Book Description

Insects and other pests cause major economic damage on fruit crops in the tropics. However, some insects are beneficial and have a role in pollinating flowers and thus enabling a fruit set. This book, written by leading authors from around the world, reviews the injurious and beneficial organisms and how they might be controlled to enhance fruit production and quality. ... Read more

Book Description

This background paper explores the roles of national, regional, and international institutions and the private sector in developing and implementing technologies to sustain tropical forests. It is part of the Office of Technology Assessment’s forthcoming report Technologies To Sustain Tropical Forest Resources. A concurrent background paper, Reforestation of Degraded Lands, focuses on the actual reforestation technologies available. These analyses were requested by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and supported by the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, and the Senate Subcommittee on Environmental Pollution of the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

This paper: 1) explains how U.S. and international institutions affect the development and implementation of technologies to sustain tropical forest resources; 2) reviews the capabilities of a range of selected U.S. institutions, developed and developing world institutions, funding foundations, and private sector organizations; and 3) discusses the constraints and opportunities faced by these institutions. This is not an exhaustive study; rather it reports on a broad sampling of important institutions and highlights the most troubling constraints and most promising opportunities. ... Read more

Book Description

Tree-planting and plantation forestry in tropical countries are expanding rapidly. Social and community forestry, tree planting to control soil erosion, and the use of agroforestry, as well as many industrial afforestation projects, are all part of the response to tropical deforestation and are central to much rural development. The international Tropical Forest Action Programme (TFAP) promotes these many roles for tree-planting. This book covers each role, setting the essential silviculture in the wider development context. This new edition has been completely revised to provide up-to-date accounts of silvicultural practices, rural development issues, and the wider role that tree-planting plays. The chapters on agroforestry and protection forestry have been virtually rewritten, while throughout the book the important place of social forestryis recognized with frequent illustration and inclusion of important principles. For example, extension programmes, community participation, and issues of tree and land tenure are included, in addition to questions of species choice for fuel or fodder or poles, how to match species and site, coppicing and piollarding, and the many other ingredients of woodlot, farm forestry, or agroforestry management. Particular attention is paid to difficult sites. The silviculture underpinning successful industrial plantation forestry remains at the heart of the book. Many developments in tree improvement and forest nurseries through to considerations of forest protection and monocultures are all covered. The greater length of the second edition brings needed balance in the 1990s to include the wider issues outlined - from industrial plantation to social forestry. Thus the book provides the student with a comprehensive introduction or the practitioner or development specialist with an overview of plantation forestry and tree planting in tropical countries as part of sound land use. ... Read more

Book Description

Production from tropical agricultural systems will need to increase to satisfy the rising food demand of an increasing population coupled with changes in consumption patterns. At the same time, the agricultural sector is a significant source of greenhouse gases (GHG) in many developing countries, which can be attributed mainly to land-use change and methane emissions from rice and livestock. But how can we reconcile less GHG emissions from tropical agricultural systems while increasing productivity?Due to the interactive nature of these issues, this book is compiled of articles on natural resource management, as well as the socio-economic aspects of GHG mitigation. The scope of mitigation options in tropical agriculture is discussed for three different activities: (a) agroforestry; (b) rice-based production systems; (c) pasture/animal husbandry.Agronomic solutions alone will not be sufficient, as the institutional and economic frameworks within which farmers operate dictate whether a recommended agronomic management practice is acceptable. The prevention of deforestation, and the re-forestation of degraded land, could become key elements to national climate protection programs of some developing countries. Alternative management practices in rice-based and pasture systems may offer win-win options to reduce emissions and improve resource-use efficiencies. ... Read more

Book Description

This resource guide is based on extensive work done in several African countries. It is intended to provide user-friendly ways to gather, manage and analyze information and data by applying participatory learning and action research, and to suggest ways to use this knowledge to develop strategies for integrated soil fertility management.

This set constitutes a tool kit. It includes a textbook (Part 1); a collection of cases that explore field experiences with participatory learning and action research (PLAR) (Part 2); a set of all-weather Field Tools on laminated cards (Part 3); a CD-ROM including a software package to assist in analyzing data (Part 4); and a manual with detailed versions of the Field Tools plus a User's Guide to the software (Part 5).

This resource guide aims to democratize knowledge. PLAR is an agricultural extension strategy, a methodology with experimentation and discovery at its heart. It promotes mutual learning that increases understanding among farmers, extension workers and researchers. Though this book is about soil fertility management, its approach is applicable to farmer based plant pest and disease control or management of biodiversity. PLAR starts with the farmer's knowledge and ability to observe. Socio-economic circumstances (e.g. resource availability) and gender concerns are built into the process, and are reflected in farming practices that each individual participant decides to explore.

The main aim of the set is to give field workers practical advice on how to work with farmers to improve soil fertility management. It will also help field practitioners facilitate positive changes within farming communities. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A great book for the seriously interested
I would highly recommend this book to anyone seriously interested in persuing tropical agroforestry. It is full of information, covers social and political ramifications and obstacles to tropical agroforestry, BUT, it is USD114, which is quite high. Having said that, it is a fantastic book and well written, refuting some of the hype of the 1980s, but still very optimistic about agroforestry. For anyone who wants to know the nuts and bolts of these systems, this is your book.
I work in organic cacao production, and know much about TA, however, nearly every page has me learning new things, realizing that the problems we face here are problems shared by others elsewhere, or seeing things in a new light.
The writer is well informed and clearlyu empathetizes with small scale producers. ... Read more

Book Description

A source book on the causes and effects of tropical deforestation. ... Read more

Book Description

A middleware system (a.k.a. distributed computing infrastructure) constitutes a set of services that aim at facilitating the development of distributed applications in heterogeneous environments. The primary objectives of middleware systems are to foster application portability and distributed application component interoperability. At least conceptually, the middleware layer is located below the application and above the operating system and network substrate.Distributed Infrastructure Support For E-Commerce And Distributed Applications is organized in three parts. The first part constitutes an overview, a more detailed motivation of the problem context, and a tutorial-like introduction to middleware systems. The second part is comprised of a set of chapters that study solutions to leverage the trade-off between a transparent programming model and application-level enabled resource control. The third part of this book presents three detailed distributed application case studies and demonstrates how standard middleware platforms fail to adequately cope with resource control needs of the application designer in these three cases: 1. An electronic commerce framework for software leasing over the World Wide Web;2. A remote building energy management system that has been experimentally deployed on several building sites;3. A wireless computing infrastructure for efficient data transfer to non-stationary mobile clients that have been experimentally validated. Distributed Infrastructure Support For E-Commerce And Distributed Applications is designed for a professional audience composed of researchers and practitioners working in the fields of middleware systems, distributing systems, internet computing and software engineering. This book is also suitable as a secondary text for graduate-level students in computer science and engineering. ... Read more

Book Description

The book includes 20 contributions on diverse aspects of the environmental geochemistry in tropical and sub-tropical environments. These contributions summarize original information which is seldon available in the current day literature. Most of the chapters includes extensive original data that will serve many researchers interested in the tropics and sub-tropics. A group of papers on methods and their applications will serve directly to scientists involved in environmental research in the tropics. Also some interesting intercontinental comparisons are availaberl on paleoclimatology, environmental impacts of mining and geochemistry of continetal shelf sediments. ... Read more

Book Description

Commercial fishing is the most lethal labor in the United States. Between 1992 and 1996, 380 fishermen died. They were drowned, frozen to death or crushed or mangled by their gear and machinery. They risk the danger for the love of the sea, the independent lifestyle and, most of all, for money. Inquirer reporter Doug Campbell covered the unfolding disasters that plagued the Atlantic clamming industry during the winter of 1999. In this book, he follows the sinkings of four clamboats and tells the stories of those who survived and the 10 men who were Lost at Sea. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A colorful pictorial summary of tropical fruits
Lavishly illustrated with full colour photographs of tropical fruits on every page, this book is perfect as a pictorial summary of the subject matter. Written in a simple, concise yet entertaining fashion, this book describes the fruits one species to a page. Though brief, the book manages to squeeze in much of the important information including the common and scientific names. This includes descriptions on how the fruits are served and eaten. Also, the sidebars list the common names of each fruit in Thai and Malay which would be useful in trying to find them in Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia. My only complaint is that the book is a bit pricey for the size (it really is very thin). ... Read more