Soil erosion and risk-assessment for on- and off-farm impacts: A test case using the Midhurst area,West Sussex,UK

Soil erosion on agricultural land is a growing problem in Western Europe and constitutes a threat to soil quality and to the ability of soils to provide environmental services. The off-site impacts of runoff and eroded soil, principally eutrophication of water bodies, sedimentation of gravel-bedded rivers, loss of reservoir capacity, muddy flooding of roads and communities, are increasingly recognised and costed. The shift of funding in the European Union (EU) from production-related to avoidance of pollution and landscape protection, raises issues of cross-compliance: public support for agriculture has to be seen to give value-for-money. In this context risk-assessment procedures have been introduced to help farmers recognise sites where either certain crops should not be grown or anti-erosion measures are required. In England, Defra [Defra, 2005a. Controlling Soil Erosion: a Manual for the Assessment and Management of Agricultural Land at Risk of Water Erosion in Lowland England. Revised September 2005. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, London] sets out a system of risk-assessment, including ranking of crops susceptible to erosion and anti-erosion measures, that may be selected. We assess this system using field data for an area of erodible soils in the Rother valley, Sussex. The Defra approach correctly identifies most at-risk fields and, taken together with land-use maps, allows non-compliance with advice to be highlighted. We suggest a simple extension to the system which would further identify at-risk fields in terms of possible damage to roads and rivers from muddy runoff. The increased risk of erosion in the study area is associated with certain crops: potatoes, winter cereals, maize and grazed turnips and seems unlikely to be the result of changes in rainfall which over the last 130 years are minimal. We have not evaluated proposed anti-erosion measures in the area because few have been put into practice. The European Water Framework Directive will increasingly focus attention on agricultural fields as a source of river pollution. Assessing the risk of erosion and the need for field testing of suggested approaches, are not simply issues for the EU, but for the management of global agricultural systems.     

The Influence of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation on Annual Floods in the Rivers of Western Canada

We analyzed annual peak flow series from 127 naturally flowing or naturalized streamflow gauges across western Canada to examine the impact of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) on annual flood risk, which has been previously unexamined in detail. Using Spearman's rank correlation ρ and permutation tests on quantile‐quantile plots, we show that higher magnitude floods are more likely during the negative phase of the PDO than during the positive phase (shown at 38% of the stations by Spearman's rank correlations and at 51% of the stations according to the permutation tests). Flood frequency analysis (FFA) stratified according to PDO phase suggests that higher magnitude floods may also occur more frequently during the negative PDO phase than during the positive phase. Our results hold throughout much of this region, with the upper Fraser River Basin, the Columbia River Basin, and the North Saskatchewan River Basin particularly subject to this effect. Our results add to other researchers' work questioning the wholesale validity of the key assumption in FFA that the annual peak flow series at a site is independently and identically distributed. Hence, knowledge of large‐scale climate state should be considered prior to the design and construction of infrastructure.     

采用保护性耕作对减少水稻产量损失的实证分析——基于4省1080个稻农的调研数据

干旱和洪涝是造成水稻减产最主要的自然灾害,稻农通过采用保护性耕作可以减少其对水稻的产量损失。基于2013—2015年中国水稻主产区1 080个水稻农户的调研面板数据,论文采用内生转换模型,实证分析了稻农通过采用保护性耕作应对干旱或洪涝的效果,并分别估计了采用者和未采用者的水稻单产情况。实证结果表明:1)采用者的水稻单产远远高于未采用者的水稻单产;2)在反事实假设情况下,如果采用者未采用保护性耕作,其水稻产量将相应减产457.95 kg/hm~2(约7%);如果未采用者采用保护性耕作,其水稻产量将相应增产225 kg/hm~2(约4%);3)户主种植经验、受教育年限和公共服务可得性正向影响稻农的采用行为。最后,论文建议政府应大力推广保护性耕作技术,加大对抗逆水稻品种的培育,加强对农业生产资料的投入和管理,扩大公共服务的覆盖范围。     

Major shifts in Amazon wildlife populations from recent intensification of floods and drought

In the western Amazon Basin, recent intensification of river‐level cycles has increased flooding during the wet seasons and decreased precipitation during the dry season. Greater than normal floods occurred in 2009 and in all years from 2011 to 2015 during high‐water seasons, and a drought occurred during the 2010 low‐water season. During these years, we surveyed populations of terrestrial, arboreal, and aquatic wildlife in a seasonally flooded Amazonian forest in the Loreto region of Peru (99,780 km²) to study the effects of intensification of natural climatic fluctuations on wildlife populations and in turn effects on resource use by local people. Shifts in fish and terrestrial mammal populations occurred during consecutive years of high floods and the drought of 2010. As floods intensified, terrestrial mammal populations decreased by 95%. Fish, waterfowl, and otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) abundances increased during years of intensive floods, whereas river dolphin and caiman populations had stable abundances. Arboreal species, including, macaws, game birds, primates, felids, and other arboreal mammals had stable populations and were not affected directly by high floods. The drought of 2010 had the opposite effect: fish, waterfowl, and dolphin populations decreased, and populations of terrestrial and arboreal species remained stable. Ungulates and large rodents are important sources of food and income for local people, and large declines in these animals has shifted resource use of people living in the flooded forests away from hunting to a greater reliance on fish.     

1960～2012年中国东南沿海地区降水变化特征及重涝灾害趋势判断

基于东南沿海地区46个气象站点逐年实测降水数据,采用线性回归、Mann-Kendall检验法、Z指数法等气候诊断方法分析了1960~2012年东南沿海降水量时空变化特征,利用可公度、蝴蝶结构图和可公度结构系等灾害时间对称性方法,对重涝灾害未来趋势进行判断。结果表明:1)1960~2012年东南沿海地区降水整体呈增加趋势,增加速率为1.91mm/a;2)在空间变化上,降水量高值区域,降水呈现下降趋势,而降水量低值区域,降水则呈现上升趋势;降水呈下降趋势的区域集中在降水高值区,由南向北降水呈下降趋势站点逐渐减少,区域洪涝灾害风险逐渐增大;3)东南沿海旱涝变化具有明显的年际变化趋势,主要表现为20世纪60~70年代整体偏旱,80~90年代涝灾逐年增多,2000年后旱涝灾害频发,形成"重旱-重涝并重"的格局;4)东南沿海地区重涝时间序列具有明显的时间对称结构,经可公度、蝴蝶结构图和可公度结构系三种方法综合判断,2016年重涝信号较强,有可能发生较严重的涝灾,需要相关部门予以重视,完善区域自然灾害防御应急体系。     

USE OF A DAM BREAK MODEL TO ASSESS FLOODING AT HADDAM NECK NUCLEAR POWER PLANT1

Because of their proximity to necessary supplies of cooling water, nuclear power plants are susceptible to riverine flooding. Greater flood hazards exist where plants are located downstream of large dams. The consequences of the Quabbin Reservoir dam failure on the Haddam Neck Nuclear Power Plant situated on the Connecticut River were investigated using a dam break flood routing model. Reasons for selecting a particular model are presented and the input assumptions for the modeling process are developed. Relevant information concerning the level of manpower involvement is presented. The findings of this analysis demonstrate that the plant is adequately protected from the consequences of the postulated flood event.     

Risk and the neoliberal state: why post-Mitch lessons didn't reduce El Salvador's earthquake losses

Although El Salvador suffered light losses from Hurricane Mitch in 1998, it benefited from the increased international aid and encouragement for advance planning, especially mitigation and prevention interventions. Thus, one would have supposed, El Salvador would have been in a very advantageous position, able more easily than its economically crippled neighbours, Honduras and Nicaragua, to implement the 'lessons of Mitch'. A review of the recovery plan tabled by the El Salvador government following the earthquakes of early 2001 shows that despite the rhetoric in favour of 'learning the lessons of Mitch', very little mitigation and prevention had actually been put in place between the hurricane (1998) and the earthquakes (2001). The recovery plan is analysed in terms of the degree to which it deals with root causes of disaster vulnerability, namely, the economic and political marginality of much of the population and environmental degradation. An explanation for the failure to implement mitigation and preventive actions is traced to the adherence by the government of El Salvador to an extreme form of neoliberal, free market ideology, and the deep fissures and mistrust in a country that follow a long and bloody civil war.     

The changing emphasis of disasters in Bangladesh NGOs

Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, affected by cyclones and floods, as well as chronic hazards such as arsenic poisoning. NGOs have played a major role in bringing concerns related to risk management on to the national agenda and promoting a shift of focus from mere relief response to disaster mitigation and preparedness. The government has, after earlier scepticism, now accepted NGOs as major partners in these tasks. Innovative approaches, such as the use of microfinance, have been applied; many of which are related to preserving the gains of development efforts as part of rehabilitation. NGOs have pressured for better coordination with government. Improved structures are now approved, but it is still too early to judge their impact. Despite progress, neither NGOs nor governmental agencies have clearly defined roles in the effort to link disaster management priorities. This will ensure that longer-term development efforts build on local capacities and reduce vulnerabilities.     

PRELIMINARY HYDROLOGIC DESIGN OF SMALL FLOOD DETENTION RESERVOIRS1

ABSTRACT. Flood detention reservoir design is a common problem encountered by engineers and others involved with water resources problems. This paper presents a method by which the volume of flood storage required for a single reservoir or a series of reservoirs may be estimated without using numeric flood-routing techniques. The proposed procedure requires a minimum of computations and is most applicable to preliminary design situations where a high degree of accuracy is not required.