Characteristics of geological hazards in South China coastal areas and impact on regional sustainable development

Prevention and treatment of geological hazards is important for the sustainable development of human society. Surface geological hazards alone caused direct economic losses of ¥3.47 billion, with 768 deaths and 785 injuries in Guangdong Province, South China, from 1994 to 2005. The major factors causing geological hazards can be categorised into three types: geo-environmental, climatic-meteorological and human activity. Accompanied by rapid economic development and population growth, human activities can cause geological hazards that are as serious as those caused by natural factors. The authors propose some suggestions for prevention and treatment of geological hazards to achieve sustainable development on the Chinese coast.     

Group size,heterogeneity and collective action outcomes: Evidence from community forestry in Nepal

In the context of ongoing theoretical debate on the role of group size and heterogeneity in affecting collective action outcomes, this study analyzed associations of group size, and intra-group heterogeneities arising from ethnic, educational and livelihood-related differences with conditions of selected forests managed (formally or informally) by local user groups in the middle hills of Nepal. Four biological variables, basal area of trees, density of trees, density of saplings and richness of plant species, were chosen to represent the condition of the forests. The findings show significant differences in biological condition of the forests managed by different size forest user groups and levels of ethnic, educational and livelihood-related heterogeneities. These differences, however, are inconsistent across the dependent variables representing forest condition, indicating that they were not necessarily caused by the size of the user groups or the group heterogeneities, but could be the result of other factors, such as the history of forest land use and degradation, composition of tree species and institutional arrangements governing the forests.