Bi-national assessment of the Great Lakes: SOLEC partnerships

Many administrative jurisdictions have authority over parts of the Great Lakes, sometimes with competing purposes as well as governance at differing scales of time and space. As demand increases for high quality information that is relevant to environmental managers, environmental and natural resource agencies with limited budgets must look to interdisciplinary, collaborative approaches for the collection, analysis and reporting of data. The State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conferences (SOLEC) were begun in 1994 in response to reporting requirements of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between Canada and the U.S. The biennial conferences provide independent, science-based reporting on the state of health of the Great Lakes ecosystem components. A suite of indicators necessary and sufficient to assess Great Lakes ecosystem status was introduced in 1998, and assessments based on a subset of the indicators were presented in 2000. Because SOLEC is a multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional reporting venue, the SOLEC indicators require acceptance by a broad spectrum of stakeholders in the Great Lakes basin. The SOLEC indicators list is expected to provide the basis for government agencies and other organizations to collaborate more effectively and to allocate resources to data collection, evaluation and reporting on the state of the Great Lakes basin ecosystem.     

Development of a practical forest ecosystem classification from existing biophysical studies: An approach used in northwestern Quebec

While forest ecosystem classification work in Quebec has traditionally concentrated on inventory and mapping, more effort is now being placed on developing field guides similar to those produced in other Canadian provinces. As part of a project to produce a practical forest ecosystem field guide for the Amos Lowlands Ecological Region in northwestern Quebec, existing sub-regional ecological studies were exploited in order to develop a regional classification of forest ecosystems, or forest stations. Review of four fundamental studies provided a list of 107 ecological phases, each representing a particular combination of forest composition, surface deposit type and moisture regime. A series of silvicultural and environmental interpretations were developed and values for each were attributed to the ecological phases. Cluster analysis was then performed to classify phases into 29 broader units. A large, regional biophysical database which became available later in the project provided a means of validating and effectively modifying the classification. The justifications for using the original approach are discussed.     

A feeding inhibition based prediction of the toxic effect of dissolved metal mixtures upon Echinogammarus marinus (Crustacea: Amphipoda) at field relevant concentrations across a latitudinal gradient

Risk assessment of metals in the environment is performed mainly with toxicity evaluations on single metals, which is largely inadequate since these substances occur in mixtures. The development of models predicting combined toxic effects on the basis of the concentration-response relationships of individual compounds has emerged as an answer. In the present study, metal effects on post-exposure anorexia (the concept of FdC(50)--concentration causing 50% of feeding inhibition--is implemented) in Echinogammarus marinus, a widely distributed gammarid amphipod, were assessed and compared with modelled ones obtained through the application of the concentration addition (CA) model, which represents a reasonable worst-case scenario for the risk assessment of metal mixtures. Data were validated using in situ experiments performed along a latitudinal gradient (Iceland, Scotland and Portugal) aiming at establishing a geographic profile of autochthonous population susceptibilities to metals. For all of the metals studied concentrations in the water column at exposure sites were in good agreement with feeding inhibition levels. Models gave low to relatively high percentage agreement between predictions and experimental data. Boreal populations demonstrated higher susceptibility to single metals, but not to mixture exposures. Meridional populations denoted lower susceptibilities with higher FdC(50).     

Planning environmental sanitation programmes in emergencies

Environmental sanitation programmes are vital for tackling environmental-related disease and ensuring human dignity in emergency situations. If they are to have maximum impact they must be planned in a rapid but systematic manner. An appropriate planning process comprises five key stages: rapid assessment and priority setting; outline programme design; immediate action; detailed programme design; and implementation. The assessment should be based on carefully selected data, which are analysed via comparison with suitable minimum objectives. How the intervention should be prioritised is determined through objective ranking of different environmental sanitation sector needs. Next, a programme design outline is produced to identify immediate and longer-term intervention activities and to guarantee that apposite resources are made available. Immediate action is taken to meet acute emergency needs while the detailed programme design takes shape. This entails in-depth consultation with the affected community and comprehensive planning of activities and resource requirements. Implementation can then begin, which should involve pertinent management and monitoring strategies.     

Machine learning for radioxenon event classification for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

A method of weapon detection for the Comprehensive nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty (CTBT) consists of monitoring the amount of radioxenon in the atmosphere by measuring and sampling the activity concentration of ^131mXe, ¹³³Xe, ^133mXe, and ¹³⁵Xe by radionuclide monitoring. Several explosion samples were simulated based on real data since the measured data of this type is quite rare. These data sets consisted of different circumstances of a nuclear explosion, and are used as training data sets to establish an effective classification model employing state-of-the-art technologies in machine learning. A study was conducted involving classic induction algorithms in machine learning including Naïve Bayes, Neural Networks, Decision Trees, k-Nearest Neighbors, and Support Vector Machines, that revealed that they can successfully be used in this practical application. In particular, our studies show that many induction algorithms in machine learning outperform a simple linear discriminator when a signal is found in a high radioxenon background environment.     

Sea-level rise vulnerability in the countries of the Coral Triangle

Sea-level rise is a major threat facing the Coral Triangle countries in the twenty-first century. Assessments of vulnerability and adaptation that consider the interactions among natural and social systems are critical to identifying habitats and communities vulnerable to sea-level rise and for supporting the development of adaptation strategies. This paper presents such an assessment using the DIVA model and identifies vulnerable coastal regions and habitats in Coral Triangle countries at national and sub-national levels (administrative provinces). The following four main sea-level rise impacts are assessed in ecological, social and economic terms over the twenty-first century: (1) coastal wetland change, (2) increased coastal flooding, (3) increased coastal erosion, and (4) saltwater intrusion into estuaries and deltas. The results suggest that sea-level rise will significantly affect coastal regions and habitats in the Coral Triangle countries, but the impacts will differ across the region in terms of people flooded annually, coastal wetland change and loss, and damage and adaptation costs. Indonesia is projected to be most affected by coastal flooding, with nearly 5.9 million people expected to experience flooding annually in 2100 assuming no adaptation. However, if adaptation is considered, this number is significantly reduced. By the end of the century, coastal wetland loss is most significant for Indonesia in terms of total area lost, but the Solomon Islands are projected to experience the greatest relative loss of coastal wetlands. Damage costs associated with sea-level rise are highest in the Philippines (US $6.5 billion/year) and lowest in the Solomon Islands (US $70,000/year). Adaptation is estimated to reduce damage costs significantly, in particular for the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia (between 68 and 99%). These results suggest that the impacts of sea-level rise are likely to be widespread in the region and adaptation measures must be broadly applied.     

Preventing corruption in humanitarian assistance: perceptions, gaps and challenges

Corruption is a threat to the purpose of humanitarian assistance. Until fairly recently, humanitarian assistance has not been considered an important arena in broader efforts aimed at curbing corruption, and corruption has not always been considered a particularly important concern for humanitarian assistance despite the obviously challenging nature of the context of humanitarian emergencies. Corruption, though, is a threat to humanitarian action because it can prevent assistance from getting to the people who most need it, and because it can potentially undermine public support for such assistance. This paper examines perceptions of corruption and its affects, documents best practices, and outlines gaps in understanding. It suggests recommendations for improving the capacity of humanitarian agencies to prevent and manage the risk of corruption. Agencies have taken steps to combat corruption and improve accountability--downwards and upwards--but scope remains for improvement and for greater sharing of learning and good practice.     

Rehabilitation in Complex Political Emergencies: Is Rebuilding Civil Society the Answer?

The paper examines the challenge of rehabilitation from complex political emergencies (CPEs) and identifies a strategy that is characterised as a civil society rebuilding approach. It focuses on Somalia and a case study of a CARE project that aims to build the capacity of local NGOs. The paper argues that civil society in CPEs is simultaneously being undermined and contested by warring parties and emerging after state collapse. The scope of the paper is limited to one case study and that case study examines only a single aspect of civil society: national and international NGOs. The paper therefore presents tentative and preliminary results based on limited research. However, in reviewing the literature and presenting a way of approaching the subject, it aims to suggest a starting-point for developing a theoretical framework for such research. The paper finds that international agencies have tended to focus on civil society institutions simply as conduits for aid money and that this has tended to create organisations which lack downward accountability, are dependent on donors and are not addressing the wider roles for civil society envisaged in the approach. Rebuilding civil society does hold out the promise of giving non-military interests a stronger voice and starting a process of changing the aid delivery culture. Achieving these objectives, however, will be a slow and largely indigenous process and there is a need for lowered expectations about what outside assistance can achieve