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This Position Paper written by the Multi-Actor Platform Climate-Friendly Village(CFV) is focused on finding the causes and possibilities of changes at the level of municipalities, regions and states in landscape management in the Czech Republic.

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) is a valuable fiber and medicinal plant from the Malvaceae family. It is an alternative crop that may be a feasible source of cellulose which is economically viable and ecologically friendly. This plant is cultivated for its fiber although its leaves and seeds have also been used in traditional medicine in India and Africa for the treatment of various disease conditions. Kenaf fibers are commonly used for paper pulp and cordage, but it is also a promising lignocellulosic feedstock for bioenergy production. The kenaf seed oil can be used for cooking and in different industrial applications. The present paper is an overview on its ethnobotanical and phytochemical properties reported in the literature that we have investigated and its great potential as a valuable multipurpose crop due to numerous uses.

Agave is one of the most important natural resources in Mexico in economic, social, and agro-ecological terms, it is a crop used mainly for the production of alcoholic beverages. The maguey, metl i...

The systematization of street tree planting in twentieth-century cities went hand in hand with the development of the modern city’s managerial system. In the systematization process, tree planting and care was serialized and standardized. To facilitate these procedures, tree locations and conditions began to be surveyed, planned, and recorded on paper. Focusing on street tree planting in East and West Berlin, this article examines the role of different paper formats, technologies, and representations such as lists, plans, maps, and index and edge-notched cards in the evolution of an increasingly regimented urban arboriculture. Paper was intricately related to both the life and death of the trees that it helped to document. As much as the malleable and variable nature and materiality of street trees contributed to an evolution of paper formats to capture the trees’ changeable conditions, so the use of paper to control, regulate, and systematize also contributed to standardizing trees, their planting, and their care.

Tropical landscapes have experienced many and rapid changes that simultaneously affect several ecosystem services. The absence of strong policies about land-use and land-cover may result in undesirable consequences. Tropical forest landscapes provide several ecosystem services and carbon stock is considered among the essential for global climate regulation. The replacement of natural forests produce changes in the carbon stock and potentially increase the atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Conversely, silviculture areas are important for meeting societal demands, but silvicultural production may result in negative environmental impacts at different scales. Hence, environmental planners should focus on finding strategies that maximize the ES while minimizing trade-offs in heterogeneous landscapes. In order to reach this target, it is urgent to obtain accurate estimates of carbon sequestration and stock at appropriate spatial scales. Also, it is necessary to understand the real contribution of each land-use and land-cover type to the total carbon stock. Then, the development of scenarios could permit the identification of potential trade-offs and the associated negative impacts on the regulation and provisioning services that will impact different stakeholders. With this in mind, we aimed at identifying how the reduction of natural forest cover and the increase of Eucalyptus plantations affect the carbon stock (regulation ecosystem service) and paper provision (provision ecosystem service). For that, (i) we evaluate the differences between biomass values from the Pantropical Aboveground Biomass Density Map (PABDM) and field-based estimates in Brazilian Atlantic Forest fragments. Then, we explore the possible causes for the results of the comparisons and discuss the consequences for environmental planners (chapter 1). (ii) We analyze how the reduction in natural forest cover and the expansion of silviculture affect the carbon stock at the catchment scale. We studied fourteen catchments with a gradient of natural forest and Eucalyptus from 10% to 100% of forest cover. We estimated the aboveground biomass of the forests in the fieldwork and carried out a literature survey of the carbon stock in Brazilian Eucalyptus plantations of different ages (chapter 2); Finally (iii) we identify the potential trade-offs between carbon stock and paper provision in the catchments within the gradient of natural forest cover. We designed a simple conceptual model of drivers and formulate possible scenarios to evaluate the impacts of the main drivers in the carbon stock and paper provision. Our main overall results are: (i) AGB estimates from PABDM maps range 1.2 to 24 times higher than the field-based estimates, evidencing that great attention is needed when using these sources of information in political decision-making; (ii) there are lower carbon stocks in the natural forest than the in silviculture, probably due to the historical human interference on the forest, plus the unexpected producers\' decision to not cutting the Eucalyptus; (iii) scenarios showed the impermanence of carbon stock in Eucalyptus as the principal responsible for the occurrence of ecosystem services trade-offs. This effect arises at values around 20 Mg ha-1 of carbon stock and paper provision and with occurs in catchments with approximately 30% of natural forest cover Paisagens tropicais tem experimentado muitas e rápidas mudanças que afetam simultaneamente vários serviços ecossistêmicos (SE). Na ausência de fortes políticas preventivas, as decisões sobre o uso e a cobertura da terra ao podem ter consequências indesejáveis. As paisagens de florestas tropicais fornecem vários serviços ecosistemicos, dentre os quais o estoque de carbono é considerado como essencial para a regulação climática global. A substituição de florestas naturais gera mudanças no carbono estocado e potencialmente aumenta as concentrações de CO2 atmosferico. Por outro lado, áreas com silvicultura são importantes para atender demandas da sociedade porem, a produção silvicultural pode resultar em diversos impactos negativos em diferentes escalas espaciais. Entre tanto, planejadores ambientais deberíam focar em encontrar estratégias que maximizem os SE ao mesmo tempo que minimizem os trade-offs em paisagens heterogêneas. Para atingir este objetivo é urgente a obtenção de estimativas acuradas de sequestro e estoque de carbono em escalas espaciais adequadas. Ao mesmo tempo, também é necessario entender a contribuição real de cada tipo de uso e cobertura da terra.. Seguidamente, o desenvolvimento de cenários permitiria a identificação de trade-offs potenciais e dos impactos negativos nos serviços de regulação e de provisão que por sua vez irão impactar diferentes atores. Tendo isso em mente, nosso propósito foi identificar de que forma a redução na cobertura de floresta natural e o aumento de plantações de Eucalipto afeta o estoque de carbono (SE de regulação) e a provisão de papel (SE de provisão). Para isso, (i) nós evaluamos as diferenças entre valores de biomassa acima do solo apresentados no Mapa Pantropical de densidade de biomassa e estimativas baseadas e, trabalho de campo, em fragmentos de Mata Atlântica Brasileira. Depois, nós exploramos possíveis causas que explicassem as diferenças encontradas e discutimos as consequências para planejadores ambientais (capítulo 1). (ii) Nós analizamos de que forma a diminuição de cobertura de floresta natural e a expansão da silvicultura afetam o carbono estocado a escala de microbacia. Nós estudamos quatorze microbacias que formam um gradiente de de 10 a 100% de cobertura florestal e silvicultura. Nós estimamos no campo a biomassa acima do solo na floresta e realizamos uma revisão de literatura para o carbono estocado em plantações de Eucalipto de várias idades no Brasil. (capítulo 2). Finalmente (iii) nós identificamos trade-offs potenciais entre o estoque de carbon e a produção de papel nas bacias formando um gradiente de cobertura florestal e silvicultura. Nós desenhamos um modelo conceitual simples e formulamos possibeis cenários para avaliar os impactos das principais forças motoras no estoque de carbono e a provisão de papel. Os principais resultados são: (i) as estimativas AGB dos mapas do PABDM são 1,2 a 24 vezes mais altas que as estimativas baseadas em campo; então, é necessário muita atenção ao usá-las para tomada de decisões políticas; (ii) O estoque de carbono é mai baixo na floresta natural do que na silvicultura, provavelmente devido a histórica interferência humana sobre as floresta, adicionada à decisões inesperadas dos produtores sobre cortar ou não os eucaliptos; (iii) os cenários mostraram que a impermanência do estoque de carbono no eucalipto é a principal responsável pela ocorrência de tradeoffs de serviços ecossistêmicos. Os trade-offs ocorrem quando o estoque de carbono e a provisão de paper são aproximadamente 20 Mg há-1 e esto ocorre em microbacias com em torno de 30% de cobertura florestal

Medicinal plants play important roles in human and animals disease treatment. 1000 medicinal plant species are identified and reported in the Ethiopian Flora. They contribute and is more preferable for new drug development. Ethiopia has the potential to become an important source country, given the diversity of plants and the rich traditional knowledge regarding their use. The main sources of medicinal plants for utilizers are the wild forests. There is also cultivation practice of medicinal plants in home garden. About 80% of human and 90% of livestock population in Ethiopia depends on utilization of medicinal plants for primary health care. The knowledge transfer of medicinal plants in Ethiopia is largely oral. Most parts of medicinal plants commonly used are leaves and roots. Utilization of leaves for drug preparation is important for conservation of medicinal plants since harvesting leaves may not cause detrimental effect on the plants compared to the root or whole plant collections. Medicinal plants play a crucial role in health care needs in Ethiopia, because modern health care do not have adequate and equitable health service. Moreover, they depend on medicinal plants due to financial limitations related to rapid population growth and poor economic performance. In Ethiopia the market for essential oils of medicinal plants is very high and increasing in alarming rate. In the year 2011, 1,596.5 tons of essential oils of medicinal plants was imported and more than 30 million USD spent. Through increasing production potential and modernizing the sector of medicinal plants, they play a great role to substitute import and export. Medicinal plants have great potential to contribute to economic development and poverty alleviation in Ethiopia. Environmental degradation, deforestation, agricultural expansion over exploitation and population growth is the principal threats to medicinal plants in Ethiopia. Key words: Medicinal plants, utilization, economic role.

Wood-based forestry industries are one of the strategic sectors in the development for providing a good impact in ecological and socio-economic in a country. Such an industry should have high productivity in order to ensure sustainable resources and an efficient manufacturing process. Based on this fact, tree breeding program is one of the good practices which could be done through the hybridization method to increase the uses from forest genetic resources. This paper presents a review on the basis of the utilization of inter-specific Acacia hybrids resulted from hybridization between two species of Acacia mangium and Acacia auriculiformis for supporting the pulp/paper industry and increasing the forest biodiversity in Indonesia. Improving some traits relevant to the industrial requirements is the main target in the development of Acacia hybrid. This involves fast growth, good wood properties, and tolerance to pests and diseases. The Acacia hybrids could provide some advantages in overcoming the current problems of the forest plantation and industry in which some of them could not be resolved by planting the pure species. In addition, the varies of the Acacia hybrid progenies could be used to increase forest biodiversity, which is important as a genetic base for further breeding purposes and challenges.

In Sumatra and Kalimantan in Indonesia and Sabah in Malaysia, the spread of two diseases, aggravated by damage by fauna, and by the humid tropical environment, has forced a change of planted specie...

Cover crops are the plants which are grown to improve soil fertility, prevent soil erosion, enrichment and protection of soil, and enhance nutrient and water availability, and quality of soil. Cover crops provide several benefits to soils used for agriculture production. Cover crops are helpful in increasing and sustaining microbial biodiversity in soils. We summarized the effect of several cover crops in soil properties such as soil moisture content, soil microbial activities, soil carbon sequestration, nitrate leaching, soil water, and soil health. Selection of cover crops usually depends on the primary benefits which are provided by cover crops. Other factors may also include weather conditions, time of sowing, either legume or non-legume and timing and method of killing of a cover crop. In recent times, cover crops are also used for mitigating climate change, suppressing weeds in crops and increasing exchangeable nutrients such as Mg2+ and K+. Cover crops are also found to be economical in long-term experiment studies. Although some limitations always come with several benefits. Cover crops have some problems including the method of killing, host for pathogens, regeneration, and not immediate benefits of using them. Despite the few limitations, cover crops improve the overall health of the soil and provide a sustainable environment for the main crops.

Improving the soil and biomass with coal is estimated at the international level as a way to enhance soil productiveness, fertility and also to mitigate climate change. Biochar employed to improve land scope and impound carbon, is attracting a great deal of attention. Its characteristics of chemical, physical and biological properties, containing big surface area, CEC (Cation Exchange Capacity), high water-holding capacity, size of pore, volume, distribution, and element composition, affect its recognized influences, particularly on microbial communities. These are discovered in the agriculture lands, lands remediation and composting. However, incomplete information existed about biochar for several farmers or peasants in agriculture scope. Therefore, farmers or peasants and gardeners are facing new opportunities and defiance each day, from feeding global extending and expanding population, whilst meeting severe new emissions requirements, to create more food on fewer land area while reducing their environmental emissions. Widespread application and utilization of biochar in agricultural scope, forestry production, energy, environmental protection and additional areas, has interested awareness by scientists and investigators inside and/or outside the country. The objective of this paper is to provide a guide for the farmers or peasants and gardeners with an essential information about biochar and what the ability of biochar can be achieved in the soil, and which can provide the scientific reference for the biochar application, and to get high yield and good quality of crops in all of different soils.

Vermicomposts have higher level of available nutrients like carbon nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, calcium and magnesium derived from the wastes. The paper has attempted to evaluate for development of efficacy vermicompost by using three varieties of earthworms. The use of earthworms in the degradation of different types of wastes is continuing from the past so many years. These wastes include industrial, agricultural of plant debris and domestic waste papers and cattle dung. In this study three varieties of earthworms used such as Eisenia fetida, Eudrilus eugeniae and Perionyx excavates in the vermicomposting of plant debris, cattle dung and waste paper. As waste paper, cattle dung and plant debris are rich in carbon while deficient in nitrogen cow dung was mixed with it to make it suitable for three earthworms. A mixture of waste paper, plant debris and c dung in the ratio of 1:1:1 was found to be the best ratio than 3(paper waste): 2(cattle dung) and 5(plant debris). In 60 days time excellent quality and quantity of compost was produced by three earthworms. Physical and biochemical parameters were analyzed during this period of 60 days. Pre decomposition of 10 days and subsequent vermicomposting of 60 days indicates the role of this species in vermibiotechnology. Increase was found in all the parameters like, Total nitrogen (%), Available phosphorus (%) and Exchangeable potassium (%) while a decrease was found in pH and C:N ratio as the timing of vermicomposting increased from 0 days to 60 days.

Targeted livestock grazing is a proven tool for manipulating rangeland vegetation, and current knowledge about targeted livestock grazing is extensive and expanding rapidly. Targeted grazing prescriptions optimize the timing, frequency, intensity, and selectivity of grazing (or browsing) in combinations that purposely exert grazing/browsing pressure on specific plant species or portions of the landscape. Targeted grazing differs from traditional grazing management in that the goal of targeted grazing is to apply defoliation or trampling to achieve specific vegetation management objectives, whereas the goal of traditional livestock grazing management is generally the production of livestock commodities. A shared aim of targeted livestock grazing and traditional grazing management is to sustain healthy soils, flora, fauna, and water resources that, in turn, can sustain natural ecological processes (e.g., nutrient cycle, water cycle, energy flow). Targeted grazing prescriptions integrate knowledge of plant ecology, livestock nutrition, and livestock foraging behavior. Livestock can be focused on target areas through fencing, herding, or supplement placement. Although practices can be developed to minimize the impact of toxins contained in target plants, the welfare of the animals used in targeted grazing must be a priority. Monitoring is needed to determine if targeted grazing is successful and to refine techniques to improve efficacy and efficiency. Examples of previous research studies and approaches are presented to highlight the ecological benefits that can be achieved when targeted grazing is applied properly. These cases include ways to suppress invasive plants and ways to enhance wildlife habitat and biodiversity. Future research should address the potential to select more adapted and effective livestock for targeted grazing and the associated animal welfare concerns with this practice. Targeted livestock grazing provides land managers a viable alternative to mechanical, chemical, and prescribed fire treatments to manipulate rangeland vegetation.

[Figure][1] A nest of Ropalidia marginata wasps. Photo credit: Souvik Mandal. Growing up in rural India, Souvik Mandal was always fascinated by the behaviour of the animals that surrounded him. ‘I was intrigued by the “skills” which our domestic cattle, free-ranging poultry, wild

This paper is a commentary on Lyons, K. and Westoby, P. (2014) Carbon colonialism and the new land grab: Plantation forestry in Uganda and its livelihood impacts, Journal of Rural Studies, 36, 13-21.