Management Challenges for Aboriginal Cultural Heritage in Peri-urban Queensland

It is often assumed that places of cultural significance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are protected under cultural heritage legislation such as the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003 in Queensland. Such Acts are improvements on previous policies, which all but neglected Aboriginal cultural heritage. Nevertheless, the aims of policies developed at wider geographic scales, such as States within the Australian system, continue to be disconnected from the experiences of some local Traditional Owners. In this paper, we examine conflicts between non-local policy and on-ground management decisions for Aboriginal cultural heritage in peri-urban Queensland. We focus on the challenges of local Traditional Owners in peri-urban landscapes, basing our discussion on recent experiences conducting research on Indigenous land management in southeast Queensland. We examine three case studies: one in which colonial heritage values were prioritised over existing Aboriginal cultural heritage values, a second where local government failed to support a private landholder’s attempt to identify and protect a cultural heritage site, and a third where a cultural heritage site was protected but in a way that restricts the continuation of cultural practices. Developing more productive and equitable relationships between Traditional Owners and non-Indigenous decision makers, with regards to Aboriginal cultural heritage, requires new locally developed processes for engagement and we suggest how this could be achieved.     

Examining the Influence of Positionality in Evaluating Collaborative Progress in Natural Resource Management: Reflections of an Academic and a Practitioner

In this paper, we present a reflexive examination of how and why we, an academic and a practitioner, arrive at different evaluations of collaborative progress in natural resource management. We situate this examination in our long-standing involvement in designing, adaptively managing, and participating in the Uncompahgre Plateau collaborative forest restoration project in western Colorado, USA. Drawing on the concept of “positionality” in qualitative social science research, we disclose our respective motivations, assumptions, roles, and power relative to the collaborative process. The differences in evaluating collaborative progress stem from our respective professional positionality. For the academic, the guiding interest was to test theory and promote success for his applied research institute; for the practitioner, the motivation was to build trust to allow her field staff the flexibility to implement management actions and demonstrate effectiveness as an agency line officer. These epistemological differences draw attention to the importance of transdisciplinary approaches to producing knowledge from shared practice, starting with efforts to explicitly disclose and honor differing interests, assumptions, and frames of reference stemming from each party’s personal and professional biographies and institutional norms. This reflexivity is essential to advancing knowledge about collaboration in natural resource management.     

低碳旅游发展的困境与对策

低碳旅游尚处于起步阶段,发展中遇到了诸多困境。该文纵览国内外相关理论研究与实践结果,从旅游者碳排放认知、旅游业碳足迹测度和碳补偿措施有效性等方面,梳理与分析了低碳旅游发展的困境。提出理论上应从澄清相关概念、界定旅游业系统、统一碳足迹测度口径、旅游业碳排放影响等方面加强研究,实践上应从政府领导、主体参与、重点领域突破、多重措施并举等方面建立低碳旅游实施机制,以期丰富旅游环境研究视角,为我国低碳旅游发展提供理论指导和实践参考。     

沙尘暴风险管理体系初探

目前沙尘暴灾害防御与应急响应都是被动防御为主,沙尘暴风险管理体系是科学的沙尘暴主动式防灾减灾体系,具有前瞻性、完备性,人们已经认识到该风险管理体系的重要性,但其目前尚未建立。我们对沙尘暴风险管理体系进行初步研究,指出沙尘暴的风险是沙尘暴为受灾地区带来的损失的不确定性。借鉴其他科学中相对成熟的风险管理框架和流程,并结合沙尘暴灾害特点,构建了沙尘暴风险管理体系,包括沙尘暴灾害防御防备系统,沙尘暴灾中应急响应系统和沙尘暴灾后重建系统,希望对沙尘暴风险管理制度化提供科技支撑。     

基于GIS的社区环境信息管理系统研究

在GIS技术支持下,以福州市鼓楼区铜盘河沿岸社区作为研究对象,通过收集社区的自然环境、社会环境以及污染源等相关信息,同时结合遥感影像,运用相关软件进行空间信息的矢量化,建立起社区级环境信息管理系统.该系统包括4个模块：地图显示、数据输入、信息查询和专题图制作.本研究在建立数据库的基础上,对数据进行分析.该数据库对于社区环境信息管理系统的建设具有一定的指导意义和参考价值.     

A case study of coping strategies and landslides in two villages of Central-Eastern Nepal

Landslides are an increasing problem in Nepal’s Middle Hills due to both natural and human phenomena: mainly increasingly intense monsoon rains and a boom in rural road construction. This problem has largely been neglected due to underreporting of losses and the dispersed nature of landslides. Understanding how populations cope with landslides is a first step toward developing more effective landslide risk management programs. The present research focuses on two villages in Central-Eastern Nepal, both affected by active landslides but with different coping strategies. Research methods are interdisciplinary, based on a geological assessment of landslide risk and a socio-economic study of the villages using household questionnaires, focus group discussions and transect walks. Community risk maps are compared with geological landslide risk maps to better understand and communicate community risk perceptions, priorities and coping strategies. A modified typology of coping strategies is presented, based on previous work by Burton, Kates, and White (1993) that is useful for decision-makers for designing more effective programs for landslide mitigation. Main findings underscore that coping strategies, mainly seeking external assistance and outmigration, are closely linked to access to resources, ethnicity/social status and levels of community organization. Conclusions include the importance of investing in organizational skills, while building on local knowledge about landslide mitigation for reducing landslide risk. There is great potential to increase coping strategies by incorporating skills training on landslide mitigation in existing agricultural outreach and community forest user group training.     

中国生态交错带（英文）

生态交错带（Ecotone）是指两个群落或两类生态系统之间的过度带,具有脆弱、敏感和易变等特性。20世纪70年代以来,在典型生态系统研究的基础上,生态交错带逐步成为生态学研究的重点。中国地域广阔,地质、气候、植被等生态类型复杂多变,蕴育了不同类型、不同尺度和不同规模的多种生态交错带,不仅为科学研究奠定了广阔空间,而且对我国经济、社会发展,以及文化多样性保护具有重要支撑作用。本文根据我国大尺度下生态交错带的地理分布及其生态环境特点,构建了以土地利用类型、自然气候特征和农业经济发展＂三位一体＂指标体系,并以此为依据对中国典型生态交错带进行了划分和空间分布范围的界定;在此基础上,分别对北方森林草原交错带、北方农牧交错带、西北荒漠绿洲交错带、西南川滇农林牧交错带和东部海陆交错带的动态变化、基本特征和存在问题进行了研究,对全面认识我国生态交错带自然演变规律,促进区域生态环境保护和优化经济发展具有重要意义。     

Woodland regeneration in a coastal heathland area in central Norway

The open coastal heathlands in Norway have changed character in recent decades, mainly because traditional practices such as burning, cutting and grazing have been abandoned or reduced. In a project aimed at increasing our knowledge of woodland regeneration in oceanic boreal heathlands, an area on the island of Kalv?ya in the archipelago of Vikna on the extreme outer coast of central Norway has been studied. Kalv?ya has calcareous bedrock; rich heath, rich fens and low-herb woodland cover 20% of the island. Large parts are paludified, and wet heath and mire vegetation cover 60%. The island has not been inhabited, but it was used for summer farming in the latter part of the 19th century and later for stock grazing. The woodland and scrub were mapped using aerial photographs from 1961 and 1981, and by fieldwork in 2001. Vegetation changes were analyzed using GIS techniques. Woodland and scrub increased from 3.0% in 1961, to 4.3% in 1981, to 11.6% in 2001. Betula pubescens is the commonest woody species. The oldest trees are 150 to 175 years old, growing in the most heavily wooded area, far away from the summer farm. In addition to human impact (summer farm, grazing pressure), the geology, terrain (degree of exposure), and climatic factors are important for woodland colonisation and distribution.     

塔里木河下游生态保护目标和措施

针对2000-2009年塔里木河下游10次生态输水后生态环境的变化情况,提出新的生态保护目标：在距河500 m以内以胡杨(Populus euphratica)为主的重点保护带,地下水埋深保持在≤4 m,植被总盖度达到0.4~0.5;500~1 000 m为基本保护带,以柽柳(Tamarix spp.)为主,地下水埋深为4~6 m,植被总覆盖度达到0.3以上;＞1 000 m为一般保护带,随着输水累积量增加,地下水埋深达到6~8 m,使现有植被不再退化;沿河两岸1 000 m的植被保护恢复总面积应达到1 028 km2;用水均衡法和潜水蒸散法重新估算的大西海子的下泄水量为2.3×108 m3 ,比原规划减少了1.2×108 m3 ,其中2.0×108 m3为维护生态所用,另外还有0.15×108~0.3×108 m3为向台特玛湖输水的水量;应保持输水连续性,大西海子以下年泄水量不小于0.36×108 m3;为了保证向下游输水,必须加强水资源调控,通过整治源流,使到达干流的水量为44.2×108 m3 ,干流严禁开荒,加强对防护堤修建后生态环境变化的监测,下游采用漫溢漂种增加植被面积。     

基于压力-状态-响应模型和多尺度管理的珠海市城市生物多样性恢复指标体系研究（英文）

生物多样性是一个系统性、整体性的概念,存在跨界、多尺度的管理问题。一方面,城市生态系统不是孤立的,而是与相邻城市、行政区相连的生态系统。城市生物多样性研究需要考虑生态系统的连续性。另一方面,城市生物多样性的主动保护和被动恢复策略不应仅由研究人员或市政府机构制定。更重要的是,有必要考虑多级管理部门的真实的生态系统管理问题,并将其纳入压力–状态–响应（PSR）模型。本文以多尺度现场调研和部门座谈的形式,结合遥感数据、土地利用数据、规划文本和图则等,对比分析珠海市生态系统现状、面临压力和应对生态问题的解决方案进行分析并总结出珠海市生态系统恢复的关键指标,以形成完整和更有效的城市生物多样性战略。本文发现,城市生态系统保护的实施效果和不同尺度的管理问题、资金需求等是否得到回应和满足,是否鼓励各利益相关者参与密切相关。不同尺度、不同地区的生态系统是否采取相同的生物多样性战略取决于该地区在全球或区域生态系统中是否具有同等重要性,生态元素是否与其他城市、地区的生态系统相连或者相邻,以及不同尺度多方利益相关者的关切问题是否相同等。