How is Shrimp Aquaculture Transforming Coastal Livelihoods and Lagoons in Estero Real,Nicaragua?: The Need to Integrate Social–Ecological Research and Ecosystem-Based Approaches

Ecosystem-based approaches to aquaculture integrate environmental concerns into planning. Social–ecological systems research can improve this approach by explicitly relating ecological and social dynamics of change at multiple scales. Doing so requires not only addressing direct effects of aquaculture but also considering indirect factors such as changes in livelihood strategies, governance dynamics, and power relations. We selected the community of Puerto Morazán, Nicaragua as a case study to demonstrate how the introduction of small-scale aquaculture radically transformed another key livelihood activity, lagoon shrimp fishing, and the effects that these changes have had on lagoons and the people that depend on them. We find that shrimp aquaculture played a key role in the collapse, in the 1990s, of an existing lagoon common-property management. Shrimp aquaculture-related capital enabled the adoption of a new fishing technique that not only degraded lagoons but also led to their gradual privatization. The existence of social ties between small-scale shrimp farmers and other community members mitigated the impacts of privatization, illustrating the importance of social capital. Since 2008, community members are seeking to communally manage the lagoons once again, in response to degraded environmental conditions and a consolidation of the shrimp industry at the expense of smaller actors. This research shows that shrimp aquaculture intersects with a complex set of drivers, affecting not only how ecosystems are managed but also how they are perceived and valued. Understanding these social–ecological dynamics is essential to implement realistic policies and management of mangrove ecosystems and address the needs of resource-dependent people.     

再见,“十一五”!

随着新年钟声的响起,＂十一五＂与我们渐行渐远。＂我的这五年,有梦有故事。＂抚今追昔,＂十一五＂对于中国环保人来说,是很给力、很温暖的五年。     

水,不能“水”!

如今很多人的眼睛都盯着水。从2012年7月1日起,我国强制实施新的《生活饮用水卫生标准》,这个标准要求水质总体与世卫组织水质标准接轨。作为环保志愿者,南京两位市民——程渊和李春华,向全国32个城市的自来水厂邮     

“我不要钱,要命!”

目前,长沙晚报以《一个农民扳倒13家污染化工厂》为题, 详细报道了长沙县黄兴镇农民章志标的事迹: 当地13家硫酸锰生产企业均分布在浏阳河边,仅2001年一年就产生工业废气6640万立方米,其中二氧化硫2155吨,烟尘3545吨,工业粉尘680吨,固体废渣28000吨。所有排放的污     

“老师,我来答!”

正6月3日下午,为了迎接"六·五"世界环境日的到来,山东省济南市槐荫区大金新苑幼儿园开展了"我爱环境"主题亲子环保知识竞答比赛,把环保知识融入竞赛中,利用必答、抢答等形式,帮助家长和孩子们深入了解环境保护知识,寓教于乐,增强他们的环保意识。图为孩子们踊跃举手抢答题。     

“辟谷”养生,别跑偏了!

正辟谷,源自道家养生中的"不食五谷",在我国已有2000多年的历史,长沙马王堆出土的汉帛书《去谷食气篇》是辟谷养生术现存最早的文献记载,"辟"即"避",避开、避却之意;"谷"即五谷,是粮食的总称,这里指食物。看着这么"仙气"的表述,就跟练习什么"绝世武功"一般。现在辟谷被很多减肥人士所推崇,认为辟谷就是节食。作为流传了2000多年历史的辟谷,自然有存在的道理,     

年终总结是“结”还是“劫”,看你的!

岁末年初,新旧更替。在职场年终总结被一些人视为＂鸡肋＂之时,一些另类总结也浮出水面,诸如老公写给老婆的年终报告、年度生活报告……不论被动还是主动,     

“It's optional,not mandatory”: Environmental justice in local environmental agencies in Germany

Environmental justice is increasingly becoming a subject of academic debate in Germany. However, the realisation that environmental goods and hazards as well as the impacts of environmental policies are unequally distributed among social groups has not had many practical consequences yet. There are scattered initiatives and pilot projects aiming to address issues of environmental justice. Nevertheless, in the design and implementation of environmental policies there is no systematic consideration of their social dimension. In this paper, we outline the perspective of employees in German local environmental agencies on environmental justice. For this purpose, we conducted six qualitative interviews, which focused on the example of low emission zones. We identified three crucial aspects in these interviews: problem perception, motivation to act and perceived scope of action. Our main finding is that environmental justice is hardly an issue for environmental agencies and that this is the case because there is no necessity for them to consider social aspects in their work as this is neither legally required nor demanded in the public debate.     

Sustainability and Local People’s Participation in Coastal Aquaculture: Regional Differences and Historical Experiences in Sri Lanka and the Philippines

This article discusses environmental sustainability in aquaculture and its contribution to poverty alleviation, based on field studies in Sri Lanka and the Philippines. The aquaculture practices studied are the monoculture of the black tiger prawn (Penneaus monodon) and milkfish (Chanos chanos) and the polyculture of the two species together with the mud crab (Scylla serrata). Factors affecting economic viability, social equity and environmental impacts in aquaculture are discussed and used to illuminate local and regional differences between aquaculture in Sri Lanka and the Philippines. Findings indicate that the most significant difference is the level of participation by local people (i.e., people originating ≤10 km away from the farm location). In the Philippines, 84 % of the people involved in aquaculture are locals, whereas in Sri Lanka, 55% are outsiders. Whether differences between the two areas can be explained by analyzing regional conditions, which might have resulted in different aquaculture practices, is discussed. In Sri Lanka, semi-intensive shrimp monoculture is currently the most common practice, whereas in the Philippines, extensive shrimp/fish polyculture is more common. Previous studies, as well as fieldwork, indicate that extensive culture practices reduce environmental impacts and benefit local people more. Sustainability in aquaculture is, however, also dependent on the extent of mangrove conversion into ponds. As such, extensive and locally owned farms do not necessarily result in an all but sustainable situation. Keeping this in mind, it is discussed if extensive polyculture practices might result in a more sustainable aquaculture, both environmentally and socioeconomically.     

“面对国际资助,我们没有实力说不!”

由“福特汽车环保奖”引发的讨论在刚刚过去的10月份,总计105万元人民币的“福特汽车环保奖”奖金被温州绿眼睛环境文化中心、中国昭通黑颈鹤保护志愿者协会、海南医学院“绿色家园”环保协会等机构或个人获得,对于这些筚路蓝缕的拓荒者来说,这无疑是一场久旱甘霖。但是,就在今     

“Unwritten,unsaid, just known”: the role of Indigenous knowledge(s) in water planning in Australia

Water planning processes in Australia have struggled to account for Indigenous interests and rights in water, including the use of Indigenous knowledge in water management. In exploring the role of Indigenous knowledge in government-led water planning processes, how might tensions between Western scientific and Indigenous knowledges be lessened? Drawing on two case studies from northern Australia we examine how Indigenous knowledge is represented and managed as a different social knowledge to that of Western science in a management context where legal and planning conventions assume priority. The role of Indigenous (social) knowledges in developing options and strategies for sustainable water management is contingent upon the participation of Indigenous people in water planning. We suggest that water planning processes must contain the possibility of an explicit approach to mutual recognition and consequent translation of the conceptual and pragmatic bases of water management and planning in both Western scientific and Indigenous domains.     

Overtown: neighbourhood,change, challenge and “invironment”

This paper explores how residents of Overtown, a low-income neighbourhood in Miami, Florida, view the positive and negative aspects of their neighbourhood “invironment” through photographs taken by residents. The “invironment” [Bell, M., 2004. An invitation to environmental sociology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press] alludes to the interactions between environment/surroundings and the human body. Residents involved with a community social justice organisation were provided with a photographic workshop and cameras to visually document the positive and negative aspects of their neighbourhood. These participant photographers provided narratives paired with their photographs which were then exhibited at local community events. During the exhibits, community members’ comments on the photographs were recorded. This paper analyses community issues through both photographs and neighbourhood comments inspired by the photographs. The following themes of importance to residents were derived from the photographs and discussion with residents: Housing, Public Space, Neighbourhood Economy, History, Environmental/Invironmental Issues, Human Capital and Power. These themes were all connected by residents’ concerns about inequality in Overtown compared to other neighbourhoods in Miami.     

新的大陆文明:完成“现代”,克服“现代”

中国现代化的课还没补完,又已背负超克现代化的新使命。面对崛起中的中国,左派右派的想象力都显得贫乏,提不出新的远景和方案。20世纪中国以及东亚甚至整个亚洲的中心问题是建立一个现代"民族—国家",而21世纪的中心问题则是提升为一个"文明—国家"。新的文明不是像西方文明(海洋文明)一样把"异"与"不同"作为"恶"和"敌人",而是不同文明的和平共存,这是一种新的大陆文明。     

“Coal is in our food,coal is in our blood”: everyday environmental injustices of rural community gardening in Central Appalachia

ABSTRACT

Central Appalachia's historical dependence on natural resource extraction industries has contributed to a long history of under- and uneven development, including trends of persistent poverty, cycles of unemployment, weakened local governance, environmental degradation, and severe social inequalities relative to the rest of the nation. Though these trends have been well documented at structural and community-levels, scholarship is more limited in assessing how the conditions of natural resource dependency may shape the everyday experiences of those who live in such regions and how those everyday experiences may illuminate challenges for future development. Employing an embedded case study design, this study examines how everyday environmental injustices may be experienced via community gardening activities, a sustainable development-oriented activity celebrated in urban locations but largely unexplored in rural environments. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with 43 gardening programme coordinators and participants, the findings demonstrate that everyday environmental injustices are experienced across four distinct, yet overlapping and mutually reinforcing, dimensions: natural, built, human health, and socioeconomic environments. These factors in turn constrain programme participation and beneficial programme outcomes, particularly for more disadvantaged households that are affected by chronic illness, geographic isolation, and environmental hazards. Although the interviewees viewed many of these challenges as further justification for pursuing grassroots initiatives like community gardening programmes, these constraints also interacted in a way that limited the success of these locally-oriented sustainable development efforts, particularly for individuals who are the most socially, economically, and environmentally marginalised.     

Freebies,freedom and fundamental change: resistance to neoliberal environmentalism in large “green” corporations

Despite the professed concern of many governments, businesses and individuals – and the recent publication of another alarming report from the IPCC – inaction on climate change remains a significant concern. For many, the problem is rooted in a neoliberal account of social change. Neoliberal environmentalism is the dominant approach to environmental issues but it is often blamed for the continuing failure of climate change policy in general and behaviour change initiatives in particular. This paper explores the dynamics of this dominant discourse through an examination of environmentalism in the large “green” corporation. Specifically, it uses discourse analysis to investigate so-called “climate champion” schemes and considers examples of resistance to the dominant neoliberal discourse. The paper finds that many of the champions did resist the basic components of neoliberal environmentalism. They challenged the principles of self-interest, self-rule and incremental change, and they talked about the possibility of enforced action. However, this resistance was limited in a number of different ways. The paper suggests that the workplace does play a role in restricting resistance but that there are more fundamental issues that need to be addressed if we hope to pursue an alternative approach to environmental problems such as climate change.     

“Community in Bloom”: local participation of community gardens in urban Singapore

Community gardens offer a space that allows facilitation of leisure activities, encourages interaction within different factions in a community and helps forge a sense of belonging towards the overall community. Using the case study of “Community in Bloom” (CIB) programme initiated by the National Parks Board of Singapore, this article highlights how such community gardens are also viewed by some as exclusionary spaces due to their close links with government apparatus. More broadly, it argues that a constrained civic activism not only affects the extent to which these gardens can forge communal bonds, but they also challenge their integral spirit. Despite promising signs of politically opening up in the early 2000s, the soft authoritarianism of the Singaporean state continues to be wary of non-governmental sanctioned community projects and civic activism. This attitude may prove to be resilient in the foreseeable future, thereby preventing the “CIB” programme from truly blossoming.     

Gifting,ridding and the “everyday mundane”: the role of class and privilege in food waste generation in Indonesia

Current research on household food waste has not considered the impact of the inter-class power dynamics between employers and domestic helpers on food waste management and generation in the Global South. This article focuses on the issue of food justice and will demonstrate that it is important to reconsider household food practices within the framework of unequal power dynamics in household units – especially between employers and their domestic helpers. Informed by food waste regime conceptual framework, this paper will examine the complex food provisioning practices of Indonesian households. The research draws on 21 in-depth interviews with households of varying incomes, multiple site visits, participant observation and going along on grocery trips to better understand the power dynamics and practices that result in, or prevent the generation of household food waste. In addition, 12 key informant interviews with government officials, traditional food vendors, supermarket managers, and a waste collector was also conducted. In an Indonesian context, understanding the interclass dynamics of the household, namely, who gets to define what is “food” and what is “waste” is key to understanding the broader phenomenon of food waste in order to promote solutions to food waste prevention and food insecurity that is socially and environmentally just.     

“Perceived neighbourhood” and tolerance relations: the case of Arabs and Jews in Jaffa,Israel

This paper examines the complex social reality of mixed ethnic residential areas, as reflected in drawn perceived neighbourhoods of Jews and Arabs living in homogenous and mixed neighbourhoods in Jaffa, Tel Aviv. Through in-depth interviews conducted among 89 Jaffa's residents, it illustrates how different perceptions about the residential area and its residents (including attitudes, emotions, feeling of fear/safety, collective identity and tolerant relations) are reflected in the form, size and consensus area of residents' perceived neighbourhoods. The study finds a clear association between tolerant attitudes and the size and consensus area of the perceived neighbourhoods. Arabs perceive their neighbourhood as significantly larger than Jews do and are characterised by a larger consensus area. These findings are explained by the Arab's strong social cohesion, common national identity, rootedness in Jaffa, as well as by tolerant attitudes towards Jaffa's Jewish population. The study demonstrates the interrelation between the spatial, social and perceptual dimensions associated with the mixed residential area, and illustrates how these dimensions are reflected in drawn perceived neighbourhoods.     

为“区域限批”新政叫好!

2007年1月10日,国家环保总局副局长潘岳向媒体表示:根据《国务院关于落实科学发展观加强环境保护的决     

动漫出海,环保接招——《嗨!我是地球!》用漫画形式讲述“泛环保”理念

<正>传统的环保宣教和环保科普形式枯燥,对于青少年群体来说,吸引力不大。尽管挂图、宣传册、图书等形式也在不断改进,也在尝试增加趣味性,但是探索的步伐仍然较小。用漫画的形式宣传环保更加生动,更有趣味性。得知《嗨!我是地球!》这套环保科普漫画书,是在6月中旬举行的中国社会企业与社会投资论坛上。来自全国的社会企业人士济济一堂,趁着吃饭的工夫抓紧时间交流,觥筹交错间,熟悉的环保NGO人士"拜客广州"负责人陈嘉俊领着一位