Imagining resilience: situating perceptions and emotions about climate change on Kamchatka, Russia

Global environmental change shapes places and people through ongoing transformation of ecological, socioeconomic, political, and cultural phenomena. One region construed as highly vulnerable to global environmental change, particularly anthropogenic climate change, is the North. Recent research about human communities in Western arctic and subarctic places revolve around vulnerability to anthropogenic climate change, focusing on loss of the ability to pursue traditional livelihoods, threats to ecosystems sustaining human communities and the need to adapt to new environmental regimes. Fewer studies address Russia and the perceptions and emotions related to climate change. To understand how people of the Russian North engage with climate change, I conducted ethnographic research in two rural and remote communities in subarctic alpine Kamchatka, Russia in 2009–2010. Local narratives about climate change largely reflect climate skepticism, and anthropogenic climate change is rejected as explaining environmental changes because: (1) climate is considered as naturally and cyclically changing, (2) humans are not considered a large enough force to alter natural climate cycles, (3) environmental problems are solvable with technology and (4) there is a lack of knowledge about climate change science. Thus, perceptions and emotions about transformation focus on other realms—socioeconomic, political, cultural—that are perceived as more critical to everyday life in the present and near future. Here, I describe these narratives and place the regional understanding of climate change in greater context to explain resistance to imagining environmental transformations due to climate change.     

Globally engaged farmers as transnational actors: Navigating the landscape of agri-food globalization

Farmers are not commonly included in studies of transnational actors, but with the globalization of agricultural markets, and the neoliberal reform of national agricultural sectors, an increasing number of family farm-entrepreneurs have become engaged in transnational activities. Drawing on interviews with ‘globally-engaged’ farmers in Australia – a country in which expansion into transnational activities has been encouraged by the radical deregulation of domestic markets – this paper explores the transnational mobilities of farmers who have sought to capitalize on the advantages of globalization by directly trading with international partners, establishing international business contacts, and learning international best practice in farm efficiency and environmental performance. In particular, the paper examines the varying spatialities and forms of mobility executed by farmers and observes how different patterns of mobility are executed in response to the particular exigencies of their respective industries as well as the ongoing imperatives of maintaining a farm business. By analyzing the farmers’ own narratives of these different spatialities, the paper develops a more critical and reflexive perspective on globalization and its impact on rural producers, with travel becoming both an opportunity to be enjoyed and a compulsion to be endured by those forced to operate in a climate where state-based support structures are absent.     

中国西北地区干旱气象灾害监测预警与减灾技术研究进展及其展望

干旱灾害是制约中国西北地区社会经济发展、农业生产和生态文明建设的重要自然灾害,而且随着气候变暖西北地区极端干旱事件发生频率和强度均呈增加趋势,影响不断加重。"中国西北干旱气象灾害监测预警及减灾技术研究"成果是在数十个国家级科研项目的支持下,经过过去20年的理论研究和应用技术开发所取得的一系列创新性成果。该成果对西北干旱形成机理及重大干旱事件发生、发展的规律取得了新认识,尤其是发现了形成西北干旱环流模态的4种主要物理途径;研制了西北干旱预测的新指标、干旱监测的新指数及监测农田蒸散的新设备,明显提高了干旱监测准确性和针对性;提出了山地云物理气象学新理论,研发了水源涵养型国家重点生态功能区——祁连山空中云水资源开发利用技术;发现了干旱半干旱区陆面水分输送和循环的新规律,揭示了绿洲自我维持的物理机制;认识了干旱气候变化对农业生态系统影响的新特征,建立了旱作农业对干旱灾害的响应关系;开发了旱区覆膜保墒、集雨补灌、垄沟栽培、适宜播期等应对气候变化的减灾技术,为西北实施种植制度、农业布局及结构调整和农业气候资源高效利用提供了科学方案。该成果的完成提升了中国干旱防灾减灾技术水平,培养了中国干旱气象科技队伍,推进了西北地区干旱气象业务服务能力,对西北地区社会经济发展、农业现代化和生态文明建设等方面起到了重要的促进作用。在此基础上,展望了西北地区干旱气象科学研究中迫切需要、有可能突破的主要领域。     

Multifunctional intervention and market rationality in agricultural governance: a comparative study of England and South Australia

Critiques of the neoliberal governance of agricultural systems have led to a number of political responses which attempt to address the socio-environmental consequences of the dominant regime. In this paper two case study regions (South Australia and England) have been chosen to represent variations in agricultural policy and to highlight subsequent outcomes on the sustainability of agriculture. Interviewed governance stakeholders highlighted issues in regard to the agricultural governance of each area, from social and environmental consequences of minimal policy intervention in South Australia, to issues created by greater economic support in England. As such, the distinct variations in agricultural regimes will continue to demand scholarly attention, in order for the value of diversity within the sector to be more widely understood. The study concludes that it is likely agricultural support will continue to decline in both case study regions. Importantly, however, innovative policy mechanisms that aim to reduce local risks and value local agricultural priorities, without requiring significant financial support, might be the most promising way forward in regard to agricultural system sustainability.     

Climate change,carbon dependency and narratives of transition and stasis in four English rural communities

This paper explores the carbon dependency of life in four villages in England, the degree to which residents in these villages are aware of and concerned about this dependency and its relationship to climate change, and the extent to which they undertake actions that might mitigate or adapt to this dependency. The paper identifies high degrees of carbon dependency and awareness and concern about climate change and carbon dependency, although relatively low levels of mitigative or adaptive actions. The paper explores how this disjuncture between awareness and actions persists, arguing that attention needs to be paid to how people narrate stories to themselves and others that account for inaction. Five narratives of non-transition or stasis are identified, along with three, less widely adopted, narratives of transition. The significance of rurality and emotions within these narratives is highlighted.     

Back to the Future? Privatisation and the domestication of water in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia, 1900-2000

In Zambia’s Copperbelt as in most of the developing world, the water sector is undergoing reforms targeted at promoting an active participation of the private sector. Conventional wisdom suggests that the private sector will be better able to achieve universal access as opposed to the public sector which hitherto has failed to deliver. Using archival materials from the Copperbelt Province, this paper however argues that in countries like Zambia where economic enterprise was driven by private capital, access to water has always been tied to an active involvement of the private sector. The full story of failure to provide universal access to potable water cannot be told without examining this historical role of the private sector and its relationship with the public sector. At the same time, contemporary policy debates can benefit from the resonance of historical debates around economic efficiency, demand management, health and access in the production and consumption of water.     

A critical political ecology of consensus: On “Teaching Both Sides” of climate change controversies

In the United States, contemporary anti-science education coalitions are increasingly linking climate change and evolution using “teach the controversy” campaigns. Awareness of this political phenomena raises questions about the extent to which portrayals of global warming predictions as mere knowledge claims undermine efforts to increase public understanding of scientific consensus about global warming. This paper uses a critical political ecology framework to explore the problematization of climate change consensus located and performed across discourses of secondary science teaching and learning. Theories of resistance are used to analyze teachers’ everyday experiences with classroom pushback about climate change. Data collection included key informant interviews with state science education stakeholders and on-line survey of 5th–12th grade science teachers in Oklahoma, USA. The article synthesizes the situated discourses of Oklahoma science teachers’ and their attitudes about teaching climate change in the face of public controversy. Our analysis demonstrates teachers marginalized by anti-science controversies but engaged in everyday acts of resistance to political, ideological, and religious norms. Most notably, science teachers re-purpose “teach the controversy” frames as a way to introduce climate change where it might not otherwise be included. We argue that, contextualized within a history of contestation over the teaching of evolution, the practice of teaching ‘both sides’ is an important boundary ordering device that bridges convinced and skeptical discourses in the classroom. This research informs new roles and possibilities for science education on global environmental change by reminding climate scientists, educators, and policy advocates that all climate change knowledge is coproduced.     

国土整治生态修复中的农业景观生物多样性保护策略

随着生态文明建设成为国家发展战略,国土整治修复需要更多生态科学和技术的支撑。农业景观生物多样性是重要的自然资源,为人类可持续发展提供了重要的生态系统服务,并提供了应对气候变化等风险的途径。本文分析了我国农业景观生物多样性保护及其对国土整治生态修复的重要性,国土整治生态修复中农业景观生物多样性保护面临的挑战,并总结了欧盟在农业景观生物多样性保护方面的经验和方法。最后,文章提出了将农业景观生物多样性保护整合到国土整治生态修复的四项策略,包括生态空间的“生态修复和管护-生态补偿-民生改善”策略、农业空间的“生态基础设施-生态系统服务提升-绿色发展”策略、城乡生活空间的“多功能景观-绿色宜居空间营造”策略、国土全域“生物多样性保护网络”策略,为生态文明背景下的国土整治生态修复提供参考。     

A political ecology of scaling: Struggles over power,land and authority

This paper integrates insights from political ecology with a politics of scaling to discuss the construction and transformation of scalar topographies as part of the politics and power dynamics of natural resource management. The paper details two case studies from Community Based Natural Resource Management in the forest and wildlife sectors of Tanzania to: (1) analyse the devolution of power from the state to the local level; and (2) investigate the constant renegotiations and scalar transformations by actors across multiple levels in attempts to manipulate the governance system. The paper highlights the sociospatial aspects of the struggles and politics of natural resource management, and emphasises that whilst these processes of scalar negotiation and struggle are distinct between the two examples, they both revolve around the same political struggle over power. This indicates an important structuration element of power and scale as they are shaped by both the structural configuration of power within each sector alongside the agency of different actors across multiple levels.     

Climate change impacts in Romania: Vulnerability and adaptation options

Using the output from five climate model experiments (four equilibrium GCMs and one transient GCM) for a double carbon dioxide atmospheric concentration, the climate change scenarios in Romania for a time slice up to 2075 were constructed. These scenarios were used to assess the climate change impacts on different resource sectors: agricultural crops, forests, and water resources. The vulnerability of each sector and specific adaptation options were then analysed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Improving fisheries management in New Zealand: Developing dialogue between fisheries science and management (FSM) and ecosystem science and management (ESM)

This paper attempts to overcome the dichotomy between the broadly different and largely separate fisheries science and management (FSM) and ecosystem science and management (ESM) knowledge systems that characterise the international literature and are found in fisheries management practice in different countries. The paper argues that the construction of a heuristic we term the fisheries problematic, around issues and contexts, reveals the breadth of international fisheries management concerns and the variety of contexts in which these concerns are being faced. Adopting a political economy informed nature-society approach the paper considers ecological and socio-economic processes in their institutional settings in an attempt to shift from the either/or arguments around fish or ecosystems found in the FSM or ESM literatures to investigation that is grounded in understandings of the historically and geographically specific trajectories of fisheries related interactions and understandings of how knowledge about the trajectories and their interactions is fashioned. Drawing on recent conceptual innovations in the field, the paper develops a matrix-centred approach to explore ecological, industry, community and policy domains in New Zealand’s Quota Management System (QMS) and Individual Transferable Quota (ITQ) fisheries management regime. The extended framework prioritises scrutiny of the interaction amongst the four domains, as a strategy to help develop institutional frameworks that facilitate behaviours that are societally inclusive. The paper offers three conclusions. First, the landscape of New Zealand fisheries issues is very much a product of the contingent interaction of the QMS, a management regime designed around the principles of a FSM approach and laid down in a neo-liberal political environment and Maori aspirations encompassing the fisheries sector. Second, the conceptual mapping of FSM and ESM perspectives over New Zealand’s fisheries management experience highlights that a number of management issues have been down played by the commitment to FSM, a situation that has led to on-going tensions between commercial, recreational and customary stakeholders regarding fisheries management. Put another way, there is more to running a sustainable fishery (as defined in the Fisheries Act 1996) than QMS and other tools and dialogue about the development of these should be a priority. Third and more generally, improved dialogue on fisheries questions is likely to be most expeditiously advanced by studies that explicitly conceptualise and contextualise ecological and socio-economic processes and their institutional arrangements.     

Gender sensitisation in the Zambian Copperbelt

This paper examines gender sensitisation in Kitwe, Zambia. My evidence, derived from a year’s ethnographic research, suggests that gender sensitisation is most effective when participants are also exposed to flexibility of gender divisions of labour. Seeing a critical mass of women performing socially valued roles appears to be interpreted as validation of abstract messages of equality. Such synergy is most commonly enabled when gender sensitisation is participatory. By sharing experiences of flexibility in gender divisions of labour, group discussants often come to publicly question widely-shared assumptions about men and women’s differing competence and status. Hearing others express support for gender equality also shifts presumptions about cultural expectations.     

Urban-rural relationships in India: a macro-scale approach using population potentials

The urban system in India is the product of a long and complex history and the urban-rural dichotomy is marked. While urban India is often viewed as ‘modern’ and ‘commercial’, rural India is generally characterised as myopic, backward and traditional. The diffusion of a modern commercial sector into traditionally agricultural areas is seen to be slow because of the lack of small sized towns, and many of the major cities are viewed as the centres of introverted economic systems. This paper seeks to examine these aspects of urban-rural relationships and levels of development in India at two scales, the national and the district. The national scale study analyses the urban and rural components of population potential surfaces. The study at the district level uses similar data, but at a finer scale, and in addition considers potentials of retail trade which gives a clearer illustration of ‘importance’ than population data alone. Several innovations in technique are discussed. The paper concludes with some general methodological comments about the nature of location as perceived by geographers.     

Environmental diplomacy in South Asia: Considering the environmental security,conflict and development nexus

Environmental security concerns have broadened the national security agenda and discourse of international relations. Yet environmental insecurity issues have endured impacts on livelihood, human security, social equity, human rights, internal security, political stability, economic growth and development of the state. Environmental challenges, such as climate change, water scarcity and energy security are shaping development and consumption patterns, which are possible causes of inter-state conflict in South Asia. This paper is an attempt to evaluate the nexus of climate change, energy and water security with conflict and development. Furthermore, we argue for the need for environmental diplomacy in Pakistan within the South Asian context. The argument is that integration of development with environmental factors and peacemaking has potential to achieve sustainable development in South Asia.     

Unnoticed but important: revealing the hidden contribution of community-based religious institution of the mosque in disasters

The role of community-based religious institutions has been largely undocumented, underestimated and overshadowed in the disaster studies literature. This paper explores the role of the mosque, a community-based religious institution, in disaster management by documenting and analysing its role in rural settings in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. The study examines the role of the mosque in relation to key actors from the state, civil society and private sector during response, relief, recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation phases of the Pakistan earthquake. Using qualitative research methods and a case study design, this article analyses primary data collected through 5 months of fieldwork (in 2009 and 2010). The findings demonstrate the multifaceted and distinct contribution of the mosque in cultural, economic, social and political aspects of the lives of the earthquake-affected communities. Possible challenges to engagement with the mosque, both gender inclusiveness and political controversy around its role, are also raised. This research suggests that state, civil society and private sector actors involved in disaster management need to understand complex relationships involving people and their religious institutions, and their impact on the social dimension of recovery. The findings of the study contribute to the scarce knowledge about the role of community-based religious institutions including churches, mosques, synagogues and temples and call for engagement: that is, acknowledging and valuing their role for building a synergy between secular and religious efforts for disaster risk reduction and post-disaster recovery.     

The politics of imaginaries and bioenergy sub-niches in the emerging Northeast U.S. bioenergy economy

As part of a transition to lower carbon energy systems, bioenergy development is often assumed to follow a uniform pathway. Yet the design, organization, and politics of bioenergy production in specific regional contexts may be contested. This study examines contestation within an emerging perennial crop bioenergy sector in the U.S. Northeast. Synthesizing conceptual contributions from the multi-level perspective on the significance of niches and sub-niches in sustainability transitions and from science and technology studies on the material and moral implications of sociotechnical imaginaries and object conflicts, this paper analyzes the politics of bioenergy sub-niche imaginaries. It identifies two main bioenergy sub-niches centered on (1) regional production and (2) community energy. Examining proposed and current production of perennial energy crops on marginal land, the study draws on 42 semi-structured interviews with bioenergy actors (e.g., scientists, industry representatives, policymakers, farmers/landowners) and secondary documents. The two bioenergy sub-niche imaginaries revealed political contestations around scale of operations, control and beneficiaries, and about definitions and uses of marginal land relative to livelihoods and community. This study highlights the potency of rival imaginaries within a developing sociotechnical niche and implications for sustainability transitions. Tracing the contours and emphases of, as well as conflicts between, bioenergy sub-niche imaginaries can clarify which pathways for transition to a lower carbon energy future could garner political and public support. The paper concludes by considering how disagreements between sub-niche actors could lead to productive mutual learning and the possibility of forging solutions contributing to more robust and equitable sustainability transitions.     

Planning for resettlement: building partnerships for,by, and with Indigenous peoples

Efforts in the United States to plan or implement relocation in response to climate risks have struggled to improve material conditions for participants, to incorporate local knowledge, and to keep communities intact. Mixed methodologies of community geography provide an opportunity for dialogue and knowledge-sharing to collaboratively diagnose the challenges of climate adaptation led by communities. In this article, we advance a participatory practice model for the co-creation of knowledge initiated during a two-day workshop with members from the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe from Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana, Yup’ik people from Newtok Village in Alaska, and researchers from the MIT Resilient Communities Lab. Building on prior scholarship of indigenizing climate change research, this article shares the experience of the workshop to support knowledge exchange and dialogue, with the goal of understanding how to build participatory and non-extractive community-academic partnerships. We reflect on the community values and principles used to guide this workshop to inform more inclusive and co-produced research partnerships, and pedagogies that can improve and assist the self-determination of groups impacted by climate change. Workshop presentations and discussions highlight interconnected themes of resources, systems & structures, regulatory imbalance, and resilience that underpin climate resettlement. We reflect on the narratives presented by members of both Indigenous tribes and NGO partners that illustrate the shortcomings of resettlement planning practices past and present as perpetuating existing inequality. In response to this structured knowledge exchange, we identify potential roles for community-academic partnerships that aim to improve the equity of existing resettlement models. We propose approaches for incorporating traditional knowledge into the pedagogy, discourse, and practice of academic planning programs.

     

西北地区特色作物对气候变化响应及应对技术的研究进展

总结了白兰瓜、 大樱桃、 酿酒葡萄、 苹果、 桃、 当归、 党参、 黄芪、 甘草、 枸杞等10种特色作物的生长发育、 种植区域、 气象灾害、 生物量、 产量与品质等对现代气候暖干化的响应特征. 结果表明: 气候暖干化使多年生特色作物萌芽或返青提早, 生长发育速度提前加快; 瓜果类作物全生育期缩短, 根类作物全生育期延长; 使种植区的高度提高150 m左右, 向更高纬度扩展, 种植面积迅速扩大. 对旱作农业区的特色作物气候产量下降, 对灌溉农业区的影响较少, 有利于喜温凉特色作物气候产量增加, 对较耐旱的影响较轻, 对不够耐旱受到较大的影响.有利于提高瓜果类作物的品质, 尤其含糖量提高. 提出了建立特色作物种植基地或示范区, 实现农工商产业系列服务, 创建现代农业发展模式和管理新模式适应气候变化; 制定精细化综合农业自然资源区划, 合理调整种植结构; 根据未来气候预测和不同气候年型调整作物种植比例; 加强气象灾害监测、 评估、 预警与防御工作等4个方面的措施应对气候暖干化.     

Stakeholder perspectives on barriers to landslide risk governance

European Union directives as well as national legislation are placing great emphasis on the inclusion of stakeholder perspectives in the governance of risks from natural hazards. This should help decision makers formulate better policies. However, to date, there is little information on stakeholders’ perspectives with respect to landslide risk governance. This paper addresses the gap by reporting on research in Nocera Inferiore, Italy. The research is based on a documentary analysis, 43 semi-structured interviews and a survey submitted to 373 residents. The political instability, the unfairness of national funding allocation across municipalities and the residents’ lack of knowledge about risk assessment and emergency planning are some of the main barriers to effective risk governance. Moreover, there are divergent, sometimes even opposite, stakeholders’ views on several issues, such as the relevance of illegal development in risky areas. The results highlight the importance of addressing these divergent views and including the plurality of voices as a prerequisite for inclusive risk governance. The research provided essential background information for a participatory process, which was designed to support decisions on landslide risk mitigation measures in Nocera Inferiore (Linnerooth-Bayer et al. this issue). The methodology will be of more general interest to researchers and policymakers intent upon including stakeholder perspectives in natural risk governance.