Can Tho University – Aarhus University Link in Environmental Sciences Project (Funded by Danida, implemented by cenTER) CAULES Project

This is the main phase of a project which started as a preparatory phase of eighth months from July 1999, involving training and research collaboration between Cantho University (CTU) and University of Aarhus (AU). CTU as a local university can play a decisive role in providing knowledge, education and human resources, as well as in raising awareness and taking an active part in finding local solutions to the many environmental problems in the delta.

The project’s objective is to strengthen the capability to address and solve problems related to environmental and natural resources management in the Lower Mekong Delta (LMD) by enhancing CTU’s capacity to provide multi-disciplinary environmental education at post-graduate level. This will be achieved by linking CTU to University of Aarhus and other Danish institutions able to provide expertise in environmental teaching and research. The main output from the project will be an M.Sc. Programme operating in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Management (DENRM) producing 20 graduates per year from 2003, at least 50% of whom will be in-service staff of the provincial departments involved with environmental management in the LMD. Other supporting outputs will be research projects on aspects of environmental management; staff of DENRM trained to Ph.D. (4) or M.Sc. (10) levels and a further 16 staff trained on short courses; interactive teaching methods introduced at CTU; and a Planning and Co-ordination Unit for environmental education and research established in DENRM.

The national context for the project stems from the National Plan for Environment and Sustainable Development (NPESD) issued by the Government of Vietnam in 1991. This recommends, inter alia , that there is a "need to establish specialised courses for degrees within the field of environmental sciences in a framework for sustainable development and the training of teachers in this field. Men and women should have equal access to all training programs. Development of curricula, syllabi and textbooks should be given high priority for the introduction of environmental education at all levels together with the introduction of courses for study programs leading to specialised degrees in the field of environmental sciences."

The national contribution will come through MoET’s support to CTU and from co-operation between CTU and the provincial departments in LMD (especially DoSTE, DARD, DoF) which will send their staff for M.Sc. training in CTU and which are expected to support joint environmental research studies with CTU. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources Management is already running an environmental B.Sc. course and conducting some research using GoV funds. The project is placed within the framework of the MoU between CTU and AU (signed in January 2000) covering co-operation in education, research and training.

Mainstreaming Conservation of Coastal Biodiversity through Formulation of a generic Code of Conduct for Sustainable Management of Mangrove Forest Ecosystems (MCB) (Funded by the World Bank, in Collaboration with ISME & GLOMIS Regional Centres , implemented by cenTER)

A dedicated homepage to this project has been developed.

See here

A desk review was undertaken in January-February 2001on the above theme to formulate information and guidance materials as the basis for developing a Code of Conduct for Sustainable Mangrove Forest Management (Code) for World Bank staff, development partners, and clients. The overall terms of reference for the review were to:

“Undertake a desk review which will form the resource document to complement and support subsequent case studies leading towards the development of a generic Code of Conduct for sustainable management of mangrove forest ecosystems.”

A draft review was submitted to the Bank in March that contained a detailed overview of the topic, supported by model country case studies from Malaysia and Thailand.  In addition, a case study of the Philippines has been completed recently (September 2001). The country case studies were based on a structured template to enable standard reporting on the national legal and management framework for mangroves in each country, plus national and local experiences in managing mangroves sustainably. A national expert, assisted by the consultants has prepared each case study.

The country case study template was also circulated to experts in other countries to assess their interest in contributing to the activity. This resulted in strong interest among several other countries and partial case studies were received (e.g. from Kenya, and Vietnam). A number of mangrove experts have expressed interest in contributing to the country case studies if financial support is available (e.g. India and Nicaragua).

The use of weaver ants for biological pest control in tropical crops

In a world with an expanding human population a major challenge in future agriculture is the need to achieve increased production by means of sustainable agricultural methods. Weaver ants ( Oecophylla spp ) are known to be able to protect more than 12 different tropical crop trees against more than 50 different arthropod pests. The ants can be cheaper and more efficient than chemical pesticides leading to increased production and higher crop quality. The wide range of pests the ants can control means that chemical pesticides are often dispensable. Therefore, sustainable and organic production may go hand-in-hand with production increases, rather than production loss. For example, in Australian mango and cashew plantations abandoning pesticides in favor of weaver ants has shown to increase net incomes with more than 70%. Through our work in Southeast Asia and West Africa we are testing the efficiency of weaver ant biocontrol in different geographical regions and under different pest regimens and we are continuously testing new crops to be added to the list of successfully protected species. Via studies in basic ant-plant ecology we work to improve the efficiency of the technology, adapt it to local conditions, make it applicable to more crops and ease implementation. In cases of inadequacy we look for IPM components to supplement ant protection and we develop methods to reduce problems associated with ant protection, e.g. the biting of plantation staff by the ants. By means of North-South (DK-tropics) and South-South (Asia-Africa) exchange of knowledge we aim to develop and implement weaver ant technologies in order to improve conditions for poor farmers, increase crop yields, achieve sustainability and stimulate economic growth.

Weaver ant in attack mode

Thai-Danish research team visiting local citrus farmers i North Eastern Thailand

Mangroves for the Future (Funded by multiple governments and donors, implemented by IUCN, cenTER providing long-term coordinator and short-term consultants and home-office support / backstopping)

A dedicated homepage to this project has been developed.

See here

Launched in September 2005, Mangroves for the Future is a multi-agency, multi-country initiative for the long-term conservation and sustainable management of coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, coral reefs, wetlands, forests, lagoons, estuaries, beaches and sandy shores. It covers twelve tsunami-affected countries in South and Southeast Asia and the Western Indian Ocean. The initiative involves collaboration between multiple partners, including government agencies, non-governmental and community-based organisations, research institutes and universities, the World Conservation Union (IUCN), UN agencies and other multilateral bodies.

Mangroves for the Future provides a platform, which brings together the efforts of different countries, sectors and agencies under a common goal — to conserve and restore ecosystems to sustain human livelihoods, increase resilience and reduce vulnerability among coastal communities in the Indian Ocean Region.

The initiative has received enthusiastic support from the many organizations involved in coastal management and post-tsunami reconstruction. As a result of this support and interest, a detailed process of consultation and dialogue has been undertaken in tsunami-affected countries and at the global level, in order to identify priorities, needs and partnership arrangements, and to establish a comprehensive strategy and programme document. These were presented to a donor roundtable in New York on 12 September 2006, where pledges of funding for the initiative were made.

Mangroves for the Future will commence implementation 1 January 2007. It will engage and directly involve a wide range of stakeholders from governments, international agencies, NGOs, CBOs, the private sector and local communities to work towards a common goal. At the regional level, implementation of the initiative will be supported and guided by a Regional Steering Committee co-chaired by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which will include representation from national governments, UN agencies (United Nations Environment Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization, in particular) and non-governmental organisations.

At the national level, Mangroves for the Future will be coordinated and steered through strengthening the existing mechanisms for coastal management which bring together different agencies, sectors and civil society groups. On the ground, the initiative will be implemented through a series of individual actions that are linked by a common goal and strategy, but are spread out geographically, temporally, and in terms of management and implementation responsibility. Many different agencies and organisations will take the lead in implementing these actions.

Mangroves for the Future involves countries affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Maldives, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Thailand.

Training and Research on physiological constraints in aquaculture in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam (Funded by the Danida ENRECA Scheme, cenTER providing home-office support / backstopping and project management) PhysCAM

The aim of this proposal is to train Vietnamese students and academics in animal and plant physiology, and to supervise their research into applied aspects that will allow for immediate and significant optimization of farmed fresh water animal growth.

The Mekong Delta covers approximately 12% of Vietnam’s total area, but accounts for morethan half of the total agricultural production of the country and for more than 60% of its fish production. In 1999, this amounted to more than 450 k tons of fresh waterfish and almost 150 k tons of crustaceans. Associated with a shiftfrom aquaculture aimed at meeting food demands of the family to income-based aquaculture,there has been an explosive increase in the area devoted to fish farms in the lower Mekongdelta. There is little reason to believe that the economic and political forces behind thisgrowth in the aquaculture industry will decrease in the near future. Pressures on both theenvironment and on expert personnel involved in advising the industry will therefore continueto increase.

At present the aquaculture production systems utilized in the Mekong Delta are lowtechwith low productivity. For example, in 2005 farms in the Mekong yielded approximately500 kg per hectare of the shrimp Macrobrachium rosenbergii (MOFI statistics), whereas inthe US where the temperature is lower and the climatic conditions suboptimal, productivity in  excess of 2000 kg per hectare is achieved. There are three ways toincrease production. The two currently favored methods involve increasing the area devotedto aquaculture by either digging new ponds for monoculture or integrating production intoexisting rice paddies. However, the third and alternative possibility is to improve theaquaculture systems to raise productivity. This shift to intensive aquaculture is likely tohappen when pressures on the environment (for example water availability) and market pricesof the products make the investment necessary for the shift favorable. A change to hightechnology/high productivity aquaculture requires that the skills of the aquaculture advisorsare upgraded and that research is performed to improve the level of knowledge of the basicphysiology of the animals of interest. This is already happening and the 6th technicalsymposium on Mekong fisheries (2003) identified knowledge on nutritional requirements ofthe local fish and crustaceans, as the most pressing issue in the industry. Nevertheless, highdensity/high output systems will be limited by oxygen availability and maintenance of waterchemistry. Design of appropriate aquaculture systems, thereforealso requires knowledge on the basic physiology of the chosen animals and of local plantspecies suitable for the design of large-scale water treatment facilities. The aim of this projectis to build up a capacity for research on these basic physiological aspects with clearapplicability to aquaculture in the Mekong delta.

The capacity building proposed here will focus on the effects of ionic strength of thewater, dissolved oxygen, ammonia concentrations, and agrochemicals since these parametersexert major impact on fish growth. In addition, the project will include studies on thephysiology of local plant species that can be used in plant-based treatment systems to purifythe water from the aquaculture systems. The animal species chosen willfocus on species of economic importance for the Lower Mekong RiverRegion. The project will involvetraining of personnel and students and provide a framework for both basic and appliedresearch to be used in the aquaculture sector. It is our view thatsuch research has the twofold advantage of generating new knowledge while at the same timegreatly increasing the likelihood that the local aquaculture advisors will start to exploitexisting information in their advisory capacities.

Horseshoe Crabs: Evolution, Physiology and Management

A dedicated homepage to this project has been developed.

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Horseshoe crabs are marine arthropods related to spiders and scorpions. The fossil record suggests that these animals remained almost unchanged in their anatomy for 400 million years and are therefore often referred to as “living fossils”. Horseshoe crabs are important elements in coastal food chains as they provide an essential food source for migrating birds and sea turtles. Commercially these animals are of great relevance worldwide as their blue blood provides a serum used as assay for detecting bacteria and toxins. Today there are only four species of horseshoe crabs alive. One species lives along the North American East coast ( Limulus polyphemus ) while three species live in coastal habitats of South East Asia ( Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda , Tachypleus gigas og T. tridentatus ). All four species are threatened to go extinct according to the IUCN Red List owing to over-exploitation and habitat destruction.

In order to better protect the horseshoe crabs and develop concepts for a sustainable management it is crucial to investigate their biology and distribution. With this project we will uncover the population genetic structure and evolutionary relationships of the four species of horseshoe crabs using molecular genetic methods. This study will enable us to pinpoint high priority areas for conservation of these species in order to ensure their existence in the future. Physiological examination of the animals will give us a much better picture of how environmental changes (natural and human mediated) effect the distribution and survival of horseshoe crabs.

The ability of horseshoe crabs to adjust to changes in the environment and resist pathogens is highly dependent on their genetic variation. However, genetic variation declines rapidly when populations shrink leading to predominance of inbreeding which can result in the extermination of the species. The chances for a species to survive over long terms rise with its genetic variation. This diversity is likewise important for the medical applicability of an organism as different strains, populations or subspecies can posses various forms of a relevant substance, e.g. genetic traits and immune responses. Therefore it is essential to investigate the three Asian horseshoe crab species with regard to their entire distribution range, which is at this point still unclear.

Little is known on the physiology of Asian horseshoe crabs with regard to the circulation system, respiration, metabolism, as well as acid-base and osmoregulation. This implies that it is nearly impossible at this point to predict how the animals can cope with recent and future environmental changes. Hence it is not possible to anticipate how precisely changes in e.g. water temperature, oxygen content, salinity, influence the animals. An increased insight into the physiological function of Asian horseshoe crabs will give us the possibility for a detailed comparison with the physiology of spiders and scorpions herby unraveling very basic parts of the natural history of chelicerate early evolution in form and function.

The project started in early spring 2006 and is planned to continue until December 2008. During this time our group will carry out several sampling trips and experimental trials in Asia. We joined the Galathea 3 Expedition with collections and experiments from March to April 2007. All research in Denmark will be carried out at University of Aarhus and the Kattegatcenter in Grenå.