Can home gardens scale up into movements for social change? The role of home gardens in providing food security and community change in San Jose,California

Urban policymakers and sustainable food activists have identified urban agriculture as an important strategy for confronting a host of urban problems, including food insecurity, health disparities, access to urban green space and community economic revitalisation. Much recent work on urban agriculture has examined community and school gardens, but little research has been undertaken on home gardens as a solution to urban problems. This article examines a home-gardening programme in San Jose, California, La Mesa Verde, asking whether some of the benefits found in community gardens can be found in home gardens. Specifically, we look at financial, health and community benefits, examining the potential of home gardens to become forces for broader social change. We ask whether gardens can become agents of cultural preservation, self-determination, particularly for recent immigrants who use these spaces to build identities and work towards collective action and self-determination.     

稻田综合种养土地利用的生态—经济效果——以湖北省稻虾共作为例

关注以稻虾共作为代表的稻田综合种养土地利用新型模式,基于在湖北省潜江市和荆州市的实地调研数据,运用非期望产出的SBM模型和投入导向DEA方法,测算和比较了稻虾共作户和水稻单作户土地利用的生态—经济效果。研究发现：与水稻单作相比,稻虾共作能够改善土地利用的生态—经济效果;但调研区一半以上的共作农户仍然延续着传统粗放的生产模式,生产中存在严重的过量投入,阻碍了其土地利用生态—经济效果的进一步优化。此外,若忽略环境污染,只考虑经济效果,将导致稻虾共作的土地利用效率被高估45.28%。目前,稻虾共作提高土地利用效率的功能未能充分发挥,亟需把环境影响纳入土地利用效率评估中,贯彻“双水双绿”的发展理念,引导农户合理安排各项生产投入,切实优化稻虾共作的生态—经济效果,促进土地可持续利用。     

湖北省2008年初低温雨雪冰冻灾害特点及影响分析

008年初,湖北省出现了自1954/1955年冬季以来最严重的低温雨雪冰冻灾害,直接经济损失高达110亿元以上,分析评估此次灾害的基本特点及对各行各业的影响,可为今后抗御类似灾害提供依据。结果表明：①此次灾害影响范围广,受灾人数多,损失重,第三、四场雪使危害迅速加剧,后续效应强、时间长;②影响行业可分为交通、电网及供电系统、通讯、农业、林业、企业和市政设施、居民生活、湖泊结冰等8大类,并可细分为24小类,涉及社会和人们生活的众多方面,足见影响面之广,危害之重;③影响因子以低温、冰冻（道路结冰、电线覆冰）、雪压等为主,另外还有大风、雪雾、湖泊封冻、冰雪融化等;④由于降雪及低温持续时间长、雪量大,对农林业危害严重;由于电力、〖JP2〗通讯、建筑设施以及道路结冰严重,对电网、电力供应、交通安全以及社会公众生产、生活等造成极大的影响。〖     

Soil management practices for sustainable agro-ecosystems

A doubling of the global food demand projected for the next 50 years poses a huge challenge for the sustainability of both food production and global and local environments. Today’s agricultural technologies may be increasing productivity to meet world food demand, but they may also be threatening agricultural ecosystems. For the global environment, agricultural systems provide both sources and sinks of greenhouse gases (GHGs), which include carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and nitrous oxide (N₂O). This paper addresses the importance of soil organic carbon (SOC) for agro-ecosystems and GHG uptake and emission in agriculture, especially SOC changes associated with soil management. Soil management strategies have great potential to contribute to carbon sequestration, since the carbon sink capacity of the world’s agricultural and degraded soil is 50–66% of the historic carbon loss of 42–72 Pg (1 Pg=10¹⁵ g), although the actual carbon storage in cultivated soil may be smaller if climate changes lead to increasing mineralization. The importance of SOC in agricultural soil is, however, not controversial, as SOC helps to sustain soil fertility and conserve soil and water quality, and organic carbon compounds play a variety of roles in the nutrient, water, and biological cycles. No-tillage practices, cover crop management, and manure application are recommended to enhance SOC storage and to contribute to sustainable food production, which also improves soil quality. SOC sequestration could be increased at the expense of increasing the amount of non-CO₂ GHG emissions; however, soil testing, synchronized fertilization techniques, and optimum water control for flooding paddy fields, among other things, can reduce these emissions. Since increasing SOC may also be able to mitigate some local environmental problems, it will be necessary to have integrated soil management practices that are compatible with increasing SOM management and controlling soil residual nutrients. Cover crops would be a critical tool for sustainable soil management because they can scavenge soil residual nitrogen and their ecological functions can be utilized to establish an optimal nitrogen cycle. In addition to developing soil management strategies for sustainable agro-ecosystems, some political and social approaches will be needed, based on a common understanding that soil and agro-ecosystems are essential for a sustainable society.     

种养殖耦合的海水农业系统研究

本研究建立了养殖耦合的海水农业系统,结果表明,种养殖耦合的海水农业系统对污染物具有良好的净化效果,对Chl.去除效果尤其显著,污染物NO3-N、NO2-N、NH4-N、TP、COD、TN、Chl.的去除率分别为:58.11、58.61、62.86、54.45、52.62、46.84和85.69%.用养殖废水种植蔬菜,实现了废水无害化和资源化的统一,具有较好的经济、生态效益.     

Sedimentation retention basin utilization for best management practice

Approaches to the artificial impoundment and theoretical design of sedimentation retention basin are reviewed with particular attention to best management practice(BMP) to control agriculture and surface runoff. Sediments retention basins are the small version of farm pond usedwhere a criteria of farm pond is not met. Such basin traps the pollutants and suspended solids prior to entry into streams and lakes. The study is focused with special reference to the assessment and control of non-point source pollution(NPSP) from the sub-basin area of Tai Lake in the Xishan County of Wuxi City of China, The author suggested two different approaches to conduct this study including theoretical design for sedimentation retention basin and computation of flow, sediment transport and deposition during the artificial impoundment of retention basin for BMP‘s utilization. Theoretical design will provide a useful function as a first line defense against the movement of sediments and transport of pollutants into the Tai Lake while the assessment of sediments deposition will help to make its proper use and periodic cleanup.     

区域农业循环经济发展评价及其实证研究

运用BPEIR概念模型及特尔菲法选择区域农业循环经济发展评价指标体系,并通过层次分析法,对1985至2003年江苏省农业循环经济发展水平进行综合评价。1985年以来,江苏省农业循环经济发展依次历经缓慢提升、快速发展以及目前的稳定发展阶段,农业循环经济化趋势增强,综合评价指数分布在区间(1,1.5)内;并对2003年影响江苏省农业循环经济发展的障碍因素进行诊断,发现资源减量投入成为主要限制因素。资源减量投入、资源循环利用、经济与社会发展、资源环境安全对江苏省农业循环经济发展的限制作用依次为57%、19%、13%和11%。为提高现阶段江苏省农业循环经济发展水平,提出相关建议,比如减少物质投入,推广适合本区域的生态农业、有机农业生产模式,稳步推进农业产业化与工业化,构建经济激励机制等。     

苏南太湖水系农业面源污染及其控制对策研究

提出并应用了差额污染负荷量的概念，建立了平原水网地区大面积集水区网络试验法，并设计了可以覆盖苏南太湖地区的７种类型水、旱田网络试验区、通过点面结合，室内外试验配合，采用１５＾Ｎ同位素示踪技术进行农田氮素流失模拟试验等研究，结果表明，农业面源氮素污染负荷量随年降水量和灌溉量的增加而增大；浅层地下水硝态氮的污染负荷量与氮肥的施用量呈正相关；稻田氮素污染负荷量显地高于旱田；农业面源磷素污染差额总负荷量     

农业生产与土壤变化

本文在提出土壤变化概念及其驱动力的基础上,论述了农业生产活动对土壤侵蚀、上镶有机质和营养元素、土壤酸化、土壤生物学特性、土壤物理性质诸方面的正、逆向效应,最后指出研究农业生产对土壤变化的影响是发展持续农业所必需的.     

农业旱灾遥感监测方法综述

本文综述了各种旱灾遥感监测模型和方法的适宜地区和优缺点，并从植被覆盖度的角度对模型进行了分类，总结了针对区域选择旱灾遥感监测模型的要点。