Suchergebnisse

Sustainability assessments of bioenergy production are essential because it can have both positive and negative impacts on society. Human preferences that influence trade-off decisions on the relevant determinants and indicators of sustainability should be taken into account in these assessments. In this paper, we conducted a survey with five groups of respondents including government officials and employees, academic and research professionals, private company managers and workers, farm owners and workers, and others (e.g. students, residents, etc.) to assess their trade-off decisions on bioenergy development in the Philippines. The analyses of the survey results reveal that sustainability of bioenergy production will depend on the choice of biomass feedstock and these choices depend on people's perceptions. Heterogeneous perceptions among the different groups of respondents on the appropriate bioenergy feedstock to achieve economic, social and ecological sustainability suggest that sustainability of bioenergy is not a generic concept. The use of aggregate indices for sustainability assessments that ignore these perceptions on bioenergy production can thus be very misleading. The preference weights from conjoint analysis, which measure human preferences on different determinants and indicators of economic, social and ecological sustainability, can help improve sustainability assessments. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Sustainability assessments of bioenergy production are essential because it can have both positive and negative impacts on society. Human preferences that influence trade-off decisions on the relevant determinants and indicators of sustainability should be taken into account in these assessments. In this paper, we conducted a survey with five groups of respondents including (1) government officials and employees, (2) academic and research professionals, (3) private company managers and workers, (4) farm owners and workers, and (5) "others" (e.g. students, residents, etc.) to assess their trade-off decisions on bioenergy development in the Philippines. The analysis of the survey results reveal that sustainability of bioenergy production will depend on the choice of biomass feedstock and these choices depend on people's perceptions. Heterogeneous perceptions among the different groups of respondents on the appropriate bioenergy feedstock to achieve economic, social and ecological sustainability suggest that sustainability of bioenergy is not a generic concept. The use of aggregate indices for sustainability assessments that ignore these perceptions on bioenergy production can thus be very misleading. The preference weights from conjoint analysis, which measure human preferences on different determinants and indicators of economic, social and ecological sustainability, can help improve sustainability assessments.

We elicited people's preferences on policy issues related to bioenergy through survey and investigated the cluster typologies that influence these preferences using cluster and conjoint analysis. Three typologies (i.e. idealist, ambivalent, realist) were identified from clustering the respondents' familiarity on bioenergy and opinion on its effects on food security and economy in the Philippines. The "idealist" has optimistic opinions on bioenergy production, "realist" recognises the existing land use competition between bioenergy and food production, and "ambivalent" does not have clear opinion on the effects of bioenergy on food security and economy. Majority of realists are located in Mindanao and idealists in Luzon. The segmentation of the respondents aimed to identify the characteristics of people belonging to different typologies and to understand how the typologies influence the policy preferences for the different sustainability determinants of bioenergy. These determinants were based on the STRAP (sustainability trade-offs and pathways) framework for the integrated assessment of bioenergy sustainability. The results reveal that respondents with ambivalent typology, which are mostly farmers and farm workers, lack the necessary awareness to be able to play an active role in the bioenergy production chain. As main actors in the production of biomass feedstock for bioenergy, it is important that they gain not only general awareness but also practical knowledge on bioenergy production and its impacts on agricultural development. The respondents with realist typology in Mindanao give high importance to social justice due to unrests caused by religious conflicts and widespread poverty. Hence, unless these issues are resolved, it is hardly possible to make use of the huge bioenergy potential in this region. In general, respondents in all cluster typologies give more importance to sustainability determinants that are directly associated to their daily living. However, determinants relating to energy security and technology progress, which are not location-specific, are necessary to sustain domestic bioenergy production. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Mt. Makiling is a Philippine biodiversity hotspot listed as one of the 170 conservation priority areas established by the Philippine government. With the vast amount of ecological and biological information about the flora and fauna of Mt. Makiling, the Makiling Biodiversity Information System (MakiBIS) was developed to serve as a repository for these data. MakiBIS may serve as a prototype in the development of a national BIS that will be useful in addressing the need to set a national baseline, measurable targets, and indicators to facilitate the assessment of biodiversity status and as a basis for decision-making.The MakiBIS project started in 2011 and was last updated in 2014. In 2019, a new version of the information system was updated to take advantage of current web technologies in software development. The new MakiBIS' (MakiBIS 2.0) frontend was written using ReactJS, while its backend functions were coded using NodeJS, and the database tables were compressed and optimized for faster queries. MakiBIS 2.0 was published online and can be accessed at www.makibis.com.The MakiBIS 2.0 database was populated with biodiversity information from published botanical and faunal survey studies conducted in Mt. Makiling. Biodiversity information includes taxonomic classification, botanical description, habitat, mode of reproduction, economic use, endemism, and conservation status. The MakiBIS database was analyzed for patterns, trends, distribution, and potential threats that will be useful towards the conservation and management of these biodiversity resources.