scholarly journals Tree Species Diversity and Socioeconomic Perspectives of the Urban (Food) Forest of Accra, Ghana

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertrand Nero ◽  
Nana Kwapong ◽  
Raymond Jatta ◽  
Oluwole Fatunbi
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Policy ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Urban Forestry ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Land Use Types ◽  
The City

Urban and peri-urban forestry has emerged as a complementary measure to contribute towards eliminating urban hunger and improved nutritional security. However, there is scanty knowledge about the composition, diversity, and socioeconomic contributions of urban food trees in African cities. This paper examines the diversity and composition of the urban forest and food trees of Accra and sheds light on perceptions of urbanites regarding food tree cultivation and availability in the city. Using a mixed methods approach, 105 respondents in six neighborhoods of Accra were interviewed while over 200 plots (100-m2 each) were surveyed across five land use types. Twenty-two out of the 70 woody species in Accra have edible parts (leaves, fruits, flowers, etc.). The food-tree abundance in the city is about half of the total number of trees enumerated. The species richness and abundance of the food trees and all trees in the city were significantly different among land use types (p < 0.0001) and neighborhood types (p < 0.0001). The diversity of food-bearing tree species was much higher in the poorer neighborhoods than in the wealthier neighborhoods. Respondents in wealthier neighborhoods indicated that tree and food-tree cover of the city was generally low and showed greater interest in cultivating food (fruit) trees and expanding urban forest cover than poorer neighborhoods. These findings demonstrate the need for urban food policy reforms that integrate urban-grown tree foods in the urban food system/culture.

scholarly journals Tree Species Diversity and Socio-economic Perspectives of the Urban (Food) Forest of Accra, Ghana

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertrand Nero ◽  
Nana Afranaa Kwapong ◽  
Raymond Jatta ◽  
Oluwole Fatunbi
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Food System ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Urban Forestry ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
African Cities ◽  
Land Use Types ◽  
The City

In Africa, 80% of households in urban areas are food insecure and is coupled with a dramatically changing urban food culture towards increased consumption of sugary and fatty foods. Consequently, incidences of obesity and undernourishment in many African cities are becoming escalating. Urban and peri-urban forestry emerges as a complementary measure to contribute towards elimination of urban hunger and improved nutritional security. However, there is scanty knowledge about the composition, diversity and socioeconomic contributions of urban food trees in African cities and this hinders policy discussions integrating urban forestry into the food security discourse. This paper examines the diversity and composition of the urban forest and food trees of Accra and sheds light on perceptions of urbanites regarding food tree cultivation and availability in the city. Using a mixed methods approach, about 105 respondents in six neighbourhoods of Accra were interviewed while over 200 100-m2 plots were surveyed across five land use types. Twenty-two out of the 70 woody species in Accra are edible. The food tree abundance in the city is about half of the total number of trees enumerated. The species richness and abundance of the edible trees and all trees in the city were significantly different among land use types (p&lt;0.0001) and neighbourhood types (p&lt;0.0001). The diversity of food bearing tree species was much higher in the poorer neighbourhoods than in the wealthier neighbourhoods. Respondents in wealthier neighbourhoods indicated that tree and fruit tree cover of the city was generally low and showed greater interests in cultivating fruit trees and expanding urban forest cover than poorer neighbourhoods. These findings demonstrate the need for urban food policy reforms that integrate urban grown tree foods in the urban food system/culture.

scholarly journals Structure, Diversity, and Carbon Stocks of the Tree Community of Kumasi, Ghana

Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertrand Nero ◽  
Daniel Callo-Concha ◽  
Manfred Denich
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Species Richness ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Urban Forestry ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Total Carbon ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Structure Diversity

Urban forestry has the potential to address many urban environmental and sustainability challenges. Yet in Africa, urban forest characterization and its potential to contribute to human wellbeing are often neglected or restrained. This paper describes the structure, diversity, and composition of an urban forest and its potential to store carbon as a means of climate change mitigation and adaptation in Kumasi. The vegetation inventory included a survey of 470,100-m2 plots based on a stratified random sampling technique and six streets ranging from 50 m to 1 km. A total of 3757 trees, comprising 176 species and 46 families, were enumerated. Tree abundance and species richness were left skewed and unimodally distributed based on diameter at breast height (DBH). Trees in the diameter classes >60 cm together had the lowest species richness (17%) and abundance (9%), yet contributed more than 50% of the total carbon stored in trees within the city. Overall, about 1.2 million tonnes of carbon is captured in aboveground components of trees in Kumasi, with a mean of 228 t C ha−1. Tree density, DBH, height, basal area, aboveground carbon storage, and species richness were significantly different among green spaces (p < 0.05). The diversity was also significantly different among urban zones (p < 0.0005). The DBH distribution of trees followed a modified reverse J-shaped model. The urban forest structure and composition is quite unique. The practice of urban forestry has the potential to conserve biological diversity and combat climate change. The introduction of policies and actions to support the expansion of urban forest cover and diversity is widely encouraged.

Interface Urban Forest Management in an Urbanizing Landscape

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria A. Cunha-e-Sá ◽  
Sofia F. Franco
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Urban Forestry ◽  
Comparative Statics ◽  
Forest Conversion ◽  
Timber Production ◽  
Land Uses ◽  
Clear Cutting

Although forests located near urban areas are a small fraction of the forest cover, a good understanding of the extent to which —wildland-urban interface (WUI) forest conversion affects local economies and environmental services can help policy-makers harmonize urban development and environmental preservation at this interface, with positive impact on the welfare of local communities. A growing part of the forest resource worldwide has come under urban influence, both directly (i.e., becoming incorporated into the interface or located at the interface with urban areas) and indirectly (as urban uses and values have come to dominate more remote forest areas). Yet forestry has been rather hesitant to recognize its urban mandate. Even if the decision to convert land at the WUI (agriculture, fruit, timber, or rural use) into an alternative use (residential and commercial development) is conditional on the relative magnitude and timing of the returns of alternative land uses, urban forestry is still firmly rooted in the same basic concepts of traditional forestry. This in turn neglects features characterizing this type of forestland, such as the urban influences from increasingly land-consumptive development patterns. Moreover, interface timber production-allocated land provides public goods that otherwise would be permanently lost if land were converted to an irreversible use. Any framework discussing WUI optimal rotation periods and conversion dates should then incorporate the urban dimension in the forester problem. It must reflect the factors that influence both urban and forestry uses and account for the fact that some types of land use conversion are irreversible. The goal is to present a framework that serves as a first step in explaining the trends in the use and management of private land for timber production in an urbanizing environment. Our framework integrates different land uses to understand two questions: given that most of the WUI land use change is irreversible and forestry at this interface differs from classic forestry, how does urban forestry build upon and benefit from traditional forestry concepts and approaches? In particular, what are the implications for the Faustmann harvesting strategy when conversion to an irreversible land use occurs at some point in the future? The article begins with a short background on the worldwide trend of forestland conversion at the WUI, focusing mostly on the case of developed countries. This provides a context for the theoretical framework used in the subsequent analysis of how urban factors affect regeneration and conversion dates. The article further reviews theoretical models of forest management practices that have considered either land sale following clear-cutting or a switch to a more profitable alternative land use without selling the land. A brief discussion on the studies with a generalization of the classic Faustmann formula for land expectation value is also included. For completeness, comparative statics results and a numerical illustration of the main findings from the private landowner framework are included.

scholarly journals Influence of the Land Use Type on the Wild Plant Diversity

Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 602
Author(s):  
Ina Aneva ◽  
Petar Zhelev ◽  
Simeon Lukanov ◽  
Mariya Peneva ◽  
Kiril Vassilev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Wild Plant ◽  
Species Number ◽  
Land Use Type ◽  
Grazing Land ◽  
Land Use Types ◽  
Bioclimatic Variables ◽  
The Impact

Studies on the impact of agricultural practices on plant diversity provide important information for policy makers and the conservation of the environment. The aim of the present work was to evaluate wild plant diversity across the agroecosystems in two contrasting regions of Bulgaria; Pazardzhik-Plovdiv (representing agroecosystems in the lowlands) and Western Stara Planina (the Balkan Mountains, representing agroecosystems in the foothills of the mountains). This study conducted a two-year assessment of plant diversity in different types of agricultural and forest ecosystems, representing more than 30 land use types. Plant diversity, measured by species number, was affected by the land use type only in Pazardzhik-Plovdiv region. More pronounced was the effect of the groups of land use types on the diversity, measured by the mean species number per scoring plot. Climatic conditions, measured by 19 bioclimatic variables, were the most important factor affecting plant species diversity. Six bioclimatic variables had a significant effect on the plant diversity, and the effect was more pronounced when the analysis considered pooled data of the two regions. The highest plant diversity was found on grazing land with sparse tree cover, while the lowest one was in the land use types representing annual crops or fallow. The study also established a database on weed species, relevant to agriculture. A number of common weeds were found in the Pazardzhik-Plovdiv region, while the most frequent species in the Western Stara Planina region were indigenous ones. Overall, the natural flora of Western Stara Planina was more conserved; eleven orchid species with conservation significance were found in the pastures and meadows in that region. The present study is the first attempt in Bulgaria to characterize the plant diversity across diverse agroecosystems representing many different land use types and environmental conditions. The results can contribute to nature conservation, biodiversity, and the sustainable use of plant resources.

Modelling dimensional growth of three street tree species in the urban forest of the City of Tshwane, South Africa

2009 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 273-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
G H Stoffberg ◽  
M W van Rooyen ◽  
M J van der Linde ◽  
H T Groeneveld
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Street Tree ◽  
Dimensional Growth ◽  
The City

scholarly journals Assessing the Impact of land-use types on the groundwater quality: a case study of Mid River Njoro Catchment, Kenya

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Halake Guyo Rendilicha ◽  
Patrick Home ◽  
James M. Raude ◽  
Charles M. M’Erimba ◽  
Stellamaris Muthoka
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Groundwater Quality ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Settlement Area ◽  
Mixed Area ◽  
Land Use Types ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Impact

The study assessed the impact of land-use types on the groundwater quality of the mid River Njoro catchment, Kenya. Groundwater samples were collected from eight boreholes between the period of October 2017 to February 2018 and analyzed for pH, temperature, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, ammonium, and total phosphorus. These parameters were used to calculate the Groundwater Quality Index (GQI) value of the study area. The concentration maps (“primary maps I”) were constructed using Kriging interpolation of ArcGIS software from the seven groundwater quality parameters. The “primary maps I” were standardized with the KEBS and WHO standards to the “primary maps II” for ease of integration into a GIS environment. The “primary maps II” were then rated and weighted using a polynomial function to generate “rank maps” before calculating the GQI using spatial analyst tools of ArcGIS software. The land use map was prepared from a high-resolution Google earth satellite imagery of 2015. The mean GQI values for the different land use polygons were calculated and compared using GIS techniques. The GQI ranged from 68.38 to 70.92, indicating a high groundwater quality of mid River Njoro catchment. The major land-use types identified include settlement area, forest cover, agricultural land and mixed area. The agricultural land dominated the study area, followed by settlement area, forest cover and finally mixed area. The mean GQI value in each land use type varied minimally and this could be because of the diffuse nature of the land use types of the study area. Settlement area had low GQI, followed by agricultural land, mixed area and the forest cover had the highest mean GQI value, which corresponds to good quality of groundwater. Even though the variation is insignificant in this particular study, it somehow indicates the adverse effects of different land use on the quality of groundwater.

scholarly journals Geo-Spatial Heat Index and Comfort Analysis of Port Harcourt City: An Approach to Environmental Health Care Delivery

Land Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. p18
Author(s):  
Nwaerema Peace ◽  
Bridget Edewede Diagi ◽  
Ajiere Suzan
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Health Care Delivery ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Heat Stroke ◽  
Heat Index ◽  
Port Harcourt ◽  
Land Use Types ◽  
The City

This research examined the geo-spatial heat index and comfort analysis of Port Harcourt city as an approach to environmental health care delivery. Temperature data were generated from different land use types across days of the week in both wet (April to September) and dry (October to March) seasons. Heat index was derived when air temperature and dew point temperature of the locations were corresponded in the heat index chart or data logger calculator. Findings indicate that the city had experienced danger levels of discomfort above 41oC in the late dry season of January, February and March showing that heat cramps and heat exhaustion as well as heat stroke were probably to occur with continued activity of a person. On the other hand, early dry season of October, November and December had the best human comfort period of < 26.7oC temperature except Thursday and Friday with caution level of 27 to 32°C in the city of Port Harcourt; though fatigue was possible as prolonged exposure could result to heat cramps. High residential/commercial and administrative/industrial land uses had the highest human discomfort indicating that those living in these land use types would suffer extreme hazard of heat stroke. However, recreation and rural sites were the most comfortable land use types. Young children and old people are generally in more danger to the heat effects as the city has exceeded the 27oC thermal comfort threshold. It is therefore recommended that city planners and development practitioners should implement urban green policy of tree planting with special attention to residential/commercial and administrative/industrial areas without further delay in order to cushion the deadly menace of urban heat in Port Harcourt city and its environs.

scholarly journals Rome, a Policy without Politics: The Participatory Process for a Metropolitan Scale Food Policy

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giampiero Mazzocchi ◽  
Davide Marino
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Policy ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Participatory Process ◽  
Study Case ◽  
The One ◽  
The City ◽  
Further Development

In light of the challenges that all cities face today, food is offered as a prism through which to read and intervene on various areas that affect the quality of life of the population: circular economy, urban metabolism, social relations, economies, and food quality. In the Roman context, in recent years, numerous initiatives have revitalized the debate on food and brought the discussion to the center of the interest of an ever-increasing number of citizens. However, these experiences appear unrelated and there is a lack of coordination and political coherence. Faced with this evidence, starting from a territorial analysis, this contribution analyzes the process that led a local group of stakeholders to formulate a proposal for a food policy for the city of Rome. The proposal contains a series of possible actions that aim, on the one hand, to recompose the relations between the city and its territory, with a view to re-localization and re-territorialization of agro-food productions and, on the other hand, to reconnect the economic and social relations that the industrialization of food chains has compromised. The network analysis of the bottom-up process, which mainly investigates networking and negotiation skills between various interests, is carried out and related to a careful analysis of the food system in the Roman context. Furthermore, an overview of the state of the art of urban food policies in Italy has been provided to better contextualize the study case. The findings show actors and topics involved in the process, identifying further development towards a more comprehensive participatory process for a systemic food strategy at the metropolitan level.

scholarly journals Herbert Sukopp – an inspiring pioneer in the field of urban ecology

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingo Kowarik
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Urban Ecology ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Land Use Types ◽  
90Th Anniversary ◽  
The City ◽  
Further Development

Abstract Urban ecology is a well-established integrative discipline with many historical roots. One of the eminent pioneers of urban ecology is the German ecologist Herbert Sukopp, who works in Berlin since the late 1950s and is often referred to as the founder of the "Berlin School of Urban Ecology". On the occasion of his 90th anniversary in 2020, this paper aims to recognize and commemorate the major contributions of Sukopp to the field of urban ecology, based on his scientific work and on results of an online survey on his perception in the international scientific community. Sukopp’s contributions were groundbreaking for the establishment of urban ecology. Specifically, his work furthered: (1) the performance of comprehensive biodiversity studies across all land-use types within the city, in relation to the specifics of urban environments; (2) the establishment of modern approaches of nature conservation in cities and their integration into all land-use types, and the city as a whole; (3) the formation of a multidisciplinary conceptual basis of urban ecology as a modern science, with combined scientific and applied perspectives, ultimately aiming at the preservation and further development of nature within cities for the benefit of urban residents. Herbert Sukopp is thus an important and inspiring pioneer in the field of urban ecology.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document