Areas of intensive livestock agriculture as emerging alternative economic spaces?

The ideal of the intensification of agriculture has vanished in developed market economies as the outcomes of conventional production have caused growing environmental problems, in particular in areas with a high concentration of livestock. There is also a growing concern notable about animal welfare issues, accompanied by the belief that agricultural production needs to move away from an conventional agriculture towards one that is loosely defined as ‘alternative’. This paper uses the concept of multifunctionality as a lens for describing and explaining the nature of rural change in Germany. I argue that the case study example of the Oldenburger Münsterland illustrates that multifunctionality rates weakly as agricultural practice in production systems dominated by a conventional food regime and – hence – a transition towards diversity and resilience has to occur within conventional agriculture. In spite of the popularity of the idea that areas of intensive livestock farming might have been gradually transformed into emerging alternative economic spaces, the principle of coexistence between ‘productivist’ and ‘non-productivist’ practices poses major challenges. In particular the scarcity of agricultural land hinders the transition into ‘alternative’ food futures in the Oldenburger Münsterland, while the doubts about conventional agriculture and the industrialized food industry rise in an unprecedented way in German society.     

RESTORATION OF SHEEP TRANSHUMANCE IN THE EBRO VALLEY,ARAGON, SPAIN*

For centuries, sheep transhumance has connected the Spanish highlands with the lowlands, creating a livestock system with important social, economic, cultural, and landscape effects. About 5 million sheep were involved in transhumant movements in the mid‐1700s, but transhumance started to decay in the nineteenth century and almost disappeared in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1980s, transhumant sheep did not number more than 25,000 in the study area; at present the number exceeds 134,000, with herders practicing both descending and ascending transhumance. In this article we provide information not only on current numbers of transhumant sheep but also on the origins and destinations of the flocks. We also confirm that the reputation of transhumance, once regarded as quaint and antiquated, has been enhanced by the ecosystem services it provides and by the cultural and heritage continuities it renders.     

Seasonal changes in pasture biomass, production and offtake under the transhumance system in northern Pakistan

An understanding of seasonal changes in pasture biomass, production and offtake of different range types is fundamentally important for the efficient management of livestock grazing. However, few studies have quantified these changes for transhumance systems, despite the fact that transhumance is still the main form of livestock management in several regions of the world and is often critical for the livelihoods of the people. One such area is the Northern Areas of Pakistan, where six villages and their pastures were selected for study. Pastures were categorized within foothill, dry temperate and alpine range types, and seasonal biomass, production and offtake of the vegetation was estimated by clipping paired caged and uncaged quadrats. The alpine range type had by far the highest biomass and offtake; the foothill and dry temperate range types were much more sparsely vegetated. Although alpine pastures were heavily used, particularly in spring, there was no evidence for consistent over-utilization of pasture resources. Within the dry temperate range type, production was highest during spring but significantly under-used. This indicates a potential for increased use of dry temperate pastures during spring, an important period both for early recovery of livestock body condition after winter and to reduce the heavy pressure on the alpine pastures at this time.     

Traditional intramontane mobility in Garhwal Himalaya: A survey of subsistence practices in the Pindar basin, Uttaranchal

This paper looks at the key resource interactions driving the current trend in intramontane mobility as a traditional subsistence practice in the Garhwal Himalaya region of Uttaranchal, India. For hundreds of years, the natural resource based mid-altitude villages in the Pindar River basin hinged on the annual summer migration to highland pastures. Where self-sufficiency has been obtained through an environmentally embedded tradition of crop and livestock farming, highland forests and alpine pastures continue to provide the human and animal requirements of fuelwood and fodder, as well as the forest products defining traditional diets and cottage industry. The paper reports the data from a rapid appraisal survey of resources obtained by households in selected mid-altitude villages from the seven highland locations that have sustained the centuries-old subsistence culture of the Pindar basin. While livestock have been the crucial link in a forest/fodder–manure–cultivation chain that has necessitated households' dependence on highland pastures and forests, over the last four decades there has been a decline in the numbers engaged in livestock raising and, concomitantly, the annual migration to summer pastures. Instead, there is a trend towards increased cultivation of cash crops and forest resource collection in the traditional highland encampment areas.     

The Wild Life of Pesticides: urban agriculture,institutional responsibility,and the future of biodiversity in Sydney's Hawkesbury-Nepean River

Agricultural chemicals are a notoriously intractable source of environmental pollution. Offering enhanced agricultural productivity, they simultaneously risk degrading the ecological basis upon which agriculture depends. This paper considers chemicalisation as a cause of the erosion of aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem resilience, focusing on the Hawkesbury-Nepean River and the small-scale horticulturalists who supply the city's fresh vegetable markets, working under the pressure of urbanisation, retail monopolies, indifferent land-use planning, and often without access to information about pesticide use in the languages they understand. Arguing that standard practices of ‘risk management’ are unable to adequately control chemical contamination, the paper presents findings from interviews with actors within the ‘assemblage’ of institutions with responsibility for agriculture, water quality, and environmental protection, in order to assess the effectiveness of pesticide governance in the Greater Sydney Basin. It appears that pesticide pollution is far from being tamed: it is rarely measured nor monitored, neither is it a priority of any particular agency. Arguing that public health, the long-term viability of local farming and the ecological well-being of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River are mutually consistent goals, we conclude that these vital elements of the common-weal are currently subject to a system of ‘organised irresponsibility’. The paper concludes by proposing several ways forward.     

Trial by Fire: natural hazards,mixed-methods and cultural research

This paper considers the issues of research ‘relevance’ and ‘use’ to reflect upon a cultural geography research project on bushfire that did not begin with any specific aim of being useful to policy makers but which has garnered considerable and ongoing interest from a broad audience. It provides an example of how the integration of quantitative and qualitative research methods and data can enhance research into cultural aspects of natural hazards whilst simultaneously playing a key role in ensuring that the research results are of interest to a wide range of groups. Using a mixed-methods research approach was found to provide insight into complex factors that influence attitudes and actions towards bushfire amongst diverse landholders in rural–urban interface areas in south-east Australia. We argue that mixed-methods research is a powerful tool in building and enhancing a cultural geography that has policy relevance, retains analytical depth, and is acceptable to risk managers. The ability of cultural geography through mixed-methods research to illuminate how socio-cultural processes are central to environmental attitudes and preparedness behaviour has direct relevance to recent international discussions of how to manage the vulnerability of the growing number of people living in bushfire-prone rural–urban interface areas.     

甘南高原乡村社会固有脆弱性及其影响因素

开展社会固有脆弱性研究不仅有助于了解区域社会系统的可持续发展状态,更有助于寻求提高社会系统适应能力的恰当策略。通过构建乡村社会固有脆弱性分析框架和评价指标体系,并以甘南高原为研究区,在分析乡村社会固有脆弱性特征的基础上识别了其关键影响因子。结果表明：① 甘南高原乡村社会固有脆弱性呈“梭型”分异,其中,高、中、低脆弱性乡镇分别占18.95%、47.37%、33.68%。② 社会固有脆弱性存在明显的区域差异性,从农区-半农半牧区-牧区、高山峡谷区-山地丘陵区-山原区,社会固有脆弱性趋于增加;同时,随着少数民族聚居度降低、经济发展水平升高,社会固有脆弱性趋于降低。③ 社会固有脆弱性在空间上呈“北高南低”的不均衡分布,敏感性呈“中间高四周低”的集聚分布,适应能力呈相对均衡的“碎片化”分布。④ 气温、生育结构、民族结构、住房安全性、社会弱势群体比重、经济条件、信息可得性和参保比例是影响社会固有脆弱性的关键因子。最后,提出相应的对策建议。     

Human stewardship or ruining cultural landscapes of the ancient Tula wells, southern Ethiopia

This article uses the concepts of "human stewardship" and "ruined landscape" as a theoretical framework for analysing the community's perception of landscape change in the ancient tula well system of Borana in southern Ethiopia. The ancient tula well system, the main permanent water source, has been in operation for more than five centuries and it closely links human activity and the environment. The welfare of the tula well system and the performance of the Borana pastoral system are directly related. Borana management of the tula wells uses concepts such as laaf aadaa seeraa and laaf bade to differentiate between ‘land managed by customary laws’ (hereafter human stewardship) and ‘lost’ or ‘ruined’ land (laaf bade). The cultural landscapes of the ancient wells have undergone changes from ecosystems featuring ‘human stewardship’ (before the 1960s), that is, laaf aadaa seeraa to ‘ruined landscapes’ (after the 1960s), that is, laaf bade. Our interest is in understanding how the Borana perceive the impact of land use changes from these two conceptual perspectives. In group discussions, key informant interviews and household surveys across five of the nine well clusters, we found that the society described the changed tula cultural landscape in terms of drivers of well dynamics (i.e. use and disuse), break up of land use zonations, patterns of human settlement (traditional versus peri-urban), expansion of crop cultivation, and changes in environmental quality. Using the two concepts, we analysed linkages between changing patterns of land use that transformed the system from laaf aadaa seeraa, which ensured human stewardship, to laaf bade, which resulted in ruined landscapes. From these we analysed environmental narratives that showed how the society differentiated the past human stewardship that ensured sustainable landscape management from the present ruining of tula well cultural landscapes.     

Thinking about Fuel Management: The Potential of Integrative Complexity Theory to Inform Design of Communication about Fuel Management Used To Reduce Wildfire Risk

Multiple studies have examined ‘what’ people think about fuel management (perceptions); fewer have examined ‘how’ people think about it (structure of thoughts). In an Australian study, we used Integrative Complexity Theory (ICT) to explore the relationship between how complexly people thought about, and how acceptable they found, three fuel management strategies: prescribed burning, mechanical thinning and livestock grazing. Integrative complexity (IC) was associated with the direction of acceptability of the most familiar practice - prescribed burning, but trust in organizations was associated with acceptability of all strategies. IC was associated with the extremity of acceptability, with higher IC associated with more moderate attitudes. Our findings support the argument that targeting communication to (i) match current IC and (ii) encourage growth in complexity of thinking has potential to encourage more moderate and stable attitudes about fuel management.     

南方“红层荒漠”旅游开发价值分析

“红层荒漠”是一种分布在红层母岩上的特殊土地退化景观,又称为“红层劣地”。其形成过程被称为“红层荒漠化”,指红层区受人为干扰,地表原有的生态结构遭到破坏,在外动力综合作用下,土层快速侵蚀,基岩或其风化壳裸露,土地生产力衰竭的极端土地退化过程。红层荒漠在粤、赣、湘等南方湿润区有较多的分布,荒漠化严重的区域一般是经济欠发达的区域,研究红层荒漠及其合理开发利用具有重要意义。结合多年丹霞地貌的研究成果,认为作为一种旅游资源,红层荒漠具有景观独特、资源稀缺、颠覆常识、生态科普、综合构景等特性,具备很高的旅游开发价值与很强的开发可行性。开发过程中,应当遵循开发服从保护、特色强化、综合效益最大化的原则,重视生态农业旅游和科普旅游等开发方向,可开发成为红层荒漠观光、红层荒漠科教旅游、生态农业示范旅游、红层荒漠山水旅游、红漠乡村旅游以及摄影主题旅游等景区。同时,要注意因地制宜,从资源特点、市场需求、环境保护等实际进行合理的谋划,与周边同类景区错位发展,与邻区其他景区加强联合,实现区域旅游互补发展。     

THE 'LITTLE ICE AGE': RE-EVALUATION OF AN EVOLVING CONCEPT

ABSTRACT. This review focuses on the development of the ‘Little Ice Age’ as a glaciological and climatic concept, and evaluates its current usefulness in the light of new data on the glacier and climatic variations of the last millennium and of the Holocene. ‘Little Ice Age’ glacierization occurred over about 650 years and can be defined most precisely in the European Alps (c. AD 1300–1950) when extended glaciers were larger than before or since. ‘Little Ice Age’ climate is defined as a shorter time interval of about 330 years (c. AD 1570–1900) when Northern Hemisphere summer temperatures (land areas north of 20°N) fell significantly below the AD 1961–1990 mean. This climatic definition overlaps the times when the Alpine glaciers attained their latest two highstands (AD 1650 and 1850). It is emphasized, however, that ‘Little Ice Age’ glacierization was highly dependent on winter precipitation and that ‘Little Ice Age’ climate was not simply a matter of summer temperatures. Both the glacier‐centred and the climate‐centred concepts necessarily encompass considerable spatial and temporal variability, which are investigated using maps of mean summer temperature variations over the Northern Hemisphere at 30‐year intervals from AD 1571 to 1900. ‘Little Ice Age’‐type events occurred earlier in the Holocene as exemplified by at least seven glacier expansion episodes that have been identified in southern Norway. Such events provide a broader context and renewed relevance for the ‘Little Ice Age’, which may be viewed as a ‘modern analogue’ for the earlier events; and the likelihood that similar events will occur in the future has implications for climatic change in the twenty‐first century. It is concluded that the concept of a ‘Little Ice Age’ will remain useful only by (1) continuing to incorporate the temporal and spatial complexities of glacier and climatic variations as they become better known, and (2) by reflecting improved understanding of the Earth‐atmosphere‐ocean system and its forcing factors through the interaction of palaeoclimatic reconstruction with climate modelling.     

西北高寒民族地区生态环境问题及农牧业发展——以甘南藏族自治州为例

甘南藏族自治州是江河上游重要水源涵养区和生态屏障。草场"三化"严重,森林遭到破坏,水资源日益紧张,生物多样性锐减,水土流失加剧。其原因主要是脆弱的自然环境基础上,人类对自然资源不合理利用的结果。生态恶化严重制约着农牧业的发展。生态建设和农牧业发展,必须贯彻可持续发展战略,树立生态经济思想,追求生态效益和经济效益有机结合,探索符合高寒生态规律的资源利用方式和地域农牧业体系。最后,从治理草场"三化"、建设牲畜集中育肥基地、建立有效的生态建设机制、依靠科技、调整农牧业地域结构、发展特色农牧业和推动产业化与城镇化进程等6个方面,提出了对策建议。     

DOCTORAL THESES – DOKTORAVHANDLINGER

The article examines the role of ‘local paths’ and ‘substrates’ (networks, stakeholders, and human and economic capital) in the revitalization strategies of shrinking cities. Relationships between local stakeholders as well as their initiatives to revitalize declining cities determine not only future decision-making but also the demographic, economic, environmental, and social evolution of those cities. The article analyses two medium-sized declining cities in the old industrial region of Asturias, Spain. After a presentation of the processes that led to the studied cities' rise and decline, their revitalization strategies are analysed and interpreted on the basis of the local stakeholders' role. In these cities, the impact of local factors may largely explain the uneven evolutionary path in each city following crisis in their respective leading industries.     

基于空间溢出效应的粮食主产区粮食增产与农业生态污染关系研究

采用空间计量模型,立足于粮食主产区,并引入非主产区作为对照,通过评估主产区与非主产区粮食增产对农业生态污染的影响,探讨粮食增产与农业生态变化关系。结果表明：① 粮食产量与农业生态污染均存在显著的空间相关性,且两个变量的空间相关性在时间上存在异质性,这就意味着空间同质性假说不再适用,传统的关于粮食增产影响生态污染的研究可能存在局限性;② 粮食增产并未加剧农业生态恶化。粮食主产区的设立本是为了保障粮食安全,其结果是不仅在一定程度上扭转了“非粮化”的趋势,还削弱了对农业生态环境的污染;③ 粮食增产并未加剧农业生态恶化的原因在于,粮食生产规模比重的增加所产生的规模效应和一系列行之有效的政策措施降低了粮食主产区的化肥施用强度,而农业机械化投入对农业生态污染的影响存在一定的门槛效应,大中型农机跨区服务可能有利于减少主产区农业生产对生产环境的污染程度。上述结论意味着粮食安全与生态保护之间不存在不可调和的矛盾;未来在农业适度规模经营过程中应激发农业机械化抑制农业生态恶化的潜能;考虑到空间效应的影响,应建立邻近区域农业污染治理联动机制。     

Ecological constraints on and consequences of land use heterogeneity: A case study of the Mongolian Gobi

Mongolian herders are transhumant and therefore follow a specific land use pattern. To understand their movements through a case study, we mapped and superimposed their seasonal camps on a vegetation map and a digital elevation model. We also questioned them about the reasons justifying the locations of their camps, and how they use the surrounding land. It appears that vegetation quality may play a role only in summer, whereas topography is a key driver during 3 seasons. In winter, herders seek shelter against cold winds in rugged places exposed to the south, while in spring and summer, they seek flat places. In spring, to have a clear view of their newborns and in summer, to allow wind to reduce the insect discomfort. Moreover, most of the livestock species stay within a certain distance of the camps depending on the season, but which never exceeds 5.1 km. This leads to a land use pattern where livestock is restrained to specific areas according to the season. Interestingly, during the growing season, when plants are most sensitive to defoliation, most livestock is concentrated on 30.92% of the site surface. Such information is important for range scientists working on grazing impacts at large scales.     

Conservation of small and medium-sized mammals following native woodland regrowth: A case study in a long-term UNESCO Biosphere Reserve,Argentina

Land uses such as cattle ranching require important decisions concerning the protection of habitats and species. This is especially true in arid lands and typically involves habitat regrowth as well as the establishment of protected areas. However, the manner in which species respond to the protected area or to the surrounding matrix may vary depending on their ecology, particularly habitat requirements. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of one such protected dryland area (MaB Reserve of Ñacuñán) and adjacent rangelands in the central Monte Desert of Argentina. More specifically, how effective it is in ensuring the conservation of small and medium-sized mammals. Mammal richness and abundance estimated from both trapping and indirect signs were compared in different habitats inside and outside the Reserve. After over 50 years of livestock exclusion in Ñacuñán, our results showed significant changes in habitat structure and mammal diversity between protected and unprotected areas. Species associated with high plant cover were found inside the Reserve, while the surrounding areas were occupied by those adapted to open habitats. The presence of the endangered Dolichotis patagonum in rangelands outside the Reserve demonstrates that unprotected areas play a major role in conserving species diversity.     

Contesting ‘Local’ Commemoration of the Second World War: the case of the Changi Chapel and Museum in Singapore

This paper concerns the performance of national war memory at the Changi Chapel and Museum, a site honouring the many prisoners interned in Japanese-Occupied Singapore—especially at Changi—during the Second World War. In the light of the global nature of ‘the Changi story’, and the predominantly transnational nature of its present in situ memorialisation, we first examine how the Singapore state has sought to ‘localise’ the site to make it equally appealing to Singaporeans, as a place where a sense of their ‘shared history’ may be invoked. We then explore the Singaporeans' views about the site and its reconfiguration as a national icon, arguing how the state's task of ‘localising’ the site has been a vexed process due to myriad factors such as ethnic and religious plurality, and the already foreign-centric bias of prevailing knowledge about Changi. Following that, we show how this performance of national memory is also inflected by Australia's national remembrance of the same event. More broadly, we highlight the contested process of ‘localising’ such war memoryscapes as national iconography, suggesting how it may be more fruitful to conceive them as ‘international memoryscapes’, or places to which all individuals can relate regardless of race or national affiliations.     

宁夏中南部地区干旱变化趋势分析

采用国家最新发布的综合气象干旱指数,详细分析了宁夏中南部地区干旱发生频率、日数和强度的变化趋势。发现宁夏中南部地区春、夏季干旱变化趋势基本相似,而与秋季干旱变化趋势基本相反。20世纪60年代至80、90年代,宁夏中南部地区春、夏季干旱总体呈弱减轻趋势,而秋季干旱呈非常显著的加剧趋势,80、90年代秋季干旱强度较60年代增强了两倍多;进入21世纪以来,春、夏季干旱显著加剧,中部干旱带春、夏季干旱、南部山区夏季干旱强度较20世纪90年代平均增加了约1~2倍,而秋季干旱出现了明显减弱的新趋势。随着春、夏季干旱加剧,对农林牧业\,生态环境、人畜饮水的影响越来越严重,旱灾造成的损失也在不断增大,应引起高度重视。最后提出了应对干旱加剧的措施建议。     

Self-perceived Roles in Life and Achieving Sustainability on Family Farms in North-eastern Australia

Rural production landscapes in Australia are experiencing a rapid rate of change as a result of, among other factors, climate change, biodiversity loss and changing societal values. Consequently, there is increasing pressure on producers to increase their sustainability. Understanding how producers perceive themselves in the context of this changing landscape is limited but important for the design of policy effective for achieving sustainability. This paper is based on a case study in the north-eastern Australian rangelands that included face-to-face interviews with 28 beef producers and a telephone survey with another 91 producers. The study investigated male and female beef producers' self-perceived roles in life through a lens of different farming discourses and the relationship between these roles and beliefs aligned with sustainability. Results revealed that although producers' self-percieved roles in life were being constructed through a mix of more or less ‘traditional’ discourses, tradition was still a strong influence. Producers who strongly identified with roles linked to ‘less traditional’ discourses were more likely than those who strongly identified with production-orientated roles to agree with beliefs that favoured nature conservation, learning and adapting to change. Increased opportunities for producers to participate in alternative discourses would appear important for fostering a self-identity that is open to learning, difference and change.     

Revitalizing ecological capital

Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography 111(2):149–167, 2011

The modernization of agricultural food production has diminished and is diminishing the sustainable use of the local natural resource base, resulting in the fragmentation of landscapes and the decline of biodiversity. In this paper we analyze the revitalization of ecological capital, which provides insights into how effective adjustments in land-use and farming practices can stimulate a reconnection between farming, nature and society. The paper focuses on a case study about endogenous knowledge on the relation between farm activities and the reproduction of the landscape and its flora and fauna in the (Dutch) Friesian Woodlands. We suggest that building adequate, local institutional frameworks that strengthen landscape structures, regional identity and the ‘branding’ of food products will sustain rural development in the area. The results should be of value for increasing the understanding among researchers and policymakers of the potential of endogenous knowledge in governing the increase of the ecological stock in an area.