Gold mining in Ghana's forest reserves: a report on the current debate

This paper examines the debate surrounding a recent decision made by the Ghanaian government to permit gold exploration – and potentially, mining – in 'protected' forest reserves. In 2001, four mining companies were awarded mineral exploration concessions in forested regions of the country, and have since put forward applications to mine for gold. Notwithstanding the sharp divide in opinion on the issue, the continued uncertainty surrounding the implications of the proposed activities makes further research on the ground imperative in the short term. Work aiming to elicit indigenous perspectives on the projects, as well as research that facilitates dialogue between and/or among stakeholder parties, should be prioritized.     

Managing sustainable farmed landscape through 'alternative' food networks: a case study from Italy

This paper focuses on a case study of an 'alternative' food network based in the Abruzzo National Park, Italy, to explore how ideas of sustainable farmland management can be expressed through broader understandings of developing networks of care concerned with local economies and societies, high-quality specialist food products, particular 'traditional' farming practices and livestock breeds, as well as the ecology of a farmed landscape. The scheme allows customers, internationally as well as in Italy, to 'adopt' a milking sheep on a large mountain farm. In return, adopters are sent food products from the farm. The adoption scheme is inter-twined with an agri-tourism project which provides accommodation, runs a restaurant and engages in educational activities. The scheme is the result of the individual initiative of its founder, and is associated with a strongly expressed ethical position concerning the value of sustaining valued local rural landscapes and lifestyles, and the importance of 'reconnecting' urban dwellers with rural areas, farming and 'quality' food production. Yet the localness of the scheme is sustained through wider national and international networks: volunteer and paid workers are drawn from several European countries, funding has been acquired from the EU LEADER programme, and internet and transport technologies are essential in connecting with and supplying an international customer base. The broader economy of care instanced in this case study draws attention to a need to develop strategies for sustainable farmland management constructed around wider programmes of social, economic and cultural, as well as environmental, concern.     

Dynamics and interaction of organic carbon, turbidity and bacteria in a karst aquifer system

The dynamics of organic carbon (OC), turbidity, faecal indicator bacteria and physicochemical parameters was studied in a karst system near Yverdon, Switzerland. Online measurements and sampling were done at a swallow hole draining an agricultural surface (the input), and two groups of springs (the outputs) that often show bacterial contamination. A fluorescent tracer that was injected into the swallow hole during low-flow conditions first arrived at the springs 10–12 days after injection; the total recovery rate was 29%. Previous tracer tests during high-flow conditions gave shorter travel times. After a major rainfall event, a primary turbidity peak was observed at the springs. It coincides with the rising limb of the hydrograph, indicating remobilisation of autochthonous particles from the aquifer. A secondary turbidity peak occurs several days later, suggesting the arrival of allochthonous particles from the swallow hole. Wider peaks of OC and bacteria were observed simultaneously. Applying methods from molecular microbiology (PCR-DGGE) allowed characterisation of the bacterial communities at the swallow hole and the springs. The results demonstrate that the swallow hole is an important source of groundwater contamination, while its contribution to aquifer recharge is insignificant. OC appears to be a better indicator for bacterial contamination than turbidity.     

东北地区生态环境保育与绿色社区建设

20世纪以来，东北地区资源环境发生了巨大的变化，为全球范围内具有有短时限人地关系高强度作用特征的典型地区之一。区域资源过量消耗、生态环境趋于恶化，可持续发展面临威胁，保育生态环境成为一项十分迫切的任务。建设“绿色社区”，是生态保育的有效措施和重要内容，也是生态建设的一项基础工程，建立绿色社区的目标的营造绿色文化、保育绿色生态和发展绿色经济，建立绿色社区的基本任务是发展生态经济，保育生态环境，解决农村生态环境退化，促进城市可持续发展。提出了绿色社区建设的实施方案。     

新疆塔里木河下游植物群落逆向演替分析

通过对塔里木河中下游沿河植物群落的调查分析及地下水位下降对地表植被生态过程影响的研究，探讨塔里木河下游近几十年来植被的逆向演替过程，并划分出不同的演替阶段。根据草、灌、乔植被对地下水位具有不同的适应能力，塔里木河下游植物群落退化顺序也不相同，首先是草本退化，其次是灌木退化，再者是乔木退化。经调查分析表明，塔里木河下游植物群落的逆向演替顺序为：矫灌草群落阶段→乔灌群落阶段→乔木或灌木少阶段，在逆向演替过程中，各阶段有规律地进行，群落结构特征、种类组成也都发生了明显的变化。     

滇池农村固体废物和化肥流失治理试验研究

怎样合理处置农村固体废物和减少农田化肥流失一直是农村面源污染控制的难题之一。该研究将农村固体废物的处理与减少化肥施用措施有机结合，利用微生物复合发酵剂和农村固体废物生产活性肥料，开展了一系列农业种植试验和数据监测，在此基础上，提出了一套实用性强、效果好的控制农业固体废物和化肥流失污染的对策措施。     

Religion and technology: refiguring place, space, identity and community

This paper reviews the literature on the religion–technology nexus, drawing up a research agenda and offering preliminary empirical insights. First, I stress the need to explore the new politics of space as a consequence of technological development, emphasizing questions about the role of religion in effecting a form of religious (neo)imperialism, and uneven access to techno-religious spaces. Second, I highlight the need to examine the politics of identity and community, since cyberspace is not an isotropic surface. Third, I underscore the need to engage with questions about the poetics of religious community as social relations become mediated by technology. Finally, I focus on questions about the poetics of place, particularly the technological mediation of rituals.     

RURAL PLACE ATTACHMENT IN HISPANO URBAN CENTERS*

ABSTRACT. Continued rural‐to‐urban migration has helped motivate cultural geographers, long suspected of having a rural bias, to include urban areas in their purview. Patterns of gender, class, ethnicity, and commercialization have proved to be fertile subjects for research, but the elastic links between rural and urban places are not yet well understood. Hispanos, despite intense feelings of loyalty to their rural villages, moved en masse to cities in the 1940s. By the 1950s a majority of Hispanos were living in regional urban centers of the upper Rio Grande country, where wages were higher and employment was secure. This Hispano experience is a crucible for examining how urbanites' attachment to rural places is manifested in various cultural expressions brought from country to city: painted murals, burial preferences, popular music, and irrigation ditches. Understanding threads of rural culture that have been incorporated into the urban fabric in turn leads to clearer comprehension of the emotional attachment that urbanites have for rural areas and a better appreciation of the complexity of the urban cultural environment.     

Promoting social justice and conserving montane forest environments: a case study of Nepal's community forestry programme

This paper analyses participatory forest policy and the ways it has influenced the relationships between people as it relates to the forest resource management. This case study was conducted in the middle hills of Nepal, and information was collected through direct observation, individual interviews, group discussion and secondary information analysis. It substantiates a few examples of how the community forestry programme can be used as a means to promote the participation of the women, the poor and dalit (untouchables) in forest resource management, as well as enhancing social justice and improving the forest resources in their locality. However, it also demonstrates that though the community forestry programme has a positive impact, it faces several constraints and challenges. The local Forest User Group is controlled by a few élites making the poor and disadvantaged vulnerable to further marginalization. The results of the case study strongly indicate that community forestry processes must address the political, economic and social needs of the forest users, and also provide a neutral platform on which the poor can present their cases.     

Alpine medicinal plant trade and Himalayan mountain livelihood strategies

Commercial alpine medicinal plants are collected from the wild by local rural households throughout the Himalaya and sold in order to increase household incomes. Recent studies indicate that this annual trade amounts to thousands of tonnes of roots, rhizomes, tubers, leaves, etc., worth millions of US dollars. The main market is in India. Based on a national survey, including the most commonly traded species, and a village study this paper investigates the importance of the alpine medicinal plant trade at national and local levels in Nepal. The national survey included standardized open-ended interviews with 232 harvesters, 64 local traders, 66 central wholesalers, 47 regional wholesalers, and 16 production companies. The village survey is based on the daily records of household activities in 15 households in a one-year period. The annual Nepalese alpine and sub-alpine medicinal plant trade is conservatively estimated to vary from 480 to 2500 t with a total harvester value of US$0.8–3.3 million; the average harvester value is estimated at US$66.0 ± 99.0. The trade in 1997/98 amounted to 1600 t with a harvester value of US$2.3 million and an export value equivalent to 2.5% of total export from Nepal. Medicinal plant harvesting was found to constitute an integrated part of local livelihood strategies, contributing from 3 to 44% (average of 12%) of the annual household income. Importance at household level depended on land and animal holdings, and the availability of adult male labour. The validity and reliability of methods and analyses is evaluated, and issues of conservation and management of alpine medicinal plant species under the community forestry scheme are discussed.