countries, where people depend substantially on natural resources for subsistence agriculture and livelihoods.

Natural resources are often intertwined with the narrative of conflict, with complaints about natural resources and their revenues that contribute to the emergence of conflicts, revenues from natural resources to fund conflict and combatants targeting natural resources and the environment. And the peace after conflicts related to the resources is fragile: countries with conflicts over the last resources are more likely to relapse, and to do it twice as fast.

Natural resources are one of the most important resources of a country to peace building. Land, forests, minerals, oil, water and other resources are the basis for the reconstruction of livelihoods and national economies.

My reading suggestions are: Harari, Nicole and Roseman, Jesse, Environmental Peacebuilding Theory and Practice: a case study of the Good Water Neighbors project and in depth analysis of the Wadi Fukin / Tzur Hadassah communities. (Amman, Bethlehem and Tel Aviv, 2008  http://foeme.org/uploads/publications_publ93_1.pdf )

Hope this helps.

Andréa

Obs.: 

The diagram below shows a conceptual view of the elements of environmental peacebuilding.

Mohammad,

I can offer guidance as follows:

1) The first step is to determine the causes of the siltation;

2) Does siltation relate to increased supply of sediment either from the river or from seaward? Can the source(s) be identified? Is it likely to be an episodic event such as a response to storm river discharge or storm waves? or a change in land use upstream? Has the river discharge increased for any reason? Has there been rapid erosion of a neighboring shoreline?

3) Could the siltation be caused by changes in the tidal flow regime of the estuary? Anything that reduces the tidal exchange with the sea (tidal prism) could result in shoaling of the estuary inlet. With reduced tidal flows, waves from seaward can drive sediments in to the inlet and lower estuary. Land reclamation around the estuarine margins could induce this effect. Has the inlet channel widened recently perhaps by shoreline or mudflat retreat or maybe even by dredging? As the channel widens its effect on concentrating tidal flows is reduced and as flow velocities reduce there is greater potential for sedimentation;

4) When the cause(s) of siltation is understood then the decision becomes either: (i) whether to manage the causes by attempting to manage the sediment inputs or the tidal flow regime, or (ii) whether to manage or the symptoms perhaps by inlet training using jetties or by maintenance dredging of channels;

5) Finally, there is the option of adapting to the altered siltation regime by adjusting land uses and undertaking management of sensitive habitats.

For detailed information and examples I would recommend undertaking internet and literature searches using terms such as "estuarine siltation" or "inlet siltation" Addition of the word "problems" to either search is useful too.

I wish you success with your research.

Land conflicts are taking place primarily because unequal distribution of it and secondly because of unscientific use of it. Thirdly in the name of development also land of the dependents being acquired by the state- corporate-builder nexus in many Asian countries including India.  

I can recommend you key publication on Black locust in-vitro propagation: Micropropagation of black locust (robinia pseudoacacia l.) J. Zhang, Y. Liu and H. Wang

http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-1-4020-6352-7_18#page-1 

We are also preparing paper on our experience with Robinia.

Hi, 

This sounds a little bit out of my expertise area, but I can offer some help in literature and ecofeminist theory if you'd like it. While my research examines international environmental law, I take a distinctly qualitative/doctrinal approach!

In terms of the claim that liberals have a 'complex view of femininity', I would recommend reading some ecofeminist literature (if you haven't already)  concerning the notion of 'femininity,' protection' and the role of women in this approach. Some ecofeminists (it's a very broad church) criticise liberalism for adopting a project of assimilation wherein women (and other marginalised communities) are integrated into environmental projects which they contend continues to legitimise the exploitation and subordination of nonhuman nature and human/Others. I'd be very wary of referring to 'femininity' and feminine without specifying exactly what you mean by it, as these are hotly contested terms that many eco/feminists consider highly essentialising and not representative of the differences between women, dependent on class, culture, experience, and race. There is loads of work out there on this specific issue. I can point you to some if you would like.

Have you looked at any of Julie Nelson's literature on the precautionary principle and the notion of masculinity? It might help you in framing exactly what you mean by 'feminine' and non-feminine in this context. Also, Mary Mellor's work on materialist ecofeminism might be of interest.

Kind regards, and I look forward to seeing what you discover

Kate

Dear Mr. Kafle,

I suggest you to read some of the most interesting chapters of the book:

Gunderson, L.H., Allen, C.R., Holling, C.S. 2012. Foundations of ecological resilience. Island Press, Washington D.C., USA.

Furthermore, the workbooks contained in the next section of the Resilience Alliance website will provide you with many examples:

Also, these two articles will help you to focus your problem in order to define proxies of ecological resilience:

Steve Carpenter, Brian Walker, J. M. Anderies, N. Abel. 2001. From Metaphor to Measurement: Resilience of What to What? Ecosystems, 4 (8): 765-781.

Gunderson, L.H. 2000. Ecological resilience - In theory and application.

Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 31: 425-439

Good luck.

Take into account that Walkley-Black is a semiquantitative method (partial oxidation of the sample). This method was/is mainly used for soil classification. To  work up to 2 m depht, a CHN determination is better. Anyway you could split  any sample, collected according to the genetic horizons,  in two subsamples; you can use  the Walkley Black to classify your soil  and the  CHN  determination to get more precise data. 

Dear Binyam

You can use FAO data with safety. i.e. check  FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005 or a newer edition.