80 research outputs found
Synergies for Improving Oil Palm Production and Forest Conservation in Floodplain Landscapes
No full textLowland tropical forests are increasingly threatened with conversion to oil palm as global demand and high profit drives crop expansion throughout the world’s tropical regions. Yet, landscapes are not homogeneous and regional constraints dictate land suitability for this crop. We conducted a regional study to investigate spatial and economic components of forest conversion to oil palm within a tropical floodplain in the Lower Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The Kinabatangan ecosystem harbours significant biodiversity with globally threatened species but has suffered forest loss and fragmentation. We mapped the oil palm and forested landscapes (using object-based-image analysis, classification and regression tree analysis and on-screen digitising of high-resolution imagery) and undertook economic modelling. Within the study region (520,269 ha), 250,617 ha is cultivated with oil palm with 77% having high Net-Present-Value (NPV) estimates (637/ha?yr); but 20.5% is under-producing. In fact 6.3% (15,810 ha) of oil palm is commercially redundant (with negative NPV of -65/ha?yr) due to palm mortality from flood inundation. These areas would have been important riparian or flooded forest types. Moreover, 30,173 ha of unprotected forest remain and despite its value for connectivity and biodiversity 64% is allocated for future oil palm. However, we estimate that at minimum 54% of these forests are unsuitable for this crop due to inundation events. If conversion to oil palm occurs, we predict a further 16,207 ha will become commercially redundant. This means that over 32,000 ha of forest within the floodplain would have been converted for little or no financial gain yet with significant cost to the ecosystem. Our findings have globally relevant implications for similar floodplain landscapes undergoing forest transformation to agriculture such as oil palm. Understanding landscape level constraints to this crop, and transferring these into policy and practice, may provide conservation and economic opportunities within these seemingly high opportunity cost landscapes
Ecotourism and indigenous communities: The Lower Kinabatangan experience
No full textProtected areas represent the heart of the world's political and economic commitment to conserve biodiversity and other natural and cultural resources (Borrini-Feyerabend et al. 2004). Covering more than 10 per cent of the world's land surface, their success is a tool for conservation largely depends on whether they are effectively managed to protect the values they contain (Hockings et al. 2006). The management of protected areas has been predominantly the responsibility of various local, state and/or national government agencies, often with influence from other interested parties, including ecologists, social scientists, conservation and human-rights advocates, legislators, policy makers and NGOs
Adaptable learning environments of university buildings : campus reference plan to Lapland
No full textYliopistorakennusten mukautuvat oppimisympäristöt: Kampuksen viitesuunnitelma Lappiin on arkkitehtuurin diplomityö, joka koostuu aihetta taustoittavasta kirjallisesta tutkielmasta ja sen tietoja soveltavasta arkkitehtuurin viitesuunnitelmasta. Suunnittelukohteena on uusi yliopistokampus Tornion kaupunkiin. Opinnäytetyö käsittelee korkeakouluopiskelijoiden tilallisia tarpeita yliopistorakennusten luomassa oppimisympäristössä. Aihetta käsitellään arkkitehtuurin näkökulmasta.
Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan neljää suunnitelmaa tukevaa osa-aluetta, jotka käsittelevät aikuisten oppimisympäristöjä, suomalaisia yliopistoja, arkkitehtuurin referenssikohteita sekä opiskelutilojen käytön mukautuvuutta ja laadullisia tekijöitä. Taustoituksessa on muun muassa tekijän laatima kattava kartoitus suomalaisten yliopistojen henkilömääristä ja kampusten sijainneista, sekä lähdetutkimuksia opiskelijalähtöisestä tilojen suunnittelusta.
Viitesuunnitelma hyödyntää tutkielmassa esiin nousseita teemoja, kuten yliopistorakennusten alueellisia piirteitä, kohteen käyttäjäkunnan tilallisia mieltymyksiä, sekä erilaisiin käyttötarkoituksiin soveltuvien työ- ja opiskelutilojen tärkeyttä. Suunnitelmassa painotetaan monipuolisten opiskelutilojen tarjontaa erilaisten opiskelijoiden tarpeisiin, sekä tilojen mielenkiintoista kokemuksellisuutta arkkitehtuurin näkökulmasta.
Suunnitelmaa avataan taustoittavien osa-alueiden yhteydessä, sekä omilla erillisillä suunnitelma plansseilla.Adaptable learning environments of university buildings: Campus reference plan to Lapland is a diploma thesis of architecture that consist of a written background study and an architectural reference plan applying its information. The object of the design is a new university campus to the city of Tornio. The thesis addresses the spatial needs of higher education students in the learning environment created within university buildings. The subject is viewed from the perspective of architecture.
The written background study views four chapters supporting the design plan. The chapters deal with the learning environments of adults, Finnish universities, architectural reference buildings and the adaptable use and qualitative attributes of learning spaces. For example, the study contains a comprehensive mapping made by the author about the user headcount and locations of the Finnish university campuses and source studies about student centred spatial designing.
The reference plan utilizes the themes brought forth in the background study, like the areal features of university buildings, the user preferences and the importance of diverse study and workspaces for different uses. The design plan emphasizes the providing of versatile studying environments for the needs of different kind of students and the engaging experience of the spaces from an architectural perspective.
The plan is expounded upon within the chapters of the background study and as separate design posters
Innovative planting and agroforestry design for climate resiliency and yield performance, in large scale oil palm plantation: The TRAILS pilot
No full textSource Agritrop Cirad (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/605132/)International audienc
Innovative planting and agroforestry design for climate resiliency and yield performance, in large scale oil palm plantation: The TRAILS pilot
No full textOil palm-based agroforestry systems: lessons learned and perspectives
No full textSource Agritrop Cirad (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/603770/)International audienc
Recent surveys in the forests of Ulu Segama Malua, Sabah, Malaysia, show that orang-utans (P. p. morio) can be maintained in slightly logged forests.
No full textBackgroundToday the majority of wild great ape populations are found outside of the network of protected areas in both Africa and Asia, therefore determining if these populations are able to survive in forests that are exploited for timber or other extractive uses and how this is managed, is paramount for their conservation.Methodology/principal findingsIn 2007, the "Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Project" (KOCP) conducted aerial and ground surveys of orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus morio) nests in the commercial forest reserves of Ulu Segama Malua (USM) in eastern Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Compared with previous estimates obtained in 2002, our recent data clearly shows that orang-utan populations can be maintained in forests that have been lightly and sustainably logged. However, forests that are heavily logged or subjected to fast, successive coupes that follow conventional extraction methods, exhibit a decline in orang-utan numbers which will eventually result in localized extinction (the rapid extraction of more than 100 m(3) ha(-1) of timber led to the crash of one of the surveyed sub-populations). Nest distribution in the forests of USM indicates that orang-utans leave areas undergoing active disturbance and take momentarily refuge in surrounding forests that are free of human activity, even if these forests are located above 500 m asl. Displaced individuals will then recolonize the old-logged areas after a period of time, depending on availability of food sources in the regenerating areas.Conclusion/significanceThese results indicate that diligent planning prior to timber extraction and the implementation of reduced-impact logging practices can potentially be compatible with great ape conservation
Genetic signature of anthropogenic population collapse in orang-utans.
No full textGreat ape populations are undergoing a dramatic decline, which is predicted to result in their extinction in the wild from entire regions in the near future. Recent findings have particularly focused on African apes, and have implicated multiple factors contributing to this decline, such as deforestation, hunting, and disease. Less well-publicised, but equally dramatic, has been the decline in orang-utans, whose distribution is limited to parts of Sumatra and Borneo. Using the largest-ever genetic sample from wild orang-utan populations, we show strong evidence for a recent demographic collapse in North Eastern Borneo and demonstrate that this signature is independent of the mutation and demographic models used. This is the first demonstration that genetic data can detect and quantify the effect of recent, human-induced deforestation and habitat fragmentation on an endangered species. Because current demographic collapses are usually confounded by ancient events, this suggests a much more dramatic decline than demographic data alone and emphasises the need for major conservation efforts
- …
