Asian Journal of Environment & Ecology

Noise pollution is a silent villain as it’s quite easy for being ignored by us. Urban areas are more exposed to this deadly agenda as the density of population and their belongings are excessive in there. This study differentiated noise levels of Sylhet City Corporation, a growing city of Bangladesh into different types according to the land use purpose of the city like residential, silent etc. One hundred and sixty-eight noise level readings, taken at 14 different positions during the morning, afternoon, evening, and night of selective weekdays which are categorized as busy days, typical days and weekends were utilized for this research. Results put the average noise level readings in the city centers at between 45 dB(A) and 95 dB (A), dissented from the permissible limits of the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as national standardization organization: Department of Environment (DOE) in all the land use types, with the highest noise pollution levels recorded for transportation, commercial and silent typed areas. The result of the one-way ANOVA test completed where the dependent variable was noise and the independent variable was land use types uncovers a factually huge mean noise levels over the study area (F (4,115) = 9.52, p = 1.1079). Tukey’s HSD method also carried away which showed the uneven difference of noise levels between the land types. The study represents noise pollution auditing, and the immediate needs to control urban noise pollution with convenient and effective policies some of which is recommended at the end of the study.

The study utilized Landsat imageries of 1987 (Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM)), 2000 (Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+)) and 2014 (Landsat Operational Land Imager (OLI)) to examine land transformation in the Gashaka-Gumti National Park. The analysis indicated that dense forest which occupied 367,500 hectares at 62.2% of the total area of the park in 1987 has been converted into farmland and built-up area. Thus, the dense forest has reduced to 343, 300 hectares by the year 2000 and 107, 600 hectares in 2014 respectively. The result shows that the riparian forest decreased from 21,300 hectares in 1987 at 3.6% to16, 000 hectares in 2000 at 2.7% and further to11, 000 hectares (1.8%) by 2014. Savannah vegetation found to be concentrated in the northern part of the study area and occupied a total area of 81,260 hectares at 13% in 1987, reduced to 62,100 hectares at 10.5% in 2000 and increased to 183,800 hectares at 31.1% of the total area in 2014. The built-up area occupied a total area of 4,476 hectares at 7.5% in 1987. The built-up increased to 11,070 hectares at 1.81% in 2000 but decreased to10.930 hectares at1.85% in 2014 as a result of the news that the insurgents were shifting their base towards the park to hide from security forces and some of the people living within the area became afraid and deserted their houses and resettled in the nearby towns and villages that are outside the park.

Residues of agroindustrial origin can be used for various purposes, including the production of activated carbon. In order to conduct the experiment, residual biomass of Cocos nucifera-C and grape marc-B were used at the doses corresponding to 100C/0B, 75C/25B, 50C/50B, 25C/75B and 0C/100B. The appropriate operating ranges for the production of activated carbon were identified and an experiment was carried out with a full factorial design, type 3², with three replicates and a control.  The activated carbon produced was in contact with the desalinator reject for 30, 60, 120 and 180 minutes, after which the extracts were physico-chemically analyzed. The data were submitted to statistical analysis, using Statistic software, with a percentage reduction in the characteristics evaluated: pH (13.2), electrical conductivity (1), sodium (4.7), potassium (35.6), calcium (3.2), magnesium (zero) and chloride (18.2), indicating the mixture of coconut fiber and grape marc in 50C/50B ratio as being the most promising in the adsorption of the chemical elements of the reject, when in contact for up to an hour.

Municipal Solid Waste management is one of the most fundamental issues in the contemporary urban environments particularly in developing countries like Ethiopia. A huge generation of waste coupled with unbalanced waste management services is the major challenges facing the City of Addis Ababa. A continuous increase of production of more wastes and change in the composition of waste into complex, the waste management practice is challenged by low prioritization of waste management, limited revenues for financing waste management with the ever increasing population of this city. This retrospective study received documents from books, thesis works, annual waste management conference reports, journals on waste management, newsletters, abstracts and proceedings which can properly address the main factors that strongly hinder proper waste management and the extent to which community is aware of appropriate waste disposal systems in Addis Ababa city. The mechanism of Addis Ababa city Sanitation, Beautification and Park Development Authority to coordinate stakeholders has played a vital role in waste management. However, the daily monitoring of waste management by the community development section has not been sufficient because of poor governance where accountability, participation and transparency are lacking. It is also unauthorized solid waste dumping practice problem in different locations and has an effect on water sources and its resources. Effective involvement of both private and public sectors should improve waste management and provide door-to-door collection, street sweeping and facilitate drainage disposable canals. Therefore, an integrated solid waste management practice should be implemented for the City and also for the surrounding environment. As a result, strong political will, multi-sectoral approach, public awareness and participation, strategic planning, adequate funding and the adoption of Integrated Solid Waste Management is recommended SWM system required in Addis Ababa city.

This article focuses on the functional role of Asian elephant in maintaining forest ecosystem and biodiversity. Elephant performs different activities in forest which greatly influence ecosystem processes, plant communities and trophic structure of the community. Elephants have cascading effects in altering the vegetation regeneration and providing habitat, water and nutrients to other animals. Besides, elephants also have affirmative effects in controlling illegal poaching, promoting ecotourism and act as an indicator species to know about natural calamities. The information compiled in the present note is based on the literature available and field experience gained in the Rajaji National Park, India. Since elephants play a crucial role in ecological trajectories of ecological communities, developing a rigorous framework to evaluate the qualitative influence made by the elephants in ecosystem would be of paramount importance.