Understanding the Lessons and Limitations of Conservation and Development

Abstract: The lack of concrete instances in which conservation and development have been successfully merged has strengthened arguments for strict exclusionist conservation policies. Research has focused more on social cooperation and conflict of different management regimes and less on how these factors actually affect the natural environments they seek to conserve. Consequently, it is still unknown which strategies yield better conservation outcomes? We conducted a meta‐analysis of 116 published case studies on common resource management regimes from Africa, south and central America, and southern and Southeast Asia. Using ranked sociodemographic, political, and ecological data, we analyzed the effect of land tenure, population size, social heterogeneity, as well as internally devised resource‐management rules and regulations (institutions) on conservation outcome. Although land tenure, population size, and social heterogeneity did not significantly affect conservation outcome, institutions were positively associated with better conservation outcomes. There was also a significant interaction effect between population size and institutions, which implies complex relationships between population size and conservation outcome. Our results suggest that communities managing a common resource can play a significant role in conservation and that institutions lead to management regimes with lower environmental impacts.     

安全评价在钢铁企业的应用研究

在钢铁企业有效应用安全评价,不但能够有效识别现场的危险因素,确定危险源,及时妥善地采取安全对策措施,还能够促进安全管理重心下移,实现逐级管理,更有利于消除现场人的不安全行为和物的不安全状态.     

An overview of the latest development of microencapsulation for agricultural products

Abstract

For the production of controlled‐release agricultural formulations microencapsulation technologies are now the most used. Over the past two decades enormous progress has been made in order to develop the technologies which allow us to produce formulations tailor made to reach the target and fitting our toxicological requirements. This lecture is devoted to the definition of the criteria for selection of an active ingredient for microencapsulation and to a detailed review of the various techniques used today in commerçai microencapsulated formulations.

Resources are increasingly allocated into microencapsulation research & development by many agrochemical companies. Therefore the next 20 years should continue to yield innovative ideas including significant improvement of the physico‐chemical and toxicological properties of the actual formulations on the market. Some of this new ideas are applied by our company in order to modify or improve those properties playing the key role in the intent for targeted activity:

√ Recombination during production or upon storage.

New protective colloides

Dermal toxicity (LD 50) ‐ secondary protective colloides.

√ Release rate parameters.

Modification by the change of mobility of the active ingredient from the core (solvent or fluid type) affecting transit time and therefore LD 50 values.

√ Oral toxicity (LD 50).

Graft copolymers irreversibly adsorbed to the capsule surface.     

Sublethal impact of paraquat on the life span and parasitic behavior of Diaeretiella rapae M’Intosh

This study focuses on assessing the impact of sublethal doses of paraquat on the survival, the emergence, the life span and the parasitic behavior of Diaeretiella rapae M’Intosh (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). The impact of sublethal doses was measured at room temperature using different densities of the cabbage aphid Brevicoryne brassicae. The results reveal that the field dose of paraquat caused 100% mortality in D. rapae. The percentage emergence of D. rapae decreased from 80.5% in the control group to 71.5% when treated with the lowest concentration of paraquat. Similarly, the life span of parasitoids that emerged from the mummy treated with paraquat also decreased significantly. Oviposition capability and ovipositor thrusting frequency of D. rapae also treated with sublethal dose paraquat decreased significantly along with a shortened patch residence time in the foraging area.     

污水处理厂投资全过程成本控制

本文综合论述了在水业市场化条件下，水务投资公司进行污水处理厂投资、建设和运营时，在投资决策前期阶段、设计阶段、建设阶段以及运营阶段等各水务价值链重要环节的成本控制方法，为水务投资公司在污水厂投资全过程的成本控制提供了参考。     

Incorporating Social and Cultural Significance of Large Old Trees in Conservation Policy

In addition to providing key ecological functions, large old trees are a part of a social realm and as such provide numerous social‐cultural benefits to people. However, their social and cultural values are often neglected when designing conservation policies and management guidelines. We believe that awareness of large old trees as a part of human identity and cultural heritage is essential when addressing the issue of their decline worldwide. Large old trees provide humans with aesthetic, symbolic, religious, and historic values, as well as concrete tangible benefits, such as leaves, branches, or nuts. In many cultures particularly large trees are treated with reverence. Also, contemporary popular culture utilizes the image of trees as sentient beings and builds on the ancient myths that attribute great powers to large trees. Although the social and cultural role of large old trees is usually not taken into account in conservation, accounting for human‐related values of these trees is an important part of conservation policy because it may strengthen conservation by highlighting the potential synergies in protecting ecological and social values. Incorporación del Significado Social y Cultural de Árboles Añejos a Políticas de Conservación     

Using Twitter to communicate conservation science from a professional conference

Scientists are increasingly using Twitter as a tool for communicating science. Twitter can promote scholarly discussion, disseminate research rapidly, and extend and diversify the scope of audiences reached. However, scientists also caution that if Twitter does not accurately convey science due to the inherent brevity of this media, misinformation could cascade quickly through social media. Data on whether Twitter effectively communicates conservation science and the types of user groups receiving these tweets are lacking. To address these knowledge gaps, we examined live tweeting as a means of communicating conservation science at the 2013 International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB). We quantified and compared the user groups sending and reading live tweets. We also surveyed presenters to determine their intended audiences, which we compared with the actual audiences reached through live tweeting. We also asked presenters how effectively tweets conveyed their research findings. Twitter reached 14 more professional audience categories relative to those attending and live tweeting at ICCB. However, the groups often reached through live tweeting were not the presenters’ intended audiences. Policy makers and government and non‐governmental organizations were rarely reached (0%, 4%, and 6% of audience, respectively), despite the intent of the presenters. Plenary talks were tweeted about 6.9 times more than all other oral or poster presentations combined. Over half the presenters believed the tweets about their talks were effective. Ineffective tweets were perceived as vague or missing the presenters’ main message. We recommend that presenters who want their science to be communicated accurately and broadly through Twitter should provide Twitter‐friendly summaries that incorporate relevant hashtags and usernames. Our results suggest that Twitter can be used to effectively communicate speakers’ findings to diverse audiences beyond conference walls.     

Citizen science networks in natural history and the collective validation of biodiversity data

Biodiversity data are in increasing demand to inform policy and management. A substantial portion of these data is generated in citizen science networks. To ensure the quality of biodiversity data, standards and criteria for validation have been put in place. We used interviews and document analysis from the United Kingdom and The Netherlands to examine how data validation serves as a point of connection between the diverse people and practices in natural history citizen science networks. We found that rather than a unidirectional imposition of standards, validation was performed collectively. Specifically, it was enacted in ongoing circulations of biodiversity records between recorders and validators as they jointly negotiated the biodiversity that was observed and the validity of the records. These collective validation practices contributed to the citizen science character or natural history networks and tied these networks together. However, when biodiversity records were included in biodiversity‐information initiatives on different policy levels and scales, the circulation of records diminished. These initiatives took on a more extractive mode of data use. Validation ceased to be collective with important consequences for the natural history networks involved and citizen science more generally.     

四川省环境污染经济损失与污染治理投资比例探讨

环境保护同经济建设和社会发展相协调,是我国环境保护的基本原则。本文从环境保护与经济发展的相互关系出发,比较实际地估计了我省各种污染排放物及造成的经济损失,探讨了环保治理资金社会投入的比例问题。     

The world agricultural system and ethical considerations relating to the rural environment: Some perspectives on cause and effect in underdeveloped countries

Food is a basic human need and therefore a basic human right. While food output has increased to a level where there is enough food produced to feed the world, still millions starve. Using the concept of capitalist world economy as a framework, this paper provides a structural analysis of the food production and distribution system within monopoly capitalism and its implications for countries of the underdeveloped world. Focusing on the impact of a dominant world food supply system on indigenous systems (particularly through the rise of science, technology, and monopoly capital), considerations relating to environmental use and food production and distribution are raised. Finally a call is made for a new agricultural ethic.