Spatial Concentration in Australian Regional Development,Exogenous Shocks and Regional Demographic Outcomes: a South Australian case study

ABSTRACT

As a tribute to the massive contribution of our friend and colleague Graeme Hugo to the population and settlement geography of Australian rural areas, this paper presents a longitudinal study from his home State. It forms part of a wider study of the long-term demographic relationships between Australia’s rapidly growing regional cities and their surrounding functional regions. Of particular interest is the question of what effect the accelerating concentration of population and economic activity into a given regional city will have for the longer term demographic sustainability of its functional region as a whole. Taking the case of Port Lincoln, regional capital of most of South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, it examines the nature of change in the functional region over the period 1947–2011, and investigates the forces feeding, and partly counteracting, the population concentration process, informed by concepts of evolutionary economic geography. In particular it traces the demographic impact (particularly differential migration and ageing trends) of exogenous shocks to the region’s essentially primary productive economic base during the period of major change from 1981 to 2011.     

IS THE EXTREME SNOW DEPTH RECORD FOR NORDLAND,NORWAY RELIABLE?

A snow depth of 370 cm at Dunderlandsdalen in winter 1919–20 is the largest recorded at stations in Nordland, Norway. During the period 1895–1924, the average maximum annual value there was 150.4 cm; at other stations it ranged from 38.5 to 190.1 cm. The ratio of maxima at other stations to that at Dunderlandsdalen was particularly low in 1919–20. In Nordland generally, that winter's recorded precipitation was slightly above the 30‐year average, but at Dunderlandsdalen it exceeded the average by 34%. At all stations except Dunderlandsdalen, 26 Jan.–1 Feb. was a dry period; at Dunderlandsdalen, 51.7 mm was recorded. Only one day without snowfall was recorded at Dunderlandsdalen between early January and early February, but elsewhere there were few days with snowfall. The difference in snowfall frequency and snow depth at Dunderlandsdalen in 1919–20 from values recorded elsewhere in Nordland contrasts with the relationships in other winters between 1895 and 1924. No observations were made at Dunderlandsdalen in winter 1917–18. Two of the householders there died in 1916. A change of personnel making the observations may have been responsible for the data gap and for the anomalous 1919 data. Changes made to buildings or the recording site in 1917 or 1918 may have resulted in increased snow depths as a result of drifting. Maintaining a record of climatic extremes and their environmental consequences is important. Data must be accurate. In view of this, it would be sensible to regard the validity of the 370 cm Dunderlandsdalen maximum as doubtful.     

Meeting the Challenge of Systemic Change in Geography Education: Lucy Sprague Mitchell’s Young Geographers

The history of K–12 geography education has been characterized by recurrent high hopes and dashed expectations. There have, however, been moments when the trajectory of geography education might have changed to offer students the opportunity to develop a thorough working knowledge of geography. Lucy Sprague Mitchell’s geography program developed in the 1920s and 1930s was brilliant in its conception and execution but it did not lead to large-scale systemic change. Analyzing the origins, development, and outcome of her program suggests the conditions that facilitate and inhibit systemic change, and therefore perhaps we can learn to capitalize on comparable moments in the future.     

Subsidence in the Kathmandu Basin,before and after the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha Earthquake,Nepal Revealed from Small Baseline Subset-DInSAR Analysis

Land subsidence in densely urbanized areas is a global problem that is primarily caused by excessive groundwater withdrawal. The Kathmandu Basin is one such area where subsidence due to groundwater depletion has been a major problem in recent years. Moreover, on 25 April 2015, this basin experienced large crustal movements caused by the Gorkha earthquake (Mw 7.8). Consequently, the effects of earthquake-induced deformation could affect the temporal and spatial nature of anthropogenic subsidence in the basin. However, this effect has not yet been fully studied. In this paper, we applied the SBAS-DInSAR technique to estimate the spatiotemporal displacement of land subsidence in the Kathmandu Basin before and after the Gorkha earthquake, using 16 ALOS-1 Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) images during the pre-seismic period and 26 Sentinel-1 A/B SAR images during the pre- and post-seismic periods. The results showed that the mean subsidence rate in the central part of the basin was about ?8.2 cm/year before the earthquake. The spatial extents of the subsiding areas were well-correlated with the spatial distributions of the compressible clay layers in the basin. We infer from time-series InSAR analysis that subsidence in the Kathmandu basin could be associated with fluvio-lacustrine (clay) deposits and local hydrogeological conditions. However, after the mainshock, the subsidence rate significantly increased to ?15 and ?12 cm/year during early post-seismic (108 days) and post-seismic (2015–2016) period, respectively. Based on a spatial analysis of the subsidence rate map, the entire basin uplifted during the co-seismic period has started to subside and become stable during the early-post-seismic period. This is because of the elastic rebound of co-seismic deformation. However, interestingly, the localized areas show increased subsidence rates during both the early-post- and post-seismic periods. Therefore, we believe that the large co-seismic deformation experienced in this basin might induce the local subsidence to increase in rate, caused by oscillations of the water table level in the clay layer.     

Including animal to plant protein shifts in climate change mitigation policy: a proposed three-step strategy

Strong and rapid greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, far beyond those currently committed to, are required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. This allows no sector to maintain business as usual practices, while application of the precautionary principle requires avoiding a reliance on negative emission technologies. Animal to plant-sourced protein shifts offer substantial potential for GHG emission reductions. Unabated, the livestock sector could take between 37% and 49% of the GHG budget allowable under the 2°C and 1.5°C targets, respectively, by 2030. Inaction in the livestock sector would require substantial GHG reductions, far beyond what are planned or realistic, from other sectors. This outlook article outlines why animal to plant-sourced protein shifts should be taken up by the Conference of the Parties (COP), and how they could feature as part of countries’ mitigation commitments under their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to be adopted from 2020 onwards. The proposed framework includes an acknowledgment of ‘peak livestock’, followed by targets for large and rapid reductions in livestock numbers based on a combined ‘worst first’ and ‘best available food’ approach. Adequate support, including climate finance, is needed to facilitate countries in implementing animal to plant-sourced protein shifts.

Key policy insights

• Given the livestock sector’s significant contribution to global GHG emissions and methane dominance, animal to plant protein shifts make a necessary contribution to meeting the Paris temperature goals and reducing warming in the short term, while providing a suite of co-benefits.

• Without action, the livestock sector could take between 37% and 49% of the GHG budget allowable under the 2°C and 1.5°C targets, respectively, by 2030.

• Failure to implement animal to plant protein shifts increases the risk of exceeding temperate goals; requires additional GHG reductions from other sectors; and increases reliance on negative emissions technologies.

• COP 24 is an opportunity to bring animal to plant protein shifts to the climate mitigation table.

• Revised NDCs from 2020 should include animal to plant protein shifts, starting with a declaration of ‘peak livestock’, followed by a ‘worst first’ replacement approach, guided by ‘best available food’.

     

Plio-Pleistocene sedimentation in coastal grabens,north-east Rhodes,Greece

The stratigraphy of marine Plio-Pleistocene sediments from northeast Rhodes (Dodecanese islands, Greece) is revised in the light of facies mapping and the recognition of three major transgression–regression cycles. Before late Pliocene submergence, metamorphosed Mesozoic limestones formed a high-relief karstic landscape. During subsequent transgressions, subsiding basins with spectacular cliffed and bioeroded margins were infilled by a mosaic of carbonate-dominated sediments, sourced by high rates of carbonate productivity on narrow shelves rimming the basins and their drowning islands. Periods of relative sea-level fall superimposed a complex series of ‘fossil’ coastal geomorphological features such as cliffs, abrasion platforms, surf caves, notches, boulder beaches and palaeokarsts. These created the rugged present day topography of the island's northeast coast. Three main lithostratigraphic units, the Kritika, Rhodes and Lindos Acropolis Formations, are defined. The Rhodes and Lindos Acropolis Formations are subdivided into mappable facies groups rather than members, as the lithofacies are strongly diachronous. The Kritika and Rhodes Formations were each subaerially exposed and partly eroded before re-transgression. Although there is a general pattern of lithological succession, details vary across the study area and some facies groups are restricted in development, indicating differences in tectonic behaviour and palaeo-geomorphology between neighbouring basins. A preliminary process-response model is presented for the sedimentation history of the Rhodes and Lindos Acropolis Formations, using sedimentological, palaeontological, palaeoecological and ichnological data.     

青藏高原不同时段气候变化的研究综述

1 Introduction The annual mean world temperature increased by about 0.6℃ from the late 1800s to the 1980s (Wang, 1994). The global environmental change is marked with “global warming” and its possible effects on the ecosystem as well as the production …     

Some phenomena of the interaction between vegetation and a atmosphere on multiple scales

This article studies the response of the distribution pattern and the physiological characteristics of the ecosystem to the spontaneous precipitation and the interaction between vegetation and the atmosphere on multiple scales in arid and semi-arid zones, based on measured data of the ecological physiological parameters in the Ordas Plateau of northern China. The results show that the vegetation biomass and the energy use efficiency of photosynthesis are especially sensitive to the annual precipitation; strong and complex interactions exist between the vegetation and the atmosphere on multiple scales leading to supernormal thermal heterogeneity of the underlying surface, the strong vortex movement and turbulence. This study can facilitate understanding of the land surface processes and the influences of global climate change as well as human activities on the human environment in the arid and semi-arid zones. It also aids in improving the parameterization schemes of turbulent fluxes of a heterogeneous underlying surface for land surface processes in climate models.     

陆表自然和人文要素相互作用——“全球变化及应对”重点专项研究进展

在国家重点研发计划支持下,项目提出了陆表不均一性检测和订正的新方法,解决了渐变型不均一性检测和订正的难题,构建了中国地表太阳辐射、气温、地温、风速和降水等参数均一化站点和格点数据集,修订了关于中国地表风速变化趋势、增温格局及其形成机制的结论。融合多源数据,构建并验证了千米级、流域级或县域级的电厂、人口、生物质能、取水量、氮排放、二氧化碳排放等影响自然系统的关键人文要素历史和未来预估数据集。构建了未来关键人文要素情景,研制了碳中和目标下甲烷和氧化亚氮排放情景和用于驱动全球模式的未来情景,预估了中国碳中和战略的实施对全球变暖的减缓作用,发现中国碳中和对远期和中期全球变暖的减缓作用显著。给出了中国各省份水体氮排放安全阈值及超越时间,阐明了中国粮食产量与氮施肥的关系,提出了在保障粮食安全的前提下减少水体氮排放的有效途径,指出重构城乡养分循环体系是同时保障粮食安全和恢复水质的必要途径。发现全球饱和水汽压差的年际变化与大气二氧化碳浓度上升速率的年际变化显著相关,阐明了饱和水汽压差变化在调控生态系统生产力中的重要角色以及多因素耦合作用在生态系统生产力变化中的复杂影响。建议更全面细致地评估中国各种碳中...     

Environmental change and the informal plastic recycling networks of Kolkata

This article introduces plastic recycling networks in Kolkata, India, as a case to illustrate the contradictory entanglement of economic and environmental change in urban informal contexts of the Global South. In light of the prevailing environmental critique of informal plastic recycling in India, this article discusses plastic recyclers’ environmental impact and contribution as well as the potential to enhance the environmental and economic performance of their business. Network and chain approaches in the emerging field of Environmental Economic Geography are combined with the notion of social metabolism to conceptualize the entanglement of environmental and economic processes as well as socio-environmental inequalities entailed in recycling networks. The analysis reveals the impact that the heterogeneity and fluctuation of plastic waste supply has on the economic organization of recycling networks, giving rise to distinct forms of governance in its intermediate and down-stream segments. Such an integrated perspective also serves to explain why environmental upgrading is hard to achieve under prevailing circumstances by plastic recyclers in Kolkata. Based on an assessment of the social and political conditions of informality under which plastic recyclers operate, the adoption of common assumptions about ecological modernization imbuing parts of Environmental Economic Geography is called into question.