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The role of ecological theory and practice in poverty alleviation and environmental conservation

Background

This review emphasized the roles and tools of ecologists that would be helpful in poverty alleviation internationally.  Specifically, knowledge of sustainable sources of energy, provision of clean water, functional traits of vegetation, and design of agro-forestry systems were cited as examples of knowledge that would be helpful for cross-disciplinary strategies.

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Community-based mangrove forest management: Implications for local livelihoods and coastal resource conservation along the Volta estuary catchment area of Ghana

Background

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300,000 Hectares Restored in Shinyanga, Tanzania — but what did it really take to achieve this restoration?

Background

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Gender Inequality in Malidino Biodiversity Community-based Reserve, Senegal: Political Parties and the 'Village Approach'

Background

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Dominant species' resprout biomass dynamics after cutting in the Sudanian savanna-woodlands of West Africa: long term effects of annual early fire and grazing

Background

Given widespread anthropogenic disturbance and land degradation across the Sudanian savanna-woodlands of West Africa, these researchers examined the impacts of early annual fire and grazing on 6 dominant plant species in terms of: shoot mortality, height and girth. Though rather unoriginally, they hypothesized that forest biomass reconstitution is affected by disturbances such as fire and grazing. 

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Contributions of agroforestry to ecosystem services in the miombo eco-region of eastern and southern Africa

Background

The article discusses the functional benefits of agroforestry to the miombo region of eastern and southern Africa, which includes the following countries: Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, and Mozambique.

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Bioremediation of a crude-oil polluted agricultural-soil at Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Background

Since more than 98% of Nigeria’s current economic support is crude oil, and oil spills are in inevitable and frequent, six treatment sample-cell were tested on the soils of the Niger Delta of Nigeria for crude oil bioremediation. Oil spills cause nitrogen levels to decrease, while increasing carbon content. A decrease in nitrogen and the toxicity of crude oil reduces the growth of heterotrophic bacteria, which utilize petroleum carbon for cell synthesis.

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Sprouting, succession and tree species diversity in a South African coastal dune forest

Background

This study examines the role of sprouting in the maintenance of plant diversity where prevailing disturbance frequency and severity allows, specifically, in the coastal dune forest of Kwazulu-Natal. 

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Restoration of Ecosystem Carbon Stocks following Exclosure Establisment in Communal Grazing Lands in Tigray, Ethiopia

Background

The study examines changes in ecosystem Carbon stocks (ECS) after the establishment of exclosures on communal grazing lands.  Exclosures are areas where livestock are prohibited from grazing. 

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Targeted habitat restoration can reduce extinction rates in fragmented forests

Background

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Floristic composition, structure and natural regeneration in a moist semideciduous forest following anthropogenic disturbances and plant invasion

Background

This research examined the floristic composition, struture and natural regeneration in three different forests: undisturbed (UF), disturbed-invaded (DIF) and disturbed (DF) within a forest reserve in Ghana.

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Fuelwood collection and its impacts on a protected tropical mountain forest in Uganda.

Background

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Impact of Forest Management on Insect Abundance and Damage in a Lowland Tropical Forest in Southern Cameroon

Background

A burgeoning timber industry in Cameroon, which became the fifth largest producer of timber in the world in the 1990’s, led to unsustainably high deforestation rates and high demand for forest regeneration interventions. Research in the Mbalmayo Forest Reserve in southern Cameroon has compared different silvicultural techniques for forest regeneration including complete and partial clearance methods.

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Safety Nets, Gap Filling and Forests: A Global-Comparative Perspective

BACKGROUND

This paper seeks to prove how forests and wildlands are utilized in developing countries as safety nets to shocks, and how they provide resources for seasonal gap filling. The study was carried out in various developing countries in different continents. Areas where there is no forest at all were excluded and those completely forest covered such as those dominated by hunter- gatherers were not considered.

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Carbon farming with bamboos in Africa: A call for action

BACKGROUND

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Fires in exotic forest plantations of Zimbabwe: Causes and management strategies

BACKGROUND

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Management of non-timber forestry products extraction: Local institutions, ecological knowledge and market structure in South-Eastern Zimbabwe

BACKGROUND

Sengwe communal lands, in South East Zimbabwe were used to examine how they manage non timber forest products (NTFPs) as a common pool resource in that area. The area consists of five wards, of which four are communally owned. The government has a protected area engulfed by the local communal property system; both communal and state property regimes are involved in the management of certain resources.

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Plantation Forestry in Sub Saharan Africa: Silvicultural, Ecological and Economic Aspects

BACKGROUND

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Co-management options for reserved forests in Zimbabwe and beyond: Policy implications of forest management strategies

BACKGROUND

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Management and Performance of Eucalyptus camaldulensis in the Murewa and Mutoko Districts of Zimbabwe

BACKGROUND

Zimbabwe’s afforestation program has used Eucalyptus trees because of their fast growth rate and their ability to adapt to different environmental conditions. These trees are grown to provide fuelwood and to curb deforestation. However, the afforestation program had poor results. Hence, there was a need to examine causes of poor performance to justify why the program still needs expansion.

Open access copy available