INTEGRATING INDIGENOUS SOCIO-CULTURAL FORMS IN ENVIRONMENTAL ADULT EDUCATION FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION BETWEEN PASTORAL NOMADS AND HOST COMMUNITIES IN NIGERIA

Conflict between pastoral nomads and host communities in Nigeria today have resulted in the degradation of the environment, and the impoverishment of the host communities. This has occasioned banditry, criminality and even armed insurgency by nomads and host communities. Strategies identified by government and researchers geared towards resolving the conflict and ensuring peaceful co-existence between farmers and herders have not helped to a large extent. Such strategies include among others, establishment of cattle colony in the federating states, establishment of the Commissions of Enquiry, and deployment of securities, environmental dialogue, environmental communication, environmental mediation, regular environmental sensitization meetings. In spite of the above-mentioned strategies, the conflict still persisted. This paper explored some of the indigenous socio-cultural forms which can be integrated in environmental adult education for forestalling conflict between pastoral nomads and their host communities in Nigeria. The paper concludes that since environmental adult education thrives on the experience of the participants derivable from their value systems which brings to bear in learning, efforts should be made to utilize these sociocultural forms which embody peoples’ values systems in mobilizing and educating herders and farmers on the need for peaceful co-existence.

Cognitive ability, Socioeconomic Status, and Depressive Symptoms: A Gene-Environment-Trait Correlation

PurposeDepression is genetically influenced, but the mechanisms that underlie these influences are largely unknown. Recently, shared genetic influences were found between depression and both cognitive ability and educational attainment (EA). Although genetic influences are often thought to represent direct biological pathways, they can also reflect indirect pathways, including modifiable environmental mediations (gene-environment-trait correlations). Here, I tested whether the genetic correlation between cognitive ability and depressive symptoms partly reflects an environmental mediation involving socioeconomic status (SES).MethodsAs previously done to increase statistical power, and due to their high phenotypic and genetic correlation, EA was used as a proxy for cognitive ability. Summary statistics from a recent genome-wide association study of EA were used to calculate EA polygenic scores. Two independent samples were used: 522 non-Hispanic Caucasian university students from the Duke Neurogenetics Study (277 women, mean age 19.78±1.24 years) and 5,243 white British volunteers (2,669 women, mean age 62.30±7.41 years) from the UK biobank.ResultsMediation analyses in the two samples indicated that higher proxy-cognitive ability polygenic scores predicted higher SES, which in turn predicted lower depressive symptoms.ConclusionCurrent findings suggest that some of the genetic correlates of depressive symptoms depend on an environmental mediation and consequently that modifying the environment, specifically through social and economic policies, can affect the genetic influences on depression. Additionally, these results suggest that findings from genetic association studies of depression may be context-contingent and reflect social, cultural, and economic processes in the examined population.

Fragile coexistence of a global chytrid pathogen with amphibian populations is mediated by environment and demography

Unravelling the multiple interacting drivers of host–pathogen coexistence is crucial in understanding how an apparently stable state of endemism may shift towards an epidemic and lead to biodiversity loss. Here, we investigate the apparent coexistence of the global amphibian pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) with Bombina variegata populations in The Netherlands over a 7-year period. We used a multi-season mark–recapture dataset and assessed potential drivers of coexistence (individual condition, environmental mediation and demographic compensation) at the individual and population levels. We show that even in a situation with a clear cost incurred by endemic Bd, population sizes remain largely stable. Current environmental conditions and an over-dispersed pathogen load probably stabilize disease dynamics, but as higher temperatures increase infection probability, changing environmental conditions, for example a climate-change-driven rise in temperature, could unbalance the current fragile host–pathogen equilibrium. Understanding the proximate mechanisms of such environmental mediation and of site-specific differences in infection dynamics can provide vital information for mitigation actions.