Potential Spatial Overlap of Heritage Sites and Protected Areas in a Boreal Region of Northern Canada

Abstract:  Under article 8-J of the Convention on Biological Diversity, governments must engage indigenous and local communities in the designation and management of protected areas. A better understanding of the relationship between community heritage sites and sites identified to protect conventional conservation features could inform conservation-planning exercises on indigenous lands. We examined the potential overlap between Gwich'in First Nations' (Northwest Territories, Canada) heritage sites and areas independently identified for the protection of conventional conservation targets. We designed nine hypothetical protected-area networks with different targets for woodland caribou ( Rangifer tarandus caribou ) habitat, high-quality wetland areas, representative vegetation types, water bodies, environmentally significant area, territorial parks, and network aggregation. We compared the spatial overlap of heritage sites to these nine protected-area networks. The degree of spatial overlap (Jaccard similarity) between heritage sites and the protected-area networks with moderate or high aggregation was significantly higher ( p < 0.001) than random spatial overlap, whereas the overlap between heritage sites and the protected-area networks with no aggregation was not significant or significantly lower ( p < 0.001) than random spatial overlap. Our results suggest that protected-area networks designed to capture conventional conservation features may protect key heritage sites but only if the underlying characteristics of these sites are considered. The Gwich'in heritage sites are highly aggregated and only protected-area networks that had moderate and high aggregation had significant overlap with the heritage sites. We suggest that conventional conservation plans incorporate heritage sites into their design criteria to complement conventional conservation targets and effectively protect indigenous heritage sites .     

地理邻近性与区域创新关系探讨

与“地理学已死”的认识相反．由于知识的特性和创新的背量依赖，在区域创新的研究中地理邻近得到重视。地理邻近在区域创新经济学中的位置与传统空间经济学中的位置一样．只是创新的促进因素．而不是决定性因素。空间经济学和创新经济学在目的上是一样的．但由于各自不同的经济决定变量导致了对地理邻近性的认识是不一样的。尝试从知识流动和集体学习视角，对一直被视为“黑箱”的地理邻近性的作用机理进行探讨。研究表明。地理邻近是“距离产生美”，太多或太少的地理邻近对集体学习和区域创新都是不利的。同时地理邻近性既不是区域创新的充分条件，也不是必要条件，它和其它类型的邻近相互促进．相互替代。ICIS的发展使传统空间经济学中地理邻近的重要性降低，ICIS更进一步发展同样会使区域创新经济学中的地理邻近性重要性降低，也许未来的虚拟经济的世界里真的不太需要物理世界的地理邻近。     

Traditional warning signs of cyclones on remote islands in Fiji and Tonga

Traditional knowledge of disasters has been found to save lives. On remote islands where telecommunications to the mainland are unreliable, unless there are always working batteries in the radio, signs from the environment may be the only warning of an oncoming cyclone. But this knowledge is in danger of being lost, as it is an oral history not well documented, and younger people increasingly rely on technology. This article presents the results of fieldwork on remote islands in Fiji and Tonga in the South Pacific, documenting natural warning signs on islands in two different countries. The results show that there are numerous known signs, with remarkable similarities and consistencies between the two islands. This provides evidence that not only is traditional knowledge of warning signs for cyclones alive and well, the consistency in the signs suggests support for this knowledge as being just as important as western scientific knowledge. The integration of traditional knowledge and western scientific knowledge into a comprehensive warning system may help to overcome some of the limitations of the existing system and the reasons why warnings are sometimes ignored.     

Understandings of Environmental Quality: Ambiguities and Values Held by Environmental Professionals

The terms used to describe and negotiate environmental quality are both ambiguous and value-laden. Stakeholders intimately and actively involved in the management of forested lands were interviewed and found to use ambiguous, tautological, and value-laden definitions of terms such as health, biodiversity, sustainability, and naturalness. This confusing language hinders public participation efforts and produces calls to regulate and remove discretion from environmental professionals. Our data come from in-depth interviews with environmental management professionals and other stakeholders heavily vested in negotiating the fate of forested lands. We contend that environmental science and management will be more effective if its practitioners embrace and make explicit these ambiguous and evaluative qualities rather than ignore and disguise them.     

鲁浙皖沪防震减灾宣传工作的调查分析

调查了鲁浙皖沪境内１０市、县１９９０～１９９６年的防震减灾宣传工作。据此从其组织管理、宣传内容、宣传形式和宣传对策等方面作统计和归纳,并分析了本地区防震减灾宣传工作的主要特点和基本架构。     

Knowledge, data and interests: Challenges in participation of diverse stakeholders in HIA

Stakeholder participation is considered an integral part of HIA. However, the challenges that participation implies in a multi-disciplinary and multi-ethnic society are less studied. This paper presents the manifestations of the multiplicity of sectors and population groups in HIA and discusses the challenges that such diversity imposes. Specifically, there is no common ground between participants, as their positions entail contradictory knowledge regarding the current situation, reliance on distinct data and conflicting interests. This entails usage of multiple professional and ethnic languages, disagreements regarding the definition of health and prioritizing health issues in HIA, and divergent perceptions of risk. These differences between participants are embedded culturally, socially, individually and, maybe most importantly, professionally. This complex picture of diverse stakeholder attributes is grounded in a case study of stakeholder participation in HIA, regarding zoning of a hazardous industry site in Israel. The implication is that participatory HIAs should address the multiplicity of stakeholders and types of knowledge, data and interests in a more comprehensive way.     

Flood information systems: Needs and improvements in Eastern India

Flood warning systems offer a large potential for reducing human losses and property damage in flood-prone regions. This article illustrates why official organized systems should not be relied on completely in either developing or developed societies. It then discusses an indigenous flood warning system in a rural area of Eastern India, its value, and its importance in providing an alternative means of detecting, interpreting, and relaying flood warning information to the ultimate users of this information, i.e., those populations most at risk from floods.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is operated by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Woody vegetation change in Sahelian West Africa: evidence from local knowledge

Vegetation changes in Sahelian West Africa have been increasingly investigated since 1970 due to the catastrophic droughts in the early 1970s and 1980s and the following decades with below average precipitation. In most cases this was done by remote sensing and vegetation studies. In recent years, local knowledge of farmers and pastoralists about vegetation changes has been increasingly investigated. In this paper, information from different case studies in three West African countries (Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal) was used to analyse and evaluate vegetation changes in the Sahel. In total, data were analysed from 25 villages, where the local people were asked to mention plant species and qualify their present occurrence compared to the past. In total, 111 woody species were mentioned as having changed compared to the past, of which 79% were classified as having decreased or disappeared. For each single location 8–59 different woody species were mentioned. In most cases, these are valuable species of socio-economic importance. Only 11% of the species was classified as increasing or new (0–12 were mentioned per location), the later being mainly exotic species. Ten percent were categorised differently among villages. A comparison of local knowledge from different locations provide regional scale information on endangered species and thereby crucial information for making insightful priorities for assisted regeneration, reforestation and conservation strategies.     

应急准备知识库系统设计与实现——以演练方案为例

为解决应急准备过程中普遍存在的“知识断档”问题,提出设计与实现应急准备知识库系统的针对性解决方案,并以演练方案编制为例,从应用实践的角度出发,提出具体思路。定义“知识范畴-知识主体-知识点”3级层次架构,提出包含“输入提取、存储、维护更新、知识应用”在内的应急准备知识库系统定位,归纳由“用户、知识内容、使用场景、应用模式”所构成的应急准备知识库“四要素设计法”。其中,针对知识加工输出这一复杂需求,引入以方案模板设计和智能向导制作为核心的设计实现理念。研究结果为应急准备实操人员逐渐摆脱“知识断档”的困境,以及进一步强化应急准备整体能力,提供了一种可行的思路和方法。     

燃煤电厂袋式除尘专家系统开发研究

开发了一种袋式除尘系统故障专家诊断方法,用于诊断整个袋式除尘系统的故障现象,通过现场数据采集、操作人员与专家系统的人机对话对故障现象进行分析、推理,并做出相应的解决方案指导操作人员排查故障.燃煤电厂袋式除尘专家系统以知识库、推理机为核心,实现整个袋式除尘系统的设备故障诊断功能和维修故障指导功能,辅以解释机构,人机界面来指导用户如何准确无误地操作运行本系统和袋式除尘控制系统.系统被划分为4个模块:专家系统简介模块,在线故障诊断模块,离线故障诊断模块和专家指导模块.