A Spatial Analysis of the Economic and Ecological Efficacy of Land Retirement

This paper uses a cellular automata simulation model of a hypothetical landscape to investigate the role of location as it relates to the efficacy of land retirement in achieving two environmental goals: hydrological improvement and habitat improvement. Statistical analysis of simulation results is used to show how absolute and relative location relate to achievement of these objectives. Linear and nonlinear compromise programming frameworks then combine these two environmental objectives and a cost minimization objective into a measure that allows decision-makers to rank the desirability of different retirement strategies. These frameworks are explored to determine what each implies about the tradeoffs that must be made among objectives and among the spatial land parcel characteristics that contribute to those objectives.     

Multiple paternity in a wild population of northern water snakes,Nerodia sipedon

Summary For most animal species, a single mating is sufficient to fertilize all of a female's offspring. As a result, females do not usually increase their reproductive success with successive matings. However, multiple paternity has been discovered in many animal taxa. We demonstrate that the majority of female water snakes in a wild population mate with more than one male for each litter. Field observations indicated that a highly skewed operational sex ratio (3.6:1 M : F) during the breeding season, while not necessary for multiple paternity to occur, created ample opportunity for females to mate multiply. Protein electrophoretic analysis showed that at least 12 of 14 litters from naturally mated females had more than one father. Since male snakes can not force copulations, multiple matings seem likely to be the result of female choice. Offprint requests to: F.E. Barry     

Building resilience by challenging social norms: integrating a transformative approach within the BRACED consortia

Resilience is a complex phenomenon whereby a multitude of social and environmental factors, including gender, combine to shape the ways that shocks affect people. Looking at two BRACED (Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters) projects, in Burkina Faso and in Ethiopia, this article uses a desk review and primary data from partners and people at risk to explore how a gender‐transformative approach can be an integral part of resilience‐building projects, particularly those implemented by multi‐stakeholder consortia. It also suggests ways to incorporate a stronger gender component in similar future projects. The article argues that donors and programme managers must provide clear principles and guidelines for achieving gender equity within resilience‐building efforts. However, these must allow flexibility to adapt to norms, needs and resources as determined by implementing partners. The right balance can be achieved by facilitating spaces for individual and collective goal‐setting; assessing current capacity and trajectories; and lesson‐sharing as an iterative process for institutional learning.     

Controlling water pollution from animal wastes: A reconsideration of economic and legislative approaches

Practical approaches to pollution control have involved the determination of an environmental quality standard and the use of various policy instruments, market or non-market, to achieve this desired standard. These ideas have been developed to deal with point source pollution, polluter and pollutant being identifiable. However, environmental problems arising from agriculture tend to involve nonpoint source and, often, indirect pollution. Animal wastes, in particular, have certain characteristics which pose especial problems for pollution control, both in determining and in achieving an environmental standard.In this study, a basis for a standard is suggested, and an animal waste management scheme is proposed which, it is hoped, could be effective in achieving this standard. A linear programming framework is explained for comparing this scheme with alternative pollution control policies in terms of efficiency and changed patterns of agricultural production.     

Giving Voice to Wildlands Visitors: Selecting Indicators to Protect and Sustain Experiences in the Eastern Arctic of Nunavut

Many public land management agencies are committed to understanding and protecting recreation visitor experiences. Parks Canada is deeply committed to that objective for visitors to Canada’s National Parks. This 2004 study, informed by a 2003 qualitative study of visitor experiences and influences on those experiences at Auyuittuq National Park in Nunavut, worked to bring 50 potential elements of visitor experiences down to five articulated dimensions of the experience that is currently being received at this remote eastern arctic park. A hypothesized set of 17 influences on experiences, also reduced to just two factors with similar response patterns, and with some items that did not flow into the two factors, were used in a regression analysis to understand the relationship between experiences and factors of influence. A sample of 61.8% (84) of the total recreation visitor population 16 years of age or older was surveyed during deregistration after the trip. Knowledge about the dimensions of the experiences currently received and factors of influence on those experiences can be used to guide selection of indicators for describing objectives and prescribing monitoring protocol.     

Renewable energy consumption and its environmental impacts: A meta-regression analysis

This study involves a meta-analytical review of several articles, using the closest assumptions for the independent variable (renewable energy consumption), to determine the relationship with its environmental impacts. Furthermore, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) in 2015 pays attention to related problems in both developing and developed countries. The effects of carbon emissions, natural resources, renewable energy consumption, and non-renewable energy on the environment are also reviewed. Following the separation of studies, the closest assumption was observed for the independent variable (energy source applications) of renewable energy. The meta-analysis was obtained using OpenMEE and JASP, and the results show the observed outcome, which was expressed in percentage. Based on the analysis, the Renewable Energy model has a value of 0.15, with the largest forest plots of 0.73, 0.69, and 0.80, recorded for studies 13, 19, and 23, respectively, while the least forest plots were recorded for studies 6, 11, 12, 15, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, and 28. Therefore, renewable energy consumption, specifically in the mining industry, has the capacity to influence global warming. The respective industry has a unique influence on the processes that require renewable energy, for instance, the coal mining industry produces a smaller forest plot value, compared to oil and gas, or other mineral industries.     

依靠大自然:尼日利亚北部的野生食品

引言 在西非半干旱地区,当地农村社区都使用许多野生植物来补充其日常食品的不足,他(她)们的日常食品主要来自靠雨水浇灌种植出来的主食,比如小米、高粱、花生和豇豆等.     

The right to refuse: Public attitudes and behaviour towards waste in the west of Ireland

Abstract

During the last decade waste management has become one of the most problematic and demanding issues to be addressed in Ireland. Increasing waste production and landfills reaching their capacity are placing unprecedented pressure on the land, and are unsustainable in the long term. However, while surveys of public opinion present a picture of a population increasingly concerned about the quality of the environment and the problem of waste management, there has been an increase in amounts of municipal waste being sent to landfill. Although not unique to Ireland, this gap between values and actions is one that deserves further critical consideration if positive sustainable waste management strategies are to be developed. This paper, based on research being conducted in two case study locations in the west of Ireland, engages with value–action gaps in terms of waste management strategies in Ireland. Based on empirical evidence the paper examines the public's self-reported barriers to more sustainable waste management. The paper argues that some of the greatest barriers to improved waste management are cultural, social and political and that contextual variables such as notions of responsibility and lack of trust in waste regulators contribute greatly to the gap between citizens' attitudes and actions towards waste management.     

The evolution of community water governance in Uchira, Tanzania: The implications for equality of access, sustainability and effectiveness

Community participation, ownership and cost sharing are key components of Tanzania's water policy, in common with the broad international consensus on water governance. However these policy goals are difficult to achieve, beset with paradoxes and their benefits may be overstated, both in terms of efficiency of resource management and equality of outcomes. This article draws on longitudinal ethnographic research of a village water supply in Tanzania to explore two issues: the contested nature of community ownership and the complex evolution of a ‘community‐owned’ institution. The evidence from the Uchira Water Users Association leads us to question some of the simplistic assumptions made concerning the capacity of local communities to manage service delivery and to balance equity and sustainability principles. The limitations of ‘bottom‐up’ and demand led approaches need to be recognised without discrediting their potential for challenging inequalities. The article concludes with a consideration of some of the tensions in community‐driven development, which raises some important questions about the role of the State and external agencies in setting and enforcing equity criteria in community‐managed initiatives.