Environmental problems in coastal zone of Chin──sea-level rise and groundwater table decline

Foundationitem:UndertheauspicesoftheKeyProjectoftheChineseAcademyofSciences(KZ951-Al-203)1IntroductionTherearellcoastalprovincesandprovince-levelmwhcipalihesinChina,excludingTaiwan,HongKong,andallcao,withl8OOodri-longcoastallines(FigUrl).Thisregionisaneconondodly-develoPedanddensely-populatedzonewithalandareaofl3.8%ofthenahon'stOtal,55.6%ofitSgrossdomesticproducLnd39-8%,PfitSPOPulationinl997.Thepopulallondensityis4.4hmesthaofthetalonalaverage.The299cihesinthesellcoastalprovincesare4…     

Environmental drivers of human migration in drylands – A spatial picture

It is widely accepted that environmental change can influence human migration. In particular, the environment plays a role in migration processes in drylands, in which environmental change—including increasing variability of rainfall, increasing frequency of droughts, chronic water shortage, and land degradation—can heavily influence migration. However, systematic large-scale studies of the relationship between environmental factors and human migration are rare, and a global, consistent picture of environmental drivers of migration is lacking. In this study, we sought to fill this gap by analysing spatial patterns of environmental drivers of migration in drylands by performing a cluster analysis on spatially explicit global data. In this analysis, we focused explicitly on precipitation, aridity, drought, land degradation, soil constraints, and availability of cropland and pastures as potential environmental drivers of migration in drylands. In addition, we linked the identified clusters to two observed hotspots of out-migration—Burkina Faso and Northeast Brazil—to gauge the cluster results. Our results show that environmental drivers can be grouped into eight distinct clusters, and we identified the most severe environmental constraints for each cluster. These results suggest that out-migration—both in absolute and relative terms—occurs most frequently in a cluster that is constrained primarily by land degradation rather than water availability.     

Where have all the people gone? The limits of resilience in coastal communities

The concept of resilience has been used to assess community development and its prospects in natural resource-based localities. The objectives of the article are to evaluate the resilience of two Icelandic coastal communities, and to reflect on the possible shortcomings of the resilience concept for providing policy guidance. Mixed qualitative methods were used, with several weeks of fieldwork in each location. The results showed that the two case communities have had to adjust to a radical change in the fisheries management, with the loss of resource entitlements. Additionally, substantial differences were found in their level of resilience. One community was undergoing a transition towards a non-fisheries-based existence through several innovative new initiatives, while the other was struggling to adjust and seemed to have reached its limits of resilience, as witnessed by continuing outmigration and declining services. A state-sponsored programme to rekindle the local economy has had limited success so far. The authors conclude by identifying some of the limitations of the focus on endogenous strategies in much of the resilience literature, which does not pay much attention to the broader political economy.     

A Review of “Spatial and Environmental Injustice in an American Metropolis: A Study of Tampa Bay,Florida”

The North Carolina Hispanic population has grown at a rapid pace in recent years. Before 1980, the majority of Hispanics in North Carolina were engaged primarily in migrant agricultural work. Hispanics who are part of the new influx are arriving in urban areas and are working at nonagricultural pursuits. Previous research and anecdotal evidence suggest that Hispanic newcomers come from other U.S. jurisdictions and from abroad. Labor migration occurs in response to demand for labor, and labor demand is meditated by employers’ preferences and hiring practices. However, focusing solely on employer demand for labor ignores the role of past U.S. immigration policy and the large growth in services employment in the Sunbelt that have fueled the Hispanic in–migration. This research project explored the attitudes and recruiting behavior of employers in the Triangle region of North Carolina. A newspaper content analysis was undertaken, and interviews were conducted with selected intermediaries and a group of employers. Qualitative analysis of the data collected revealed that these employers utilize the social networks of their immigrant Hispanic employees to recruit new workers. They also use a variety of other recruiting methods to recruit Hispanics both locally and from abroad. If this practice is widespread, it may be fueling the influx of Hispanic immigrants to North Carolina. Employers interviewed extolled the work ethic of Hispanic workers and often bypassed native–born workers, whom they felt were inferior employees. These findings have ramifications for future immigration policy and for the success of welfare–to–work programs. Employer demand for labor is one factor that must be considered when formulating new immigration policy.     

How do Ghana’s landfills affect residential property values? A case study of two sites in Accra

Like many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana lacks well-engineered sanitary landfill sites. Increased urbanization and concomitant real estate growth lead landfills to compete with residential land use, resulting in closer proximity between landfill sites and residential neighborhoods. The effects of landfills on the property values of nearby residential communities have been the subject of much debate in the developed world, where state-of-the-art and environmentally well-engineered landfills are common. However, academic and other research is inconclusive on the effects of landfills on property values in the developed countries. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by exploring the effects of landfills on residential property values in Ghana, using the Oblogo and Mallam landfills in Accra as a case study. Our analysis indicates that while landfills do depress nearby residential property values, the effects are contingent on property location relative to the level of urbanization in a community, and year of completion and total costs of property development.     

Planning in the spirit of Deleuze and Guattari? Considering community-based food projects in the United States and Mexico

In this article we argue that planning theory and practice should engage more with the normative political vision of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. They reject the transcendent authority of the State and arguably by extension, planning. As planners we should be concerned: need we reconceptualize, or abandon the planning project? We outline their vision, highlighting key concepts including lines of flight, revolution, the new land, and immanent organization, and use two cases from the United States and Mexico, the Food Commons and Center for Integral Farmer Development in the Mixteca, to show that planning in accordance with Deleuze and Guattari may indeed be possible. We end with questions: is what we describe planning? And what is planning – or what should it be?     

Is there diversity in the New Urbanism? Analyzing the demographic characteristics of New Urbanist neighborhoods in the United States

The New Urbanism (NU) planning movement aspires to create socially diverse neighborhoods. It is unclear, however, whether this movement lives up to its aspirations in practice. In an effort to systematically examine this aspect of the movement, this paper analyzes age, family type, income, and race data of 70 NU neighborhoods in the United States. The paper uses a diversity index to compare the NU neighborhoods with control sites. Findings show that NU neighborhoods have lower racial diversity, but may have higher income diversity. Consideration of variations within the way NU is implemented reveals that the low racial diversity is associated with a single approach, but higher income diversity is associated with all variants. This paper argues that NU generates places that are more socially diverse than what is described in the literature and uses two case studies to explore the ways in which diversity is produced and its relation to gentrification.     

End of an Era? Population Geography in New Zealand at the Turn of the Century

Research into and teaching on population issues in New Zealand's university geography departments is at a crossroads. A significant cohort of New Zealand population geographers who gained their graduate and post-graduate training during the 1950s and 1960s is rapidly diminishing as a result of retirements and late career shifts. In the much more competitive university environment of the 1990s staff are either not being replaced, or their positions and programmes are being reshaped as part of radical restructuring of the social sciences and humanities. This paper reflects on recent developments in population geography in New Zealand, highlighting the contributions made by three of the country's most prominent researchers and teachers in what is fast becoming a dying field of discourse in university geography departments. The paper concludes on an ambivalent note about prospects for geographers in the era of sub-replacement fertility and the heightened attention that will be accorded to migration processes.     

Changes in the age of New Zealand farmers: Problems for the future?

Earlier research shows that between 1971 and 1981, the number of farmers in New Zealand increased and their average age decreased, whereas between 1981 and 1991, the opposite trend occurred. This article addresses the issue of change in the average age of farmers since 1991 using recent census data. It reviews the difficulties in obtaining good data and describes the adjustments need to be made to obtain a consistent data series from 1971 to 2006. The long-term trend for increasing age of farmers and farm workers continues. This demographic aspect of farm structural change is then discussed in terms of the sustainability of farming by reference to productivity and potential problems with succession.     

A crack in the facade? Situating Singapore in global flows of electronic waste

Singapore is alleged to be a key node in global flows of e‐waste prohibited under the Basel Convention. We combine a close reading of the Convention and related documents with findings from nonparticipant observation of and interviews with Singapore‐based traders of discarded electronics. The case offers both important conceptual and empirical findings for future studies of territory in market‐making activity. Conceptually, our research suggests that it may be analytically useful in such studies to conceptualize territory without presupposing that it is generated as a result of separate domains or logics such as ‘the political’ or ‘the economic’. Empirically, we find that the regulatory framework of the Convention, combined with the action of traders based in Singapore, generates a territorialization of the city‐state such that it operates as a crack in the regulatory edifice of the Convention, even as Singapore lawfully fulfils its obligations to it. Moreover, allegations premised on the role of Singapore as a facilitator of global e‐waste dumping misrepresent its crucial role as a conduit of electronic equipment for the significant reuse markets elsewhere in Southeast Asia and beyond. The case indicates that the allegations against Singapore hinge on the city‐state being territorialized as a ‘developing country’.     

Suburban gentrification? Examining the geographies of New Urbanism in Atlanta’s inner suburbs

Since the 1990s, Atlanta’s inner suburbs have experienced rising rates of poverty alongside growing racial/ethnic diversity. ? Meanwhile, on the built landscape, high-end (re)development projects incorporating New Urbanist features such as pedestrian accessibility, compact densities, and mixed land uses have become increasingly common. Although practitioners suggest that these developments promote social inclusivity and enhanced “livability,” individual cases suggest that some New Urbanist projects may be gentrifying underserved communities of color. This paper tests the extent of this concern by examining Atlanta's inner-suburban geographies of New Urbanism using a logit model. Results indicate that neighborhoods with older housing stock, more renters, lower incomes, lower rents relative to home prices, and higher Latino populations in close proximity to inner-suburban downtowns are most likely to be targeted for New Urbanist (re)development. Thus, despite the optimistic language, New Urbanism in this region appears to be serving as the inner-suburban face of gentrification.?     

Still a good neighbour? Implications of changing priorities in New Zealand Aotearoa's aid sector

The period following the election of the National government in 2008 has been controversial for Aotearoa New Zealand's aid programme for a number of reasons. This article examines changes in funding modalities and other aspects of non‐governmental organisation (NGO)–government relations as the sites of contested philosophies that surround aid and development discourse. In focusing on the introduction of the Sustainable Development Fund in 2010, the article argues that this shift has generated significant uncertainty among the aid community and may ultimately undermine many of the relationships NGOs previously enjoyed with partners in the Global South.     

A geographers' imperative? Research and action in the aftermath of disaster

After the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 a number of academics published texts in attempts to make sense of the disaster. Frustrations and feelings of inability to do something useful to assist were expressed. The academic discussions arising from the disaster may be linked with more general discussions around conducting relevant and responsible research in the social sciences. This paper addresses the role of researchers in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka and explores how the debate following the tsunami can move on to refine researchers' roles in geography by way of participatory action research (PAR), a research strategy that has received limited attention in research on disasters. The paper begins by situating the debate in the spatial politics of humanitarian work and academic research. Then discussions that arose among geographers in the aftermath of the tsunami are presented and potentials for conducting responsible research by engaging with the field are introduced. In the final section, starting with the notion of responsible research, how PAR can potentially bring us forward in developing principles and tools for more responsible geographical research in the context of emergencies is discussed.     

Research Note—A New Method for Mapping Population and Understanding the Spatial Dynamics of Disease in Urban Areas: Asthma in the Bronx,New York

Determining an accurate depiction of population distribution for urban areas in order to develop an improved "denominator" is important for the calculation of higher-precision rates in GIS analyses, particularly when exploring the spatial dynamics of disease. Rather than using data aggregated by arbitrary administrative boundaries such as census tracts, we developed the Cadastral-Based Expert Dasymetric System (CEDS), an interpolation method using ancillary information to delineate areas of homogeneous values. This method uses cadastral data, land-use filters, modeling by expert system routines, and validation against various census enumeration units and other data. The CEDS method is presented through a case study of asthma hospitalizations in the borough of the Bronx in New York City, in relation to proximity buffers constructed around major sources of air pollution. The analysis using CEDS shows that asthma hospitalization risk due to proximity to pollution sources is greater than previously calculated using traditional disaggregation methods.     

Hollowing out the state? Some observations on the restructuring of hospital services in New Zealand

Summary This study applies Jessop's idea of the 'hollowed-out' state to an analysis of the restructuring of hospital services in New Zealand. Decentralization of responsibility for the funding and provision of hospital services to regional and local levels has had distinct fiscal and political advantages for the state and is rapidly changing the geography of hospital provision.     

Do protected areas networks ensure the supply of ecosystem services? Spatial patterns of two nature reserve systems in semi-arid Spain

Protected areas are essential for conserving biodiversity, and these lands have traditionally been set aside for this purpose alone. However, the increasing global demand for agricultural and forestry commodities creates conflict and tradeoffs between dedicating land for conservation versus food production. Efforts to set aside new lands for biodiversity conservation are compromised by the globally rising demand, creating trade-offs between lands dedicated to conservation versus food production. Ecosystem services are the benefits that humans obtain from ecosystems. Recent studies suggest that protected areas provide social and economic benefits that can be used to build political support and raise funds for conservation. We analyzed the capability of current protected area networks in the semi-arid region of Spain to provide intermediate regulating services (habitat preservation for threatened species, climate regulation, erosion control and water flow maintenance) to support the final provisioning service of cultivated crops to support local communities. We found that existing networks of protected lands supply considerable quantities of ecosystem services, in particular carbon stocks and groundwater recharge. Our results demonstrate that the integration of systematic analyses of ecosystem services gaps in protected area planning could contribute substantially to safeguarding ecosystem services and biodiversity jointly. However, our study also reveals substantial differences in intermediate ecosystem services supplied by different of protected areas networks, with category VI areas (Natura-2000 sites) generally showing the highest potential for ecosystem services supply. This demonstrates the important role of Natura-2000 sites for preserving regulating services in the European semi-arid region.     

A crisis in aerial sovereignty? Considering the implications of recent military violations of national airspace

The implementation of policies of pre-emption and securitisation by a number of states has led to an increase in the number of aerial incursions by one state's air force into another state's territory in recent years, often occurring before and, indeed, instead of ground incursions. This paper argues that it is vital that we conceptualise territory as a three-dimensional volume, rather than simply a flat area, in order to enable an analysis of how these events impact state sovereignty. The central contention of the paper is to extend recent work on territorial integrity and contingent sovereignty into this aerial dimension. A number of brief case studies are provided to illustrate how different incursion practices actively violate territorial integrity or render state sovereignty contingent. The conclusion seeks to answer the question of whether these incidents imply a crisis in aerial sovereignty or whether they confirm the chronic decline of this norm of international law.     

McDonald's or Golani Junction? A Case of a Contested Place in Israel

This paper investigates the conflict that arose as the result of opening a McDonald's restaurant adjacent to a national shrine in Israel. This conflict transformed Golani Junction, previously associated with the meanings assigned to the Golani memorial, into a contested place and a controversial issue. The paper outlines the conflict and the attempts to reach a compromise solution. The main argument is that the conflict reflects the notion prevalent among those dedicated to the memorial site and to the values it enshrines that the restaurant defies the sacred character of the place and marginalized the memorial in the local landscape. The conflict of meaning is also associated with McDonald's being construed as a prominent symbol of the alleged Americanization of Israeli society and culture. With this, the controversial character of the Golani Junction is also an aspect of a wider debate concerning cultural identity in Israel. Beyond the local context and specific issues involved, the controversies that transform the Golani Junction into a contested place demonstrate how conflicting interpretations of place and the politics of its meaning are formulated in terms of landscape features and architectural details.