Intellectual property rights and the transfer of climate change technologies: issues,challenges, and way forward

The role of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the development and transfer of climate change technologies has been a contentious issue in negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Irreconcilable differences seem to oppose those who believe IPRs are an inherent barrier to the transfer of climate change technologies and those who argue they are an essential incentive to innovation. After providing an overview of the polarized debate on this issue, this article reviews the existing literature and empirical evidence and looks into some practical initiatives and recent developments. Finally, it seeks to identify a way forward that could help overcome the current stalemate in international deliberations by suggesting a number of parameters to structure the discussion on this complex issue.     

浙江南部沿岸产卵场春、夏季鱼卵、仔稚鱼种类组成与分布

根据2011年4月、5月与6月对浙江南部沿岸产卵场进行的共3个航次的调查资料,对该海域的鱼卵、仔稚鱼的种类组成和数量分布进行了分析,结果表明,共发现鱼卵、仔稚鱼72个种类,分别隶属11目38科48属。其中鱼卵29种,分别隶属6目18科24属;仔稚鱼55种,分别隶属10目29科40属。4—6月仔稚鱼数量呈逐月递减的趋势,而鱼卵数量6月最多,5月最少。鱼卵优势种4月以斑鰶、棱鱚、小黄鱼与蓝点马鲛为主,5月以斑鰶、鳀、龙头鱼、银鲳、蓝点马鲛与石首鱼科为主,6月以鳀、龙头鱼、多鳞鱚与鲱科鱼类为主;仔稚鱼优势种4月以虾虎鱼类、褐菖鲉与平鲉科为主,5月以鳀、虾虎鱼类、棱鱚、斑鰶与长鳍篮子鱼为主,6月以鳀与虾虎鱼类为主。斑鰶、鲳鱼、小黄鱼、棱鱚、蓝点马鲛与褐菖鲉的产卵盛期为4月,而鳀与龙头鱼的产卵盛期为6月。     

Survey of estrogenic and androgenic disruption in Swedish coastal waters by the analysis of bile fluid from perch and biomarkers in the three-spined stickleback

The potential for endocrine disruption close to sewage treatment plant and pulp mill effluent discharge points along the Swedish Baltic Sea coast was explored using a dual survey strategy employing two stationary fish species. The levels of vitellogenin and spiggin as biomarkers of endocrine disruption were determined in juvenile three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) together with the sex ratios and the presence of intersex. As an indication of exposure, estrogenic and androgenic substances were analysed by GC–MS in bile from perch (Perca fluviatilis L.). Spiggin and vitellogenin levels in juvenile three-spined sticklebacks were generally low, and, for most sampling sites no deviation in gonad type ratios were observed. No remarkable levels of natural or synthetic estrogens or androgens were observed in bile fluid from perch, while bisphenol A and 4-nonylphenol were detected in perch from both reference sites and exposed sites. Taken together, the results did not indicate estrogenic or androgenic disruption in the investigated waters.     

Can dynamite-blasted reefs recover? A novel, low-tech approach to stimulating natural recovery in fish and coral populations

Throughout Southeast Asia, blast fishing creates persistent rubble fields with low coral cover and depauperate fish communities. We stabilized a 20-year-old rubble field in a Marine Protected Area in the Philippines, using plastic mesh and rock piles in replicated 17.5m(2) plots, thereby increasing topographic complexity, fish habitat, and recruitment substrate surface area. Multivariate analysis revealed fish community shifts within the rehabilitated area from that characteristic of rubble fields to one similar to the adjacent healthy reef within three years, as measured by changes in fish abundance and body size. Coral recruitment and percent cover increased over time, with 63.5% recruit survivorship within plots, compared with 6% on rubble. Our low-cost approach created a stable substrate favoring natural recovery processes. Both rehabilitation and the elimination of poaching were integral to success, emphasizing the synergism between the two and the need to incorporate both when considering mitigation.     

Fair Trade Rooibos tea: Connecting South African producers and American consumer markets

This article analyzes the recent growth and configuration of Fair Trade networks connecting South African Rooibos tea producers with American consumer markets. As we demonstrate, Fair Trade’s growth in the Rooibos sector engages key issues of black empowerment, land reform, and sustainable development in post-Apartheid South Africa. Fair Trade networks provide small-scale black Rooibos producers with critical markets. Most significantly, the Wupperthal and Heiveld cooperatives have upgraded into processing and packaging and their jointly owned Fairpackers facility now exports shelf-ready Rooibos tea. Analyzing the nature of US Fair Trade Rooibos buyers and their South African sourcing arrangements, we identify key variations in Fair Trade commitment and engagement between mission-driven and market-driven distributors. While mission-driven buyers engage small-scale Rooibos cooperatives in multifaceted partnership networks, market-driven buyers pursue conventional sourcing strategies favoring purchases from large plantations and exporters. We conclude that tensions between a radical and commercial orientation toward Fair Trade in Rooibos tea networks in many ways mirror those in the broader movement.     

Food with a visible face: Traceability and the public promotion of private governance in the Japanese food system

The years since 2000 have seen a constant stream of high-profile scandals relating to food safety and food labeling in Japan. One response of Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) has been to promote food traceability as a mechanism to improve food safety and to provide reliable information to consumers about their food. MAFF’s main approach to traceability promotion, however, has not involved making traceability mandatory (as has been done in the EU) but encouraging private companies to adopt it. These actions constitute, I argue, an example of the public promotion of private governance. When viewed against the literature on the private governance of food safety and quality, MAFF’s traceability activities are surprising for three reasons: their forms and extent, the relative lack of interest the Ministry has shown in third-party certification, and the way MAFF has responded to concerns about the safety of imported food by focusing almost entirely on domestic traceability. I also argue, however, that looking at the literature from a Japanese perspective suggests that public encouragement is more central to the rise of private governance in the global agri-food system than is usually appreciated.     

Geomorphological,stratigraphic and geochronological evidence of fast Pleistocene coastal uplift in the westernmost part of the Corinth Gulf Rift (Greece)

Rapid extension and active normal faulting in the western extremity of the Corinth Gulf are accompanied by fast coastal uplift. We investigate Pleistocene uplift west of Aigion, by attempting to date remains of marine terraces and sedimentary sequences by calcareous nannoplankton and U‐series analyses. Net uplift initiated recently, due to abandonment of an older rift‐bounding fault zone and increase in activity on the presently active, coastal fault zone. This change apparently coincides with an abrupt slow down (or, termination) of secondary fault block tilting within the broader hangingwall block of the older zone, indicated by an angular unconformity that dates in the early part of MIS10 (∼390–350 ka BP, preferably, in the earlier part of this period). Net uplift driven by the coastal zone resulted in the formation of MIS9c (330 ka) and younger terraces. The formation of the unconformity and the initiation of net uplift coincide temporally with a ∼300–400 ka unconformity recognized by recent studies in a wide area offshore Aigion i.e. they could be part of an evolutionary event that affected the entire western part of the Corinth Rift or, a large area therein. Uplift rate estimates at four locations are discussed with reference to the morphotectonic context of differential uplift of secondary fault blocks, and the context of possible increase in uplift rate with time. The most reliable and most useful estimate for uplift rate at the longitude of the studied transect is 1.74–1.85 mm/year (time‐averaged estimate for the last ∼240 ka, based on calcareous nannoplankton and sequence‐stratigraphic interpretation). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

叠前弹性波阻抗反演在四川FL地区礁滩型储层预测中的应用

叠前弹性波阻抗反演对礁滩型储层的预测和流体识别较叠后声阻抗反演的可信度更高,可对含油气性进行半定量—定量描述。以四川FL地区礁滩型储层为重点,以叠前弹性波阻抗反演为技术路线,对该地区反演出的数据体进行交汇解释,预测出了该区礁滩型储层的平面分布特点,预测结果与该区仅有的两口钻井资料相吻合。实践表明,用交会法并结合对储层响应敏感的两个参数泊松比和剪切模量进行储层解释,可靠度较高。     

Recreational fishing and boating: Are the determinants the same?

The research uses household survey data collected from 656 people in Townsville (adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef, Australia) within a hurdle model to investigate key factors influencing both the probability of participating and the frequency of (a) boating trips which involve fishing; (b) boating trips which do not involve fishing; and (c) land-based fishing trips. The findings suggest that there are differences in determinants, highlighting the importance of disaggregating the fishing/boating and boat/land-based experience (an uncommon practice in the literature) if wishing to obtain information for use in the design of monitoring programs, policy and/or for developing monitoring and enforcement strategies relating to fishing and boating.     

An exploration for deep-sea fish sounds off Vancouver Island from the NEPTUNE Canada ocean observing system

Our understanding of the significance of sound production to the ecology of deep-sea fish communities has improved little since anatomical surveys in the 1950s first suggested that sound production is widespread among slope-water fishes. The recent implementation of cabled ocean observatory networks around the world that include passive acoustic recording instruments provides scientists an opportunity to search for evidence of deep-sea fish sounds. We examined deep-sea acoustic recordings made at the NEPTUNE Canada Barkley Canyon Axis Pod (985 m) located off the west coast of Vancouver Island in the Northeast Pacific between June 2010 and May 2011 to determine the presence of fish sounds. A subset of over 300 5-min files was examined by selecting one day each month and analyzing one file for each hour over the 24 h day. Despite the frequent occurrence of marine mammal sounds, no examples of fish sounds were identified. However, we report examples of isolated unknown sounds that might be produced by fish, invertebrates, or more likely marine mammals. This finding is in direct contrast to recent smaller studies in the Atlantic where potential fish sounds appear to be more common. A review of the literature indicates 32 species found off British Columbia that potentially produce sound could occur in depths greater than 700 m but of these only Anoplopoma fimbria and Coryphaenoides spp. have been previously reported at the site. The lack of fish sounds observed here may be directly related to the low diversity and abundance of fishes present at the Barkley Canyon site. Other contributing factors include possible masking of low amplitude biological signals by self-generated noise from the platform instrumentation and ship noise. We suggest that examination of data both from noise-reduced ocean observatories around the world and from dedicated instrument surveys designed to search for deep-sea fish sounds to provide a larger-scale, more conclusive investigation into the role, or potential lack thereof, of sound production.