Teachers’ Concepts of Map-Skill Development

Maps are an increasingly used source of information and it is therefore essential to develop map skills in students. A fundamental factor affecting the choice of map skills and the way they are developed is the teacher and his/her concept of map work. Based on the results of a survey and semi-structured interviews among Czech teachers, this study identifies three basic conceptual types of teachers: “Navigators” and “Problem-Oriented” and “Source-Oriented” teachers. Similarities with teachers’ concepts of map-skill development identified in previous studies are discussed together with means of improvement.     

Agriculture Development and Environment in Critical Areas of China

AgricultureDevelopmentandEnvironmentinCriticalAreasofChinaBernardSonntag,SUNHongliePublishedbySciencePress,Beijing2002ISBN7-03-010720-9,140ppThispublicationsummarizesthefindingsandrecommendationsoftheSustainableAgricultureWorkingGroup(SAWG)overitsfive-yearlife,whichwasestablishedin1996toaddressenvironmentanddevelopmentissuesintheagriculturalsector.Overthesubsequentfiveyears,theSAWGconductedfieldtoursandinternationalworkshopsinspecificregionsofChina.TheSAWGdevelopedrecommendations…     

Development of local authorities in EU-member states between 1950–2011

The aim of the submitted study was to illustrate the development of the number of local authorities in all current EU states in the long period between 1950 and 2011 comprehensively, and also by particular decades, thus demonstrating the originality and uniqueness of the topic analysed in this context. Thus, we obtain a more detailed picture of the development of the number of local authorities in EU countries, and we can monitor how local authorities within a specific country gradually developed. (The stabilisation of the number of local units and an increase or gradual or sudden drop in local units are shown, for example). A sudden drop in local units can be associated with significant administrative reforms and with the development of large units of the so-called municipalities. When it becomes necessary to merge local authorities, many countries look to other countries where extensive reforms took place in the past for inspiration. However, it must be borne in mind that in a general European context, we cannot apply a universal system of public administration reforms, and solutions in the form of these reforms inspired by other countries may not always be appropriate.     

A Review of “Renewable Energy Project Development Under the Clean Development Mechanism: A Guide for Latin America”

Books reviewed in this article:

Kurt E. Engelmann and Vjeran Pavlakovic (eds.), Rural Development in Eurasia and the Middle East: Land Reform, Demographic Change, and Environmental Constraints

Gregory C. Randall, America's Original GI Town: Park Forest, Illinois

John B. Rehder, Delta Sugar: Louisiana's Vanishing Plantation Landscape

Cathy D. Knepper, Greenbelt, Maryland: A Living Legacy of the New Deal

Char Miller (ed.), Fluid Arguments: Five Centuries of Western Water Conflict

Edward F. Bergman, The Spiritual Traveler: New York City: The Guide to Sacred Spaces and Peaceful Places

Rachel Pain, Michael Barke, Duncan Fuller, Jamie Gough, Robert MacFarlane, and Graham Mowl, Introducing Social Geographies

Tor A. Benjaminsen, and Christian Lund, (eds.), Politics, Property, and Production in the West African Sahel: Understanding Natural Resources Management

Al Gedicks, Resource Rebels: Native Challenges to Mining and Oil Corporations

Maryann P. Feldman and Nadine Massard (eds.), Institutions and Systems in the Geography of Innovation

Richard Foglesong, Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando

Annick Germain, and Damaris Rose, Montréal: The Quest for a Metropolis

George F. Rengert, Mark T. Mattson, and Kristin D. Henderson, Campus Security: Situational Crime Prevention in High–Density Environments

Vaclav Smil, Feeding the World: A Challenge for the Twenty–First Century

Pu Miao (ed.), Public Places in Asia Pacific Cities: Current Issues and Strategies

Lisa M. Benton and John Rennie Short (eds.), Environmental Discourse and Practice: A Reader

Philip Scranton (ed.), The Second Wave: Southern Industrialization from the 1940s to the 1970s

Barry Dalal–Clayton and David Dent, Knowledge of the Land: Land Resources Information and Its Use in Rural Development     

Development of land desertification in Bashang area in the past 20 years

1 Physiographic characteristics of Bashang area In broad sense, Bashang area refers to the entire Zhangbei, Kangbao and Guyuan counties, northern part of Shangyi, northern parts of Fengning and Weichang counties of Chengde Prefecture, most part of Duolun county, entire Taipusi Banner (Taipusi County), southern part of Zhenglan and Zhengxiangbai banners (counties) and northeast of Huade in Inner Mongolia, altogether 12 counties or banners covering an area of more than 42,000 km2 with a …     

The Application of Basement Tectonic Research to the Development of Natural Resources—Example Midcontinent North America

An understanding of an area in four dimensions is an important factor in utilizing our natural resources. The additional aspect of change through time, particularly the tectonic processes that have shaped the architecture of an area, can influence the interpretation of the origin and characterization of a resource. An example is provided of the influence that the patterns created during the formation of the continent in central North America demonstrates the continued influence of the original tectonic features and how they have persisted through time. It is this persistence and rejuvenation, that has controlled the occurrence of many of the natural resources on which we depend. Other references are provided to specific examples of the relationships between tectonics, particularly within the crystalline basement rocks, and our natural resource system.     

A Review of “Knowledge Externalities,Innovation Clusters and Regional Development”

Land use information over large areas is increasingly important for many studies related to environment in general and global change in particular. Yet there is a dearth of methodological knowledge in this area, especially regarding the practical task of producing land use maps. In this article, a systematic land use mapping approach is developed, based on land cover maps that in turn are produced through remote sensing. The concept is based on the recognition of varying strengths of land cover (LC) – land use (LU) relationships, from the thematic and spatial points of view. Several categories of relationships are identified, ranging from direct (case 1) to multiple/complex (case 4), and appropriate mapping strategies are discussed for these cases. Using a mapping study in Lebanon, it is shown that the principles embodied in this approach correspond to issues and conditions in real mapping situations. Finally, the concepts are translated into a series of steps through which the method can be applied to large areas, taking into consideration the specific requirements and constraints of each case. The final land use map represents an acceptable compromise between accuracy, level of detail, and cost.     

The Failure of Cooperative Farming Development Policies in Tōhoku,Japan

In the context of agricultural globalization, many national governments have instituted policies, such as cooperative farming, to help farmers improve their profitability, competitiveness, and the sustainability of their agricultural practices. This study focused on the Multi-Product Management Stabilization Plan developed in Japan in 2006, which aimed to adapt the agricultural practices in the country to globalization by focusing on cooperative farming, and assessed its effectiveness for developing and incorporating cooperative farming in the Tōhoku region in the 2000s. The results suggest that regional and prefectural agents experienced significant difficulties when attempting to develop cooperative farming. Although New Institutional Economics’ theories suggest that these policies reflect the norms for developing agriculture more profitably and competitively, Japanese farmers did not regard the policies as relevant, practical, or sustainable, and they obstructed them.     

Application of Participatory Development Theory in Wetland Ecotourism Initiatives——A Case Study of Baiyangdian in Anxin of Hebei Province

As one of the few ecological wetlands in North China,Baiyangdian bears multiple important ecological functions,including ①adjusting the ecological balance of North China;②safeguarding the downstream areas,especially Tianjin City,the Beijing-Shanghai Railway and Huabei Oil Field;③serving as the reservoir for the North-to-South Water Diversion Project and the emergent use of water for Beijing;④conserving biodiversity.Wetland ecotourism is a scientific and wise use pattern for wetland resources,through which,a source of financing is provided for wetland conservation,economic alternatives are generated for local people to reduce overexploitation on wetland resources and the public awareness of environmental protection is enhanced.Since wetland ecotourism can benefit the co-existence between human and nature and promote social equity between people,it enjoys broad promise for popularization and implementation.The proactive cooperation and sound interaction between main stakeholders,and the wide participation of the community residents,will guarantee the sustainable development of wetland ecotourism.Based on the analysis of current status of participation and interactive relationships of the main stakeholders in Baiyangdian tourism,this article made an attempt to apply the theory of participatory development to the ecotourism initiatives of Baiyangdian wetland,discussed and brought forward the countermeasures to improve community participation in wetland ecotourism under the guidance of this theory.     

The Availability of Critical Minerals for China’s Renewable Energy Development: An Analysis of Physical Supply

Natural Resources Research - In the context of depletion of fossil energy and environmental impacts of its use, society has begun to develop vigorously renewable energy (RE). As a result, concerns...     

Report on the compilation of the Population,Environment and Sustainable Development Atlas of China (PESDAC)

PopulationEnvironmentandSustainableDevelopmentareglobalissuesofcrucialimportance.Asisknowntoall,sincethebeginningofthe20thcentury,withtheprogressinscienceandtechnologyaswellasthesharpincreaseinsocialproductivity,humanbeingshavecreatedunprecedentedmaterialwealththatinreturnhasacceleratedtheadvancementofhumancivilization.Atthesametime,problemssuchastheexplosionofpopulation.extravagantconsumptionofenergyandresources,environmentalpollution.andthedestructionoftheecologicalbalance,haveseriouslyimpe…     

Linked Boundary Functions: Examining the Role of ‘Research for Development’ Organizations in Integrating Levels of Resource Governance

Natural resource management practices such as community-based resource management (CBRM) are well-established bottom-up approaches to developing adaptive governance systems. Less is understood about how communities involved in such processes can attract top-down support without compromising their credibility or salience. We tested the usefulness of the linked boundary functions concept – boundary chains – for explaining the role of “research for development” (R4D) organizations in the integration of bottom-up community resource governance and top-down policy and legislative governance. We used the Australian Centre for Agricultural Research (ACIAR) in the Solomon Islands as a case study to probe the role of R4D organizations in this regard. The linked boundary functions concept proved useful in exploring the active functions of R4D organizations as actors that lend credibility, salience, and legitimacy to community-based governance initiatives. The concept of linked boundary functions or boundary chains can contribute to the current discussion in the complexity-aware theory of change and open new avenues for boundary management that enable the development of integrated resource governance in complex development contexts. This article contributes to the existing literature on the boundary spanning activities of R4D organizations.     

Chained to Development? Livelihoods and global value chains in the coffee-producing Toraja region of Indonesia

ABSTRACT

A popular rural development strategy in recent years has been through the adoption of what has been widely called a ‘value chain approach’, where improved linkages between small producers in underdeveloped rural communities and ‘lead firms’ constitute the foundations for development interventions. Whilst the global value-chain framework can deliver insights into the broad structural processes shaping livelihood possibilities, the adoption of value chains as a development strategy tends to disregard the complexity of smallholder livelihoods that shape poverty alleviation pathways in different contexts. The relationships between global value chains, development interventions, and rural livelihoods are explored in this article through a case study of smallholder coffee farming in the Toraja region of Indonesia. In this case, value-chain interventions in the coffee sector are unlikely to significantly contribute to improved rural welfare due to the diversified reality of local livelihoods, the nuances of how coffee production is embedded within Torajan culture and economy, and excellent prevailing market opportunities. The livelihood framework, therefore, provides an important corrective for the sometimes excessive optimism presented by advocates of a value-chain approach to rural development.     

A Review of “Villages,Women and the Success of Dairy Cooperatives in India: Making Place for Rural Development”

Conceptual advances for understanding the organization of family farms have not yet initiated parallel debates about how they might be aligned with the methods used to understand them. Customization of a novel research approach—farm life history—for an investigation of the socioeconomic organization of forty Australian farms responds to this literature gap. Individual farm life histories were initiated using farm tours (truck journeys) in which changes to the composition of land parcels prompted research conversations. The researcher and participants benefited from using motorized transport and traveling while talking, but the benefits were experienced unevenly across research encounters.     

Development of periglacial landforms and soil formation in the Ilgaz Mountains and effect of climate(Western Black Sea Region-Türkiye)

The main aims of the current study are to determine the morphological features of the periglacial landforms(non-sorted step, mud circle, stony earth circle, thufur, and congeliturbation) located on the Ilgaz Mountains, examine the physicochemical and mineralogical properties with pedological processes of the soils, and assess of the effects of climatic conditions controlling the development of landforms. The Ilgaz Mountains(2587 m a.s.l.), located in the Western Black Sea Region, within the Anat...     

A Retrospective of Oil and Gas Field Development in the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf Gulf of Mexico, 1947–2017

Natural Resources Research - The U.S. Gulf of Mexico is a world-class hydrocarbon basin and industry has an impressive track record of advancing its capabilities in the region. From 1947 to 2017,...     

“A Salute to the Bandido”: A Political Ecology of Voice Exploration into Peru’s Freedom of Voice Surrounding Hydrocarbon Development

This paper sets out to evaluate the freedom of voice for Peruvian stakeholders affected by hydrocarbon development. This occurs through the utilization of a political ecology of voice (PEV) theoretical framework based upon the theory of voice by Albert Hirschman and political ecology. PEV can be defined as the study of economic, political, social, and geographical factors over a specific time period and their impact upon the use of voice by stakeholders. Peru’s case study was focused on its main oil-producing Loreto Region and incorporated evaluation of hydrocarbon voice mechanisms (prior consultation and environmental impact assessments) supported by interview testimony of stakeholders and state officials. PEV analysis reveals a political environment which is dangerous, inflexible, and intolerant of Peruvian stakeholders voicing over hydrocarbon development. This is due to the state’s zealous pursuit of its “selva (rainforest) hydrocarbon and development vision” which severely undermines Peruvian stakeholder’s freedom of voice.