Impacts of and adaptation to climate change on the oil palm in Malaysia: a systematic review

The interaction and the interplay of climate change with oil palm production in the Southeast Asia region are of serious concern. This particularly applies in Malaysia due to its rank as the second largest palm oil producer in the world. The anthropogenic activities and the agroecological practices in oil palm plantation, including excessive use of fertilisers, bush fire due to land clearing, and cultivation on peatland, have exacerbated the effects of climate change featuring extreme events, drought, flooding, heatwave, as well as infestation of pest and diseases. These adverse impacts on oil palm production highlight the significance of deploying effective adaptation strategies. The study aims to examine the impact of climate change on oil palm production and identify the farmers’ adaptation strategies to the impacts of climate change in Malaysia. This study was conducted a comprehensive review of the articles published from 2000 to 2021 in the contexts of climate change and oil palm production in Malaysia. The review shows that climate change has a range of impacts on the oil palm production in Malaysia. As a result, several adaptation options were identified, such as breeding of hybrid varieties that are tolerant and resistant to heat; sustainable management of soil; pit and tranches to enhance water management in plantation areas; minimal use of fertilisers, herbicides, and pesticides; zero burning; and minimum tillage. The reviewed studies recommended the following to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change: sustainable national policy on climate change, conservation of the existing carbon stock, effective management of tropical rainforest biodiversity, afforestation for carbon sequestration, and reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission.

Autonomous Agents in 3D Crowd Simulation Through BDI Architecture

Agent based simulation (ABS) is a paradigm to modelling systems included of autonomous and interacting agents. ABS has been tremendous growth and used by researchers in the social sciences to study socio-environmental complex systems. To date, various platforms have been introduced for agent-based social simulation. They are rule based in any logic, python based in SPADE and etc. Although those platforms have been introduced, there is still an insufficient to develop a crowd simulation in 3D platform. Having a 3D platform is needed to enabling the crowd simulation for training purposes. However, the current tools and platform still lack features to develop and simulate autonomous agents in the 3D world. This paper introduced a BDI plug in at Unity3D for crowd simulation. BDI is an intelligent agent architecture and it is able to develop autonomous agents in crowd environment. In this paper, we present the BDI plug with a case study of Australia bush fire and discuss a method to support autonomous agents' development in 3D crowd simulation. The tool allows the modeller to develop autonomous agents in 3D world by taking the advantages of Unity3D.

Effect of COVID-19 on Undergraduate Medical Education: A Letter from Pakistan

First identified in Wuhan, China, on December 31 2019, coronavirus spread like bush fire. The WHO declared it as a Global Pandemic on March 11 2021. COVID-19 was termed novel based on newly identified pathogens, thus leading to a state of uncertainty regarding treatment and prevention1. This virus can present with an array of symptoms; dry cough, breathlessness, chest pain, myalgia, and diarrhea2. Undergraduate medical education has shifted to virtual learning systems to halt the transmission of the virus. This letter elaborates on the challenges faced and the impact of COVID-19 on the life of undergraduate medical students.

Cashew Production as a Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Tool for Agriculture

The study was conducted in the Wenchi Municipality in the forest/savannah transitional agro-ecological zone of Ghana to analyse the dual role of cashew production as a tool for adaptation and greenhouse gas mitigation in the face of climate change and variability. The study used primary data to collect data from 400 randomly selected cashew farmers from 9 farming communities in the Municipality through the administration of questionnaire. Key informant interview with the help of semi-structured interview guide was also held drawing 6 participants from the study area. Cashew production data from the Department of Agriculture in the municipality beefed up the analysis. It was observed in the study that the major source of income to the respondents was cashew production (57.0%) followed by maize (25.5%). The most affected crops by the changing climate were maize (52.3%), yam (15.0%) groundnut (13.5%) and vegetables (10.8%), where the least affected crop was cashew (2.3%). It was realized that the major source of livelihood was cashew cultivation (56%) hence it was not out of place for the respondents themselves to enforce by-laws on bush fire during the harmattan seasons (winter). The presence of cashew farming in the study area had resulted in enhancement in mitigation strategies such as reduction in tillage, preservation of ecosystem, reduced ‘slash and burn’ method of farming and so on. Again, the rampant seasonal bush fire in the area during dry season (winter) of which peasant farmers used to prepare their lands or unscrupulous people hid behind for hunting according to the respondents had seen a decline.

Farmers’ Perception on Forest Degradation in Eastern and Northern Regions of Ghana: Implication for Developing Sustainable Forest Management Strategy

BackgroundGhana’s forest land is under threat of degradation. Even though forest degradation is reported as serious environmental problem, the nature and extent of farmers’ perception on forest degradation has not been adequately reported. In this study, we have attempted to examine farmers’ perception on forest degradation in the study villages from the Eastern and Northern Regions of Ghana and imply for developing forest management strategy. ResultsIn both regions study villages, farmers’ socioeconomic, farm and institutional attributes varied significantly among the farmers in which this could influence their perception on forest degradation. In this study, the main direct causes of forest degradation were perceived by most farmers’ (> 90%) as high firewood and charcoal demand and wildfire/bush fire. Similarly, poverty and population pressures were perceived by significantly higher proportions of the farmers as the major indirect causes of forest degradation. In study regions, significantly higher proportions of the respondents (97%) perceived that there is no forest near to their residence or farmland in 2017. This study showed that significantly higher proportions of the framers perceived that many plant species (e.g., Mahogany (Khaya ivorensis)) and animal species (e.g., Leopard (Panthera pardus)) were disappeared due to forest degradation. In this study, the majority of the respondents also identified other forest degradation indicators such as temperature increased and rainfall irregularity. The most frequently noted strategy to reduce forest degradation that perceived by significantly higher proportions of the respondents (95.6%) were strengthening and enforcement of forest rules and strategies. The binary logistic analysis result indicated that age, education, farming experience and income were the determinant variables common in both study villages that influenced significantly farmers’ perception on forest degradation. ConclusionThis study shows that significantly higher proportions of the farmers well perceived the causes, indicators and consequences of forest degradation in their village. The perception of farmers on forest degradation can support for decision-making while suggested suitable forest management strategy for their village condition such as introduction of environmental regulations and rules, strengthening farmer-extension system, energy options to replace firewood and charcoal and massive reforestation and afforestation programmes.