Assessment of the natural-cultural resources in Çanakkale for nature-based tourism

While the world is going into different tourism expectations, the tourism understanding in Turkey is defined as tourism in the sea-sand-sun triangle. However, it is possible to contribute to the income and local development of the indigenous people by developing nature-based tourism. Besides, with the sustainable use and preservation of the natural-cultural assets, the damage of the traditional tourism industry on the natural and cultural environment could be reduced. In this study, it is aimed to bring up the nature-based tourism concept in Çanakkale by evaluating the nature-based tourism industry in the general of Turkey and assessing the natural-cultural resources that Çanakkale comprehends. The most important areas that have a nature-based tourism potential in Çanakkale and the tourism activities that are most suitable for these areas have been determined.     

Barriers Beyond the Partners: Bureaucratic and Political Constraints to Implementing Joint Forest Management in Tamil Nadu,India

Whereas past research has treated co-management of common pool resources as if villagers and project implementing authorities were the only relevant actors, numerous external factors beyond the control of these two partners create barriers to successful co-management. This paper draws on discussions with Forest Department officials to examine the influence of these forces on the outcomes of Joint Forest Management (JFM) in Tamil Nadu, India. An empirical inquiry into the operational aspects of JFM indicates the important roles of political parties, powerful people, and other state institutions and functionaries as well as the flow of foreign funding. Further, the strong demand by local people for socio-economic development interventions as opposed to improvement of degraded forests belittles the role of the Forest Department relative to other departments. Numerous other conditioning factors and relationships are explored. The authors call for reforms in public governance to allow better participation of all the actors involved for this participatory management approach to succeed and sustain.     

Perceptions toward stewardship among residents living near U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Facilities

Although stewardship has been widely defined and used in environmental management and planning, there is a dearth of studies that describe how the lay public perceives this concept. A national sample of residents in 14 states who live near DOE nuclear facilities were interviewed to delineate public understanding and awareness of the stewardship program of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This study discusses the findings of the survey and discusses how institutional trust influences public participation and resident’s choices of potential stewards. Almost 40% of the respondents could not define stewardship; those who did, believed that ‘responsibility,’ ‘management,’ and ‘accountability’ are key elements of stewardship. In addition, about a third of the respondents identified Federal groups and the DOE as potential stewards. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue     

Effects of ocean temperature on the southern range limits of two understory kelps, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pterygophora californica</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Eisenia arborea</Emphasis>, at multiple life-stages

Environmental factors have long been shown to influence species distributions, with range limits often resulting from environmental stressors exceeding organism tolerances. However, these abiotic factors may differentially affect species with multiple life-history stages. Between September 2004 and January 2006, the roles of temperature and nutrient availability in explaining the southern distributions of two understory kelps, Pterygophora californica and Eisenia arborea (Phaeophyceae, Laminariales), were investigated along the coast of California, USA and the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico, by limiting either: (a) tissue nitrogen uptake and storage by adult sporophytes during periods of elevated temperature, and/or (b) production of embryonic sporophytes by microscopic gametophytes. Results suggest that while adult sporophytes of both species are tolerant of high temperatures and low nutrients, reproduction by their microscopic stages is not. Specifically, while E. arborea produced embryonic sporophytes at both 12 and 18°C, temperatures commonly observed throughout the southern portion of its range, P. californica produced sporophytes at 12 but not at 18°C. As a result, it appears that the southern distribution of P. californica, which ends in northern Baja California, Mexico, may be limited by temperature acting on its microscopic stages. In contrast, the ability of E. arborea’s microscopic and adult stages to tolerate elevated temperatures allows it to persist in the warmer southern waters of Baja California, as well as to the north along the California coast where both species co-occur.     

GCM-based analysis of water availability along the Tone River and Tokyo Metropolitan Area under climatic changes

Tone River supplies most of the water requirements of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area (TMA). Lowering of Tone flow and yearly fluctuation, however, is causing water shortage along TMA nowadays. This study investigated the future water availability scenarios under climatic changes. A state-of-the-art approach to utilize the output of several GCM has been demonstrated to investigate the future water availability scenarios for TMA from the Tone River. An integrated modeling approach for water balance considering several hydrological risk indices was adopted to quantify the future changes in this case. It is observed that the future summer precipitation along the Tone basin is going to be increased considerably, while an almost constant or decreasing trend is observed for winter season. Natural flow availability for winter or spring seasons thus can be crucial under future scenarios. After reservoir routing, the hydrological risk indices estimated, however, were not found to be changed significantly due to the presence of a robust reservoir system at the upstream.     

SUSTAINABILITY AT THE LOCAL LEVEL: MANAGEMENT TOOLS AND MUNICIPAL TAX INCENTIVE MODEL

The implementation of sustainable development may seem a simple concept when written on paper. However to carry-out long term actions put forward by the Agenda 21 (AG21) at the local level represents one of the main challenges as municipal governments in general do not have the capacity to effectively implement the process. Regional environmental assessment (REA) has shown to be effective in supporting decision-making not only to correct environmental problems due to past unsustainable social-economic developments but also help local governments to implement sustainable actions. However this requires long-term investments of AG21 plans and projects. The allocation of regular and consistent financial resources is one of the main ingredients for the sustainable development process. But traditional plans and projects financed by national and/or international funds may not be sustainable in the long-term because they become dependent on external funding. Research demonstrate that innovative economic instruments such as ecotaxes represent a feasible alternative to sponsor local sustainability because taxes are collected permanently by the government and could be invested in continuous actions. Ecotaxes experiences have provided important reference to structure a municipal incentive model (MIM) to sponsor AG21’s environmental plans and projects on a long-term (permanent) basis. However sustainable development cannot be solely through economic investments. A comprehensive municipal environmental management scheme (MEMS) has been established to support the incentive model. The scheme seeks not only to improve local institutional framework but also incentive continuous participation of local stakeholders at all levels of society. Participatory events and the provision of incentives (educational and financial) are key to motivate society to protect the environment and support actively the sustainable development process as emphasised in the RIO-92 Conference.     

2004年10-12月全球灾害录

10月2日低温气流突袭湖北武汉,全市狂风不止气温骤降。 台湾红火蚁灾情蔓延,全台5个县市受灾。 3日泰国发现全亚洲首例狗感染禽流感病例。 5日江西一煤矿发生瓦斯爆炸事故,造成9人死亡。 7日广西出现罕见的局部严重干旱,67万亩农田出现旱情。 8日久晴不雨的湘江中游出现了秋季最低水位。 9日鹤矿集团十三化工公司雷管车间发生爆炸,13人伤亡。 10日湖北一学校发生食物中毒事件,34名学生人院治疗。 11日水资源占全国1乃的长江流域污水处理率仅为1明毛。 16日罗马尼亚一3岁雌黑熊肇事,导致l死10伤。 19日四川宝兴县发生岩体垮塌事故,死亡9人失…     

污泥生物炭去除水中重金属的研究进展

重金属带来的环境风险日益严峻,利用污泥生物炭去除水中重金属污染方面的研究得到了广泛关注。结合当前国内外研究现状,归纳了不同条件下制备的污泥生物炭对水中重金属,如Cd、Pb、Cr、As等的吸附机理,污泥生物炭对大多数重金属的吸附满足物理吸附和化学吸附的多重作用,可通过增加生物炭表面有效基团及有效吸附位点提升吸附性能。同时,总结了影响吸附效率的各种因素,探究了污泥生物炭的再生问题,并对今后污泥生物炭去除水中重金属的研究方向做出了展望。     

干湿法结合工艺回收废弃SCR脱硝催化剂中的钛、钒和钨

利用干湿法结合工艺实现废弃SCR脱硝催化剂中Ti、V和W元素的高效分离和浸出,提出成套废弃SCR脱硝催化剂中Ti、V和W的回收技术。以废弃SCR脱硝催化剂为研究对象,优选Ti、V和W元素最佳浸出工况,研究硫酸溶解法回收TiO₂和有机萃取法回收V₂O₅和WO₃的回收率与纯度。结果表明:酸浸还原浸钒最优工艺条件为温度140℃,液固比30∶1;钠化焙烧浸钨最优工艺条件为煅烧温度750℃,反应物与Na₂CO₃配比（质量比）为1∶1.5,在以上条件下V、W浸出率分别达到97.6%、93.6%。利用硫酸溶解法回收得到的TiO₂产物主要以锐钛矿晶型存在形式,在最佳焙烧温度750℃下,TiO₂回收率达到97.17%,纯度为95.35%。利用有机萃取法回收得到的V₂O₅和WO₃产物的回收率和纯度分别为72.47%、75.43%和93.25%、78.26%。