Values and the state in natural resource management: The Mt Wellington skyway dispute, Hobart, Tasmania

This article presents a study of land-use politics at the local level in Hobart, capital of the small island state of Tasmania. It is concerned with the politics of local place in the Mt Wellington Skyway cable car dispute and the tactics employed by the state government, in contravention of sustainability principles, to prioritise development over public concern for a local environment. The dispute is reviewed in terms of ideological contention, planning and decision making, and the role of the state in facilitating development. It is found to be characteristically Tasmanian in terms of state legislative support for the project and attitudes in the local community and local government polarised firmly against it. The management of the Mt Wellington Range itself is found to have been hindered by a history of non-decision making and neglect of intrinsic natural values, and the management of the Skyway approval process to have been expediently driven by utilitarian concerns. The article closely scrutinises the type of local environmental issue that Rainbow (1993) suggests has catalysed green politics at the state level in Tasmania. But more generally, it also presents a classic study of the ideological contention that continues to inspire natural resource conflict wherever communities face the degradation of local places defined by significant natural areas.     

The impact of urbanization on tropical mangroves (Fortaleza,Brazil): Evidence from PAH distribution in sediments

This investigation represents the first environmental diagnosis of the distribution and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediments from a tropical mangrove in Fortaleza, northeastern Brazil. Sediment cores from six sampling stations in the Cocó and Ceará Rivers were retrieved in June-July 2006 to determine 17 priority PAHs. The total PAH concentrations (Σ_PAHs) ranged from 3.04 to 2234.76 μg kg^?1(Cocó River) and from 3.34 to 1859.21 μg kg^?1 (Ceará River). These levels are higher than those of other cities with more industrial development. PAH concentrations did not reach probable effect levels (PELs). However, from 4.5 to 87.5% of individual PAH concentrations can occasionally cause adverse biological effects for aquatic organisms. The PAH molecular ratios indicate that the PAHs in the sediment core were derived mainly from petroleum, wood, and charcoal combustion (pyrogenic source), and that atmospheric deposition and urban runoff may serve as important pathways for PAH input to the sediment. Clearly, the Σ_PAHs in sediments collected in the Cocó and Ceará Rivers indicate that ongoing pollution is more severe than past pollution.     

稻虾共育年赚千万，立体生态农业让土地产黄金

俗话说民以食为天。可时下毒馒头、毒奶粉、地沟油、瘦肉精等食品安全事件频发,老百姓发出了究竟吃啥才安全的感叹。于是,人们呼吁从源头把关确保农产品的生产安全。在淮河中游安徽凤台县钱庙乡张池村,就有个瓜果飘香鱼跃虾跳的立体农业生态科技示范园,     

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.     

Sentience,Rationality, and Moral Status: A Further Reply to Hsiao

Timothy Hsiao argues that animals lack moral status because they lack the sort of higher-level rationality required for membership in the moral community. Stijn Bruers and László Erd?s have already raised a number of objections to this argument, to which Hsiao has replied with some success. But I think a stronger critique can be made. Here I raise further objections to three aspects of Hsiao’s view: his conception of the moral community, his idea of root capacities grounded in one’s nature, and his explanation of why cruelty is wrong. I also argue that sentience is a more plausible candidate for the morally salient capacity than rationality.     

Wildland Recreation and Human Waste: A Review of Problems, Practices, and Concerns

It is difficult to make general recommendations that apply to all ecosystems. There is still a relative dearth of studies that allow the manager or visitor to come up with specific practices that are the best for their area. The preferred method of disposal remains to dig a small hole (cat hole) and bury the waste. Other site specific methods are also discussed. Treatment of drinking water has become standard practice for most backcountry travel. With such treatment, there is little evidence currently to suggest that the health hazard to humans is great enough to impose further regulation in areas currently using cat holes.     

Agrarian Ideals, Sustainability Ethics, and US Policy: A Critique for Practitioners

If tacit ethical ideals shape policy and practice, even when practitioners are not fully aware of underlying philosophical assumptions, then philosophical frameworks that support diagnostic, evaluative, and adaptive capacity in the sphere of action are critical to sustainability. Thompson’s agrarian-influenced sustainability framework substantially advances beyond the prevailing triple bottom line approach, as experimental evaluation of biofuels sustainability illustrates. By suggesting that governance of complex social-natural systems lies at the core of contemporary sustainability challenges, Thompson illuminates the critical importance of social capacity for deliberation and choice—a powerful and somewhat unexpected theme requiring more development by philosophers and practitioners alike going forward.     

Summer total phosphorus in lakes: A map of Minnesota,Wisconsin, and Michigan,USA

A map of summer total phosphorus in lakes has been compiled for Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan to clarify regional patterns in attainable lake trophic state. Total phosphorus was used as a measure of lake trophic state because: (1) phosphorus plays a central role in controlling the overall fertility of most lakes, (2) total phosphorus values are available for a great number of lakes, and (3) phosphorus is measured in a consistent manner. The maps were compiled using patterns of total phosphorus data and observed associations between these data and geographic characteristics including physiography, land use, geology, and soils. Regions depicted on the map represent areas of similarity in phosphorus concentrations in lakes, or similarity in the mosaic of values, as compared to adjacent areas. Within each region, differences in total phosphorus can be compared to natural and anthropogenic factors to determine the types of lakes representative of each region, the factors associated with differences in quality, and the realistically attainable phosphorus levels for each type of lake.     

A framework for sustainable invasive species management: Environmental,social, and economic objectives

Applying the concept of sustainability to invasive species management (ISM) is challenging but necessary, given the increasing rates of invasion and the high costs of invasion impacts and control. To be sustainable, ISM must address environmental, social, and economic factors (or “pillars”) that influence the causes, impacts, and control of invasive species across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Although these pillars are generally acknowledged, their implementation is often limited by insufficient control options and significant economic and political constraints. In this paper, we outline specific objectives in each of these three “pillars” that, if incorporated into a management plan, will improve the plan’s likelihood of sustainability. We then examine three case studies that illustrate how these objectives can be effectively implemented. Each pillar reinforces the others, such that the inclusion of even a few of the outlined objectives will lead to more effective management that achieves ecological goals, while generating social support and long-term funding to maintain projects to completion. We encourage agency directors and policy-makers to consider sustainability principles when developing funding schemes, management agendas, and policy.     

Environmental Awareness, Economic Orientation, and Farming Practices: A Comparison of Organic and Conventional Farmers

/ This study examines similarities and differences between organic and conventional farmers. We explore the factors that underlie farmers' conservation attitudes and behaviors, including demographic and farm characteristics, awareness of and concern for environmental problems associated with agriculture, economic orientation toward farming, and self-reported conservation practices. A series of intensive personal interviews was conducted with 25 farmers in Washtenaw County, Michigan, USA, using both qualitative and quantitative survey methods. The findings indicate that both groups of farmers share a concern for the economic risks associated with farming, although the organic farmers reported a significantly greater concern for long-term sustainability and a greater willingness to incur present risk to gain future benefits. Organic farmers expressed a greater awareness of and concern for environmental problems associated with agriculture. Organic farmers also scored significantly higher on a multifaceted measure of conservation practices, although both groups had a fairly high adoption rate. Implications of these findings are discussed, relative to economic risks of farming, implications for new farmers, effectiveness of conservation education and government programs, and impact of farm size and crop diversity.KEY WORDS: Environmental attitudes; Conservation behaviors; Organic farming; Agricultural sustainability     

RESEARCH: Issues Related to Greenhouse Effect,Productivity Modeling,and Nutrient Cycling: A Case Study of Indian Wetlands

/ Models available in the literature on nutrient uptake, lightavailability, and chlorophyll growth have been suitably modified andintegrated through the computer program CHLORF (written in "C"language), which has the advantage of being amenable to simulation undervarious combinations of input variables. The model has been used forsensitivity analysis in order to identify the most sensitive set ofparameters whose control can form an appropriate basis for evolving pragmaticmanagement strategies. In addition, greenhouse mitigation potential has beencomputed in terms of assimilation of carbon dioxide for a case study ofIndian wetlands.KEY WORDS: Wetland; Nutrient cycling; Modeling; Greenhouse effect     

Resource scarcity,energy use and environmental impact: A case study of the New Bedford,Massachusetts, USA,fisheries

The commercial fishing fleet in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA, harvests seafood on George’s Bank, home of one of the nation’s most productive fisheries. We calculated the energy return on investment (EROI) and carbon intensity of protein harvest in the New Bedford fisheries from 1968 to 1988. EROI is the ratio of the energy content of the edible fish protein harvested to the quantity of fossil fuel energy used directly in the harvesting process. Carbon intensity is the quantity of carbon dioxide (CO₂) released (from the burning of fossil fuels) per calorie of edible fish protein harvested. The results show that the EROI of protein harvest declined from 0.18 to 0.028 from 1968 to 1988, indicating that the energy used to harvest seafood increased from about 6 to 36 kcal of fuel for each kilocalorie of protein harvested. The quantity of CO₂ released per calorie of edible fish protein is a linear function of energy use and therefore increased in a similar manner. During this period there was a large increase in fishing effort (caused by the increase in the real price of seafood products, favorable tax treatment for new vessel construction, and low interest loans from the government), and a decline in several important species of fish. The results suggest that fishing pressure could be managed effectively by the regulation of fuel use by the fleet. Despite the increase in the price of many seafood products, fishermen absorbed many of the costs of increasing scarcity in the form of longer working hours and fewer men per vessel.     

Science, Pigs, and Politics: A New Zealand Perspective on the Phase-Out of Sow Stalls

Sows housed in stalls are kept insuch extreme confinement that they are unableto turn around. In some sectors of the porkindustry, sows are subjected to this degree ofconfinement for almost their entire lives(apart from the brief periods associated withmating). While individual confinement isrecognized by farmers and animal welfarecommunity organizations alike, as a valuabletool in sow husbandry (to mitigate againstaggression), what remains questionable from ananimal welfare point of view is the necessityto confine sows in such small spaces.In 2001, the Australian Journal ofAgricultural Research published a reviewarticle on the science associated with the useof the sow stall, and claimed that ``noscientific evidence to support therecommendation in the Code of Practice advisingagainst housing of sows in stalls followed byhousing in crates' (Barnett et al., 2001, p. 21).If all the available scientific publications onthe animal welfare implications of sow stallsare consulted (many of which did not feature inthe above review), then one will indeed findscientific evidence to support recommendationsagainst the housing of sows in stalls. Becausethere is science on both sides of this policydivide, the argument to defend the use of sowstalls, therefore, is not one of science vspublic opinion, but one of ethics.An analysis of the scientific argumentsagainst the use of the sow stall should be usedto encourage ethical debate on this issue. Asan ethical debate, the issue of the use of thesow stall can then focus on the degree ofsuffering we as a society are willing totolerate in agricultural practices, and theanimal welfare costs associated with extremeeconomies of scale in sow stocking rates,rather than get bogged down in red herringdebates over whether there is any suffering atall.     

Integrating fire management into land-use planning: A multiple-use management research,development, and applications program

The traditional view of fire as a destructive agent requiring immediate suppression is giving way to the view that fire can and should be used to meet land management goals. Thus,fire control is being replaced by the more general concept offire management, which is based on the need to integrate fire policy with land management objectives. The social, economic, and ecologic effects of fire must be evaluated in the selection of land management alternatives.The activities of fire management organizations—fire prevention, control, and use of fire—must respond to needs of land management. Many agencies have developed fire organizations as separate entities that set their own objectives. The many land and resource managers who have recognized the need to incorporate fire considerations into land-use planning have so far lacked the techniques to do so.As a natural process, fire has an important function in forest and range ecosystems. Fire can greatly influence the quantity and quality of resource outputs; it is a two-edged sword that can either harm or benefit our goals, depending upon the complex effects of fire and the nature of our wants.The Fire in Multiple-Use Management Research, Development, and Applications (RD&A) Program was initiated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, at the Northern Forest Fire Lab in Missoula to assist land managers. This profile explains what an RD&A program is; discusses its mission, goals, and approach to the problem; and tells why the approach involves federal laboratories, universities, and private research foundations.