Rapid environment change and urbanization process have profoundly altered the socio-ecological relationships and influenced on how local residents perceive ecosystem services (ES) and human ...well-being (HW). However, the quantified socio-cultural valuation of rural-urban comparison is still insufficient. In this study, we investigated the perception on provisioning, regulating, and cultural ES importance and HW satisfaction degree of basic materials, health, security, and social relations. Subsequently, we explored the linkages between and within ES and HW by face-to-face interviews with urban and rural residents. The results showed that rural residents valued more genetic resources, flood regulation, erosion regulation, and aesthetics ES, while urban residents gave high importance to wood & fiber ES. Overall, urban residents valued provisioning ES, while rural residents valued regulating ES. No difference was observed in cultural ES. For HW, rural residents felt more satisfied with security and health, while urban residents were more satisfied with basic materials. We observed strong relationships among provisioning and regulating ES in rural and urban communities, and the same was observed as in health and security HW. Principal component analysis (PCA) results showed the different variable associations in rural ES and urban HW as well as different groups in urban ES and rural HW. Through confirmation factor analysis (CFA), we screened out freshwater, water purification, air purification, and cultural value as dominant ES indicators for rural and urban population according to the framework of Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in Yanhe watershed. The assessment of people's perception can contribute to the integration of socio-cultural values into the policymaking process.
•We quantified ecosystem service and human well-being perception in rural and urban.•Regulating ecosystem service was valued by rural people while provisioning by urban.•Rural people satisfied with security and health while urban people with materials.•Both synergies and trade-offs existed in ecosystem service and human well-being.•Policy decision should focus on important services and unsatisfied well-being.
Narayanappa Y, Gautam A, Mahobiya K, Singh A. 2022. Short Communication: A pilot-study on the occurrence and probable factors influencing the population decline of House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) ...along an urbanization gradient in Coimbatore district, India. Biodiversitas 23: 3884-3889. The House sparrow is a widely distributed, human-commensal bird species across the globe. Over the past few decades, the population of this species has been reported to be declining at an alarming rate. The primary factor postulated to cause this decline is urbanization which leads to the unavailability of suitable nesting sites, a dearth of invertebrate food, the advent of phone towers, and electromagnetic radiation. The current study aims to document the occurrence, abundance and scrutinize the reasons for the decline of House Sparrows along a gradient of urban to rural in Coimbatore district, India. To estimate the abundance of House Sparrows, we counted them in16-points within a three 3km-radius along an urban-rural gradient. Information on gender, cluster size, detection distance, an angle from the observer, etc. were collected. The questionnaire survey was conducted to understand people's perceptions about the importance of the species and its current status. Along the gradient, we observed an average of 69.8 (±24.9) individuals. The species were abundant in rural and semi-urban areas, which is attributed to the availability of nesting sites, such as roof cavities, eaves, mud-walls, adequate feeding sources, presence of open scrub patches and garbage dumping sites adjacent to the residential spaces. However, sparrows were not present in the urban areas, even in their preferred habitats. According to the questionnaire survey, the likely causes for their absence are an increase in vehicle traffic, modern buildings, high-rise structures, and electromagnetic radiation from cell phone towers.
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•Theory of planned behaviour for waste recycling is built on interview and questionnaire.•Regulatory compliance and Economic incentives determine recycling intention.•Industry ...concerns Regulatory compliance while Public concerns Economic incentives.•Recognition of Accreditation scheme is needed to facilitate closed-loop material flow.
Changing individual’s recycling attitude and behaviour is of utmost importance in achieving sustainable construction and demolition (C&D) waste management, yet it has often been underachieved. To understand the motivations for recycling, this study identifies and prioritizes the key factors that affect C&D waste recycling behaviour of various stakeholders in Hong Kong (i.e., representatives from construction-waste-related organizations, environmental consultants and contractors, and government engineers) in a quantitative manner using statistical tools. Different from traditional C&D waste behavioural determinants studies, this paper utilizes an integrated analytical method through semi-structured interviews and survey questionnaire on the basis of Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Qualitative thematic analysis and quantitative frequency analysis were performed to analyse responses from semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, followed by correlation analysis to quantify the relationships between factors. Results indicated that four key factors: (i) regulatory compliance, (ii) economic incentives, (iii) accreditation scheme, and (iv) logistics and management incentives directly influenced recycling behaviour of individuals. Regulatory compliance was the most determining factor for consultants, contractors, experts, and government officials, whereas economic incentives were of great concern to the public. Under the factor of economic incentives, strong positive relationships were identified between disposal costs and collection and sorting costs, thus increasing waste disposal charging fee may promote recycling behaviour. In comparison, accreditation scheme deserved better recognition to facilitate a closed-loop material flow in the construction industry. These findings help to devise more effective and stakeholder-oriented policy tools to raise awareness and encourage behavioural change towards C&D waste recycling, and assist policy makers to establish regulations and practices for sustainable resource management.
•Perception of ecosystem services (ES) and human well-being (HWB) were studied.•Uni/multivariate analyses clarified the relationship within and between ES and HWB.•Up-and downstream residents focused ...on provisioning and regulating ES, respectively.•Internal correlations differed between ES and HWB up- and downstream.•Trade-offs and synergistic relationships between HWB and ES variables were observed.
The River Basin Ecological Compensation Policy, which is an important starting point for the realization of ecological civilization, has changed the perceptions of the local residents regarding ecosystem services (ES) and human well-being (HWB). Based on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment framework, we performed a face-to-face questionnaire-based survey among 807 randomly selected rural residents in the Xin’an River Basin (XARB). Resident cognitive status was evaluated upstream and downstream of the XARB according to ES and individual HWB; subsequently, the relationships within and among ES and HWB were discussed. Results showed that upstream residents attached more importance to air purity, education, and biodiversity, whereas downstream residents were more focused on food, clean water, climate, and flood regulation. Overall, upstream and downstream residents focused on provisioning and regulating ES, respectively. Regarding HWB, upstream residents were highly satisfied with family harmony, culture, and entertainment, whereas downstream residents preferred improved air and drinking water quality. There were significant differences regarding the internal correlations between ES and HWB variables both upstream and downstream, and the selected leading indicators were inconsistent. Complex trade-off and synergistic relationships between HWB and ES variables were also evident, primarily reflected through the significant negative correlation between basic material and provisioning ES upstream, and the significant positive correlation between health and regulating ES downstream. These results should help implementing ecological compensation policies, people-oriented developmental concepts within the decision-making process, and ultimately a sustainable economic and social development of the XARB.
There are still many unclear points regarding cancers occurring in dialysis patients. A questionnaire survey was conducted involving patients receiving dialysis treatment between 2015 and 2019 at 56 ...dialysis facilities in Okinawa Prefecture regarding any cancer history. During those five years, 408 cancers were diagnosed in 263 males and 145 females. In males, colorectal, kidney, and lung cancers were common, in that order. In females, breast, kidney, and colorectal cancers were common, also in that order. Lung cancer is often diagnosed early with the induction of dialysis and is common in the elderly, and the smoking rate among patients is also high. The prevalence of kidney cancer was high in both males and females, with a mean patient age of 65.6±11.1 years and the median time from the initiation of dialysis to onset of cancer being 12.4±8.9 years. In an analysis that included cancers before the start of dialysis, most cancers were diagnosed within five years after the induction of dialysis, followed by those within five years before dialysis. In addition, most cancers occurred within 1 year before or after the induction of dialysis. In the future, it will be necessary to clarify the characteristics of cancer in dialysis patients throughout Japan and adopt appropriate measures.
The choice of receptor populations is crucial for assessing the health risk posed by heavy metals in soil. A total of 457 questionnaires were conducted on 10 sensitive receptor populations, which ...were exposed to potentially contaminated soil under four land uses, to determine their exposure frequency (EF) and exposure time (ET) values. The exposure risk (ER: the probability of being exposed to target soil) varied between the receptor populations because of their different EF and ET values. Green maintenance workers in park soil, who had fixed outdoor working hours (6 or 7 days per week and 8 h per day), had the highest EF and ET values, while adults and children who visited parks only at weekends had the lowest EF values. Green maintenance workers, sanitation workers, and children faced the highest hazards (i.e., hazard index (HI) values) from heavy metals in soil in parks and residential areas, roadsides, and farmland, and were found to be the most sensitive receptor populations (MSRPs) for these land uses. The 90th percentile of the HI value for the four land uses based on MSRPs followed the order of roadsides (0.48) > parks (0.44) > residential areas (0.21) > suburban farmlands(0.18), and all were lower than 1, indicating a virtually safe level. Washing hands immediately and wearing shoes when working on farmland considerably reduced the HI values by 56.6%. The EF, ET, and body weight (BW) values were the most sensitive parameters in the health risk assessment. The results suggested that the type of receptor population will greatly affect the results of a health risk assessment for soil pollutants. It is necessary to select the risk receptors carefully based on the land use types.
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•Green maintenance workers in park had the highest exposure frequency and time to soil.•The HI value for the four land uses all were lower than 1, indicating a virtually safe level.•Sanitation workers faced higher health risks from heavy metals in soil than other receptors.•Washing hands immediately and wearing shoes when farming reduced the health risk by 56.6%.•The EF, ET, and body weight were the most sensitive parameters to the health risk.
•Clustering analysis was used to extract typical occupancy patterns.•Correlations between household characteristic and occupancy pattern was quantified.•Datasets from a large-scale questionnaire ...survey were used for case study.•Socio-demographic characteristics had significant effects on occupancy pattern.
Occupancy patterns that describe occupant presence or absence can result in a significant impact in energy use of residential buildings; thus, they are critical to the energy modeling of residential buildings. Occupancy patterns currently embedded in building energy simulation tools or recommended in the standards are uniform, ignoring that different occupancy patterns exist for households with different socio-demographic characteristics. Consequently, this study objective is to extract the typical occupancy patterns of households and quantify the correlations between household occupancy patterns and socio-demographic characteristics based on statistical approaches. Clustering analysis was used to identify representative types of occupancy patterns based on the occupancy profiles of daily occupant presence data. Then, correlations between occupancy patterns and household characteristics were identified by investigating three statistical methods: nonparametric analysis, decision trees, and association rule mining. To illustrate the quantitative analysis, datasets collected by a large-scale questionnaire survey in two Chinese cities were used for the case study. The results revealed that socio-demographic characteristics, such as occupant age, employment status and household composition, have statistically significantly associated with occupancy patterns. The statistical quantitative analysis can be used to estimate household occupancy patterns to further reduce the performance gap between the simulation and actual energy consumption of residential buildings.
The Bashang Plateau, which is an ecologically fragile agro-pastoral zone in Hebei Province in China, plays an important role in protecting the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region from wind and sand erosion. ...Over the last four decades, it has been the target of extensive afforestation campaigns to promote improved ecosystem services. Though the benefits and costs of afforestation and its effectiveness within forestry have been widely investigated, few studies have focused on local households' willingness to accept (WTA) compensation relating to afforestation policies. Moreover, despite their importance in ensuring effective afforestation policies, the factors influencing WTA values have seldom been examined. We administered a direct questionnaire survey of households on the Bashang Plateau and applied a contingent valuation analysis to estimate their WTA values for compensation associated with ecological protection policies. We obtained 249 valid questionnaires, evidencing a high response rate (92.22%). New indicators of factors influencing respondents' WTA has been conducted including social, economic and ecological aspects, especially the improvement of ecological factors which consists of respondents' perceptions regarding the importance of ES and their satisfaction levels, and other environmental awareness factors. Additionally, in the case where many studies performed only one single regression analysis, this study performed a two-stage regression analysis and compared the results with those obtained using the Tobit model. A reasonable compensation standard facilitates a positive relationship between economic development and protection of natural environments. The findings showed that a certain amount of compensation (approximately 477.91 CNY/mu/year) was likely to prompt households' participation in afforestation projects. Compared with compensation standards for other ecological projects, the reported standard for afforestation projects on the Bashang Plateau is low, indicating that there is room for improvement. High annual household incomes are a key factor influencing households' WTA regarding their participation in afforestation activities. The results also revealed households’ environmental awareness. Among respondents who participated in afforestation, those who valued forests for protecting environments and improving ecosystem services opted for lower compensation amounts. Our findings contribute valuable inputs for formulating ecological compensation standards and can serve as a reference for analyses of WTA and factors that drive it in other similar economically backward and ecologically fragile regions.
•Households' WTA for afforestation projects was calculated by contingent valuation method.•Tobit model and a double-hurdle regression model were used to analyze influencing factors of WTA.•High annual household incomes are a key factor influencing households' WTA.•Respondents who valued forests for improving ecosystem services opted for lower WTA.
•We employ a questionnaire survey and interviews with 157 firms in China.•Firms have good circular economy awareness but lack of actual behavior.•A striking “gap” exists between firms’ awareness and ...actual behavior.•Structural, contextual and cultural factors contribute to awareness–behavior gap.
Despite the wealth of information concerning environmental awareness and the behavior of firms, there is little empirical research on the awareness and behavior of firms in developing the circular economy. The study employed a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews with 157 firms from manufacturing clusters in China. Results indicated that the firms had a relatively good understanding about the circular economy and its values and had a strong willingness to operate a circular economy, but this was not indicative of enthusiastic behavior. A striking “gap” existed between a firm's awareness and its actual behavior in developing a circular economy. Reasons for the gap are explored mainly based on the results of interviews. Finally, recommendations for overcoming the gap between the awareness and behavior are suggested.
