The social relations of catfish production in Vietnam

The growth of intensive export-oriented Pangasius catfish production in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta is unparalleled in terms of rapidity and scale by any other agricultural sector, with production climbing from a low base to more than 1 million tons in a single decade. This paper examines the effects of this remarkable change on the rural class structure in locations where catfish farming has boomed, and analyses the role of local state-society relations in mediating outcomes resulting from the integration of local actors into the global value chain. We conclude that private economic activity is deeply embedded in informal relations with the state bureaucracy in Vietnam, with the result that the expansion of catfish aquaculture has generally acted to reproduce and entrench existing class relations rather leading to a radical reconfiguration of the rural class structure.     

The impact of residential desegregation on social integration: Evidence from a South African neighbourhood

This paper analyses the potential for social integration in post-apartheid urban South Africa by examining the lives of those already living in desegregated spaces. The case study is a low-cost state-assisted housing project situated in the wealthy southern suburbs of Cape Town. In this social housing project, named Westlake village, coloured and Black African (alongside a handful of white and Indian) residents were awarded state housing in 1999 as replacement for their previous homes (informal and formal), which were demolished to make way for a mixed land-use development, of which their new homes form a small component. Westlake’s desegregation is found to extend beyond mere residential abode, affecting resident’s everyday lives to the extent that apartheid’s history and geography are superseded by other factors (such as proximity and affordability) in decision-making. Furthermore, integration at the everyday level of informal neighbourly mixing is prevalent. Although more formal cross-race friendships are rare, discussion reveals this as a consequence of Westlake’s specific socio-historic identity rather than racial divisions per se. Empirical evidence is used to propose a continuum of social integration experience. This continuum addresses the form of integration, for example greeting in the street, visiting homes, inter-marriage; and also the spaces of integration, for example physical space (shared neighbourhood), economic space (common employment-type), social space (cross-race friendship), political space (common involvement in civic organisations) and cultural space (shared sense of belonging).     

A novel approach to leveraging social media for rapid flood mapping: a case study of the 2015 South Carolina floods

Rapid flood mapping is critical for local authorities and emergency responders to identify areas in need of immediate attention. However, traditional data collection practices such as remote sensing and field surveying often fail to offer timely information during or right after a flooding event. Social media such as Twitter have emerged as a new data source for disaster management and flood mapping. Using the 2015 South Carolina floods as the study case, this paper introduces a novel approach to mapping the flood in near real time by leveraging Twitter data in geospatial processes. Specifically, in this study, we first analyzed the spatiotemporal patterns of flood-related tweets using quantitative methods to better understand how Twitter activity is related to flood phenomena. Then, a kernel-based flood mapping model was developed to map the flooding possibility for the study area based on the water height points derived from tweets and stream gauges. The identified patterns of Twitter activity were used to assign the weights of flood model parameters. The feasibility and accuracy of the model was evaluated by comparing the model output with official inundation maps. Results show that the proposed approach could provide a consistent and comparable estimation of the flood situation in near real time, which is essential for improving the situational awareness during a flooding event to support decision-making.     

社会网络视角中世界文化遗产地旅游村寨的利益关系治理

以云南省红河州元阳县哈尼梯田核心区域2个典型的旅游村寨（大鱼塘村和普高老寨）为例,对两村寨利益相关者从网络凝聚性、网络互惠性、网络核心边缘、网络传递性、网络经纪人等5个方面展开关系数据分析,结果显示：1）大鱼塘村压力集团内部、压力集团与社区、企业与政府之间的利益关联性和联系的紧密性不足;2）两村当地政府和压力集团与社区之间的互惠性低于整体平均互惠性;3）两村利益网络中边缘结构较核心结构更加明显,这导致了利益关系的不平衡;4）两村当地政府利益集团传递性相对较低,当地社区传递性最高;5）两村中利益集团间缺少部分协调人、守门人、代理人、联络人等角色。最后提出相应建议：1）提升哈尼梯田利益关系由弱利益关系转变为强利益关系,改变利益集团间核心边缘利益关系格局;2）进一步加强各利益集团内部及之间的关联性;3）加强以企业和政府机构为顶点的组间利益传递,让利益流动逐步打破哈尼梯田利益集团之间的核心边缘关系结构;4）重点加强社区在利益关系网络中的参与机会与权力,对社区进行增权;5）利益集团内部要重点培育协调人和顾问角色,利益集团之间要重点培育企业与政府、社区、压力集团之间的守门人、代理人和联络人角色,以及社区与政府和企业之间的守门人、代理人角色。     

Local collective action: Adaptation to coastal erosion in the Monkey River Village,Belize

Successful adaptation to environmental change and variability is closely connected with social groups’ ability to act collectively, but many social-ecological challenges exceed local adaptive capacity which necessitate assistance from governmental institutions. Few studies have investigated how local collective action can be used to enrol external support for adaptation. This paper reduces this research gap by analysing a locally driven adaptation process in response to coastal erosion in Monkey River Village, Belize. Drawing on literature on adaptation and political ecology, we examine the different strategies the local residents have used over time to influence government authorities to support them in curbing the coastal erosion. Our findings show that the local mobilisation generated government support for a temporary sea defence and that collective strategies emerge as a response to threats to a place specific way of life. Our case illustrates that it was essential that the villagers could ally with journalists, researchers and local NGOs to make their claims for protection heard by the government. The paper contributes to adaptation research by arguing that local collective action, seen as contestation over rights to protection from environmental change, can be a means for places and communities not prioritised by formal policies to enrol external support for adaptation. Our study supports and adds to the perspective that attention to formal arrangements such as adaptation policy alone has limited explanatory power to understand collective responses to change.     

在社会发展的层面上认识“数字地球”

 本文讨论了“数字地球”的有关问题。指出“数字地球”是人类社会及其活动在网络空间的延伸和拓展,是信息技术带来的社会发展趋势。关于“数字地球”的讨论不应局限在空间信息技术领域,而应该在社会发展的层面上认识它     

Some Aspects of Resource Uncertainty and Their Economic Consequences in Assessment of the 1002 Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Natural Resources Research - Exploration ventures in frontier areas have high risks. Before committing to them, firms prepare regional resource assessments to evaluate the potential payoffs. With...     

地震信息社会服务与地震安全探讨

提高地震安全,减轻地震灾害造成的经济损失和人员伤亡,地震信息社会服务是不可缺少的途径。地震信息主要包括法规建设、地震监测、震害防御和应急救援资料,服务内容包括法规宣传和普及、地震灾害影响服务、工程建设监管服务和防灾避震服务等。通过地震信息社会服务,可以增强社会防灾意识,提高建设工程安全,减轻地震灾害损失。     

中国高铁网络结构特征及其组织模式

基于2018年高铁网络OD数据,运用社会网络分析方法从高铁网络、城市节点等方面探讨中国城市高铁网络结构特征及其地域组织模式,结果表明:①中国高铁网络整体较为松散,东北地区网络密度最高,东部和中部地区作为整体网络的中介作用明显;②重要高铁线路的"廊道效应"突出,中心度呈现出以京广、京沪和沪昆高铁组成的"三角旗状"空间格局并向两侧城市呈不规则递减的态势;③多层级网络识别出紧密关联高铁线路和四横四纵向八横八纵格局的转变;④高铁网络的地域组织形式表现为点-轴串珠模式、双核组团模式和极核模式,高铁网络的完善使组织模式由单核趋向于网络化转变。     

Safe and just operating spaces for regional social-ecological systems

Humanity faces a major global challenge in achieving wellbeing for all, while simultaneously ensuring that the biophysical processes and ecosystem services that underpin wellbeing are exploited within scientifically informed boundaries of sustainability. We propose a framework for defining the safe and just operating space for humanity that integrates social wellbeing into the original planetary boundaries concept (Rockström et al., 2009a,b) for application at regional scales. We argue that such a framework can: (1) increase the policy impact of the boundaries concept as most governance takes place at the regional rather than planetary scale; (2) contribute to the understanding and dissemination of complexity thinking throughout governance and policy-making; (3) act as a powerful metaphor and communication tool for regional equity and sustainability. We demonstrate the approach in two rural Chinese localities where we define the safe and just operating space that lies between an environmental ceiling and a social foundation from analysis of time series drawn from monitored and palaeoecological data, and from social survey statistics respectively. Agricultural intensification has led to poverty reduction, though not eradicated it, but at the expense of environmental degradation. Currently, the environmental ceiling is exceeded for degraded water quality at both localities even though the least well-met social standards are for available piped water and sanitation. The conjunction of these social needs and environmental constraints around the issue of water access and quality illustrates the broader value of the safe and just operating space approach for sustainable development.