The importance of differentiating urban and rural phenomena in examining the unequal distribution of locally desirable land

Previous research addressing the unequal distribution of locally desirable land (LDL) has mainly ignored their associated environments (i.e., rural or urban). However, this study proposed a new framework that treats rural and urban regions separately. In rural areas, the LDLs included all public lands. In urbanized areas, the LDLs were defined as green open spaces. Potential inequities in the distribution of LDL were assessed with respect to socioeconomic characteristics of residents in the State of Georgia. Using US Census Bureau Data (2000), Census Block Groups (CBGs) adjacent to LDLs were compared to CBGs outside of LDLs on four socioeconomic variables (per capita income, occupation, education, and race) in urban, suburban and rural environments. Results showed that CBGs adjacent to LDLs were composed of statistically significant upper-class communities containing fewer blue-collar workers, more whites, and higher income and higher educated people in rural, suburban and urban areas.     

农村生活污水治理措施

介绍了适合于国内农村生活污水治理的一些技术与措施。沼气技术是当前处理农村生活污水的较佳选择。     

基于模糊评判法的陕西农村公共物品供给模式选择分析

陕西一直实行"以农补工、优先发展城市、优先发展工业"的倾斜性战略政策,使得城乡在资源分配和社会事业发展等方面存在较大的差距,农村发展处于劣势地位,尤其是农村公共物品未能得到有效供给,其供给主要是采取以政府为主导的模式。研究利用陕西农村1990-2008年的时间序列统计数据,通过构建陕西农村经济发展的9个评判指标并对其分别赋予不同的隶属度,运用模糊评判法,对陕西农村公共物品供给的经济发展阶段进行了定量评判。实证研究表明,自20世纪90年代以来,陕西农村地区整体上处于经济发展的第二个阶段,即经济发展的成长阶段。因此,陕西应主要采取以政府为主导型的农村公共物品供给模式,而私人(市场)供给只能作为农村公共物品供给的少许补充。农村公共物品供给模式应根据经济发展阶段作出选择,以期实现各个时期农村公共物品供给的最优化:考虑不同地区农民的需求意愿,改革"一刀切"的供给模式;扭转农民负担部分公共物品供给成本的局面。     

Building the role of local government authorities towards the achievement of the human right to water in rural Tanzania

In recent decades, many changes have occurred in the approach to financing and operating water services in developing countries. The demand‐responsive approach is now adopted in many countries in a context of donor‐supported decentralization processes, which gives more responsibility to end users. However, the government's responsibility at different levels is enforced by the international recognition of the human right to water. This paper examines specific actions that build the role of local government authorities in this scenario. A collaboration between an international NGO and a rural district in Tanzania from 2006 to 2009 is used as an action research case study that is representative of local capacity‐building needs in decentralized contexts and rural areas. Three main challenges were detected: i) lack of reliable information; ii) poor allocation of resources in terms of equity; and iii) lack of long‐term community management support from the district. Two mechanisms were established: i) water point mapping as a tool for information and planning; and ii) a District Water and Sanitation Unit Support (DWUS) for community management. The results show how the framework provided by the goal of human right to water helps to define useful strategies for equity‐oriented planning and post‐project support at the local level.     

Global Urban Growth and the Geography of Water Availability,Quality, and Delivery

Globally, urban growth will add 1.5 billion people to cities by 2030, making the difficult task of urban water provisions even more challenging. In this article, we develop a conceptual framework of urban water provision as composed of three axes: water availability, water quality, and water delivery. For each axis, we calculate quantitative proxy measures for all cities with more than 50,000 residents, and then briefly discuss the strategies cities are using in response if they are deficient on one of the axes. We show that 523 million people are in cities where water availability may be an issue, 890 million people are in cities where water quality may be an issue, and 1.3 billion people are in cities where water delivery may be an issue. Tapping into groundwater is a widespread response, regardless of the management challenge, with many cities unsustainably using this resource. The strategies used by cities deficient on the water delivery axis are different than for cities deficient on the water quantity or water quality axis, as lack of financial resources pushes cities toward a different and potentially less effective set of strategies.     

Mass flows of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in central wastewater treatment plants of industrial zones in Thailand

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are fully fluorinated organic compounds, which have been used in many industrial processes and have been detected in wastewater and sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) around the world. This study focused on the occurrences of PFCs and PFCs mass flows in the industrial wastewater treatment plants, which reported to be the important sources of PFCs. Surveys were conducted in central wastewater treatment plant in two industrial zones in Thailand. Samples were collected from influent, aeration tank, secondary clarifier effluent, effluent and sludge. The major purpose of this field study was to identify PFCs occurrences and mass flow during industrial WWTP. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) coupled with HPLC-ESI-MS/MS were used for the analysis. Total 10 PFCs including perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluoropropanoic acid (PFPA), perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA), perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), perfluoronanoic acid (PFNA), perfluordecanoic acid (PFDA), perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUnA), and perfluorododecanoic acid (PFDoA) were measured to identify their occurrences. PFCs were detected in both liquid and solid phase in most samples. The exceptionally high level of PFCs was detected in the treatment plant of IZ1 and IZ2 ranging between 662-847 ng L⁻¹ and 674-1383 ng L⁻¹, respectively, which greater than PFCs found in most domestic wastewater. Due to PFCs non-biodegradable property, both WWTPs were found ineffective in removing PFCs using activated sludge processes. Bio-accumulation in sludge could be the major removal mechanism of PFCs in the process. The increasing amount of PFCs after activated sludge processes were identified which could be due to the degradation of PFCs precursors. PFCs concentration found in the effluent were very high comparing to those in river water of the area. Industrial activity could be the one of major sources of PFCs contamination in the water environment.     

Attitudes of rural population in emergency exposure situations

People growing crops in kitchen gardens eat locally self-produced food and are the subject of growing attention as the potential for a more sustainable development. A survey was carried out in two provinces in northern Italy to gather information on the consumption of local horticultural products, peoples’ expectations of authorities in the case of a nuclear accident and peoples’ behaviour in the absence of official information. Results show that up to 70% of the owners of kitchen gardens possess diets comprised of more than 60% of self-produced vegetables and can be regarded as particular groups of population. In the case of a dispersion of radioactive material, the local population would take advantage of official information on preventive measures to protect farms and local crops from contamination. Results of the survey show differences in the attitude of the population due to age, gender and past experience.     

Characterization of peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) under different PM2.5 concentration in wintertime at a North China rural site

As a secondary pollutant of photochemical pollution, peroxyacetyl nitrate(PAN) has attracted a close attention. A four-month campaign was conducted at a rural site in North China Plain(NCP) including the measurement of PAN, O₃, NO_x, PM_2.5, oxygenated volatile organic compounds(OVOCs), photolysis rate constants of NO₂ and O₃ and meteorological parameters to investigate the wintertime characterization of photochemistry from November 2018 to Fe...     

Information technology — a challenge for the sparsely populated areas

The computer and telecommunications technology has created new opportunities for developing interaction between offices and enterprises located far away from each other. Even if the market forces favour concentration to R & D centres in the big cities and in university towns, there are expectations that the distance over‐bridging qualities of the new technology can create development opportunities for sparsely populated peripheral areas. In this paper the interplay between the new technology and other important factors in the local and regional environment are discussed with the focus on both opportunities and restrictions.     

Evaluation and valuation of wildlife resources

Issues of resource conservation and development are essentially about choice between alternative uses of land. Resource evaluation in rural planning has usually been based on assessments of land quality or capability in relation to a variety of alternative uses. In the case of wildlife, choices have to be made as to whether the wildlife resource is worth conserving at all and if so, which sites should be used. Considerable efforts have been made to rationalise, improve and make explicit the way in which choices are made, and this paper reviews the current position and draws attention to issues and developments which could lead to improvements in current practice.