Power and the hierarchy of knowledge: A review of a decade of the World Bank’s relationship with South Africa

This article presents a case study of the World Bank’s relationship with South Africa to argue that the Bank uses its knowledge brokering role as a device to facilitate the development of a lending relationship with countries that may initially be reluctant to enter into this kind of engagement. This article reviews the World Bank’s 10-year effort to develop a lending relationship with South Africa. The Bank inserted itself into the country in the early 1990s at the outset of its democratic transformation. Throughout the decade, South Africa acceded to the Bank’s policy interventions through technical assistance rather than through a concerted lending programme. In doing so, South Africa internalized the Bank’s market-driven political economy framework underlying its technical assistance programme. The country’s application of the Bank’s knowledge has had questionable outcomes for its development agenda. While the Bank’s ‘expert’ interventions may have offered valuable technical insights, it neglected the politics of distribution that are embedded in a more localized knowledge formation process. The result has led to the instrumentalization of local governance and undermined the engagement of civil society actors in the construction of a democratic state at the local level.     

地图学新产品与人类空间认知能力变革

地图是人类空间认知能力的图形化表述,地图如实地记载了人类思维发展的历程。同时人类的空间认知能力也随着地图学新产品的深入开发与普及应用不断地发生着巨大的变革,这是一个相互促进、相辅相成的过程。本文将从四组关键词的角度:1)现实空间、思维空问、虚拟空间;2)抽象思维、形象思维、创造思维;3)空间、时间;4)显性知识、缄默知识(意会知识),详细探讨地图学新产品对人类空间认知能力的重要影响。     

为地理知识库构建位置本体

随着网络中各种地理相关的应用越来越多,要想解决地理空间信息语义层次上的应用问题,就需要用到地理知识库。其中本体是地理知识库的核心。地理本体是研究地理信息科学领域内不同层次和不同应用方向上的地理空间信息概念的详细内涵和层次关系。本文为地理知识库构建了极具实用性的的位置本体,并详细阐述了基于ETL的数据知识库从资源采集,到数据集成,最后到本体构建的过程。     

Attitudes toward hydraulic fracturing: The opposing forces of political conservatism and basic knowledge about fracking

Hydraulic fracturing has become a contentious issue around the globe. In the present study, using a sample of American adults (n = 412), the role of political orientation (conservative vs. liberal) and basic knowledge about fracking on fracking risk perception attitudes, fracking economic attitudes, energy reliance attitudes, trust of energy information sources, and preferred dwelling distance from energy operations was investigated. Basic knowledge about hydraulic fracturing as a possible moderating mechanism was also explored. Correlational and regression results revealed that political ideology and basic fracking knowledge are key predictors of fracking and energy source attitudes, and that the nature of the relation between ideology and fracking risk perceptions, fracking economic attitudes, reliance on natural gas, wind and solar, and distrust of government agencies, are influenced by an individual’s basic knowledge about fracking.     

The Channel ecosystem,a cross-roads of anthropogenic pressures and scientific studies: Lessons learned from the European INTERREG IV projects (2009–2015)

The English Channel hosts a high density of human activities, which result in strong pressures and impacts on its marine ecosystem. The European Union's INTERREG programme funds projects to promote sustainable development through ecosystem-based management and the development of socio-economic services in the Channel region. An analysis of the themes studied during INTERREG IVA projects to date reveals both gaps that should be addressed in the future, as well as good practices that should be maintained and promoted. This analysis was used to provide advice and recommendations on knowledge gaps which may form the foundation of future projects for European programmes such as those in the next INTERREG project call (2015–2020).     

Power,perception, and adaptation: Exploring gender and social–environmental risk perception in northern Guanajuato,Mexico

This paper examines how gender relations within rural communities in north-central Mexico affect women’s perceptions of and responses to environmental and social risks. Several studies currently exist which suggest various reasons as to how people especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change perceive their risks, and how this influences their responses. In this paper, I take a feminist approach to questions of social–environmental risks and adaptation to argue that risk perception is tightly linked to knowledge production, and knowledge production is a power-laden process involving the constant negotiation of resources, responsibilities and knowledge. I base this argument on the results of fieldwork conducted from September 2009 to May 2010 with women residents of two ejidos in northern Guanajuato, Mexico. In drawing from feminist political ecology studies, I intend to show how gender, environmental knowledge, risk perception and thus, adaptation are constituted by and embedded in social relations of power.     

Addressing climate services in SouthAmerican Chaco region through a knowledge coproduction process

When engaging in an interdisciplinary and intersectoral knowledge coproduction process, what premises should (academic and non-academic) participants consider to prevent power dynamics and divergent interests from becoming epistemological obstacles (Bachelard, 1974)? What methodological devices should be adopted to enable a productive dialogue between heterogeneous actors and knowledge? Despite the plethora of literature on the relevance of participatory approaches and the promotion of open science to produce socially meaningful knowledge, most works neglect central challenges present in any coproduction experience. Namely, how to deal with power dynamics, how to challenge the identity anchors of the participants and how to ensure the epistemological conditions for initiating long-term collaboration. Hence, based on these concerns, this paper puts forth the theoretical-methodological basis of a knowledge coproduction approach for the development of climate services for family farming. In addition, we present two major results achieved in the framework of a coproduction process involving academic and non-academic participants: the development of a community-based rainfall monitoring network in the eastern region of the South American Gran Chaco and the codesign of a smartphone application.     

An integrative assessment of water vulnerability in First Nation communities in Southern Ontario,Canada

Assessing vulnerability related to water is a global concern and especially important to populations experiencing multiple exposures and sensitivities. Approaches are required that span social and physical concerns, and that bridge multiple types and forms of knowledge. This research investigates the water vulnerability of three First Nation communities in Ontario, Canada. A collaborative process was used to build an integrative understanding of water vulnerability, develop an associated instrument, and undertake the community scale assessments. Results from the assessment provided communities with a comprehensive overview of water vulnerability, and pointed to gaps in knowledge and specific areas where attention was needed. Conducting assessments at a community scale following the methodology employed in this research responds to the need for integration and context sensitivity when engaging in water vulnerability assessments and introduces innovations to existing assessment tools. A holistic approach to water vulnerability assessment provided decision-makers with the context-specific details and empirical insights they require to prioritize issues and allocate resources.     

A quantitative analysis of the causes of the global climate change research distribution

During the last decades of growing scientific, political and public attention to global climate change, it has become increasingly clear that the present and projected impacts from climate change, and the ability adapt to the these changes, are not evenly distributed across the globe. This paper investigates whether the need for knowledge on climate changes in the most vulnerable regions of the world is met by the supply of knowledge measured by scientific research publications from the last decade. A quantitative analysis of more than 15,000 scientific publications from 197 countries investigates the distribution of climate change research and the potential causes of this distribution. More than 13 explanatory variables representing vulnerability, geographical, demographical, economical and institutional indicators are included in the analysis. The results show that the supply of climate change knowledge is biased toward richer countries, which are more stable and less corrupt, have higher school enrolment and expenditures on research and development, emit more carbon and are less vulnerable to climate change. Similarly, the production of knowledge, analyzed by author affiliations, is skewed away from the poorer, fragile and more vulnerable regions of the world. A quantitative keywords analysis of all publications shows that different knowledge domains and research themes dominate across regions, reflecting the divergent global concerns in relation to climate change. In general, research on climate change in more developed countries tend to focus on mitigation aspects, while in developing countries issues of adaptation and human or social impacts (droughts and diseases) dominate. Based on these findings, this paper discusses the gap between the supply of and need for climate change knowledge, the potential causes and constraints behind the imbalanced distribution of knowledge, and its implications for adaptation and policymaking.     

GIS辅助下的基于知识的遥感影像分类方法研究——以土地覆盖/土地利用类型为例

提高计算机遥感影像的分类精度，是遥感应用中研究的主要问题之一。作者以规则的形式表示遥感影像解译知识，使用ＴＭ影像数据和ＤＥＭ、坡度、土地利用图等地理辅助数据，从遥感影像处理／地理数据／专家知识一体化的角度出发，使用基于知识的方法进行了研究，改善了分类精度。实例研究证明了方法的正确性。