Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 164 p. : col. ill. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-112).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 57 p. : ill. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 38-39).

<p> Urban Agriculture (UA) is addressing problems associated with the degradation of human and environmental health. Organizations whose missions include offering programs and services which support local UA activities are essential for fostering community awareness and garnering participation. This study attempts to discover how the Savannah Urban Garden Alliance and the Forsyth Farmers Market are fostering awareness of UA in Savannah. Secondly, to identify obstacles which hinder these organizations from effectively carrying out their missions. Lastly to provide a tool box for planning purposes which will encourage the necessary involvement of municipal and institutional leadership. </p>

<p> The research literature describes a positive relationship between seeing plants and human well-being. More rapid recovery from surgery, reduced incidence of neighborhood crime, increased baby birth weight and increased trust of neighborhood merchants are among the benefits attributed to exposure to trees and shrubs. This thesis attempts to find a common explanation for these outcomes. It examines the connection between urban trees and community stress. Each of the above outcomes can be attributed, in part, to stress reduction. The literature indicates that stress reduction is one of the consequences of exposure to plants. Stress levels were measured at the block level in Wilmington Delaware by means of a survey mailed to 1982 residents. Physical conditions were catalogued using an on-site inventory. The survey and inventory demonstrated that the total number of trees on a block has a strong negative relationship with community stress and a positive relationship with self-reported health. The results suggest that moderation of stress is one of the factors that underlies the beneficial consequences of exposure to green vegetation on inner city blocks. This research should prove useful to city planners and urban residents alike. </p>

Thesis (Ph. D., Natural Resources)--University of Idaho, May 2007. / Major professor: Jay O'Laughlin. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-83). Also available online (PDF file) by subscription or by purchasing the individual file.

International climate mitigation agendas increasingly focus on the conservation of tropical forests such as the Amazon due to their high potential of sequestering large amounts of carbon. At the same time, Peru’s Amazonian frontier is increasingly subject to market pressures and other factors contributing to deforestation and the expansion of the agricultural frontier. In the face of these processes, the perspectives of local people and indigenous communities are often rendered invisible. Therefore, it becomes increasingly relevant to align goals of forest conservation with strategies to not compromise livelihood needs for rural populations. This thesis explores unheard perspectives of local people and the corresponding struggles to make a life in the Peruvian Amazon. More concrete, it is a case study on livelihoods in the indigenous community Naranjal in San Martín, one of the upper eastern jungle regions of Peru. Through using the conceptual lens of the ‘Extended Livelihood Framework’ and theories rooted in political ecology, the different livelihood activities are analysed both on the village and household level as well as in relation to wider political trends influencing these. Methodologically, qualitative PRA tools such as semi-structured interviews with households and key informants were used. The Findings demonstrate household complexity and livelihood diversity in which tensions between the different activities followed by villagers arise. The contested institutional landscape around Naranjal forms part of this puzzle. A crucial concern is the access to livelihood resources such as old-growth forests and farming land. These are in turn influenced by external ecological and demographic changes as well as political interests by the Peruvian state. Access mechanisms such as social networks and social identity in terms of indigeneity as well as farmer’s local knowledge on ecologies were highlighted, among others. It is argued that political and development actors should consider features of these mechanisms and livelihoods found in Naranjal, as they hold potential to contribute to a more sustainable future for indigenous communities in rural Amazonia. Equally, more collaboration among different development interventions should be aspired to build on synergies and head towards an integrative development approach which includes and considers villager’s own concerns and perspectives.

Die vermiedene tropische Entwaldung und zusätzliche Aufforstungen sind von zentraler Bedeutung für die Klimawandelvermeidung, üben aber zusätzlichen Druck auf die globalen Landressourcen zur Produktion von Nahrungsgütern, Futtermittel, Fasern, Bioenergie und Rundholz dar. Die Ziele der Studie beziehen sich auf die Analyse der Verzichtskosten in der Land- und Forstwirtschaft sowie das Potential zur Klimawandelvermeidung in globalen Wäldern durch normative und marktbasierte Klimaschutzprogramme. Das globale ökonomische Landnutzungsmodell ''Model of Agricultural Production and its Impact on the Environment'' (MAgPIE) wurde um eine konsistente Landnutzungsdatenbank und den Forstsektor erweitert. Es simuliert die räumlich-explizite Landnutzung und deren Änderungen während die Kosten land- und forstwirtschaftlicher Produktion unter gegebener Nachfrage nach Gütern geschätzt werden. Szenarien zu Klimaschutzmaßnahmen werden verglichen mit Referenzszenarien über Zeithorizonte bis zum Jahr 2100. Die Ergebnisse verweisen auf ein begrenztes Mitigationspotential normativen tropischen Waldschutzes zu geringen zusätzlichen Kosten in der Landwirtschaft. Lateinamerika profitiert von ausreichenden Landreserven und geringem Anstieg in der Güternachfrage und geringer Referenzentwaldung. Die Verlagerung von Emissionen durch regionalen Waldschutz hat Auswirkungen auf die sektoralen Produktionskosten und verringert das globale ökonomische Potential. Die Schlussfolgerungen betreffen 1) den Bedarf an substantieller Ertragssteigerung in Sub-Sahara Afrika als Voraussetzung für die erfolgreiche Umsetzung vermiedener Entwaldung, 2) die erhöhte Gefahr der Verlagerung von Emissionen aus Entwaldung durch die Umsetzung regionaler Klimaschutzprogramme und der Liberalisierung des Holzhandels, 3) das hohe ökonomische Potential integrierter Klimaschutzprogramme zu moderaten Verzichtskosten, sowie 4) die Notwendigkeit zusätzlicher Forschung bezüglich der Unsicherheiten in Parametern und Modellprozessen. / Avoiding tropical deforestation and additional afforestation are of primary importance for climate change mitigation but exert additional pressure on global land resources for the production of food, feed, fibre, bioenergy and timber. The study objectives relate to the analysis of the foregone economic benefits, the opportunity costs, in agriculture and forestry and the climate change mitigation potential of global forests in normative and market-based programmes. The global economic ‘Model of Agricultural Production and its Impact on the Environment'' (MAgPIE) has been extended by a consistent land use database and the forestry sector. It simulates spatially-explicit land use and land use changes while estimating the costs of production in agriculture and forestry to satisfy a prescribed demand. Climate change mitigation scenarios are contrasted to baselines for time horizons up to the year 2100. The results show the limited mitigation potential of normative forest conservation in tropical regions at low additional costs in agriculture. Latin America benefits from sufficient land endowments and low increases in crop demand leading to relatively low baseline deforestation. The displacement of carbon emissions between regions impacts the regional agriculture and forestry production costs and reduces the global economic potential. The conclusions pertain to the 1) need for high rates of yield increase in Sub-Saharan Africa as a precondition for successfully avoided deforestation, 2) increased threat of regional carbon emission leakage from implementing mitigation programmes and liberalized trade of timber, 3) high economic potential of climate change mitigation from integrating afforestation and avoided deforestation at moderate costs, and 4) additional research needs to account for significant uncertainties from growth and cost parameters and model processes.