Number of questions: [16]
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Posted on 12/11/2007 18:19:17 |
My question is in regards to the Millennuim Development Goal on hunger.
Do you think it is actually realistically feasable to meet the Millennium Development Goal on hunger by 2050 with to current farming strategies in both the developed and undeveloped part of the world without degrading the land quality and with increased growth of cities into surrounding areas?
Is there a realistic way you feel that the farming industry in developed countries could go about farming practises in a better way than increasing the use of intensive farming techniques that require large amounts of pesticides, fertilizers, machinary, huge waste outputs and degradation causing soil erosion and leaching causing overal decline in quality of soil? Since this form of farming uses an area of land that can't physically be sustainable in the long term and causes extreme degradation to that area of land (and those around it) would crop rotations, agroforestry and smaller farm operation techniques though way better for land quality and ecological sustainabilty actually be able to produce the yeilds great enough to meet such a goal?
Also, in the undeveloped countries, where the general public is poor and relies on living off the land (land that is usually less suitable for example areas in Northern Africa with poor soils for crop production) for there livelihoods do you feel climate change and added population strain could make these areas poorer and more in trouble due to the current problem with nutrient availablity, desertification and overal soil quality in these areas? How would such areas prepare or avoid these possible scenerios? Thanks for your time.
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Virginia Noble (from Canada)
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Dear Virginia,
Your questions are very interesting but their yuxtaposition made them complex to answer them. The GEO 4 report, as you have read, found that During the last 20 years, the exponential expansion of cropland has slackened, but land is now used much more intensively producing 0.7 tonnes more of food than 20 years earlier. These increases in productivity may have come at the cost of some land degradation, which now ranks with climate change and loss of biodiversity as a threat to habitat, economy and society. Reaching the millenium development goal on hunger depends on many factors and not only on land productivity alone. However, I believe it is achievable, but it will require the confluence of many factors including the political will and the prevalence of governance in many areas of the planet. Technological solutions to incrase productivity and achieve food security exist, but making them come together simulatneously with the required national, regional and local policies, in harmony with the infrastructure and the governance necessary for their implementation and meeting sustainability requiremewnts may be difficult. I believe the problems facing us are not so much technical but compound: technical, social justice, the egalitarian distribution of wealth and investment. UNEP, FAO and other UN and national agencies work hard with the governments of countries to attempt the necessary conditions for achieving that goal.
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Posted on 12/11/2007 15:37:01 |
My question is with regards to water scarcity. It is said by some that freshwater will be the oil of the 21st century. Chapter 3 on lands in GEO-4 addresses this issue and predicts that 1.8 billion people will be living in regions with absolute water scarcity by 2025. Is there simple, realistic (economically) and sustainable land management practises that can mitigate water supply issues? If so, what are they?
Is there any current research on further developing said management practices for water conservation? What sorts of efforts are being undertaken (if any) to educate and assist those land managers in afflicted regions with regards to water conservation?
Thank you for your efforts in producing this report.
Graham Raby,
Trent University
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Graham Raby (from Canada)
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Dear Graham,
Water scarcity is indeed one of the most serious and immediate concerns in resource management. For some 30 years now there has been research in many parts of the world about water harvesting techniques. Some of these solutions are simple and unexpensive (i.e. small earthworks to enhance capture, storage and residence time of water on soil surface. There are now a variety of rainwater harvesting approaches and technologies. The rainwater harvested -for example from rooftops of houses, is then pasteurized and treated to produce potable water, which is bottled and distributed in the community (this type of solution is not expensive and it is practical and viable ( - e.g. in drylands in Mexico there are some unexpensive implementations of these technlogies). I have also witnessed in the Middle East first hand, the application of very imaginative and unexpensive technologies consisting of simple, but effective earth works configurations for water harvesting and conservation. These examples give me reasons for optimism and trust that we can find ways of manipulating more carefully the hydrological cycle in favour of sustainable water supply systems
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Posted on 12/11/2007 15:28:28 |
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Do reduced and no-tillage systems require greater inputs of herbicides and pesticides for weed and pest control in comparison to traditional tillage systems? Are there other adverse environmental implications related to conservation tillage? Do you believe that the benefits of conservation tillage in terms of reducing soil erosion outweigh the environmental implications associated with it?
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Bryce (from Canada)
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Dear Bryce,
Reduced or no-tillage systems, also known as "conservation tillage" or CT. According to the IPCC Conservation tillage is any tillage and planting system in which 30 per cent or more of the crop residue remains on the soil surface after planting to reduce soil erosion by water. Where soil erosion by wind is the primary concern, conservation tillage is any system that maintains at least 1,000 kg ha-1 of flat, small-grain residue on the surface throughout the critical wind erosion period. Conservation tillage can include specific
tillage types such as no-till, ridge-till, mulch-till, zone-till, and strip-till systems that meet the residue requirements. In conservation tillage soil structure is maintained by disturbing it as little as possible, while crop residues left on the surface start the biological activity, building up Soil Organic Matter resulting
in healthy soil structure and allowing water retention. Seeds can be planted through the layer of residues, using a precision drillers. Pests, can be controlled with rotations and throguh strategies known as Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which in essence consists of using pests and diseases to balance each other.
The end result is a soil that is helthier, richer and more productive, and better protected against wind
and water erosion and requiring less fossil fuel and emissions for land preparation. It has been demonstrated (experiments in Southern Brazil) that conservation tillage also sequesters carbon in soils and enhances water retention capacity, fertility and overall land productivity. In Brazil, the precision drillers have been adapted for animal traction, cutting fuel use even further reducing carbon losses by four-fifths in experiments in the USA. According to FAO conservation agriculture has now been adopted on about 60 million ha, much of these areas are in the USA, whose agriculture bears great similarities with Canadian agriculture. Conservation tillage seems to have the greatest potential for carbon sequestration. In Brazil it was found that a mucuna/maize rotation plot sequestered 15.5 Mg CO2/ha-1 over 8 years, compared to
a net emission of 4.32 Mg CO2/ha-1 from the traditional maize/fallow plot. This was accompanied by fuel savings on some mechanized farms of up to 66 per cent. The main productivity enhaced features are not established right away. Rather the establishment occurs after the first or even second year after which conditions are improved substantially. There are reports of dramatic yield gains – as much as from three to five t/ha of maize in Brazil, and cereal yields in Argentina had nearly doubled.
In my opinion yes the benefits outweight any potrential negative impacts, which, as far as evidence shows, are none or minimal.
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Posted on 12/11/2007 09:30:53 |
Dear Raul
Please give me some information about EIA versus SEA and if you know web site about this please send me web site 's address.thanks
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afshin khoshand (from Iran, Islamic Republic of)
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Dear Afshin,
Environmental assessment is a procedure that ensures that the environmental implications of decisions are taken into account before the decisions are made. The process involves he analysis of the likely effects on the environment, of intended actions and the recording those effects in a report. Then, the undertaking of a public consultation on the report, and taking into account the comments and the report when making the final decision. There is a hierarchical relationship between different tiers of assessment with higher levels of assessment informing subsequent ones. This vertical relationship between assessment stages is important. Effective SEA informs subsequent assessment tiers taking into account information needs and delivery mechanisms. SEA helps with the preparation of and EIA but will not substitute for it. In principle, Environmental Impact Assessments are undertaken for individual projects such as a dam, a highway, airport , etc., whereas Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is for plans, programmes and policies.
See: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/aboutus/512398/1504325/1504415/832385/?lang=_e
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Posted on 12/11/2007 08:38:03 |
what are the causes of the earthquakes? volcanos?
are they just natural or there are some human activities that cause them?
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basheer alkaaki (from United States of America)
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Dear Basheer,
This is not my area of expertise. However, a short answer can be provided from general knoweldge. Earthquakes are caused by natural forces due to tectonism (plate tectonics). Nuclear explosions under ground could also cause earthquakes of minor intnsity. Tectonism causes the exposure of magma through fisures in the mantle of rock of the lithosphere. This allows magma, lava and molten rock to presses upward erupting to the surface with different degrees of intensity. Volcanos are created this way.
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Posted on 12/11/2007 05:46:55 |
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What strategies do you propose for educating policy-makers in your area of specialization ?
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Centre for Environment Education (from India)
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Thank you for your question. Education of policy-makers in the area of land resources, their assessment, evaluation and planning require, in the first instance, making possible a heighten awareness of the impacts that the degradation of land resources may have on rural livelihoods. I would offer particlal and concrete examples of such impacts, if available. Then, I would proceed to involve decision-makers in the assessment processes from the very begining, and in the formulation of plausible solutions to land resources degradation problems, developed jointly with stake-holders.
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Posted on 12/11/2007 02:47:03 |
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Please give me some specific application of GIS & RM in land resources assessment & evaluation. Thanks.
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Du (from Viet Nam)
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Dear Du,
The assessment of land resources benefits with the advances in GIS and Remote Sensing technologies. Geographical Information Systems (GIS), for instance, facilitate the storage, retrieval, manaipualtion and analysis of large amounts of spatial data (maps and images) representing the different components of land resources. Specifically, these databases can be used to combine information on, for example, soil characteristics, agro-climatic data, data on topogaphy or relief, hydrology and data on present land use, in order to identify lands suitable for certain land use systems. This is knwon as land evaluation. In many areas of the world national and international agencies (e.g. FAO) use systems based on GIS for land suitabiliy assessment and land use planning. The assessment of the state of degradation of lands can use GIS and remote sensing technologies to mapping conditions and trends on the state of degradation of relatively large areas through the use of indicator variables. For instance, satellite image analysis allows to determine the changes in land cover, associatied with land degradation over a period of time through computed vegetation indices (e.g. NDVI). These are only two examples on which GIS and RS technologies are used advantageously to provide assessment of land resources. There are many other examples which illustrate the benefits of digital spatial data and remote sinsing data analysis.
I hope this answers your question
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Posted on 11/11/2007 23:34:45 |
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how would you judge the effectiveness of UNEP's work? what have been the results of UNEP's strategies to implement sustaniable use of resources?
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Ella (from Australia)
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Dear Ella,
In my opinion UNEP has been very effective in advancing the global environmental agenda. It is difficult to conceive how major global environmental agreements that are in place today (Framework Convention on Climate Change and its International Panel of scientists -IPCC, the Convention on Biologial Diversity, the Convention to Combat Desertification, to mention a few) could have come to be in place without the work of UNEP. The very nature and scope of this GEO 4 report which takes stock on how humanity has affected the global environment and the planet after 25 years since the 1982 Rio Confrence on environment and development is a very indication of the effectiveness of UNEP in advancing the the global environmental agenda towards sustainable development. UNEP can only advice and support the efforts of member countries in achieving sustainable development, but it is only each and every one of the countries members to materialize any strategies for achieving sustainable use of resources
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Posted on 11/11/2007 16:55:02 |
Hello Mr. Ponce-Hernandez,
I must first congratulate you (and others) on your contribution to this report.
Land management is a complex issue, and one that requires a great amount of expertise and foresight across all organizational sectors. Our very existence depends on wise land-use and planning. Many negative social, economical (very closely related) and environmental issues are directly linked to the mismanagement of lands. Canada, despite being recognized as a G-8 nation lags behind other countries regarding environmental issues. We are still faced with all of the effects of land-use changes as outlined in Table 3.3. Links between land changes and human well-being. Realizing that these issues span the nation, it should be noted that management is ultimately carried out regionally - even locally in some instances in order to meet the goals set forth by the Canadian government. This issue of land management has received very little attention in the Canadian media, though undertones of water shortages are evident. The volatility of national politics in Canada in recent years has seen at sometimes conflicting values with respect to the environment, and to where we must go in order to create a sustainable future - a shift from where we stand today.
Agricultural practices in Canada are heavily mechanized, large-scale and require high amounts of inputs (fossil fuels, nutrients and fertilizers). With limited sources of Phosphorus and competition for natural gas supplies driving up the price of commercial fertilizers, one should wonder if such a system is sustainable (or worth-while). The use of fossil fuels and intense scarification of the land leading to increased CO2 emissions.
My question to you Mr. Ponce-Hernandez is: Do you see any viable alternatives or solutions to the problems associated with current agricultural practices in Canada? If so, what approach or combination of approaches (as outlined in Chapter9) do you feel the Canadian government should adopt to help farmers implement these solutions?
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Nicole McRae (from Canada)
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Hello Nicole,
I have provided an answer to this very same question of yours earlier. See published answers
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Posted on 11/11/2007 16:49:41 |
Hello Mr. Ponce-Hernandez,
I must first congratulate you (and others) on your contribution to this report.
Land management is a complex issue, and one that requires a great amount of expertise and foresight across all organizational sectors. Our very existence depends on wise land-use and planning. Many negative social, economical (very closely related) and environmental issues are directly linked to the mismanagement of lands. Canada, despite being recognized as a G-8 nation lags behind other countries regarding environmental issues. We are still faced with all of the effects of land-use changes as outlined in Table 3.3. Links between land changes and human well-being. Realizing that these issues span the nation, it should be noted that management is ultimately carried out regionally - even locally in some instances in order to meet the goals set forth by the Canadian government. This issue of land management has received very little attention in the Canadian media, though undertones of water shortages are evident. The volatility of national politics in Canada in recent years
Agricultural practices in Canada are heavily mechanized, large-scale and require high amounts of inputs (fossil fuels, nutrients and fertilizers). With limited sources of Phosphorus and competition for natural gas supplies driving up the price of commercial fertilizers, one should wonder if such a system is sustainable (or worth-while). The use of fossil fuels and intense scarification of the land leading to increased CO2 emissions.
My question to you Mr. Ponce-Hernandez is: Do you see any viable alternatives or solutions to the problems associated with current agricultural practices in Canada? If so, what approach or combination of approaches (as outlined in Chapter9) do you feel the Canadian government should adopt to help farmers implement these solutions?
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Nicole McRae (from Canada)
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Hello Nicole,
Thanks for your interesting and complex question. I will attempt an answer though this may not be complete in areas for which my knowledge maybe also incomplete. In the face of clear evidence of climate change there has been a heighten awareness of the need to implement radical changes in the current paradigm of land resource use. Land resources are now more exposed to degradation due to the impact of the chages in climate (i.e. wheather extremes causing droughts or, on the other hand, floods, etc.). The GEO 4 process found that land degradation has become the third main global environmetnal concern behind climate change and the loss of biodiversity. So, the current paradigm based on fosil fuel, large land holdings, chemicals and monocroping may have to give way (albeit gradually) to one of greater diversity in both the systems component of the rural livelihoods and the land use types associated with such livelihood systems. Conservation agriculture has made some substantial advances. Conservation tillage (CT) and conservation agriculture (CA) involve low, or no, tillage and use of crop residues as a soil cover. soil structure will be maintained by disturbing it as little as possible. Meanwhile, crop residues left on the surface start the biological activity, building up Soil Organic Matter (SOM, _ and therefore SOC); the resulting
healthy soil structure permits water retention. Seeds can be planted through the layer of residues, using a precision driller. Such equipment already exists in countries where CA is practiced. Pests, meanwhile, can
be controlled with rotations and Integrated Pest Management (IPM), using pests and diseases to balance each other. The end result is a soil that is more productive, is better-protected against wind and water erosion and requires less fossil fuel for land preparation (FAO, 2001 and 2002). In countries with large area of land such as Brazil the 1980s saw widespread adoption in the southernpsrtd of the country, as a reaction to erosion and declining soil quality brought about by, the precision drillers have been adapted for animal traction, cutting fuel use even further and not tilling also leading to higher SOC content, reducing carbon losses by four-fifths in experiments in the USA .Conservation agriculture has now been adopted on about 60 million ha worldwide according to a report by the FAO in 2001. Much of these areas under CA are in the USA (as pointed out by the IPCC in 2000). The USA has demonstrated that agriculture in the temperate regions is where conservation agriculture seems to have the greatest potential for carbon sequestration. So a possible ‘win-win’ strategy for a paradigm shift may not be immediate and by necessity be gradual. This could be built in the principle of a "community of communities" buying and producing locally, and as far as land management is concerned, building up organic matter in agricultural soils might significantly mitigate the
increase in atmospheric CO2, probably for 20-40 years, while bringing about worthwhile improvements in productivity and sustainability. However the productivity benefits would not be automatic, being dependent on the presence of moisture and nutrients. Conservation tillage and conservatino agriculture may offer good prospects for a paradigm shift, but many other social, economic and mre importantly, cultural factors will have to be aligned to make that a realistic possibility in Canada.
The Canadian government can help in the shift through policies and incentives and through creating the necesary conditions to the shift in livelihoods towards less dependence in agrochemicals and fossil fuel. Whether we have the time and resources that the process of shifting to a differencet rural livelihood paradigm tmay require to materialize it is a serious matter that concerns us all.
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