Poverty and environmental nexus in rural Pakistan: a multidimensional approach

The study examines the relationship between poverty and forest cover degradation in rural areas of Pakistan. The area selected for the study District Upper Dir is a rural and relatively backward region located in northwestern Pakistan, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. The study area is undergoing severe deforestation and natural disasters in the recent past. The study consists of two stages, in first stage the traditional Geographical information system image was used to analyze the spatial–temporal situation of the surroundings. In the second stage, well-designed questionnaire was used to collect the primary information from 420 randomly selected households of research areas. A multidimensional poverty index has been used to measure the poverty profile of the population. It has been found that 55% households were below the poverty line. Almost, 95% households are using wood for cooking purposes. High dependence on natural resources causes forest cover degradation while burning off too much wood causes CO₂ emission and leads to environmental degradation. A major portion of population is living on steeply sloped areas with certain risks. It is found that frequency of flash flood is 53% and agricultural land (54%) is at high risk and often flows with flash floods. It is concluded that there is strong correlation between multidimensional poverty and forest cover degradation which leads to climate and environmental risks.

     

Effect of financial management practices on the development of small-to-medium size forest enterprises: insight from Pakistan

GeoJournal - Rapid change in the business environment worldwide has driven the transformation of small-to-medium size forest enterprises (SMFEs) to advance toward sustainable development. Although...     

Evaluation of the trophic state predicted from lab and Landsat data of western coastal water of Suez Bay,Egypt

GeoJournal - This study aimed to compare the trophic status assessments of the western coastal waters of Suez Bay, Gulf of Suez, Egypt. The Trophic Index (TRIX) that depends on the lab-based water...     

Effects of land use and climate variability on the main stream of the Songhua River Basin,Northeast China

ABSTRACT

In this study, three representative concentration pathways (RCPs) and 15 general circulation models of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 were used to assess the behaviour of precipitation (P) and surface air temperature (SAT) over part of the Songhua River Basin. The Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) model linked with SAT and P was used for monthly simulation of streamflow to assess the influence of land use/land cover and climate change on the streamflow. The results suggest that, under RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, the SAT over the study area may increase in the 21st century by 1.12, 2.44 and 5.82°C, respectively. Moreover, by the middle of the 21st century, streamflow in the basin may have decreased by 19%. The decrease in streamflow may be due to changed land use conditions and water withdrawal, having critical implications for management and future planning of water resources in the basin.     

An unconditionally stable time-stepping procedure with algorithmic damping: a weighted integral approach using two general weight functions

An accurate algorithm for the integration of the equations of motion arising in structural dynamics is presented. The algorithm is an unconditionally stable single-step implicit algorithm incorporating algorithmic damping. The displacement for a Single-Degree-of-Freedom system is approximated within a time step by a function which is cubic in time. The four coefficients of the cubic are chosen to satisfy the two initial conditions and two weighted integral equations. By considering general weight functions, eight additional coefficients arise. These coefficients are selected to (i) minimize the difference between exact and approximate solutions for small time steps, (ii) incorporate specified algorithmic damping for large time steps, (iii) ensure unconditional stability and (iv) minimize numerical operations in forming the amplification matrix. The accuracy of the procedure is discussed, and the solution time is compared with a widely used algorithm. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intraspecific morphometric diversity of barramundi (Lates calcariferBloch, 1790) in the waters of southern Bangladesh

A total of 160 barramundi's(Lates calcarifer Bloch,1790)sampled from four rivers(Tentulia,Balaswar,Bakkhali,and Andarmanik)along the southern coastal region of Bangladesh were investigated in terms of morphometric characters to reveal the intraspecific variation.Twenty-five morphometric measurements were extracted using the conventional method and subjected to multivariate analyses(i.e.,principal component analysis(PCA),discriminate function analysis(DFA),cluster analysis(CA))to distinguish individuals from different rivers.The result demonstrated that twenty-two out of 2 5 measurements was statistically significant(Univariate ANOVA)among all four populations.PCA analy sis of morphometric characters resulted in two principal components,PC I and PCII which accounted for 79.25%and 4.28%of the total data variance.PC I-PC Ⅱ plot explained 83.5 3%of total variance differentiated the population of L.calcarifer into two groups.Discriminate analysis correctly classified about 88.1%of the examined fish into the four areas.The UPGMA dendrogram showed that Bakkhali populations were the most morphologically different populations in comparison to other populations,while Andarmanik and Balaswar populations were very close to each other.The strong morphometric variation between Bakkhali and Tentulia,Andarmanik and Balaswar was observed in the present study,suggested the evidence of the separate stock population of barramundi in these locations,which might require distinct stock management strategies for resource sustainability in the waters of southern Bangladesh.However,if these findings are supported by further molecular markers and geometric morphometry,this would be a strong indication of different stocks of this population in the four rivers of southern Bangladesh.     

Assessment of causes and future deforestation in the mountainous tropical forest of Timor Island,Indonesia

The Mutis-Timau Forest Complex,one of the remaining mountainous tropical forest areas in Timor Island,eastern Indonesia that covers an area of 31,984 ha,tends to decrease gradually.Efforts to secure mountain forest functions and counteract the negative impact of declining forest areas are often constrained by data uncertainty on factors contributing to deforestation.For this reason,this study attempts to develop models of deforestation and predict future deforestation in the Mutis-Timau Forest Complex.We constructed models of deforestation that describe the relationship between deforestation and factors contributing to deforestation using spatial statistical models.In this model,we used the deforestation data for the 1987-2017 period obtained from a previous study as dependent variables and the potential causes of deforestation generated from Geographic Information System spatial analysis as independent variables.Using the probability of deforestation derived from the model,we predicted future deforestation under two different scenarios,namely,business-as-usual(as the reference scenario)and reducing emission fromdeforestation and forest degradation.Our findings showed that a positive relationship exists between probability of deforestation,distance to the settlement,and population density variables,whereas a negative relationship exists between likelihood of deforestation,elevation,slope,distance to the road,distance to the savanna,and forest management unit variables.During the 2017-2030 period,under the business-as-usual scenario,the Mutis-Timau Forest Complex will lose 1327.65 ha in forest area with an annual deforestation rate of 0.54%.Meanwhile,under the reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation scenario,the overall forest loss was estimated to be 1237.11 ha with an annual deforestation rate of 0.50%.The predicted area of avoided deforestation in 2017-2030 under the reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation scenario was 90.54 ha.Such data and information are important for the Mutis-Timau Forest Complex authority in prioritizing actions for combating deforestation and designing appropriate forest-related policies and supporting data for reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation programme or other incentive schemes in reducing deforestation.     

Across‐axis variations in petrophysical properties of the North Porcupine Basin,offshore Ireland: New insights from long‐streamer traveltime tomography

The Porcupine Basin is a Mesozoic failed rift located in the North Atlantic margin, SW of Ireland, in which a postrift phase of extensional faulting and reactivation of synrift faults occurred during the Mid–Late Eocene. Fault zones are known to act as either conduits or barriers for fluid flow and to contribute to overpressure. Yet, little is known about the distribution of fluids and their relation to the tectono‐stratigraphic architecture of the Porcupine Basin. One way to tackle this aspect is by assessing seismic (V_p) and petrophysical (e.g., porosity) properties of the basin stratigraphy. Here, we use for the first time in the Porcupine Basin 10‐km‐long‐streamer data to perform traveltime tomography of first arrivals and retrieve the 2D V_p structure of the postrift sequence along a ~130‐km‐long EW profile across the northern Porcupine Basin. A new V_p–density relationship is derived from the exploration wells tied to the seismic line to estimate density and bulk porosity of the Cenozoic postrift sequence from the tomographic result. The V_p model covers the shallowest 4 km of the basin and reveals a steeper vertical velocity gradient in the centre of the basin than in the flanks. This variation together with a relatively thick Neogene and Quaternary sediment accumulation in the centre of the basin suggests higher overburden pressure and compaction compared to the margins, implying fluid flow towards the edges of the basin driven by differential compaction. The V_p model also reveals two prominent subvertical low‐velocity bodies on the western margin of the basin. The tomographic model in combination with the time‐migrated seismic section shows that whereas the first anomaly spatially coincides with the western basin‐bounding fault, the second body occurs within the hangingwall of the fault, where no major faulting is observed. Porosity estimates suggest that this latter anomaly indicates pore overpressure of sandier Early–Mid Eocene units. Lithological well control together with fault displacement analysis suggests that the western basin‐bounding fault can act as a hydraulic barrier for fluids migrating from the centre of the basin towards its flanks, favouring fluid compartmentalization and overpressure of sandier units of its hangingwall.     

Evaluation of SWAT Model performance on glaciated and non-glaciated subbasins of Nam Co Lake,Southern Tibetan Plateau,China

This paper presents an assessment of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool(SWAT) on a glaciated(Qugaqie) and a non-glaciated(Niyaqu) subbasin of the Nam Co Lake. The Nam Co Lake is located in the southern Tibetan Plateau, two subbasins having catchment areas of 59 km~2 and 388 km~2, respectively. The scores of examined evaluation indices(i.e., R~2, NSE, and PBIAS) established that the performance of the SWAT model was better on the monthly scale compared to the daily scale. The respective monthly values of R~2, NSE, and PBIAS were 0.94, 0.97, and 0.50 for the calibration period while 0.92, 0.88, and -8.80 for the validation period. Glacier melt contribution in the study domain was simulated by using the SWAT model in conjunction with the Degree Day Melt(DDM) approach. The conjunction of DDM with the SWAT Model ensued improved results during both calibration(R~2=0.96, NSE=0.95, and PBIAS=-13.49) and validation (R~2=0.97, NSE=0.96, and PBIAS=-2.87) periods on the monthly time scale. Average contribution(in percentage) of water balance components to the total streamflow of Niyaqu and Qugaqie subbasins was evaluated. We found that the major portion(99.45%) of the streamflow in the Niyaqu subbasin was generated by snowmelt or rainfall surface runoff(SURF_Q), followed by groundwater(GW_Q, 0.47%), and lateral(LAT_Q, 0.06%) flows. Conversely, in the Qugaqie subbasin, major contributor to the streamflow(79.63%) was glacier melt(GLC_Q), followed by SURF_Q(20.14%), GW_Q(0.13%), and LAT_Q(0.089%). The contribution of GLC_Q was the highest(86.79%) in July and lowest(69.95%) in September. This study concludes that the performance of the SWAT model in glaciated catchment is weak without considering glacier component in modeling; however, it performs reasonably well in non-glaciated catchment. Furthermore, the temperature index approach with elevation bands is viable in those catchments where streamflows are driven by snowmelt. Therefore, it is recommended to use the SWAT Model in conjunction with DDM or energy base model to simulate the glacier melt contribution to the total streamflow. This study might be helpful in quantification and better management of water resources in data scarce glaciated regions.     

Tigris River Sediments as Abrasive for Polishing Marble

Natural Resources Research - This study aims to evaluate the use of Tigris River sediments as abrasives for polishing marble surfaces to achieve a usable form as floor tiles, facing stones and...