Elephanta Island: World Heritage, Cultural Conservation and Options for Nature Conservation
Elephanta Island lies within a large natural harbour 7 km east of Mumbai, India, and is the site of several cave temples devoted to the Hindu deity Siva dated 4th to 9th century AD. The number, scale and quality of the bas-reliefs and sculptures within the temples, together with their uniqueness and setting, secured inscription as a World Heritage (Cultural) Site in 1987. Otherwise, the silvan nature of the island contrasts vividly with the densely populated city nearby that is largely bereft of urban greenspace. Could conservation measures for the cave temples have incidental benefit for the natural environments of the island, providing an economical means of securing a natural conservation area for Mumbai inhabitants? Exploring this apparently simple question revealed a complex situation necessitating consideration of issues well beyond the techniques of either cultural or nature conservation.
The global conservation status of mangroves
Despite considerable focus on mangroves in the scientific literature, an apparent universal appreciation for their biological and economic values, and the enactment of protective legislation, these tropical coastal forests continue to disappear globally, as a direct result of human activity. We report and rank current, primary conservation issues threatening mangrove forests at 38 sites in 16 nations and island states, based on discussions with local professional land managers, university scientists, villagers and village leaders, and regional government officials. While adequate relevant data to inform conservation efforts already exist in the scientific literature, this information must be disseminated more widely in a form that local nonscientists can use. Stand-structure data, analyses of rates and causes of deforestation, techniques for reforestation, and socioeconomic evaluations of benefits and costs to local communities of mangrove conservation must be developed and shared. Communication among biologists and lay people within and among regions should be enhanced, collaborations among social scientists and biologists must be fostered, and government support for conservation and restoration must be strengthened if mangrove ecosystems are to be sustained.
Ignition and burning rates of segregated waste combustion in packed beds.
Recent developments in national recycling and re-use programmes for municipal waste have led to segregation of an increasing proportion of waste to enhance material recovery. Several of the segregated streams contain materials that can not viably be re-used or recycled but can be used for energy recovery. In this study, the combustion of cardboard and waste wood was investigated in a small-scale packed bed reactor in order to provide fundamental data for the design/operation of moving bed furnaces. Key parameters of combustion including the ignition and burning rates were evaluated for various air flowrates and compared to the modelling results. Two successive stages of combustion were identified for both samples: the propagation of ignition front into the bed and combustion of the fuel above the ignition front. The burning rate of cardboard reached a peak of about 300 kg/m(2)h at the air flowrate of 936 kg/m(2)h and decreased at higher air flowrates. For waste wood, both the ignition and burning rates increased in the tested range of the air flowrate up to 702 kg/m(2)h, of which the values were very close to those for the cardboard. The model prediction was in good agreement with the test results for waste wood. However, the burning rate for cardboard was under-predicted due to strongly irregular shapes of the fuel.