Marine spatial planning from the perspective of a small seaside community in Ireland

Marine spatial planning (MSP) is advocated as a means of managing human uses of the sea in a manner that is consistent with the maintenance of the ecological goods and services of the marine environment. Support for the process is evident at international and national levels but the degree to which it is acceptable to local level stakeholders is not clear. An Daingean (formely Dingle) is a small sea-oriented town situated on the southwest coast of Ireland in which marine-based tourism and other relatively new uses of the sea are pursued along side traditional fishing activities. Stakeholders in An Daingean are found to be positively disposed to a local process of MSP that incorporates meaningful local involvement.     

The international legal framework for marine spatial planning

Increasing demand for ocean resources, both living and non-living, have already lead to loss of biodiversity, habitat depletion and irreversible damage to the marine environment. Furthermore, introduction of new kinds of sea uses, spatial extension of ongoing sea uses and the need to better protect and conserve the marine biological diversity will result in increasing conflicts among the various users, as well as between the users and the environment. Marine spatial planning as a process to allocate space for specific uses can help to avoid user conflicts, to improve the management of marine spatial claims, and to sustain an ecosystem-based management of ocean and seas. This article explores the rights and duties towards exploitation and protection of the marine environment under the jurisdiction of coastal states as reflected in two important global conventions, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Both Conventions provide the main legal framework for marine spatial planning that have to be taken into account in planning at the regional and national level.     

Conclusions: Benefits, lessons learned, and future challenges of marine spatial planning

This article summarizes briefly the principal conclusions from papers presented in this special issue on marine spatial planning. It identifies potential economic, ecological, and administrative benefits (and costs) that might be realized from the implementation of MSP. Finally, the article summarize lessons learned and identifies future challenges and directions for MSP, including the development of international guidelines for its implementation.     

The Marine Planning Framework for South Australia: A new ecosystem-based zoning policy for marine management

The Marine Planning Framework for South Australia is a new large-scale, ecosystem-based zoning policy for management of development and use in the marine environment. Utilising the Geographic Information System (GIS), the model establishes four ecologically rated zones, derived from known ecological criteria. A series of goals, objectives and strategies represent the desired outcomes for each of the ecologically rated zones. A Performance Assessment System (PAS) will subsequently evaluate the success of the marine plans. Implementation will be supported by a collaborative whole-of-government approach. Marine plans will facilitate the delivery of long-term protection to the marine environment as a whole ecosystem, whilst enabling a broad range of activities to occur in a sustainable manner.     

pCO2 and carbon fluxes across sea-air interface in the Changjiang Estuary and Hangzhou Bay

Partial pressure of CO2(pCO2) was investigated in the Changjiang(Yangtze River) Estuary,Hangzhou Bay and their adjacent areas during a cruise in August 2004,China.The data show that pCO2 in surface waters of the studied area was higher than that in the atmosphere with only exception of a patch east of Zhoushan Archipelago.The pCO2 varied from 168 to 2 264 μatm,which fell in the low range compared with those of other estuaries in the world.The calculated sea-air CO2 fluxes decreased offshore and varied from -10.0 to 88.1 mmol m-2 d-1 in average of 24.4 ± 16.5 mmol m-2 d-1.Although the area studied was estimated only 2 × 104 km2,it emitted(5.9 ± 4.0) × 103 tons of carbon to the atmosphere every day.The estuaries and their plumes must be further studied for better understanding the role of coastal seas playing in the global oceanic carbon cycle.     

Influencing factors for formation of urban and rural spatial structure in metropolis fringe area—Taking Shuangliu County of Chengdu in China as a case

With rapid urbanization process, the pace of urban sprawl has been quickened and most metropolises have experienced expansions in leaps and bounds in suburbanization, which has greatly changed the urban and rural spatial structure of the metropolis fringe area. In this paper, Shuangliu County is taken as a case, since it is a typical fringe area of Chengdu Metropolis. Based on Landsat TM images of Chengdu City and Shuangliu County obtained in 1985, 2000 and 2004, characteristics of urban and rural spatial structure in Shuangliu County were analyzed, such as core-periphery spatial structure and some obvious integration trends. Then the influencing factors for the formation of urban and rural spatial structure were identified, including some natural, social, economic and political factors. According to the discussion of this paper, Shuangliu County is undergoing a key transition and reform period. Its formation of urban and rural spatial structure was affected not only by such common factors as the location, natural background, industrial transition, migration, etc., but also by some unique factors such as city planning and policy guidance, which played an important role in accelerating its uneven spatial structure. The understanding of the role of the influencing factors would be useful for carrying out spatial management and development planning of metropolis fringe area.     

Analysis of types and changes of village-level economy in rural Gongyi city,Henan Province since 1990

Based on the research on the rural living standard in China in terms of annual net income per capita, we define six types of village-level economy, i.e. ＂to be extremely poor＂, ＂to make a basic living＂, ＂to dress warmly and eat one＇s fill＂, ＂to try to enrich （to disengage poverty）＂, ＂to be well-off＂ and ＂to be affluent＂. The data of average annual net income of all the 292 villages between 1990 and 2004 in rural Gongyi City, Henan Province were collected, verified and classified. By using standard deviation, coefficient of variation and regression analysis, it is found that the Gongyi＇s rural economy has boosted up remarkably from the relative-poverty and absolute-poverty stages in 1990 to the well-off in 2004. However, the absolute differences between villages present a trend of enlargement, while the relative differences fluctuating. On the other hand, spatial analysis of village-level economy shows that most villages with relatively high economic development level were located along national expressway and most villages with absolute-poverty lay in remote mountainous areas in 1990. Since the 1990s, the rapid urbanization and industrialization have had strongly positive effects on rural economic growth. Initial economic foundation, natural resources and traditional techniques also contribute to village economy. From the perspective of geography, villages with location advantages, such as near urban center or industrial parks, have more chances for their economic development and the ＂core-periphery＂ economic structure has been presented in the process of rural development.     

Distribution of general aerobic heterotrophic bacteria in sediment core taken from the Canadian basin and the Chukchi Sea

The occurrence percentage and abundance of General Aerobic Hetero- trophic Bacteria （GAB） were determined by using the method of MPN for 182 sub- samples from 10 sediment cores taken from the Canadian basin and the Chukchi Sea at two different culturing temperatures. The results showed that the general occurrence percentage of GAB was quite high, average abundanees of GAB at cultured temperatares of 4℃ and 25℃ were 4.46 ×10^7 and 5.47×10^7 cells·g^-1（wt）, respectively. The highest abundance of GAB occurred at 20 -22 cm section in the sediment. GAB abundances changed among the section of sediments, but there is a trend ： the a-bundances at the middle or lower sections were lower than those at upper section. Cultivation at 25℃ could improve the occurrence percentage and abundances of GAB, which suggests that the increasing of temperature may change the living circum-stances of GAB. The differences of GAB among the latitudes areas indicated that occurrence percentage and abundances of GAB in middle latitude areas were higher than those in the higher or lower latitude areas, and were more obvious at 4℃ than those at 25℃. The GAB abundances in sediment under the shallower water seemed to be low- er than those in sediments under the deeper water and this status was more obvious at 25℃ than that at 4℃.     

道路交通空间数据WebGIS发布技术探讨

介绍道路交通空间数据WebGIS发布技术研究的必要性。在介绍WebGIS的功能特点的基础上,简要介绍了超图软件SuperMapIS．NET的特性。最后,详细论述了运用SuperMapIS．NET发布交通数据的步骤,并做了简要数据地图的发布实现。     

3S技术支持下的小型遗址提取方法

针对仅利用地物光谱分析方法不能识别某些小型遗址的现状,提出基于地物空间关系知识,多源信息复合提取遗址的思路获取目标信息。以安徽省巢湖柘皋地区为例,利用SPOT-5卫星影像和地形图数据,综合运用3S技术进行小型遗址信息提取研究。经过和巢湖文管部门普查记录对比,证明了该方法有效性。该方法可缩小遗址探查范围,为考古普查工作节约大量时间、人力和物力。