A framework and indicators for evaluating policies for conservation and development: The case of wildlife management units in Mexico

The Mexican government has an innovative policy model for biodiversity conservation and rural development that includes permissible use of wildlife within a System of Land Management Units (SUMA, by its Spanish acronym). This co-management approach has been successful in terms of landowner participation, since the SUMA currently covers 38.2 million hectares (nearly 20% of Mexican territory). However, after 18 years of implementation, there has been no comprehensive evaluation by which to assess its effectiveness at national level. This article introduces the SUMA policy, its implementation and outcomes, and proposes a framework for conducting institutional monitoring and evaluation within an adaptive co-management approach. Our methodology comprised analysis of the achievements and challenges reported through interviews with stakeholders, journals and grey literature, and a review of the SUMA Information System (SIS) and its decision-making information needs. As result we have developed a set of 40 environmental, social and economic indicators grouped into five distinct but complementary dimensions within a sustainability framework: (I) Biodiversity conservation,(II) Wildlife management, (III) Economics, (IV) Social welfare and (V) Administration. These indicators can be incorporated into the SIS in order to support program evaluation and strengthen decision-making. Our article provides specific pathways for developing policy-oriented evaluation systems for worldwide biodiversity and conservation initiatives.     

From place to emplacement: the scalar politics of sustainability

ABSTRACT

Sustainability has emerged as a central concept for discussing the current state of the human-environment system and planning for its future. To delve into the depths of sustainability means to talk about ecology, economy, and equity as fundamentally interconnected. However, each continues to be colonised by normative epistemologies of ecological sciences, neoclassical economics, and development, suggesting that with enough science and development, a more equitable sustainability is achievable. In our analysis, place emerges as an alternative epistemology through which to analyze sustainability. Place exists at multiple spatial and temporal scales, understood through direct observation of boundaries, processes and patterns, phenomenologically through individual experience, and as a complex hybrid: always emerging through interactions among individuals and institutions. Despite the ubiquity of place in the socio-ecological literature, the complexity of place in relation to sustainability is under-theorised, and in as much as sustainability happens or does not happen in real places rather than in policies and models, a place-based sustainability framework is necessary to move forward. To address this gap, we developed the emplacement framework, consisting of four domains: displacement, misplacement, replacement, and emplacement. Each domain is dynamic, constructing place as praxis, and reframing sustainability as a site of collective inquiry and choices. Our goal is to facilitate the active and on-going practices of place-based research and engagement among scholars, activists, and other community members by providing a structure for transdisciplinary dialogue and the application of transdisciplinary research to enable better decision-making.     

The discursive framework of sustainability in UK food policy: the marginalised environmental dimension

ABSTRACT

In the context of food policy, sustainability functions as a normative principle but also constitutes a highly contested arena. The study presented in this paper establishes how discursive dynamics amongst professionals involved in matters of food distribution, retail, consumption and waste lead to food policy themes being framed as issues of sustainability. Analysing varied UK-based data (trade magazine articles, policy documents and interviews with retail, non-profit and consultancy representatives), three interpretative frames of sustainability are identified: consumer sovereignty, economic rationality and stewardship. Focusing on three themes of food sustainability – organic consumption, protein diversity and waste reduction – it is shown how these interpretative frames constitute the discursive framework relevant to food policy. Based on these findings, it is shown how in the analysed debates environmental concerns are sidelined.     

Comparative differences in Ontario farmers' environmental attitudes

This paper provides an analysis of a 1991 survey of the views of a stratified random sample of 1,105 Ontario farmers. Factor analysis, Kruskal—Wallis one-way ANOVA, chi-square and correlations were used to identify differences in farmers' attitudes toward rural environmental issues as a function of their demographic and farm characteristics. Younger, well-educated farmers, especially if female, were most concerned about the seriousness of rural environmental degradation. The largest operators expressed the greatest support for the use of agricultural chemicals, were most opposed to government conservation regulations and were least environmentally oriented. Such differences between Australian and Ontario farmers as the former's greater cautiousness about governmental regulation and receptivity to the Green Movement are a function of differing demographic and farm characteristics between Australia and Ontario.     

Stretching “smart”: advancing health and well-being through the smart city agenda

ABSTRACT

Contemporary smart cities have largely mirrored the sustainable development agenda by embracing an ecological modernisation approach to urban development. There is a strong focus on stimulating economic activity and environmental protection with little emphasis on social equity and the human experience. The health and well-being agenda has potential to shift the focus of smart cities to centre on social aims. Through the systematic and widespread application of technologies such as wearable health monitors, the creation of open data platforms for health parameters, and the development of virtual communication between patients and health professionals, the smart city can serve as a means to improve the lives of urban residents. In this article, we present a case study of smart health in Kashiwanoha Smart City in Japan. We explore how the pursuit of greater health and well-being has stretched smart city activities beyond technological innovation to directly impact resident lifestyles and become more socially relevant. Smart health strategies examined include a combination of experiments in monitoring and visualisation, education through information provision, and enticement for behavioural change. Findings suggest that smart cities have great potential to be designed and executed to tackle social problems and realise more sustainable, equitable and liveable cities.     

生态脆弱地区水电的可持续开发

西部生态脆弱地区水电资源丰富,目前开发利用程度低,远远不能满足国民经济快速发展的需求.水电开发对生态脆弱地区的环境保护和社会经济发展具有重要的促进作用,加快西部生态脆弱地区水电资源开发是实现可持续发展的战略任务.     

Loblolly pine response to wet-weather harvesting on wet flats after 5 years

The timing of forestry operations relative to weather conditions is a consideration in applying Forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs). Harvesting during different seasons can result in degrees of soil disturbance, the distribution of logging debris, and potentially future stand productivity. The purpose of this study is to examine the response of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) stands after wet- and dry-weather harvesting combined with three site preparation treatments. A 20 × 20 meter grid was established in fifteen 20-year-old, 3.3-ha loblolly pine plantations in South Carolina. A census of soil physical disturbance and slash distribution was made after harvesting. Growth was measured on 1/125th-ha plots at ages two and five. Dry-weather harvested (DWH) sites were 91% undisturbed, and 9% compressed. Wet-weather harvested (WWH) sites were 41% undisturbed, and 59% disturbed. WWH sites averaged 9% bare soil, while DWH sites averaged 16% with 1 kg m^-2 less logging residue; primarily in the form of heavy and light slash. At age five, the green-weight biomass of flat-planted DWH and WWH sites were 13.3 and 12.6 kg tree^-1 respectively, and on the bedded DWH and WWH sites were 18.6 and 22.8 kg tree^-1. Wet weather harvesting did not seem to adversely affect stand growth, and may have improved it. Due to a prolonged drought, bedding had a larger effect on WWH sites than DWH harvested sites. The effects of droughty conditions may be influencing treatment response on these highly productive sites; however, the long-term effects of harvesting on stand growth remain to be seen.     

Establishing the Canadian Community Monitoring Network

Community-based ecosystem monitoring activities in Canada are increasing in response to a number of factors including: (i) the needs of decision-makers for timely information on local environmental changes; (ii) limited use of government monitoring data and information by decision makers; (iii) government cuts to monitoring programs; (iv) the increasingly recognized need to include stakeholders in planning and management processes; and (v) the desire of citizens to contribute to environmental protection. To date there has been no network coordination of community based monitoring in Canada. This paper reports on the establishment of the Canadian Community Monitoring Network by Environment Canada's Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network Coordinating Office and the Canadian Nature Federation. Information on research prepared in support of network establishment is presented along with a discussion of the potential of the network.     

Monitoring the Environment: Taking a Historical Perspective

This paper introduces the five papers that follow, all of which were originally presented at a workshop titled Monitoring the Environment: Scales, Methods, and Systems in Historical Perspective. The workshop, sponsored by the Society for the History of Technology and the American Society for Environmental History, examined past efforts to develop tools, methods, and systems for measuring or monitoring some aspect of the physical environment. Four of the papers included here focus on various aspects of air quality monitoring; the fifth has to do with monitoring the earth from space. Despite differences in time period and approach, each article examines how specific tools and methods – and the motivations for developing those tools and methods – evolved. Among other things, these papers make clear that systems for monitoring various aspects of the physical environment are shaped by a variety of stakeholders and suggest that efforts to construct such systems should not be viewed as a purely technical task.