Grafting is a substitute technique to boost tolerance against abiotic stresses, which also diminish root syndromes from soil-borne pathogens and increase crop production. This piloted study evaluates the tongue grafting technique and investigates the influence of grafting hybrid cucumber (Kalam F₁) scion onto local cucurbitaceous and hybrid rootstocks on plant morphology, fruit yield, nutrients concentration in different plant organs, and postharvest fruit quality during three seasons of 2017 to 2019, consecutively. The research design was completely randomized (CRD), and the effects of grafted rootstocks were determined with comparison of percent plant survival, growth characteristics, fruit yield, and texture properties (during storage). The experimental results indicated that all rootstocks presented compatibility with hybrid cucumber (Kalam F₁) scion and showed significant comparable performance with hybrid rootstock during all seasons in terms of vegetative growth, yield, and storage except pumpkin (68% during the 1st, 74% during the 2nd, and 71% during the 3rd seasons). The plants with Bottle gourd (Lagrenaria siceraria) rootstock showed the highest survival rate as compared to all other cucurbitaceous and hybrid rootstocks during three seasons: 94%, 98%, and 93%, respectively. Similarly, the other factors such as plant height (613, 622, and 615 cm), fruit weight (282, 281, and 277 g), fruit shape index (7.77, 8.18, and 8.25), Total soluble solids (TSS) (5.1%, 5.17%, and 4.96%), fruit dry matter (4.55%, 4.625, and 4.57%), fruit yield (4.37, 4.9, and 3.95 kg/plant), and disease resistance index (<3) during three seasons were comparable with all other cucurbitaceous and hybrid rootstocks. The lower survival rate of pumpkin rootstock made a significant poor performance with lower growth, yield, nutrients, and storage than all other cucurbitaceous rootstocks. Ridge and Bitter gourds showed improved results for vegetative growth, yield, fruit characteristics, nutritional values, and storage performance than that of hybrid cucumber rootstock. The fruit textural and physical properties were found significantly better at 10 °C than 25 °C for 10 days of storage without quality deterioration, while no impact was perceived on physical properties of the fruit. According to economic analysis, the grafted cucumber production system showed higher net return and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) in comparison with the real rooted hybrid cucumber production system, which was assumed to be profitable practice.

Forest utilization makes a significant economic contribution to the livelihoods of rural households, especially those living in developing countries. This study was conducted to determine the absolute and relative forest income and measure the distributional impact of forest income on economic inequalities among rural households in the Rubi-Tele Hunting Domain (RTHD), Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo). Household socioeconomic data and other qualitative informations were collected using structured household-level surveys, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. The study used descriptive statistical analysis, Gini coefficient, and Lorenz curve computation. Additionally, the non-parametric alternative Kruskal–Wallis Test was also used. Findings revealed that 89.76% of the households’ sample were involved in forest-based activities. The annual average income from these forest-based activities was estimated at CDF 1,219,951.58 (USD 659.08) per household, contributing 32.46% to total annual household income. Other income sources share constituted 37.09%, 10.04%, 8.30%, 7.63%, 2.41%, and 2.08% from crop, livestock keeping, business activities, fishing, and non-forest environmental activities, paid employment, and other income sources, respectively. There was a significant difference between annual household income in terms of income sources (p < 0.5). Forest income constituted the second most crucial income portfolio after crop income. Bushmeat income share was higher than other forest products income share. However, the proportion of households involved in firewood extraction was substantial (80.70%). Gini coefficient and Lorenz curve analysis proved that forest income helped reduce economic inequality among the sampled households by 11%. Therefore, reducing access to forest would significantly impact rural households’ welfare and could increase income disparities. The present study provides valuable information for developing sustainable forest management policies and strategies to maintain and enhance the economic benefit of forest use without damaging biodiversity conservation.

Forests across the world are considered to be a huge socio-economic and environmental benefit to host and adjacent communities. This study focuses on assessing the impacts of fuelwood and timber consumption on the livelihood of households in the Baltistan region in Pakistan. Primary and secondary sources of data were employed for the study. The primary sources involved the use of questionnaire survey and interview while the secondary sources involved the use of documented information in textbooks and internet materials. The study revealed that 82% of the people within the region were involved in agricultural activities, 71% depended on the extraction of forest resources for their livelihood, while 18% depended on off-farm activities for their livelihood. The study also observed that among the number that depended on forest resources for their livelihood, 59% were involved in the extraction of non-timber forest products while 41% were involved in the extraction of timber forest resources. The study further revealed that there was no significant difference in the level of benefits from the forest across the seven districts under investigation with a chi square value. The volume of forest products extraction was found to be high closest to the forest and to be low with increasing distance from the communities. The major benefits from the forest range were due to employment that increases the individual and family income. Forest also helps to control erosion and enhances aesthetic beautification and temperature regulation. The research suggests that the policy makers must provide a sustainable solution to reduce the overexploitation of the forest resources by providing better alternative earning resources to the resident communities.

The conservation of forest in the northern areas of Pakistan is the major priority of the national environmental policy to fight against global warming. Despite the policy for the protection of forest, rural residents’ behavior toward economic incentives for deforestation may undermine their conservation goals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand the factors that affect the illegal behaviors related to deforestation in the northern areas of Pakistan. The present study applied the socio-psychological theory of planned behavior to predict the behavioral intention of rural residents toward economic incentives for deforestation. Correlations were explored between background factors toward motivations for deforestation based on positive and negative views through open-ended questions. Attitude and descriptive norm were found good predictors to perceive the behaviors. The findings of the study suggest that rural communities’ support for compliance with policies is vital for the long-term efficacy and protection of the forest in the region. Further, change in the behaviors of inhabitants toward the ecosystem through training can be improved to manage the forest.

Instrumental climatological records such as weather stations data of northern areas of Pakistan are not sufficient to assessthe forest extreme eventsreliably. To understand the past climatic variability, tree ring width based climatic reconstruction is the best alternative to trace climate variability that goes back in time.Quercus Incanais the most sensitive species to drought and climatic variation in northern Pakistan. However, very little research quantifies the rate of ongoing climatic changes. A total of 65 tree cores were collected from two sites to understand the radial growth ofQ.Incanato extreme drought events. The radial growth is mainly affected by high temperatures during May-July. In addition, radial growth exhibits a positive correlation with February-June precipitation while it is negatively correlated with the September precipitation. The radial growth decrease, particularly in harsh climatic conditions. The reconstructed tree ring record was strongly coherent with the May-June self-calibrated Palmer drought severity index (scPDSI) and reliable in reconstructing drought variability for the period 1750–2014. During the past 264 years, wet periods were found during 1980–2010, 1812–1836, and 1754–1760, while dry periods were found during 1896–1922, 1864–1876, and 1784–1788. Our reconstruction explains 39.8% of the scPDSI variance. The extreme drought and wet years we arrived at were in close agreement with the drought and wet periods that occurred in northern Pakistan. Wavelet analysis revealed drought variability at periodicities of 2.2–2.5, 3.3, 3–4, 16.7, 16.8, and 68–78.8 years. Hence it is concluded that deforestation and forest degradation rate increased with extreme drought and wet years. Overall, the variation of drought in northern Pakistan seems to have been affected due to El Nino south oscillation, Pacific decadal oscillation, or Atlantic multi-decadal oscillations.

Deforestation is a common threat to the environment that has a substantial impact on the forest’s distribution across territorial boundaries. It is simply defined as the loss of forest cover, which most commonly occurs as a result of deforestation for various reasons. Pakistan is among those countries which have a very high deforestation rate. This paper analyzes the various socioeconomic factors which cause deforestation in northern Pakistan and the existing economic incentive tools for reducing deforestation. Data collected from 602 respondents were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a logistic regression model, while the Likert scale was used to determine the mean socioeconomic factor score encouraging deforestation and the economic incentives used to reduce deforestation. Gender distributions showed that the majority (65.9%) of the respondents were male while 34.1% were female. On family size, the majority of the respondents (66.8%) had a family size of 5–8. On age, between 21–25 years (46.0%) recorded the highest number. The average age of the respondents was 24 years. Educationally, 13.8% had a master’s education, 11.1% a bachelor’s education, 4.3% no formal education, 5.6% a higher education level, meaning master’s or PhD students, 56.1% had a primary education, and 9.0% had a secondary education. On occupation, the majority (50.4%) of the respondents were involved in farming as their main occupation. On income, the major income recorded a mean of 25,000 net, while the minor income recorded a mean of 15,500 net. Setting the forest ablaze, increasing farming activities, low level of literacy, increasing timber mafia, growing population, and poverty were the socioeconomic factors found. The economic incentives listed were for forest crop subsidies, an enhanced system of taxes on exploited forest products, the acquisition of well-monitored hunting licenses, alternative job opportunities, credit provision, and a limited ban on round log exports. The results of the logit regression established that rewarding socioeconomic factors were statistically significant variables at (p < 0.05). Conclusively, if adequately controlled and applied, economic incentives can be an important instrument for reducing deforestation. Therefore, deforestation activities cannot be entirely eradicated but they can be reduced to the barest minimum by properly enforcing forest policies in terms of efficient forest policing. The goals of this study are to help with the implementation of appropriate policies and decision-making in forest management, as well as to provide a foundation for future scenario analysis of deforestation potential or to investigate potential environmental and human implications.