Marking the success or end of global multi-stakeholder governance? The rise of national sustainability standards in Indonesia and Brazil for palm oil and soy

The RSPO and RTRS are global private partnerships that have been set up by business and civil society actors from the North to curb de-forestation and to promote sustainable production of palm oil or soy in the South. This article is about the launch of new national standards in Indonesia and Brazil that are look-alikes of the global standards but have been set up and supported by government or business actors from the South. The two main questions of this article are: do the new national standards in Indonesia and Brazil provide a fundamental challenge to the RSPO and RTRS, or do they demonstrate the successful diffusion and adoption of global private rules into national contexts? Do the new national standards help or undermine the RSPO and RTRS in their efforts to reduce de-forestation? Combining the theoretical notions of proto-institution and rival governance network, a comparative analysis is offered of the launch of the new national standards in Indonesia and Brazil. The conclusion is that, whilst the RSPO and RTRS have served as models for the general design and principles of the national standards, they really differ from the global standards in terms of normative contents: the national standards offer more room to palm oil plantations and large-scale soy producers to expand production at the expense of forests and other high conservation areas. Governments and producer associations in Indonesia and Brazil have not launched national standards to implement the RSPO or RTRS but to challenge these interventions from the North.     

Carbon footprint including effect of carbon storage for selected wooden facade materials

Abstract

The outer facade constitutes a substantial volume of the total consumption of materials used in a building and the need for maintenance of the facade makes it especially interesting from a life cycle perspective. The range of wooden materials and products used for facades has different impacts over the life cycle, but the analyses so far have not included a time-adjusted global warming potential (GWP). Wooden facade materials were assessed with respect to their life cycle carbon footprint based on the environmental product declarations (EPD) and adjusted according to EN15804. The results showed low impacts of untreated Scots pine heartwood (≈1 kg CO₂-eq. per square meter [m²]), medium for thermally modified Scots pine, coated Norway spruce and oil/copper–organic preservative-treated Scots pine (1–5 kg CO₂-eq. per m²) and high for furfurylated Scots pine and acetylated Radiata pine (5–10 kg CO₂-eq. per m²). The results with time-adjustment showed that these methods have a potential large effect on the carbon footprint of wooden claddings. The inclusion of biogenic carbon flows and timing seems to be more important than the difference between the product when biogenic carbon is not included. This fact highlights the importance time-adjusted GWP would have for wood products EPDs.     

INDEPTH Wide-Angle Reflection Observation of P-Wave-to-S-Wave Conversion from Crustal Bright Spots in Tibet

Three-component wide-angle seismic data acquired in southern Tibet during Project INDEPTH show strong P-to-S converted reflections from reflectors that are aligned at a depth of approximately 15 kilometers beneath the northern Yadong-Gulu rift. These converted reflections are locally higher in amplitude than the corresponding P-wave reflections. Modeling of reflection mode conversion as a function of incidence angle indicates that this condition obtains for a reflector that is a solid over fluid interface; it is not typical of a solid-solid interface. The likely candidates for a fluid trapped within the crystalline crust of southern Tibet are granitic magma and water (brine).     

Lead and cesium transport in european forest soils

The downward velocity of Pb and Cs in undisturbed European forest soils is determined from the depth distribution of atmospheric ²¹⁰Pb , and from the penetration depth of the bomb Cs peak in the soil. The downward velocity of Pb and Cs shows no correlation with soil type and pH. The downward migration of Pb and Cs is found to be due to an apparent downward movement of organic material, caused by the sedimentation of soil organic matter and subsequent turnover into CO₂ . Cs migration, however, shows an additional velocity component which is found to depend on the turnover rate of soil organic matter.     

Studies of the mechanism of transgene integration into plant protoplasts: improvement of the transformation rate

Summary The production of transgenic plants by means of direct gene transfer to protoplasts is now a widely-used technique. The biological mechanisms underlying the transformation are still poorly understood, but many investigations have attempted to shed light on some components of this process. Varying the experimental conditions has in some cases led to better transformation rates, but further improvements of the protocols are possible. Such improvements will require a better understanding of how the alien DNA enters the cells, becomes integrated into the chromosomes and is treated as a part of the plant genome. Irradiation with sublethal doses of X-rays or UV-light has been shown to increase the transformation frequency, while certain drugs have been shown to act in a similar manner. The effects of these and other factors are discussed.Abbreviations Aph aphidicolin - ATF absolute transformation frequency - BLM bleomycin - CaMV cauliflower mosaic virus - CAT chloramphenicol acetyl transferase - CHO Chinese hamster ovary cells - EF enhancement factor - Nos nopaline synthase - NPTII neomycin phosphotransferase II - Ocs octopine synthase - PEG polyethyleneglycol - RTF relative transformation frequency     

Towards breeding of triploid chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.) – Ploidy variation within German chamomile of various origins

German chamomile is an important medical plant with a long history of usage and a wide range of medical applications. Wild forms are diploid, whereas cultivated ones are diploid and tetraploid. Ploidy level variation within 15 origins (varieties, accessions, populations) of chamomile was investigated. Both naturally occurring triploids and those induced through directed crosses between diploid and tetraploid parents were identified and analysed, and these data could facilitate the exploitation of triploidy in chamomile as in other crop plants (fruit and ornamental plants).