Economy,culture and environment: perspectives on the Australian food industry

Intersections between economy, culture and environment pose exciting future challenges for human geography. Part of Griffith Taylor's pioneering role as a geographer was to investigate relationships between these three aspects of human life, although his agenda was that of environmental determinism. This paper considers these intersections as they relate to contemporary geographical studies of restructuring, in particular the emergence of a genuinely global economic system since about 1980. Recent developments in cultural geography argue that geographical analysis of restructuring has been dominated by an economic determinism which has buried other stories which could be told about industrial change. The paper sketches lines of possible dialogue between economic geography and cultural studies, illustrating the argument with examples from restructuring in the Australian food industry. In opening such a dialogue, economic geography would be better placed to return to interactions between economy, culture and environment. In his day, Taylor was not afraid to upset the conventional wisdom about these relationships and this may be one of his most enduring legacies.     

The Indigenous Aetas of Bataan,Philippines: Extraordinary genetic origins,modern history and land rights

The Aeta Magbukún of Bataan in Luzon, the Philippines remain one of the least known and documented Indigenous tribes. They retain primarily subsistence hunter‐gathering strategies to supply their basic needs. They also strive for recognition of their ancestral connection with, and rights to inhabit their ancestral forest domains, which is threatened by the expansion of agriculture and urban development by non‐Aetas, primarily the majority Tagalog population. The Aeta continue to endure dispossession, poverty and political discrimination through decades of protracted land rights processes. This review explores the potential use of recent genetic evidence in anthropology and human geography to legitimize the Aeta's status as Indigenous people and contradict the perspective of some governments in the Asia Pacific region who question the existence of Indigenous peoples generally, often from fear of land tenure and associated political repercussions. The acquisition and use of genetic research on Indigenous populations is both socially and politically contested through fear of the potential to jeopardize sovereignty claims and lead to biologically‐based discrimination. However, the full implications of the potential use of genetic research to legitimize Indigenous status, as described within this research, has yet to be thoroughly explored. By exploring both the genetic and anthropological evidence using a case study of the Indigenous Aeta, this paper provides a unique approach to building a case for Indigenous rights, occupation, use of ancestral lands, self‐determination, and ultimately, recognition as Indigenous people.     

Social impact assessment and resource development: issues from the Australian experience

Several approaches to Social Impact Assessment have been applied to resource development projects in Australia since the early 1970s. Debate amongst researchers and other participants has raised crucial issues for the practice of social scientists generally, and economic geographers in particular. Differences have emerged between those who see SIA as a formal inquiry process in a specific legislative framework, and those who see SIA as a means of empowering communities affected by resource development, particularly Aboriginal communities. This paper reviews the debate, focusing on the work of the Berger Inquiry in Canada and the Ranger Inquiry, and projects to monitor the social impact of mining in the Northern Territory and East Kimberley region. It outlines a relational framework which situates SIA conceptually in its dynamic political context.     

Regional development,redistribution and the extraction of mineral resources: The Western Australian Goldfields as a resource bank

The first decade of the twenty-first century was one of the most prosperous in Australia's history. The boom was led by a buoyant minerals and energy resource sector, contributing to high levels of economic growth, rising real wages and low unemployment. Yet, as with the nation's previous resources booms, there were marginal transformations in the economies of those regions from which the minerals were extracted. Overwhelmingly, the wealth generated by the resource boom has concentrated in the cities. Moreover, public expenditure in resource regions also remains comparatively low, and indeed tend to reproduce a development framework oriented towards extraction rather than diversification. This paper employs elements of Innis' staples thesis to help explain this pattern of regional development, and in particular the relatively low levels of reinvestment in resource peripheries. Drawing on the notion of a 'resource bank', we contend that resource regions are often viewed as a reserve of latent wealth that can be drawn upon for the benefit of the urban 'core'. Yet, we also highlight emerging strategies aimed at overcoming this and that seek to return a greater proportion of wealth to those regions from which it was extracted.     

Decentralization and the cultural politics of natural resource management in Kerala,India

The state of Kerala in India is known for its active civil society and the massive decentralization campaign launched in 1996. However marginalization of tribal communities hampers the state's decentralized environmental management strategies. The proposed construction of a dam along the Chalakkudy River will displace two colonies of the Kadar tribe in Chalakkudy and Athirapilly towns, destroy habitats of local wildlife and devastate unique riverine vegetation endemic to the region. This brings to light issues of social and environmental justice as well as a wider responsibility to protect and preserve unique flora and fauna. The state's decentralization strategies, as they relate to tribal communities, lack consideration of local power distribution and cultural conditioning. This raises questions about the state's role in social justice as well as biodiversity conservation. In 2010 and 2011, the author's interviews in Chalakkudy and Athirapilly towns reveal that tribal communities perceive that their place in society restricts their contribution regarding natural resource management and use. The paper suggests that unless the culture of planning and decision making in the state are changed, decentralized strategies will be ineffective, resulting in a predominately top‐down approach towards natural resource management, and will negate Kerala's goal of democratic decentralization.     

Politics,Public Space,and Memorials: The Brawl on the Mall

This paper examines recent proposals for memorials and monuments on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Demands for memorials are increasingly at odds with the Mall's important role as open green space and public protest space. This article analyzes the broader issues embodied in the competing purposes of this highly visible public space by considering the recent controversy over the World War II Memorial. The controversy focused primarily on the location of the memorial. Opponents contended the World War II Memorial would interrupt or destroy the iconography of the National Mall. Supporters argued that the location selected for the memorial was consistent with its importance in U.S. history and that it deserved such a prized location in the central axis between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. The article then analyzes the politics behind the site selection, and examines the debate about the impact of the memorial's location. It concludes that the location of the memorial was not accidental but intentional, and thereby reveals a purposeful re-writing of the Mall's symbolic space to suit a specific vision of the war and its meaning in American history. The article also contends that the location of the memorial represents an emerging social-political agenda that is prioritizing the Mall as a place of commemoration at the expense of open space, and, perhaps, at the expense of public protest space.     

Global crises of childhood: rights, justice and the unchildlike child

This paper traces how the notion of childhood changes as part of other social transformations. Globalization and the disillusion of public and private spheres are related to contemporary crises of childhood. Visible working children and child violence are highlighted as examples of unchildlike behaviour that suggests indeterminacy in the constitution of the global child. Issues of children's rights and new forms of justice are raised as potentially liberatory ways of viewing the crisis.     

Water resource management in the USA: a case study of large dams

The construction of large dams in the USA reveals a rapid growth in activity in the post-Second World War period, with the largest number of dams being inaugurated in the mid-1960s. Texas, with 823 dams, is the state with the largest number, followed in turn by California, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Colorado. At the other extreme some states have fewer than a dozen dams. Although there are large variations in the number of dams between states nearly all of them record peak constructional activity between the late 1950s and early 1970s. Surprisingly, most dams have relatively small reservoirs with about 70 per cent of the total having capacities of less than 10⁶ m³. Over two-thirds of all dams have been constructed with a single aim in view, with flood control being the most important reason. Only 1.5 per cent of all dams are utilized for four or more purposes. The objectives behind dam construction reveal changes since the 19th century. In the early years of the 20th century irrigation, hydro-electric power generation and water supply were the most important reasons for dam construction, whereas in the post-1950 period flood control stands out as the dominant activity. Changing technology, the introduction of specific legislation and changing attitudes to the environment have been the major influences on dam-building activity over the period studied.     

海洋权益维护背景下边远海岛的战略地位及管理对策

《海岛保护法》以立法的形式明确了对海岛保护与开发利用的管理要求,《全国海岛保护规划》又将边远海岛管理作为规划的重要内容,凸出了边远海岛在我国海岛管理体系中的重要地位。在当前世界范围内重视海洋发展、维护海洋权益的背景下,日本、越南等国都将边远海岛置于海洋管理的重要地位。通过经验借鉴,面对我国在边远海岛管理方面存在的不足,提出有针对性的对策建议,以加强对边远海岛的有效管理。     

Cartographies of Stalin: Place,Scale, and Reputational Politics

In this article we explore the spatial variation of support for former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in his home country, Georgia. This research contributes to the literature on reputational politics by highlighting the role of spatial, rather than only social, factors in the construction of public opinion about Stalin. We illustrate how geographic factors impact Georgians' perceptions of the Soviet dictator by examining various aspects of place at various scales—including distance to Gori, Stalin's birthplace, the history of urbanization, and economic and political indices. To this end we map attitudes toward the Soviet dictator and use a multilevel spatial regression technique to explain variance in support for Stalin across forty-seven districts of Georgia. This enables us to explore the impact of place on people's attitudes by examining (1) whether there are local and regional hotspots of Stalin admiration and, if so, (2) what the contextual explanations of these attitudes are.     

The role of social resource of indigenous people in local ecological resource management in China: A preliminary case in Zhangye, Northwestern China

Social resources of indigenous people are valuable wealth, including the social norms, the relational network, belief, attitude as well as the social system which is accumulated from generation to generation. Those social resources are very important for local ecological resource management, which can help diffuseness and communion of skills and traditional conservation techniques for conserving and restoring the ecological sites. Social capital is one indicator of social resources, which is accepted widely. In order to investigate the role of social resources of indigenous people in local ecological resource management, the authors studied the relation between social capital of indigenous people and local ecological resource management, taking Zhangye City as an exam-ple. In this paper, social capital of indigenous people is quantified by constructing social capital index, composed of structural so-cial capital and cognitive social capital; local ecological resource management is quantified by constructing "Grain for Green Pro-ject" performance index. Based on correlation analysis approach and logistic regression analysis approach, the authors analyzed the relation between social capital and "Grain for Green Project" performance index, as well as the relations between "Grain for Green Project" performance index and other factors such as per capita net income, medical treatment and so on. Results showed that the correlation between social capital and "Grain for Green Project" performance index was positive, the coefficient was 0.761, with P<0.01. An increase of 1 unit in social capital is associated with an increase of 1.550 units in "Grain for Green Project" per-formance. With factor, such as faction, per capita net income, medical treatment, increasing 1 unit, the "Grain for Green Project" performance index will increase 3.912, 1.039 and 1.005 units, respectively.     

Integrated water resource management and institutional integration: realising the potential of spatial planning in England

This paper explores the various dimensions of integration that need consideration in developing appropriate institutional arrangements for integrated water resource management (IWRM), drawing upon both IWRM and spatial planning sources. As a result, a framework of integration in IWRM is set out. This is then used to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the new spatial planning system in England, and its potential to contribute to IWRM activities that are being developed, partly in response to the European Union Water Framework Directive. From this analysis it is argued that, taken overall, spatial planning is well placed to meet these challenges and it could in fact play a much more central role than is currently envisaged. An alternative model for IWRM in England is set out which sees the new river basin management plans as integral, rather than parallel, to the spatial planning system.     

Land use change and resource management in the Jnane Mas valley (Khenifra,Middle Atlas,Morocco)

The purpose of this paper is to bring into light the landscape change and natural resources management in the Moroccan Middle Atlas across centuries. The pastoral way of life prevailed for many centuries. However, following the results of this research, evidence of important socioeconomic changes and resources use is found. Ancient agricultural activities, as well as the exploitation of the forest and even mineral resources have been growing activities over time. The survey shows that the agricultural activity has existed for several centuries as indicated by terraces and encrusted travertine channels used for irrigation. The landscapes and the ways of resources use are therefore in continuous change. The increasing needs in water and agriculture for demographic and climatic reasons (the dry periods in summer or periodic droughts) generated because of intensive over-exploitation of resources. The vegetation degraded facing human pressure (the pastoral activities, the coal of wood making, the lime manufacturing, etc.). Field observations show that irrigation has been used in this domain, for several centuries. Travertine channels, encrusted in the valleys of Jnane Mas and Arougou, illustrate these ancient uses of water resources for agriculture irrigation.