From Framework to Action: The DESIRE Approach to Combat Desertification

It has become increasingly clear that desertification can only be tackled through a multi-disciplinary approach that not only involves scientists but also stakeholders. In the DESIRE project such an approach was taken. As a first step, a conceptual framework was developed in which the factors and processes that may lead to land degradation and desertification were described. Many of these factors do not work independently, but can reinforce or weaken one another, and to illustrate these relationships sustainable management and policy feedback loops were included. This conceptual framework can be applied globally, but can also be made site-specific to take into account that each study site has a unique combination of bio-physical, socio-economic and political conditions. Once the conceptual framework was defined, a methodological framework was developed in which the methodological steps taken in the DESIRE approach were listed and their logic and sequence were explained. The last step was to develop a concrete working plan to put the project into action, involving stakeholders throughout the process. This series of steps, in full or in part, offers explicit guidance for other organizations or projects that aim to reduce land degradation and desertification.     

Desertification around Hirakud reservoir

Summary A comparative study of Survey of India topo-maps of 1929 and land satellite imageries in False Colour Combination (FCC) of 1975 indicates a loss of 43% and 46% of the reserved forest around Sambalpur and Jharsuguda respectively, besides other forest types in a radius of twenty miles. Deforestation is found to be an accelerating process where the rate of loss is estimated to be more during 1970–75 and 1960–70 in comparison to 1950–60 from a semilogarithmic trend curve between 1929 and 1975. This curve also fits to a hypothesis that the rate of deforestation is faster after 1950 (after developmental plan periods came into force). An analysis of the climatic data indicates a decrease in rainfall and number of rainy days, and morning relative humidity. The mean minimum and maximum temperature, evening relative humidity and atmospheric pressure show increasing trends. Relationships between forest loss and climatic parameters are significant for morning relative humidity, rainy days, maximum temperature and atmospheric pressure. Considering the loss of storage capacity of the Hirakud reservoir due to severe deforestation in the catchment area, suggestions are given for natural forest preservation. Arttabandhu Mishra graduated in Science (Zoology Honours) and Education from Utkal University; postgraduated from Berhampur University, India. At present he is a Lecturer in School of Life Sciences, Sambalpur University and Secretary of Orissa Environmental Consciousness Society. His fields of interests are Productivity and Energetics of Forest Ecosystems, Environmental Education and Community Education. He has published seven papers on the above fields and a number bf popular articles. He tries to use folk literature as media to carry scientific messages. Madhab C. Dash, obtained his B.Sc. (Hens), M.Sc. from Utkal University, India and Ph.D. from University of Calgary, Canada. At present he is Professor and Head, School of Life Sciences, Sambalpur University, a fellow of the Zoological Society of India, the National Institute of Ecology and the National Academy of Sciences, India. His major areas of research and writing are on the functional role of soil organisms in the decomposer subsystem of ecosystems, He has published seventy-five papers on taxonomy, biology, population ecology, metabolic functions, energy flow modelling, role in soft fertility and waste conditioning ability of Oligochaetes, nematodes, protozoa and soil microorganisms. Professor Dash has contributed specialised chapters in major treaties published by Cambridge University Press, UK; John Wiley and Sons, USA; and Academic Press, New York, USA.     

Community environmental action: The plumstead common experience

This paper traces the origins and progress of a small grass-roots local environmental initiative. From the simple desire of a few people to clean up some waste land behind their homes grew the Plumstead Common Environment Group. Working closely with the local Borough Council, the group has obtained funding from English Nature, Shell Better Britain Campaign, the Co-operative Society, local businesses and residents. It has expanded its remit from less than 1 ha to over 50 ha of public open space within an older, high-density housing area in Greater London. The important feature of this project is the balance it manages to achieve between a number of potentially competing needs. These include the needs of local people to have a degree of control over, and be practically involved in, the improvement of their immediate environment; to have feedback in terms of aesthetic improvements; and to conserve/enhance the ecological value of the area. Failure to maintain this balance can undermine the viability of such projects. The ways in which the project has addressed ethical, aesthetic and ecological considerations are outlined, serving as an exemplar of sound community-based environmental practice for urban ecological projects elsewhere.     

Potentials for Combating Desertification in Hunshandak Sandland Through Nature Reserve

Desertification directly threatens more than 250 million people and one third of the earths land surface. Although it is well known that desertification could be reversed in most cases if the intensity of land use were reduced, there have been no studies on how to achieve this reversed desertification on a large scale. We conducted a case study in Hunshandak Sandland of North China, exploring how creation of a nature reserve might aid restoration of a degraded ecosystem. Experimental data indicated that desertified regions, if designated as a nature reserve, could be restored with conservation of biodiversity. The buffer zones in moderately desertified lands could serve as a base for forage production and/or ecotourism industry. The construction of ecologically designed towns (ecotowns) in transition zones could accommodate migrants moved from core zones so as to develop stock production, related industry, and ecotourism, enabling both economic and environmental development. Up to now, 5778 local inhabitants in the core zones of Zhenglan Banner (county) in the Hunshandak Sandland have been moved out of the severely degraded areas with the financial assistance of the central government. Those people have been moved into three eco-towns of the Banner with an objective of greatly enhancing the economic and social status while restoring the degraded sandlands.     

新疆土地退化的成因分析与防治对策--着重于土地的荒漠化

新疆地处亚欧大陆腹地,远离海洋,四周环山,幅员辽阔,土地面积居全国各省（区）之首,约占全国土地面积的1／6,但是人类赖以生存的绿洲面积仅占总面积的2．39％,人均耕地面积0．19hm^2,虽然高于全国人均水平,但耕地质量差,复种指数低,产出率低,同时还受到荒漠化的影响。文章通过对新疆荒漠化土地的分布与现状,以及其对农、牧、林、交通运输线路、居民建筑等的危害的综述,探讨了新疆土地荒漠化的主要原因,并为进一步更好的利用、保护土地提出了几点建议。     

Environmental democracy in action: The Toxics Release Inventory

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) created by the 1986 Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act initially received limited attention. During the early years of its implementation, the TRI has become the basis for a national experiment in voluntaristic problem solving among citizens and industry, but that process of environmental democracy hinges on citizens' ability to actually acquire, understand, and apply the new data on industrial toxic emissions. A national study of TRI-using organizations in the public and private sectors reveals that effective citizen access depends in part on the efforts of intermediary public interest groups to bridge individual needs and right-to-know data. Although the TRI has had early success as a supplement to conventional command and control regulation, questions exist about the extent to which state and federal government should or must provide special efforts to make environmental information access work for citizens.     

The effects of community-based action for sustainability on participants' lifestyles

There has been increased interest in the role of community-based action in promoting sustainable lifestyles in recent years, but relatively limited evidence on the effects of such activity on participants' behaviours. In this paper, I present an evaluation of the effects of community-based action for sustainability on participants' lifestyles. I draw on extensive qualitative research to assess how much change participants of community sustainability projects report, what kinds of participants these projects attract and how the circumstances of these projects affect the changes that participants make. The main findings are that these initiatives have different effects on different people. Those who are new to sustainability and who are actively involved in cohesive groups, which are specifically targeting their lifestyles, are more likely to report substantial changes. I present a model to explain what change occurs, for which types of participants, in what circumstances as a result of community-based action.     

广西石山区土地石漠化的成因及防治对策

石漠化即喀斯特荒漠化、石化,是广西生态环境最突出的问题。为了促进石山区经济的可持续发展,作者采用了文献调查、实地调查、定性分析和定量分析等方法探讨了广西石漠化的成因和防治对策,认为导致广西石漠化加剧的因素是多方面的,既有自然的、更有人为的;其治理也是一个系统工程,需要在释放人口压力、提高人口素质、调整产业结构与布局、加大整治力度、执行财政补偿制度等方面继续努力。     

绿洲与沙漠化过程的初步研究

绿洲寓于荒漠、异于荒漠,但在一定条件下两者互向对立面转化。界外区是互相转化的活跃空间。现状绿洲的界外区,从生态系统梯度分析,不是连续的群落环境梯度而是生态裂谷,它动摇绿洲存续的基础,是沙漠化过程的直接动因。     

Questions and Answers. The right time for TQM?

In this quarterly column, I will be inviting you—the TQEM reader—to ask our distinguished board of advisors and contributors questions of current interest pertaining to TQM and environmental management. As editor, I will then share the questions with the board at large and compile the answers here. For this issue, the editorial staff has chosen three basic questions (and even helped out with an answer or two). Please take a moment to write down what you think will be an interesting question, or set of questions, and address it to me: TQEM Questions & Answers Editor, 22 West 21st Street, New York, NY 10010. I will credit you with the question and send out an extra copy of TQEM.     

The time dimension and lithium resource constraints for electric vehicles

The availability of lithium resources for a transition to electric vehicles is a vital topic for transport technology strategy. Recent debate seems to have concluded that there is ‘sufficient’ lithium available, but for the purposes of a technological transition, time matters. It is not simply the quantity of resource that is relevant—the flow rate into society may be a much more difficult constraint and transient events have disrupted heavily concentrated material supply chains in the past. Furthermore, critical assumptions such as the presence of recycling systems may not be justified without policy support. Complacency is therefore not an appropriate stance for a robust evaluation of material risks in the case of lithium.     

西南岩溶石山地区石漠化综合治理研究

在中国西南岩溶石山地区石漠化发生演变时空特征分析结论的基础上,简要分析了石漠化的成因机理,重点探讨了当前石漠化治理的主导思想,认为石漠化治理的关键在于地质调查的开展、以岩溶小流域为整治单元的水资源开发以及典型小流域的综合整治示范,提出了相应的对策和具体的措施.     

青海省荒漠化现状及治理对策

根据第二次全省荒漠化监测成果，分析了荒漠化形成过程、危害及治理成效，说明了治理三江源头荒漠化在生态环境保护和建设中的重要作用，并提出了初步的治理建议。     

Moving from agenda to action: evaluating local climate change action plans

Climate change is conventionally recognised as a large-scale issue resolved through regional or national policy initiatives. However, little research has been done to directly evaluate local climate change action plans. This study examines 40 recently adopted local climate change action plans in the US and analyses how well they recognise the concepts of climate change and prepare for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The results indicate that local climate change action plans have a high level of ‘awareness’, moderate ‘analysis capabilities’ for climate change, and relatively limited ‘action approaches’ for climate change mitigation. The study also identifies specific factors influencing the quality of these local jurisdictional plans. Finally, it provides policy recommendations to improve planning for climate change at the local level.     

Local action for climate change: transnational networks and the Irish experience

Climate change policies are informed by contributions from public, private and civil society organisations at a range of scales from the local to the global. Such policy formation has come to be termed multilevel governance. Transnational networks of local authorities are an emerging feature of multilevel governance and they have been heralded as a means to improve the implementation of climate change policy on the ground. However empirical evaluation of these transnational climate change networks is geographically limited and no research examining their impact in Ireland has been conducted. In response this paper considers the significance of European climate change networks within Ireland's climate change strategy. It concludes that these formal transnational networks have had limited impact to date due to ongoing negotiations about the politics of scale and responsibility with respect to climate change policies in Ireland.