Search Results (3)

Diet-related diseases and mortalities are assuming epidemic proportions globally. It is more worrisome in the Global South, especially in Africa, where the healthcare system is not resilient to the public health burden. There is a growing effort around the world to foster urban food system policies that would checkmate the failing health of the public and ensure improved quality of life. However, these efforts seem non-existent in many African regions. Therefore, there is a need for heightened efforts in these areas to address the food system and ensure a global healthy society. This study identified Nnewi, Nigeria, in sub-Saharan Africa, a typical urban area in Nigeria, and analyzed the public health challenges attributed to the non-existent food system policy and poor nutritional practices. The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact model, which has been successfully implemented in many cities, was adopted to propose a sustainable food system policy for Nnewi. Key policies proposed include autonomous local government power, government-assisted programs, clean and sustainable amenities, agricultural reforms, nutrition education, and reductions in food wastage to achieve a circular economy. An evaluation tool for implementing the food system policy was also developed. Overall, implementing the food system policies proposed herein would improve the quality of life of Nnewi residents. Other urban areas could also adopt similar food system policies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of a healthy and resilient global society. Full article

Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) can integrate a great number of variables and overcome collinearity problems, a fact that makes it suitable for intensive agronomical practices such as land application. In the present study a PLSR model was developed to predict important management goals, including biomass production and nutrient recovery (i.e., nitrogen and phosphorus), associated with treatment potential, environmental impacts, and economic benefits. Effluent loading and a considerable number of soil parameters commonly monitored in effluent irrigated lands were considered as potential predictor variables during the model development. All data were derived from a three year field trial including plantations of four different plant species (Acacia cyanophylla, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Populus nigra, and Arundo donax), irrigated with pre-treated domestic effluent. PLSR method was very effective despite the small sample size and the wide nature of data set (with many highly correlated inputs and several highly correlated responses). Through PLSR method the number of initial predictor variables was reduced and only several variables were remained and included in the final PLSR model. The important input variables maintained were: Effluent loading, electrical conductivity (EC), available phosphorus (Olsen-P), Na⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, K²⁺, SAR, and NO₃⁻-N. Among these variables, effluent loading, EC, and nitrates had the greater contribution to the final PLSR model. PLSR is highly compatible with intensive agronomical practices such as land application, in which a large number of highly collinear and noisy input variables is monitored to assess plant species performance and to detect impacts on the environment. Full article

Important transformations are underway in tropical landscapes in Latin America with implications for economic development and climate change. Landscape transformation is driven not only by national policies and markets, but also by global market dynamics associated with an increased role for transnational traders and investors. National and global trends affect a disparate number of social, political and economic interactions taking place at the local level, which ultimately shapes land-use and socio-economic change. This paper reviews five different trajectories of landscape change in tropical Latin America, and discusses their implications for development and conservation: (1) Market-driven growth of agribusiness; (2) expansion and modernization of traditional cattle ranching; (3) slow growth of peasant agriculture; (4) logging in production forest frontiers; and (5) resurgence of agro-extractive economies. Contrasting trade-offs between economic development and forest conservation emerge across these landscapes, calling for nuanced policy responses to manage them in the context of climate change. This discussion sets the background to assess how reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and enhancing carbon stocks (REDD+) aims should be better aligned with current landscape trajectories and associated actors to better address climate-change mitigation in forest landscapes with effective and equitable outcomes. Full article