Abstract The availability of natural resources is essential to human survival, and humanity and the environment have a shared destiny. Unfortunately, nowadays, there are numerous problems regarding the environment and the shortage of natural resources, greatly impacting human society. Therefore, it is crucial that humans preserve the environment and make appropriate use of natural resources. This issue primarily offers readers a compelling exploration of research on the effects of climate change and various pollutants on humanity and the natural environment as well as diseases of plants and how to prevent and control them. This issue may provide readers with a knowledge of the state of the environment and related problems which could inspire more people to preserve the environment and natural resources.

Abstract

The increase in water stress and shortage, facing many countries around the world, is one of the main difficulties confronting practical progress and sustainable development and management. Accordingly, managing the water assets of many countries around the world is nowadays a big challenge due to immense difficulties and vulnerabilities, including rapid industrialization and urbanization processes, population growth, geopolitical instability, and the effects of environmental changes, namely global warming and climate change. Because of global fresh waters scarcity and shortage, the demand for using non-conventional water resources, such as reusing treated wastewater for irrigation and industrial purposes, has become a nessitiy. However, the reuse of effluents for agricultural irrigation can have negative impacts on crop quality and soil conditions, as well as on public health and the environment. Moreover, improper management of agricultural irrigation with treated wastewater can also cause problems for plant production and soils’ physical and chemical propeties. This paper investigates the status of freshwater and wastewater in view of climate change, and socioeconomic, environmental, and health impacts of reusing treated wastewater for irrigation in the Arab region, with the focus on the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), as an example. The paper concludes that: 1) Approximately 13.2 billion cubic meters (BCM) of wastewater is yearly produced in the Arab countries, of which 5.7 BCM (43.2%) is treated and 7.5 MCM (56.8%) is untreated and dumped in open environments; 2) Regarding the OPT, where more than 87% of its fresh water resources are controlled and forcefully taken by the Israeli occupation authorities, Palestinians discharge large amounts of untreated wastewater into open lands (asin the case of the occupied West Bank) and in the Mediterranean Sea (as in the case of occupied and besieged Gaza Strip); and 3) The reused portion of treated wastewater in the OPT is close to zero.

Abstract

Climate variability has adversely affected agriculture and adaptation strategies are significant in enhancing resilience hence ensuring food security. Agrometeorological services are essential in decision-making and developing farmers’ specific adaptive capacities mainly when variability affect agricultural productivity. This study focuses on the composite effect of adaptation to climate variability, agrometeorological information, socioeconomic and institutional factors on agricultural productivity in Kenya. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to obtain a sample size of 384 sorghum farmers. The study used an endogenous switching regression model to control for the selection problem arising from adaptation to climate variability on agricultural productivity. Results indicate that extension contacts and education level were positively significant among adapters of climate variability. Additionally, the proportion of income allocated for farming was positively significant among non-adapters. On the other hand, access to credit, gender and age of decision makers were negatively significant among adapters of climate variability. Similarly, age was negatively significant among non-adapters of climate variability. Overall, adapters to climate variability had higher sorghum output than non-adapters. This study recommends that policymakers and other key stakeholders could increase the number of extension contacts and promote education to farmers so that they can access agrometeorological information, hence adaptation to climate variability.

Abstract

This paper explains the benefits of using mathematical optimization to construct high performance reservoir operating rules and the related water rationing (deficit sharing) policies. The principal idea of the proposed approach is to generate perfect solutions obtained from an LP-based optimization model with the assumed foreknowledge of inflows represented with historical natural flows that are matched in the model with the current or projected levels of water demands. Water demands may include a mix of on-stream (e.g., e-flow targets or hydro power) and off-stream demands (irrigation or industry). The paper demonstrates the benefits of the proposed methodology by developing and testing short term operating rules on the Barna reservoir in Narmada River Basin in India. It shows that it is possible to achieve simulated results that follow the proposed rules and differ by only 2.5% in terms of the mean annual deficits from the best possible performance obtained using mathematical optimization with full foreknowledge of inflows.

Abstract

The goal of the current investigation was to examine the production of red biopigment by Monascus ruber AUMC 245 during submerged fermentation and assess its safety as a bio-colorant in the food sector due to due to only sensory evaluation in food products. The various factors used for the production of red pigments, citrinin, and biomass yield were follows: 20 ℃–40 ℃ of temperature, 4.5–8.5 of pH, carbon and nitrogen sources. The optimum conditions were 30 ℃, pH 6.5, rice, peptone and incubation time for 10 days. The produced biopegment was without mycotoxin (citrinin). So, it is suitable for application in food industry. Kids jelly cola, ice sherbets and luncheon meat were prepared using the red pigments as natural colorant. The tested foods colored by nature biopigment appeared sensory results (90%) as acceptable consuming evaluation. It was not far from the applied industrial chemical one, but it is advantages by safe conditions. In conclusion, we can state that the obtained red pigments are safe to use in food products instead of chemical one.

Abstract

The most valuable natural complexes and objects should be represented in the State protected areas (PA) system. In order to preserve biodiversity, it is necessary to expand protected lands to 10% of the total country area and create an ecological network that includes various categories of ecosystems. Each protected area can represent one or a number of ecosystems, depending on the height above sea level, landform, climate and other factors. In a perfect scenario, PA system of Kyrgyz Republic must represent all categories of ecosystems including mountain, steppe, semi-desert and desert. In this research the analysis of the representativeness of protected areas in Kyrgyz Republic was performed for the first time. For this purpose, GIS data sets for PAs and classification of ecosystems were used. According to the results, forest ecosystems have the highest coverage, whereas low mountain meadows and wetlands have the lowest coverage in PA system of Kyrgyz Republic. This research suggests that this type of analysis is an important tool for biodiversity conservation and evaluation of an ecological vulnerability.

Abstract

The president of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoev, in his address to the Oliy Majlis in 2021, said that, we must pay more attention to environmental protection and improvement of the ecological situation. They emphasized that it is necessary to improve the system of ecological control of the production process and to develop a comprehensive program of measures designed until 2025 to prevent the impact of industrial development on the environment. The rapid growth of cities, the intensification of urbanization processes that lead to all socio‐ecological consequences, and the accumulation of large sources of anthropogenic impact on the surrounding area make cities the main object of study. The relevance and social importance of the study of the urban environment contribute to the involvement of many scientific disciplines in the development of their research concepts and directions for the optimization of the living environment of urban residents. The diversity of research calls for the synthesis of ecological knowledge about the city. Economic and social geography is a science capable of realizing the potential of integration in the study of such a complex object. The city should operate in the environment of the area with ecological balance, which ensures the sustainable and harmonious development of the area and the city. The reproduction of the main components of the natural environment and preservation of the diversity of geosystems can be achieved by harmoniously incorporating them into the regional natural ecological system, taking into account the natural and socio‐economic characteristics of the city. In general, much work has been done in economic and social geography in the study of the city and its surrounding areas. In the course of the development of agglomerations, the study of the interaction between the city and the region, migration and labour flows is of great practical importance and has helped to solve many important national economic and socio‐economic problems. In economic and social geography, many works in the ecological direction are devoted to the impact of cities on the environment, the impact on environmental components, the organization of the territory, etc. However, the reverse chain of the “territory‐urban environment‐city” relationship has hardly been analyzed in research. The choice of the territory of the Navoi region is symbolic because the region has a large industrial potential and is distinguished by highly intensive agriculture. Various problems in the area can be summarized in 3 blocks: improvement of economic activity, improvement of territorial structure and urban planning structure, protection and optimization of environmental quality. The most important criterion that reflects the range of negative effects of the quality of the environment is the health of the population. However, caution should be exercised when interpreting these indicators and using them in conjunction with other criteria. This article describes some of the results and conclusions of the research conducted on the indicators of atmospheric air pollution in the cities of the Navoi region and their negative consequences.

Abstract

Preserving natural resources in the context of global change includes looking at how to protect trees, whether in forests or for fruit production, from various epidemic diseases. A change in European regulation presently underway (EU 2016/2031; currently, in 2023, transitional measures are being implemented in France) transfers, from the public authorities to the profession (all the tree growers susceptible to be concerned), the responsibility for detecting plum pox virus, which has the potential to damage virtually all stone fruit orchards, and for eliminating the affected trees. Yet the disease is a viral one, transmitted by a vector (aphids) from tree to tree and from orchard to orchard. Within a few years, fruit from contaminated trees can no longer be marketed. We show here that, in the context of this new regulation, the heterogeneity of the tree growers (due to the size of the orchards, the diversification of the crops, the future of the farm...) can lead to a recrudescence of the disease throughout the stone fruit orchards. This would also imply all kind of negative effects on the economic (employment in the agricultural sector, national trade balance, processing and marketing sector activities...), social and environmental (landscapes...) levels. The results can easily be generalised to any problem of conservation of natural resources whose management is delegated to private stakeholders.

Abstract

The recent progress in data science, along with the transformation in digital and satellite technology, has enhanced the capacity for artificial intelligence (AI) applications in the forestry and wildlife domains. Nevertheless, the swift proliferation of developmental projects, agricultural, and urban areas pose a significant threat to biodiversity on a global scale. Hence, the integration of emerging technologies such as AI in the fields of forests and biodiversity might facilitate the efficient surveillance, administration, and preservation of biodiversity and forest resources. The objective of this paper is to present a comprehensive review of how AI and machine learning (ML) algorithms are utilized in the forestry sector and biodiversity conservation worldwide. Furthermore, this research examines the difficulties encountered while implementing AI technology in the fields of forestry and biodiversity. Enhancing the availability of extensive data pertaining to forests and biodiversity, along with the utilization of cloud computing and digital and satellite technology, can facilitate the wider acceptance and implementation of AI technology. The findings of this study would inspire forest officials, scientists, researchers, and conservationists to investigate the potential of AI technology for the purposes of forest management and biodiversity conservation.

Abstract

The current research work was explored fungal attacks on different parts of mango (Mangifera indica L.) trees naturally grown in Tehsil Bernala, District Bhimber Azad Kashmir. Different symptoms were observed, like stem end rot, anthracnose dieback, and blossom blight, during field survey. The identification of mycotic diseases was confirmed by further direct microscopic examination of affected parts of mango trees. Then fungal diseases of mango trees were isolated by microculture and purification methods on different media. Some other parameters, like disease incidence and disease severity rates, were measured against each identified disease through a pathogenicity test under in vitro conditions. It was indicated that maximum disease incidence (DI) was 33.73% measured against dieback disease. The lowest incidence (30.98%) was measured against blossom blight disease. It was also found that disease severity (DS) was rated from 0 to 4 on a visual rating scale.

Abstract

The saprophytic white muscardine fungus Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin is a potential biocontrol agent against varied insect pests, is a commercially available mycopesticide in many countries, and is extensively used for insect pest management. It produces several metabolites, such as antibacterial, antifungal, cytotoxic, and insecticidal compounds that protect against insect pests and plant pathogens, with dual-purpose crop protection, a new concept in plant disease management. This insect pathogen is also beneficial to plant endophytes that are antagonistic to plant diseases and promote rhizosphere colonizers and plant growth, inducing systemic resistance. The induced systemic responses of fungal endophytes enhance genes that are expressed in pathogenesis and increase the production of pathogenesis-related proteins and defense enzymes. The fungus infects the insects by degrading mechanically and chemically their cuticles. It promotes plant growth, provides systemic protection against pests and pathogens in sustainable agricultural crop production, and reduces the usage of chemical pesticides.

Abstract

The improvement of various advancements for water sanitization is a significant issue. Among numerous elective drinking water treatment advances, the well-known disinfectant techniques are ozonation and chlorination to treat drinking water. All through the ozonation procedure, it produces biodegradable organic by-products while in the chlorination process, some risky by-products (trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids) are generated. Because of the possible danger of these results, several water purification methods have been reported, such as ozonation, chlorination, UV, etc. During ozonation, exceptionally reactive hydroxyl radicals are produced, which has a crucial effect on purifying water. In this paper, we have discussed the wide use of ozone disinfectants for water treatment with an emphasis on radical chemistry of ozonization as well as advanced oxidation processes instead of the chlorination process, low-cost ozone generation processes, the impact of ozone and chlorine disinfectants on cryptosporidium oocysts, and the removal of seven strains microbes from drinking water. The favorable circumstances, hindrances of the utilization of ozone and chlorine in wastewater treatment, and their confinements in water treatment innovation just as the elective advances, for example, ozone-based oxidation process, catalytic ozonation, photocatalytic oxidation, and so on are additionally clarified in this paper.

Abstract An analysis was carried out of documents adopted at international conferences from 1992 to 2022 that reflected the current state of the planet’s climate, characterized by an increase in the average global temperature. The validity and effectiveness of the measures that were taken to reduce the rate of increase in the indicated temperature were also analyzed. The analysis took into account data characterizing the state of the climate on the planet over the past 66 million years. An analysis of documents relating to the problem of “global warming” shows that too much responsibility is placed on human activity and too little attention is paid to natural factors. At the same time, as evidence, they operate with data of several decades, in the best case, two or three centuries. But this is too small a time scale, and in this case, we can only talk about local climate change in different regions and not about global change on the entire planet. Analysis of data on a scale of hundreds of thousands and millions of years shows that periods of both cooling (ice ages) and warming occurred on our planet long before the appearance of humans. At the same time, the Little Ice Age ended only in the middle of the 19th century, and it is quite natural that a warming process is now underway. The main responsibility for global warming lies with anthropogenic influence due to the development of industry, agriculture, and deforestation. Such human activity has led to an increase in the release of so-called greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which ensures an increase in the greenhouse effect—the secondary heating of the atmosphere by long-wave (infrared) radiation from the surface of the planet absorbed by these gases. The main gas responsible for the greenhouse effect is carbon dioxide (CO₂). However, it was not taken into account that water vapor has three times the ability to absorb infrared radiation. Also, scientific data obtained from the analysis of core samples recovered from deep wells in Antarctica and Greenland were not taken into account. An analysis of the composition of the air contained in the core showed that the amount of carbon dioxide does not precede warming but comes after warming since 90% of carbon dioxide is dissolved in the World Ocean. When it is heated, a huge amount of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, and when it gets colder, the oceans easily absorb carbon dioxide. Currently, climate policy is based on inadequate models that have many shortcomings, and giving too much of a role to humans in influencing the climate will not have the expected effect.

Abstract

Energy transition as a process of decarbonizing energy systems is considered a key mitigation strategy in the global effort to curb rising temperatures stemming from greenhouse gases. The main challenge with the energy transition process has to do with the social, economic, political and technological capacities of a country to undertake this transition process for which developing countries globally are lagging behind. The purpose of this study is the present a policy discussion paper looking at the pertinent social, economic and institutional challenges that developing countries need to consider in its energy transition process. As a case study, the paper also looked at the economy of Guyana, a country that is experiencing an oil and gas boom and also has committed to developing a low carbon development strategy. The paper implemented a narrative literature review and constructed the case study for Guyana utilizing secondary information on policy positions and directives for the energy sector in Guyana. Several pertinent issues within developing countries were identified including centralized and state dominated markets, poor infrastructure to support the transition process, availability of technology, energy justice and energy bullying and a lack of policies that foster community energy systems, energy sensitization and energy investments. These issues also reverberated with Guyana with policy recommendations emphasizing on collective actions needed to address the policy needs of developing countries in their transition process. The issues identified within the policy discussion of this paper can be used by policy makers globally as a potential framework for identifying the research gaps and priority areas to channel resources and technical skills to enhance the energy transition process in developing countries.