Climate Conditions and Biodiversity Decline

Many studies in recent years have investigated the effects of climate change on the future of biodiversity. In this chapter, the authors first examined the different possible effects of climate change that can operate at individual, population, species, community, ecosystem, notably showing that species can respond to climate challenges by shifting their climatic change. Climate change is one of the most important global environmental challenges that affect all the natural ecosystems of the world. Due to the fragile environment, mountain ecosystems are the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change. Climatic change will affect vegetation, humans, animals, and ecosystem that will impact on biodiversity. Mountains have been recognized as important ecosystems by the Convention on Biological Diversity. Climate change will not only threaten the biodiversity, but also affect the socio-economic condition of the indigenous people of the state. Various activities like habitat loss, deforestation, and exploitation amplify the impact of climate change on biodiversity.

Review on regeneration status of Betulautilis D. Don: A critically endangered multipurpose timber line species in Indian Himalayan region

The Himalayan birch (Betulautilis D. Don), also known as Bhojpatra in India, is one of the Himalayan region's most important ethnobotanicaltreelinespecies. It aids in the preservation of the Himalaya's fragile environment by preventing soil erosion and conserving the rest of the flora and wildlife below the treelinezone.Betulautilis has been identified for medical (anticancer, anti-HIV, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory) and ethno botanical relevance by several ethnic and non-ethnic communities living in the Himalaya and elsewhere, in addition to several ecological benefits.The bark of the Betula tree has long been used to write old manuscripts.It may also be used as a packing material, is waterproof, can be used to roof dwellings, umbrellas, and other items.The historical usage of B. utilis, as well as recent overharvesting to suit community and commercial demands, have put strain on the species natural populations. B. utilis faces numerous threats, including overharvesting, deforestation, erosion, grazing, global warming, and disease attack.Thus, it has been categorized as Critically Endangeredspecies.The main problem of the mountain forestsislack of adequateregenerationprocess. Very little information on population dynamics, regeneration, and physiology and seed germination is available from different parts of the country but no any systematic study has been done so far on multipurpose timberline tree species of Indian Himalayan Region. As a result, it's critical to keep an eye on these sensitive places and keystone species for future changes caused by climate or anthropogenic pressure, especially in locations where baseline data is scarce. The ease and suitability of propagation methods for this species is also not well documented in the literature. With these limitations in mind, the current study aims to document the status of Betulautilis regeneration in the Indian Himalayan region.

Asian Development Outlook 2021 Update: Transforming Agriculture in Asia

This report forecasts growth in developing Asia of 7.1% in 2021 and 5.4% in 2022 in an uneven recovery caused by divergent growth paths. Its theme chapter explores sustainable agriculture. Growth forecasts are revised up for East Asia and Central Asia from the projections made in April, but down for South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. This reflects differences in vaccination progress and control of domestic COVID-19 outbreaks but also other factors, including rising commodity prices and depressed tourism. Inflation is expected to remain under control. The main risks to the economic outlook come from the COVID-19 pandemic, including the emergence of new variants, slower-than-expected vaccine rollouts, and waning vaccine effectiveness. Sustainable food production and agricultural systems that are resilient to climate change will be crucial for developing Asia. To transform agriculture in the region, its economies must tackle challenges from changing consumer demand, changing demographics, and a changing and more fragile environment.

Galápagos Islands

The Galápagos Islands, long acknowledged as Darwin’s “Living Laboratory,” are one of the world’s most important ecological treasures. From their discovery in 1535 until the creation of the Galápagos National Park in 1959, human hands touched lightly on their shores. Seemingly incapable of sustaining colonization because of poor soil, a scarcity of water, and no mineral wealth, the absence of humans allowed the native species of the Galápagos to remain undisturbed until whalers in the 1790s found that the lumbering Galápagos tortoises could be stored for months in their ship’s holds as a source of fresh meat. In 1832 Ecuador took possession of the archipelago but its colonization efforts generally failed. Although human settlement remained minimal, mammals that people brought (goats, donkeys, pigs, dogs, and cats) flourished and diminished the numbers of the endemic species. When the Galápagos National Park opened, only about 2,000 people lived on the islands along with the remaining endemic species and hundreds of thousands of feral animals. Meanwhile, naturalist Charles Darwin’s remarkable 1859 study, On the Origins of Species had stimulated biologists’ interest in the islands’ wildlife by presenting overwhelming proof of evolution. Other biologists questioned his idea of natural selection as the mechanism behind evolution; consequently they gathered evidence from collected specimens and observations in the archipelago, and finally resolved the debate in Darwin’s favor. After 1990, popular interest in the islands’ wildlife heightened as a result of photography, travelers’ accounts, and films, so tourism increased as did the number of Ecuadorian immigrants eager to earn money in the tourist industry. By 2020, Ecuadorian authorities faced the dilemma of balancing the need to preserve the unique species and their fragile environment against the revenue generated by visitors, a battle environmentalists fear the government is losing.

Shock against nature: a comparative environmental history of oil drilling and oil Boomtowns in Brazil and Canada during the oil shock era (1967-1981)

This article focuses on the environmental impact of the oil industry during the Oil Shock years in the 1970s. During this period, Brazil and Canada explored new oil sources in order to deal with the lack of supply from the Middle East. The expansion of the national oil industry in both countries affected the fragile environment of several regions and the urban life of these places, as well. In understanding how these factors affected the urban environment and nature, it is possible to achieve a new understanding about what the Oil Shock meant on a global scale.

Water Resource Management and Sustainability: A Case Study in Faafu Atoll in the Republic of Maldives

This paper contributes to the existing literature in proposing an integrated approach to water management and energy renewable production in a fragile environment. After the 2004 tsunami, in many outer islands in The Republic of Maldives, the lens freshwater natural reservoir was deeply damaged. Currently, the populations of rural atolls use rainwater and water in plastic bottles imported from the mainland for drinking. To provide safe and sustainable drinking water, we analyze the feasibility of two different actions: a desalination system fed by a diesel plant or by a photovoltaic (PV) plant with batteries. The current situation (business as usual, (BAU)) is also evaluated and taken as a benchmark. After illustrating the technical and economic features of desalination and PV plants, a financial and environmental analysis is conducted on the two alternatives plus BAU, showing that the desalination fed by the PV plant results in optimization both on the financial and the environmental side. The levelized cost of water (LCOW) and the CO2 levelized emissions of water (LEOW) are calculated for each alternative. The case study is developed in Magoodhoo Island, Faafu Atoll and can be extended to other islands in The Republic of Maldives and in general to small island developing states (SIDS).

HOLOTIPUS IN MARINE BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION

The oceans are a vast yet fragile environment, and one of the biggest issues scientists have to tackle today is the conservation of marine biodiversity. In 1975, to try to address the physical, chemical and biological alteration of these delicate ecosystems, 16 Mediterranean States together with the European Union, implemented the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP). The aim was to safeguard the marine environment and promote its development in the Mediterranean basin.

The Effects of Leaf Extracts of Four Tree Species on Amygdalus pedunculata Seedlings Growth

Vegetation reconstruction is an urgent problem in fragile environment like coal mine subsidence areas. Amygdalus pedunculata is an important eco-economic shrub species that promotes wind prevention, sand fixation as well as soil and water conservation. The natural regeneration of pure Amygdalus pedunculata forests is difficult to achieve because of its low seed germination rate and weak seedling growth. A stereo-complex ecosystem could potentially promote the germination and seedling growth of A. pedunculata and establish a steady mixed plantation consisting of trees and shrubs. Here, laboratory and pot experiments were conducted to assess the effect of four tree species on morphological and physiological indexes of A. pedunculata. The laboratory experiment showed that A. pedunculata seed germination and seedling growth from Yuyang County (YC-1) and Shenmu County (SC-6) were higher when plants were treated with the aqueous leaf extracts of Pinus sylvestris, Broussonetia papyrifera, and Pinus tabulaeformis compared with Populus simonii at concentrations of 2.5% (E2.5) and 5% (E5). Furthermore, the donor leaf extract was more sensitive to YC-1 than to SC-6. The pot experiment showed that the E2.5 and E5 treatments with the aqueous leaf extracts on the three tree species had strong promoting effects of seedling length, root length, seedling fresh weight, root fresh weight, and ground diameter for YC-1. The activity of catalase of A. pedunculata seedlings first increased and then decreased, while the activity of peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, roots, and the contents of soluble protein and chlorophyll decreased; the opposite patterns were observed for malondialdehyde, soluble sugar, cell membrane permeability, and proline were the opposite. Synthetical allelopathic effect index values of the leaf extracts of the three species on YC-1 were as follows: P. sylvestris > B. papyrifera > P. tabulaeformis (E2.5 to E20). Therefore, P. sylvestris and B. papyrifera could be used to promote the growth of A. pedunculata seedlings as well as for the construction of mixed plantations in coal mine degradation areas. Generally, this study provides new insight into the creation of stereo-complex ecosystems (P. sylvestris + A. pedunculata and B. papyrifera + A. pedunculata) in arid fragile environment.

World food supply: problems and prospects.

The current world population of 7.6 billion is projected to reach 9.9 billion by 2050. The UN projects that agricultural output will need to increase by 70% simply to maintain current dietary standards, which does not include improving the diets of approximately 800 million malnourished people. Agricultural production increased at a rate insufficient to reach the goal set by the 2009 World Summit on Food Security to reduce by one half the number of malnourished people in the world by 2015. In spite of declining poverty rates, achieving this reduction in the number of malnourished people will be very difficult, as it is likely that the projected 2.3 billion additional people will be among the poorest of the poor. Food imports are expected to increase despite projected increased production, with many poor countries unable to afford those imports. Agriculture can improve sustainable world food production on the land currently under production and by doing so protect our fragile environment as much as possible.