scholarly journals Vegetation Degradation and Its Driving Factors in the Farming–Pastoral Ecotone over the Countries along Belt and Road Initiative

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qionghuan Liu ◽  
Xiuhong Wang ◽  
Yili Zhang ◽  
Huamin Zhang ◽  
Lanhui Li
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Climatic Variables ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Vegetation Degradation ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Anthropogenic Contributions

To adhere to the green growth strategy, it is urgently needed to identify the vegetation degradation zone in the farming–pastoral ecotone (FPE) over the countries along the “Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)”. In this study, we monitored vegetation degradation and analyzed climatic factors and anthropogenic contributions on vegetation change in the FPE during 2000–2016 using the growing season annual accumulative normalized difference vegetation index (NDVIaccu) and climatic variables. The Theil-Sen’s trend results revealed that 74.11% of NDVIaccu in FPEs showed a significant increasing trend for the period 2000–2016, only 1.64% of NDVIaccu were significantly decreasing. However, we detected that 21.29% degradation of NDVIaccu had occurred based on enhanced Theil-Sen and Mann-Kendall (ETheil-Sen-MK) method. Spatial statistics for significant correlations between climatic variables and NDVIaccu showed that precipitation was positively correlated with NDVIaccu; yet, the relationship between NDVIaccu and temperature was more complex, which was closely related to the intensity of increasing in temperature. Importantly, this study found that anthropogenic contributions dominated the trends in NDVIaccu over the FPE. The findings suggested that agricultural activities play a mainly positive role in overall vegetation vigor. However, continually increasing disturbance by livestock grazing risks further vegetation degradation.

scholarly journals Environmental Reconstructions in the Upper Tana region, Kenya

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Lazarus Kinyua Ngari
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Plant Succession ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Agricultural Communities ◽  
The Past

This article sets out to unravel aspects of environmental changes in the Upper Tana during the second millennium AD. This aspect has not been adequately addressed in the Upper Tana. This makes it clear that a lacuna exists in the study of communities of the Upper Tana and the way they interact with their environment in the past and present times. The objective of this article is to evaluate the relationship between human activities and environmental change in the Upper Tana from AD 1000 to 1950. It is hypothesized that the advent of iron technology and its attendant economic activities led to the depletion of indigenous forests and the general environmental degradation. The article has employed archaeological, ethnographic, oral and historical methodologies to gather data on vegetation change in the Upper Tana and other related regions.  The article, argues that livestock grazing, iron smelting, slush and burn agriculture, and the clearing of forests for housing are key contributors to vegetation change in the Upper Tana.  Results from oral reconstruction of the past vegetation of the area, and using the plant succession theory, shows that the lowland area of the Upper Tana is actually savanna with scattered trees probably inhabited by grazers. It is posited that the above factors, together with persistent droughts have altered the vegetation cover of the area.  What we have today is colonization of less desirable stunted growth. The theory advanced here is that the vegetation change has been a result of human activities.  Overwhelmingly, results the study that the researcher carried out, showed that the causes of these changes have been socio-economically associated with the expansion of agricultural communities into the area; rather than through climatic factors. Colonisation and other forces of modernistion have also contributed to the underlying problem. The article concludes that anthropogenetic factors have greatly contributed to environmental change in the upper Tana. Certainly, environmental change is a global phenomenon that has elicited research interests due to its negative impacts on human population. It is recommended that knowledge of environmental change in the past should be used to extrapolate modern environmental challenges affecting African ecosystems.

scholarly journals Quantitative Assessment of the Contributions of Climate Change and Human Activities to Vegetation Variation in the Qinling Mountains

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dandong Cheng ◽  
Guizeng Qi ◽  
Jinxi Song ◽  
Yixuan Zhang ◽  
Hongying Bai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Quantitative Assessment ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Qinling Mountains ◽  
Protection Measures ◽  
Vegetation Degradation ◽  
Driving Mechanisms

Quantitative assessment of the contributions of climate change and human activities to vegetation change is important for ecosystem planning and management. To reveal spatial differences in the driving mechanisms of vegetation change in the Qinling Mountains, the changing patterns of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in the Qinling Mountains during 2000–2019 were investigated through trend analysis and multiple regression residuals analysis. The relative contributions of climate change and human activities on vegetation NDVI change were also quantified. The NDVI shows a significant increasing trend (0.23/10a) from 2000 to 2019 in the Qinling Mountains. The percentage of areas with increasing and decreasing trends in NDVI is 87.96% and 12.04% of the study area, respectively. The vegetation change in the Qinling Mountains is caused by a combination of climate change and human activities. The Tongguan Shiquan line is a clear dividing line in the spatial distribution of drivers of vegetation change. Regarding the vegetation improvement, the contribution of climate change and human activities to NDVI increase is 51.75% and 48.25%, respectively. In the degraded vegetation area, the contributions of climate change and human activities to the decrease in NDVI were 22.11% and 77.89%, respectively. Thus, vegetation degradation is mainly caused by human activities. The implementation of policies, such as returning farmland to forest and grass, has an important role in vegetation protection. It is suggested that further attention should be paid to the role of human activities in vegetation degradation when formulating corresponding vegetation protection measures and policies.

scholarly journals Vegetation Change and Its Relationship with Climate Factors and Elevation on the Tibetan Plateau

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (23) ◽  
pp. 4709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yixin Zhang ◽  
Guoce Xu ◽  
Peng Li ◽  
Zhanbin Li ◽  
Yun Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Sunshine Duration ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
The North ◽  
Geographical Unit ◽  
Key Factor

As the “roof of the world”, the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is a unique geographical unit on Earth. In recent years, vegetation has gradually become a key factor reflecting the ecosystem since it is sensitive to ecological changes especially in arid and semi-arid areas. Based on the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) dataset of TP from 2000 to 2015, this study analyzed the characteristics of vegetation variation and the correlation between vegetation change and climatic factors at different time scales, based on a Mann–Kendall trend analyses, the Hurst exponent, and the Pettitt change-point test. The results showed that the vegetation fractional coverage (VFC) generally increased in the past 16 years, with 60.3% of the TP experiencing an increase, of which significant (p < 0.05) increases accounted for 28.79% and were mainly distributed in the north of the TP. Temperature had the largest response with the VFC on the seasonal scale. During the growing season, the correlation between precipitation and sunshine duration with VFC was high (p < 0.05). The change-points of the VFC were mainly distributed in the north of the TP during 2007–2009. Slope and elevation had an impact on the VFC; the areas with large vegetation change are mainly distributed in slopes <20° and elevation of 3000–5000 m. For elevation above 3000–4000 m, the response of the VFC to precipitation and temperature was the strongest. This study provided important information for ecological environment protection and ecosystem degradation on the Tibetan Plateau.

scholarly journals ASSESSMENT OF THE SEASONAL DYNAMICS OF THE NORMALIZED DIFFERENTIAL VEGETATION INDEX (NDVI) AND ITS CORRELATION WITH CLIMATE PREDICTORS IN WETLANDS “LA TEMBLADERA” (ECUADOR)

Ekosistemy ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 5-11
Author(s):  
S. A. Llerena ◽  
A. I. Kurbatova
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Seasonal Dynamics ◽  
Rainy Season ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Climatic Variables ◽  
Regulatory Function ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Dynamics Of Vegetation

Wetlands are considered critical ecosystems due to declining quality of their ecosystems services. Nevertheless, there have not been any climate related researched devoted to vegetation condition and biomass amount. Thus, this study examines the seasonal dynamics of vegetation and its correlations with climatic factors. This study is important for understanding of the regulatory function of this ecosystem during climate change. Two Landsat OLI8 images made in 2020 were analyzed. One image refers to the rainy season (April 12), and the other to the dry season (August 2). The radiometric and atmospheric corrections of the images and the determination of the boundaries of the study site (ROI) were developed in ENVI 5.3 program. The normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI) was calculated with ENVI 5.3 program (histograms allowed to determine biomass), and with ArcGIS 10.3 (for classification index). The Pearson coefficient (r) and the Statistica software were applied to determine the correlations between the variables. The linear relationship between the NDVI, the amount of biomass and the climatic variables was identified. In the rainy season (April) with higher temperature and precipitation, the NDVI was >0.5 and the biomass was 372613.0 t in the major part of “la Tembladera”, while in the dry season (August) with a lower temperature and precipitation rate, both the NDVI (0.14–0.5) and the biomass (333856.95 t) decreased in a considerable area of the wetland. Consequently, the seasonal dynamics of vegetation and its biomass is caused by fluctuations in these climatic variables. Thus, the biomass increased during the rainy season (higher precipitation, temperature, and humidity). These results can be used to further modelling the effects of climate change in these ecosystems.

The Belt and Road Initiative and Sino-Russian economic cooperation: Is there one more chance for us?

2019 ◽  
pp. 47-71
Author(s):  
Petr M. Mozias
Keyword(s):  
Regional Integration ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Flexible Framework ◽  
The One ◽  
International Transactions ◽  
The Belt And Road ◽  
Current Stage

China’s Belt and Road Initiative could be treated ambiguously. On the one hand, it is intended to transform the newly acquired economic potential of that country into its higher status in the world. China invites a lot of nations to build up gigantic transit corridors by joint efforts, and doing so it applies productively its capital and technologies. International transactions in RMB are also being expanded. But, on the other hand, the Belt and Road Initiative is also a necessity for China to cope with some evident problems of its current stage of development, such as industrial overcapacity, overdependence on imports of raw materials from a narrow circle of countries, and a subordinate status in global value chains. For Russia participation in the Belt and Road Initiative may be fruitful, since the very character of that project provides us with a space to manoeuvre. By now, Russian exports to China consist primarily of fuels and other commodities. More active industrial policy is needed to correct this situation . A flexible framework of the Belt and Road Initiative is more suitable for this objective to be achieved, rather than traditional forms of regional integration, such as a free trade zone.

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-49
Author(s):  
Lars Wächter
Keyword(s):  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Xi Jinping ◽  
Belt And Road

Chinas Staatschef Xi Jinping will das „Reich der Mitte“ bis 2049 zur neuen Weltmacht führen. Dazu soll die alte Seidenstraße zu neuem Leben erweckt werden. Belt and Road Initiative heißt das Megaprojekt, das in den nächsten Jahren die Weltwirtschaft massiv verändern wird.

Belt and Road Initiative: Analysis of Possible Effects on Nigeria’s Economy

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (06) ◽  
pp. 20475-20182
Author(s):  
Ige Ayokunle O ◽  
Akingbesote A.O
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
International Economic ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Economic Cooperation ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
International Economic Cooperation ◽  
R Project ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Belt And Road

The Belt and Road initiative is an important attempt by China to sustain its economic growth, by exploring new forms of international economic cooperation with new partners. Even though the B&R project is not the first attempt at international cooperation, it is considered as the best as it is open in nature and does not exclude interested countries. This review raised and answered three questions of how the B&R project will affect Nigeria’s economy?  How will it affect the relationship between Nigeria and China? What could go wrong?, The review concluded that Nigeria can only benefit positively from the project.

The Belt and Road Initiative: Goals and Challenges

2020 ◽  
pp. 167
Author(s):  
Adnan Khalaf i Hammed Al-Badrani ◽  
Hind Ziyad Nafeih
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Power Lines ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Ancient Silk Road ◽  
Main Engine ◽  
The Belt And Road

The Belt and Road Initiative is an initiative to revive the ancient Silk Road, through networks of land and sea roads, oil and gas pipelines, electric power lines, the Internet and airports, to create a model of regional and international cooperation.       It is essentially a long-term development strategy, launched by the Chinese president in 2013 to become the main engine of Chinese domestic policy and foreign diplomacy and within the framework of the soft power strategy, to enhance its position and influence in the world as a peaceful and responsible country.   The study includes identifying the initiative and setting goals for China, as well as the challenges and difficulties that hinder the initiative.

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