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Efforts to preserve the biodiversity of the Philippine islands and to simultaneously sustain human food production, led to the development of a "Closed Canopy and High Diversity Forest Farming System", popularly termed "Rainforestation Fanning". The system is aiming to replace the more destructive forms of "kaingin" or slash and burn practices, form a buffer zone around the primary forests, protect its biodiversity, help maintain the water cycle of the islands, and provide farmers with a stable and higher income.

Contrary to the conventional paradigm of farm management, the concept works with the hypothesis that a farming system is increasingly more sustainable the closer its physical structure and species composition are to the original local rainforest. Consequently, the biodiversity and physico-chemical diversity of the remaining rainforests of Leyte are studied in detail. In a holistic approach, all major ecosystems connected physically, biologically or through the activity of man are included in the research.

In field trials, more than 100 selected local tree species are tested for their performance in achieving a 3-storeyed and maximal diverse rainforest association. Crop production enriches the system through shade-requiring understorey species of Colocasia and Xanthosoma, and climbers like species of Dioscorea and rattan are attached to the faster growing trees.

A major drawback is the scarcity of seeds from highly valued tree species due to the almost complete extinction of the lowland rainforest and to ongoing selective timber poaching which is specifically eliminating mother trees. Hence, environmental education plays a major part in the overall approach, which also includes efforts to protect seed sources and can extend to the conservation of marine sanctuaries to emphasize the interconnectedness of all island ecosystems and man's role in his coexistence with nature.

Following a theory developed by ULRICH (1987, 1992 and 1994), a definition of forest ecosystems is given and explained based on the irreversibility of fluxes. The steady state of a forest ecosystem is defined by equal rates of primary production (photosynthesis) and secondary production (respiration including mineralization). Deviations from steady state can be assessed by measuring input and output of bioelements and changes in biodiversity.

According to this forest ecosystem theory, both selective logging and conversion of natural or exploited dipterocarp forests to plantations are discussed using data from case studies of lowland Dipterocarp forests in East Kalimantan/Indonesia and Sabah/Malaysia. The conversion of natural and logged over Dipterocarp forest ecosystems into monocultures of fast-growing exotics (applied on hundreds of thousands of hectares per year in Southeast Asia) cannot be considered a sustainable management form. Under special conditions sustainability might be possible applying selective logging of Dipterocarp forest ecosystems in its reduced-impact form.

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) has been identified as an important tool for helping to ensure that development is planned and implemented for the benefit of biodiversity by the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Ramsar Convention and the Convention for Migratory Species. SEA is seen as a way to overcome many limitations of project-level environmental impact assessment by allowing consideration of biodiversity at higher tiers of decision-making and planning.

This paper identifies some important principles that should be taken into account to ensure that biodiversity considerations are appropriately addressed in SEA, so that the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity are pursued as fundamental objectives of strategic decision-making. The paper also sets out key considerations to take into account at different stages in the SEA process. The principles explored in this paper should be applicable in any country where SEA is practiced, even though legislation, methodologies and procedures vary widely.

Dipterocarps cannot be successfully used as primary species in Imperata grassland reforestation. First the grass has to be suppressed by fast-growing species, which are able to provide suitable growing conditions for dipterocarp seedlings. Nitrogen fixing Paraserianthes falcataria and Acacia mangium are possible species for this purpose, but local pioneer species may have potential as well. After the fast-growing plantation has been established, successful planting of dipterocarps becomes technically possible. Intensive plantation tending has to be continued after the establishment phase. When planting dipterocarps under fast-growing nurse trees on grasslands, the species selection should be focused on species known to be adaptable to degraded soil conditions and extreme microclimate. Possible species can be found in fast-growing, light or medium hardwood dipterocarp genera, e.g., Anisoptera sp., Dryobalanops sp., Hopea sp. and Shorea sp. More information on suitable species, and their site requirements and mycorrhizal formations is needed. Plantation mixtures are more complicated to manage than the pure stands of exotics. In spite of the problems, results indicate good prospects for diversifying the species composition of forest plantations on former Imperata cylindrica grasslands. Combinations of fast-growing species and selected dipterocarps create alternatives to the exploitation of remaining natural forests. Despite the long time period needed, the method can be used both for wood production and gradual restoration of natural rainforest ecosystems.

Focus of the article is the pursuit by President Xi Jinping (2013–2021) of an aggressive policy of environmental protection and preservation with the ambitious goal of creating a ‘beautiful China’. Article begins with a summary of the rise to national leadership by Xi Jinping from a local and provincial leader to national prominence, and then examines the creation of central and local bureaucracies for policy implementation on the environment along with such initiatives as the system of ‘river chiefs’ to address the serious problem of waterway pollution. By tracing the transition to more environmentally friendly economic and industrial policies, government efforts are also described to foster greater environmental consciousness on the part of the Chinese public. The article concludes by weighing the accomplishments of the new policies along with various economic, institutional, and structural obstacles to achieving a ‘beautiful China’.

The visual uniformity of tropical peat swamp forest masks the considerable variation in forest structure that has evolved in response to differences and changes in peat characteristics over many millennia. Details are presented of forest structure and tree composition of the principal peat swamp forest types in the upper catchment of Sungai Sebangau, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, in relation to thickness and hydrology of the peat. Consideration is given to data on peat geochemistry and age of peat that provide evidence of the ombrotrophic nature of this vast peatland and its mode of formation. The future sustainability of this ecosystem is predicted from information available on climate change and human impact in this region.

Both the weighted entropy, which generalizes the Shannon entropy, and the weighted quadratic index, which generalizes the Gini-Simpson index, are used for getting a unified treatment of some diversity measures proposed recently in ecology. The weights may reflect the ecological importance, rarity, or economic value of the species from a given habitat. The weighted measures, being concave functions, may be used in the additive partition of diversity. The weighted quadratic index has a special advantage over the weighted entropy because its maximum value has a simple analytical formula which allows us to introduce a normed measure of dissimilarity between habitats. A special case of weighted quadratic index is the Rich-Gini-Simpson index which, unlike the Shannon entropy and the classic Gini-Simpson index, behaves well when the number of species is very large. The weighted entropy and the weighted quadratic index may also be used to measure the global diversity among the subsets of species. In this context, Rao's quadratic index of diversity between the pairs of species, based on the phylogenetic distance between species, is obtained as a particular case and is generalized to measure the diversity among the triads of species as well.

The symbiosis between corals and Symbiodinium dinoflagellates is considered a major driver of the distribution and health of reefs worldwide. This study investigated the genetic identities and diversity of Symbiodinium in seven coral species (Porites lutea, Porites lobata, Acropora millepora, Merulina ampliata, Diploastrea heliopora, Pachyseris speciosa, Pocillopora acuta) from three shallow reefs around Singapore (Kusu Island, Pulau Tekukor, Pulau Satumu). Analyses of 31 colonies using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of the nuclear internal transcribed spacer region indicated the dominance of C and D Symbiodinium clades. The latter clade was the predominant symbiont in Pachyseris speciosa collected from Pulau Tekukor but those sampled from Pulau Satumu hosted C27, providing evidence for variable symbiosis in this species. The prevalence of the D clade – noted for their stress tolerance (e.g. to elevated temperatures and sedimentation) – in three of seven coral species examined could underlie the importance of this particular symbiotic relationship for the persistence of Singapore’s impacted reefs. Further characterisation of Symbiodinium communities may provide insights into corals’ response to stress and their bleaching patterns in the future.

The study aims at assessing the agrobiodiversity and carbon stocks by the pine agroforests in the Sudano-Guinean zone of Cameroon. Five $100\times 20$m sampling transects were established in each chronosequence, it was undertaken to assess the growth characteristics and biomass. Estimates of stocks of carbon in aboveground biomass, belowground biomass (BGB), total biomass (TB) and CO₂ equivalent stock were incorporated in allometric equation based on nondestructive method. A total of 24 species from 23 genera and 17 families were inventoried. Annona senegalensis, Syzygium guineensis and Hymenocardia acida contributed the most to the importance value index (IVI). Density ranged between $569\pm 1.2$–$652\pm 2.4$ stems/ha; basal area between $5.2\pm 0.02$–$14.5\pm 0.04$m²/ha; Shannon index between $2.68\pm 1.57$–$6.4\pm 2.5$ with the highest value for 8-year-old stands; Pielou’s evenness between $0.48\pm 0.01$–$1\pm 0.02$ with the lowest value in 24-year-old stands. Aboveground biomass ranged between $5.41\pm 0.01$–$172.14\pm 8.43$ Mg C/ha with the highest value in 16-year-old stands; belowground carbon from $1.40\pm 0.78$ Mg C/ha to $44.75\pm 1.73$ Mg C/ha and total carbon from $6.81\pm 0.04$ Mg C/ha to $216.90\pm 8.56$ Mg C/ha. The sequestration potential ranged from $25.03\pm 1.25$ Mg CO${}_{2\text{eq}}$/ha to $795.30\pm 34.24$ Mg CO${}_{2\text{eq}}$/ha. The sequestration rates were 84.77, 49.7 and 28.6 Mg CO${}_{2\text{eq}}$.ha${}^{-1}$yr${}^{-1}$ in 8-, 16- and 24-year-old stands, respectively. Although our data reported that pine stands hosted a few number of species; they are true carbon sinks and useful to the REED$+$ community.

Understanding the extent and causes of insect diversity in the humid tropics is one of the major challenges in modern ecology. We review some of the current approaches to this problem, and discuss how future progress may be made. Recent calculations that there may be more than 30 million species of insect on earth have focused attention on the magnitude of this problem and stimulated several new lines of research (although the true figure is now widely thought to be between five and ten million species). We discuss work based on insecticidal fogging surveys; studies of herbivore and parasitoid specificity; macroecological approaches; and the construction of food webs. It is argued that progress in estimating insect diversity and in understanding insect community dynamics will be enhanced by building local inventories of species diversity, and in descriptive and experimental studies of the trophic structure of communities. As an illustration of work aimed at the last goal, we discuss the construction and analysis of quantitative host-parasitoid food webs, drawing on our work on leaf miner communities in Central America.

In response to the sustainability challenges that the Los Angeles region is facing due to the climate crisis and an increasing population, UCLA launched the first university-led Grand Challenge in 2013 — the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge, thriving in a hotter Los Angeles. The long-term goals of this Grand Challenge are to transition Los Angeles County to 100% renewable energy, 100% local water, and enhanced ecosystem health by the year 2050. UCLA is leading this effort by coordinating research across disciplines, educating and training students to be the next-generation of problem solvers, and engaging stakeholders to create policy recommendations, technology breakthroughs, and partnerships that result in scalable urban sustainability solutions. Los Angeles County’s diversity in sustainability challenges, landscapes, and cultures make solutions implemented in Los Angeles relevant for megacities across the globe.

Biodiversity conservation has been promoted in Nepal (within and outside protected areas) over the last three decades through relevant policies and legislations. The government has encouraged the participation of people through community user groups in managing the biodiversity and sharing the benefits. About 50 percent of the total revenue generated in protected areas is provided annually to such groups for resource management and community development activities. Forests are also managed by involving community users. Recently, attempts were made to manage biodiversity through an environmental impact assessment (EIA) process. The Nepal Biodiversity Strategy (2002) and Water Resources Strategy (2002), under implementation, recognise the role of EIA in mainstream biodiversity conservation in development programmes. However, biodiversity is under immense pressure due to infrastructure, water resources and socioeconomic development programmes and projects. His Majesty's Government of Nepal has made a policy commitment in its Tenth Plan (2002–2007) to carry out strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of development plans and programmes. Pursuant to this plan, an SEA has been carried out for the 25-year Nepal Water Plan. This plan is designed to, inter alia, promote the development of hydropower, irrigation, water-induced disaster management and drinking water programmes. This paper outlines the general understanding and knowledge of SEA in Nepal and examines how the SEA of the Nepal Water Plan addresses biodiversity aspects. It also outlines problems faced, and challenges and opportunities for strengthening SEA and its use to conserve biodiversity in Nepal.

Depleting terrestrial deposits and rising demand for metals in this time of climate change are stimulating interest in the deep sea — the area of the ocean below 200m — with commercial mining of mineral deposits imminent. Environmental impact assessments, effective regulation and mitigation strategies are needed to limit the impacts of deep-sea mining. This is a potential catastrophe for marine biodiversity, and use of Big Data will be needed to follow mining activities as well as chart impacts on known and unknown marine species and their habitats.

A synthesis is presented of sampling work conducted under a UK government-funded Darwin Initiative grant undertaken predominantly within the Danum Valley Conservation Area (DVCA), Sabah, East Malaysia. The project concerned the assemblage structure, gas physiology and landscape gas fluxes of termites in pristine and two ages of secondary, dipterocarp forest. The DVCA termite fauna is typical of the Sunda region, dominated by Termes-group soil-feeders and Nasutitermitinae. Selective logging appears to have relatively little effect on termite assemblages, although soil-feeding termites may be moderately affected by this level of disturbance. Species composition changes, but to a small extent when considered against the background level of compositional differences within the Sunda region. Physiologically the assemblage is very like others that have been studied, although there are some species that do not fit on the expected body size–metabolic rate curve. As elsewhere, soil-feeders and soil–wood interface-feeders tend to produce more methane. As with the termite assemblage characteristics, gross gas and energy fluxes do not differ significantly between logged and unlogged sites. Although gross methane fluxes are high, all the soils at DVCA were methane sinks, suggesting that methane oxidation by methanotrophic bacteria was a more important process than methane production by gut archaea. This implies that methane production by termites in South-East Asia is not contributing significantly to the observed increase in levels of methane production worldwide. Biomass density, species richness, clade complement and energy flow were much lower at DVCA than at a directly comparable site in southern Cameroon. This is probably due to the different biogeographical histories of the areas.

Food is the single strongest lever to optimize human health and environmental sustainability on Earth. However, food is currently threatening both people and the planet. An immense challenge facing humanity is to provide a growing world population with healthy diets from sustainable food systems. While global food production of calories has generally kept pace with population growth, more than 820 million people still lack sufficient food, and many more consume either low-quality diets or too much food. Unhealthy diets now pose a greater risk to morbidity and mortality than unsafe sex, alcohol, drug and tobacco use combined. Global food production threatens climate stability and ecosystem resilience and constitutes the single largest driver of environmental degradation and transgression of planetary boundaries Willett et al. (2019). Taken together, the outcome is dire. A radical transformation of the global food system is urgently needed. Without action, the world risks failing to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement, and today’s children will inherit a planet that has been severely degraded and where much of the population will increasingly suffer from malnutrition and preventable disease…

The Asia-Pacific (AP) region is one of the most diverse regions in the world in terms of its socio-cultural, biological and physical features. It has the world’s highest mountains and deepest ocean floors. Located in the region are diverse tropical, subtropical and montane forests, grasslands, wetlands, deserts, alpine and coastal ecosystems, and the largest numbers of small islands, and richest corals globally. It hosts a high number of native species, having 16 of the 36 global biodiversity hotspots and 4 of the 10 megadiverse countries. With the world’s largest and most extensive areas of coral reefs and mangroves, it has the greatest marine biodiversity globally as well (IPBES, 2018)…

This paper present the Tropical Culture Collection CCT to show how it is and the areas it is involved: Applied microbiology, Culture and preservation methods, Environmental protection, Industrial microbiology, Fermentation, Freeze drying and so on, and also about the services and training courses it offers: Management of a culture collection, Culture and preservation methods, Propagation, Preservation, Storage services (Bacteria, Yeasts, Fungi), Distribution (Bacteria, Yeasts, Fungi).