Japan International Cooperation Agency

About: Japan International Cooperation Agency is a government organization based out in Tokyo, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Public health. The organization has 555 authors who have published 613 publications receiving 9536 citations.

Land-use intensification and its sustainability: A full-sun cocoa farming system and tree plantations in southwestern Ghana

Abstract: The sustainability of intensive land use that was recently introduced to southwestern Ghana is discussed, based on field obser vations and interviews within a forestry project. Cocoa, a major crop in Ghana, was traditionally cultivated under natural shade trees, forming a forest-like landscape. However, due to land shortage and the introduction of modern farming systems, these shade trees now tend to be removed from the cocoa farms, leaving a high-input full-sun farming system, which is less sustainable. Moreover, a recent trend toward tree plantations is growing especially in areas damaged by wildfires. While this will increase the timber resources and improve farmers , livelihoods in some cases, the negative impacts include a decrease in biodiversity and an increase in land conflicts. To secure the sustainability of land use, forest resources should be more integrated into farming systems. The government should strengthen the extension ser vices and improve administrative regulations. At the field level, the planting of shade trees and small-scale plantations by farmers should be promoted, and the land tenure issues resulting from tree plantations should be monitored.

Review and future perspectives of “development study” in the health sectors

Abstract: The research project titled “Developing Technical Approaches for the Master Plan of the Health Sector International Cooperation ” has been conducted for the duration of three years from 2002 by the support of grants-in-aid for research on international medical cooperation from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Based upon comprehensive and detailed review on the development studies (DS) in the health sectors so far completed, and throughout extensive and detailed examinations on the various DS related issues at the organized workshops with the parties concerned, the following propositions were made for the orientation and possible improvement of future DS in the health sectors; 1) a master plan in the individual DS to be defined in association with the level of strategy with which the study deals, 2) the instruction of surveys and methods to be more crystallized, 3) appropriate survey methods with reproducibility to be employed, 4) qualitative researches to be complimentarily exercised with quantitative researches 5) the ownership of DS to be cultivated by adoption of participatory methods.

Automatic Deforestation Detection Methodology Using Sentinel-1

Abstract: It has been developed an automatic deforestation detection methodology using Sentinel-1 data, acquired in Interferometric Wide Swath (IW) mode and using VH polarization. The methodology includes the application of the Gamma-Map filter, the calculation of average images, the application of a deforestation detection algorithm, and the minimum unit of mapping was 1 ha. The methodology was tested in three pilot areas within the tropical humid forests of Peru, and it obtained a user’s accuracy greater than 95%.