Water resource management in Kabul river basin, eastern Afghanistan

Severe drinking water shortage affects all resident of the Kabul river basin. Two and a half decades of civil war in Afghanistan (it began in late 1978) have resulted in widespread environmental degradation and water resource development throughout the country. The war has already finished and, therefore, water resource management for supplying water is one of the most important tasks for Afghanistan’s government. The Kabul river basin which is the most populated area in the country is located in the eastern part of Afghanistan. This article deals with the water resource properties of the Kabul river basin and also water demand in the important cities of the basin, such as Kabul, the capital and the largest city in the country. Also a few suggestions for providing water for domestic and agriculture purposes in short term, medium time and long term have been discussed.     

Building resilience to drought in desertification-prone savannas in Sub-Saharan Africa: The water perspective

Securing sustainable livelihood conditions and reducing the risk of outmigration in savanna ecosystems hosted in the tropical semiarid regions is of fundamental importance for the future of humanity in general. Although precipitation in tropical drylands, or savannas, is generally more significant than one might expect, these regions are subject to considerable rainfall variability which causes frequent periods of water deficiency. This paper addresses the twin problems of “drought and desertification” from a water perspective, focusing on the soil moisture (green water) and plant water uptake deficiencies. It makes a clear distinction between long‐term climate change, meteorological drought, and agricultural droughts and dry spells caused by rainfall variability and land degradation. It then formulates recommendations to better cope with and to build resilience to droughts and dry spells. Coping with desertification requires a new conceptual framework based on green‐blue water resources to identify hydrological opportunities in a sea of constraints. This paper proposes an integrated land/water approach to desertification where ecosystem management supports agricultural development to build social‐ecological resilience to droughts and dry spells. This approach is based on the premise that to combat desertification, focus should shift from reducing trends of land degradation in agricultural systems to water resource management in savannas and to landscape‐wide ecosystem management.     

湛江市寸金公园鸟类多样性与管理建议

2006年12月、2007年1—4月对湛江市寸金公园的鸟类资源状况进行了初步的研究,共记录到鸟类16种,隶属4目10科。其中,雀形目鸟类最多,共7科11种,约占总数的69%;其次为佛法僧目1科2种,约占总数的12.5%;鸡形目和鹃形目各1科1种,约占总数的6.25%。其中有国家Ⅱ级保护鸟类1种,占总数的6.25%。此外,属国家林业局发布的"国家重点保护的有益、有经济价值或有科学研究价值的动物"的鸟类7种,占总数的43.75%;被纳入省级重点保护鸟类的有2种,占总数12.6%;被纳入中澳候鸟协定鸟类的有1种,占总数的6.25%。     

Humic substances

GOAL, SCOPE AND BACKGROUND: Freshwater bodies which chemistry is dominated by dissolved humic substances (HS) seem to be the major type on Earth, due to huge non-calcareous geological formations in the Northern Hemisphere and in the tropics. Based on the paradigm of the inertness of being organic, direct interactions of dissolved HS with freshwater organisms are mostly neglected. However, dissolved organic carbon, the majority of which being HS, are natural environmental chemicals and should therefore directly interact with organisms. Major results that widened our perspective on humic substance ecology come from experiments with the compost nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, which behaved contradictorily to textbook knowledge and provoked an in-depth re-consideration of some paradigms. APPROACH: To overcome old paradigms on HS and their potential interactions with organisms, we reviewed recent international literature, as well as 'grey' literature. We also include results from own ongoing studies. RESULTS: This review focuses on direct interactions of dissolved HS with freshwater organisms and disregards indirect effects, such as under-water light quenching. Instead we show with some macrophyte and algal species that HS adversely interfere with photosynthesis and growth, whereby closely related algal species show different response patterns. In addition to this, HS suppress cyanobacteria more than eukaryotic algae. Quinones in the HS appear to be the effective structure. Furthermore, HS can modulate the offspring numbers in the nematode C. elegans and cause feminization of fish and amphibians--they possess hormone-like properties. The ecological consequences of this potential remain obscure at present. HS also have the potential to act as chemical attractants as shown with C. elegans and exert a mild chemical stress upon aquatic organisms in many ways: induction of molecular chaperons (stress proteins), induction and modulation of biotransformation and anti-oxidant enzymes. Furthermore, they produce an oxidative stress with lipidperoxidation as one clear symptom or even stress defense strategy. Stronger chemical stresses by HS may even lead to teratogenic effects as shown with fish embryos; all physiological responses to HS-mediated stress require energy, which were compensated on the expense of yolk as shown with zebra fish embryos. One Finnish field survey supports the view of a strong chemical stress, as the weight yield in fish species decreases with increasing HS content in the lakes. DISCUSSION: HS exert a variety of stress symptoms in aquatic and compost organisms. According to current paradigms of ecotoxicology, these symptoms have to be considered adverse, because their compensation consumes energy which is deducted from the main metabolism. However, the nematode C. elegans looks actively for such stressful environments, and this behavior is only understandable in the light of new paradigms of aging mechanisms, particularly the Green Theory of Aging. In this respect, we discuss the mild HS-mediated stress to aquatic and compost organisms. New empirical findings with HS themselves and HS building blocks appear to be consistent with this emerging paradigm and show that the individual lifespan may be expanded. At present the ecological consequences of these findings remain obscure. However, a multiple-stress resistance may be acquired which improves the individual fitness in a fluctuating environment. CONCLUSIONS: It appears that dissolved HS have to be considered abiotic ecological driving forces, somewhat less obvious than temperature, nutrients, or light. PERSPECTIVES: The understanding of the ecological control by dissolved humic substances is still fragmentary and needs to be studied in more details.     

Protecting people and property: the influence of land-use planners on flood hazard mitigation in New Urbanist developments

Research suggests that characteristics of local government land-use planners help determine the priority that local communities place on flood hazard mitigation. However, research has not examined the significance of land-use planners' values and role orientations for flood hazard mitigation. Multiple regression analysis is used to examine the influence that land-use planners' values and role orientations have on flood hazard mitigation in a national sample of New Urbanist development projects. Findings indicate that land-use planners' values and role orientations have significant implications for flood hazard mitigation in these projects. The paper recommends that local governments adopt a land-use planning approach to flood hazard mitigation that relies on land-use planners to help direct development away from hazardous portions of development sites.     

肥料投入水平与养分资源高效利用的关系

提高资源利用效率是实现农业可持续发展目标的核心,本文以山东省和全国作物施肥现状研究为基础,探讨了肥料投入与养分资源效率及环境风险的关系。从区域、农户和 吨粮田不同层次上的分析表明,高投入下可以实现高效率,关键是提高综合管理的科学水平;经济作物生产中存在经济效益和资源效率分离的现象,生产者受经济利益驱动,大量投入肥料,由此会带来极低的资源效率和巨大的环境风险;在注意经济发达地区高化肥投入带来的环境问题的同时,还需要关注发展高经济价值作物带来的低资源效率和高环境风险。     

塔里木河干流农田排水资源化研究

近几十年分析资料对比表明 ,农田排水对塔里木河干流水质盐化的影响不断加重。在塔里木河干流 ,农田排水资源化利用有如下几个有利条件 :( 1)农田排水有一定数量且渠网的延伸和改造难度不大 ;( 2 )荒漠可作为农田排水资源化利用的场所 ;( 3)农田排水仍可勉强适于耐盐植物生长。根据区域不同 ,利用农田排水拓展乔灌草防沙带、增加盐成土荒漠耐盐植被的盖度、使人工绿洲边缘的荒漠能够生长耐盐植物等都是农田排水资源化利用发展的方向     

资源和环境的存在价值的经济学基础

资源与环境的存在价值为独立与人们对资源的现期使用的价值。在资源,环境的代际问题中,存在价值会成为重要的决策参数。本文对存在价值的同予以分陈、归纳,并以反映其特点的结构进行表述;其次对存在价值与其它类别的价值尤其是期权价值,准期作出区分。     

西部地区加快开发应当克服“资源近视症”

本文从分析我国传统的经济增长方式入手,通过对资源近视症”的表现及后果的分析,提出西部西地区,特别是西部少数民族地区只有树立全面的资源观,立足优势,面向市场,抓住机遇,合理开发资源和利用资源,才能走出一条符合本民族,本地区实际的可持续发展之路。     

湖北水资源现状与可持续利用战略对策

湖北省有十分丰富的过境客水资源,但自产水资源却十分有限,在水资源开发利用中存在许多亟待解决的问题。如地表水污染日趋严重,地下水也存在不容的污染;农业用水占大头,其节水潜力巨大;目前主要是利用地表水,地下水的利用很少;洪涝时时灾害仍然十分严重,并有愈演愈烈的趋势;从长远看,湖北省的水资源问题将主要是污染型短缺的问题;南水北调中线工程将对汉江中下游供水和水质造成不容忽视的影响;在计划体制下形成的水资源