In harm’s way: Non-migration decisions of people at risk of slow-onset coastal hazards in Bangladesh

Non-migration is an adaptive strategy that has received little attention in environmental migration studies. We explore the leveraging factors of non-migration decisions of communities at risk in coastal Bangladesh, where exposure to both rapid- and slow-onset natural disasters is high. We apply the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to empirical data and assess how threat perception and coping appraisal influences migration decisions in farming communities suffering from salinization of cropland. This study consists of data collected through quantitative household surveys (n = 200) and semi-structured interviews from four villages in southwest coastal Bangladesh. Results indicate that most respondents are unwilling to migrate, despite better economic conditions and reduced environmental risk in other locations. Land ownership, social connectedness, and household economic strength are the strongest predictors of non-migration decisions. This study is the first to use the PMT to understand migration-related behaviour and the findings are relevant for policy planning in vulnerable regions where exposure to climate-related risks is high but populations are choosing to remain in place.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01552-8.     

The development and validation of a psychological contract of safety scale

Introduction

This paper builds on previous research by the author and describes the development and validation of a new measure of the psychological contract of safety. The psychological contract of safety is defined as the beliefs of individuals about reciprocal safety obligations inferred from implicit and explicit promises.

Method

A psychological contract is established when an individual believes that perceived employer and employee safety obligations are contingent on each other. A pilot test of the measure is first undertaken with participants from three different occupations: nurses, construction workers, and meat processing workers (N = 99). Item analysis is used to refine the measure and provide initial validation of the scale. A larger validation study is then conducted with a participant sample of health care workers (N = 424) to further refine the measure and to determine the psychometric properties of the scale.

Results

Item and correlational analyses produced the final employer and employee obligations scales, consisting of 21 and 17 items, respectively. Factor analyses identified two underlying dimensions in each scale comparable to that previously established in the organizational literature. These transactional and relational-type obligations provided construct validity of the scale. Internal consistency ratings using Cronbach's alpha found the components of the psychological contract of safety measure to be reliable.

Impact on Industry

The refined and validated psychological contract of safety measure will allow investigation of the positive and negative outcomes associated with fulfilment and breach of the psychological contract of safety in future research.     

我国环境影响评价与社会稳定风险评估制度关系的思考

环境影响评价制度和社会稳定风险评估制度作为预防和控制环境影响、创新社会风险管理的重要制度,实施以来发挥了重要作用,但也出现了工作边界和内容范围交叉的问题。尤其是近年来,环境污染焦虑引发社会风险事件的建设项目不断增多,导致两者的"天然联系"愈发紧密,工作存在模糊地带的问题愈发凸显,致使建设项目行政审批繁复、执行力差。在梳理环评、稳评的发展历程和存在问题的基础上,深入分析了环评和稳评的法律地位、适用范围、评价目标、评价内容、实施主体和程序上的异同,剖析了两者在制度设计和内容衔接方面的关系,并从理清工作边界职责、环境社会风险评估结果共享、强化稳评公众参与等方面提出了环评和稳评政策衔接的建议,为政府有效实施建设项目环境、社会监管提供决策参考。     

An Event-Based Approach for Examining the Effects of Wildland Fire Decisions on Communities

Public concern over the consequences of forest fire to wildland interface communities has led to increased resources devoted to fire suppression, fuel treatment, and management of fire events. The social consequences of the decisions involved in these and other fire-related actions are largely unknown, except in an anecdotal sense, but do occur at a variety of temporal and social organizational scales. These consequences are not limited to the fire event itself. Preparation for the possibility of a fire, actions that suppression agencies take during a fire, and postfire decisions all have consequences, if unknown currently. This article presents an "event-based" approach that can be useful for constructing and systematic discussion about the consequences of wildland fire to human communities. For each of the three major periods within this approach, agencies, communities, and individuals make decisions and take actions that have consequences. The article presents an integrated, temporally based process for examining these consequences, which is similar to others developed in the natural hazards and disaster management literature.     

政府信息公开对“邻避”设施接受意愿的影响——基于CSS数据的实证研究

如何突破“邻避”设施建设困境,对改善城市人居环境以及推动生态文明建设具有重要意义。本文利用中国社会状况综合调查（CSS）2019年的数据,探讨了政府信息公开对“邻避”设施接受意愿的影响。研究发现：政府信息公开水平的提升有利于增强公众对“邻避”设施的接受意愿,该结果在一系列稳健性测试中依旧成立。政府信任是信息公开对“邻避”设施接受意愿影响的重要作用渠道,并且县级政府的信用作用要高于中央政府。相较而言,政府信息公开的作用对于教育水平较低以及中年群体的影响更为显著。基于此,本文提出调整“邻避”项目决策模式、丰富“邻避”项目信息公开方式、扩宽“邻避”项目监管渠道等对策建议,促进“邻避”设施顺利落地。     

The promising spread of sustainable agriculture in Asia

Despite great successes in increasing food production, Asia still faces enormous food security challenges. Most commentators agree that there will have to be increases in food production from existing agricultural land, but many are pessimistic about the future, judging likelihood of success on the basis of past performance of 'modern' agricultural development. Sustainable agriculture, though, offers entirely new opportunities, by emphasising the productive values of natural, social and human capital, all assets that Asian countries either have in abundance or that can be regenerated at relatively low financial cost.
This paper sets out an assets-based model of agricultural systems, together with a typology of eight approaches for sustainable agriculture improvements. In the 16 projects/initiatives spread across eight countries that are analysed, some 2.86 million households have substantially improved total food production on 4.93 million hectares, resulting in greatly improved household food security. Proportional yield increases are greatest in rainfed systems, but irrigated systems have seen small cereal yield increases combined with added production from additional productive system components (such as fish in rice, vegetables on dykes). The additional positive impacts on natural, social and human capital are also helping to build the assets base so as to sustain these improvements in the future.
This analysis indicates that sustainable agriculture can deliver large increases in food production in Asia. But spreading these to much larger numbers of farm households will not be easy. It will require fundamental policy reform.     

粤北丹霞地貌三名山

介绍丹霞地貌沿革，粤北丹霞地貌的构成，丹霞山、部石山、金鸡岭的丹霞地貌特征．以及其地史演化。丹霞地貌的景观特色是丹崖、岩洞、峰林、幽谷、天生桥、具有石奇、崖雄、峰险、山幽的美学和旅游价值。     

论灾害的生态经济性质

本文从灾害的产生与灾害概念的发展、灾害的成因与过程、灾害的后果等多个方面论证和论述了灾害的生态经济性质。灾害生态经济性质的揭示为开展各类灾害的系统总体研究—灾害的生态经济研究提供了理论依据。     

Residential mobility and personal well-being

This research examines the relationship between personal mobility rate (number of lifetime moves/respondent's age) and health status. A contextual analysis is proposed in which the health consequences of relocation depend not only on the immediate circumstances surrounding a move, but also on the broader context of the individual's residential history, current life situation, and aspirations for the future. Two hundred and forty-two adult employees completed an initial survey of lifetime residential history, current residential desirability, employment experience, and perceived housing options for the future. Three months later, a panel group of 121 respondents completed a follow-up survey of emotional and physical well-being. Frequent relocation was directly associated with a greater number of illness-related symptoms, but the impact of mobility rate was largely mediated by psychological factors. Health problems were more prevalent among high-mobility individuals characterized by low rather than high levels of environmental exploratory tendency; among low-mobility persons reporting low versus high levels of residential choice and congruence; and among low residential-quality individuals who perceived future residential options to be unavailable rather than available.     

Environmentalism and elitism: a conceptual and empirical analysis

The frequent charge that environmentalism is elitist is examined conceptually and empirically. First, the concept of elitism is analyzed by distinguishing between three types of accusations made against the environmental movement: (a)compositional elitism suggests that environmentalists are drawn from privileged socioeconomic strata, (b)ideological elitism suggests that environmental reforms are a subterfuge for distributing benefits to environmentalists and/or costs to others, and (c)impact elitism suggests that environmental reforms, whether intentionally or not, do in fact have regressive social impacts.The evidence bearing on each of the three types of elitism is examined in some detail, and the following conclusions are drawn: Compositional elitism is an exaggeration, for although environmentalists are typically above average in socioeconomic status (as are most sociopolitical activists), few belong to the upper class. Ideological elitism may hold in some instances, but environmentalists have shown increasing sensitivity to equity concerns and there is little evidence of consistent pursuit of self-interest. Impact elitism is the most important issue, and also the most difficult to assess. It appears that there has been a general tendency for environmental reforms to have regressive impacts. However, it is increasingly recognized that problems such as workplace pollution and toxic waste contamination disproportionately affect the lower socioeconomic strata, and thus reforms aimed at such problems will likely have more progressive impacts.This is Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station Journal article no. 11508.