Environment and Forestry

There is a growing concern that the global climate is warming to dangerous levels with serious implications on biodiversity components and development. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment identified climate change as a major driver of biodiversity loss and indicated that it will adversely affect key development sectors; including the provision of clean water, energy services and food. An analysis of the relationship between climate change and biodiversity conservation suggest that the causes and impacts of biodiversity loss are gender-based. Consequently, the international community is paying more attention to women and their role in managing and preserving biodiversity. Understanding the gender relations in biodiversity practices forms part of the solution to climate change. This article reviews some of the links between women and the environment, with an explicit focus on the gender dimensions of biodiversity conservation and climate management. The paper looks at the link between women and the environment and aims to develop gender sensitive strategies with regard to climate change adaptation interventions in developing countries. It will inspire the environmental community to better understand the importance of gender and the decisive roles women play in managing and preserving biodiversity. This will inculcate the need to integrate a gender perspective in climate change management in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular, Goals 5, 10 and 13, which call for promotion of gender equality, reduced inequalities and climate action, respectively.

Scientists all over the world have been concern for the earth due to the effect of climate change that has now become a matter of discuss. The effect of climate change is not only limited to several natural disasters such as Tsunami, melting of ice Berge, high rise water bodies etc. It has been agreed that mitigating the effect of climate change can be achieved through reforestation and replanting of trees in the forest. To ensure that climate change is mitigated holistically, all hand must be on deck. As such implementing the use of treated wood to forestall needless replacement of wood due to failure resulting from fungi decay and insect attack is another practical approach to ensure that the forest the major player in mitigating climate change is kept intact. It is therefore recommended that government policy should include ensuring that wood meant for building construction is given necessary treatment before installation to safeguard the integrity of the forest.

This article focuses on the study of biodiversity' changes in Khor Abuhabil area. The intentions of the article are to study the change in biodiversity, and distinguish its main indicators and causes. Data were collected from primary and secondary sources together with Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing to track the changes in biodiversity through different periods. The descriptive and statistical analytical methods; density index, ARC MAP 10 and ERDAS 8.5 are used for the data analysis. The study points out that changes in biodiversity is a wide spread phenomena in Khor Abuhabil area as indicated by 98.4% of the respondents, the analysis of the satellites images and index of density. The forest and grass area decreased from 3708 km² to 819 km² and from 9817 km² to 4578 km² during the period 1972 to 2013 respectively, and concurrently, the cultivated area increased by 40% during the same period, at the expense of biodiversity. The changes in biodiversity represented by change in vegetation cover including the dominance of Calotrpis procera, Maerua crassifolia, Boscia angustifolis, Guiera senegalensis trees and decreased in Acacia senegal, Acacia mellifera and Dalbergia melanoxylon. The study also indicates the decreased and disappearance of palatable grass species like Triumpettaf lavesscens, Ischamum brachyatherum, Eragrostis pilosa and appearances of unpalatable grass species like Triumpetta flavesscens. The study also showed that many wildlife animals like Panther atigris, Crocuta crocuta, Viverra civetta and Gazella dorcas disappeared whereas birds like Bubulcus ibis, Ploceus galbula and Apus apus have become very abundant. The study concluded that the main causes stand behind the phenomena of change in biodiversity represented in frequent drought years 1973, 1984, 1991 and 2003, fluctuation of rainfall, overgrazing and misuse of trees and over hunting (P <0.001).

The mangrove ecosystem is of high economic importance to the local dwellers and the nation in general. The region is rich in both aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity and serves as a main source of livelihood for rural dwellers as well as stabilizing the ecosystem. Tremendous changes have occurred recently due to anthropogenic activities, thus raising awareness on the need for effective monitoring, protection and conservation of the mangrove ecosystem. A good knowledge of the services provided by mangrove ecosystems is an important key for effective management. The sustainable management of mangrove ecosystems in Nigeria will be an essential contribution to the proposed new target for the Millennium Development Goals to “Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving a significant reduction in the rate of loss by 2020”. The aim of this paper therefore is to review the status of mangrove resources drawn from the prospective of livelihood development. This review shows that the region is rich in biodiversity of high economic importance to national development and therefore requires effective monitoring in the conservation and management of this important ecosystem.

This research conducted in the Institute of Technical / Mosul / Plant Production Department, using the method of analysis of spatial and temporal of the lands covered by the desertification in the province of Nineveh, which were Baaj, Al-Hadar, Telapta and Al-Shemal region . Was reached through a study that desertification is a form of degradation which affects lands in arid and semi-arid regions such as Iraq, including Nineveh province, under the influence of natural factors ( environmental ) which is not suitable , such as climate factors , which include high temperature , atmospheric drought, low rate of relative humidity, intensity and direction of the wind in summer season , the high value of evaporation , drought of soil , low rates fall Raining in winter , the intensification of solar radiation ,high temperature, great warming disparity between winter and summer and between day and night , changes in atmospheric pressure , addition to the lack of water surfaces , drought of valleys . Thus these factors combined caused the demolition of the soil profile, the soil structure and the cohesion of the particles due to the demise of organic matter which associated the soil particles were represented by humus material, which leads to a decline in the productivity of the land and the impact on food security. Either human factors , they include in mainly form environmental pollution due to excessive exhaust of natural resources , loss of the phenomenon of the natural balance and self-renewal in the biosphere , not rationalize the consumption due to population increase , expansion of human activities , not applying the clean technology , increasing the use of polluted traditional energies , which produced the polluted matter as solid, liquid and gaseous which caused an imbalance in the ecosystem which is global warming, as well as the misuse of the land environmentally and mechanically in the cultivated operations of soil and crop with the following traditional irrigation methods which caused the increase of soil salinity also overgrazing non alternately, methods of deforestation , which forest is green belt , windbreaks to dust and sand storms . As a result of the interaction of environmental with human factors that the reaction is reflected in the form of the ecological imbalance called desertification. Through spatial analysis was evaluated the quality of desertification in the region the situation from medium to severe because the soil is still present despite the deterioration of soil fertility , loss of vegetation , low productivity but requires processed quickly otherwise become an a environmental disaster , because the speed of desertification in the region between 5-10 km / year , through the spatial analysis of desertification can be classified ; Baaj in first place Al-Hadar second place , Telapta third place and the Al-Shemal aspect region fourth place, where areas are represented above 20 %, an area of 1,385,843 dunum from total area of farmland on the level of province . This is clearly evident from the survey and spatial analysis, which caused the displacement, harmed (30000) human, in Baaj 134 village and (70) of the village population in others. The destruction of 75% of the livestock in addition to loss of biodiversity and degradation of soil and vegetation cover. Through the temporal analysis for areas covered by desertification can be seen that the time series between 1941-1985 was rainfall at; 338 ml / year. Can be conclude that during the 44 years the rate of precipitation is not suitable for the needs of agriculture , particularly crops of wheat , barley and natural grassland except with implemental irrigation , which did not witnessing the areas above then the phenomenon of desertification , where continued Londoner rates fall of rain water that reached 130 mm / year for the period of time confined between 1996 to 2000 where not harvested winter cereal crops , between 2002-2012 were the rainfall vibrant, through(11) years reached as average 303,7 ml/ y and the year 2013 increased the rainfall to 472,9 ml/ y ,through the past years increased temperatures rates , increased heat waves, hot days in summer as well as the irregular distribution rainfall , increased frequency of droughts ,increased their intensity in the region , was the very severe of drought in 2008 reached severity -2.48 by techniques of standard precipitation index (SPI) also increased sandstorms in terms of repetition and intensity reached 32 storm , as well as sintering heaven 71 days of dust thick , were critical stage in the water requirement for cereal crops in 2001 , either increased evaporation value in the year 2000 is the highest ,average of relative humidity 52% for years2002-2012,the falling dust was 13gm/m2/month in 2012 and suspended dust in atmosphere as average 1,394 microgram/m3, this was highest rate by comparison with Baghdad &Basrah proninces.The result of non-stability of environmental status and vibrant raining through past years, where decreased groundwater recharge and their levels, also increased their salinity and degraded the quality . The negative impact of climate factors within the time series reflected negatively on soil and deteriorated their physical, chemical, and biological properties, causing desertification which negative reflected on winter farming production and vegetation cover.

The study was under taken to find out the effect of different organic manure on the yield and carbon sequestration potential of fodder cowpea. Result revealed that green fodder yield were significantly (P<0.01) higher in improved farmyard manure, vermicompost and enriched farmyard manure application. Similarly carbon sequestration potential was significantly higher in improved followed by vermicompost and enriched methods. It was concluded that the application of vermicompost, improved and enriched manure increased fodder yield and sequestered higher carbon from the atmosphere than other treatments.

Severe malaria continues to be one of the most common and serious life-threatening disease causing high morbidity and mortality world-wide. Multivariate statistical techniques including principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis (HCA) were applied to the raw data of severe malaria cases. PCA results identified two varifactors which were responsible for about 53% of the total variance in the data set. Rainfall possesses the highest strong positive loading (0.718) among the variables. HCA identified three spatial clusters representing high, moderate and low incidence zones. The study suggest prompt reporting of malaria cases to modern healthcare centres for proper attention so as to reduce the mortality rate attached to the disease.

Chromium is the third most toxic heavy which can be removed from the environment by naturally occurring microbes. There is an increasing interest to enhance the bioremediation potential of microorganism; this study is focused on using UV radiation (258 nm) to increase the bioremediating efficiency of chromium tolerant Aperillus niger, isolated from peri-urban agricultural area of Kasur. UV light has a tendency to cause DNA mutations in microbes that may lead to point mutation which in turn can contribute towards tolerance against heavy metals. The conidia of K14 isolate of A.niger were exposed to UV light at the distance of 0.5m from the source and time duration of 1-6 hours. The behavior of A.niger with and without Petri plate cover under different doses of UV light was studied. Control strain was left unexposed to UV light. All the variants after exposure to UV light decreased the growth rate but the variant exposed for 5 hours showed contrasting effect as the growth significantly increased hence point mutations were caused when the Petri plate cover was removed. The mutant variant (irradiated for 5 hours) was taken for further analysis of heavy metal tolerance, biosorption and effect of different media conditions including pH, temperature, batch time and different Cr(NO3)3 concentrations. The rate of uptake of Cr(NO3)3 by the mutant variant was faster as compared to the control, whereas there was no significant difference in the biosorption potential of both the variants. Optimum biosorption conditions have been found for both the control and mutant variants at pH 6, temperature 30°C, and 2 hour as optimum retention time for control and 1 hour for the mutant variant. It was concluded that A.niger was differently affected by different time exposure of UV radiation (258nm) with reference to changes in its growth rate, uptake of metal and its tolerance potential and the rate of uptake of chromium was faster for the mutant variant.

Batch experimental technique was used to remove fluoride ions from aqueous solution using water hyacinth biomass as a low cost adsorbent under different experimental parameters. Stem fractions of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) were air dried for 8 days and in the oven for 24 hours at 110 0C and allowed to cool in a desiccator. They were ground into powder and sieved into various particle sizes and used in fluoride removal experiments.100 ml of solution containing known amounts of fluoride ion was added to 1 g of water hyacinth powder in a beaker, stirred and allowed to stand for predetermined times. The solution was filtered and the fluoride ion concentration in the filtrate was determined using ion selective electrode. The pH of the solution was maintained at 6.2 throughout the experiments. The adsorptive properties of fluoride ion were influenced by contact time, the adsorbent dosage and the particle size of the adsorbent. Water hyacinth powder effectively removed fluoride ion from aqueous solution. 

The study area Afikpo and its environs lie between longitudes 7?45'E and 8?15' E and latitudes 5?45'N and 60?00'N. Structural interpretation over the area was carried out using Remote Sensing technique. The objectives of the analysis were to identify the lineament and drainage patterns associated with the study area, identify the structural pattern/trends and correlate the relationship of such structures with groundwater exploration in the area. The image was acquired with an Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) and processed using Integrated Land and Water Information System ILWIS 3.2. Lineament and drainage pattern maps of the same scale as the original landsat imagery were generated and visually analyzed. The orientation of the lineaments in the study area was analysed using a Rose diagram. The result revealed that the area is drained by several rivers observed to be striking NE-SW, NW-SE, N-W and S-E directions, with NE-SW being the dominant trend. The lineament analysis revealed that the drainage observed in the area is structurally controlled and also the trend of the tectonic activity that previously acted in the study area. The regions where the lineaments intercept each are prospective areas for groundwater exploration.