Displaying publications 101 - 120 of 544 in total

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  1. Comparative study on recycling behaviours between regular recyclers and non regular recyclers in Malaysia
    Tiew KG, Basri NEA, Deng H, Watanabe K, Zain SM, Wang S
    J Environ Manage, 2019 May 01;237:255-263.
    PMID: 30798044 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.02.033
    After twenty-four years of government efforts, the latest national recycling rate in Malaysia rose from 5% in 1993 to approximately 24.6% in 2017. However, the practice of solid waste recycling in developing countries is still challenging compared to developing countries. Especially in Malaysia, a multi-ethnic country where people with different ethics have different living lifestyles. Still, Malaysia faces rapidly increasing solid waste and management costs, lacks appropriate data on solid waste management and recycling, lacks awareness of the 3R's (reduce, reuse and recycle) culture and lacks policies to promote 3R's culture. In addition, prior to the enforcement of ACT 672, information and networks between stakeholders have been limited for more than 20 years. Some scholars believe that the success of recycling practices is mainly influenced by community recycling behaviours. Therefore, in order to improve and evaluate the effectiveness of current national solid waste recycling management systems, research and assessment of community recycling behaviours are essential. This paper aims to evaluate the factors that attract communities to implement recycling in their daily lives and to obtain data through quantitative survey methods. Face-to-face questionnaires are conducted through purposive sampling and collected data is further analysed by PASW statistical tools. The comparison between recyclers and non-recyclers are presented in terms of frequency, means scores and radar chart. The results indicate that policy makers involved in the planning, organisation, and implementation of community recycling programs have to focus on strategies that engage community members and adopt recycling practices to improve environmental impact by changing their attitudes. Based on the results of means scores, the type of age, occupation and place of life must be taken into consideration in order to organize future recycling campaigns or awareness programs. In conclusion, the information will help policymakers make better solid waste recycling management to meet the needs of the public.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  2. The use of worldview-2 satellite data in urban tree species mapping by object-based image analysis technique
    Razieh Shojanoori, Helmi Z.m. Shafri, Shattri Mansor, Mohd Hasmadi Ismail
    Sains Malaysiana, 2016;45:1025-1034.
    The growth of residential and commercial areas threatens vegetation and ecosystems. Thus, an urgent urban management
    issue involves determining the state and the quantity of urban tree species to protect the environment, as well as controlling
    their growth and decline. This study focused on the detection of urban tree species by considering three types of tree
    species, namely, Mesua ferrea L., Samanea saman, and Casuarina sumatrana. New rule sets were developed to detect these
    three species. In this regard, two pixel-based classification methods were applied and compared; namely, the method of
    maximum likelihood classification and support vector machines. These methods were then compared with object-based
    image analysis (OBIA) classification. OBIA was used to develop rule sets by extracting spatial, spectral, textural and color
    attributes, among others. Finally, the new rule sets were implemented into WorldView-2 imagery. The results indicated
    that the OBIA based on the rule sets displayed a significant potential to detect different tree species with high accuracy.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  3. Leaching and freeze-thaw events contribute to litter decomposition - a review
    Jiang L, Yue K, Yang Y, Wu Q
    Sains Malaysiana, 2016;45:1041-1047.
    Litter decomposition is vital for carbon and nutrient turnover in terrestrial ecosystems, and this process has now
    been thoroughly demonstrated to be regulated by various mechanisms. The total environment has been continuously
    changing in recent decades, especially in high-latitude regions; these alterations, however, profoundly contribute to the
    decomposition process, but a comprehensive recognition has not available. Here we reviewed the empirical observations
    and current knowledge regarding how hydrological leaching and freeze-thaw events modulate early decomposition of
    plant litter. Leaching contributes a considerable percentage of mass loss and carbon and nutrient release in early stage of
    decomposition, but the magnitudes are different between species levels depending on the chemical traits. Frequent freezing
    and thawing events could positively influence decomposition rate in cold biomes but also hamper soil decomposer and
    there is no general and predictable pattern has been emerged. Further experiments should be manipulated to estimate
    how the altered freezing and thawing effect on carbon and nutrient release from plant litter to better understanding the
    changing environment on litter decomposition.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  4. Compressibility characteristics of compacted clay treated with cement, peat ash and silica sand
    Mousavi S, Leong SW
    Sains Malaysiana, 2017;46:97-106.
    This paper investigates the compressibility characteristics of compacted clay treated with cement, peat ash and silica
    sand. For this purpose, one dimensional consolidation tests were conducted to determine the soil consolidation properties.
    The test specimens were trimmed from the compaction test specimen. The 1D consolidation test specimen was subjected
    to the normal pressures of 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80 and 160 kPa in sequence on the test specimen which was saturated with
    distilled water. At the end of the loading period of 80 kPa, the vertical load was removed and the specimen was allowed
    to expand for 24 h for the purpose of evaluating of its swelling behavior. The results showed that void ratio of the soil
    specimens decreased with increasing effective normal pressure. The laboratory investigation clearly demonstrates that,
    settlement is as the compression of a soil specimen due to vertical loading applied at the top surface of the 1D consolidation
    test specimen. It was concluded that, the compression settlement of the stabilized soil with the binder composition of
    18% cement, 2% peat ash and 5% silica sand improved by almost 1.3-fold. A notable discovery is the suitability of the
    stabilized soil for road embankment and low lying marginal area for foundation works; also solving the environmental
    problems in relation to peaty ground. However, sufficient laboratory and field testing are required.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  5. Experimental identification on thresholds for early warning of rainfall-induced failure on fractured slopes after giant earthquake
    Zong-ji Yang, Taro Uchimura, Jian-ping Qiao, Jian-ping Qiao
    Sains Malaysiana, 2017;46:2029-2034.
    Prevention and mitigation of rainfall induced geological hazards after the Ms=8 Wenchuan earthquake on May 12th, 2008 were significant for rebuild of earthquake hit regions. After the Wenchuan earthquake, there were tens of thousands of fractured slopes which were broken and loosened by the ground shaking, they were very susceptible to heavy rainfall and change forms into potential debris flows. In order to carry out this disaster reduction and prediction effectively in Longmenshan region, careful real-time monitoring and pre-warning of mountain hazards in both regional and site-specific scales is reasonable as alternatives in Wenchuan earthquake regions. For pre-warning the failure of fractured slopes induced by rainfall, the threshold value or the critical value of the precipitation of hazards should be proposed. However, the identification of critical criterion and parameters to pre-warning is the most difficult issue in mountainous hazards monitoring and pre-warning system especially in the elusive and massive fractured slopes widespread in Wenchuan earthquake regions. In this study, a natural coseismic fractured landslide in the Taziping village, Hongkou County, Dujianyan City, was selected to conduct the field experimental test, in order to identify the threshold parameters and critical criterion of the fractured slopes of Taziping. After the field experimental test, the correlation of rainfall intensity, rainfall duration and accumulative rainfall was investigated. The field experimental test was capable of identifying the threshold factors for failure of rainfall-induced fractured slopes after the giant earthquake.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  6. Earliest triassic conodonts of Gua Panjang, Merapoh, Pahang and their bearing towards permian-triassic mass extinction in ,alaysia
    Nelisa Ameera Mohamed Joeharry, Che Aziz Ali, Kamal Roslan Mohamed, Mohd Shafeea Leman
    Sains Malaysiana, 2018;47:1423-1430.
    A single sample from the logged section at eastern side of Gua Panjang limestone hill, southwest of Kampung Kubang
    Rasa Village, Merapoh, has yielded 5 very important conodont species. They are Hindeodus parvus erectus, Hindeodus
    parvus parvus, Hindeodus latidentatus latidentatus, Hindeodus latidentatus praeparvus, Hindeodus postparvus, Hindeodus
    eurypge and Isarcicella staeschi. These Early Triassic conodonts were obtained in a bioclastic dolostone sample, located
    2.5 m above bioclastic grainstone which yielded Late Permian foraminifera. The conodonts found were given Conodont
    Alteration Index (CAI) scale of 5, consistent with the heating of Main Range granitoid during Indosinian Orogeny.
    Limestone harbouring basal Triassic conodonts in Gua Panjang is interpreted to be deposited in an open shallow marine
    shelf environment.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  7. Fulltext A functional pipeline framework for landmark identification on 3D surface extracted from volumetric data
    Zheng P, Belaton B, Liao IY, Rajion ZA
    PLoS One, 2017;12(11):e0187558.
    PMID: 29121077 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187558
    Landmarks, also known as feature points, are one of the important geometry primitives that describe the predominant characteristics of a surface. In this study we proposed a self-contained framework to generate landmarks on surfaces extracted from volumetric data. The framework is designed to be a three-fold pipeline structure. The pipeline comprises three phases which are surface construction, crest line extraction and landmark identification. With input as a volumetric data and output as landmarks, the pipeline takes in 3D raw data and produces a 0D geometry feature. In each phase we investigate existing methods, extend and tailor the methods to fit the pipeline design. The pipeline is designed to be functional as it is modularised to have a dedicated function in each phase. We extended the implicit surface polygonizer for surface construction in first phase, developed an alternative way to compute the gradient of maximal curvature for crest line extraction in second phase and finally we combine curvature information and K-means clustering method to identify the landmarks in the third phase. The implementations are firstly carried on a controlled environment, i.e. synthetic data, for proof of concept. Then the method is tested on a small scale data set and subsequently on huge data set. Issues and justifications are addressed accordingly for each phase.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment, Controlled
  8. Internal model control for industrial wireless plant using WirelessHART hardware-in-the-loop simulator
    Tran CD, Ibrahim R, Asirvadam VS, Saad N, Sabo Miya H
    ISA Trans, 2018 Apr;75:236-246.
    PMID: 29478749 DOI: 10.1016/j.isatra.2017.12.010
    The emergence of wireless technologies such as WirelessHART and ISA100 Wireless for deployment at industrial process plants has urged the need for research and development in wireless control. This is in view of the fact that the recent application is mainly in monitoring domain due to lack of confidence in control aspect. WirelessHART has an edge over its counterpart as it is based on the successful Wired HART protocol with over 30 million devices as of 2009. Recent works on control have primarily focused on maintaining the traditional PID control structure which is proven not adequate for the wireless environment. In contrast, Internal Model Control (IMC), a promising technique for delay compensation, disturbance rejection and setpoint tracking has not been investigated in the context of WirelessHART. Therefore, this paper discusses the control design using IMC approach with a focus on wireless processes. The simulation and experimental results using real-time WirelessHART hardware-in-the-loop simulator (WH-HILS) indicate that the proposed approach is more robust to delay variation of the network than the PID.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  9. Analysis of Economic and Environmental Aspects of Microalgae Biorefinery for Biofuels Production: A Review
    Chia SR, Chew KW, Show PL, Yap YJ, Ong HC, Ling TC, et al.
    Biotechnol J, 2018 Jun;13(6):e1700618.
    PMID: 29356369 DOI: 10.1002/biot.201700618
    Microalgae are considered promising feedstock for the production of biofuels and other bioactive compounds, yet there are still challenges on commercial applications of microalgae-based products. This review focuses on the economic analysis, environmental impact, and industrial potential of biofuels production from microalgae. The cost of biofuels production remains higher compared to conventional fuel sources. However, integration of biorefinery pathways with biofuels production for the recovery of value-added products (such as antioxidants, natural dyes, cosmetics, nutritional supplements, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and so forth) could substantially reduce the production costs. It also paves the way for sustainable energy resources by significantly reducing the emissions of CO2 , NOx , SOx , and heavy metals. Large-scale biofuels production has yet to be successfully commercialized with many roadblocks ahead and heavy competition with conventional fuel feedstock as well as technological aspects. One of the prominent challenges is to develop a cost-effective method to achieve high-density microalgal cultivation on an industrial scale. The biofuels industry should be boosted by Government's support in the form of subsidies and incentives, for addressing the pressing climate change issues, achieving sustainability, and energy security.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  10. Fulltext Imperative: reducing the environmental impact of clinical laboratories
    Gammie AJ, Lopez JB, Scott S
    Clin Chem Lab Med, 2023 Mar 28;61(4):634-637.
    PMID: 36343330 DOI: 10.1515/cclm-2022-1052
    Clinical laboratories are significant contributors to the environmental burden of the planet. They have been slow to address the issues with a few exceptions, but it is highly encouraging to see the current impetus and ambition in this direction. This paper describes some of these initiatives and provides the rationale as to why clinical laboratories should become sustainable. It also describes the economic and intangible benefits that labs will accrue in achieving sustainability.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  11. The influence of safety leadership on nurses' safety behavior: The mediating role of safety knowledge and motivation
    Subramaniam C, Johari J, Mashi MS, Mohamad R
    J Safety Res, 2023 Feb;84:117-128.
    PMID: 36868640 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsr.2022.10.013
    INTRODUCTION: This paper investigates the relationships among safety leadership, safety motivation, safety knowledge, and safety behavior in the setting of a tertiary hospital in Klang Valley, Malaysia.

    METHOD: Underpinned by the self-efficacy theory, we argue that high-quality safety leadership enhances nurses' safety knowledge and motivation and subsequently, improves their safety behavior (safety compliance and safety participation). A total of 332 questionnaire responses were gathered and analyzed using SmartPLS Version 3.2.9, revealing the direct effect of safety leadership on both safety knowledge and safety motivation.

    RESULTS: Safety knowledge and safety motivation were found to directly and significantly predict nurses' safety behavior. Notably, safety knowledge and safety motivation were established as important mediators in the relationship between safety leadership and nurses' safety compliance and participation.

    PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: The findings of this study offer key guidance for safety researchers and hospital practitioners in identifying mechanisms to enhance safety behavior among nurses.

    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  12. Decomposing the trade-environment nexus for Malaysia: what do the technique, scale, composition, and comparative advantage effect indicate?
    Ling CH, Ahmed K, Binti Muhamad R, Shahbaz M
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2015 Dec;22(24):20131-42.
    PMID: 26300360 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-015-5217-9
    This paper investigates the impact of trade openness on CO2 emissions using time series data over the period of 1970QI-2011QIV for Malaysia. We disintegrate the trade effect into scale, technique, composition, and comparative advantage effects to check the environmental consequence of trade at four different transition points. To achieve the purpose, we have employed augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron (PP) unit root tests in order to examine the stationary properties of the variables. Later, the long-run association among the variables is examined by applying autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration. Our results confirm the presence of cointegration. Further, we find that scale effect has positive and technique effect has negative impact on CO2 emissions after threshold income level and form inverted U-shaped relationship-hence validates the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. Energy consumption adds in CO2 emissions. Trade openness and composite effect improve environmental quality by lowering CO2 emissions. The comparative advantage effect increases CO2 emissions and impairs environmental quality. The results provide the innovative approach to see the impact of trade openness in four sub-dimensions of trade liberalization. Hence, this study attributes more comprehensive policy tool for trade economists to better design environmentally sustainable trade rules and agreements.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  13. A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of concrete and steel-prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction structures in Malaysia
    Balasbaneh AT, Ramli MZ
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2020 Dec;27(34):43186-43201.
    PMID: 32734541 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-10141-3
    In recent years, off-site volumetric construction has been promoted as a viable strategy for improving the sustainability of the construction industry. Most prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction (PPVC) structures are composed of either steel or concrete; thus, it is imperative to carry out life cycle assessments (LCAs) for both types of structures. PPVC is a method by which free-standing volumetric modules-complete with finishes for walls, floors, and ceilings-are prefabricated and then transferred and erected on-site. Although many studies have examined these structures, few have combined economic and environmental life cycle analyses, particularly for prefinished volumetric construction buildings. The purpose of this study is to utilize LCA and life cycle cost (LCC) methods to compare the environmental impacts and costs of steel and concrete PPVCs "from cradle to grave." The results show that steel necessitates higher electricity usage than concrete in all environmental categories, while concrete has a higher emission rate. Steel outperforms concrete by approximately 37% in non-renewable energy measures, 38% in respiratory inorganics, 43% in land occupation, and 40% in mineral extraction. Concrete, on the other hand, performs 54% better on average in terms of measures adopted for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Steel incurs a higher cost in the construction stage but is ultimately the more economical choice, costing 4% less than concrete PPVC owing to the recovery, recycling, and reuse of materials. In general, steel PPVC exhibits better performance, both in terms of cost and environmental factors (excluding GHG emissions). This study endeavors to improve the implementation and general understanding of PPVC.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  14. The control of corruption and energy efficiency relationship: an empirical note
    Ozturk I, Al-Mulali U, Solarin SA
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2019 Jun;26(17):17277-17283.
    PMID: 31012074 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-019-05016-1
    This study aims at exploring the impact of corruption control on energy efficiency in 60 countries categorized by income: lower middle (LMI), upper middle (UMI), and high (HI). Panel methodology was utilized taking the period of 2000-2017. As cross-sectional dependence is confirmed among the tested equations, the Pesaran (J Appl Econ 22(2):265-312, 2007) unit root test and the augmented mean group estimator proposed by Eberhardt and Teal (2010) were utilized to overcome this matter. The results in general indicate that the lower the corruption is, the more the energy efficiency for all income group economies. Moreover, renewable energy reduces energy efficiency in lower-middle income and high-income economies while its effect is positive in middle-income economies. In addition, the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) found to be present in all income group economies. Lastly, causality relationships among energy efficiency, corruption, and GDP were present mostly in upper-middle income and high-income economies. From the results, it was recommended that the countries from all income groups should increase their corruption control for the purpose of enhancing energy efficiency.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  15. Effects of energy consumption, economic growth, and financial development on carbon emissions: evidence from heterogeneous income groups
    Ehigiamusoe KU, Lean HH
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2019 Aug;26(22):22611-22624.
    PMID: 31165972 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-019-05309-5
    This paper examines the effects of energy consumption, economic growth, and financial development on carbon emissions in a panel of 122 countries. We employ both first-generation and second-generation cointegration and estimation procedures in order to address diverse economic and econometric issues such as heterogeneity, endogeneity, and cross-sectional dependence. We find a cointegration relationship between the variables. Energy consumption, economic growth, and financial development have detrimental effects on carbon emissions in the full sample. When the sample is split into different income groups, we reveal that economic growth and financial development mitigate carbon emissions in high-income group but have the opposite effects in low-income and middle-income groups. The implication of the findings is that energy consumption increases carbon emissions. While high levels of income and financial development decrease carbon emissions, low levels of income and financial development intensify it. Based on the findings, the paper makes some policy recommendations.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  16. A comparison of dust impacts on polycrystalline and monocrystalline solar photovoltaic performance: an outdoor experimental study
    Kazem HA, Chaichan MT, Al-Waeli AHA
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2022 Dec;29(59):88788-88802.
    PMID: 35836053 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-21958-5
    Solar cells are considered one of the most important and widespread solar applications in the world. However, the performance of the PV modules is significantly affected by the dust in the air. This paper, therefore, presents a comparison of an outdoor experimental study of dust effect on monocrystalline, and polycrystalline photovoltaic (PV) modules. For analysis, four 100 W PVs were installed horizontally in Sohar, Oman. For each pair of PV modules, one was left dusty due to environmental impact, and the second was cleaned daily. PV performance and environmental parameter measurements were conducted every 30 min for 35 days. The effects of dust on current, voltage, power, and energy were discussed in terms of time and normalized values. Also, cleaning methods were tested to determine the optimum one. It is found that power degradation of monocrystalline (20%) is higher compared with polycrystalline (12%) due to dust accumulation. For monocrystalline, the current, voltage, and power losses ranged between 10.0-24.0%, 2.0-3.5%, and 14.0-31.0%, respectively. However, for polycrystalline, the degradation rates were 16.88-27.92%, 0.455-0.455%, and 17.14-28.1% for current, voltage, and power losses after exposure to outdoor conditions for the same period, respectively. The dust accumulation on the PV surface found after 5 weeks is 0.493 mg/cm2, which can be considered the lowest accumulation rate compared to other Gulf countries, but which, however, leads to less energy degradation as well. It is found that water is sufficient to clean PV in the study area. However, sodium detergent as a cleaner introduced better results compared to water, especially when there is high pollution in the location.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  17. Economic and environmental life cycle perspectives on two engineered wood products: comparison of LVL and GLT construction materials
    Balasbaneh AT, Sher W, Yeoh D, Yasin MN
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2023 Feb;30(10):26964-26981.
    PMID: 36374387 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-24079-1
    The embodied carbon of building materials and the energy consumed during construction have a significant impact on the environmental credentials of buildings. The structural systems of a building present opportunities to reduce environmental emissions and energy. In this regard, mass timber materials have considerable potential as sustainable materials over other alternatives such as steel and concrete. The aim of this investigation was to compare the environment impact, energy consumption, and life cycle cost (LCC) of different wood-based materials in identical single-story residential buildings. The materials compared are laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and glued laminated timber (GLT). GLT has less global warming potential (GWP), ozone layer depletion (OLD), and land use (LU), respectively, by 29%, 37%, and 35% than LVL. Conversely, LVL generally has lower terrestrial acidification potential (TAP), human toxicity potential (HTP), and fossil depletion potential (FDP), respectively, by 30%, 17%, and 27%. The comparative outcomes revealed that using LVL reduces embodied energy by 41%. To identify which of these materials is the best alternative, various environmental categories, embodied energy, and cost criteria require further analysis. Therefore, the multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method has been applied to enable robust decision-making. The outcome showed that LVL manufacturing using softwood presents the most sustainable choice. These research findings contribute to the body of knowledge about the use of mass timber in construction.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  18. Fulltext Impact of mediterranean diet promotion on environmental sustainability: a longitudinal analysis
    Álvarez-Álvarez L, Vitelli-Storelli F, Rubín-García M, García S, Bouzas C, Ruíz-Canela M, et al.
    Public Health, 2024 May;230:12-20.
    PMID: 38479163 DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2024.02.010
    OBJECTIVE: This article aims to estimate the differences in environmental impact (greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions, land use, energy used, acidification and potential eutrophication) after one year of promoting a Mediterranean diet (MD).

    METHODS: Baseline and 1-year follow-up data from 5800 participants in the PREDIMED-Plus study were used. Each participant's food intake was estimated using validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires, and the adherence to MD using the Dietary Score. The influence of diet on environmental impact was assessed through the EAT-Lancet Commission tables. The influence of diet on environmental impact was assessed through the EAT-Lancet Commission tables. The association between MD adherence and its environmental impact was calculated using adjusted multivariate linear regression models.

    RESULTS: After one year of intervention, the kcal/day consumed was significantly reduced (-125,1 kcal/day), adherence to a MD pattern was improved (+0,9) and the environmental impact due to the diet was significantly reduced (GHG: -361 g/CO2-eq; Acidification:-11,5 g SO2-eq; Eutrophication:-4,7 g PO4-eq; Energy use:-842,7 kJ; and Land use:-2,2 m2). Higher adherence to MD (high vs. low) was significantly associated with lower environmental impact both at baseline and one year follow-up. Meat products had the greatest environmental impact in all the factors analysed, both at baseline and at one-year follow-up, in spite of the reduction observed in their consumption.

    CONCLUSIONS: A program promoting a MD, after one year of intervention, significantly reduced the environmental impact in all the factors analysed. Meat products had the greatest environmental impact in all the dimensions analysed.

    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  19. Human intervention caused massive destruction of the second largest mangrove forest, Chakaria Sundarbans, Bangladesh
    Hasan M, Hassan L, Abdullah Al M, Kamal AHM, Idris MH, Hoque MZ, et al.
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2024 Apr;31(17):25329-25341.
    PMID: 38468013 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-32792-2
    Mangroves provide essential ecosystem services including coastal protection by acting as coastal greenbelts; however, human-driven anthropogenic activities altered their existence and ecosystem functions worldwide. In this study, the successive degradation of the second largest mangrove forest, Chakaria Sundarbans situated at the northern Bay of Bengal part of Bangladesh was assessed using remote sensing approaches. A total of five multi-temporal Landsat satellite imageries were collected and used to observe the land use land cover (LULC) changes over the time periods for the years 1972, 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020. Further, the supervised classification technique with the help of support vector machine (SVM) algorithm in ArcGIS 10.8 was used to process images. Our results revealed a drastic change of Chakaria Sundarbans mangrove forest, that the images of 1972 were comprised of mudflat, waterbody, and mangroves, while the images of 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020 were classified as waterbody, mangrove, saltpan, and shrimp farm. Most importantly, mangrove forest was the largest covering area a total of 64.2% in 1972, but gradually decreased to 12.7%, 6.4%, 1.9%, and 4.6% for the years 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020, respectively. Interestingly, the rate of mangrove forest area degradation was similar to the net increase of saltpan and shrimp farms. The kappa coefficients of classified images were 0.83, 0.87, 0.80, 0.87, and 0.91 with the overall accuracy of 88.9%, 90%, 85%, 90%, and 93.3% for the years 1972, 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020, respectively. By analyzing normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI), and transformed difference vegetation index (TDVI), our results validated that green vegetated area was decreased alarmingly with time in this study area. This destruction was mainly related to active human-driven anthropogenic activities, particularly creating embankments for fish farms or salt productions, and cutting for collection of wood as well. Together all, our results provide clear evidence of active anthropogenic stress on coastal ecosystem health by altering mangrove forest to saltpan and shrimp farm saying goodbye to the second largest mangrove forest in one of the coastal areas of the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  20. The impact of energy consumption on environmental quality: empirical evidence from the MINT countries
    Agbede EA, Bani Y, Azman-Saini WNW, Naseem NAM
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2021 Oct;28(38):54117-54136.
    PMID: 34043174 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-14407-2
    Rapid increases in energy consumption and economic growth over the past three decades are considered the driving force behind rising environmental degradation, which remain a threat to people and healthy environment. This study investigates the impact of energy consumption on environmental quality in the MINT countries using a panel PMG/ARDL modelling technique, and the Granger causality test spanning from 1971 to 2017. The empirical results confirm the existence of long-run nexus among the variables employed. The results also reveal that economic growth, energy consumption and bio-capacity have a positive and statistically significant effect on environmental degradation during the long run period. We find that a 1% increase in primary energy consumption leads to 0.4172% increase in environmental deterioration in the long-run period, but it is insignificant in the short run. This implies that energy consumption deteriorates environmental quality through a negative effect of ecological footprint. The result also suggests that as MINT countries increase the use of energy to accelerate pace of economic growth, environmental quality would deteriorate through increased ecological footprints. The coefficient of the error correction term (ect) is negative and significant (- 0.2306), suggesting that ecological footprint, a measure of environmental degradation would converge to its long-run equilibrium in the MINT region by 23.06% speed of adjustment every year due to contribution of economic growth, energy consumption, urbanization and biocapacity. The Granger non-causality test results reveal a unidirectional causal relationship from economic growth, energy consumption, and urbanization to ecological footprint and from economic growth to biocapacity. The results further show bi-directional causality between biocapacity and ecological footprint as well as between biocapacity and economic growth. Moreover, urbanization causes economic growth and biocapacity Granger-causes urbanization. Based on these findings, policy implications are adequately discussed.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
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