FluBiDi – a model to estimate flood based on runoff: validation using extreme and natural basin conditions

FluBiDi is a two-dimensional model created to simulate real events that can take days and months, as well as short events (minutes or hours) and inclusive laboratory tests. To verify the robustness of FluBiDi, it was tested using a previous study with both designed and real digital elevation models. The results highlight good agreement between the models (i.e. Mike Flood, SOBEK, ISIS 2D, and others) tested and FluBiDi (around 90% for a specific instant and 95% for the complete time simulation). In the simulated hydrographs, the discharge peak value, time to peak, and water level results were accurate, reproducing them with an error of less than 5%. The velocity differences observed in a couple of tests in FluBiDi were associated with very short periods of time (seconds). However, FluBiDi is highly accurate for simulating floods under real topographical conditions with differences of around 2 cm when water depth is around 150 cm. The average water depth and velocities are precise, and the model describes with high accuracy the pattern and extent of floods. FluBiDi has the capability to be adjusted to different types of events and only requires limited input data.     

A Review of “Managing the Infosphere: Governance,Technology, and Cultural Practice in Motion”

The antiquated and undemocratic rules operating in the United Nations Security Council do not reflect and serve today’s integrated global society, nor does the institution adequately represent the diversity of member states. Despite General Assembly discussions that have lasted a quarter-century, no result has materialized on the expansion issue. The author concludes that regional rivalries, the veto, the onerous Charter amendment process, and the failure to devise a truly representative model are responsible for the lack of progress. A model with eighteen rotating seats, based on population, area, and regional position, and four elected seats deserves consideration as an alternative. Key Words: metageography, political geography, population and area ratings, United Nations Security Council.     

Wildlife management and land reform in southeastern Zimbabwe: a compatible pairing or a contradiction in terms?

This paper examines the melding of two discourses in southeastern Zimbabwe: land reform and wildlife management. The former seeks to redistribute large, ‘under-utilized’ landholdings to smallholders whilst the latter needs extensive land holdings to be viable. These two discourses are rooted in very different models of development. The land reform exercise emphasizes direct redistribution, equity and land for crops; whilst the wildlife management discourse tends to stress maximizing foreign exchange earnings, encouraging public-private partnerships and trickle down. Yet there has been a recent flurry of interest in the development of ‘wildlife models’ for land reform which would combine the two. This paper investigates whether the competing discourses about land for smallholders and wildlife-based land reform are compatible or can be successfully reconciled. It traces the ways they have come together in Zimbabwe’s southeast lowveld and examines the ‘science’ and politics underlying their melding. Finally it explores the potential implications for rural people’s livelihoods of this development. It concludes that land reform and wildlife management can be reconciled, but probably not in a particularly equitable way: it is more likely to provide an opening for an equitable land reform agenda to be usurped by local and non-local elites with wildlife interests.     

海河流域水资源管理分区研究

流域水资源管理分区对制定流域水资源管理政策具有重要意义。作者根据环境、粮食、水资源和社会经济4大类30个指标,利用聚类分析方法和地理信息系统等工具,分析其聚类过程,把海河流域分为太行、燕山山区、山前洪、冲积扇区、京津唐地区、山前平原区、中东部平原区和淀东清南天津区 (天津市区) 和徒骇马颊河平原区7个区,分区结果符合流域水资源管理的要求。各区各具特点,应制定不同的水资源管理政策。     

2006～2007年福建沿岸海域石首鱼类资源量时空变化

基于2006～2007年福建沿岸海域4个航次的底拖网调查,分析了福建沿岸海域石首鱼科鱼类的资源现状.结果表明:4个航次共捕获石首鱼类16种,其中春季捕获石首鱼类10种,夏季和冬季均捕获14种,秋季捕获12种.不同航次捕获的石首鱼类占所有鱼类总渔获量的比例为10.43%～23.23%,平均15.71%.平均资源密度和平均个体密度分别为81.49 kg/km2和3 663.06 ind./km2.平均资源密度和平均个体密度均以秋季最高,分别为130.02 kg/km2和5 702.64 ind./km2.闽东沿岸海域、闽江口及其附近海域、闽中沿岸海域和厦门沿岸海域石首鱼类的全年平均资源密度分别为70.75、96.23、22.54和84.57 kg/km2.在各种石首鱼类中,叫姑鱼(Johnius belengerii)的资源密度和个体密度最大,其次是丁氏(Wak tingi).叫姑鱼的相对重要性指数最高,为871.01,仅叫姑鱼为优势种.与近20 a前的调查资料相比较,石首鱼类的渔获量占鱼类总渔获量的比例升高,但资源密度显著下降,必须采取措施,避免开发强度的继续增加,以利于其资源的可持续利用.     

莒县土地整治和占补平衡工作的探讨

通过对低效利用、不合理利用、未利用土地进行田、水、路、林、村整治挖潜,切实提高土地利用效率;通过农村建设用地挖潜利用规划,出台了专门的规范性文件,建立了专门的土地整治资金筹措机制;充分尊重群众意见,对安置区新房建设实行因地制宜、统一配套等手段,使土地综合整治在基层扎扎实实开展起来,有效地服务了新农村建设,增加了建设用地指标,保障地方经济社会发展,保护了有限的耕地资源,统筹了城乡土地配置,确保了全县耕地总量动态平衡。     

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。     

‘Committing to Place’ at the Local Scale: the potential of youth education programs for promoting community participation in regional natural resource management

Emerging approaches to environmental governance require a greater level of community participation than did previous approaches in which these responsibilities largely rested with government agencies. There is consequently a need for increased engagement with NRM among a broad community sector. This paper examines initiatives by two prominent government agencies, the Murray–Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) and the National Museum of Australia (NMA), to engage school children from regional communities using education programs that focus on place and environmental health. We focus on the MDBC's International Riverhealth Conference held in Mildura in 2003 and the associated Murray–Darling Basin TalkBack Classroom sponsored by the NMA and the Parliamentary Education Office (PEO). We explore how key themes of local scale, place-based identities, youth voice and critical engagement are developed in these programs and consider how they relate to the environmental agency of children. We then reflect on the potential for the kinds of environmental agency promoted through these programs to help build the capacity of local communities to progress larger goals of environmental restoration and sustainability in the Murray–Darling Basin. The evaluation research reported here forms part of the Committing to Place research project, an Australian Research Council Linkage grant involving the University of Tasmania, the National Museum of Australia and the Murray–Darling Basin Commission.