ecological footprint analysis in agriculture is a new and evolving subject. the main purpose of the study was to assess environmental sustainability of conventional and conservation tillage systems using ecological footprint analysis in hamedan province. global hectares (gha) were used to measure the ecological footprint unit. data was collected through questionnaires and use of cross-sectional...

In a recent issue of PNAS, Grainger (1) claimed that the evidence for decline of global tropical forests is ‘‘unclear’’ and that it is difficult to demonstrate that it is happening ‘‘convincingly using available tropical forest area data.’’ We agree with most of the article, yet we feel these statements overstate the uncertainty about tropical deforestation. His assessment is based only on the ...

A recently completed research program (TREES) employing the global imaging capabilities of Earth-observing satellites provides updated information on the status of the world's humid tropical forest cover. Between 1990 and 1997, 5.8 +/- 1.4 million hectares of humid tropical forest were lost each year, with a further 2.3 +/- 0.7 million hectares of forest visibly degraded. These figures indicate...

Crops made resistant to herbicides by biotechnology are being widely adopted in various parts of the world. From the genesis of commercialization in 1996 to 2011, herbicide tolerance has consistently been the dominant trait. Those containing transgenes that impart resistance to post-emergence, non-selective herbicides such as glyphosate and glufosinate will have the major impact. These products...

New estimates of the impacts of germplasm improvement in the major staple crops between 1965 and 2004 on global land-cover change are presented, based on simulations carried out using a global economic model (Global Trade Analysis Project Agro-Ecological Zone), a multicommodity, multiregional computable general equilibrium model linked to a global spatially explicit database on land use. We est...

land unit (global hectares or gha), representing the bioproductivity of a world-averaged hectare [15,16]. On the global scale, when the footprint of consumption exceeds biocapacity, the interpretation is that humans are exceeding the regenerative capacity of Earth’s ecosystems and therefore depleting stocks of natural capital, a state known as ‘‘over-

The availability of about 18 million hectares of grassland in Pará State, Brazil, and the possibility of increasing the livestock density display a good perspective for the oil palm expansion in pasture land. A life cycle assessment is performed for a prospective palm-based biorefinery to view two regional and one global environmental impact and the consequences of the land-use change in terms ...

Insect-resistant cotton was first introduced commercially in 1996. It is commonly referred to as Bt cotton, because it produces an insecticidal protein from the naturally occurring soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Global adoption of Bt cotton has risen dramatically from 800,000 hectares in its year of introduction in 1996 to 5.7 million hectares (alone and stacked with herbicide-tole...

In August 2006, forest fires in north-western Russia led to elevated concentrations of fine particles reducing air quality in southern Finland over a number of weeks. Predominately easterly and south-easterly winds resulted in smoke plumes extending over the Gulf of Finland and affecting eastern and southern Finland during 7–14 August 2006 and 21–23 August 2006. This article describes observati...

THE unprecedented rapid adoption of transgenic crops during the initial five-year period (1996 to 2000) when genetically modified (GM) crops were first adopted, reflects the significant multiple benefits realized by large and small farmers in industrial and developing countries that have grown transgenic crops commercially. Between 1996 and 2000, a total of fifteen countries – 10 industrial and...