Machine Learning and ‘The Cloud’ for Natural Resource Applications: Autonomous Online Robots Driving Sustainable Conservation Management Worldwide?

The integrated character of the sustainable development goals in Agenda 2030, as well as research in environmental security, flag that sustainable peace requires sustainable and conflict-sensitive natural resource use. The precise relationship between the risk for violent conflict and natural resources remains contested because of the interplay with socio-economic variables. This paper aims to improve the understanding of natural resources’ role in the risk of violent conflicts by accounting for complex interactions with socio-economic conditions. Conflict data was analysed with machine learning techniques, which can account for complex patterns, such as variable interactions. More commonly used logistic regression models are compared with neural network models and random forest models. The results indicate that a country’s natural resource features are important predictors of its risk for violent conflict and that they interact with socio-economic conditions. Based on these empirical results and the existing literature, we interpret that natural resources can be root causes of violent intrastate conflict, and that signals from natural resources leading to conflict risk are reflected in and influenced by interacting socio-economic conditions. More specifically, the results show that variables such as access to water and food security are important predictors of conflict, while resource rents and oil and ore exports are relatively less important than other natural resource variables, contrasting what prior research has suggested. Given the potential of natural resource features to act as an early warning for violent conflict, we argue that natural resources should be included in conflict risk models for conflict prevention.

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Land degradation assessment by small scale traditional African farmers and implications for sustainable conservation management

Geoforum ◽

10.1016/0016-7185(94)90012-4 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 145-154 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Boyowa A. Chokor ◽

Francis O. Odemerho

Keyword(s):

Land Degradation ◽

Conservation Management ◽

Small Scale ◽

Sustainable Conservation

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Recovery of the Northern Plains Grassland Community – an overview

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria ◽

10.1071/rs10018 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 122 (2) ◽

pp. 92

Author(s):

Paul Warrick Foreman

Keyword(s):

Conservation Management ◽

Management Tool ◽

Advisory Group ◽

Area Network ◽

Partial Recovery ◽

Stock Management ◽

Northern Plains ◽

Grassland Community ◽

Sustainable Conservation ◽

Key Functional Groups

The grasslands of the northern plains of Victoria have long been recognised to be among the most threatened and poorly-reserved ecosystems in Victoria and Australia with only an estimated 3.8% remaining. As the protected area network (PAN) has greatly expanded in the last decade, there has been a commensurate loss of unprotected grasslands due to legal and illegal clearing. Whether or not the PAN continues to grow, there is now a significant on-going conservation management liability that must be underpinned by an improved understanding of ecosystem function and the role of disturbance. Some encouraging progress has been made by recent research. For instance, only partial recovery from cultivation is possible with long (cultivation) resting and that further improvement requires intervention to overcome the limits in seed dispersal of key functional groups. And although more has been learnt about how patterns in productivity/species-richness interactions can be managed/influenced by biomass manipulation, the use of stock grazing as a sustainable conservation management tool has still not been demonstrated. The interim regime of ‘status quo’ (stock) management persists despite the fact that it has failed to: (a) differentiate itself from standard pastoral practices, and (b) define the pathway to discovering better alternatives. A new technical advisory group has been established to oversee recovery strategy and has chosen the development of a ‘conceptual model of how the system works’, as a key priority. A further priority will be to pursue the renomination of the community under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 following the recent publication of research suggesting these grasslands are naturally treeless, floristically unique and geographically confined to the southern Riverina.

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Inventory of threatened plants of Bangladesh and their conservation management

International Journal of Environment ◽

10.3126/ije.v3i1.9951 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 141-167 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

M Harun-ur-Rashid ◽

M Enamur Rashid ◽

M Atiqur Rahman

Keyword(s):

Conservation Management ◽

Conservation Status ◽

Field Investigation ◽

Conservation Strategies ◽

Herbarium Specimens ◽

Environmental Threats ◽

Threatened Plant Species ◽

Threatened Taxa ◽

Data Book ◽

Sustainable Conservation

The study aimed at inventorying of threatened plant species of Bangladesh to determine their status of occurrence for emphasizing the setting-up of national conservation strategies and sustainable management. Complete inventory of two families, the Apocynaceae and Vitaceae, has been made and recognized 28 threatened species facing environmental threats, and need sustainable conservation management. The study was based on long-term field investigation, survey of relevant floristic literature and examination of herbarium specimens. An enumeration of threatened taxa is prepared with updated field data on conservation status to include into Red Data Book of Bangladesh. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v3i1.9951 International Journal of Environment Vol.3(1) 2014: 141-167

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