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Karin BR, Krone IW, Frederick J, Hamidy A, Laksono WT, Amini SS, Arida E, Arifin U, Bach BH, Bos C, Jennings CK, Riyanto A, Scarpetta SG, Stubbs AL, McGuire JA. Elevational surveys of Sulawesi herpetofauna 1: Gunung Galang, Gunung Dako Nature Reserve. PeerJ 2023; 11:e15766. [PMID: 37637176 PMCID: PMC10448876 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.15766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2023] [Accepted: 06/27/2023] [Indexed: 08/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The Indonesian island of Sulawesi has a unique geology and geography, which have produced an astoundingly diverse and endemic flora and fauna and a fascinating biogeographic history. Much biodiversity research has focused on the regional endemism in the island's Central Core and on its four peninsulas, but the biodiversity of the island's many upland regions is still poorly understood for most taxa, including amphibians and reptiles. Here, we report the first of several planned full-mountain checklists from a series of herpetological surveys of Sulawesi's mountains conducted by our team. In more than 3 weeks of work on Gunung Galang, a 2,254 m peak west of the city of Tolitoli, Sulawesi Tengah Province, on Sulawesi's Northern Peninsula, we recovered nearly fifty species of reptiles and amphibians, more than a dozen of which are either new to science or known but undescribed. The incompleteness of our sampling suggests that many more species remain to be discovered on and around this mountain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin R. Karin
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Isaac W. Krone
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Jeffrey Frederick
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States
- Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Amir Hamidy
- Research Center for Biosystematics, Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional (BRIN), Cibinong, Bogor, Indonesia
| | - Wahyu Tri Laksono
- Research Center for Biosystematics, Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional (BRIN), Cibinong, Bogor, Indonesia
| | - Sina S. Amini
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Evy Arida
- Research Center for Applied Zoology, Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional (BRIN), Cibinong, Bogor, Indonesia
| | - Umilaela Arifin
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States
- Center for Taxonomy and Morphology, Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Bryan H. Bach
- California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Collin Bos
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States
- Division of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Charlotte K. Jennings
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Awal Riyanto
- Research Center for Biosystematics, Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional (BRIN), Cibinong, Bogor, Indonesia
| | - Simon G. Scarpetta
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Alexander L. Stubbs
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Jimmy A. McGuire
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States
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Uddin M, Shawpnil K, Mugdha SBS, Ahmed A. A Statistical Synopsis of COVID-19 Components and Descriptive Analysis of Their Socio-Economic and Healthcare Aspects in Bangladesh Perspective. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2023; 2023:9738094. [PMID: 36815185 PMCID: PMC9940984 DOI: 10.1155/2023/9738094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2022] [Revised: 01/02/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2023]
Abstract
The aim of the work is to analyze the socio-economic and healthcare aspects that arise in the contemporary COVID-19 situation from Bangladesh perspective. We elaborately discuss the successive COVID-19 occurrences in Bangladesh with consequential information. The components associated with the COVID-19 commencement and treatment policy with corresponding features and their consequences are patently delineated. The effect of troublesome issues related to the treatment is detailed with supporting real-time data. We elucidate the applications of modern technologies advancement in epidemiological aspects and their existent compatibility in Bangladesh. We statistically analyze the real-time data through figurative and tabular approaches. Some relevant measures of central tendency and dispersion are utilized to explore the data structure and its observable specifications. For a clear manifestation, Z- scores of the COVID-19 components are analyzed through the Box-Whisker plot. We have discovered that the gathered data exhibit features that are unsatisfactory for the normal distribution, are highly positively skewed, and are predominated by the earliest occurrences. Infections and deaths were initially lower than the global average, but they drastically rose in the first quarter of 2021 and persisted for the remainder of the year. Substantial preventive results were produced by the region-wisetime-worthy moves. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the infections and deaths noticeably decreased, and the number of recoveries was highly significant. In the middle of 2022, a lethal rise in infections was observed in Bangladesh and that was quickly stabilized, and the pandemic ingredients were under control. According to our assessment, some concluding remarks are made at the end of this work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mahtab Uddin
- Institute of Natural Sciences, United International University, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
| | - Kazi Shawpnil
- Department of Computer Science & Engineering, United International University, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
| | | | - Ashek Ahmed
- Institute of Natural Sciences, United International University, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
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Céspedes J, Sylvester JM, Pérez-Marulanda L, Paz-Garcia P, Reymondin L, Khodadadi M, Tello JJ, Castro-Nunez A. Has global deforestation accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic? JOURNAL OF FORESTRY RESEARCH 2022; 34:1-13. [PMID: 36405883 PMCID: PMC9666988 DOI: 10.1007/s11676-022-01561-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2021] [Accepted: 06/15/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, questions arose as to whether the pandemic would amplify or pacify tropical deforestation. Early reports warned of increased deforestation rates; however, these studies were limited to a few months in 2020 or to selected regions. To better understand how the pandemic influenced tropical deforestation globally, this study used historical deforestation data (2004-2019) from the Terra-i pantropical land cover change monitoring system to project expected deforestation trends for 2020, which were used to determine whether observed deforestation deviated from expected trajectories after the first COVID-19 cases were reported. Time series analyses were conducted at the regional level for the Americas, Africa and Asia and at the country level for Brazil, Colombia, Peru, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia. Our results suggest that the pandemic did not alter the course of deforestation trends in some countries (e.g., Brazil, Indonesia), while it did in others (e.g., Peru). We posit the importance of monitoring the long-term effects of the pandemic on deforestation trends as countries prioritize economic recovery in the aftermath of the pandemic. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11676-022-01561-7.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonnathan Céspedes
- The Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali, Colombia
| | - Janelle M. Sylvester
- The Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali, Colombia
- Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Lisset Pérez-Marulanda
- The Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali, Colombia
- Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Paula Paz-Garcia
- The Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali, Colombia
| | - Louis Reymondin
- The Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali, Colombia
| | - Mehran Khodadadi
- Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Müncheberg, Germany
| | - Jhon J. Tello
- The Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali, Colombia
| | - Augusto Castro-Nunez
- The Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali, Colombia
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Bista R, Parajuli R, Giri K, Karki R, Song C. Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the livelihoods of rural households in the community forestry landscape in the Middle Hills of Nepal. TREES, FORESTS AND PEOPLE 2022; 9:100312. [PMID: 35945956 PMCID: PMC9352415 DOI: 10.1016/j.tfp.2022.100312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has severely affected all sectors of the economy, and the impacts are expected to last-long. One major impact is that migrants return to their original households in rural communities due to loss of jobs. Since rural communities are highly dependent on forest and agriculture for livelihoods, an influx of return migrants likely increases the consumption of forest products and intensifies the agriculture practices, increasing the pressure on forest resources. Based on in-person interview of 215 in 2018 before the pandemic and a phone interview of the same 215 rural households in 2021 at the peak of the pandemic in Kavrepalanchowk district in Nepal, this study addresses the following research questions: (1) Does COVID-19 exert differential impacts among the socio-economic groups? (2) How do return migrants affect the rural land use? (3) Do return migrants put additional pressure on forests resources? The rare before-and-after dataset provide a precious opportunity to assess the COVID-19 impacts on the livelihoods of rural households in the community forestry landscape in the Middle Hills of Nepal. We found that the impacts of COVID-19 were severe on the households with larger family size, those belonging to the marginalized caste groups, having lower number of livestock, low wellbeing index, those who rely on daily wage-based occupation, with low level of education, and the households with return migrants. A significant number of migrants were found to return to their village of origin. As a result, there was a decrease in abandoned land and an increase in the livestock number and forest product use. These findings provide timely insights for the post-pandemic recovery efforts in better targeting needy household with limited resource in the community forestry landscape in the Middle Hills of Nepal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rajesh Bista
- Department of Geography, Carolina Hall, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 3220, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Rajan Parajuli
- College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University, USA
| | - Kalpana Giri
- Global Restoration Team, World Resources Institute, Washington D.C., USA
| | | | - Conghe Song
- Department of Geography, Fellow, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB# 3220, 205 Carolina Hall, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
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Maraseni T, Poudyal BH, Aryal K, Laudari HK. Impact of COVID-19 in the forestry sector: A case of lowland region of Nepal. LAND USE POLICY 2022; 120:106280. [PMID: 35880191 PMCID: PMC9300748 DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2020] [Revised: 06/13/2022] [Accepted: 07/12/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
All walks of life have been affected by COVID-19 but smallholders from developing countries have been impacted more than others as they are heavily reliant on forest and agriculture for their livelihoods and have limited capacity to deal with COVID-19. Scholars are heavily engaged in assessing the impacts of COVID-19 on health and wellbeing, gender, food production and supply, stock market and the overall economy but not on the forestry sector. Using questionnaire surveys and key informant interviews-informed by grey literature and published articles- representing Division Forest Offices, Provincial Forest Directorates, and the Ministry of Forests and Environment in Nepal, this study assessed the impact of COVID-19 on the forestry sector of Nepal. Our analysis suggests that: (1) nature-based tourism is more severely affected than other sectors; (2) private, religious and leasehold forests faced minimal impacts of COVID-19 than that of community and government-managed forests; (3) wild boar (Sus scrofa), different species of deer, and birds have been more impacted than other wild animals; (4) the price of the timber has increased significantly whereas the price of non-timber forests products (NTFPs) has decreased; and (5) illegal logging and poaching have increased but the incidence of forest encroachment has been reduced. Our study further reveals that agroforestry practices in home gardens, borrowing money from neighbors/banks/landlords and liquidating livestock remained key alternatives for smallholders during COVID-19. Many studies reported that reverse migration could create chaos in Nepal, but our study suggests that it may enhance rural innovation and productivity, as returnees may use their acquired knowledge and skills to develop new opportunities. As COVID-19 has created a war-like situation worldwide, Nepal should come up with a forward-looking fiscal response with alternative income generation packages to local living to counter the impacts of COVID-19 on the forestry sector. One of the options could be implementing similar programs to that of India's US$ 800 Compensatory Afforestation Program and Pakistan's 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Program, which will create a win-win situation, i.e., generate employment for reverse migrants and promotes forest restoration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tek Maraseni
- University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba 4350, Queensland, Australia
- Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
| | | | - Kishor Aryal
- University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba 4350, Queensland, Australia
- Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Forests and Environment, Dhangadi, Sudupaschim Province, Nepal
| | - Hari Krishna Laudari
- Ministry of Forests and Environment, Singha Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal
- School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Australia
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Anser MK, Nassani AA, Zaman K, Abro MMQ. Environmental and natural resource degradation in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic: a wake-up call. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2022; 29:10456-10466. [PMID: 34519987 PMCID: PMC8438285 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-16259-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2021] [Accepted: 08/26/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The study's objective is to examine the relationship between COVID-19 cases, environmental sustainability ratings, and mineral resource rents in a large cross section of 97 countries. The emergence of novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) enlarges its magnitude across the international borders and damages social, economic, and environmental infrastructure with a high rate of human death tolls. The mineral resources are also devastated, which served as a primary raw input into the production system. The adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the environment and mineral resources are studied in a large panel of countries and found that mineral resource rents and population growth improve environmental sustainability rating (ESR). In contrast, an increase in coronavirus cases decreases the rating scale across countries. Further, mineral resources first decrease along with increased COVID-19 cases due to strict government policies, including the mandatory shutdown of economic institutions. Further, mineral resource rents increase later because of resuming economic activities in many parts of the world. The high rate of population growth is another important factor that negatively affects mineral resources across countries. Through impulse response and variance decomposition estimates, an exacerbated coronavirus cases and population growth would likely negatively affect ESR and mineral resources. In contrast, COVID-19 recovered cases will likely play a more significant role in securing mineral resources over time. Therefore, the global mineral resource conservation policies and improving ESR are highly needed during the COVID-19 to keep the significant economic gains in unprecedented times.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad Khalid Anser
- School of Public Administration, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an, 710000 China
| | - Abdelmohsen A. Nassani
- Department of Management, College of Business Administration, King Saud University, P.O. Box 71115, Riyadh, 11587 Saudi Arabia
| | - Khalid Zaman
- Department of Economics, University of Haripur, Haripur Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Moinuddin Qazi Abro
- Department of Management, College of Business Administration, King Saud University, P.O. Box 71115, Riyadh, 11587 Saudi Arabia
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Jiaviriyaboonya P. Anthropological study of village health volunteers' (VHVs') socio-political network in minimizing risk and managing the crisis during COVID-19. Heliyon 2022; 8:e08654. [PMID: 34977396 PMCID: PMC8712115 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Revised: 08/06/2021] [Accepted: 12/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Since the early stage of the pandemic outbreak between 2019-2020, the capacity and preparedness of Thailand in coping with the crisis were reconfirmed with ranking the country sixth among a total of 195 countries in terms of health security and making it the only developing country worldwide on the top 10 list and number 1 in Asia. In the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, the Village Health Volunteers (VHVs) play an important role as a representative and gatekeeper of the community in the response to the pandemic. Previous research paid less attention to explore how local communities in the northeast of Thailand are able to prevent themselves from the pandemic by utilizing certain form of local resources. The research pays attention to the roles and functions of VHVs, as well as to the process of social network formation of the VHVs in Nakhon Phanom. It applies anthropological research methods: focus group, observations and in-depth interviews with five VHVs. Following the “network” and “social capital” concepts (Lin and Huang, 2005), this paper argues that local communities in the northeast of Thailand attempt to cope with the risks and challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by mobilizing a variety of local resources, and such mobilization is operated and maintained by numerous local agencies or relevant stakeholders. The VHVs formulate “socio-political networks,” or can be seen as a “pluralistic network” based on a “collaborative system” between numerous agents/stakeholders in the community, including VHV groups, villagers, families/households, local politicians/officials, and private sector actors. This research can be used as fundamental research applying to understand the larger societies where community collaborations, social networks, and social capital are key mechanisms empowering agencies to encounter the invasion of a global pandemic.
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Abstract
Forest ecosystems provide numerous services and benefits to both humans and biodiversity. Similarly, urban forests services play a vital role by providing urban dwellers with recreational and leisure space, mental health relief, and meditation. In the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic, many people living in the urban areas could benefit from the forest and park recreational services to relieve psychological stress due to lockdown rules. The study examined existing literature simultaneously; however, very few studies have presented the relationships between forest services’ role on COVID-19 stress relief. Furthermore, we examined forest visitors’ frequency at the Training Forest Enterprise (TFE) Masaryk Forest Křtiny in the outskirts of Brno City in the Czech Republic. The study collected data using a TRAFx infrared trail counter before the pandemic (2015–2018) and during the COVID-19 period (2021). As in other studies of the subject, we observed an increasing trend in forest visits during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2021, compared to the same months before the pandemic in 2016 and 2017. We recommend further research to focus on scientific analysis of the relationship between forest ecosystem services and COVID-19 stress and mental health. Moreover, given the spike in visitors during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2021 in March and April, our data provide evidence regarding the role of nature for relieving stress and supporting mental and physical health. Policy, decision-makers and medical advisors could use such data and study to guide future lockdowns and pandemic situations regarding nature and forest recreational use and importance.
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Laudari HK, Pariyar S, Maraseni T. COVID-19 lockdown and the forestry sector: Insight from Gandaki province of Nepal. FOREST POLICY AND ECONOMICS 2021; 131:102556. [PMID: 34512124 PMCID: PMC8419634 DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2021.102556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2021] [Revised: 07/03/2021] [Accepted: 07/06/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Almost all countries have imposed large-scale mobility restrictions (or lockdown) to stop the spreading of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The mobility restriction has disrupted all types of business; causing a devastating impact on countries' economies; and pushing millions of people into extreme poverty. Scientists have been assessing the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on various fronts but there is limited scholarship in the forestry sector. We navigated the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on the forestry sector by taking Gandaki Province (21,974 km2) of Nepal as a case. Employing semi-structured interviews (n = 62) with all ten stakeholder groups, literature review and media analysis, our study revealed that the COVID-19 lockdown suspended all types of forestry and ecotourism businesses; obstructed research and monitoring activities; halted capacity development and extension services; impacted forest development work; and increased incidences of illegal logging and poaching and trafficking of wildlife. Because of the complete shutdown of businesses, the forestry sector of Gandaki province lost 9.6 million USD and 3.2 million man-days of employment during the lockdown period. The economic cost of the lockdown was 1.73 million USD for NTFPs traders, 1.26 million USD for ecotourism entrepreneurs, 0.55 million USD for the community forest user groups and 0.24 million USD for the smallholder or private forest owner. We suggested four post-COVID recovery pathways, including sustainable forest management, nature-based tourism, improvement of forest products value chain and community-based natural resource management to bounce back from the loss. As the current pandemic is most likely to derail the Sustainable Development Pathways of several countries, including Nepal and necessitates the need for an immediate response, the finding and recommendation of our study may inform decision-makers to reimage post-pandemic recovery and leverage sustainable development.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Shiva Pariyar
- Ministry of Forest, Environment and Soil Conservation, Gandaki Province, Pokhara, Nepal
| | - Tek Maraseni
- University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba 4350, Queensland, Australia
- Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
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Mohan M, Rue HA, Bajaj S, Galgamuwa GAP, Adrah E, Aghai MM, Broadbent EN, Khadamkar O, Sasmito SD, Roise J, Doaemo W, Cardil A. Afforestation, reforestation and new challenges from COVID-19: Thirty-three recommendations to support civil society organizations (CSOs). JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2021; 287:112277. [PMID: 33756214 PMCID: PMC8809530 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2020] [Revised: 01/22/2021] [Accepted: 02/22/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Afforestation/reforestation (A/R) programs spearheaded by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) play a significant role in reaching global climate policy targets and helping low-income nations meet the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, these organizations face unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, these challenges affect their ability to address issues associated with deforestation and forest degradation in a timely manner. We discuss the influence COVID-19 can have on previous, present and future A/R initiatives, in particular, the ones led by International Non-governmental Organizations (INGOs). We provide thirty-three recommendations for exploring underlying deforestation patterns and optimizing forest policy reforms to support forest cover expansion during the pandemic. The recommendations are classified into four groups - i) curbing deforestation and improving A/R, ii) protecting the environment and mitigating climate change, iii) enhancing socio-economic conditions, and iv) amending policy and law enforcement practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Midhun Mohan
- Department of Geography, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94709, USA; United Nations Volunteering Program, Morobe Development Foundation, Lae, 00411, Papua New Guinea.
| | - Hayden A Rue
- United Nations Volunteering Program, Morobe Development Foundation, Lae, 00411, Papua New Guinea; Grow Non-profit, Kathmandu, Nepal.
| | - Shaurya Bajaj
- United Nations Volunteering Program, Morobe Development Foundation, Lae, 00411, Papua New Guinea.
| | - G A Pabodha Galgamuwa
- United Nations Volunteering Program, Morobe Development Foundation, Lae, 00411, Papua New Guinea; The Nature Conservancy, Maryland/DC Chapter, Cumberland, MD, 21502, USA.
| | - Esmaeel Adrah
- United Nations Volunteering Program, Morobe Development Foundation, Lae, 00411, Papua New Guinea.
| | | | - Eben North Broadbent
- Spatial Ecology and Conservation Lab, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA.
| | - Omkar Khadamkar
- United Nations Volunteering Program, Morobe Development Foundation, Lae, 00411, Papua New Guinea.
| | - Sigit D Sasmito
- NUS Environmental Research Institute (NERI), National University of Singapore, 21 Lower Kent Ridge Road, 19 Singapore, 119077, Singapore; Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, 1 Arts Link, Singapore, 117570, Singapore.
| | - Joseph Roise
- Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, 2820 Faucette Dr., Campus Box 8001, 27695, Raleigh, NC, United States.
| | - Willie Doaemo
- United Nations Volunteering Program, Morobe Development Foundation, Lae, 00411, Papua New Guinea; Morobe Development Foundation, Doyle Street, Trish Avenue-Eriku, Lae, 00411, Papua New Guinea; Department of Civil Engineering, Papua New Guinea University of Technology, Lae, 00411, Papua New Guinea.
| | - Adrian Cardil
- Tecnosylva, Parque Tecnológico de León, 24009, León, Spain; Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC), Ctra. Sant Llorenç de Morunys, Km 2, 25280, Solsona, Lleida, Spain; School of Agrifood and Forestry Science and Engineering, University of Lleida, Av. de l'Alcalde Rovira Roure, 191, 25198, Solsona, Lleida, Spain.
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Muñoz-Cancino R, Rios SA, Goic M, Graña M. Non-Intrusive Assessment of COVID-19 Lockdown Follow-Up and Impact Using Credit Card Information: Case Study in Chile. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2021; 18:5507. [PMID: 34063860 PMCID: PMC8196566 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18115507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2021] [Revised: 05/13/2021] [Accepted: 05/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
In this paper, we propose and validate with data extracted from the city of Santiago, capital of Chile, a methodology to assess the actual impact of lockdown measures based on the anonymized and geolocated data from credit card transactions. Using unsupervised Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) semantic topic discovery, we identify temporal patterns in the use of credit cards that allow us to quantitatively assess the changes in the behavior of the people under the lockdown measures because of the COVID-19 pandemic. An unsupervised latent topic analysis uncovers the main patterns of credit card transaction activity that explain the behavior of the inhabitants of Santiago City. The approach is non-intrusive because it does not require the collaboration of people for providing the anonymous data. It does not interfere with the actual behavior of the people in the city; hence, it does not introduce any bias. We identify a strong downturn of the economic activity as measured by credit card transactions (down to 70%), and thus of the economic activity, in city sections (communes) that were subjected to lockdown versus communes without lockdown. This change in behavior is confirmed by independent data from mobile phone connectivity. The reduction of activity emerges before the actual lockdowns were enforced, suggesting that the population was spontaneously implementing the required measures for slowing virus propagation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ricardo Muñoz-Cancino
- Business Intelligence Research Center (CEINE), Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Chile, Beauchef 851, Santiago 8370456, Chile;
| | - Sebastian A. Rios
- Business Intelligence Research Center (CEINE), Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Chile, Beauchef 851, Santiago 8370456, Chile;
| | - Marcel Goic
- Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Chile, Beauchef 851, Santiago 8370456, Chile;
| | - Manuel Graña
- Computational Intelligence Group, University of Basque Country, 20018 San Sebastian, Spain;
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