The Norwegian Nature Index – state and trends of biodiversity in Norway

The aim of the Norwegian Nature Index (NI) is to provide an overview of the state of biodiversity within and across major ecosystems. The index is composed of a series of indicators, each representing individual species or diversity measures. The indicators are standardized and scaled in relation to a reference state, and combined for ecosystems or geographical regions, to give a number between 1 (reference state) and 0 (seriously degraded biodiversity). In 2010, the state of biodiversity was highest in mountains, ocean, coastal waters, and freshwater (NI=0.69–0.80), intermediate for mires and wetlands (NI=0.55), and lowest for open lowlands and forests (NI=0.43–0.44). The NI increased 8–10% in freshwater and the ocean (bottom and pelagic) from 1990–2010, but decreased by>10% in open lowlands during the same period. Since its launch in September 2010, the Nature Index has been approved by the Ministry of Finance as an indicator for biodiversity in the set of sustainable development indicators and approved by the Ministry of Environment as an indicator of the state of major ecosystems.     

The Norwegian Geographical Society 1889–1989

The Norwegian Geographical Society on the occasion of its hundreth anniversary. An account of how it was started and its activities.     

The shape of Fraught – urban – rural – the nation-state: tensions and dynamics

I argue that the tension between cities and nation states go through the countryside, or rural areas, at least in the U.S. Further, cities are decidedly constrained in their abilities to effectuate many of the changes associated with them: addressing climate change, economic inequality and more. What is missing is the way in which rural alienation from economic prosperity plays out politically.     

Towards a new spatial perspective – Norwegian politics at the crossroads

The purpose of the article is to investigate how the hegemony of traditional regional policy in Norway has been weakened in favour of policies of a new type, derived from the combined effect of climate concerns and a search for increased structural efficiency. This phenomenon is identified as an ‘eco-spatial’ turn that marks a new policy regime with changing agendas. The policy transition is analysed by drawing on existing scientific literature in the fields concerned, central policy documents, and relevant news articles. The results of the analysis substantiate that a decisive turn has taken place, with the period of transition between the two policy types identified as 1992–2015. This shift in policy orientation has important institutional and political consequences, including the move from a perspective of demographic and economic expansion in space to one of contraction and a subsequent creation of spatial scarcity. To conclude, the author questions whether the new policy position is viable, given the deep-rooted nature of regional cleavages within Norwegian society. However, the formal institutional ability to deal with the situation at the national level is in place, since national planning and regional policies have finally been gathered within the confines of one ministry.     

Rural modernisation as national development: The Norwegian case 1900–1950

Nilsen, R. 2014. Rural modernisation as national development: The Norwegian case 1900–1950. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift–Norwegian Journal of Geography Vol. 68, 50–58. ISSN 0029-1951.

The aim of the article is to explain the maintenance of a pattern of scattered rural settlement in Norway during industrialisation and modernisation. The ‘master narrative’ of Norwegian transformation, based on the development of waterpower and the metallurgical and fertiliser industries, is only one of three narratives that can be told about the national transformation in the 20th century. A second narrative concerns the modernisation along the coast, and a third concerns the development of a varied, mostly rural, manufacturing and import-substituting industry. It is suggested that this attempt at rewriting the history of Norwegian modernisation can do what the master narrative does not do, namely explain the transformation from a poor to a rich society while more than half of the national population continued to live in rural areas.     

Geomorphology-oriented theoretical framework and construction method for value-added DEM

Digital elevation model(DEM) plays a fundamental role in the study of the earth system by expressing surface configuration, understanding surface process, and revealing surface mechanism. DEM is widely used in analysis and modeling in the field of geoscience. However, traditional DEM has the defect of single attribute, which is difficult to support the research in earth system science oriented to geoscience process and mechanism mining. Hence, realizing the value-added data model on the basis of...     

The elaborate floodwater harvesting system of ancient Resafa in Syria – Construction and reliability

The abandoned Roman/Early Islamic city of Resafa in the Syrian desert steppe was supplied with drinking water by an elaborate floodwater harvesting system. This paper investigates its construction, reliability and chronology. Previous excavations showed that the system consisted of a dam that blocked a wadi adjoining the enclosed city and channeled retained floodwater to large subsurface cisterns. Aerial photos from the early 20th century suggest that additionally embankments were part of the system. Physical evidence of such constructions is largely lacking nowadays.The reliability analysis of the floodwater system is conducted by applying a curve-number-based rainfall-runoff model driven by current satellite rainfall estimates. Flow pattern analysis is used to assess the probable effects of the assumed embankments on flood behavior by applying the hydraulic module of the Caesar-Lisflood model.We show that the system would be reliable under present conditions and probably also functioned when the system was in operation. Furthermore, it is shown that the floodwater harvesting system most likely consisted of a several hundred meter long embankment system.     

The Holocene palaeolimnology of Sägistalsee and its environmental history – a synthesis

Multi-proxy palaeoecological and palaeolimnological studies of the sedimentary record of Sägistalsee, a small lake at the present-day timberline in the Swiss Alps, reveal distinct changes in its catchment vegetation in relation to Holocene climate change and human impact. Four phases of catchment vegetation type were defined based on plant macrofossil analyses: open Betula-Pinus cembra woodland, Abies alba-Pinus cembra woodland, Picea abies forest, and cultural pasture. The expansion of spruce 6300 cal. BP had a major impact on all abiotic proxies, whereas the reaction of the biotic proxies to this catchment change was lagged by several centuries. During the Bronze Age (ca. 4000 cal. BP) the spruce forest was cleared and the catchment began to be used as grazing pastures. Changes in sedimentology, geochemistry, and magnetic parameters closely reflect the changes in catchment vegetation. The catchment vegetation types explain a statistically significant amount of the variance in the chironomid, cladoceran, sedimentological, and magnetic data but not in the geochemical data. The strong catchment-lake interaction masks any biotic responses to millennium-scale climatic oscillations.     

An event-based methodology for climate change and human–environment research

Abductive causal eventism (ACE) is an analytical methodology based on a pragmatic view of research methods and explanation that places at the center of research inquiry the answering of ‘why’ questions about events, including human actions or environmental changes of interest. When used in human–environment research, the methodology entails constructing causal histories of interrelated social and/or biophysical events backward in time through a process of eliminative inference and reasoning from effects to causes, called abduction. ACE encourages an eclectic use of methods, models, and theoretical ideas. It fosters integrative, interdisciplinary analysis without being committed either to systems as ontological entities or to holistic analytical frameworks. By not privileging particular theories or explanatory factors in advance, ACE enables researchers to interrogate the plausibility of different causal influences, including local environmental changes that may be related to much wider changes in climate. Likewise, behaviors or practices that may be of value in light of anticipated environmental changes can be studied without their presuming to be caused by these changes or by changes in climate per se. Research on coastal mangrove planting for storm protection in the Philippines and upland tree planting in St. Lucia are used to illustrate these arguments.     

The border as an engine for mobility and spatial integration: A study of commuting in a Swedish–Norwegian context

The purpose of the study was to analyse how cross-border commuting differed from intranational commuting in Sweden, and how cross-border mobilities affected spatial integration. The authors analysed patterns and spatial flows of cross-border commuting by comparing them with characteristics of intranational commuting. In the article, they explore the assumption that the border constitutes an ‘engine’ for work-related mobility, which affects processes of spatial integration in cross-border areas. The empirical material comprised data from surveys of commuting from the Swedish county of Värmland to Norway and commuting within Värmland. The findings showed that cross-border commuting shared common features with intranational commuting, including how the frequency of commuting was dependent on distance. The motives for commuting differed, and the reasons for working in Norway were economic rather than professional. In terms of spatial integration, cross-border commuting was mainly one-directional, from Sweden to Norway, while leisure mobility and migration tended to be in the opposite direction. The authors conclude that the border region is characterised by integration through specialisation, which involves a permanent state of ‘transient’ mobility. Thus, a win-win situation can be distinguished, in which the border serves as a resource and an ‘engine’ for cross-border integration, mobility and economic activities.     

Norwegian school geography and geographical education: A new research field?

Despite having a long-standing relationship, teacher education and geography in primary and secondary education in Norway has received little attention as a research field within academic geography until recently. The author asks: How has Norwegian school geography related to geography taught at universities? Where does research on school geography and geographical education stand today and where should it go from here? She examines the development of the role played by academic geographers in the field from the 1970s until the present. Some potential future venues for this emerging research field are suggested on the basis of an examination of what themes are current focal points for research and comparing them to what other countries consider essential in their teacher education.     

The importance of Swedish–Norwegian border residents’ perspectives for bottom-up cross-border planning strategies

ABSTRACT

There is political interest in Sweden’s proximity to Norway, which is reflected in the regional policy focusing on developing business needs. As such, proximity at the regional level is simply expected to generate economic growth. The authors propose a holistic approach to spatial planning in a Swedish–Norwegian border region in place of the simplistic economic perspective. The aim of the article is to highlight the importance of adopting a bottom-up cross-border planning perspective that is based on the perceptions of the border region residents by showing that the proximity of Norway is important to communities in Värmland Province, on the border with Norway, in a different way from how regional authorities and policymakers perceive it. The authors used a qualitative method in their study. They found that residents were more interested in the individual, social, and cultural opportunities of the border, while authorities stressed traditional growth strategies. In conclusion, the authors recommend that policymakers should implement a bottom-up cross-border planning strategy (CBPS) in Värmland that includes the residents’ perspective, as a reinforcement of place-based policy approaches.     

The Holocene–Anthropocene transition in lakes of western Spitsbergen,Svalbard (Norwegian High Arctic): climate change and nitrogen deposition

Lake sediments from four small lakes on western Spitsbergen (Svalbard Archipelago, Norwegian High Arctic) preserve biostratigraphic and isotopic evidence for a complex suite of twentieth century environmental changes. At Lake Skardtjørna and Lake Tjørnskardet on Nordenskiöldkysten, there is a marked diatom floristic change coupled to increased diatom concentrations beginning around 1920. At Lake Istjørna and Lake Istjørnelva, 25 km southwest of Longyearbyen, both diatom total valve and chrysophyte stomatocyst concentrations have increased dramatically since the beginning of the 1900s. The early twentieth century changes are probably related to climate warming after the Little Ice Age. However, the most pronounced changes in diatom assemblages seem to have occurred in the last few decades. At the same time, nitrogen stable isotopes in sediment organic matter in two of the lakes became progressively depleted by ~2‰, which is consistent with diffuse atmospheric inputs from anthropogenic sources and attendant fertilization. These data suggest that climate change and nitrogen deposition may be acting together in driving these lakes towards new ecological states that are unique in the context of the Holocene.     

Caves and karst of Ecuador – state-of-the-art and research perspectives

Current knowledge of caves and karst regions of Ecuador is scarce and broadly limited to discrete areas such as that of the Galápagos volcanokarst. In continental Ecuador, carbonate karst mostly outcrops in the Amazonian basin and accounts for 5–10% of the surface of the country. However, owing to the difficulties of access within the Amazonian rainforest, most surface and subterranean karst is yet to be revealed. In this review, we present an updated map of the solutional karst of Ecuador based on the most recent geological surveys and our own research. We describe the principal karst regions of Ecuador from the Amazonian basin (Napo and Santiago) as well as the Galápagos pseudokarst. We show that Ecuador karst research may be of considerable importance for both basic and applied research owing to its geographical position and intrinsic vulnerabilities. We discuss the main challenges of karst-related research in Ecuador, such as paleoclimatic studies, subterranean biodiversity, and archeology. We discuss the main vulnerabilities and hazards related to karst uses in Ecuador, considering the paramount importance of tourism for the country.     

Notis og litteratur – Note and reviews

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor occurred on 26th April 1986. Forty-nine pollen traps deployed in the Jotunheimen-Jostedalsbreen region in July and August 1985, and collected in the following summer of 1986, provided an unforeseen opportunity to obtain data on the level of radionuclide deposition in the region. This note reports ¹³⁷Cs activity levels in the traps, which averaged 503 mBq. Cm^?2 and exhibited great variability, ranging from 17 to 1983 mBq. cm^?2.