Covid-19 lockdown and physical distancing policies are elitist: towards an indigenous (Afro-centred) approach to containing the pandemic in sub-urban slums in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

This study explores the experience of the sub-urban slum residents in Okpoko (Anambra State), Ngwa-road Aba (Abia State), Ajegunle (Lagos State) and Gwagwalada (Abuja), to underscore the elitist and western contexts of Covid-19 lockdown and physical distancing policies. The study apprehends these policies as being counter-productive due to Nigeria’s peculiar socio-economic circumstances, and brainstorms on the need and prospects for adaption and institutionalisation of an indigenous Afro-centred approach towards the containment of the Covid-19 pandemic. The use of herbal mixtures or local concoctions such as parboiled garlic cloves, lemon and ginger juice in the treatment and/or prevention of Covid-19 pandemic is a popular home-grown indigenous approach/practice which is generally believed to have inhibitory effects against Covid-19 by majority of the local people. These herbal remedies should be formally investigated, validated and encouraged in Nigeria as an alternative indigenous approach for the prevention and treatment of Covid-19 pandemic.     

Diffusion of Policy Discourse into Rural Spheres Through Co-Management of State Forestlands: Two Cases from West Java,Indonesia

In the context of state forestland management in tropical regions, the implementation of a co-management approach has been widely advocated in order to include the voices of local people and accommodate their interests in management decision-making. Most co-management literatures, however, underestimate the significance of statutory authority held by state to control forestlands and resources. By clarifying the implications of state ownership of forestland, this article aims to critically examine co-management processes with reference to Foucault's notion of power and subject. Case studies were conducted at two co-management pilot sites in Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park, West Java, Indonesia. Findings demonstrate that co-management processes actually materialize shared decision-making arrangements between state forest bureaucracy and rural people through the application of equity approaches, such as deliberation, negotiation, and experimentation. At the same time, these processes can also function to diffuse state policy discourse in rural spheres, which makes rural subjects who accept and practice the policy discourse. The research also reveals that the diffusion process is complex and does not necessarily make a durable subject unless they are pertinently organized. The results of this research indicate that co-management of state forestlands is a double-edged process for local people who risk becoming a proxy of state bureaucracy in the implementation of state policy. Proponents of co-management should, therefore, critically examine whether new institutional arrangements, which are developed through co-management, truly reflect values and needs of local people and assist them to develop a pertinent subject to deal with it.     

The Northwest Forest Plan: Origins, Components, Implementation Experience, and Suggestions for Change

Abstract:  In the 1990s the federal forests in the Pacific Northwest underwent the largest shift in management focus since their creation, from providing a sustained yield of timber to conserving biodiversity, with an emphasis on endangered species. Triggered by a legal challenge to the federal protection strategy for the Northern Spotted Owl ( Strix occidentalis caurina ), this shift was facilitated by a sequence of science assessments that culminated in the development of the Northwest Forest Plan. The plan, adopted in 1994, called for an extensive system of late-successional and riparian reserves along with some timber harvest on the intervening lands under a set of controls and safeguards. It has proven more successful in stopping actions harmful to conservation of old-growth forests and aquatic systems than in achieving restoration goals and economic and social goals. We make three suggestions that will allow the plan to achieve its goals: (1) recognize that the Northwest Forest Plan has evolved into an integrative conservation strategy, (2) conserve old-growth trees and forests wherever they occur, and (3) manage federal forests as dynamic ecosystems.     

北京和上海居民旧衣物回收再利用体系建设初探

北京和上海在迈向国际化大都市进程中,随着人口的迅速增长,生活垃圾产生量与日俱增,垃圾减量从源头做起。旧衣物作为可回收、可再利用资源,现有的垃圾分类标准和回收箱的设置,不利于旧衣物的回收和再利用。目前,北京和上海在政府的支持和推动下,设专项开展旧衣物回收试点工作,已取得良好的效果。未来,如何使北京和上海旧衣物回收再利用成为一种常态,仍需政府的支持和全社会的共同参与。     

江苏省机动车“天地车人”一体化监控系统建设研究

构建江苏省“天地车人”一体化监控系统,利用道路遥感监测、定期排放检验、路检路查和停放地监督抽测、重型柴油车远程排放监控等手段发现高排放车辆,通过系统检测与维护(I/M)制度,对机动车进行全天候、全方位实时监控及闭环管理,同时开展非道路移动机械的登记和管理,并对5000 t以上的加油站进行油气回收在线监控。通过大数据分析开展机动车排放数据的深入挖掘,以期为重污染天气的应急管理及政府决策提供有效技术支撑。     

上海市废弃电器电子产品回收现状及分析

基于废弃电器电子产品产生量大、价值高、危害性强等特点,阐述了对它们进行回收处理的必然性。文中在调研上海市废弃电器电子产品回收量、预测其产生量的基础上,阐明了在家电以旧换新的政策下上海市废弃电器电子产品具有很高回收率以及废弃电视机的所占比例极高的特点,并分析了产生这种现象的原因。     

老油田地面系统优化与环境保护

针对老油田地面系统存在的环保问题,文章从油田地面工艺与环境保护结合的角度,通过采用地面工艺优化简化、老油田数字化管理升级改造、伴生气综合利用、新工艺新技术等,系统总结长庆油田对于老油田地面系统在环保方面的处理方法。有利于保护油区环境、降低老油田环境污染事故的发生频率,为下一步工作提供借鉴。     

砖木旧工业厂房主体结构改造加固的脆弱性评估

为深入评估砖木旧工业厂房改造加固的脆弱性,经过基础理论研究与调研,运用VSD模型（vulnerability scoping diagram）结合该系统4项构成要素,即协同管理、结构特点、施工环境、技术方法,以交叉矩阵形式分析系统脆弱性影响因素。通过SPSS软件进行可靠性检验从而筛选指标,构建以暴露性、敏感性、适应性为核心的评估指标体系。利用熵值法求得指标权重后,结合某砖木结构厂房实例,依据云模型方法建立脆弱性评估模型,运用MATLAB软件计算指标参数,从而量化指标的不确定性。评估结果识别出保护性拆除方案、抗震构件的设置和保护性修复政策3个最脆弱因素及相应控制最有效的3个关键因素,相比灰色关联分析结果更具优越性,为今后旧工业厂房改造加固工程的施工管控提供了借鉴。     

Mercury concentration in hair samples from Chinese people in coastal cities

This investigation was made to estimate current normal concentrations of total mercury in the hair of Chinese coastal people. Hair samples were collected from 659 healthy inhabitants in the areas along the coast and the rivers (such as Shanghai, Ningbo, Dalian, Xiamen, and Zhoushan) of China from Feb. 2005 to June 2006. Total mercury concentrations in the samples were analyzed by the cold vapor atomic adsorption spectrometry method (CVAAS). The results showed the geometric mean concentration of total mercur...     

Perceptions, preferences, and reactions of local inhabitants in Vikos-Aoos National Park, Greece

Local inhabitants' perceptions, preferences, and reactions were investigated in Vikos-Aoos National Park, 25 years after its designation. Knowledge of aims of the park and source of information about them, necessity for infrastructure, reactions to certain policies, and effectiveness of administration and management scheme were studied by means of a questionnaire survey. Personal interviews were performed by systematic sampling, which resulted in 203 cases for analysis. Most respondents said that they had knowledge of the aims of the national park, and this was positively associated with education; protection of flora and fauna was identified by most as the main aim, and the management authority (the Forest Service) ranked first in order as source of information. Tourism development of the area was seen as a positive change, and recreation facilities and improvement in accessibility were considered of high priority for development. The investigation into peoples' reactions to several possible alternative management policies revealed willingness to accept certain restrictions on their agricultural use of the land. A policy of nonintensive agriculture with compensation for loss of income, if the ecosystems of the park were in danger, seems the most acceptable. Long-term leasing of farms by the Forest Service was another policy with a high degree of acceptance, especially for certain occupational groups; those working in the secondary and tertiary sectors of economy would accept such a policy more easily than those working in the primary sector. Finally, a very large majority of the respondents expressed a preference for a new administration and management scheme with the participation of local communities in the decision-making process.