An Integrative Approach to Value‐Added Planning: From Community Needs to Local Authority Revenue

The concept of value‐added planning (as part of the Valuing Attractive Landscapes in the Urban Economy, INTERREG IVB North West Europe Project) is introduced in this paper to facilitate integrative planning, focusing on the benefits that use and non‐use green spaces can provide to an urban area. The aim is to stress the need to plan for, and protect, green spaces in urban areas by determining the economic values connected to the green spaces and relate that values to community benefit and local authority revenue. The paper identifies tools that can be used to determine the economic value of green spaces based on the environmental, social, and economic benefits. The first section (value) refers to the social value of green spaces as determined from the public perspective and introduces the workbench method as a tool to assist with participatory planning and capturing of the social benefits of green spaces. The second section (added) refers to the environmental benefits of green spaces and, by means of the Green Credit Tool, introduces ways to ensure the protection of the green resources in an area. The final section (planning) refers to the economic benefit of green space, bringing use values and non‐use values of green spaces together. The paper concludes with an integrative framework for value‐added planning, incorporating all the tools presented in the paper, capturing the social, environmental, and economic benefits of green spaces and relating it to community benefit and local authority revenue.     

Challenges and prospects for consumer acceptance of cultured meat

Consumer acceptance of cultured meat is expected to depend on a wide diversity of determinants ranging from technology-related perceptions to product-speciifc expectations, and including wider contextu...     

Comparative analysis of replication characteristics of BoHV-1 subtypes in bovine respiratory and genital mucosa explants: a phylogenetic enlightenment

ABSTRACT: In general, members of the Alphaherpesvirinae use the epithelium of the upper respiratory and/or genital tract as a preferential site for primary replication. Bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BoHV-1) may replicate at both sites and cause two major clinical entities designated as infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) and infectious pustular vulvovaginitis/balanoposthitis (IPV/IPB) in cattle. It has been hypothesized that subtype 1.1 invades preferentially the upper respiratory mucosa whereas subtype 1.2 favors replication at the peripheral genital tract. However, some studies are in contrast with this hypothesis. A thorough study of primary replication at both mucosae could elucidate whether or not different BoHV-1 subtypes show differences in mucosa tropism. We established bovine respiratory and genital organ cultures with emphasis on maintenance of tissue morphology and viability during in vitro culture. In a next step, bovine respiratory and genital mucosa explants of the same animals were inoculated with several BoHV-1 subtypes. A quantitative analysis of viral invasion in the mucosa was performed at 0 h, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h post inoculation (pi) by measuring plaque latitude and penetration depth underneath the basement membrane. All BoHV-1 subtypes exhibited a more profound invasion capacity in respiratory tissue compared to that in genital tissue at 24 h pi. However, at 24 h pi plaque latitude was found to be larger in genital tissue compared to respiratory tissue and this for all subtypes. These similar findings among the different subtypes take the edge off the belief of the existence of specific mucosa tropisms of different BoHV-1 subtypes.     

The Use of Decapsulated Cysts of the Brine Shrimp Artemia as Direct Food for Carp Cyprinus carpio L. Larvae

Decapsulated Arremia cysts have been evaluated as a direct food source for larvae of the carp Cyprinus carpio L. All decapsulated cyst diets gave excellent survival of carp larvae during the first two weeks of culturing. Unlike traditionally brine-stored decapsulated cysts, dried Artemia embryos provided growth results comparable to those obtained with freshly hatched Artemia nauplii. Furthermore, except for Artemia embryos that lost their hatchability after long-term storage in air, several other inactivation treatments, simulating improper harvesting and processing of cysts, did not produce a significant decrease in the nutritional quality of the decapsulated cysts.
Using decapsulated cysts 89 a direct food source for carp larvae, instead of nauplii, the quantity of cysts needed can be reduced by about 25% to 35% after one and two weeks of culturing, respectively. Moreover, the use of decapsulated cysts advances the possible commercialition of poor-hatching and less expensive cyst products for culture of carp larvae.     

Limitations of Irrigation Water Quality Guidelines from a Multiple Use Perspective

The standards for irrigation water qualityare currently provided by global andnational guidelines that are mostly basedon the assumption that threshold valuescould be applied to protect crops. Thisapproach can create problems for a largelyunrecognized group of people who make useof irrigation water for non-agriculturalpurposes. At the same time, increasingwater scarcity will lead to the need forrecycling of water in irrigated riverbasins, and the use of low qualityirrigation water. Apart from hazards ofhigh pollutant levels, a sustainabilitycriterion has to be included in the waterquality guidelines to account for long-termlow-level application of certain pollutantsthat can accumulate in the environment.Using the example of cadmium, it is arguedthat the current guidelines need to berevised and should take local factors andfuture developments into account.     

Ex-post evaluation of erosion control measures in southern Mali

As part of an impact study of a soil and water conservation (SWC) project in southern Mali, the effect of erosion control measures on soil erosion was evaluated. In one village, a baseline situation from 1988 was compared with the situation in 2003, after farmers had installed stone rows, live fences and grass strips, and had started cultivating across to the slope. This comparison showed a spectacular decrease in gully volume in cultivated fields of 87%, from 58 to 8 m³ ha⁻¹. Estimated annual soil loss decreased with 77% from 42 to 10 t ha⁻¹ year⁻¹. However, baseline data on erosion gullies were not available for other villages. In the absence of baseline data, a simple ‘with–without’ comparison does not allow a correct evaluation because farmers install erosion control measures especially in fields with more erosion. Two alternative methods were used: a reconstructed baseline and a virtual time series. Using the reconstructed baseline, looking not only at active gullies but also at (partly) reclaimed gullies, we concluded that line interventions, gully interventions, and a combination of both, reduced the proportion of active gullies by 48%, 47% and 70%, respectively. Using a virtual time series, comparing erosion in fields with erosion control measures installed in different years, we concluded that erosion gradually decreased by 50% during the 3 years after installation of erosion control measures. In a separate study, we found a positive effect of gully interventions and sowing across to the slope in reducing sheet erosion. A reduction of the slope of the sowing direction by 1% reduced the cover of runoff deposit of coarse sand with 8%. Although a documented baseline is preferred, both a reconstructed baseline and a virtual time series are useful tools and make ex-post evaluations more relevant than a simple with–without comparison.