Characteristics, threats and opportunities of landfill scavenging: The case of Gaborone-Botswana

In Gaborone, as in other large cities in the developing world, individuals try to make a living by engaging in novel occupations such as landfill scavenging. This paper reports on a research conducted in the Gaborone landfill, the largest in Botswana. The study content-analyzed available literature from other countries. It also relied mainly on direct field observations. The discussions on and answers to closed and interview schedules by stakeholders, affected- and- interested – persons, provided the information on the threats and opportunities related to the landfill site and its informal management activities. This on-going case study lends credence to the potential of scavenging in sustaining livelihoods among those who cannot secure employment in the formal urban market. Scavenging tends to be useful although it may hazardous to the informal entrepreneurs. Taking all the threats into consideration, the decommissioning and closure of the landfill seems inevitable, in spite of the apparent short-term livelihood opportunities it provides to the informal sector.     

A new approach for the development and management of brackish karst springs

A new approach to the method of artificial upraising of the water outlet point, for management and development of brackish karst springs, uses the MODKARST model. Brackish karst springs simulation can be used to estimate the necessary upraising of the spring elevation, so that sea-water intrusion is blocked. The consequent freshwater loss to the sea, due to this upraising, can also be estimated. The method has been applied to the periodically brackish karst Almiros spring at Heraklion of Crete, Greece. The spring simulation showed that the sea-water intrusion could be prevented through an artificial upraising of the water-outlet point, realized by the construction of a dam. The exact upraising has been estimated. Freshwater loss to the sea because of this upraising has also been estimated. The model could also be used as a tool for the management of the spring. For example, it was used to assess management options for the spring during the depletion period of the year 1994. The best scenario for the development of the spring during this period has been estimated.     

Rights or Containment? The politics of Aboriginal cultural heritage in Victoria

Aboriginal cultural heritage protection, and the legislative regimes that underpin it, constitute important mechanisms for Aboriginal people to assert their rights and responsibilities. This is especially so in Victoria, where legislation vests wide-ranging powers and control of cultural heritage with Aboriginal communities. However, the politics of cultural heritage, including its institutionalisation as a scientific body of knowledge within the state, can also result in a powerful limiting of Aboriginal rights and responsibilities. This paper examines the politics of cultural heritage through a case study of a small forest in north-west Victoria. Here, a dispute about logging has pivoted around differing conceptualisations of Aboriginal cultural heritage values and their management. Cultural heritage, in this case, is both a powerful tool for the assertion of Aboriginal rights and interests, but simultaneously a set of boundaries within which the state operates to limit and manage the challenge those assertions pose. The paper will argue that Aboriginal cultural heritage is a politically contested and shifting domain structured around Aboriginal law and politics, Australian statute and the legacy of colonial history.     

Decision-support systems for groundwater protection: innovative tools for resource management

Governmental authorities are forced by law to make decisions within the framework of European, national and regional directives in the fields of spatial planning, groundwater and environmental protection. These tasks can be supported by a decision-support system, which integrates data from various sources and helps to make decision processes more effective and transparent. Basic work for such a decision support system has been done in a transnational and interdisciplinary project (Interreg II C: KATER), including metadata definition, metadata system, cartographic tools and GIS tools. The direct integration of these tools and information in the decision process will be implemented in the next few years (project KATER II).     

基于GIS/MIS/OA的短周期工业原料林经营模式研究

提出了短周期工业原料林经营模式的概念,探讨了短周期工业原料林经营模式的体系结构、子系统功能和主要林业数表类型,说明其与GIS/MIS/OA系统集成的必然趋势,并以岳阳纸业股份公司的纸浆原料林为例进行了实例分析。     

全国资源与生态环境遥感监测数据管理与应用服务系统设计

为推动资源与生态环境遥感监测数据的应用与服务,为国家、相关行业管理决策和社会公众提供有价值的信息,需要在资源与生态环境遥感监测成果数据基础上,开发数据管理与应用服务系统。本文从国家资源与生态环境建设的实际需求出发,结合国土资源部实施的环北京地区资源与生态环境遥感监测成果,探讨资源与生态环境遥感监测数据管理与应用服务的技术解决方案,搭建资源与生态环境遥感监测数据管理与应用服务技术平台,并实现网络环境下对资源与生态环境监测形成的各种类型数据的集成化管理。     

领导人才资源开发经营的实践与思考

人才资源是第一资源，谁拥有人才优势，谁就能抢占事业发展的制高点，因此，对人才资源开发与经营的效益要远远大于对其他资源开发的效益。对山西省气象局近几年来领导人才资源开发与经营的实践进行了详细的探讨和总结，指出领导人才资源开发与经营的基础环节是造拔优势年轻人才，中介环节是创新人才选拔机制，关键环节是优化配置人才资源。     

Alpine medicinal plant trade and Himalayan mountain livelihood strategies

Commercial alpine medicinal plants are collected from the wild by local rural households throughout the Himalaya and sold in order to increase household incomes. Recent studies indicate that this annual trade amounts to thousands of tonnes of roots, rhizomes, tubers, leaves, etc., worth millions of US dollars. The main market is in India. Based on a national survey, including the most commonly traded species, and a village study this paper investigates the importance of the alpine medicinal plant trade at national and local levels in Nepal. The national survey included standardized open-ended interviews with 232 harvesters, 64 local traders, 66 central wholesalers, 47 regional wholesalers, and 16 production companies. The village survey is based on the daily records of household activities in 15 households in a one-year period. The annual Nepalese alpine and sub-alpine medicinal plant trade is conservatively estimated to vary from 480 to 2500 t with a total harvester value of US$0.8–3.3 million; the average harvester value is estimated at US$66.0 ± 99.0. The trade in 1997/98 amounted to 1600 t with a harvester value of US$2.3 million and an export value equivalent to 2.5% of total export from Nepal. Medicinal plant harvesting was found to constitute an integrated part of local livelihood strategies, contributing from 3 to 44% (average of 12%) of the annual household income. Importance at household level depended on land and animal holdings, and the availability of adult male labour. The validity and reliability of methods and analyses is evaluated, and issues of conservation and management of alpine medicinal plant species under the community forestry scheme are discussed.     

"温州模式"新思考

诞生于20世纪80年代初的“温州模式”已日渐显示出它的限制性。在对“温州模式”问题分析的基础上。作者认为“温州模式”在新时期必须要赋予新的内涵，要更新观念，要从生产、管理、销售模式等方面创新。     

加强资金管理促进地勘经济发展

资金结构的不合理使一些地勘单位的发展步履维艰。增加财务杠杆利益,优化资本结构,保持良好的财务状况,发挥资金的有效利用率,才能实现资金的最大利润率,使地勘单位适应市场经济环境,提高其经济实力。