Audience segmentation to improve targeting of conservation interventions for hunters

Audience segmentation could help improve the effectiveness of conservation interventions. Marketers use audience segmentation to define the target audience of a campaign. The technique involves subdividing a general population into groups that share similar profiles, such as sociodemographic or behavioral characteristics. Interventions are then designed to target the group or groups of interest. We explored the potential of audience segmentation for use in defining conservation target groups with a case study of hunters in Liberia. Using 2 data sets describing households (n = 476) and hunters (n = 205), we applied a clustering method in which infinite binomial mixture models group hunters and households according to livelihood and behavior variables and a simple method to define target groups based on hunting impact (hunting households and high-impact hunters). Clusters of hunters and households differed in their experiences with confiscation of catch at roadblocks and participation in livelihood-support programs, indicating that these interventions operate unevenly across subsets of the population. By contrast, the simple method masked these insights because profiles of hunting households and high-impact hunters were similar to those of the general population. Clustering results could be used to guide the development of livelihood and regulatory interventions. For example, a commonly promoted agricultural activity, cocoa farming, was practiced by only 2% (out of 87) of the largest hunter cluster of nonlocal gun hunters but was prevalent among local trappers, suggesting that assistance aimed at cocoa farmers is less appropriate for the former group. Our results support the use of audience segmentation across multiple variables to improve targeted intervention designs in conservation.     

Fostering Sustainability in Headwaters Country: Using Bioregional and Social Capital Strategies in Support of Sustainability

Abstract

Many of Canada's ex-urban and rural areas face a daunting array of sustainability challenges. In developing effective sustainability strategies, these areas must rely heavily upon local resources and capacities and existing social capital. Part of the solution for these areas may lie in multi-stakeholder collaborative approaches built on sustainability principles and strategies. These include the engagement and mobilization of civil society networks; the cultivation of strategic partnerships among key stakeholders in civil society, the private sector and government; and long-term local programmes of research, education and advocacy that are supportive of sustainability. This article describes and analyses a Canadian case study—Dufferin County, part of the Headwaters Country region in southern Ontario—in which a multi-stakeholder, civil society based approach to fostering sustainability is currently unfolding. The ideological and theoretical underpinnings of the initiative are explored, key process-oriented and substantive challenges to the approach are analysed and action research strategies are discussed.     

Association of body mass with price of bushmeat in Nigeria and Cameroon

Spatially extensive patterns of bushmeat extraction (and the processes underlying these patterns) have not been explored. We used data from a large sample (n= 87) of bushmeat trading points in urban and rural localities in Nigeria and Cameroon to explore extraction patterns at a regional level. In 7,594 sample days, we observed 61,267 transactions involving whole carcasses. Rural and urban trading points differed in species for sale and in meat condition (fresh or smoked). Carcass price was principally associated with body mass, with little evidence that taxonomic group (primate, rodent, ungulate, or mammalian carnivore) affected price. Moreover, meat condition was not consistently associated with price. However, some individual species were more expensive throughout the region than would be expected for their size. Prices were weakly positively correlated with human settlement size and were highest in urban areas. Supply did not increase proportionally as human settlement size increased, such that per capita supply was significantly lower in urban centers than in rural areas. Policy options, including banning hunting of more vulnerable species (those that have low reproductive rates), may help to conserve some species consumed as bushmeat because carcass prices indicate that faster breeding, and therefore the more sustainable species, may be substituted and readily accepted by consumers.     

Safeguarding livelihoods or exacerbating poverty? Artisanal mining and formalization in West Africa

In recent years, policy mechanisms to support a formalized artisanal and small‐scale mining (ASM) sector in sub‐Saharan Africa have gained increasing currency. Proponents of formalization argue that most social and environmental problems associated with the sector stem from the fact that ASM is predominantly unregulated and operates outside the legal sphere. This paper critically examines recent efforts to formalize artisanal and small‐scale mining in West Africa, drawing upon recent fieldwork carried out in Sierra Leone, Ghana and Mali. In exploring the sector's livelihood dimensions, the analysis suggests that bringing unregulated, informal mining activities into the legal domain remains a considerable challenge. The paper concludes by confirming the urgent need to refocus formalization strategies on the main livelihood challenges and constraints of small‐scale miners themselves, if poverty is to be alleviated and more benefits are to accrue to depressed communities in mineral‐rich regions.     

惠州西湖生态修复对浮游植物的影响

2007年广东惠州西湖子湖-南湖采用水生植被构建和修复等措施改变湖泊水质。通过2010年2月至11月对南湖和未修复的平湖的浮游植物群落的调查比较,研究湖泊生态系统修复对浮游植物群落结构的影响。结果表明：（1）南湖的浮游植物多样性指数高于平湖,两者峰值分别为1.93（nit）,0.88（nit）,分别在8月和2月,两湖均呈现2、8月高峰,5、11月低谷的变化特征。（2）南湖的浮游植物群落呈隐藻-绿藻（四尾栅藻Scenedesmus quadricuda）-甲藻（多甲藻Peridinium sp.）变化模式,平湖则全年以蓝藻门占绝对优势,优势种为银灰平列藻（Merismipedia sp.）和湖丝藻（Limnolothix sp.）。（3）南湖浮游植物的生物量和细胞丰度的平均值均远低于平湖。由此可知,重建水生植被为主的生态修复手段是抑制浮游植物发展和改善湖泊水环境的有效途径。     

西部地区农村贫困现状、原因及对策探析

实施开发式扶贫政策以来。西部地区扶贫工作取得了令人鼓舞的成就．但由于多方面原因。扶贫任务仍然十分艰巨。本文从西部地区农村贫困现状出发．根据汉森理论．对西部地区农村贫困原因作了深入分析。最后提出了治理贫困对策。     

Arsenic in freshwater ecosystems of the Bengal delta: status,sources and seasonal variability

The study aimed to examine the contamination status of arsenic (As) in excavated small water bodies, commonly known as ponds – the integral part of daily life in the arsenic-affected rural areas of West Bengal, India in comparison to the unaffected areas. The ponds of the contaminated area had higher levels of As: water 2–174 µg L^?1 (mean 31 ± 2 µg L^?1) and sediment 1.3–37.3 mg kg^?1 (mean 10.3 ± 0.4 mg kg^?1), than those from the unaffected area: water 1–8 µg L^?1 (mean 4 ± 0 µg L^?1) and sediment 1.4–5.3 mg kg^?1 (mean 3.0 ± 0.1 mg kg^?1). A moderate positive correlation was observed between the water and sediment arsenic content of the ponds of the arsenic-affected region (r = 0.688, n = 277, p < 0.0001). Contaminated ground water, either as direct input or through agricultural washings, was found to be the major contributor of arsenic pollution to these ecosystems. Seasonal variations were not prominent. This study emphasized the beneficial role of using the studied ecosystems over the highly contaminated ground water for various livelihood activities in the Gangetic delta region.     

WTO规则对西部开发的风险及机遇浅探

随着中国加入WTO进程的加快和西部大开发战略的实施，依法治国无疑是改善投资环境、促进西部开发的最有效手段之一。本文根据WTO基本原则与法制经济的相互关系和影响深入浅出地论述了WTO对西部开发的风险及机遇，并提出了针对性的策略和措施。     

REGIONAL RUNOFF SIMULATION FOR SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN1

ABSTRACT: The feasibility of simulating monthly runoff for southeast Michigan, which comprises four major river basins, was evaluated with the Streamflow Synthesis and Reservoir Regulation watershed model. The evaluation covered a 13-year period (1961–73), which encompassed a complete runoff cycle. Results indicate it is feasible to simulate monthly runoff volumes on a regional scale with a single equivalent watershed by using daily precipitation and temperature data. Simulation of regional flows appears particularly attractive for the Great Lakes basin, since the basin consists of many relatively small watersheds. This method also appears promising for development of monthly runoff forecasts by employing average monthly meteorological data distributed on a daily basis. Tests of six-month runoff forecasts show relatively small deterioration with time and offer considerable improvement over climatology.     

Modeling military trampling effects on glacial soils in the humid continental climate of southern New York

The purpose of this research is to create a baseline model of soil compaction response to trampling and a methodology to model the effects of trampling on soil. Although trampling studies have been conducted in the past, the analysis of military training in part provides a different perspective and approach. The data showed bulk densities remained relatively constant for a time and then began to increase at an increasing rate for several hundred passes and finally leveled and remained at or below 1.30 g/cm3 through the remainder of the experiment. Mathematical models were created based on empirical data from a trampling experiment using a more standard logistical growth curve as well as curves based on Weibull and gamma cumulative distribution functions (CDFs). The experiment and the resulting models give quantifiable continuous inference on the effects of trampling, as opposed to the existing qualitative assessments. These baseline models will be the foundation for future studies of land management when trampling occurs.