Ecotourism is now the fastest-growing sector in the Himalayan region as well as in the Garhwal region (Uttarakhand, India) as it has negligible adverse impacts on the environment and natural ...resources than tourism. Ecotourism plays an important role in the protection and sustainability of natural resources. Thus, the present study attempts to identify potential ecotourism sites using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and Geographical Information System-Remote sensing (GIS-RS) techniques in the Garhwal Himalayan region. The study is based on the use of GIS-RS used parameter concerning landscape naturalness, climatic characteristics, topographic attributes, accessibility parameters, reserved and protected areas, and natural attractiveness using a weighted overlay method in the GIS platform. We also used expert knowledge to assign weights and then normalized them by AHP eigenvector. We used the receiver operating characteristic curve for validation, which indicates the methods are very useful in ecotourism potentiality. The results show very highly, and the highly suitable area is about 21.12%, wherein 17.40% located in the greater Himalayan region. Areas adjacent to the densely forested areas, where snow-out occurs every year, develop various grasslands, cool climate, U and V-shaped valleys, very attractive landscapes sites suitable for ecotourism, but not for all seasons. The moderately suitable areas confined in the lower dissected valleys and upper snow-covered areas and make up about 26.04% (8456.68 km
2
) of the region. This study can help tourism planners and the government select locations precisely and further develop ecotourism activities and release pressures on the tourism burden in the region. The results have implications for sustainable tourism and ecotourism efforts of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal-15 (SDG-15) of improving life on land by preserving natural heritage, wilderness areas, and culture. It can help the employment generation of the local people and direct profits to the local communities.
Graphic abstract
This study highlights the major players in the global food balance, potential implications of COVID-19 on global food supply, and SDG-2 (zero hunger). It found that developing countries, fifteen from ...Africa followed by ten from Latin America, six from Oceania, and four from Asia, are the most vulnerable to changes cereal supply shocks. It concludes that the current pandemic is likely to cause transitory food insecurity across such vulnerable countries. The effects of the pandemic on food security (SDG-2) may persist longer as a combined effect of economic slowdown and increase in poverty, limiting food supply and access beyond 2020.
Here we report a novel family of crystalline, supermicroporous iron(III) phosphonate nanomaterials (HFeP‐1‐3, HFeP‐1‐2, and HFeP‐1‐4) with different FeIII‐to‐organophosphonate ligand mole ratios. The ...materials were synthesized by using a hydrothermal reaction between benzene‐1,3,5‐triphosphonic acid and iron(III) chloride under acidic conditions (pH≈4.0). Powder X‐ray diffraction, N2 sorption, transmission and scanning electron microscopy (TEM and SEM) image analysis, thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TGA‐DTA), and FTIR spectroscopic tools were used to characterize the materials. The triclinic crystal phase P$\bar 1$(2) space group of the hybrid iron phosphonate was established by a Rietveld refinement of the PXRD analysis of HFeP‐1‐3 by using the MAUD program. The unit cell parameters are a=8.749(1), b=8.578(1), c=17.725(3) Å; α=104.47(3), β=97.64(1), γ=113.56(3)°; and V=1013.41 Å3. With these crystal parameters, we proposed an 24‐membered‐ring open framework structure for HFeP‐1. Compound HFeP‐1‐3, with an starting Fe/ligand molar ratio of 3.0, shows the highest Brunauer–Emmett–Telller (BET) surface area of 556 m2g−1 and uniform supermicropores of approximately 1.1 nm. The acidic surface of the porous iron(III) phosphonate nanoparticles was used in a highly efficient and recyclable catalytic transesterification reaction for the synthesis of biofuels under mild reaction conditions.
Iron brews biofuels: Highly crystalline, supermicroporous iron(III) phosphonate nanoparticles have been synthesized through a hydrothermal reaction between benzene‐1,3,5‐triphosphonic acid and FeCl3. The resulting material was used as an efficient and recyclable catalyst for the synthesis of biofuels under mild reaction conditions (see scheme).
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•LULC analysis shows mainly built-up land expansion consumes urban peripheral wetland.•Infrastructural activity and urban developmental projects are the active agents of wetland ...shrinkage.•Markov Transition Probability Matrix has shown only 39 percent of wetland area will remain in 2025.•Simulated 2025 wetland surface shows extensive outlier loss.•The absence of institutional coordination, financial support, and land use regulations are the main determinants of policy failure.
The usefulness and need for wetland ecosystems are in general, manifold. Nonetheless, their current situation in many parts of the world is truly a matter of concern, both in terms of biodiversity as well as human well-being. While policy development and decision-making are vital, there is also a great need to understand the wetlands transition process, taking into account measures for their conservation. In an attempt towards such an understanding, this study analyses the eco-social transformation of the East Kolkata Wetland (EKW). As a primary step to examine the patterns and drivers of wetland change in the EKW, land cover changes have been quantified. In addition, the significance of the driving factors has been adjudged and modelled using Wetland Shrinkage Monitoring (WSM) model. The outcome shows that wetland shrinkage largely determined by proximity forces of urban growth. While the Markov transition indicates that 46% out of 38km2 wetland tends to alter to other classes, wetland transition 2025 points out that almost 9km2 area is at critical risk. In addition to these findings, the study ascertains that a decent functioning of the local authorities and a comprehensive land use planning are indispensable to curb wetland degradation.
Kyasanur forest disease (KFD), known as monkey fever, was for the first time reported in 1957 from the Shivamogga district of Karnataka. But since 2011, it has been spreading to the neighbouring ...state of Kerala, Goa, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. The disease is transmitted to humans, monkeys and by the infected bite of ticks Haemaphysalis spinigera. It is known that deforestation and ecological changes are the main reasons for KFD emergence, but the bio-climatic understanding and emerging pathways remain unknown.
The present study aims to understand the bio-climatic determinants of distribution of tick vector of KFD in southern India using the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model. The analysis was done using 34 locations of Haemaphysalis spinigera occurrence and nineteen bio-climatic variables from WorldClim. Climatic variables contribution was assessed using the Jackknife test and mean AUC 0.859, indicating the model performs with very high accuracy.
Most influential variables affecting the spatial distribution of Haemaphysalis spinigera were the average temperature of the warmest quarter (bio10, contributed 32.5%), average diurnal temperature range (bio2, contributed 21%), precipitation of wettest period (bio13, contributed 17.6%), and annual precipitation (bio12, contributed 11.1%). The highest probability of Haemaphysalis spinigera presence was found when the mean warmest quarter temperature ranged between 25.4 and 30 °C. The risk of availability of the tick increased noticeably when the mean diurnal temperature ranged between 8 and 10 °C. The tick also preferred habitat having an annual mean temperature (bio1) between 23 and 26.2 °C, mean temperature of the driest quarter (bio9) between 20 and 28 °C, and mean temperature of the wettest quarter (bio8) between 22.5 and 25 °C.
The results have established the relationship between bioclimatic variables and KFD tick distribution and mapped the potential areas for KFD in adjacent areas wherein surveillance for the disease is warranted for early preparedness before the occurrence of outbreaks etc. The modelling approach helps link bio-climatic variables with the present and predicted distribution of Haemaphysalis spinigera tick.
Watersheds in the subtropical Himalayan basins are highly prone to land degradation due to deforestation, landslides, intensive agriculture, population pressure and overgrazing, in particular, where ...various fluvial and denudation processes occur. It is important to assess the magnitude of problem and to understand the erosion process under normal conditions, so that effective measures can be implemented. Therefore, the study selected Kalsa watershed from the Lesser Himalayan region, where soil erosion is more prominent. Regarding this issue, to identify the hot spot of soil erosion of the basin, watershed prioritization methods using advanced geographical information system and remote sensing techniques integrated with weighted sum analysis (WSA) and principal component analysis (PCA). In addition, a comparison has been made to evaluate the performance of these models. The study considered sixteen different morphometric parameters, including linear (rho coefficient, stream frequency, drainage density, length of overland flow, drainage texture and constant of channel maintenance); landscape (relative relief, relief ratio, basin slope and ruggedness number); and shape (elongation ratio, form factor, circulatory ratio and compactness coefficient). Both the methods PCA and WSA indicate the same results showing high priority, meaning the outlet watersheds have high priority. The sub-watersheds in the north-eastern part have the lowest priority. The results also show that the length overland flow, relative relief, basin relief ratio and hypsometric integral are the most important indicators. The sub-watersheds prioritize high ranks, medium ranks and low ranks out of 10 sub-watersheds covering about 45.32%, 27.78% and 26.90% area of the Kalsa River watershed, respectively. This study will help regional planners, farmers and governments take more detailed decisions to propose efficient soil erosion control measures and conservation priorities of the watershed. The study findings have implications for sustainable land management and conservation goal targets (target 2.3 and 2.4; target 3.9; target 13.1, 13.2 and 13.3; target 15.3 and 15.4), which finally helps to achieve the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Graphical abstract
Agriculture, global biodiversity and distribution of species are increasingly influenced by changing climate. Assessing the future distribution of biodiversity under different climate change ...scenarios is an essential step towards conservation planning and policy implementations. To understand the climate change impacts, the present study used
Garcinia gummi
-
gutta
cash crop species as a case study that is even exported, adding the nation’s foreign reserve. Given the importance of this crop for local and national economy, the main objectives of the study were to analyse the impact of present and future climates on ecologically susceptible
G. gummi
-
gutta
species in the Western Ghats based on maximum entropy model (MaxEnt). Future projections with RCP scenarios for 2050 and 2070 were made using the data of 84 species occurrence and climatic variables of three climate models from IPCC 5th assessment. The contribution of climatic variables was analysed by jackknife test, and 0.888 of AOC indicates high accuracy of the model results. It was found that annual precipitation, coldest quarter precipitation, and precipitation seasonality were the key determining factors for the suitability of this species. In addition, the results of all scenarios showed that the current suitability of the species would be dramatically decreased by 2050 and 2070. The study suggests how the MaxEnt approach can be an important tool for agricultural development, management of species habitats, conservation of biodiversity, and climate change rehabitation planning.
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•Predictors were assessed using presence-only and bootstrap.•Climate change significantly decline species suitable distribution.•Results indicated an excellent accuracy in Maxent ...outputs.•Temperature seasonality and isothermality contribute the maximum to the distribution Garcinia indica.•Predicted suitability and predictors contribution could help conservation planning and management.
In recent years, climate change has become a major threat and has been widely documented in the geographic distribution of many plant species. However, the impacts of climate change on the distribution of ecologically vulnerable medicinal species remain largely unknown. The identification of a suitable habitat for a species under climate change scenario is a significant step towards the mitigation of biodiversity decline. The study, therefore, aims to predict the impact of current, and future climatic scenarios on the distribution of the threatened Garcinia indica across the northern Western Ghats using Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) modelling. The future projections were made for the year 2050 and 2070 with all Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) scenario (2.6, 4.5, 6.0, and 8.5) using 56 species occurrence data, and 19 bioclimatic predictors from the BCC-CSM1.1 model of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change’s (IPCC) 5th assessment. The bioclimatic variables were minimised to a smaller number of variables after a multicollinearity test, and their contributions were assessed using jackknife test. The AUC value of 0.956 ± 0.023 indicates that the model performs with excellent accuracy. The study identified that temperature seasonality (39.5 ± 3.1%), isothermality (19.2 ± 1.6%), and annual precipitation (12.7 ± 1.7%) would be the major influencing variables in the current and future distribution. The model predicted 10.50% (19318.7 sq. km) of the study area as moderately to very highly suitable, while 82.60% (151904 sq. km) of the study area was identified as ‘unsuitable’ or ‘very low suitable’. Our predictions of Climate change impact on habitat suitability suggest that there will be a drastic reduction in the suitability by 5.29% and 5.69% under RCP 8.5 for 2050 and 2070, respectively.
Primary objective of this study is to identify the potential distribution of medicinally and ecologically important but threatened Garcinia indica species in the northern Western Ghats on the basis of species occurrence data and nineteen bioclimatic predictors. Using MaxEnt modelling, current and future species distribution and suitability has been predicted using the BCC-CSM1.1 and four RCP scenarios of 2.6, 4.5, 6.0, and 8.5. The results also signify the bioclimatic variables contribution to the species distribution in northern Western Ghats.
Finally, the results signify that the model might be an efficient tool for biodiversity protection, ecosystem management, and species re-habitation planning under future climate change scenarios.
Thailand’s agriculture is facing an ageing workforce, which could negatively influence agricultural production. Yet, there is still limited evidence regarding the perception of the ageing ...agricultural labour force in the country and a lack of insights into farmers’ strategies to improve agricultural output. To fill this gap, we analysed primary data from questionnaire-based surveys of 365 households in Prachinburi Province, Thailand. The results show that household poverty, farm experience, retirement, health concerns, and farm accidents are positively associated with the farmers’ perception on the ageing workforce, whereas education level, having an ageing farmer in the family, farm size, mentoring and access to new technology have a negative influence on the perception of the ageing workforce. Given the anticipated implications of the population ageing in Thailand, the government should consider establishing policy options to encourage younger entrants into the agricultural sector and prioritising policies related to intergenerational support.
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