Dans la foulée de la réforme agraire de 1969, le gouvernement péruvien lança un programme de reboisement dans les Andes. Plus de 20 000 ha furent ainsi boisés en pins dans la région de Cajamarca, dont 8 500 ha dans la coopérative agraire de Granja Porcon. Destinés alors à approvision- ner les paysans en bois et à développer l’ac- tivité économique locale, à enrayer la dégra- dation des sols et des forêts naturelles rési- duelles, ces boisements sont aujourd’hui sollicités pour leur contribution au stockage du carbone. Cette recherche vise à comparer la capacité de séquestration de carbone des pâturages et des plantations de Pinus patula de haute altitude (3 250-3 450 m). À cette fin, deux approches ont été combi- nées : l’échantillonnage des sols (couches holorganiques et 0-100 cm) et de la végéta- tion dans les deux formations végétales (pâturages et boisements de Pinus patula âgés de 17 à 26 ans), sur cambisols déve- loppés sur matériaux volcaniques ; l’établis- sement d’un modèle de croissance de type peuplement, couvrant une plus grande diversité d’âges, de sylvicultures et de ferti- lités. Après vingt ans, la différence entre le carbone stocké dans les écosystèmes fores- tiers et les produits ligneux, d’une part, et en pâturages, d’autre part, s’élève à 154 t/ha, soit environ 7,7 t/ha/an. Cette différence s’explique très largement par la contribution des parties aériennes des arbres. Le reboi- sement en Pinus patula tend à réduire les stocks de carbone du sol par rapport aux for- mations prairiales correspondantes. La réduction est significative (α £ 0,05) dans les 40 premiers centimètres du sol mais la dynamique temporelle suggère que cet effet est temporaire. Le modèle de croissance montre que le stockage de carbone dans les parties aériennes des arbres augmente avec l’âge et la densité des peuplements, ainsi qu’avec la fertilité du site. Il permet aussi d’évaluer la contribution des éclaircies à environ 23 % de la quantité de carbone associée aux parties aériennes des arbres pour une sylviculture classique.

Agriculture is an important mainstay of the Cambodian economy and recent agriculture developments have lifted many people out of poverty. However, some key challenges remain in Cambodian rural areas. To further sustain the country’s development, new ways need to be found to drive future growth without negatively impacting its existing resources. Recent efforts led by development stakeholders have been dedicated to enhanc the sustainability of Cambodian agriculture. The local non-governmental organization MODE jointly with Louvain Cooperation focuses on helping vulnerable farmers to transition towards sustainable agriculture practices through specific training. This paper aims to assess the benefits of such an approach by using SAFA (Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture systems), a methodology developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization. Core indicators of the four pillars of sustainability were evaluated through interviews with eighty farmers, equally distributed in two groups (target farmers and a control group), to assess the agricultural sustainability of their local farming system. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences between the two groups. The target group which was supported in their transition to sustainable practices showed a significant increase of net incomes, more diverse food production, and higher number of actions already taken or planned in order to mitigate the inherent risks of food production. The global index resulting from the combination of all core indicators revealed a significant difference between the groups, with more sustainable practices for the target farmers. However, overall the level of sustainability remained low to very low in both groups, which was partly due to the choice to work with vulnerable people defined by low productivity.

Hollow-fiber membrane filters (HFMFs) for household water treatment (HWT) can efficaciously remove disease-causing organisms in laboratory settings. However, lower effectiveness in use in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and humanitarian contexts (HCs) has been observed and attributed to membrane fouling and the associated cleaning. In LMICs/HCs, it is not possible to prevent and control fouling using commonly known methods (e.g., testing influent water, maintenance regimes), and the literature on fouling/cleaning of HFMFs distributed in LMICs is scarce. As such, controlled laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the efficacy of locally available (in LMICs/HCs) backwashing solutions at removing fouling using different influent waters and HFMF types. Four commonly distributed HFMFs were selected; fouling layers were developed by filtering three influent water compositions, representing LMIC/HC waters, for 10-days, and bleach, water, or vinegar backwashing solutions were used for daily backwashing. Filter performance indicators included: fiber mechanical properties (strain at break, break force), water quantity performance (flow), water quality performance (turbidity, E. coli), and imaging. The study found fouling developed rapidly and altered mechanical properties and water quantity indicators within 200 hours of filtration. Fouling did not decrease water quality indicators. Backwashing improved the filter’s mechanical properties and water quantity performance, but it did not fully recover the initial performance. Additionally, recovery differed between backwashing solutions, and no universal cleaning recommendation appropriate for HFMFs in LMICs/HCs was identified. Overall, fouling development and control depended on HFMF type, influent water quality, and backwashing solution type; thus, caution before distributing HFMFs for long-term use in LMICs/HCs is recommended.

Results highlight that locally-manufactured ceramic water filters from different factories have high variability in V. cholerae removal efficacy, and silver disinfection is the most critical mechanism to remove V. cholerae from drinking water.

Ceramic filters for household water treatment can improve water quality and reduce diarrheal disease. Hydraulic performance is critical for quality control and user acceptability, and hydraulic models have previously been developed and tested with experimental full-scale filters. As filters are cumbersome, there is interest in using disks instead of filters in laboratory efficacy studies. To assess the validity of disk use, we collected experimental volume from three sets of full-scale frustum-shaped filters and matching disks with different burn-out material sieve sizes and firing temperatures. We compared the experimental and fitted data by calibrating hydraulic conductivities from filters and disks. Hydraulic conductivities increased with larger burn-out material and higher firing temperatures but were comparable between filters and disks (2.00−6.15 × 10 −7 m•s −1 and 2.69−6.32 × 10 −7 m•s −1 , respectively). We found that previously described hydraulic models successfully predicted cumulative volumes for filters and disks with rRMSE ranging from 2.1 to 9.6% (filters) and 3.4 to 4.7% (disks). The error increased slightly (rRMSE: 5.0−15%) when predicting hydraulic parameters for filters from the hydraulic conductivity of disks. Our results validate a method to predict full-scale filter hydraulic performance from hydraulic conductivity of disks and can be used to simplify and increase testing capacity, resulting in higher quality, more acceptable filters that improve household drinking water quality.