Metals in agricultural soils and plants in Egypt

Since analysis of both soil and plants are useful to assess contamination of a geographic area, concentrations of five representative metals: copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and iron (Fe) in soil and associated plants were measured by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Samples were collected from four different Egyptian regions (El-mehala El-kobra, Kafr El-Sheikh, Kafr El-zayat, and Al-fayoum) during spring and summer 2010. Concentrations of the selected metals in agricultural soils were significantly different among locations and seasons. Concentrations of Cd and Fe in soils at the four locations exceeded the maximum allowable concentrations for Cd (8 mg/kg, dry mass (dm)) and Fe (1000 mg/kg, dm). Accumulation was different for clover and cotton. Clover blossoms grown in soil from Kafr El-zayat contained the greatest concentrations of Cu, Zn, Pb, and Fe. Cotton flowers from El-mehala El-kobra accumulated the highest levels of Cd. Concentrations of Cd and Pb in both clover and cotton flowers from the four locations exceeded maximum allowable concentrations (3 mg/kg, dm) for both Cd and Pb. Using such agricultural soils for cultivation of edible crops for consumption may result in chronic hazards to human health.     

Mercury concentrations in the surface sediments of the intertidal area along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia

Total mercury (Hg) levels in the intertidal surface sediments along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia were analysed by using heat vaporization method. Total Hg levels in these sediments ranged from 3.00 to 201?µg?kg^?1 dry weight with a mean concentration of 60.0?µg?kg^?1 dry weight. More than 90% of the samples studied have the total Hg concentrations less than 150?µg?kg^?1 dry weight. Compare with the regional data and sediment quality guidelines, the Hg contamination in the intertidal area along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia was not serious, except for a few sites that might have received anthropogenic Hg in the samples collected between 1999 and 2000. It is suggested that a similar study of heavy metals in the sediments of the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia be conducted regularly.     

Climate change and poverty in Africa

Africa is most vulnerable to climate change, although it makes the least contribution to factors that result in global and regional climatic changes. High levels of vulnerability and low adaptive capacity across the continent have been linked to, among other things, poverty. This paper discusses and analyses the relationship between climate change and poverty in Africa. It investigates the relationship between climate change and poverty patterns in Africa, analyses the resultant impact, and discusses potential adaptation policies for moderating the consequences of climatic changes on poverty in the region. The record shows that climate change is happening. What is not discussed or is little researched is the potential devastating impact of climate change on socio-economic development in Africa and the policy measures available to the continent for adaptation.     

Sustainable forest management practice in Central African States and customary law

Sustainable forest management (SFM) has become a major focus for the international community. This is because of the multifunctional importance of forest resources for the entire planet, namely ecological, socio-economic, cultural and climatic balance. General awareness of forest importance unfortunately coincides with the observed increase in threats, especially anthropogenic, to this world heritage. To tackle the continuing deforestation and degradation, the international community, through the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) and its predecessors, has attempted to adopt an international convention on SFM based on the 15 Rio Declaration principles. The limited success of international negotiations aimed at the adoption of such an instrument leads us to seek an alternative within international law theories, through analysis of the relationship between states practice in SFM and customary international law. To this end, this paper focuses on the practice of Central African States in sustainable forest management, especially statement of principles, sub-regional treaty and domestic legislation. The analysis shows that their practice fulfils all the requirements in order to be regarded as regional custom. Therefore, principles and state practices of SFM can thus be considered legally binding for this sub-region, despite some major implementation shortcomings.     

Psychological stress and marginalization as indicators of human carrying capacity in deforesting areas

SUMMARY

A scheme in which psychological factors are considered in effective forest management planning is proposed. A central role is played by human carrying capacity, the resilience of people to deal with the consequences of environmental degradation. Stress and marginalization are taken as indicators of human carrying capacity. A study in Côte d'Ivoire is described in which psychological stress and marginalization were studied in individuals from environments which show different degrees of degradation. Three related hypotheses are proposed: first that individuals living in or near a degrading forest are more stressed and marginalized than individuals in a reference group living in Abidjan; second that people living near the forest with the most sustained and severe degradation would be more stressed and marginalized; finally, that members of autochthonous cultural groups show higher stress and marginalization levels than members of migrant groups. The results of our study showed that people living near the degraded forest were more stressed but not marginalized unless the degradation was severe and sustained. Females were more stressed than males and members of both sexes from autochthonous cultural groups were more prone to stress and marginalization than members of migrant groups.     

Socioeconomic determinants of long-term cropland fallowing: smallholders in north-western Uganda

SUMMARY

Long-term cropland fallowing decisions of farmers in the West Nile Province of Uganda were studied. Tabular and regression methods are used to examine the relationship between farm and household factors and seasons of net fallowing. The results show that farmers plan to decrease the rate of fallowing in the immediate future. Serious (but undocumented) problems in maintaining cropland productivity could result. Population density had a large and negative effect on net fallowing (seasons of fallowing less seasons of crops), decreasing from the current average of ?0.6 seasons to ?2.21 seasons for a doubling of population. This 268% decrease in the use of fallowing could occur in as few as 13.5 years, assuming a 3% annual population growth rate. Farms larger in size, but with no increase in per capita cropland availability, had a higher rate of net fallowing. Cashcrop production was negatively associated with net fallowing, whilst farmer age had a positive association.

The results have implications for both agricultural policy and guidance for further research on cropland fallowing. Increased cash-cropping should not be recommended unless the full economic costs of using land resources are evaluated. Much of the increased area for cash-crop production would come from fallowed land, decreasing the rate of fallowing and thus increasing the potential for soil degradation. Fallowing has long been used in the area to maintain cropland productivity. Building upon farmers current practices and improving fallowing through the use of green manures and agroforestry could prove to be more economical than the use of mineral fertilizers. Investigating why farms larger in size and those with older head-of-households were able to use fallowing more effectively may provide key information for the development of more productive fallowing technologies.     

南疆西部不同植被类型NDVI对风沙灾害的响应

不同植被类型对风沙灾害的响应研究有助于风沙灾害的遥感监测评估和防灾减灾工作。采用传统统计学和空间自相关方法,利用MODIS的每日反射率和土地类型产品,分析了风沙灾害后南疆西部不同植被类型NDVI的变化规律及其空间分布特征。结果表明：风沙灾害后,研究区不同植被类型NDVI的差异在增大,NDVI变化值在一0．3865~0．4148之间,NDVI减小的面积占整个研究区面积的54．98％,变异系数增大值在2．44％～36．75％之间;受到风沙灾害的影响,研究区植被NDVI全局Moran’SI系数从0．7982减小到0．6786,但在空间上仍存在显著的正相关性,具有显著的空间集聚特征;由NDVI差值的局部空间自相关指标集聚图以及不同植被类型NDVI差值的空间关联区域面积百分比,可以发现落叶针叶林和裸地或低植被覆盖地受风沙灾害的影响较小,郁闭灌丛和作物受风沙灾害的影响较大。上述关于风沙灾害后南疆西部不同植被类型的变化及其空间格局的研究结果,不仅证明了防护林的风沙阻挡作用,也可以为风沙灾害的防治工作提供参考依据。     

Investigation of stakeholders' awareness and adoption of Inherently Safer Design (ISD) principles in South African utility industry projects

The paper examines the level of awareness of stakeholders in adopting Inherently Safer Design (ISD) principles in the Project Life Cycle Management (PLCM) of South African Energy utility projects. It seeks to understand whether stakeholders in the latter stages of the Project Life Cycle are competent to make design change decisions on these projects. ISD principles are essentially useful for reducing risks and as such, safety experts have acknowledged it as an excellent approach in the design process. However, there are no known efforts to date that attempt to integrate ISD concepts into PLCM. This paper seeks to fill this gap. This study, through the review of extant literature establishes that ISD principles can be used in project procurement, and adopts a quantitative survey approach in obtaining information from stakeholders in the South African utility industry. Findings reveal that the principles of inherent safety are permeating into the management of South African utility projects but the level of awareness and its adoption are below optimal levels. It also emerged that there is a divergent awareness of ISD strategies amongst PLCM stakeholders and that the design engineers are better informed about the ISD approach of eliminating risks and hazards in the industrial systems studied than other stakeholders. The findings also indicate that the level of awareness of stakeholders of ISD principles is greater within earlier project phases. Based on these findings, the paper concludes that the hazards witnessed within the project execution and finalization phases could be as a result of the low levels of awareness, divergent views and lower use of ISD strategies by PLCM stakeholders. It is suggested that the level of awareness of the principles, concepts, basics and benefits of integrating ISD into PLCM be raised amongst stakeholders functioning within utility industry project procurement in South Africa and that design changes be limited to the earlier phases of utility project procurement.     

松嫩平原西部湿地自然保护区保护有效性遥感分析

以松嫩平原西部国家级湿地自然保护区为研究对象,以Landsat MSS/TM/OLI遥感影像为基础信息源,综合运用最小均方差、变异系数、景观指数、信息熵模型、地理信息系统空间分析和景观发展强度指数,研究保护区保护有效性变化及其影响因素.结果表明:松嫩平原西部国家级湿地自然保护区保护有效性大致呈递减趋势;1987~2013年人类活动对保护区的干扰强度不断增加,且与保护区保护有效性呈显著负相关;耕地和草地为湿地转出的主要类型,分别占总转出面积的63.71%和21.69%;湿地自然保护区保护有效性的降低是自然环境变化和人类活动影响共同作用的结果,自然环境变化是内因,而人为活动干扰,尤其是开垦造田和水利修建加速了湿地退化.最后,论文就研究中存在的不足以及保护区管理建设中应关注的问题进行了阐述.     

Aligning Climate Policy with National Interest: Disengagements with Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions in South Africa

Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) were proposed as a policy framework that could provide middle ground for meeting both the development and mitigation objectives in developing countries. While South Africa engaged actively with the NAMA terminology in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations, its engagement at the domestic level has been rather lacklustre. This presents an interesting paradox. The paper studies the interplay of international norms embodied in NAMAs with South Africa's domestic policy process. Disengagement and contestation around NAMAs in South Africa is played out at three stages: decision-making stage where the symptoms surrounding this contestation first emerge; policy formulation stage where NAMAs have to not only align with the National Development Plan but also compete with a predilection for domestically familiar terminology of flagships under the national climate policy; and finally the broader agenda-setting stage of policy process, where NAMAs have to prove useful in not only pursuing the developmental state agenda but also in tackling the underlying material factors that represent country's economic dependency on fossil fuels. NAMAs faced combined resistance from ideas and interests in various degrees at all these stages resulting in their disengagement.