The role of land use in climate change – from CO2 source to cost-efficient mitigation

The present studies focus on the land use contributions to industrial-age carbon emissions and future abatement potentials. A practicable estimation scheme is presented to transparently identify the driving terms behind past emissions and future mitigation possibilities. Regarding the major emissions sources, 10 % of total present CO2 emissions are possible in tail of primary forest clearing outside of wood consumption; 3 % are attributed to desertification and peat cultivation; on the opposite, 5 % are counteracted by sequestration from forest gain. Regarding mitigation, prudent land use has the potential to reduce more than 50 % of all present anthropogenic emissions at approximate zero costs. Prerequisite is that biomass be considered a scarce resource and therefore, carefully supported and solely used in high-efficiency applications.

Understanding 34 Years of Forest Cover Dynamics across the Paraguayan Chaco: Characterizing Annual Changes and Forest Fragmentation Levels between 1987 and 2020

Over the past 40 years, Paraguay has lost the majority of its natural forest cover, thus becoming one of the countries with the highest deforestation rates in the world. The rapid expansion of the agricultural frontier, cattle ranching, and illegal logging between 1987 and 2012 resulted in the loss of 27% of original forest cover, equivalent to almost 44,000 km2. Within this context, the present research provides the first yearly analysis of forest cover change in the Paraguayan Chaco between the years 1987 and 2020. Remote sensing data obtained from Landsat images were applied to derive annual forest cover masks and deforestation rates over 34 years. Part of this study is a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of protected areas, as well as an analysis of the degree of fragmentation of the forest. All classification results obtained accuracies above 80% and revealed a total forest cover loss of approximately 64,700 km2. Forest clearing within protected areas was not frequent; however, some natural reserves presented losses of up to 25% of their forest cover. Through the consideration of several landscape metrics, this study reveals an onward fragmentation of forest cover, which endangers the natural habitat of numerous species.

Seeking Nietzsche’s Great Tree of Humanity: The Overhuman and Powers’s The Overstory

This essay reconstructs Nietzsche’s ecological and environmental thought by focusing on his idea of the human-earth (Menschen-Erde) and his deep concern for the natural world. It then articulates these thoughts in a coordinate reading of Richard Powers’s environmentally focused novel The Overstory (2019). Nietzsche understands that the human position on the Earth is precarious and that we are in danger of injuring our fragile environmental surround. I attempt to clarify the contemporary relevance of this thought by showing how his diagnosis chimes with current ecological thinking. Nietzsche saw not only dangers but opportunities in the relation of humans to their environment. His writings as well as his daily life exhibit intense interest in trees and forests. He foresaw that too much forest clearing could endanger the climate, leading to excessive warming. Nietzsche also imagined that the humans might foster a “great tree of humanity” (WS 188-89), a green expansion of their environment, and Zarathustra anticipates living in the world as a garden (Z “The Convalescent”). Richard Powers’s The Overstory speaks to a time that is much more deeply informed about our precarious ecological situation. The novelist dramatizes this in a narrative that brings together a number of disparate individuals, drawn to defend an old-growth US West Coast forest from the state-supported depradations of industrial logging. These figures learn about “the secret life of trees,” their mutual dependence and communication, as they experiment with a new life high among the branches. Their different fates pose a variety of questions relevant to Nietzsche’s ideas for a transvalued Earth.

Taxonomic Studies of Diospyros (Ebenaceae) from the Malagasy Region. VIII. New Species from the Littoral Forests of Eastern Madagascar

Eleven new species of Diospyros L. (Ebenaceae) (D. falyi G. E. Schatz & Lowry, D. fasimainty G. E. Schatz & Lowry, D. littoralis Capuron ex G. E. Schatz & Lowry, D. mandenensis H. N. Rakouth, G. E. Schatz & Lowry, D. orbicularis G. E. Schatz & Lowry, D. pseudolanceolata G. E. Schatz & Lowry, D. rabehevitrae G. E. Schatz & Lowry, D. ramisonii G. E. Schatz & Lowry, D. ratovosonii H. N. Rakouth, G. E. Schatz & Lowry, D. retusa H. N. Rakouth, G. E. Schatz & Lowry, and D. tampolensis H. N. Rakouth, Lowry & G. E. Schatz), which are present in the littoral forests along the east coast of Madagascar, are described, along with notes on their distribution and vernacular names, and their conservation status according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Given the diminished area of the Malagasy littoral forest ecosystem, and continuing threats from exploitation for firewood and charcoal production, forest clearing for agriculture, and mining, nine of the 11 new species are assessed as threatened: one Critically Endangered (D. tampolensis), three Endangered (D. falyi, D. rabehevitrae, and D. retusa), and five Vulnerable (D. fasimainty, D. orbicularis, D. pseudolanceolata, D. ramisonii, and D. ratovosonii), whereas two species are assessed as Near Threatened (D. littoralis and D. mandenensis).

2400 years of climate and human-induced environmental change recorded in sediments of Lake Młynek in northern Poland

In the densely forested Warmia and Masuria region (northern Poland) there are many small endorheic lakes characterized by their low sedimentation rate, which makes them excellent archives of Holocene environmental and palaeoclimatic change. Lake Młynek, located near the village of Janiki Wielkie, was selected for multi-faceted palaeoenvironmental research supported with radiocarbon dates. Sediments from this lake also contain unique information about human impact on the environment, because a stronghold has been operating on its northern shore since the early Iron Age to the early Medieval period, giving the opportunity to correlate palaeoenvironmental data with the phases of human activity over the last 2400 years. During the second and third centuries BCE the lake was surrounded by a dense deciduous forest. From the first century BCE to second century CE the forest around the lake was much reduced, which can be associated with the first pre-Roman (La Tène) and Roman occupation phase evidenced by the construction of the stronghold located close to the lake. From the second up to ninth century CE gradual restoration of the forest and a decline in human activity took place, along with lake deepening and the onset of a colder and humid climatic phase which corresponded to the global cooling episode known as the Bond 1 event (1.5 ka BP). The next intensive phase of forest clearing around the lake occurred between the 9th–13th century CE as result of human activity (Middle Age settlement phase of the stronghold). Whilst this period is marked by a warming, the human impact which has transformed the landscape likely overprints any signals of climate-driven environmental changes.

A 5,000-year vegetation and fire history for tierra firme forests in the Medio Putumayo-Algodón watersheds, northeastern Peru

This paper addresses an important debate in Amazonian studies; namely, the scale, intensity, and nature of human modification of the forests in prehistory. Phytolith and charcoal analysis of terrestrial soils underneath mature tierra firme (nonflooded, nonriverine) forests in the remote Medio Putumayo-Algodón watersheds, northeastern Peru, provide a vegetation and fire history spanning at least the past 5,000 y. A tree inventory carried out in the region enables calibration of ancient phytolith records with standing vegetation and estimates of palm species densities on the landscape through time. Phytolith records show no evidence for forest clearing or agriculture with major annual seed and root crops. Frequencies of important economic palms such as Oenocarpus, Euterpe, Bactris, and Astrocaryum spp., some of which contain hyperdominant species in the modern flora, do not increase through prehistoric time. This indicates pre-Columbian occupations, if documented in the region with future research, did not significantly increase the abundance of those species through management or cultivation. Phytoliths from other arboreal and woody species similarly reflect a stable forest structure and diversity throughout the records. Charcoal 14C dates evidence local forest burning between ca. 2,800 and 1,400 y ago. Our data support previous research indicating that considerable areas of some Amazonian tierra firme forests were not significantly impacted by human activities during the prehistoric era. Rather, it appears that over the last 5,000 y, indigenous populations in this region coexisted with, and helped maintain, large expanses of relatively unmodified forest, as they continue to do today.

How Do Ground Litter and Canopy Regulate Surface Runoff?—A Paired-Plot Investigation after 80 Years of Broadleaf Forest Regeneration

Relatively minimal attention has been given to the hydrology of natural broadleaf forests compared to conifer plantations in Japan. We investigated the impacts of ground litter removal and forest clearing on surface runoff using the paired runoff plot approach. Plot A (7.4 m2) was maintained as a control while plot B (8.1 m2) was manipulated. Surface runoff was measured by a tipping-bucket recorder, and rainfall by a tipping-bucket rain gauge. From May 2016 to July 2019, 20, 54, and 42 runoff events were recorded in the no-treatment (NT), litter removed before clearcutting (LRBC), and after clearcutting (AC) phases, respectively. Surface runoff increased 4× when moving from the NT to LRBC phase, and 4.4× when moving from the LRBC to AC phase. Antecedent precipitation index (API11) had a significant influence on surface runoff in the LRBC phase but not in the NT and AC phases. Surface runoff in the AC phase was high regardless of API11. The rainfall required for initiating surface runoff is 38% and 56% less when moving from the NT to LRBC, and LRBC to AC phases, respectively. Ground litter and canopy function to reduce surface runoff in regenerated broadleaf forests.

PROGRAM HEART OF BORNEO WWF DALAM PELESTARIAN HUTAN DI KALIMANTAN

This study aims to see how the programs of the Heart of Borneo (HoB) and the actions taken by the HoB in forest conservation in Kalimantan. Forest is an area that is overgrown with dense trees and as a place to live flora and fauna that live without human intervention. Forests are the key to the survival of creatures on earth, including humans, because they can affect many things that include life and sustainability. One organization that cares about forests is the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the organization formed by WWF to protect Kalimantan's forests is the Heart of Borneo. The purpose of the Heart of Borneo itself is to preserve and maintain the rainforest areas in Kalimantan for the welfare of present and future generations. The method used in this study is a descriptive qualitative research method in which the researcher seeks to describe a phenomenon, event, and event that is happening which is then described as there where the researcher tries to describe the Heart of Borneo program in Kalimantan. The results of this study indicate that forest destruction that occurred in Kalimantan is very worrying. The damage was caused by large-scale forest clearing wich changed its functions to the coal mining, the conversion of forest land to oil palm agriculture functions that damage the living ecosystem of flora and fauna. Previously, Kalimantan forest were very beneficial for human life and the flora fauna that live in it.Through the Heart of Borneo program, it seeks to protect the remaining forest in Kalimantan to remain sustainable and function properly

Identifikasi Molekular Kekerabatan Genetik Kopi Wamena Berbasis Marka Random Amplified of Polymorphic DNA (RAPD)

Baliem Coffee or Wamena Arabica Coffee is classified as a specialty coffee that has a distinctive aroma and taste as one of the world's best coffees. Wamena coffee has a high commercial value, there are many advantages of Wamena coffee. Growing on a variety of soil types, elevation, coffee variety, and durable. The quality of Wamena coffee must be maintained by the local government. However, this elite coffee germplasm is threatened with extinction and is in a dangerous situation due to habitat destruction due to forest clearing, land use change and the potential for competition with various disease-resistant varieties. This study aims to identify molecularly the genetic relationship of Wamena Arabica coffee in Jayawijaya district with the Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers as molecular markers. The stages in this study were sample collection, morphological observations, genomic DNA extracted using the CTAB method, gene amplification process using PCR-RAPD molecular markers with ten primers, measurement of DNA concentration using a spectrophotometer, and data analysis using UPGMA NTSYS version 2.1. The electroferogram results showed that pRAPD1, pRAPD2 and pRAPD5 primers produced a band pattern with high polymorphism as well as indicating the genetic diversity of the Coffea arabica L. arabica coffee samples tested. Based on the dendogram construction analysis, the arabica coffee sample Coffea arabica L. which was tested on 5 coffee genotypes, obtained 2 coffee groups, namely Group 1 consisting of one variety, namely sample (V) Arabica Typica from the Assolokobal area. Group 2 with four varieties, namely samples (I) Arabica Catimor, (II) USDA, (III) Arabica PM 88, and (IV) Arabica Linies 795, from Wollo. Phylogenetic tree construction resulted in a similarity coefficient of 83%, indicating the high relationship between Arabica coffee populations. The results of this study have obtained a genetic fingerprint profile of wamena specialty arabica coffee, namely its genetic relationship. The superiority of the genetic composition of Wamena coffee in Jayawijaya district in the future has the potential to be derived through much more advanced molecular technology.

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF MUDFLOW WITH A TWO-DIMENSIONAL DEPTH-AVERAGED MODEL

This study is motivated by the need to mitigate damages caused by mudflow disaster, which is occurring frequently due to intensive forest clearing and uncontrolled land use at highland. Numerical modelling of mudflow is challenging as the propagation speed and rheological behavior of the flow relies on the accuracy of the numerical scheme and choice of rheological model. In this study, a two-dimensional depth-averaged model was developed to simulate a simplified mudflow event. In order to capture shock in mudflow, the finite volume method (FVM) with third order accurate Monotonic Upstream-centered Scheme of Conservation Laws (MUSCL) scheme was adopted in the numerical model and the model was verified against a benchmark partial dam-break problem. By assuming that the mudflow has high amount of fine mud suspension. the rheological model was represented by a simplified Herschel-Bulkley model. Numerical results showed that the Herschel-Bulkley model could reproduce the viscoplastic behavior of mudflow well, especially in the estimation of final longitudinal flow spreading (2% difference compared to experimental value) and depth of peak wave (8.8% maximum difference). The robustness and stability of the model was demonstrated by simulating a simplified mudflow event with obstacles.