Resilience as transformative capacity: Exploring the quadripartite cycle of structuration in a Mozambican resettlement programme

The concept of resilience has emerged out of a complex literature that has sought to make sense of an increasingly interconnected world that appears ever more beset by crises. Resilience’s appeal is reflected by the burgeoning mass of literature that has appeared on the subject in the past five years. However, there is ongoing debate surrounding its usage, with some commentators claiming that the term is inherently too conservative a one to be usefully applied to situations of vulnerability in which more radical social change is required. This article extends existing efforts to formulate more transformative notions of resilience by reframing it as a double-edged outcome of the pre-reflective and critical ways in which actors draw upon their internal structures following the occurrence of a negative event, thus reproducing or changing the external structural context that gave rise to the event in the first place. By employing a structuration-inspired analysis to the study of small-scale farmer responses to a flood-induced resettlement programme in central Mozambique, the article presents a systematic approach to the examination of resilience in light of this reframing. The case study findings suggest that more attention should be paid to the facilitative, as well as constraining, nature of structures if vulnerable populations are to be assisted in their efforts to exert transformative capacity over the wider conditions that give rise to their difficulties.     

Modeling Study of the Effect of Anthropogenic Aerosols on Late Spring Drought in South China

In this study,the mechanisms underlying the decadal variability of late spring precipitation in South China are investigated by using the latest Community Earth System Model version 1 （CESM1）.We aim to unravel the effects of different climate forcing agents such as aerosols and greenhouse gases （GHGs） on the decadal variation of precipitation,based on transient experiments from pre-industry （for year 1850） to present-day （for year 2000）.Our results reveal that：（1） CESM1 can reproduce the climatological features of atmospheric circulation and precipitation for the late spring in South China; （2） only simulations including the forcing of anthropogenic aerosols can reproduce the observed decreasing trend of late spring precipitation from 1950-2000 in South China; （3） aerosols affect the decadal change of precipitation mainly by altering the large-scale atmospheric circulation,and to a less extent by increasing the lower-tropospheric stability to inhibit the convective precipitation; and （4） in comparison,other climate forcing agents such as GHGs have much smaller effects on the decadal change of spring precipitation in South China.     

不同分辨率CCSM4对东亚和中国气候模拟能力分析

本文利用通用气候系统模式CCSM4在三种水平分辨率下的工业化革命前期气候模拟试验,结合观测和再分析资料,比较了各分辨率下模式对中国温度和降水、东亚海平面气压和850 hPa风场的模拟能力,综合评价了模式分辨率对东亚和中国气候模拟的影响.结果表明,三种分辨率对中国温度均具有很好的模拟能力,除春季外,低分辨率(T31,约3.75°×3.75°)对全年温度的模拟能力均要稍好于中(f19,约1.9°×2.5°)、高(f09,约0.9°×1.25°)分辨率;各分辨率对中国降水的模拟能力远不如温度,除冬季外全年都出现的中部地区虚假降水并未因为模式分辨率提高而得到本质改善;对于东亚海平面气压场,低分辨率在冬季模拟能力相对最好,中等分辨率在夏季相对较好,而高分辨率的模拟能力均表现最差;低分辨率对850 hPa东亚冬季风和夏季风的模拟能力均要好于中、高分辨率,而两种较高分辨率的模拟能力则比较接近.总的来说,低分辨率CCSM4在东亚和中国气候模拟中表现出了较大优势,加之其计算代价小,适合进行需要较长时间积分的气候模拟研究.     

NECESSITY AND METHOD OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF CHINA

1INTRODUCTIONFor recent years, many countries have increasingly paidattention to the research on strategic environmental as-sessment (SEA) and taken it as one of key supportingtools for pursing sustainable development (BROWNand THERIVEL, 2000; PRARTIDARIO…     

哀牢山云南松林冬季鸟类群落与地理环境的关系

本文运用了群落相似系数、种间相遇机率指数、生态位分布型和食性研究,观测分析了同一山体两侧山坡八块样地冬季鸟类群落状况。在哀牢山西坡观测到鸟类44种,东坡观测到28种,其中13种为两坡共有。西坡除种多样性较高外,鸟类生态类型也与东坡有别。所有这些差别与哀牢山地理位置,西南季风影响所形成的东西坡植被和气候等环境因素有关。文章还分析了人类活动对森林演替和鸟类群落的影响。     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: Marine Resources of Kuwait: Their Role in the Development of Non-oil Resources . Fatimah H. Y. al -Abdul -Razzak Recollections of a Revolution: Geography as Spatial Science . Mark Billinge , Derek Gregory and Ron Martin Entre l'Eden et l'Utopie . Luc Bureau Developments in Political Geography . M. A. Busteed The Elements of Graphing Data . William S. Cleveland Rural Resource Management . Paul J. Cloke and Chris C. Park Third World Atlas . Ben Crow and Alan Thomas Exploitation, Conservation, Preservation: A Geographic Perspective on Natural Resource Use . Susan L. Cutter , Hilary Lambert Renwick, and William H. Renwick . Wine Regions of the Southern Hemisphere . Harm Jan de Blij Regional Development: Problems and Policies in Eastern and Western Europe . George Demko The Geographer at Work . Peter R. Gould Change in the Amazon Basin . John Hemming Geography Since the Second World War . R. J. Johnston and P. Claval Urbanization in China: Town and Countryside in a Developing Economy 1949–2000 A.D. , R. J. R. Kirkby Transport and Communications for Pacific Microstates: Issues in Organisation and Management . Christopher C. Kissling Fluvial Forms and Processes . David Knighton The Urban Millennium . Josef W. Konvitz Technological Transition in Cartography . Mark Stephen Monmonier Field Guide to Soils and the Environment: Applications of Soil Surveys . Gerald W. Olson Northern Australia: The Arenas of Life and Ecosystems on Half a Continent . Don Parkes A Killing Rain: The Global Threat of Acid Rain . Thomas Pawlick From the Family Farm to Agribusiness: The Irrigation Crusade in California and the West, 1850–1931 . Donald J. Pisani Hybrid Maize Diffusion in Kenya . Franz -Michael Rundquist Warning and Response to the Mount St. Helens Eruption . Thomas F. Saarinen and James L. Sell Coastal Geomorphology in Australia . B. G. Thom Tropical Rain Forests of the Far East , 2nd ed . T. C. Whitmore The Dark Side of the Earth . Robert Muir Wood Categorical Data Analysis for Geographers and Environmental Scientists , Neil Wrigley     

Studies of a contaminated brackish marsh in the Hackensack Meadowlands of Northeastern New Jersey: benthic communities and metal contamination

Cores taken from 16 stations within Eight Day Swamp, a highly contaminated marsh in the Hackensack Meadowlands, were analyzed for metal concentrations and for benthic community structure. Metal levels were compared with the benchmark ERM values, and expressed in terms of toxic units. Mercury was the most important metal in all the samples in terms of its contribution to the total toxic units. The overall abundance and taxa richness in the benthic community were associated with the height of the location relative to the tidal cycle, but were generally not significantly correlated with metal concentrations at the sites. Ordination of the communities showed that the communities that were low-lying (on the mudflat) were most similar to one another, and those that were higher up on the marsh were most similar to one another. However, diversity indices (Shannon-Wiener H' and Simpson's) were significantly associated with concentrations of the metals (except As) and with the sum of the toxic units at a station.     

State and Development： Changes in Livelihood Strategies in Garhwal with Special Reference to Ecotourism in the Gangotri Region

The object of the paper is to provide an insight into the changes in livelihood strategies of the people in the Garhwal Himalayas over time. From sustaining an economy based on transit trade and subsistence agriculture, there has been a shift towards tourism in recent times. This shift has been due to the tradition of pilgrimage to the higher reaches and also due to promotion by the state by developing infrastructure and providing incentives. The paper is divided into four parts. In the first part, the policies of the colonial state and the events leading to the destruction of forests and the impoverishment of the self-sustaining semi-pastoral economy in the Garhwal Himalayas are outlined. It is argued that the destruction of forests and subsequently, the economy of the Himalayas were directly responsible for the large-scale migration to the plains. This also led to further exploitation of forests by the people who were unfamiliar with any other form of livelihood. The paper also discusses the policies of the newly independent Indian state and sees them as an extension of the British policy of large-scale exploitation of Himalayan forests for the purpose of development and economic growth. In the third section, the growth of ecotourism as a direct outcome of the orocess of deforestation and as resulting from the need of society to conserve and yet to earn a livelihood is discussed. The case study of the Gangotrir egion examines the dilemma faced by the people of Garhwal in sustaining their livelihood, income or the development in the area. In addition, tourism has fostered monopolies of groups external to the region thereby contributing neither to the income or the development in the area. In addition, there is an added threat to the environment-deforestation, and erosion-a direct outcome of increased and unplanned tourism. Such problems demand state intervention and management of t.ourism. The conclusion to the paper asserts that in order that the requirements of the society to progress and to sustain itself in its natural habitat are not compromised, it is essential to increase the process of democratization by strengthening local structures and by vesting the community with the autonomy to determine its future. The paper therefore argues that ecotourism in the Himalayas undertaken without local involvement is not desirable. The constant need for local monitoring of external agencies or even of the State‘s participation and the need for re-evaluation of environmental standards are cumbersome details that add to the costs of promoting low-impact tourism. To be viable, ecotourism should be community based and the needs of the community, their ideas of conservation should be given prime importance and local community must be encouraged to review the standards governing conservation. Local structures should thus receive patronage and promotion, so that ecotourism becomes a dynamic facet of economic development.     

PPGIS实现的难点探讨

大众参与地理信息系统(PPGIS)属于GIS技术应用之一,主要强调普通民众的群体参与,以帮助政府、规划等职能部门更好地进行决策和计划。本文着重从技术、公众权利保障性、数据三个方面论述了实现PPGIS项目中主要的难点和核心问题。     

An evaluation of the Wellington Regional Genuine Progress Index

There is widespread discontent with the gross domestic product (GDP) as a measure of progress for society. Alternative measures have been proposed, including the genuine progress indicator (GPI). This paper examines the changing institutional arrangements and attitudinal context in the recently developed Wellington region (New Zealand) GPI. We found an alignment between the GPI framework and the Local Government Act. Despite this fit, we identified challenges, including the need to revitalise public participation through deliberative techniques. It remains too early to judge whether the GPI initiative will launch a viable alternative to the GDP for the Wellington region.