Irrigation projects in Ethiopia: what can be done to enhance effectiveness under ‘challenging contexts’?

Investment in small scale irrigation (SSI) is crucial to sustain food security and livelihoods of smallholders. In Ethiopia, the government and development partners show a growing interest in developing irrigation projects. The success of irrigation projects is determined by governance and socio-cultural contexts. Yet the lack of thorough understanding of the challenging contexts undermines the efforts to achieve sustainability outcomes in irrigation projects. This article identifies the challenging contexts to irrigation projects, examines how the challenging contexts influence the effectiveness of irrigation projects, and indicates ways of improving the effectiveness of irrigation projects under the existing challenging contexts. Data were collected between April and December 2011 in three regional states of Ethiopia using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The lack of governance capacity and accountability are critical challenges for the sustainability of the irrigation projects. In addition, the poor consideration of local knowledge and the use of top-down approaches in planning and implementing the irrigation projects, and lack of equitable access to the irrigation schemes result in poor ownership of projects among farmers. Improving the funding scheme to support long-term capacity building at national and local levels, and in understanding the socio-cultural contexts of the intervention areas; planning irrigation projects with due consideration of the existing challenging contexts, and with active engagement of the local community, are important for the long-term viability and sustainability of irrigation projects.     

水土流失风险扰动下区域人地系统适应性研究——以榆林市为例

适应性概念为可持续性科学领域提供了新的研究思维。论文在总结、梳理适应性内涵,整合相关适应性理论与方法的基础上,提出了基于风险扰动的适应性分析框架,采用风险-适应能力指数评估区域人地系统适应性,将系统适应性分解为风险干扰和适应能力（包括生态、经济、社会能力3个参数）两个维度,从研究区水土流失风险出发,构建系统适应性评价指标体系。通过美国通用土壤流失方程（USLE）与适应性函数模型,分析榆林市水土流失风险以及人地系统适应能力时空演化特征,在系统适应性水平评估基础上,揭示榆林市不同时期人地系统适应性演化的驱动因素。研究结果表明：1）2000—2011年榆林市水土流失风险显著下降,但时空演化明显,到2011年高流失区转移分布于西南部、长城沿线等县域;2）12 a间榆林市系统适应性水平整体呈增高趋势,但空间上出现两极分化,呈现“西北高、东南低”的格局,其中北部县区（根据榆林市当地分区,北部县区包括府谷、神木、榆阳、横山、靖边、定边6县区;南部县域包括佳县、米脂、吴堡、子洲、绥德、清涧6县。）在生态、经济和社会子系统能力上明显高于南部,但南部县域适应性水平提升较北部更为明显;3）人地系统适应性演化驱动力由社会经济发展转化为生态环境修复、经济能力增强和社会保障提升的共同作用。     

Livestock mortality in pastoralist herds in Ethiopia and implications for drought response

Participatory epidemiology methods were employed retrospectively in three pastoralist regions of Ethiopia to estimate the specific causes of excess livestock mortality during drought. The results showed that starvation/dehydration accounted for between 61.5 and 100 per cent of excess livestock mortality during drought, whereas disease‐related mortality accounted for between 0 and 28.1 per cent of excess mortality. Field observations indicate that, in livestock, disease risks and mortality increase in the immediate post‐drought period, during rain. The design of livelihoods‐based drought response programmes should include protection of core livestock assets, and it should take account of the specific causes of excess livestock mortality during drought and immediately afterwards. This study shows that, when comparing livestock feed supplementation and veterinary support, relatively more aid should be directed at the former if the objective is to protect core livestock during drought. Veterinary support should consider disease‐related mortality in the immediate post‐drought period, and tailor inputs accordingly.     

Socio-economic differentiation in the trade of wildlife species for traditional medicines in the Lowveld,South Africa: Implications for resource management initiatives

Surveys of trade in wildlife products utilised in traditional medicine were conducted between 1997 and 1999 on the western boundary of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Although the extent of trade and numbers of people operating in this sector were lower than other regions of South Africa, this study again highlighted the value of indigenous wildlife products to subsistence economies. Apart from cultural diversity, socioeconomic differentiation occurred at a number of levels. (i) There were socio-economic differences between the traders and vendors. (ii) Gender differences were apparent, with women earning significantly less than men and having to undergo more social challenges in their operation in the market place. (iii) Operational differences were noted between the vendors and traders, as well as between the street and pension day vendors. (iv) Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) highlighted the socio-economic differentiation at the household level, emphasizing in particular one of the most vulnerable groups, the elderly. The potential influence of this socio-economic differentiation needs to be considered during the development of Community-Based Conservation programmes, if the dual aims of conserving biodiversity and improving the lives and livelihoods of those who traditionally rely on medicinal plants are to be met.     

REDD+ and forest tenure security: concerns in Nepal’s community forestry

As one of the dominant large-scale mechanisms proposed to combat climate change, biodiversity loss, and rural poverty, REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) has added further complexity to the challenging governance of rights and resources in global forests. As REDD+ is commodifying carbon, concerns emerge about how carbon ownership and its rights can be accommodated into the existing framework that governs local forest resource rights. The Nepalese government has formally entered into REDD+ policy preparations, but it lacks clear legal provisions regarding key forest tenure rights such as carbon ownership, benefit sharing, and the political participation of community forest user groups from national to local. As a result, Nepal’s policy process points toward performance-based carbon forestry in a way that may undermine and weaken existing community tenure rights and forest tenure security.

This paper discusses Nepal’s potential impacts of new REDD+ and carbon ownership arrangements on forest tenure security and community-based forest governance. In a threefold methodological approach, the paper presents three scenarios for a REDD+-oriented tenure reform within the existing framework and assesses their concerns through in-depth qualitative interviews with key stakeholders, representatives, and advocates of Nepal’s community forestry system, complemented by a review of government documents and academic literature of REDD+ lessons so far. The analysis identifies critical concerns for forest tenure security, state-community power relationships, and effective local institutions of the commons, and suggests that Nepal’s REDD+ process is taking place at a particularly consequential time for structural changes of the forest governance framework.     

自适应滑模控制器的EPS侧风反向控制研究

为了研究在侧风影响下汽车正向助力转向偏移过大而威胁驾驶员行车安全的问题,提出一种将反向助力和自适应滑模控制器相结合的控制方法。该方法通过驾驶员转矩和汽车车速的配比设计反向助力特性曲线,并利用自适应滑模电机控制器控制电机输出助力转矩,使汽车在转向过程中,增加了驾驶员转向的阻尼感,也同时提高了驾驶员对转向电机的实时操纵性。将其应用到汽车EPS系统中,仿真结果表明,在不同的车速、风速下,采用反向控制策略不仅减小了方向盘角度、齿条位移,还减小了汽车横摆角速度,可以显著地改善汽车行驶的稳定性和安全性。     

营运驾驶员驾驶事故影响因素仿真研究

解决营运驾驶员驾驶事故频发的不安全行为问题,基于复杂适应系统（CAS）理论和多主体建模与仿真（ABMS）方法,构建营运驾驶员驾驶事故模型。通过调节车辆状况、管理者管理监督水平、营运驾驶员情绪状态、安全教育水平、驾驶经验和环境综合条件等因素,运用NetLogo仿真平台分析安全管理水平、营运驾驶员安全责任意识、心理负荷水平对驾驶事故的影响。研究表明:营运驾驶员驾驶事故的发生系统是一种典型的CAS,营运驾驶员驾驶事故是三大主体属性和行为环境交互的结果,且交互作用程度不同。因此,运输企业要考虑多种因素,采取相应的措施来降低营运驾驶员驾驶事故的发生。     

基于自适应调整蚁群-RBF神经网络模型的中长期径流预测

径流预测历来是水利部门的一项重要工作,针对水库和河流中长期径流预测精度不高,提出了自适应调节人工蚁群算法(ARACS),对RBF神经网络参数进行优化,建立了自适应调节人工蚁群-RBF神经网络组合算法(ARACS-RBF)预测模型,综合考虑影响径流预变化因素,对安康水库进行中长期径流预测。对预测效果进行检验,结果证实该模型可真实地反映河川径流变化的总体趋势, 并为判断时间序列数据的非线性提供了一种新方法。与RBF神经网络模型、人工蚁群-RBF神经网络模型预测结果进行对比,结果表明,应用ARACS-RBF模型对中长期径流量进行预测,预测精度更高、效果更好。该方法克服了RBF神经网络和人工蚁群算法易陷于局部极值、搜索质量差和精度不高的缺点,改善了RBF神经网络的泛化能力,收敛速度快,输出稳定性好,提高了径流预测的精度,置信度为98%时的预测相对误差小于6.5%。可有效用于水库和河川中长期径流预测。     

LANDCARE AND COMMUNITY-LED WATERSHED MANAGEMENT IN VICTORIA,AUSTRALIA1

ABSTRACT: Australia's ‘Landcare’ program is a community-based participatory program established by government to tackle the problem of land degradation. Landcare involves thousands of Australians working together in locally based groups, tackling problems of common concern. Government and community are now looking to ‘scale up’ the Landcare idea to a regional level. State and territory governments have moved to create regional (often watershed-based) frameworks for land management planning and resource conservation, in accordance with the concept of integrated watershed management. Growing out of the success of community involvement in Landcare, many of these approaches involve the community. However scaling up of the Landcare idea introduces problems of both time and space. There have been a number of problems experienced in the implementation of Landcare and integrated watershed management. These problems include the equitable delineation of membership on decision-making bodies; the raising of sufficient funds for program implementation; and the coordination of a diversity of governmental layers, planning processes and management programs. This paper reviews how the State of Victoria has responded to these challenges and suggests what challenges remain.     

Evolution and Application of Urban Watershed Management Planning

The development of Watershed Management Plans (WMPs) in urban areas aids municipalities in allocating resources, engaging the public and stakeholders, addressing water quality regulations, and mitigating issues related to stormwater runoff and flooding. In this study, 124 urban WMPs across the United States were reviewed to characterize historic approaches and identify emerging trends in watershed planning. Planning methods and tools were qualitatively evaluated, followed by statistical analyses of a subset of 63 WMPs to identify relationships between planning factors. Plans developed by a municipality or consultant were associated with more occurrences of hydrologic modeling and site‐specific recommendations, and fewer occurrences of characterizing social watershed factors, than plans authored by agencies, organizations, or universities. WMPs in the past decade exhibited greater frequency in the use of pollutant load models and spatially explicit hydrologic and hydraulic models. Project prioritization was found to increasingly focus on feasibility to implement proposed strategies. More recent plans additionally exhibited greater consideration for water quality, ecological health, and public participation. Innovation in planning methods and consideration of future watershed conditions are primary areas that were found to be deficient in the study WMPs, although analysis methods and tools continue to improve in the wake of advancing technology and data availability.