People and community as constituent parts of hazards: the significance of societal dimensions in hazards analysis

Nature-triggered hazards and disasters have traditionally been treated only from the lens of geophysical and biophysical processes, implying that the root cause of large-scale death and destruction lies in the natural domain rather than in a coupled human–environment system. Conceptually, the physical domain has been seen as discrete and separate from human entities, and solutions were sought in the technological intervention and control of the physical environment—solutions that often ended up being less effective than hoped for and sometimes even counter productive. At all levels, institutions have directed and redirected most of their financial and logistical resources into the search for scientific and engineering solutions without allocating due attention and resources towards the assessment of effects and effectiveness of the applications of such technological outcomes. However, over the last two decades, forceful criticisms of the ‘dominant’ technocratic approach to hazards analysis have appeared in the literature and consequently there has not only been a shift in thinking of causation of disaster loss in terms of human vulnerability, but also newer questions have arisen regarding distinguishing between the ‘physical exposure’ of people to threats and societal vulnerability, and linking them with propensity to hazards loss. Though the vulnerability/resilience paradigm has largely replaced the hazards paradigm within the social sciences and much of the professional emergency and disaster management communities, this shift of thinking has not progressed to much of the physical science community, decision-makers and the public, who have not yet accepted the idea that understanding and using human and societal dimensions is equally or more important than trying to deal and control nature through the use of technology. This special issue is intended to further the idea that the aspects of community and peoples’ power to mitigate, to improve coping mechanisms, to respond effectively, and recover with vigor against the environmental extremes are of paramount conceptual and policy importance.     

Implication of coupled natural and human systems in sustainable rangeland ecosystem management in HKH region

The sustainable development of rangeland ecosystems, the vital ecosystems providing many important ecosystem services for millions of people in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region is presently confronted with a number of challenges. A coupled natural and human systems approach is needed to facilitate effective collaboration among social scientists, bio/physical scientists, and management practitioners to better understand how people interact with the environment in which they live. In pursuing this argument, three existing case studies, i.e. Indigenous rangeland management in Himalayan Nepal, Cultivated Grassland Systems in Eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and Grassland Restoration in Central Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau were synthesized in this paper to address the importance of coupled natural and human systems in promoting sustainable rangeland ecosystem management in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya (HKH) region. It was concluded although the research sites and objectives were very different, that these three case studies had many commonalities that addressed the complex interactions and feedbacks between natural and human systems, and highlighted the integration of various tools and techniques from the ecological and social sciences, as well as other disciplines, in sustainable rangeland management. These case studies have offered unique interdisciplinary insights into complexities that cannot be gained from ecological or social research alone. The results from these case studies can be applied to many other coupled systems at local, national, and global levels.     

Post-disaster assessment of hazard mitigation for small and medium-magnitude debris flow disasters in Bali,Indonesia and Jimani,Dominican Republic

This article explores whether past exposure to debris flow disasters with a human dimension (e.g. caused in part by deforestation) results in adaptive hazard mitigation and improved environmental and resource management practices in affected areas. When guiding hazard mitigation practice, the ‘adaptive hazard mitigation’ approach views mitigation as a multi-dimensional experiment, with the associated need for post-experiment monitoring, evaluation, learning and adjustment, and attention paid to multiple scales (Bogardi 2004). This article explores how the concept of ‘adaptive hazard mitigation’ has emerged, linking this ‘adaptive management’ used increasingly in resource and environmental management. Two case studies of disasters linked to human-induced environmental change are examined, and the mitigation responses of local communities, NGOs and Government agencies are documented. Data sources include secondary data (journal articles, web-based disaster reports and grey literature) on each disaster, key informant interviews (n = 8) and direct observation over the 2005–2006 period of post-disaster mitigation actions implemented after each disaster. The research indicates that in both case studies, a limited range of hazard mitigation actions was employed, including both structural and non-structural approaches. However, the research also found that causal factors involving human-induced environmental change (e.g. deforestation) were not addressed, and overall, the hazard mitigation strategies adopted lacked monitoring, learning and adjustment. In both case studies, responses to disaster were judged to be examples of ‘trial and error’ adaptation, rather than either ‘passive’ or ‘active’ adaptation.

A GIS-based study toward forecast of suburban forest change

At a time when the concept of ‘human and environmental symbiosis’ has taken on much significance, protection of suburban forests (i.e. forests adjacent to or near developed areas) is a topic that has drawn much attention. Suburban forests have, since ancient times, been places where people have gathered firewood and cultured trees. As a result, the vegetation of suburban forests is only partially natural and continues to change as the forms of human activity in and around them changes. Accurate forecasts of how suburban forests will change are, therefore, an important element in the debate over how to protect them. In this study, a suburban forest was analyzed with laser radar sensing, multi-spectrum scanning, digital photogrammetry analysis, aerial photograph interpretation, and a field survey. Data gathered using these techniques were compiled on a GIS to forecast future changes in the forest. Aerial photographs taken over the past 50 years were analyzed to illuminate changes in the forest over that period. Specifically, comparisons of precise Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) measured by using digital photogrammetry workstations made it possible to estimate growth in forest height. The possible future conversion of such results to estimates of amounts of carbon dioxide consolidated by forests should be very significant for discussions of global environmental problems. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Coupled and complex: Human-environment interaction in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, USA

Complexity theory has received considerable attention over the past decade from a wide variety of disciplines. Some who write on this topic suggest that complexity theory will lead to a unifying understanding of complex phenomena; others dismiss it as a passing and disruptive fad. We suggest that for the analysis of coupled natural/human systems, the truth emerges from the middle ground. As an approach focused as much on the connections among system elements as the elements themselves, we argue that complexity theory provides a useful conceptual framework for the study of coupled natural/human systems. It is, if nothing else, a framework that leads us to ask interesting questions about, for example, sustainability, resilience, threshold events, and predictability.In this paper we attempt to demystify the ongoing discussions on complexity theory by linking its evocative and overloaded terminology to real-world processes. We illustrate how a shift in focus from system elements to connections among elements can lead to meaningful insight into human-environment interactions that might otherwise be overlooked. We ground our discussion in ongoing interdisciplinary research surrounding Yellowstone National Park’s northern elk winter range; a tightly coupled natural/human system that has been the center of debate, conflict, and compromise for more than 135 years.     

Women's status, environmental changes and child health in the riverine area of Ondo State, Nigeria

The viewpoint that most health problems are environmentally related has always been promoted by medical geography. In recent times, concern about environmental degradation has been of high priority for many national and international organizations as ‘we human beings become a threat to our planet’. There is also a need to specifically focus attention on the impact of so-called development efforts on the health of women and children, in particular those living in highly marginalized regions which often contribute substantially to the overall development of their countries. This paper uses the concept of vulnerability as a departure point from which to map the health risks to children in Igbekun area of Ondo State, the ‘transgressive muddy’ oil-rich coastal area of Nigeria. The paper attempts to highlight the poor quality of life and health of children in particular, and how it is becoming much more difficult to practice health intervention programmes, especially oral rehydration therapy (ORT) in the area. The Igbekun area is an unhealthy and harsh environment, complicated by the devastating effects of oil drilling in recent years. The siltation and sedimentation of the creeks and lagoons have serious health dimensions as human faeces float in and around villages because the ‘bush toilets’ can no longer be reached. The on-going environmental crisis has also deprived women of their traditional means of livelihood; fishing. There is a relatively high level of ignorance (compared with other women living in the same local government area (LGA) of causes of the commonest diseases such as diarrhoea, acute respiratory infection (ARI) and measles. A majority of the women have never heard of family planning, immunization against diseases and interventions such as ORT. Promotive health care services, especially those that strive to reduce the high mortality of children have passed the mothers by. It is also becoming impracticable to promote ORT because of the widespread ‘salty and oily’ water supply in the area. The greatest concern of the women now is that oil drilling activities have further amplified their stressful conditions especially their health and that of their children. Unfortunately, their plight is not acknowledged by the Nigerian authorities and the oil companies are least concerned about alleviating the poor health status of the community, in particular the most vulnerable groups, children under the age of five. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Enhancing the credibility of ecology: Can research be made more comparable and predictive?

A sounder theoretical basis for extrapolation and prediction, typologies of what is and what is not comparable, and representative natural areas for long-term field research are three geographically-based ingredients of comparative research in ecology. Two types of conceptual model allow assessment of the effects of phylogenesis and environment on ecosystem structure and functioning. The first is based on fixing of genetic variables and study of biological performance along a gradient of environmental conditions — an approach of sequential analysis of environmental gradients. The second is based on fixing of environmental variables and comparison of performance of different phylogenetic stocks in non-contiguous geographical areas — an approach entailing matching of disjunct ecological analogues. The two approaches are important complements in examining hypotheses of convergent and divergent evolution, in helping to define what really can be compared in comparative ecological research, and in contributing to ecology becoming a more predictive and credible science.     

It's a long way to the other geographers and geographic knowledges

Geographic knowledge is usually understood as the knowledge produced by geographers. Yet, it is also produced by people outside of the academia. But as Western science claimed for its exclusive self the status of ‘knowledge’, others have long been denied the production and possession of a true knowledge, and recognised merely the mastering of practical skills. The binary opposition between scientific and other forms of knowledge has been central to the construction of academic geography until the late 1980s, when postmodern thought cast some doubt on the universality of scientific knowledge. This led to critical analyses of academic geography, revealing its situatedness, as well as to a new interest for the geographies of the ‘Others’. Examining how geographers have dealt with other knowledge sets so far, and how they have labelled them, this paper argues that other geographies should be given more attention. This means focusing on the knowledges themselves, and considering implementing a true dialogue between these and academic geography. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Models of natural and human dynamics in forest landscapes: Cross-site and cross-cultural synthesis

We synthesize the study of coupled natural and human systems across sites and cultures through a process of simplification and abstraction based on multiple dimensions of human-nature connectedness: satisfaction of basic needs, psycho-cultural connectedness and regulation of use of natural resources. We thus provide both a place-based and general understanding of value-driven anthropogenic environmental change and response. Two questions guide this research: what are the crucial stakeholder values that drive land use decisions and thus land cover change? And how can knowledge of these values be used to make decisions and policies that sustain both the human and natural systems in a place? To explore these questions we build simulation models of four study sites, two in the State of Texas, United States, and two in Venezuela. All include protected areas, though they differ in the specifics of vegetation and land use. In the Texas sites, relatively affluent individuals are legally converting forests to residential, commercial, and industrial uses, while in Venezuela landless settlers are extra-legally converting forests for purposes of subsistence agriculture. Contemporary modeling techniques now facilitate simulations of stakeholder and ecosystem dynamics revealing emergent patterns. Such coupled human and natural systems are currently recognized as a form of biocomplexity. Our modeling framework is flexible enough to allow adaptation to each of the study sites, capturing the essential features of the respective natural and anthropogenic land use changes and stakeholder reactions. The interactions between human stakeholders are simulated using multi-agent models that act on forest landscape models, and receive feedback of the effects of these actions on ecological habitats and hydrological response. The multi-agent models employ a formal logic-based method for the Venezuelan sites and a decision analysis approach using multi-attribute utility functions for the Texas sites, differing more in style and emphasis than in substance. Our natural-systems models are generic and can be tailored according to site-specific conditions. Similar models of tree growth and patch transitions are used for all the study sites and the differing responses to environmental variables are specified for each local species and terrain conditions.     

The Swedish model for groundwater policy: legal foundations, decision-making and practical application

Public policy concerning groundwater is often complex, with diverse competing interests. With many countries facing similar challenges, it is instructive to examine the policy approaches that have and have not worked abroad. This article contributes to an international exchange of ideas on how best to approach these common problems by explaining how Sweden regulates its groundwater resources. From constitutional foundations to the practical details associated with applying existing policy, a synopsis is provided of groundwater jurisprudence in Sweden. Multiple governmental agencies are involved with groundwater policy in Sweden; this decentralized approach is probably a function of the natural abundance of clean aquifers throughout the country. Historically, the easy accessibility of high-quality groundwater made it a low priority in the context of environmental policy. It has simply never been an economic necessity to control groundwater resources through a single, unified governmental agency. Sweden is lagging behind many industrialized countries when it comes to implementing policies that protect and manage groundwater. Despite this, there are elements of Sweden’s approach that are highly innovative and possibly unique globally and which therefore merit discussion.     

‘How do the American people know…?’: embodying post-9/11 conspiracy discourse

Conspiratorial thought has been highly visible in post-September 11th America, manifest through the continued growth of a public ‘9/11 Truth Movement’ as well as at the state-level, through the Bush administration’s conspiracy rhetoric of Islamic terrorists intent on infiltrating the US homeland. In this paper, I demonstrate how conspiracy can be understood as a ‘knowledge-producing discourse’; dialectically engaged across multiple subject positions and through which geopolitical narratives are performatively produced and contested at interconnected scales of bodies, homes, city streets and national ‘homelands’. Through drawing on, and challenging, the conceptual and methodological approaches of a burgeoning feminist geopolitics, I ground my analysis in the embodied performances of ‘patriotic dissent’ by members of the 9/11 Truth Movement in New York City, as well as through my own situated and ethical engagement with positions of political difference.     

Community mobilisation for improved livelihoods through tree crop management in Niger

Effective natural resource management requires interrelated technical practices and social arrangements that are appropriate to a region’s biophysical characteristics and that address protection and sustainable management of resources. This is illustrated from our experience in the Republic of Niger, West Africa. In 1980 barren plains, infertile soils, drought, dust storms, severe fodder shortages, and agricultural pest outbreaks were normal occurrences in Niger’s rural regions. In general, despite large investments of time and funding, conventional reforestation efforts had little impact. However by 2008 over five million hectares of once barren land had been transformed through wide adoption of an agroforestry method known as ‘Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration’ (FMNR), introduced in 1983. In the Aguie Department, the practice of FMNR was formalized through the Desert Community Initiative (DCI), addressing interrelated technical and social issues in resource management. New governance structures, which include marginalized groups, implement monitoring and enforcement systems enabling communities to manage land and regenerating trees. These, together with technical solutions that build on local knowledge and skills and use previously undervalued indigenous tree species, have generated a sustainable fuel-wood market for the first time. Increased linkage and compatibility between institutions at local and national levels and strengthened social capital have been crucial to these impacts. Food security and community resilience to drought have been markedly enhanced and local incomes have increased. The experience provides important lessons for approaches to addressing environmental degradation and poverty in other semi arid areas and facilitating the spread and adoption of new agroforestry systems.     

Direct,partitioned and projected solution to finite element consolidation models

Direct, partitioned, and projected (conjugate gradient‐like) solution approaches are compared on unsymmetric indefinite systems arising from the finite element integration of coupled consolidation equations. The direct method is used in its most recent and computationally efficient implementations of the Harwell Software Library. The partitioned approach designed for coupled problems is especially attractive as it addresses two separate positive definite problems of a smaller size that can be solved by symmetric conjugate gradients. However, it may stagnate and when converging it does not prove competitive with a global projection method such as Bi‐CGSTAB, which may take full advantage of its flexibility in working on scaled and reordered equations, and thus may greatly improve its computational performance in terms of both robustness and convergence rate. The Bi‐CGSTAB superiority to the other approaches is discussed and demonstrated with a few representative examples in two‐dimensional (2‐D) and three‐dimensional (3‐D) coupled consolidation problems. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The IWAS-ToolBox: Software coupling for an integrated water resources management

Numerical modeling of interacting flow and transport processes between different hydrological compartments, such as the atmosphere/land surface/vegetation/soil/groundwater systems, is essential for understanding the comprehensive processes, especially if quantity and quality of water resources are in acute danger, like e.g. in semi-arid areas and regions with environmental contaminations. The computational models used for system and scenario analysis in the framework of an integrated water resources management are rapidly developing instruments. In particular, advances in computational mathematics have revolutionized the variety and the nature of the problems that can be addressed by environmental scientists and engineers. It is certainly true that for each hydro-compartment, there exists many excellent simulation codes, but traditionally their development has been isolated within the different disciplines. A new generation of coupled tools based on the profound scientific background is needed for integrated modeling of hydrosystems. The objective of the IWAS-ToolBox is to develop innovative methods to combine and extend existing modeling software to address coupled processes in the hydrosphere, especially for the analysis of hydrological systems in sensitive regions. This involves, e.g. the provision of models for the prediction of water availability, water quality and/or the ecological situation under changing natural and socio-economic boundary conditions such as climate change, land use or population growth in the future.     

区域地质环境的定量评价和预测

文章简略介绍当前国内外区域地质环境定量评价和预测的几种主要方法：（１）自然单元分级体系为基础的评价方法，主要用于现状评价；（２）经济评估与风险评估方法，以地质灾害和地质问题作为评价的主体，用货币值表征地质环境质量的优劣及人类活动对其产生的影响；（３）以系统论为基础的评价预测方法。按地质环境的组分及其与外部系统的关系，建立地质环境系统体系，以各子系统的环境地质问题为基本评价要素，外部因素为影响交量，用质量指数表征地质环境质量的现状和未来的态势。     

Too hot to handle: Depoliticisation and the discourse of ecological modernisation in fire management debates

The management of fire within landscapes is a topic of increasing contestation. This is particularly the case in relation to the practice of ‘prescribed burning’, which aims to exercise a form of control of wild fires through the application of science-based techniques that putatively reconcile the conservation of biodiversity with the protection of human life and property in particular places. The belief in possibilities to solve environmental problems by scientific approaches and in outcomes that do not involve harm or vulnerabilities is an element of a trend called “Ecological Modernisation” (EM). Various studies have shown how discourses of EM have come to dominate the ways in which many contemporary environmental problems are approached. We argue that highlighting the presentation of such discourses as neutral and non-politicised precludes a critical examination of the ways in which the knowledge claims upon which they rest can be seen to reinforce only particular sets of constructions of the relationship between humans and the natural world. Through an analysis of knowledge claims made in relation to recurring topics such as the use of fire by Indigenous Australians and the adaptation of species to fire, we illustrate that behind the discourse of ecological modernisation sit deeply engrained variations in terms of where people locate vulnerability in relation to the pressing problem of wildfire and fire management. We argue that the depoliticisation of the topic sustains specific types of relationships between people and nature while delegitimising others and obscures the fundamentally different notions about relationships between humans and non-human nature upon which the debate ultimately pivots.     

On the role of evidence in physical and human geography

While physical geographers are united in a commitment to the scientific method with its emphasis on quantitative evidence, human geographers face a dilemma in deciding whether to adopt a scientific or humanistic approach in their research. The scientific approach offers a more secure, objective knowledge, but limits the scholar to a relatively narrow range of topics. The humanistic approach allows the scholar to explore a wide range of human experiences, but it lacks rigorous procedures of objective verification. The difficulty of the application of theoretical ideas to human societies can, to some extent, be avoided by adopting an historical approach, with an emphasis on the empirical investigation of human activity as a reflection of ideas. As long as human geographers have a commitment to basing their interpretations of geographical phenomena on objective evidence the possibility of a profitable co-operation exists among proponents of different philosophical approaches. A unified human geography embracing scholars of diverse views depends for its success on the identification of geographical problems that transcend philosophical and theoretical points of view.     

Secular pilgrimages and sacred tourism in the Indian Himalayas

Assuming the above quote as a true portrayal of pilgrims, this article attempts to describe the prototypical pilgrim from amongst the wide array of contemporary religious and secular tourists. To achieve this end, two approaches have been adopted. Firstly, the phenomenon/concept of pilgrimages have been discussed, so to distinguish it from the tourism phenomenon and; Secondly, the geographical notion of genus loci has been employed to exemplify the fundamental quest for ‘geopiety’ attained through the unification of the pilgrim’s intrinsic belief with its external location. The second part of the article illustrates the forgoing through an exploration of Himalayan pilgrimages. This has been achieved with a discussion of the emerging practices and recent trends in Himalayan pilgrimology. This appraisal alludes to Cohen’s quest for a ‘Theology of Tourism.’ The article concludes with an examination of a specific genre of contemporary tourists in the Indian Himalayas, who have been identified as ‘environmental pilgrims.’

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Third world cities and the environment of poverty

This paper examines environmental problems associated with Third World cities. It concentrates on environmental problems as they relate to health and living conditions, especially for lower income groups. After an outline of urban growth trends, these problems are discussed on three different geographic scales. At the regional level, the paper discusses how cities draw on a wider area for natural resources (and usually for labour) and have environmental impacts which stretch far beyond their boundaries, although the most pressing impacts tend to be on their immediate hinterland. At the city-wide level there are problems of disposing of household, human and industrial wastes and of associated problems of air and water pollution. At the level of the home or workplace there are problems of inadequate space and ventilation, inadequate infrastructure and basic services, and lack of provision for the safeguarding of human health. The final section discusses how governments might tackle the causes of these environmental problems on each of these scales.     

Afghanistan: rich resource base and existing environmental despoliation

Because of its climatically stressed dry land and high altitudes, coupled with severe human despoliation amid three decades of war and known rampant corruption, Afghanistan has long had severe environmental problems. Overgrazing, deforestation, ??deshrubification,?? soil erosion, soil salinization, ground and surface water contamination and water overuse beyond natural recharge, climate change, threats to biodiversity, and natural hazards are the background problems already causing strong environmental stress. With the advent of the newly recognized mineral resources that will be exploited, additional environmental stressors are likely. Agencies of the United Nations, in concert with new national environmental laws and programs, offer some potential for remediation of environmental problems in the face of unrelenting societal pressures to ignore them. Whether Afghanistan will rise out of its status as a failed state depends in some large way upon whether the newly recognized mineral resources are exploited in environmentally benign ways.