Dam the news: Newspapers and the Oldman River Dam project in Alberta

The Oldman River Dam is a major water control structure built by the Government of Alberta to regulate the flow of the Oldman River. Completed in 1992, the dam was the subject of intensive media coverage in Alberta, Canada. Newspaper coverage of the dam story in two Alberta papers, the CalgaryHeraldand the EdmontonJournal, was analysed for the years between 1975 and 1992. This study links coverage with events that occurred in the case, and analyses the role of the media in the case. While the media played an important role in shaping public awareness of the dam project, their influence on Government policy was mixed. In the early years of the case (1975–1980), there is evidence that the provincial Government changed its plans in response to public protests documented in media such as theHeraldand theJournal. However, after 1987, the Government came to see the media as biased, and not representative of public opinion. Consequently, their influence on policy makers was negligible. Patterns in coverage of both papers, which included wild swings from year-to-year in the number, emphasis and tone of items, can be explained with reference to inherent characteristics of the media. These include: an inability on the part of the papers to consider positive and negative aspects of issues simultaneously for any length of time, and a consequent tendency to provideeithera positiveora negative stance; simplification of very complex issues in an attempt to create accessible, newsworthy stories; rapid shifts in the tone of coverage, as attention focused on different dimensions of the issue, rather than because of new information; a focus on conflict and other sensational aspects of stories; and a tendency towards a rapid loss of interest in a story once journalistic attention shifts elsewhere.     

The Atatürk Dam project in south-east Turkey: Changes in objectives and planning over time

The Atatürk Dam was constructed on the Euphrates River in Turkey in the 1980s as the central component of a large-scale regional development project for the South-eastern Anatolia region, known as GAP. Since the first development plan for the region was presented in 1970, the objectives for regional development have changed significantly.
This article aims to analyze how the functions, design, and capacities of the Atatürk Dam project have been modified since 1970, paralleling changes in the regional development objectives and ambitions, and to identify accomplishments and constraints in the realization of the dam project.
Since 1970, ambitions to develop the region have grown significantly, resulting in major changes to the original project plans. The most important change occurred in 1978, when the design for the Middle Karababa Dam, recommended in 1970, was abandoned and the Atatürk Dam design was adopted. This change considerably increased the storage and power generation capacities of the dam. Yet, the sparse rainfall throughout the catchment in recent years has hampered full utilization of the dam's storage and generation capacities and increased the need for tradeoffs between conflicting demands for water use.     

我国公务员人力资源管理廉政考核体系研究

我国体制转轨时期,面对当前的腐败,究其原因除了腐败本身具有的顽固性尚未得到根本遇制外,缺少科学的廉政考核体系也是一个重要原因.本文从我国公务员康政概念开始,通过一系列指标体系的测量,充分利用现代科技不断进行制度和方法的创新,不断完善我国公务员康政考核的指标体系.     

Food,feed, and fuelwood resources of Nepal: A GIS evaluation

A GIS-based land evaluation model was developed to determine the food, feed, and fuelwood sufficiency of all districts in Nepal. Resource surpluses or deficits were calculated for each district for 1981, the year for which the national land resource data were available. Of the three resources, feed supplies were found to be the most critical. Feed deficits occurred in 57% of all districts in 1981, while food and fuelwood deficits occurred in less than 10% of all districts. Different scenarios were carried out for the year 2000 to estimate the magnitude of future resource deficits, assuming resource use and yields in Nepal remain constant in the face of growing population and livestock numbers. Linking resource data with spreadsheet and GIS systems provides a new way to understand and evaluate resources at the district and national levels. To more fully capture the usefulness of this approach, information on rates of change in productivity and land use is needed.     

Marxism-Leninism and natural resources: The Soviet outlook

To the USSR resource depletion is not a threat to be taken seriously on a world-wide basis but rather a manifestation of capitalism. Shortages caused by the system will aggravate the contradictions inherent in capitalism and hasten its downfall. The socialist world avoids resource crises by planning its economies. The author examines here the ideological basis of views held on the resources question in the USSR and the role resources planning will play in the eventual triumph of socialism.     

Socioeconomic and Institutional Dimensions of Dam Removals: The Wisconsin Experience

/ There are tens of thousands of small dams in the United States; many of these aging structures are deteriorating. Governments and dam owners face decisions regarding repair or removal of these structures. Along with the many benefits society derives from dams and their impoundments, numerous recent ecological studies are revealing the extensive alteration and degradation of river ecosystems by dams. Dam removal-a principal restoration strategy-is an infrequent event. The major reasons for removal have been public safety and the high costs associated with repair; the goal of river ecosystem restoration now warrants greater attention. Substantial study is being given to the environmental aspects of dams and dam removals, but very little attention has been given to the socioeconomic and institutional dimensions associated with the removal of dams, although these factors play a significant role in the removal decision-making process. Based on a case study of dam removals in Wisconsin-where more than 30 of the state's 3600 small dams have been removed in the past few decades-legal, financial, and socioeconomic issues associated with dam removal are documented and assessed. Dam removal has been complex and contentious, with limited community-based support for removal and loss of the impounded waters. In cases examined here, the estimated costs of repairing a dam averaged more than three times the cost of removal. The availability of governmental financing has been a key determinant in removal decisions. Watershed-scale ecological considerations are not major factors for most local interests. As watershed management and restoration increasingly include dam removal options as part of an integrated strategy, more attention will need to be focused on socioeconomic factors and stakeholder perspectives-variables that strongly influence the viability of this management alternative.KEY WORDS: Dam removal; River restoration; Institutions; Stakeholders     

The value of mineral resources: Perspectives and conflicts

The concept of value is central to mineral economics as it is all branches of economics. In the minerals sphere particular problems are posed for a theory of value by, firstly, the non- renewability of mineral resources, secondly the substantial effort that must be made to convert a mineral into a useful product, and finally the perception of minerals, both economically and symbolically, as peculiarly national forms of wealth. Some thoughts are offered on different approaches to mineral resource valuation and on the frequently conflicting principles of exploitation to which these various approaches give rise.     

Ecotourism: The Santa Elena rainforest project

Summary This paper outlines an ecotourism project undertaken in the Santa Elena community in the Monteverde region of Costa Rica. The community is seeking to establish a rainforest reserve on a parcel of land that has been permanently leased to their high school by the Costa Rican Government. The Community and Youth Challenge International are developing an ecotourism project that will provide a wider economic basis for the area and employment for students graduating from the high school. This project seeks to achieve sustainable development and fulfil the development requirements of the population surrounding the project. This is in the belief that it is only when conservation projects benefit local communities, and are set up with an infrastructure that vests control within local communities, that genuine ecotourism is achieved.Stephen Wearing is a lecturer in the School of Leisure and Tourism Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, and he lectures and consults in the area of Tourism and Environmental Planning, and Parks Protected Area Management. His particular interest is in ecotourism projects with local communities. He is linked with Youth Challenge International and people interested in becoming involved or looking for assistance in projects can contact him at the above address.     

Natural resources and development: The gold sector in Mali

Resource-rich countries do not necessarily perform well, especially developing countries. A debate has developed since the 1990s about a “resource curse” hypothesis, which threaten to impede the resource-rich countries in taking advantage of their natural endowments. In Mali, a less-developed country, gold export has substantially increased since the 1990s. In this paper we show that widespread analyses, such as those of the Dutch disease and the quality of institutions, are not sufficient to understand what is at stake in Mali, and that the mining sector has proved to be neither a blessing nor a curse, at least until the present. Gold mining has brought budget revenues but induced few spillovers. As gold mining has now come to maturity, the die is probably cast.     

US resources policy: The 1982 report to congress

This paper analyses the extent to which the new Reagan mineral policy will encourage increased US production, substitution, recycling and conservation, domestic stock-piling and diversification of foreign supplies. Major inadequacies of the mineral policy are the transfer of responsibility for research and development from the government to the unprepared private sector, the lack of emphasis on short-term research and development in mineral processing technology, and the lack of coordination between minerals policy and national security and foreign policy. However, overall the policy is a positive step towards reducing the current US minerals supply vulnerability.     

The relationship between resources and living standards

Available estimates of potentially recoverable world mineral and fuel resources are examined with a view to determining whether everyone likely to be living on earth next century could be raised to the material living standards people in developed countries now have. It is concluded that this goal is impossible. A number of fundamentally important implications follow, especially regarding the inappropriateness of growth strategies in general, goals for Third World development, and the need for ‘de-development’ of developed countries to much more frugal, self-sufficient and cooperative social systems.     

Soviet resources policy: Foreign investment,resources and the tenth five-year plan

The author examines the plans for natural resources embodied in the USSR's 10th five year plan, 1975–1980. Problems of capital and manpower have forced the USSR to curtail the very ambitious resources programmes which were mooted in the early 1960s. Foreign investment is seen as one possible means of raising production and agreements have been signed with Western companies for over 50 development projects. More important still, the countries of Comecon have invested heavily in Soviet natural resources.     

江苏省特、稀、濒危保护植物资源的生态学评价

特、稀、濒危植物的数量与特征研究是自然资源保护的主要环节。本文根据它们的保护等级、分布局限性、稀有值、物种吸引力、保护指数以及理论研究值6个标准,对江苏15种国家级保护植物、24种省级保护植物的生态学意义作出初步评价。     

The hotelling valuation of natural resources: some further results

This paper tests the Hotelling Valuation Principle (HVP) for natural resources using data from oil and gas ‘pure plays’ such as royalty trusts and master limited partnerships. The results support the HVP which specifies that the value of any mineral reserve may be predicted by the market price of the resource, net of extraction costs. Regression results also indicate that a Box-Cox transformation of variables provide a better means of estimating the functional relationship between the value of an exhaustible natural resource and its market price.     

Natural resources dynamics: Exhaustible and renewable resources,and the rate of technical substitution

In this paper we study both exhaustible and renewable resources in an endogenous growth model. In particular, we consider the hypotheses in which the rate of technical substitution (RTS) between those two inputs is or is not equal to one. Moreover, we depart from a basic theoretical framework to account for the negative externality constituted by waste accumulation. Finally, a comparative analysis is made between Pigouvian tax and waste recycling, as an environmental policy to correct market failure represented by refuse accumulation.     

Sustaining Jamaica's forests: The protected areas resource conservation project

This study examines Jamaica's attempt to protect a tropical forest reserve. The biophysical setting, and the types and magnitude of forest development pressures are reviewed. Next, Jamaica's approach to developing new land-use strategies and compatible environmental protection and economic development programs are examined. Finally, the practical and theoretical implications by which institutions can be designed to encourage planning for sustainable development are reviewed. The implications suggest how to provide an appropriate mix of cooperation and market competition, by which people acting in their own interests accomplish socially equitable economic development, while protecting the environment for the benefit of future generations. The experience illustrates that effective long-term protection of natural areas requires the building of local relationships and support, the development of local economic activities supportive of conservation, the defining of clear boundaries, and significant monitoring and enforcement. Long-term protection of the Blue and John Crow mountains, and other important natural areas of Jamaica, will also require the development of a workable and enforceable system of land-use planning for the island, and adjustments to the economic incentive structure so that sustainable, nonextractive uses of natural capital are placed on equal footing with other economic uses (e.g., coffee production).     

The Scaling of Water Governance Tasks: A Comparative Federal Analysis of the European Union and Australia

Conflicts over how to “scale” policy-making tasks have characterized environmental governance since time immemorial. They are particularly evident in the area of water policy and raise important questions over the democratic legitimacy, economic efficiency and effectiveness of allocating (or “scaling”) tasks to some administrative levels as opposed to others. This article adopts a comparative federalism perspective to assess the “optimality” of scaling—either upward or downward—in one issue area, namely coastal recreational water quality. It does so by comparing the scaling of recreational water quality tasks in the European Union (EU) and Australia. It reveals that the two systems have adopted rather different approaches to scaling and that this difference can partly be accounted for in federal theoretical terms. However, a much greater awareness of the inescapably political nature of scaling processes is nonetheless required. Finally, some words of caution are offered with regard to transferring policy lessons between these two jurisdictions.     

Natural resources,governance and institutional quality: The role of resource funds

This paper investigates the relationship between resource funds, governance and institutional quality in resource-rich countries. The study is motivated by the relatively recent and inconclusive debate on resource funds and on their role in the addressing of the “resource curse”. The estimation results suggest that resource funds may be associated with governance and institutional quality improvements. The analysis complements the debate on the tools of addressing the “resource curse” and on the determinants of governance and institutional quality. The findings remain important for their policy implications. The estimation results suggest that resource funds may prove useful tools in the hands of the policy makers in the attempt to address governance and institutional quality deterioration induced by resource abundance.     

Determination of the effect of operating cost uncertainty on mining project evaluation

Mining projects are complex businesses that demand constant risk assessment. This is because several kinds of uncertainties influence the value of a mine project, typically. These uncertainties may be classified as exploration uncertainties, economic uncertainties and engineering uncertainties. The evaluation of a mine project under these uncertainties is a complicated job, which may lead to making a wrong decision by managers and stockholders. Therefore, at first, the engineers must recognize the mining uncertainties before carrying out the project evaluation. The economic uncertainties are the most important factors, which may affect the project evaluation. Among the mentioned uncertainties, the operating cost uncertainty is an important and effective factor, which is ignored to a certain extent.