Assessing land use/cover changes: a nationwide multidate spatial database for Mexico

A nationwide multidate GIS database was generated in order to carry out the quantification and spatial characterization of land use/cover changes (LUCC) in Mexico. Existing cartography on land use/cover at a 1:250,000 scale was revised to select compatible inputs regarding the scale, the classification scheme and the mapping method. Digital maps from three different dates (the late 1970s, 1993 and 2000) were revised, evaluated, corrected and integrated into a GIS database. In order to improve the reliability of the database, an attempt was made to assess the accuracy of the digitalisation procedure and to detect and correct unlikely changes due to thematic errors in the maps. Digital maps were overlaid in order to generate LUCC maps, transition matrices and to calculate rates of conversion. Based upon this database, rates of deforestation between 1976 and 2000 were evaluated as 0.25 and 0.76% per year for temperate and tropical forests, respectively.     

基于遥感信息的土地资源可持续利用研究

遥感信息是对自然界的反映，它具有宏观、动态、准确、快速的优点，可以及时提供动态数据。基于遥感信息，对吉林西部土地资源利用状况进行调查，运用主成分分析法，可以不损失或很少损失原有的信息，将原来个数较多而且彼此相关的变量转换为新的个数较少而且彼此独立或不相关的新变量。对土地资源可持续利用进行定量分析研究，指出土地利用中存在的问题，并提出吉林西部土地资源可持续利用发展模式。     

鄱阳湖区平垸行洪、退田还湖后的防洪减灾形势分析

根据鄱阳湖区“退田还湖”的实际资料，采用洪水模拟的方法分析计算出“退田还湖”降低湖口站洪水位和减少1954年洪水超额分洪量，分析了“退田还湖”后鄱阳湖区的防洪减灾形势，提出应继续加强对鄱阳湖区防洪工程的建设，探讨了“退田还湖”后江湖洪水关系的变化趋势。     

关中盆地水资源可持续开发利用对策研究--以渭南市为例

以关中盆地东部的渭南市为例，概述了水资源的分布特征及其开发利用现状。认为水资源开发利用中存在水资源浪费严重，重复利用率低；行政区块限制，水资源调配不够；不合理开采地下水，出现负环境效应；地下水人工调控力度不够，不能有效的促进生态环境良性循环；对地下水资源的研究、规划和管理滞后等五个方面的主要问题。针对存在的主要问题，提出了六项水资源可持续开发利用对策，包括节水对策、开源对策、改水对策、调水对策、增补对策以及管理对策。     

A furrow runs through it: An example of sustainable traditional irrigation in Western Cape Province,South Africa

Water and water related matters are important issues in water scarce countries like the Republic of South Africa. This is especially true for the agricultural sector that relies heavily on the availability of water for irrigation to ensure a secure food supply. In South Africa, present day irrigation projects rely on government subsidies and are usually large undertakings beyond the reach of individuals or small communities. The sustainability of such large irrigation projects is still a matter of debate. A 100 years ago a different set of rules applied. Irrigation could only be achieved by hand-dug furrows that supplied water in relatively small quantities to small farming communities. This paper investigated such a small community, the Leeukloof farming community in the Western Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa. For the past 93 years this community has maintained a furrow that supplies water not only to farms bordering the Perdeberg River, which supplies the furrow with water, but also to farms not bordering the river. The authors try to reconstruct the changes in agricultural practices brought about by the furrow, methods of water extraction during each phase, as well as the development and role of the furrow system. The perception by the community of the necessity of this method of water extraction from the river system is also investigated. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Integrating Environmental Education Into Business Schools' Educational Plans in Finland

Environmental education in business school context has a significant effect on the way companies view environmental problems. Business schools train the future decision makers who can, with their own attitudes and practical actions, influence the contribution of business to the process of ecologically sustainable development. However, several studies show that no systematic thinking has been undertaken within business education as to what the educational prerequisites of the process of ecologically sustainable development are. In this article, I will firstly analyze by means of environmental education how business polytechnics in Finland have taken into consideration ecologically sustainable development. Secondly, I will raise the starting points for the development of the implementation of environmental education as part of the business schools▪ educational plans. Integrating environmental education into the vocational courses is identified as being one of the most effective ways of increasing the effectiveness of environmental education. Thirdly, the emphasis is on identification of barriers of integrating environmental education into the educational plans of business polytechnics. Theoretically, the article is attached to the objectives and learning concepts of environmental education and to educational planning theory in general. The empirical data are based on interviews I conducted 1999–2000 in all Finnish polytechnics offering business education. My article increases theoretical and practical understanding of how environmental education should be implemented in business education and how the current situation could be developed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Problems associated with tourism development in Southern Africa: The case of Transfrontier Conservation Areas

Tourism in Southern Africa is synonymous with the wildlife safari. In the post-colonial era the establishment of so-called ‘peaceparks’ that straddle the borders of states has come to be seen as a key not only to increasing tourism in the Southern African region, but also to the modernizing of conservation policies and the development of rural economies. This paper focuses on the global and continental presence of transfrontier conservation areas, the link between conservation and tourism development, and the current factors that constrain and influence the realization of an ‘African Dream’ — ‘establishment of the greatest animal kingdom’. The unstable political situation in Zimbabwe and how this negatively affects wildlife conservation and tourism in the Gonarezhou part of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park, serves as a case study. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

论新土地分类在1∶1000土地利用现状调查中的应用

根据新土地分类在南海区1∶1000土地利用现状调查中的应用,采用文献分析法和实例验证法,探讨其在大比例尺土地利用现状调查中的适用性。结果表明:新土地分类在使用中存在诸如分类层次数目少且略显粗糙以及界线不严谨等问题。提出建议:增加分类层次熏进一步细化分类;更清晰表达地类涵义以及统一分类标准等。     

祁连山区天然草原退化原因分析与可持续利用对策

天然草原是畜牧业发展的重要物质基础，由于缺乏有效的制度安排和技术创新，人类无节制的赢利活动加剧了草原退化，导致了西部生态环境的恶化。论文以祁连山区的肃南县为例，通过对天然草原退化现状的调查研究，剖析了祁连山区草原生态环境保护与经济发展之间的突出问题和草原退化的深层原因，提出了天然草原永续利用的对策。     

Regions and sustainable development: regional planning matters

This paper looks at how the term 'sustainable development' has been used in the process of regional plan making over the past decade. It emphasizes the differing geographies of these debates within England, in terms of how sustainable development has been used to justify different types of approach in different parts of the country. Both drawing on and challenging recent work on state theory, the paper argues the need to see regional planning as a part of a multi-scalar governance system, whose importance should not be underestimated.