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Ecological and Social Paradigm Towards Sustainability in the African Context
Published in Rohini Prasad, Manoj Kumar Jhariya, Arnab Banerjee, Advances in Sustainable Development and Management of Environmental and Natural Resources, 2021
Kondwani Kapinga, Nalukui Matakala, Kennedy Ouma, Concilia Monde, Paxie C. Chirwa, Stephen Syampungani
About 30% of the land in the biosphere is covered by forests. However, about 13 million hectares, according to the World Bank Group (2016) vanish annually in spite of the efforts to protect them. Forest degradation encompasses transformation in the process that adversely impact on the forest features such that there is deterioration in the forest’s goods and services production value (FAO, 2011). Deforestation, on the other hand, is described as a conversion of forests to non-forestry land uses through human-induced activities (IPCC, 2007). With this definition, not all forms of forest cover loss are to be considered as deforestation. The transformation of forest land into farmland, settlements, grassland, wetlands, and other land uses are examples of deforestation. In Africa, agriculture (especially the slash and burn agriculture), harvesting of medicinal plants, and charcoal production may be the causes of deforestation, and this is especially true for Southern Africa (Chirwa et al., 2014). Forest degradation and deforestation led to habitat loss for all species. It also results in the decrease of freshwater quality, degradation of land, soil erosion increase, and high emissions of atmospheric carbon (UNICEF, 2017).
Climate Change and the Need for REDD+
Published in Moonisa Aslam Dervash, Akhlaq Amin Wani, Climate Change Alleviation for Sustainable Progression, 2022
Mohammad Nayeem Shah, Gowhar Meraj, Majid Farooq, Ishfaq
International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is working on the role of forests in combating climate change in several ways (Fig. 2): Controlling deforestation and forest degradation in biodiversity hotspots, primary forests and world heritage sites helps in conserving the benefits that people and societies seek from forests, including forest carbon stocks and livelihoods.Restoring forest landscapes helps in sequestering global warming gases. The Bonn Challenge was a worldwide struggle to bring 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded land under renewal by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030. The IUCN essentially gave support to reach this significant objective. For attaining the objective of 350 million hectares up to 1.7 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per annum could be sequestered.The IUCN ensures proper community involvement in land-use outcomes through partners and projects, which strengthen community control over forests, eradicates poverty, empowers men and women, increases biodiversity and sustainably manages forests.Forests provide continuous benefits, which is dangerous for a sustainable and reasonable source of forest services and goods. IUCN develops capacity for executing re-establishment, appeals to private firms and ensures benefits, such as those from REDD+, which are fairly pooled with local landlords and forest groups.
Implementing shared-use of mining infrastructure to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
Published in Sumit K. Lodhia, Mining and Sustainable Development, 2018
Perrine Toledano, Nicolas Maennling
The biggest potential adverse impact of shared-use infrastructure on SDG 15, however, is that improved road infrastructure, in particular, but also railway infrastructure may unlock economic activity and create access to areas that previously were not easily accessible by humans. Forest degradation and habitat loss may result through incursion into forest areas for agriculture, artisanal mining, and other potentially harmful activities (Hund and Megevand, 2013). In order to minimize such adverse impacts, countries should implement land-use planning strategies that set out “nogo” zones and plan transport corridors accordingly.
Historical trends of degradation, loss, and recovery in the tropical forest reserves of Ghana
Published in International Journal of Digital Earth, 2022
Michael C. Wimberly, Francis K. Dwomoh, Izaya Numata, Foster Mensah, Jacob Amoako, Dawn M. Nekorchuk, Andrea McMahon
The canopy cover classes were used to define five change types. Change from closed to open forest was characterized as forest degradation. Change from either closed or open forest to low tree cover was characterized as closed forest loss or open forest loss, respectively. Change from low tree cover to open forest was characterized as open forest recovery and change from open to closed forest was characterized as closed forest recovery. An additional rule was applied in which these changes were only considered valid if a pixel remained in the new state for two or more years. For example, if a pixel was degraded, but then immediately recovered to a closed forest state the next year, this change was not considered biologically realistic and the forest was assumed to have remained in a closed forest state. Applying these rules to annual canopy cover data from 2001 to 2020, we generated change events for 2003–2019. We summarized the areas affected by these changes by year and ecoregion to assess trends in disturbance and recovery over time. We also summarized the total area affected by these change types for each forest reserve to assess geographic patterns in change trajectories throughout the forest zone of Ghana.
Modelling areas for sustainable forest management in a mining and human dominated landscape: A Geographical Information System (GIS)- Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) approach
Published in Annals of GIS, 2022
Xavier Takam Tiamgne, Felix Kanungwe Kalaba, Vincent Raphael Nyirenda, Darius Phiri
The levels of encroachment in protected areas (PAs) caused by anthropogenic activities, such as cultivation, and urban development are degrading some protected national and local forests in Zambia (GRZ 2015). Zambia’s rate of deforestation is estimated at about 1.5% per annum (250,000 ha per annum) (Henry et al. 2011). The main drivers of deforestation are agriculture and settlements (Vinya et al. 2011). The degradation of protected forests in the North-Western Zambia, and Solwezi in particular, produces adverse impacts on wildlife habitats that are very high and alarming as this region is among the few areas in Zambia where most of its area has undisturbed forests. Protected forest areas in Zambia, and Solwezi district in particular, are facing varying degrees of human disturbance and are in several stages of forest destruction and fragmentation as a result of the presence of large-scale mining activities (GRZ 2019). Considering the significance of biodiversity in the provision of ecosystem services, widespread forest degradation is likely to have far-reaching consequences, such as reduced resistance to natural or anthropogenic disturbance (Brockerhof et al. 2017). As a result, disturbances appear to be increasing in frequency and intensity (Brockerhoff and Liebhold 2017; Freer-Smith and Webber 2017). As such, declines in biodiversity are likely to reduce forests’ resistance to climate extremes (Malhi et al. 2020) as well as pests, pathogens, invasive species, and other disturbance factors (Jactel et al. 2017), and to reduce the provision of ecosystem services in general (Vila` and Hulme 2016).
Fuel wood consumption, and its influence on forest biomass carbon stock and emission of carbon dioxide. A case study of Kahinaur, district Mau, Uttar Pradesh, India
Published in Biofuels, 2019
Mohd Baqir, Richa Kothari, Rana Pratap Singh
Consumption of firewood is society's oldest source of household energy and it is still used around the globe, even in technologically advanced countries with high energy consumption [1,2]. In many countries, fuel wood consumption is now one of the most important causes of forest degradation. It has been estimated that biomass in the form of fuel wood only accounts for approximately 9% of total global energy consumption [3]. For several decades, deforestation and forest degradation have been on the development agenda worldwide in an effort to find a compromise between the lifestyle of forest dwellers and forest conservation. However, the current unsustainable methods of utilization of forest resources cause over exploitation resulting in forest degradation. Biomass accounts for approximately 14% of the total energy used globally and is the largest energy source for three quarters of the world's population, living in developing countries [4].