Economic development and prosperity patterns around the world: Structural challenges for a global steady-state economy

Taking a global perspective this paper sets out to theoretically and empirically identify prosperity patterns for four groups of countries at different levels of economic development. It conceptualizes ‘prosperity’ in terms of ecological sustainability, social inclusion, and the quality of life and contextualizes this definition in global perspective. Subsequently, it operationalizes and measures these dimensions on the basis of data from sources such as the World Bank, the Global Footprint Network and the OECD for 138 countries and by applying dual multiple factor analysis. Building on earlier research that suggested that higher development levels in terms of GDP per capita are capable of providing social and individual prosperity but at the expense of environmental sustainability, we ask whether other interrelations between prosperity indicators exist on other levels of economic development. Empirically distinguishing between ‘rich’, ‘emerging’, ‘developing’ and ‘poor countries’ the paper finds that social and individual prosperity indicators largely increase with economic development while ecological sustainability indicators worsen. Our analyses further reveal that ‘social cohesion’ can be established under different economic and institutional conditions, that subjective wellbeing increases with income rises at all levels of economic development and that a decoupling of carbon emissions from the provision of prosperity is, in principle, achievable, while a reduction of the global matter and energy throughput poses a much greater challenge. The paper concludes by highlighting the repercussions of these findings for the trajectories that countries at different levels of economic development would need to undertake.     

Water security and rainwater harvesting: A conceptual framework and candidate indicators

Rainwater-harvesting tanks (reservoirs) in Tamil Nadu, India support agricultural livelihoods, mitigate water insecurity, and enable ecosystem services. However, many tanks have fallen into disrepair, as private wells have supplanted collectively managed tanks as the dominant irrigation source. Meanwhile, encroachment by peri-urban development, landless farmers, and Prosopis juliflora has reduced inflow and tank capacity. This exploratory study presents a conceptual framework and proposed indicator set for measuring water security in the context of rainwater harvesting tanks. The primary benefits of tanks and threats to their functionality are profiled as a precursor to construction of a causal network of water security. The causal network identifies the key components, causal linkages, and outcomes of water security processes, and is used to derive a suite of indicators that reflect the multiple economic and socio-ecological uses of tanks. Recommendations are provided for future research and data collection to operationalize the indicators to support planning and assessing the effectiveness of tank rehabilitation.     

生计多样化背景下种植业非点源污染负荷演变

依托三峡库区典型村农户访谈数据,基于收益最大目标决策框架,设定农村转型发展中3种农户生计类型情景：农业主导生计、兼业转向生计和非农主导生计,解析种植业产污负荷随主导生计非农转向的演变特征,探讨主导生计类型转向的动力机制。结果表明：① 样区耕地经营现状呈自耕、流转与撂荒并存的多元化发展格局,且表现出“入”小于“出”的特征,不同农户家庭类型间实际人均耕种规模为“半劳动力家庭”>“无劳动力家庭”>“劳动力家庭”;② 种植业单位面积产污负荷中,“半劳动力家庭”最高,“劳动力家庭”次之,“无劳动力家庭”最低,“劳动力家庭”内部又随劳动力人数增加呈先增再减趋势;③ 样区农户生计类型由农业主导向非农主导转型过程中,种植业产污负荷最大减幅达72.01%,兼业转向生计情景下削减幅度为19.61%~29.85%,非农主导生计情景下减幅为35.20%~72.01%,但TN、TP的减量特征并不一致;④ 劳动力配置与生计来源“非农化”促使农户主导生计类型向非农转化,生计非农演变的潜在农户收入/福祉权衡亦驱使生计决策转向非农化,不同农户家庭类型对生计转向的敏感程度表现为“劳动力家庭”>“半劳动力家庭”>“无劳动力家庭”;⑤ 在新型城镇化快速推进和创新新型工业体系构建过程中,山区农户生计类型进一步向非农转变,而这一过程又将促使种植业产生的污染负荷量进一步减少,要大幅削减种植业产污负荷,就必须制定有助于山区农户生计非农化的调控对策。     

Pivotal principles for digital earth development in the twenty-first century

ABSTRACT

Reductionist thinking will no longer suffice to address contemporary, complex challenges that defy sectoral, national, or disciplinary boundaries. Furthermore, lessons learned from the past cannot be confidently used to predict outcomes or guide future actions. The authors propose that the confluence of a number of technology and social disruptors presents a pivotal moment in history to enable real time, accelerated, and integrated action that can adequately support a ‘future earth’ through transformational solutions. Building on more than a decade of dialogues hosted by the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE), and evolving a briefing note presented to delegates of Pivotal 2015, the paper presents an emergent context for collectively addressing spatial information, sustainable development, and good governance through three guiding principles for enabling prosperous living in the twenty-first century. These are: (1) open data, (2) real-world context, and (3) informed visualization for decision support. The paper synthesizes an interdisciplinary dialogue to create a credible and positive future vision of collaborative and transparent action for the betterment of humanity and planet. It is intended that these Pivotal Principles can be used as an elegant framework for action toward the Digital Earth vision, across local, regional, and international communities and organizations.     

Interactive Knowledge Generation in Urban Green Building Transitions

Knowledge coproduction between practitioners and scientists offers promising opportunities for the emerging research field of the geography of sustainability transitions. Drawing on experiences from an international research project on urban green building transitions, this article explores the potentials and challenges of interactive and collaborative knowledge generation methods in understanding sustainability transitions. Our results show that ongoing engagement with local experts and practitioners through interactive World Café workshops and follow-up exchanges allows for a better understanding of the research context and knowledge exchange to all participants involved in the research process.     

Does carbon finance make a sustainable difference? Hydropower expansion and livelihood trade‐offs in the Red River valley,Yunnan Province,China

The Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a carbon credit trading scheme intended to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and promote ‘sustainable development’. Hundreds of CDM‐sponsored hydroelectric dams have been constructed in southwest China's Yunnan Province, where carbon finance contributes substantial financial incentives to hydropower expansion. This article investigates whether riparian Handai farmers settled near the Madushan hydropower plant on the Chinese section of Red River have experienced positive outcomes from this project's participation in the CDM. I assess how Handai individuals' access to core livelihood assets has been modified following dam completion and probe how the CDM reconfigures scalar relations among the various stakeholders involved in hydropower governance in Yunnan. Though the CDM facilitates hydropower expansion, it fails to produce development that is more sustainable than ‘business as usual’ from a local perspective. Rather, the CDM consolidates hydropower governance in the same way as it unfolded in Yunnan before the province became an active participant in this scheme. The CDM also facilitates a national development campaign fostering specific socio‐economic modernization patterns in China's western provinces.     

Access to natural resources and conflicts between farmers and agro‐pastoralists in Borkena Wetland,north‐eastern Ethiopia

This case study on the Borkena wetlands in north‐eastern Ethiopia tells, through the voices of the inhabitants, the story of the occupation and management of an area where agro‐pastoralists (Urrane) and farmers have progressively settled. It shows how different policy changes and natural disasters have transformed the type of peoples' livelihoods and land use patterns in the wetland. It tells the history of relationships between smallholder peasants, irrigation farmers, commercial farms, and the Urrane, where conflicts as well as collaboration developed, and it shows how different stakeholders behave and consider their own situation. The study also reveals that development intervention by World Vision Ethiopia (WVE) had mixed impact on peoples' livelihoods in the wetland: sedentary peasants have benefited while the Urrane have been adversely affected. The main issue is the marginalization of pastoralists, with the denial of their traditional land use rights by three successive regimes and administrations. Any solution to the cohabitation of the different groups and livelihoods will have to address the issue of land rights for the pastoralists and promote the fair participation of all stakeholders in the future management of the wetlands. Good governance and the competence of the state actors at local levels are the crucial issues for the realization of the suggested solutions.     

Theorizing food insecurity: building a livelihood vulnerability framework for researching food insecurity

Food insecurity and increasing impoverishment of the masses in developing countries constitute a challenge for social scientists, whose theories have tried to catch up with the enormous challenges of diversity, dynamism and the impacts of the forces of­‘glocalisation’. This article reviews the efforts in the social sciences towards understanding food insecurity and suggests a framework incorporating dynamism and diversity in rural communities in the research process. Structural changes affecting peasant economies and peasant responses make existing general theories inappropriate without a contextual treatment. Insights from existing theories are used to construct a livelihood vulnerability framework for researching and understanding food insecurity in rural areas.     

海南岛山区土地的持续利用评价——以琼中、通什为例

土地持续利用就是要达到生态合理性、经济有效性和社会可接受性。本文以琼中县和通什市为例，通过土地利用现状分析、土地持续利用评价，提出了实现其土地持续利用的对策措施。