The Role of Water Doctrines in Enhancing Opportunities for Sustainable Agriculture in Alabama1

Abstract: Alabama is a water rich state. Yet, agriculture is limited in both scale and productivity and the state regularly suffers from drought. Climate variability adds to this paradox even while water users, particularly farmers, have few coping mechanisms. In this paper, we argue that more significant than the water resource itself in Alabama is the governance structure of that resource. The riparian doctrine, as it stands, stymies effective management. The role of water doctrines, and resultant policy, is, therefore, crucial to enhancing decision‐making opportunities for agricultural end‐users in Alabama. After exploring different doctrine types as applied across the states we conclude that a move towards “regulated riparianism” consistent with the American Society of Civil Engineers Regulated Riparian Water Code (2004) would enhance opportunities for both the state and agriculturalists to cope with variable water supply conditions while maximizing environmental benefits. The paper then concludes with a review of the primary objectives of the Water Code and key places where Alabama’s Water Code would need revision to meet these objectives.     

Reviews

David Turton War and Ethnicity — Global Connections and Local Violence
Hugh W. Stephens The Texas City Disaster, 1947
Christopher G. Newhall and Raymundo S. Punongbayan Fire and Mud: Eruptions and Lahars of Mount Pinafubo, Philippines
MThomas G. Weiss and Leon Gardenker NGOs, the UN and Global Governance
D. Apter The Legitimization of Violence
James K. Boyce Economic Policy for Building Peace: The Lessons of El Salvador
Christine Kinealy A Death-Dealing Famine: The Great Hunger in Ireland     

Farmers' perceptions of implementation of climate variability disaster preparedness strategies in Central Uganda

This paper examines smallholder farmers' perceptions of the implementation of climate change disaster preparedness strategies in Mpigi district in Central Uganda. Furthermore, existing community early actions against climate change disasters were investigated. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions at the community level. Using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16, data obtained through semi-structured interviews were subjected to quantitative analysis to generate percentages for several variables and cross-tabulation analyses between selected variables. Farmers perceived prolonged droughts, increased pests and diseases outbreaks in crops and livestock as a consequence of climate change as the major climate change disasters. They considered the implementation of climate change disaster preparedness at community and village level as inadequate. This triggered implementation of various early actions by farmers as responses to climate change disasters. These actions constitute an informal community-based early warning system against climate change disasters.     

The role of perceived government style in the facilitation of self-determined and non self-determined motivation for pro-environmental behavior

Most North Americans are concerned about the environment and feel that responsibility for its protection lies primarily with government; however, no research to date has examined the influence of the government's approach toward environmental regulation on the motivation of individual citizens. According to self-determination theory, social contexts that support one's autonomy should facilitate self-determined motivation and social contexts that thwart autonomy should lead to non self-determined motivation and a sense of apathy or amotivation. In this study (n = 283), we examined the influence of perceptions of the government's approach toward environmental regulation on motivation toward the environment and frequency of self-reported pro-environmental behavior (PEB). Using structural equation modeling, we tested the hypothesis that frequency of PEB is predicted by motivation toward the environment and that motivation is predicted by the extent to which individuals perceive the government to be autonomy-supportive versus controlling in the implementation of environmental policies. The analysis revealed that perception of government autonomy-support contributed positively to autonomous motivation and negatively to amotivation, while perception of government control was positively related to both controlled motivation and amotivation. As predicted, autonomous motivation was positively, and amotivation was negatively, associated with frequency of PEB.     

Current status of agricultural and rural non-point source Pollution assessment in China

Estimates of non-point source (NPS) contribution to total water pollution in China range up to 81% for nitrogen and to 93% for phosphorus. We believe these values are too high, reflecting (a) misuse of estimation techniques that were developed in America under very different conditions and (b) lack of specificity on what is included as NPS. We compare primary methods used for NPS estimation in China with their use in America. Two observations are especially notable: empirical research is limited and does not provide an adequate basis for calibrating models nor for deriving export coefficients; the Chinese agricultural situation is so different than that of the United States that empirical data produced in America, as a basis for applying estimation techniques to rural NPS in China, often do not apply. We propose a set of national research and policy initiatives for future NPS research in China.     

论环境经济办法

一个好的经济政策应该是一个好的环境政策,反之亦然。这里所说的环境经济办法是一个全新的环境经济政策体系,它是由绿色税收、环境收费、绿色资本市场、生态补偿、排污权交易、绿色贸易、绿色保险等方面构成的。它们是市场经济的产物,与强制性环境政策相对应,两者共同构成一个比较完整的内在相通的政策体系。新的环境政策体系的理论基础是环境价值观、价值规律和价格形成机制。     

Invisible territory: mapping land-use change and power in the Peruvian Amazon

ABSTRACT

This paper follows the evolution of the discourse of agricultural productivity, from its inception in colonial land-use mapping to current land-use changes, using a case study of the expansion of an oil palm company onto the territory of an indigenous community in the Peruvian Amazon that caused large-scale deforestation. Drawing on analytical tools of political ecology and insights from historical geographythis paper shows how current soil and land classification, forest usufruct rules, and forest designations under the 2011 Forest and Wildlife law stem from a colonial discourse of agricultural productivity. This discourse excludes other forms of land-use, such as indigenous forest management, and the identities and relationships bound up in those. This research contributes to an understanding of how the processes that seek to quantify and determine land-use change are historically embedded in western ideas of agricultural productivity.     

国内外建筑垃圾处理相关政策法规对比分析

综述了欧美、日本等发达国家和地区在建筑垃圾的处理、规范管理和再利用等方面的管理模式和政策法规。结合我国的国情和现行的法规政策进行了对比和分析,旨在为我国建筑垃圾的资源再利用提供参考。     

Management of Water Shortage in the Colorado River Basin: Evaluating Current Policy and the Viability of Interstate Water Trading1

Wildman, Richard A., Jr. and Noelani A. Forde, 2012. Management of Water Shortage in the Colorado River Basin: Evaluating Current Policy and the Viability of Interstate Water Trading. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(3): 411-422. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2012.00665.x Abstract: The water of the Colorado River of the southwestern United States (U.S.) is presently used beyond its reliable supply, and the flow of this river is forecast to decrease significantly due to climate change. A recent interim report of the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study is the first acknowledgment of these facts by U.S. federal water managers. In light of this new stance, we evaluate the current policy of adaptation to water shortages in the Colorado River Basin. We find that initial shortages will be borne only by the cities of Arizona and Nevada and farms in Arizona whereas the other Basin states have no incentive to reduce consumptive use. Furthermore, the development of a long-term plan is deferred until greater water scarcity exists. As a potential response to long-term water scarcity, we evaluate the viability of an interstate water market in the Colorado River Basin. We inform our analysis with newly available data from the Murray-Darling Basin of Australia, which has used interstate water trading to create vital flexibility during extreme aridity during recent years. We find that, despite substantial obstacles, an interstate water market is a compelling reform that could be used not only to adapt to increased water scarcity but also to preserve core elements of Colorado River Basin law.     

中国区域低碳发展的情景分析——以江苏省为例

本文以江苏省为例,旨在对我国地方层面的低碳经济发展(目标年为2020年)进行探讨,并通过设定基准情景(BAU),低碳经济政策情景(LES),以及进一步推进低碳发展的国际合作与技术转移情景(ICS)三种政策情景对江苏省未来中长期能源需求与二氧化碳排放强度进行分析,提出我国地方层面实现2020年二氧化碳减排目标所需要的发展路径与对策.研究表明,在地方和区域层面上实现2020年二氧化碳排放强度在2005年的基础上降低40%-45%的目标是有可能的,通过采取发展低碳经济的相关措施,到2020年,江苏省的能源需求将比基准情景减少28%,二氧化碳排放强度将在2007年的基础上削减50%,而通过积极参与国际合作和国际间的技术转移,将有可能将二氧化碳排放强度在2007年的基础上削减52%左右.