1,720,957 research outputs found
Factors Influencing Tree Seedling Survival in Plantation Forestry: A Focus on Sustainable Forest Productivity
Full text linkForest plantations provide important ecological services and are key source of raw materials for the timber industry and other sectors. Planted forests are also seen as a plausible approach to increasing forest cover in an effort towards combating the effects of climate change. While the objectives of forest establishment in state forests is for social, cultural and environmental functions, private forestry practices mainly aim at attracting economic gains. Nonetheless, existing literature indicate that a significant proportion of forest plantations are still understocked while mature trees when harvested yield less profits due to poor tree forms attributed to delayed silvicultural treatments and planting of low-quality seedlings. Therefore, understanding the factors that influence seedling survival is a key step in addressing the predominant barriers to forest plantation establishment. The purpose of this review paper is to highlight the factors that influence seedling survival under plantation establishment, underscore the components that enable young seedlings withstand post-planting stress and provide recommendations towards raising quality seedlings. This article also aims at generating knowledge to help forest silviculturists to minimize plantation failures and seedling mortality for creation of adequately stocked stands to yield maximum ecological and economic gains at the end of the rotation period
Promoting Establishment of Eucalyptus Woodlots for Sustainable Development
No full textKenya is experiencing rapid population growth that is significantly applying an immense pressure on the limited resources leading to biomass shortages, the conversation of forest lands for agriculture, land degradation, poor agricultural outputs, as well as aggravation poverty rates and resources conflicts. The demand for forest products has equally heightened more so the demand for construction timber, charcoal, and fuelwood. Over 70% of the Kenyan household use charcoal and fuelwood as the primary source of energy imposing a massive pressure on existing forests. To curb the pressure on forests, promotion of sustainable development, improvement of rural livelihoods, and increasing food security, the establishment of eucalyptus woodlots proves to be a lucrative option. Eucalyptus species (E. grandis and E. saligina) are fast growing and resilient species capable of growing better within a short time in most parts of Kenya. The species is known for its high caloric content, straight poles and posts, quality timber and fast growth. The species also faces a conception of the high rate of water consumption and other environmental externalities, which has discouraged people from planting it. This paper seeks to evaluate and clear the air on the debate surrounding the establishment of the eucalyptus woodlots and its potential in promoting rural livelihoods and sustainable management
A Critical Review of the Mitigation Strategies Against Ultra-Thin Plastic Bags Environmental Degradation Effects
No full textPlastic bags or the ultra-thin plastic bags disposal and management have increasingly been condemned as a menace to the environment due to its non-biodegradable nature. Global campaigns on the banning of the bags have been widely orchestrated with a recent ban in Kenya by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources being the latest move among the developing countries. Almost unanimously, the banning of the bags has been attributed to incur reduced usage of the bags and induce alternative usages. From both an economic and environmental point of view, the ban on the production and usage of plastic bags is tinted and an over deposition on its ability to curb its adversities on the environment. The ban is a bold move projected at not condemning our environment to a state of collapse and unsustainability, however, we cannot confidently argue that the bags are malignant rather as benign as well, having reduced the pressure on our esteemed forest ecosystems. In the essence of the quandary facing the plastic bag disposal and management, the most insurmountable question that has been evaded is the people’s ethical and moral obligation and contribution to the management of the plastics. It would be unconvincing to blame the bags without revisiting the utilization, disposal and management behaviors of the bags among the people. It can be argued that the menace experienced from the bags is no matter of institutionalizing a ban rather a matter on the peoples’ attributes, lifestyle and morality when it comes to the management of the bags. It would be foolhardy to believe that banning of the plastic bags without efficient campaigns projected at changing the populations and markets’ mindset on the bags would be sustainable. Therefore, this paper aims at reviewing the utilization, disposal and management of the plastics bags with emphasis is on the recent bans and postulate alternative measures for sustainable management of the plastic bags drawn from social, environmental, and corporate ethics point of view
Environmental Conservation: The Necessary Burden for Developing Nations
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Earth as enormous as it is can be termed in some respects as too vast for intended collaborative engagements. Chronic rivalries, wars, competitions for supremacies, bureaucracies, diplomacies, flags, beliefs and even languages discrete all the 196 nations on earth from the other. These result in individualism, tribalism, racism, nepotism, dictatorships and other global vices. There are a number of times however when global unity must be fostered and one of these times includes the times when there is a need for environmental conservation for global sustainability. The environment and it degradation consequences pay no respect to global political boundaries. When glaciers melt in Europe, for example, causing raised sea levels, the land loss effects can be felt by the south most countries of South America. When developed countries replace all their natural environments with amenities, urban centers, and industries, the pollution effects and consequences are felt by the least developed of the countries. When some continents have hunted down and certain extinct animals, pressure must be borne by other continents to preserve the surviving endangered species. With respect to the environment, the earth is borderless, and there is global participation in ensuring its sustainability. However, whereas most of the environmental deteriorations and pollutions are globally pooled, the conservation burden is most often than not borne by the developing nations. This paper seeks to address this reality and how the developing countries now have the necessary burden of ensuring environmental conservation for global sustainability
Work Environment and the Performance of Forest Rangers in South West Mau Forest, Kenya
Full text linkThe objective of this research was to evaluate and understand how the working environment of Kenya Forest Service (KFS) forest rangers affects their performance. The rangers, under the Enforcement and Compliance Division (ENCOM) of KFS are mandated to implement the enforcement of laws and policies pertaining to forests and its allied resources as prescribed in the Kenya Forest Act of 2005. Qualitative research approach was employed in the data collection using structured questionnaires in four forest stations. From a population of 46 rangers, 32 rangers, 8 serving in each of the three forest stations (Londiani, Masaita, and Sorget) of Kericho Zone, Mau complex and the Kericho Ecosystem Conservetor’s Office were sampled randomly. A pre-tested questionnaire on demographic trends, duration of service, work environment variables constituting of remuneration, living conditions, motivation, appraisals, rewards, empowerment, communication, work tools, mobility, uniforms, challenges and personal life were administered in January 2016. The performance indicators gave dissatisfaction rates of 59% and 63% in most of the parameters tested. Comparison of the finding of this study with the findings of the surveys of 2010 and 2013 in different conservancies in Kenya gave an index of 51.4% and 56.74% satisfaction respectively. The results therefore denote a progressive correlation between the working conditions drivers and the performance of forest rangers. Kenya Forest Service under ENCOM Division has a responsibility and large task to improve the working conditions and environment of the rangers. No matter how efficient conservation and regeneration programs may be undertaken while enforcement lags the cumulative performance of the entire process shall ever record dismal performance. More radical measures must be undertaken to enhance the performance and productivity of rangers through motivation, improve both their intrinsic and extrinsic working environment. KFS must as well acknowledge that low employee satisfaction rates shall ever incapacitate the forest rangers’ performance
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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