Asian Journal of Environment & Ecology

The natural heritage, in line with current sustainable development policies and strategies, is defined and accepted as the set of physico-geographic and biocenotic components and structures of the natural environment, who’s biogenic, ecological, economic, scientific, sanogenic, landscape, re-creational and cultural-historic value has a relevant significance, not just for the present generations, especially for the future generations. Protected areas, as an integral part of natural heritage, by their intrinsic value and low human intervention degree, are by far, the best examples and models for natural and semi-natural ecological systems. Protected areas are still perceived by many individuals, only in their conservationist sense, being considered true wild nature oasis, which need protection only for conservation of different unique species that populate them. Little is known about the fact that natural and semi-natural regime areas constitute livelihood support and decisively contribute to social and economical development. Constantly promoting philatelic themes, among others, that address the natural heritage, Romfilatelia - as a promoter of environmental protection policies and strategies, performs a series of postage issues - most of them in the last period - in whose pictures we also observed the Romanian preoccupations for natural heritage protection over the time. In the present paper we propose a very short introduction into the history of Romanian preoccupations for natural heritage protection, and bring into limelight the significant concerns in promoting ecological educational via thematic joint issues (in this case, United Nations Post Office). In this context, the main objective of the sudy was to identify, index and describe the main Romanian philatelic pieces issued (for example - postal stamps, First Day Covers, maxicards, occasional envelopes and other postal circulations), from the beginning of issuing in this field.

Wastewater contribute to many damages to the ecosystem and biodiversity, it encompasses domestic, commercial, industrial and agricultural components and also faecal sludge, to prevent this sensitive damage, wastewater need to be well treated before being discharged to the environment or water bodies, otherwise it contributes to some disease outbreak like malaria and typhoid. Extreme poverty with inequality of income, housing system and poor urban planning combined with rapid increase in population mostly found in low/lower class settlement are among those factors contributing to these challenges and this study determines the health and environment impact of untreated wastewater. The comparative study was carried out in two study areas; highbrow areas that makes use of central wastewater treatment plant known as “WUPA” and low/lower income areas that practice open surface wastewater discharge, to determine how frequent both residents treats malaria/typhoid and soil pH value of the study areas also analyzed.

In-house survey questionnaire for 300 respondents of children below 12 years was employed which show that average 65% of residents in highbrow areas treated both malaria/typhoid once in 6 months, while 64% in the low/lower class areas treated 4 times in 6 months and with an average pH value of 8.18 for highbrow areas and 7.51 for low/lower class areas. This study recommends that government should connect all areas to the treatment plant, implement proper urban planning, awareness and with enforcement.

This study assessed the acoustical performance of residential buildings in Awka, Anambra State to determine the level of satisfactions of the occupants. The study surveyed the residential buildings and distributed questionnaires to the users and occupiers of different classes of residential buildings. The results of the survey were analysed using Means Satisfaction Index (MSI) and Relative Performance Index (RPI) to assess the level of satisfaction of the occupants of the buildings and the acoustical performance of the buildings respectively based on 12 selected acoustic performance criteria. It further used Pearson Product Moment Correlation to establish the relationship between occupants’ level of satisfaction and acoustic performance of the buildings. The study found that the overall acoustic performance of the buildings was grossly poor and unsatisfactory with average RPI of 0.35. It also found that the residents were very dissatisfied with the acoustic performance of the buildings in which they live (average MSI =1.74). The study further found that there was significant positive relationship between the occupants’ level of satisfaction and acoustic performance of the buildings with a Coefficient Correlation (r) of 0.875 and a computed t-test value of 5.708 which is greater than the critical t- value (2.228) tested at 5% significance level. The Coefficient of Determination (R² = 0.7567) then suggested that about 75.69% level of satisfaction of the occupants of the residential buildings in Awka could be triggered by the acoustic performance of the buildings in which they live. On this evidence, the study craves for the enforcement of the provisions of the National Building Code as regards to sound control in buildings. In addition, there is need for adoption of different strategies for improving acoustics performance of buildings such as absorption, mechanical decoupling, mechanical damping, blocking, covering, etc., so as to promote good acoustic practices that would improve sustainable performance of our buildings and decline the resulting consequences of sounds in our residential buildings.

Aims: Assess the major conservation challenges and causes of wildlife habitat changes in Kafta Sheraro National Park.

Study Design: This study was investigated based on a questionnaire survey, focus group discussion, and field observation.

Place and Duration of Study: Kafta Sheraro National Park, Northwest Ethiopia (from October 2016 to March 2017).

Methodology: The collected data were analyzed using SPSS, descriptive statistics analysis such as Frequency, percentages, Chi-square (χ²) test and P- values were used. Eleven villages were selected based on proximity to the national park. A total of 460 household heads were interviewed.

Results: The result of the study indicated 385 (83.7%) of respondents were mixed farming, while 57 (12.6%) livestock rearing and 17 (3.7%) other business activities were engaged. Agricultural expansion 131 (28.5%), livestock grazing 113 (24.6%), deforestation 68 (14.8%), forest fire 57 (12.4%), illegal gold mining 26 (5.7%) and hunting 24 (5.2%) were the major problems of the park. Among the respondents, lack of community awareness 161 (35.0%), followed by lack of patrolling and monitoring 120(26.1%), lack of law enforcement, 95 (20.7%), issue of a boundary 30 (6.5%), and lack of security 13 (2.8%) were the main causes for properly wildlife conservation and management.

Conclusions: The human, livestock and wildlife interactions will continue to destroy the park. Unless urgent management action is taken to solve the problems through full participation from the local people. Therefore, stakeholders should work together and displace agricultural activities out of wildlife habitat through commitment and introduce community-based conservation approaches.

Each year the members of PostEurop issue EUROPA stamps on a common theme. One new twist is that all stamp issuers in the PostEurop area are using the same motif. The 2016 year's theme was the environment. PostNord works actively to take environmental and sustainability responsibilities seriously and have set clear, measurable goals.

EUROPA stamps are special stamps issued by European postal administrations and bears the official EUROPA logo, a PostEurop registered trademark under the aegis of PostEurop in which Europe is the central theme. EUROPA stamps underlines cooperation in the posts domain, taking into account promotion of thematic philately. They also build awareness of the common roots, culture and history of Europe and its common goals. As such, EUROPA stamp issues are among the most collected and most popular stamps in the world.

Since the first issue in 1956, EUROPA stamps have been a tangible symbol of Europe’s desire for closer integration and cooperation. In 1993, PostEurop became responsible for issuing EUROPA stamps, so each year, philately working group selects the EUROPA stamp theme. “Think green!” was the 2016 theme. EUROPA stamps “Think green!” theme aimed to create awareness and give a wakeup call - its time to protect our environment for the better future of the coming generations, and to contribute to sustainable development. In this paper we propose an insight into the history of Europe preoccupations for nature protection and conservation, to bring into limelight the significant concerns in promoting ecological education via thematic issues (in this case, “Think green!” issues). In this context, for this study only, the main objective is to identify, index and describe the main philatelic pieces issued as EUROPA stamps, from the beginning of issuing in this field, and for the first half of the countries involved in the 2016 PostEurop's contest.