Browsing by Author "Leach, M."
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Item Anthropogenic dark earths and africa: A political agronomy of research disjunctures(Contested Agronomy: Agricultural Research in a Changing World, 2012) Fairhead, J.; Leach, M.; Amanor, K.Anthropogenic dark earths (ADE) and biochar are current foci of extraordinary levels of technological optimism, agricultural research and political debate. ADE comprise both black soils associated with long enduring settlement sites and their depositions, and slightly lighter coloured soils that have also been rendered more enduringly fertile than the soils on which they are formed through deposition and cultivation practices. These anthropogenically enriched soils can sustain permanent farming; their fertility is thought to be due in part to their high biochar content. Biochar refers to the carbon-rich products that result when biomass is burned under oxygen-deprived conditions and then buried in the ground (Lehmann and Joseph 2009).Item A framework for the study of zoonotic disease emergence and its drivers: spillover of bat pathogens as a case study(2012) Wood, J.L.N.; Leach, M.; Waldman, L.; MacGregor, H.; Fooks, A.R.; Jones, K.E.; Restif, O.; Dechmann, D.; Hayman, D.T.S.; Baker, K.S.; Peel, A.J.; Kamins, A.O.; Fahr, J.; Ntiamoa-Baidu, Y.; Suu-Ire, R.; Breiman, R.F.; Epstein, J.H.; Field, H.E.; Cunningham, A.A.Many serious emerging zoonotic infections have recently arisen from bats, including Ebola, Marburg, SARS-coronavirus, Hendra, Nipah, and a number of rabies and rabies-related viruses, consistent with the overall observation that wildlife are an important source of emerging zoonoses for the human population. Mechanisms underlying the recognized association between ecosystem health and human health remain poorly understood and responding appropriately to the ecological, social and economic conditions that facilitate disease emergence and transmission represents a substantial societal challenge. In the context of disease emergence from wildlife, wildlife and habitat should be conserved, which in turn will preserve vital ecosystem structure and function, which has broader implications for human wellbeing and environmental sustainability, while simultaneously minimizing the spillover of pathogens from wild animals into human beings. In this review, we propose a novel framework for the holistic and nterdisciplinary investigation of zoonotic disease emergence and its drivers, using the spillover of bat pathogens as a case study. This study has been developed to gain a detailed interdisciplinary understanding, and it combines cutting-edge perspectives from both natural and social sciences, linked to policy impacts on public health, land use and conservation.Item Indigenous African soil enrichment as a climate- smart sustainable agriculture alternative(2016) Solomon, D.; Lehmann, J.; Fraser, A.; Leach, M.; Amanor, K.; Frausin, V.; Kristiansen, S.; Millemouno, D.; Fairhead, J.We describe for the first time a current indigenous soil management system in West Africa, in which targeted waste deposition transforms highly weathered, nutrient- and carbon-poor tropical soils into enduringly fertile, carbon-rich black soils, hereafter “African Dark Earths” (AfDE). In comparisons between AfDE and adjacent soils (AS), AfDE store 200–300% more organic carbon and contain 2–26 times greater pyrogenic carbon (PyC). PyC persists much longer in soil as compared with other types of organic carbon, making it important for long-term carbon storage and soil fertility. In contrast with the nutrient-poor and strongly acidic (pH 4.3–5.3) AS, AfDE exhibit slightly acidic (pH 5.6–6.4) conditions ideal for plant growth, 1.4–3.6 times greater cation exchange capacity, and 1.3–2.2 and 5–270 times more plant-available nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. Anthropological investigations reveal that AfDE make a disproportionately large contribution (24%) to total farm household income despite its limited spatial extent. Radiocarbon (14C) aging of PyC indicates the recent development of these soils (115–692 years before present). AfDE provide a model for improving the fertility of highly degraded soils in an environmentally and socially appropriate way, in resource-poor and food-insecure regions of the world. The method is also “climate-smart”, as these soils sequester carbon and enhance the climate-change mitigation potential of carbon-poor tropical soils.Item Living with Bats: The Case of Ve Golokuati Township in the Volta Region of Ghana(Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2017-09) Ayivor, J.S.; Ohemeng, F.; Tweneboah Lawson, E.; Waldman, L.; Leach, M.; Ntiamoa-Baidu, Y.Ayivor, J.S., Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies (IESS), College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG 209, Legon, Accra, Ghana; Ohemeng, F., Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences, College of Humanities, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG 72, Legon, Accra, Ghana; Tweneboah Lawson, E., Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies (IESS), College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG 209, Legon, Accra, Ghana; Waldman, L., Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom; Leach, M., Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom; Ntiamoa-Baidu, Y., Department of Animal Biology and Conservation Science, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana, Centre for African Wetlands, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG 67, Legon, Accra, Ghana