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So far, various studies assessed global biomass potentials and came up with widely varying results. Existing potential estimates range from 0 EJ/a up to more than 1,550 EJ/a which corresponds to about three times the current global primary energy consumption. This paper provides an overview of the available research on bioenergy potentials and reviews the different assessments qualitative way with the objective to interpret previous research in an integrated way. In the context of this paper we understand bioenergy as energy from biomass sources including energy crops, residues, byproducts and wastes from agriculture, forestry, food production and waste management. In this review special attention was paid to the difference between residue and energy potentials, land availability estimates, and the geographical resolution of existing potential estimates. The majority of studies concentrate on energy crop potentials retrieved from surplus agricultural land and only few publications assess global potentials separated by different world regions. It results that land allocated to the exclusive production of energy crops varies from 0 to 7,000 ha, depending on land category and scenario assumptions. Only a small number of available potential assessments consider residue potentials as well as energy crop potentials from degraded land. Future energy crop potentials are assumed to vary in the mean from 200 to 600 EJ/yr. In contrast residue potentials are expected to contribute between 62 and 325 EJ/yr. The highest potentials are assigned to Asia, Africa and South America while Europe, North America and the Pacific region contribute minor parts to the global potential.

This research proposes an integrated framework to investigate human-dominated systems and provide a basic approach to urban and regional studies in which the multiple interactions between economic and ecological processes are considered as a whole. Humans generate patterns of land use, infrastructures and other settings and redistribute ecosystem functions as flows of energy and matter for self-maintenance. To understand these emerging interactions between humans and ecological processes, human activities (e.g. transformation processes, land conversions, use of resources) and biophysical agents such as geomorphology, climate and natural cycles need to be considered. Emergy Analysis (spelled with an "m") is then used as an environmental accounting method to evaluate different categories of resource use with reference to their environmental cost. A case study of the Province of Cagliari (in the island of Sardinia, Italy) is reported and the procedure for allocating emergy flows, assigning them to districts and managing point data is discussed. Outcomes plotted on a map showed non-homogeneous spatial distribution of emergy flows throughout the region, suggesting the way ecosystem functions are affected and restructured by the human economy.

Transportation of forest products accounts as a major contributor to the total operational costs; hence, its optimization has become an important aspect in supply chain planning. Transportation opt...

Using survey information of 150 randomly selected households across 21 villages of the forest-rich district of Swat, Pakistan, this study assessed households’ decision-making behaviors in depending on income from nearby forested land using socio-economic attributes. The evidence from the study may aid in making the existing policies be better targeted toward families that depend on the forest for income. Descriptive statistics and econometric techniques such as logit and tobit were used to analyze the data. Respondent households obtained the highest share of their income from off-farm activities (37%) and least from forest activities (16%). Fuelwood constitutes the biggest share (66%) of forest income, followed by medical plants (20%) and fodder (13%). We found that households with more physical assets, more family members working in off-farm jobs, and households earning more income from off-farm jobs were significantly and negatively associated with households’ decision to depend on forest income and total income obtained. We also found that households with less distance to the market and membership to joint forest management committees (JFMCs) were significantly and negatively associated with households’ total income obtained. However, household size was significantly and positively related to households’ decision of forest dependency. The study recommends the creation of off-farm opportunities and inclusion of local people in the management of forests through establishment of JFMCs, particularly for large and poor families.

Nature-based solutions have not been able to actively involve citizens and to address successfully food security, poverty alleviation, and inequality in urban areas. The Edible City approach promises a strategic step towards the development of sustainable, livable, and healthy cities. We introduce the conceptional framework of Edible City Solutions (ECS), including different forms of urban farming combined with closed loop systems for sustainable water, nutrient, and waste management. We review scientific evidence on ECS benefits for urban regeneration and describe the status quo of ECS in Rotterdam, Andernach, Oslo, Heidelberg, and Havana as case studies. We provide an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) to explore the capacity of ECS to enhance multifunctionality of urban landscapes with special focus on social cohesion and quality of life. Based on this we identify and discuss strategies for fostering socially relevant implementations for the case study cities and beyond.

The share of biofuels has increased significantly over the last decade, which has lead to several negative impacts on the environment. As a solution, several governments worldwide have promoted the use of certification systems, which have been implemented and in some cases have even been established as mandatory regulations. Due to the focus of the public debate, standard-setting has mainly been limited to developing and newly industrializing countries. Hence, the issues of environmental impacts as a consequence of agricultural intensification in Germany has been given little attention, and the question whether existing biofuel certification systems sufficiently cover ecological issues remains. In order to answer this question, this study performs a benchmarking analysis of selected certification systems, whereby their ability to ensure ecological sustainability is evaluated and compared. The assessment reveals that the currently existing national ordinances, like Cross Compliance, are in many aspects insufficient to ensure sustainability. Contrarily, they often deter necessary discussions to tackle these issues.

To mitigate the effects of climate change, the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) should be reduced. In the near future, an increased use of biomass for energy production will be prescribed by law in the European Union (EU) to achieve the target of emission reduction. One possibility to use biomass energetically is its transformation into biogas. The most widely grown crop for this purpose is maize. Although, the increased use of maize as biogas feedstock, due to generous subsidies, is linked to several ecological and (socio)economic problems. The most important are soil erosion, depletion and compaction, high demand and subsequent leaching of fertilizers/biocides, heavy workload, and competition for land between food and energy production. In contrast, the use of second-generation perennial energy crops (PECs) as biogas feedstock can be an auspicious approach to improve the environmental footprint of biomass production. Therefore, we evaluated and compared the biochemical methane potential (BMP) of five different perennial species (cup plant, virginia mallow, tall wheatgrass, giant knotweed, reed canary grass) and a wild plant mix (composite of 25 in parts perennial plants) on three different sites in West-Germany. In terms of methane production per area, tall wheatgrass and reed canary grass exceeded the productivity of maize under favorable conditions. Hence, we recommend both species as biogas feedstock for Central Europe or comparable climates. Additionally, other species might be suitable for biomethanation from an overall perspective, to enhance (agro)biodiversity in rural areas.

Hoang Lien National Park has a total area of 68569ha, located at an altitude of above sea 1000-3000m in the territory of the two provinces of Lai Chau and Lao Cai in Vietnam. It has a diversity of flora with 3252 species (including 775 endemic species and 236 endangered species), belonging to 1126 genera, 230 families and 6 different divisions. Due to the mountainous terrain, division diversity of Hoang Lien National Park’s vegetation is thus clearly characterized by high elevations. We have studied the distribution characteristics of the vegetation by high elevations in Hoang Lien National Park of Vietnam by the general survey methodology, fieldwork, remote sensing digital image processing and analysis and inheriting the preceding research results. The study results indicated the divisions in quantity, vegetation composition, especially differentiation of endemic and rare species in accordance with high elevations. Study results were preliminary used to suggest some orientations for preserving plant diversity in high elevations of the terrain. Vườn quốc gia Hoàng Liên có tổng diện tích 68569ha, nằm ở độ cao từ 1000-3000m so với mặt biển thuộc lãnh thổ hai tỉnh Lai Châu và Lào Cai của Việt Nam. Hệ thực vật của Vườn quốc gia Hoàng Liên rất phong phú với 3252 loài (trong đó có 775 loài đặc hữu và 236 loài quý hiếm), thuộc 1126 chi, 230 họ và 6 ngành khác nhau. Do địa hình núi cao, phân hóa đa dạng nên thảm thực vật của Vườn quốc gia Hoàng Liên có đặc trưng phân hóa theo đai cao rất rõ nét. Bằng các phương pháp điều tra tổng hợp, khảo sát thực địa, xử lí phân tích ảnh viễn thám và kế thừa các kết quả nghiên cứu đi trước nhóm tác giả đã tiến hành nghiên cứu đặc điểm phân bố thảm thực vật theo đai cao tại Vườn quốc gia Hoàng Liên của Việt Nam. Kết quả nghiên cứu chỉ rõ sự phân hoá về số lượng, thành phần hệ thực vật theo đai cao và phân hóa thành phần loài đặc hữu và quý hiếm theo đai cao. Bước đầu nghiên cứu đề xuất một vài định hướng bảo tồn đa dạng thực vật theo đai cao của địa hình. Journal of Vietnamese Environment, Vol 6 No 2 (2014)