eChapters

Multipurpose trees and shrubs are defined as all woody perennials that are purposefully grown to provide more than one significant contribution to the production and/or service functions of a land-use system that they occupy. In agroforestry systems, different species of trees and shrubs can be planted with many types of crops in a variety of patterns. Thus, it is required to know about the methods of propagation and nursery raising, planting and other silvicultural management practices along with the diverse uses of multipurpose trees and shrubs of tropical and subtropical areas before their selection for forestry and agroforestry activities. It is important to select the most suitable tree species since it is not easy to replace them once they have been planted.

Mangium (Acacia Mangium)

Acacia mangium is a single-stemmed evergreen tree that grows to 25-35 m in height and up to 60 cm in diameter. The bole is usually straight, often fluted near the base, free of branches for up to half its height. Mangium is native to Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. However, it tolerates varied site conditions and has adaptability to different planting objectives. Mangium shows most vigorous growth on well-drained, fertile soils in high rainfall areas in the humid tropics. It is valued for its rapid growth and has been planted throughout the humid tropics and is a major plantation species in the Asia Pacific. Provenances from Papua New Guinea consistently show better growth in height and diameter.

4.1. Introduction

Presently, in the world, there are 195 countries according to the United Nations, and the number would even go up to 247 if we consider the disputed territories like Isle of Man, Hong Kong, etc. (United Nations, 2016) (Kershner, 2020). But the majority of the countries are still struggling to provide basic life-supporting amenities like nutrition, shelter, and employment. Conjointly, termed as emerging and developing countries such as India, Vietnam, Venezuela, Utopia, etc. (Ahmed and Shimada, 2019). Most of the developing countries are situated mainly in the continent of Africa, Asia and South America. They have got independence for the European countries like England, France, Portugal and Spain in the mid and late 20th century. 

1. Introduction
In recent decades, environmental contamination has emerged as a seriousthreat to our modern society. The relentless growth of urbanization andindustrialization leads to the ever-increasing production of hazardouschemicals. Safe disposal of these hazardous materials is crucial, as releasingthem into an already strained environment has severe consequences. Theexponential rise in human activity is directly related to the alarming risein local and global pollution levels, which severely disturbs the balance ofecosystems. Industrial activities, in particular, are a major source of highlyhazardous chemicals such as dyes, pigments, and aromatic compounds,which pose a serious threat to the environment. In India, the textile industry, amajor force driving the country’s economic growth, also ranks asthsecondlargestpolluter. The printing, finishing, and dyeing processes used in textileproduction generate significant waste (Dubey et al., 2018). Dyes, a majorsource of pollution in this industry, are syntheticand complex in structure. Thiscomplexity makes them poorly soluble in water, hindering biodegradation andposing a long-term environmental concern. The global textile industry utilizesa wide range of dyes, with estimates indicating over 100,000 commerciallyavailable options. The worldwide production of these dyes is estimated to be700,000 tons per year (Al-Tohamy et al., 2020). However, dye contaminationis a major challenge in this industry. Studies indicate that during synthesisand dyeing processes, a significant portion, ranging from 10% to 15% of thetotal dyestuffs used ends up released into global water bodies (Leal et al.,2020). A significant portion of textile dyes, ranging from 2% to 20%, aredirectly released into water reservoirs through wastewater effluents. This is

The vulnerability of agriculture and livelihoods in the Member Countries of the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) poses a significant threat to achieving climate- resilient rural development. CIRDAP includes 15 member countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam [CIRDAP, 2023]. ]. In many Asian countries, agriculture is still practiced using traditional methods that do not incorporate climate data or modern techniques. This reliance leads to several challenges, such as reduced productivity and crop diversity, increased vulnerability to weather fluctuations, and hindrance in establishing resilient value chains. For example, in Iran's rural sector, challenges such as centralized planning, patriarchal norms, inefficient extension systems, and weak inter-agency coordination are uniquely defining features (CIRDAP, 2025). However, evidence shows these challenges are widespread across the region:

Abstract

Contamination of environment with heavy metals has become a serious global problem due to its threat to animal and human health. Removal of this non-biodegradable, hazardous heavy metals through bio-materials has received paramount interest and intense attention in the last few decades as bio-materials play crucial role in remediating heavy metal polluted environment through a process called “biosorption”. The term biosorption, therefore, has become a popular theme in recent years due to its relatively simple, inexpensive, eco-friendly with rapid mechanism of removing heavy metals from polluted environment. There have been burgeoning studies around the globe for alleviating the problem of heavy metal pollution by selecting and developing an effective bio-sorbent with minimum treatment process for field application. This review aims to provide vast information on types of biosorbent available, their exploitation for better efficiency and their economic attractiveness for the restoration of heavy metal polluted environment.

Abstract

Now a days, the public has become more sensitive towards the protection of the environment and general awareness has increased about the adverse effects of industrial effluents contaminate with various pollutants, including dyes on the environment. Dyes are an important class of synthetic organic compounds used in many industries, especially textiles. Consequently, they have become common industrial environmental pollutants during their synthesis and later during fiber dyeing. Textile industries are facing a challenge in the field of quality and productivity due to the globalization of the world market. The dyes, which are widely used in textile industries when left in water bodies without any treatment cause environmental pollution and in turn are toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic. The efficient treatment of the sludge from the industries is not economical and a challenging task. Currently, a number of different technologies and methods such as biological, physical and chemical are widely used for the removal of dyes. The treatment technologies for the removal of textile dyes from the textile wastewater found that over the past two decades interestingly focused on biodegradation methods such as microbial decolourization, enzymatic decolourization, adsorption by microbial biomass (living or dead) and bioremediation systems as a better alternative as the available physico-chemical methods.

The greenhouse effect is thought to be due to the absorption of solar infrared (IR) radiation by gases and the earth’s surfaces, which, as a result, is heated and then reemit IR radiation at low frequency with a high absorptive power. In fact greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are essential for maintaining life on earth, as without them the planet would be permanently frozen because all of the incoming heat from the sun would be radiated back into space by the earth’s surface (Moss, 1993). The threshold concentration of these gases at which their greenhouse effect would be minimized is not known, but it is accepted that their concentrations in the atmosphere should not be allowed to continue to rise. In recent years, there has been an increase in public concern over environmental damage originating from animal feeding operations.

16.1 What is Sustainable Development?

Sustainable development (SD) is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come (sometimes taught as ELF-Environment, Local people, Future). The term was first  coined by the Brundtland Commission and defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (UN, 1987; Smith and Rees, 1998)

1. Introduction
The term “plastic” is derived from the Greek word “Plasticos" whichmeans to be capable of molding into various sizes and shapes. Daily usedsynthetic plastics are categorized based on their physical and chemicalproperties, such as thermoplastic and thermosetting. (i) Thermoplastics: Astheir names suggest, thermoplastic polymers melt and turn into a plastic orrubbery state when exposed to heat. They have various numbers of polymericchains and are the most widely used plastics in day-to-day life. Examples ofthermoplastics are Polystyrene(PS), Polyvinylchloride (PVC), Polypropylene(PP), Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Polyethylene (PE) etc. (Massy,2017), (Sharma et al., 2017). (ii) Thermosetting polymers: As the namesuggests, they set or harden permanently when heated (Massy, 2017). Due totheirstrong crosslinked structure, they are non-recyclable polymers. Examplesinclude Polyurethanes(PUR), Phenol formaldehyde, Melamine formaldehyde,and Polyester Resin (PR) (Sharma et al., 2017). Different polymers and theirapplications are illustrated in Fig. 1.

1.    Introduction    232
2.    Photosynthesis and Biomass Yields    232
3.    Biomass Properties    233
    3.1.     Polymeric and chemical composition, 233
    3.2.     Fuels analysis, 235
    3.3.     Physical properties, 236

Introduction

Desertification, which is considered a major threat in the drylands of the world, is not about advancing boundaries of the existing deserts, but about land degradation in the arid, semi-arid and the dry sub-humid regions, which together form the drylands (Anon., 1995). Secular variation in climate that has resulted in periodic expansion and contraction of the desert boundaries and regional-scale changes in vegetation condition (Tucker et al., 1991; Nemani et al., 2003; Hickler et al., 2005) is one of the drivers of desertification. Human activities constitute the other major driver. According to Geist and Lambin (2004) the prominent core variables that drive degradation are climatic, economic, institutional, national policies, population growth and remote influences.

4.1    Approaches for Drought Monitoring
    
4.2    Weather Network System in Different Countries
    
4.3    Drought Monitoring using Climatological, Hydrological and Combination Approaches in Different Countries
    
4.4    International Cooperation in Drought Monitoring
    
4.5    Drought Monitoring Mechanism in India
    
4.6    Early Warning and Decision Support System
    4.6.1    Software for Drought Detection, Monitoring and Early Warning
    4.6.2    Decision Support System for Droughts Developed Outside India
    
4.7    GIS and Drought Monitoring
        
References

Ever since the dawn of civilization, dependence on plants has been indispensable for human survival. Transformation from food gathering to settled agriculture necessitated domestication of plant species useful for mankind leading to co-evolution of plants and man in absolute harmony with nature. Natural disasters like famines, floods, epidemics have often led people to search new plant species for human consumption. Out of an estimated total of 80,000 plants of possible economic use, about 30,000 plants have been found to be edible in nature and approximately 7,000 plants have been cultivated by mankind at one time or the other, of which only 158 plants are widely used for food (Wilson, 1992). Among these, 30 crops provide 90% of the world’s food and only 10 crops supply 75% of the world’s food budget. Out of the above only three crops, rice, wheat and maize provide 60% of the world’s total food requirement (Paroda, 2000). This dangerously narrow level of food base may imperil the existence of mankind during a time of impending crisis in unforeseen times in the future.

1.1. Characteristics and categories
                
1.2. Litter
    Patterns of accumulation
    Successional trends
    Seasonal variations
    Fluctuations in accumulation

1.3. Dissolved organic matter
    Sources of DOM
    Fluxes of DOM

1.4. Woody detritus

1.5. Soil organic matter

1. Introduction
Pharmaceutical pollution has emerged as a significant global concern, raising alarms about its potential impacts on ecosystems and human health. The journey of pharmaceutical compounds from their point of use to contamination of water bodies reveals a complex and interconnected web of anthropogenic activities. From manufacturing plants to individual households, these pollutants persistently infiltrate aquatic systems, creating a growing

4. Research Setting
Research setting presents the set of an ecosystem, here social-ecological systems, where the variables and characters are created, evolved, characterized and interact with others. Research setting is not a stale or lentic ecosystem rather it is agile, evolving and dynamic, so in this present work, we have perceived research setting as the performing social-ecology which sustains and keeps constantly characterizing the behaviour and dynamics of the variables under study, e.g. a settlement in close proximity to natural water body is expected to have interaction with ethiophonal diversity and performing economy therewith similarly, another set of respondents with the same set of variables but living in a forest ecosystem. The interaction and exposition of the variables will follow a different expression and pathway. So, while we will go for modelling, with the same set of variables but in different ecological set up, it is expected that the nature of interaction and expression will follow the unique characters of the concerned ecosystem.
4.1. Area of Study
The area of investigation of this study is situated in the state of West Bengal located in the eastern part of India. The state of West Bengal in eastern India has unique social and ecological backgrounds which influence the living standard and behavioural patterns of the people in many ways. The present research design has accommodated two agro- ecological set ups in West Bengal, India, and these are New Alluvial and Terai zone.

3.1 Conceptual Framework

Aconceptual framework is an analytical tool that is used to get a comprehensive understanding of the study. It embodies the specific direction by which the research will have to be undertaken. It is generally constructed to provide the researcher the element ofattainable and researchable problems and ideas supported by methodology, design, prospective analysis and empirical conclusion. The conceptual framework is often called as the research paradigm.

The subject matter of the present research is Resilience and productivity of agriculture in different social-ecology: the farmers’ perception, status and interpretation. It is expected that the terminologies and concepts used to frame up the topic need to undergo brief explanation for the better understanding of its meaning.

Resilience: Resilience is about anticipating, planning and reducing disaster risk to effectively protect persons, communities and countries, their livelihoods, health, cultural heritage, socio-economic assets and ecosystems. The ideas of ‘bounce back’, ‘spring forward’ and ‘build back better’ are often used in the context of resilience.

Productivity: Productivity is commonly defined as a ratio between the output volume and the volume of inputs. It measures how efficiently production inputs, are being used in an economy to produce a given level of output.

Agriculture: The word agriculture derives from the Latin ager (field) and colo (cultivate) signifying, when combined, the Latin agricultura: field or land tillage. But the word has come to subsume a very wide spectrum of activities that are integral to agriculture and have their own descriptive terms, such as cultivation, domestication, horticulture, arboriculture, and vegeculture, as well as forms of livestock management such as mixed crop-livestock farming, pastoralism, and transhumance. The Oxford English Dictionary (1971) defines agriculture as “The science and art of cultivating the soil, including the allied pursuits of gathering in the crops and rearing livestock; tillage, husbandry, farming.”

In any social science research, it is hardly possible to conceptualize and perceive the data and interpret the data more accurately until and unless a clear understanding of the characteristics in the area and attitude or the behavior of people is at commend of the interpreter who intends to unveil an understanding of the implication and behavioral complexes of the individual who live in the area under reference and form a representative part of the larger community. The socio-demographic background of the local people in a rural setting has been critically administered in this section. A research setting is a surrounding in which input and elements of research are contextually imbibed, interactive and mutually contributive to the system performance. Research setting is immensely important in the sense because it is characterizing and influencing the interplays of different factors and components. Besides the investigators must also have the basic knowledge about the socio demographic background of the people so as to have an easy understanding of their knowledge, attitude and behavior.

Research setting refers to the detail information of an area where the study has been conducted. The study area, generally comprises of a particular geographical area viz. a state, district, block, or gram panchayat area selected according to the convenience of the investigator who possess adequate knowledge regarding the location, communication facility etc. of the locality so that he/she can easily approach each and every corner of the area for data collection. Here. in this study the data collection was done mostly over telephone based on the interview schedule due to Covid-19 pandemic situation.

1.     Introduction    424

2.    Conventional Methods of Hydrogen Production    426

3.    Biological Methods of Hydrogen Production    429

    3.1.    Hydrogen production by biophotolysis of water, 430
        3.1.1. Photolysis by cyanobacteria (Blue green algae), 430
            3.1.1.1. Nitrogenase dependent hydrogen production, 434
            3.1.1.2.  Hydrogenase-dependent hydrogen production, 437
            3.1.1.3.  Factors affecting  hydrogen production by cyanobacteria, 440
            3.1.1.4.   Bioreactors for cyanobacterial hydrogen production, 443
            3.1.1.5. Future prospects for cyanobacterial hydrogen production, 446

1.    Introduction    496

2.    Strain Development Technologies    496

    2.1.    Screening of natural variants of microorganisms, 496
    2.2.    Genetic manipulation of microorganisms, 498
        2.2.1.    Random mutagenesis and selection, 498
        2.2.2.    Conjugation, 504
        2.2.3.    Transduction, 504
        2.2.4.    Transposition, 506
        2.2.5.      Hybridization, 507
        2.2.6.    Rare Mating, 509
        2.2.7.    Cytoduction, 510
        2.2.8.    Protoplast fusion, 511
        2.2.9.    Transformation, 511
        2.2.10.    Gene cloning and transformation (Recombinant DNA technology), 513