Partners under pressure: humanitarian action for the Syria crisis

Partnerships between organisations in humanitarian crisis situations generally are challenging, but at the apex are those established as part of remote management in a context of extreme insecurity. To date, little systematic research has been conducted on arrangements between local organisations that have access to crisis‐affected populations and international organisations that hold the purse strings. This paper presents the findings of nine months of qualitative research conducted with five Syrian local organisations and their international partners engaging in humanitarian action across the Turkey–Syria border, and presents insights into the components of successful partnerships. It redefines capacity along organisational and operational lines, and unpacks how monitoring and evaluation and donor requirements create tension and, at times, place local organisations at risk. The paper highlights the centrality of trust in successful partnerships, and describes the personalisation of the conflict by local organisations. Based on a historical case study of civil society in northern Iraq, it closes with some suggestions for long‐term sustainability.     

Disaster journalism: fostering citizen and community disaster mitigation,preparedness, response,recovery, and resilience across the disaster cycle

Natural and human‐caused disasters pose a significant risk to the health and well‐being of people. Journalists and news organisations can fulfil multiple roles related to disasters, ranging from providing warnings, assessing disaster mitigation and preparedness, and reporting on what occurs, to aiding long‐term recovery and fostering disaster resilience. This paper considers these possible functions of disaster journalism and draws on semi‐structured interviews with 24 journalists in the United States to understand better their approach to the discipline. A thematic analysis was employed, which resulted in the identification of five main themes and accompanying subthemes: (i) examining disaster mitigation and preparedness; (ii) facilitating recovery; (iii) self‐care and care of journalists; (iv) continued spread of social media; and (v) disaster journalism ethics. The paper concludes that disaster journalism done poorly can result in harm, but done well, it can be an essential instrument with respect to public disaster planning, management, response, and recovery.     

美国金融危机的影响与扩大内需

随着全球经济一体化的不断深入,此次美国金融危机给世界各国带来了广泛的影响．对于外贸依存度超过60％的中国经济来说,在微观和宏观上受到了较大的冲击,随着我国融入世界经济的程度不断加深,由投资和出口驱动的经济增长模式,使我国经济运行的风险越来越大．因此,扩大国内消费需求,促进经济增长由主要依靠投资、出口拉动向依靠消费、投资、出口协调拉动的转变,将是我国经济增长的努力方向．参5．     

Setting up an early warning system for epidemic-prone diseases in Darfur: a participative approach

In April-May 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) implemented, with local authorities, United Nations (UN) agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), an early warning system (EWS) in Darfur, West Sudan, for internally displaced persons (IDPs). The number of consultations and deaths per week for 12 health events is recorded for two age groups (less than five years and five years and above). Thresholds are used to detect potential outbreaks. Ten weeks after the introduction of the system, NGOs were covering 54 camps, and 924,281 people (IDPs and the host population). Of these 54 camps, 41 (76%) were reporting regularly under the EWS. Between 22 May and 30 July, 179,795 consultations were reported: 18.7% for acute respiratory infections; 15% for malaria; 8.4% for bloody diarrhoea; and 1% for severe acute malnutrition. The EWS is useful for detecting outbreaks and monitoring the number of consultations required to trigger actions, but not for estimating mortality.     

Mortality,violence and lack of access to healthcare in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The people of the Democratic Republic of Congo for decades have been living in a situation of chronic crisis. Violence, population displacement and the destruction of infrastructure and health services have devastated the health of the population. In 2001, Médicins Sans Frontières conducted a survey in five areas of western and central DRC to assess mortality, access to health-care, vaccination coverage and exposure to violence. High mortality rates were found in front-line zones, mainly due to malnutrition and infectious diseases. In Basankusu approximately 10 per cent of the total population and 25 per cent of the under-five population had perished in the year before the survey. Humanitarian needs remain acute across the country, particularly near the front line. Infectious-disease control and treatment are a priority, as is increasing access to health-care. Humanitarian assistance must be increased considerably, especially in rural areas and zones that have been affected directly by conflict.     

推进循环经济法律制度实施的若干问题研究

循环经济相关产业已经成为我国着力培育的新的重要经济增长点。在当前经济形势下,一些地方政府和利益团体,不是抓住机遇将有限的资金投入到新发展循环经济上,而是放松对发展循环经济和环境管理的要求,热衷于上一些“两高一资”项目或者国家明令淘汰的项目,使发展循环经济失去了重要战略机遇期。当前形势下推进循环经济法律制度实施,必须正确处理好应对金融危机和加快循环经济发展的关系,抓紧制定出台《循环经济促进法》的配套法规标准和制度,并理顺保障法律实施的体制机制,加快出台循环经济发展规划和激励政策。     

由太湖蓝藻危机引发的对环境监测领域中生物生态监测发展的思考

生物生态监测是环境监测的重要组成部分,具有综合反映环境问题、敏感性强等优点。本文从应对太湖蓝藻危机出发,分析了当前环境监测领域中生物生态监测所面临的形势和存在的问题,提出了其发展的新理念,并从五个方面提出了环境监测领域生物生态监测发展的具体思路,以此来推动生物生态监测的进一步发展。     

Ducking for cover in the ‘blame game’: news framing of the findings of two reports into the 2010–11 Queensland floods

After a disaster, the media typically focus on who is to blame. However, relatively little is known about how the narrative of blame plays out in media coverage of the release of official disaster reports. This paper examines coverage by two Australian newspapers (The Courier‐Mail and The Australian) of the release of the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry's Interim Report and its Final Report to identify whether and how the news frame of blame was used. Given the absence of blame in the Final Report, the newspapers resorted to the frame of ‘failure’ in news and feature articles, while continuing to raise questions in editorials and opinion pieces about who was to blame. This study argues that situating coverage of the report within the news frame of failure and questioning who was to blame for the disaster limited the media's ability to facilitate a discussion about the prevention of similar disasters in the future.     

Media coverage of the ‘UK flooding crisis’: a social panorama

A disaster referred to by the press as the ‘UK flooding crisis’ occurred between December 2015 and January 2016. This study employed three different levels of analysis to identify a multidimensional perspective adopted in the disaster reporting of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). These levels revealed details about the social actors and their interactions. The set of news exposed diverse viewpoints on the crisis, from loss and damage to distinct affected subgroups to the various social engagement actions of aid and the multiplicity of technical response measures. The conclusions highlight considerable social amplitude in the BBC's coverage; however, owing to the reductionist approach of this media communicator, the field of action involving different social actors was not very clear in the content of the news, particularly with regard to cohesion, conflict/obstruction, and concernthe concept of crisis in its essence. In addition, the paper suggests new questions for future reports. 1     

生物多样性保护知识产权条款的功能：危机与应对

生物多样性保护领域中的国际条约设有知识产权条款,知识产权条款发挥鼓励创新的基本功能。现有生物多样性利用中存在的知识产权问题集中在获取和惠益分享、遗传资源公开和利用知识产权产生的利益三方面。随着数字开源运动和数据库的大量兴起,协调型知识产权规则因缺乏强制力,使知识产权条款发挥的效力大打折扣。加之知识产权的专有属性和产业化,使得知识产权和多样性保护之间的冲突加剧。中国积极参与生物多样性保护全球治理,由被动参与者转换为积极推动者,确认和实施知识产权规则,关注数字序列信息的发展并加强农民权利的表达。