“In common nature”: an ethnography of climate adaptation in the Lesotho Highlands

In Lesotho, climate change adaptation funding is being managed and distributed by the same mechanisms which have traditionally operationalised humanitarian aid and international development assistance in the country. Lessons from the HIV/AIDS disaster, along with insights into the value of participatory approaches foregrounding the expertise of indigenous communities, must be heeded in order to ensure that those most affected by climate change have a say in how adaptation is carried out. This paper proposes that indigenous people have developed and actively maintained resilience strategies, encoded in social practices and farming techniques, designed out of long experience with climatic variability. Through case studies, indigenous resilience strategies are explored, with emphasis on the anarchistic, improvisational nature of traditional ecological knowledge. Future directions for policy-makers and practitioners dealing with climate change adaptation are suggested, namely the need to foreground indigenous knowledge and the experiences of frontlines experts in key policy arenas.     

Designing Climate-Smart Conservation: Guidance and Case Studies

Abstract:  To be successful, conservation practitioners and resource managers must fully integrate the effects of climate change into all planning projects. Some conservation practitioners are beginning to develop, test, and implement new approaches that are designed to deal with climate change. We devised four basic tenets that are essential in climate-change adaptation for conservation: protect adequate and appropriate space, reduce nonclimate stresses, use adaptive management to implement and test climate-change adaptation strategies, and work to reduce the rate and extent of climate change to reduce overall risk. To illustrate how this approach applies in the real world, we explored case studies of coral reefs in the Florida Keys; mangrove forests in Fiji, Tanzania, and Cameroon; sea-level rise and sea turtles in the Caribbean; tigers in the Sundarbans of India; and national planning in Madagascar. Through implementation of these tenets conservation efforts in each of these regions can be made more robust in the face of climate change. Although these approaches require reconsidering some traditional approaches to conservation, this new paradigm is technologically, economically, and intellectually feasible.     

Cross-Platform Framing and Cross-Cultural Adaptation: Examining Elephant Conservation in Thailand

This case study investigates cross-platform framing process and framing alignment strategies of the world famous elephant conservation NGO. It examines how the intercultural adaptation facilitates the frame transformation against entrenched domesticated elephant traditions in Thailand. Besides web observation, this study conducted two field trips to interview the NGO staff and conservation experts, and observed human–elephant interaction. Enhancing the understanding of ecotourism, this study expands the framing theory by incorporating cross-platform and cross-cultural adaptation factors and provides insights of an effective Asian ecotourism model which transcends cultural differences and overcomes resistance by disseminating culturally sensitive and integrated framing strategies through various communication channels.     

象山港国华电厂强增温海域浮游动物群落结构和多样性的时空特征

为探明电厂强增温海域浮游动物群落结构和多样性的时空特征,于2011年在象山港国华电厂附近海域,采用浮游生物Ⅱ型网(网目160μm)进行10站位2重复的浮游动物季节性采样.结果表明,共识别出62种浮游动物(含幼体),平均丰度为9 531.1 ind.m-3.该海域浮游动物群落主要由桡足类和浮游幼体类组成,且以浮游幼体类为主,比例高达66.6%.相似性分析显示,各月间浮游动物群落结构差异极显著(P<0.01),控制群落结构的优势种有18种,最重要的判别种有瘦尾胸刺水蚤Centropages tenuiremis、大同长腹剑水蚤Oithona similis、伪长腹剑水蚤Oithona fallax、克氏纺锤水蚤Acartia clausi、长尾基齿哲水蚤Clausocalanus furcatus、针刺拟哲水蚤Paracalanus aculeatus和小拟哲水蚤Paracalanus parvus.GLM分析显示,月份间的多样性指数也存在极显著差异(P<0.01),经计算,各多样性指数随水温增加而下降的拐点水温范围为20.31～22.31℃.在断面上,离排水口0.2 km断面(D02)的平均水温比2 km断面高2.16℃.受温度影响,主要优势种如瘦尾胸刺水蚤和大同长腹剑水蚤倾向于向D02断面移动,克氏纺锤水蚤、尤其是大型浮游动物倾向于远离排水口,并向1.2 km断面聚集,使D02断面的种类数最少(33种)、丰度最低(5 522.8 ind.m-3),而1.2 km断面的种类数(53种)和丰度(16 491.0 ind.m-3)最高;同时,D02断面的多样性指数也明显低于其它断面.经线性回归分析,海域增温使多样性指数极显著下降(P<0.01),每增温1℃浮游动物丰富度下降12.3%.