Residents’ perspectives and responses to environmental degradation in the upper Dadu River, eastern Tibetan Plateau

1 Introduction Driven by interactions of climate change, policy introduction, population pressure and overstocking, many fragile ecotones on the Tibetan Plateau have undergone fast land cover changes, such as deforestation, meadow degeneration or even des…     

Ethical issues in water use and sustainability

The modern debate on water use and sustainability starts with the assumption that protecting the water environment is an ethical imperative, but rarely questions the basis for this viewpoint. This paper aims to identify some of the bases that could underlie such a position, seeking to locate value in the natural world beyond anthropocentric utilitarianism. Only when there is a clear basis for this discussion is it possible to discuss and resolve issues and conflicts that arise in the management of water: between present and future users, between human and non-human users, or between competing human users. We then attempt to develop a 'water ethic', parallel to the famous 'land ethic' of Aldo Leopold, in which we see water as the centre of the web of life in the landscape. Protecting water, its quality and its availability, for all present and future users, is one touchstone for the evaluation of environmental action and policy.     

Sustainable flood management: oxymoron or new paradigm?

The existing paradigm of UK flood risk management that privileges structural solutions over non-structural ones is evolving in response to threats posed by climate change and higher environmental standards required by the EC Water Framework Directive. This paper examines the contrasting reactions of DEFRA and the Scottish Executive. The Scottish 'experiment', which embraces a strong definition of sustainability, is contrasted with a weaker version emerging in England and Wales. Divergent levels of risk and histories of managing that risk explain many of these contrasts. Scotland's more radical approach has the potential to become a new paradigm.     

Modelling groundwater flow of the Trifa aquifer, Morocco

Trifa is the most productive agricultural plain of north-eastern Morocco. The development of agricultural activities during the last few decades has been mainly based on imported water for irrigation. However, irrigation requirements have become so large that groundwater is used as a secondary source to supply the agricultural and domestic water needs, causing a depletion of the groundwater resources, especially during dry periods. A hydrological and a hydrogeological model for the Trifa plain have been developed, which yield information on relevant parameters such as groundwater recharge, and estimate the amount of pumped groundwater needed to meet the irrigation needs. The models (MODFLOW and WetSpass) provide insight into the status and evolution of the groundwater reserves. The results of the study are useful to predict the sustainability of the groundwater resources in the Trifa plain and to evaluate possible management actions. A reduction in groundwater abstraction by at least 25% may be necessary to achieve sustainable conditions.

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Resumen Trifa es la planicie agrícola más productiva del noreste de Marruecos. El desarrollo de las actividades agrícolas durante las últimas décadas se ha basado principalmente en agua importada para riego. Sin embargo, los requerimientos de riego han llegado a ser tan grandes ocasionando que se utilice el agua subterránea como una fuente secundaria para abastecer las necesidades de agua para uso doméstico y agrícola, lo que causa un agotamiento de los recursos de agua subterránea, especialmente durante periodos secos. Se ha desarrollado un modelo hidrogeológico e hidrológico para la planicie Trifa el cual aporta información de parámetros relevantes tal como recarga de agua subterránea y estima la cantidad de agua subterránea que necesita bombearse para satisfacer las necesidades de riego. Los modelos (MODFLOW y WetSpass) aportan una idea acerca del estado actual y la evolución de las reservas de agua subterránea. Los resultados de este estudio son útiles para predecir la sostenibilidad de los recursos de agua subterránea en la planicie Trifa y para evaluar posibles acciones de gestión. Puede ser necesario reducir la explotación de agua subterránea en por lo menos 25% para alcanzar condiciones sostenibles.

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Résumé Trifa est la plaine agricole la plus productive du Nord-Est marocain. Le développement de l’activité agricole durant ces dernières décennies a essentiellement reposé sur l’irrigation. Néanmoins les besoins de l’irrigation sont devenus tels que l’eau souterraine est utilisée comme ressource secondaire, pour combler la demande en eau domestique et agricole, induisant un rabattement d’autant plus important durant les périodes sèches. Un modèle hydrologique et hydrogéologique de la plaine de Trifa a été développé sur base des paramètres les plus importants, tels la recharge, et permet d’estimer le pompage nécessaire des eaux souterraines pour combler les besoins de l’irrigation. Les modèles (MODFLOW et WetSpass) apportent une bonne connaissance de l’état et de l’évolution des réserves souterraines. Les résultats de l’étude sont utiles pour prédire la longévité des ressources et pour évaluer différents scénarios de gestion. Une réduction de l’extraction de 25% serait nécessaire pour atteindre un état durable.

     

Tree integration in homestead farms in southeast Nigeria: propositions and evidence

This paper contributes to wider debates on the dominant factors determining the emergence and sustainability of intermediate systems of forest management in developing countries. The theoretical framework and propositions for analysing tree integration in homestead farms are presented, with reference to southeast Nigeria. The paper argues that, first, at the household level, livelihood strategies constitute the main determinant of the decision to integrate trees in homestead farms. Secondly, induced innovation has a wider and more significant role at the community level than at the household level in encouraging the integration of trees in farms. Thirdly, the sustainability of observed patterns of tree integration is influenced by the interaction of environmental, ecological, political, economic and social factors. Based on these propositions, the paper analyses the internal (household) and external (wider community) factors influencing tree integration in homestead farms in southeast Nigeria.     

Developing KaNgwane: geographies of segregation and integration in the new South Africa

This paper examines social, political and economic processes within the former KaNgwane bantustan to understand the changing relationships between society and space in the post-apartheid era. Research on rural development and reconstruction in South Africa attest to the spatial legacy of apartheid while suggesting that dynamic transformations are occurring within the former bantustans. A central concern of this paper is the ways the apartheid government constructed and presented KaNgwane as a development project in order to justify racial segregation and control. While the bantustans have been effectively erased from the popular imagination, these spaces continue to be framed developmentally in ways that provide limited attention to local context and change. In order to consider the shifts in environment and development discourses within these territories, a case study is employed to evaluate livelihood production systems, environmental change, and governance institutions. It is argued that these patterns reveal the simultaneously static and dynamic nature of the bantustans while demonstrating that their reincorporation will remain an ongoing process in the post-apartheid era.     

Environmental sustainability and scenarios of urbanization in arid area

Based on data of questionnaire and field survey and two developing models of Business As Usual (BAU) and the Intensive Urbanization (IU), this article, taking Wuwei City, a medium size city and typical oasis arid area in Gansu Province with very vulnerable and sensitive natural environment but long history of oasis economy, as an example, evaluated the sustainability of its environment and analyzed the scenarios of Wuwei’s household energy consumption, waste discharge in transportation industry, primary industry, secondary industry, tertiary industry, by the integration of the systematical dynamics model Stella and Polestar language to simulate the future development of the research area. The results showed that, first, the developing model of IU was propitious to Wuwei City named for oasis economy and vulnerable natural environment. The strategy of "Intensive Urbanization" can change the structure of energy utilization, and improve the efficiency of energy utilization. Second, the proportion of domestic energy consumption will decrease with industrialization and economic development, while that of tertiary industry, secondary industry and transportation will gradually grow up according to strategy of "Intensive Urbanization". Third, the Wuwei City is facing a severe eco-environmental crisis under the conventional patterns of development and a better future under a sustainable urbanization scenario, in the next 10 to 20 years. The different developing trends were clarified and the relative countermeasures were put forward for the policy makers according to the driving forces. Foundation item: Under the auspices of Key Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 90102013) and Key Innovation Sub-project of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KZCX1-10-07-04) Biography: YOU Fei (1972–), male, a native of Pianguan of Shanxi Province, Ph.D., assistant professor, specialized in regional sustainable development and ecological economy. E-mail: yofae@sina.com     

Putting discourse in its place: planning, sustainability and the urban capacity study

This article argues that policy discourses need to be set within the heterogeneous resources that governments routinely use to govern across the state/non-state divide. It employs the governmentality perspective to show how a discursive coalition in the planning for housing sector uses such resources to embed a new rationality of 'planning for sustainability' in a host of differing local arenas. The article extends the governmentality approach by proposing that this 'embedding' process is geographically uneven as the discourse becomes enmeshed in differing economic and environmental circumstances. The analysis thus reveals a geography of governmentality by showing how local actions intrude upon the functioning of governmental networks.     

Earth support systems: Threatened? why? what can we do?

The most important concept to emerge in the 20th century was the recognition that sustainability is threatened. A sustainable society is one that functions and lives in such harmony with earth systems that future generations will be able to function with equal or greater ease and the quality of life will in no way be diminished. Evidence of threats to sustainability is found in: global energy use; global climate change; availability of sufficient safe water; degradation of soil on agricultural lands; food production for a global population of 9,000 million by 2050; accelerated extinction rates and loss of biodiversity; human under- and over-nourishment; and the spread of diseases. Ignorance borne of alienation from nature deprives us of sensitivity to the threats human activities cause. Alienation may be traced to the agricultural revolution, but has become widespread and even inescapable for many with massive control of energy and the industrial revolution, dependence on machines, and urbanization. With the control of enough energy to dominate nature and the achievement of a high, but transient, level of wealth, a world view extolling growth—led by the highly industrialized nations, but now being emulated in the developing countries—has committed the world to an unsustainable path. Because of this, world societies must work to find practical “sustainability” world views to help guide our future choices. Wise choices will depend upon good scientific understanding and must be based upon a deep respect for the non-human world and a concern for the future. The environmental meaning of different world views, whether founded in the world religions or in nonreligious philosophy, share a common concern to promote an equitable, harmonious, and sustainable relationship between humanity and nature. The similarities in pragmatic meaning in relation to nature of, e.g., Christian stewardship and Deep Ecology, illustrate this. Our attention must not be directed towards alternative symbolic or linguistic vocabularies, but toward the practical environmental commitments that different world views entail. Our problems have global reach and many of them are urgent, but they are not intrinsically unsolvable. We must seek ways to find and use common ground in the search for sustainability. We must work together, but remember that each of us contributes to the final outcome.     

Book reviews

Books reviewed:
Hall, Peter. Cities in civilization. Culture, innovation, and urban order
Gottdiener, M., Collins, Claudia C. and Dickens, David R. Las Vegas: the social production of an all-American city
Duncan, James and Gregory Derek (eds) Writes of passage: reading travel writing