Preserving Wilderness or Protecting Homelands? Intersections and Divergences in Activist Discourses About Mining in Ontario’s Far North

Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire/Wawangajing controversy constitutes a complex site of debate about the risks and benefits of mining in an area of major ecological significance that is also the ancestral territory of nine First Nation communities. This paper investigates the rhetorical alignments and divergences in public calls by Matawa First Nations tribal council and the Ontario Wildlands League for stronger environmental assessment of mining projects than that favoured by the Canadian government. Tracing the terminologies each group uses to describe the affected region and its inhabitants in its activist rhetoric about EA offers insight into the contingent, shifting ways in which wilderness advocacy and Indigenous justice discourses may speak together yet distinctly within contemporary environmental-natural resource disputes.     

北京入境旅游流西向扩散与省域经济联系研究——以西部三大典型区为例

北京是我国经济、政治和文化中心,也是我国最重要的入境口岸之一。入京旅游流西向的扩散转移对省域之间旅游经济联系强度具有极大的直接促进作用,转移态是反映旅游流流向和流量的重要指标。在对我国西部三大典型旅游区界定的基础上,利用转移态指数模型和旅游经济联系强度模型对入京旅游流向西转移态及其与西部三大典型旅游区的经济联系强度进行了相关性分析,得出入京旅游流西向转移态对西部典型区经济的影响程度为:成渝泛西安云贵,在此基础上分析了原因,并对西部三大典型旅游区如何更好地吸引北京入境旅游"二手客源",以促进旅游业更快发展提出了相应对策与建议。     

Effects of Urban Spatial Structure,Sociodemographics, and Climate on Residential Water Consumption in Hillsboro,Oregon1

House-Peters, Lily, Bethany Pratt, and Heejun Chang, 2010. Effects of Urban Spatial Structure, Sociodemographics, and Climate on Residential Water Consumption in Hillsboro, Oregon. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(3):461-472. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2009.00415.x Abstract: In the Portland metropolitan area, suburban growth in cities such as Hillsboro is projected to increase as people seek affordable housing near a burgeoning metropolis. The most significant determinants for increases in water demand are population growth, climate change, and the type of urban development that occurs. This study analyzes the spatial patterns of single family residential (SFR) water consumption in Hillsboro, Oregon, at the census block scale. The following research questions are addressed: (1) What are the significant determinants of SFR water consumption in Hillsboro, Oregon? (2) Is SFR water demand sensitive to drought conditions and interannual climate variation? (3) To what magnitude do particular census blocks react to drought conditions and interannual climate variation? Using ordinary least squares multiple regression and spatial regression methods, we found that base use, representing indoor water use, is dependent on household size and that seasonal use, representing external water use is dependent on both education level and the size of the property’s outdoor space. Spatial analysis techniques determined that although the water demand of the study area as a whole is not sensitive to drought conditions, certain individual census blocks do respond with a higher magnitude of water use. The most climate-sensitive census blocks tend to contain newer and larger homes, and have higher property values and more affluent and well-educated residents.     

Evaluation of the National Land Cover Database for Hydrologic Applications in Urban and Suburban Baltimore,Maryland1

Smith, Monica Lipscomb, Weiqi Zhou, Mary Cadenasso, Morgan Grove, and Lawrence E. Band, 2010. Evaluation of the National Land Cover Database for Hydrologic Applications in Urban and Suburban Baltimore, Maryland. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(2):429-442. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2009.00412.x Abstract: We compared the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2001 land cover, impervious, and canopy data products to land cover data derived from 0.6-m resolution three-band digital imagery and ancillary data. We conducted this comparison at the 1 km², 9 km², and gauged watershed scales within the Baltimore Ecosystem Study to determine the usefulness and limitations of the NLCD in heterogeneous urban to exurban environments for the determination of land-cover information for hydrological applications. Although the NLCD canopy and impervious data are significantly correlated with the high-resolution land-cover dataset, both layers exhibit bias at <10 and >70% cover. The ratio of total impervious area and connected impervious area differs along the range of percent imperviousness – at low percent imperviousness, the NLCD is a better predictor of pavement alone, whereas at higher percent imperviousness, buildings and pavement together more resemble NLCD impervious estimates. The land-cover composition and range for each NLCD urban land category (developed open space, low-intensity, medium-intensity, and high-intensity developed) is more variable in areas of low-intensity development. Fine-vegetation land-cover/lawn area is incorporated in a large number of land use categories with no ability to extract this land cover from the NLCD. These findings reveal that the NLCD may yield important biases in urban, suburban, and exurban hydrologic analyses where land cover is characterized by fine-scale spatial heterogeneity.     

Review of Pesticide Retention Processes Occurring in Buffer Strips Receiving Agricultural Runoff1

Arora, Kapil, Steven K. Mickelson, Matthew J. Helmers, and James L. Baker, 2010. Review of Pesticide Retention Processes Occurring in Buffer Strips Receiving Agricultural Runoff. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(3):618-647. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00438.x Abstract: Review of the published results shows that the retention of the two pesticide carrier phases (runoff volume and sediment mass) influences pesticide mass transport through buffer strips. Data averaged across different studies showed that the buffer strips retained 45% of runoff volume (ranging between 0 and 100%) and 76% of sediment mass (ranging between 2 and 100%). Sorption (soil sorption coefficient, K_oc) is one key pesticide property affecting its transport with the two carrier phases through buffer strips. Data from different studies for pesticide mass retention for weakly (K_oc < 100), moderately (100 < K_oc < 1,000), and strongly sorbed pesticides (K_oc > 1,000) averaged (with ranges) 61 (0-100), 63 (0-100), and 76 (53-100) %, respectively. Because there are more data for runoff volume and sediment mass retention, the average retentions of both carrier phases were used to calculate that the buffer strips would retain 45% of weakly to moderately sorbed and 70% of strongly sorbed pesticides on an average basis. As pesticide mass retention presented is only an average across several studies with different experimental setups, the application of these results to actual field conditions should be carefully examined.     

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.     

农户对高产农业技术扩散的生态环境影响感知实证

农民生态环境感知对促进农民自觉环境保护行为和农村两型社会建设具有重要作用。通过对湖南省洞庭湖湿地水稻主产区6个乡镇的调查,将农户生态影响感知具体化为土壤、水源、身体健康和水稻4个方面的感知,借助定量分析建立了农户综合环境感知指数,研究农民对以化学农业为代表的高产农业技术扩散的生态环境影响感知,并运用Tobit模型探讨了影响农户生态影响感知的主要因素。结果表明:农民已经意识到以石化农业为代表的高产农业技术扩散带来的不利影响,尽管他们的意识还只限于一些看得见的因素如土壤肥力、捕鱼量和健康问题,对于看不见的影响的感知还很薄弱。以化学农业为代表的高产农业技术采用的水平和持续时间直接决定了人们对于不利影响的感知。提高收入水平与教育水平、强化农业技术推广能提升农民生态环境感知,而农田水利基础设施建设和土壤肥力对农户环境感知有复杂的影响关系。     

遗产旅游地生态移民影响的实证研究——以武陵源风景名胜区为例

生态移民是近年来诸多景区为保护生态环境而采取的重要举措之一。以世界遗产地武陵源风景名胜区为例,通过对安置点居民的问卷调查与实地访谈获取第一手资料,从居民感知的角度分析生态移民给安置区居民所带来的经济、社会文化、资源环境、心理及安置政策等方面的影响及其相关因素。构建生态移民影响的感知差异分析模型,探讨不同基本背景的居民对生态移民影响的感知差异性。结果表明,安置点居民对生态移民的社会文化、资源环境以及心理层面的正面影响比较认可;对于经济影响的感知分歧较大;而对于移民政策的感知十分消极;不同性别、年龄、文化程度、收入水平以及不同旅游业参与程度的居民对生态移民影响的认知态度存在显著差异。在此基础上,指出武陵源生态移民过程中所存在的主要问题及相关政策导向     

山区沿河公路水毁危险性评价方法的研究

为了预测评价山区沿河公路水毁灾害,通过理论分析和专家系统调查,阐明了沿河公路水毁危险性的含义,确定了其主要危险因子(洪水流量、水位、流速)和次要危险因子(洪水持续时间、河流形态)。运用灰色系统的关联度方法,根据关联序确定了各危险因子的权重;在因子等级划分的基础上,提出了沿河公路水毁危险性指数的计算方法,并在工程中得到了应用。研究成果可供沿河公路水毁易发段危险性点及整个路段的评价参考。     

农村生活固体垃圾的处理现状及影响因素

随着我国农村经济与农民收入水平的快速提高,农村生活固体垃圾产生与排放的数量快速增加,已经严重影响了农村环境、农民健康和农业可持续发展.该文的主要目的是基于甘肃和河北省60个村和240个农户的调研资料,深入了解农村生活固体垃圾的处理和管理现状及影响生活固体垃圾有效处理的制约因素.结果表明,大多数村没有处理生活固体垃圾的设施,总体看甘肃省拥有的处理设施要好于河北省.超过一半的村中生活固体垃圾都没有人管理,但部分村开始制定相关的管理计划.描述性统计分析和计量模型的分析结果表明,农村生活固体垃圾的处理状况与农民人均收入水平的提高和交通便利程度的改进有显著正相关关系,而非农就业机会的增加不利于当地生活垃圾的处理.