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.     

Minority women’s microenterprises in rural areas of the United States of America: African American,Hispanic American and Native American case studies

Women in many rural areas of the US often engage in small-scale businesses as one of several avenues for contributing to household incomes. In those geographical areas that contain a significant minority population, many of the women's businesses display the cultural diversity of the regions in which they live. Likewise, women's roles as economic providers as well as wives and mothers are reflected in the manner in which they operate their businesses. Candida Brush suggests that women's strategies for operating their businesses are highly integrative because women's business decisions are intertwined with familial responsibilities, household economic demands and desires to contribute to their communities. Hispanic and Native American women in the Four Corners region of southwestern US and African American women in central Virginia participated in interviews in which they responded to numerous short answer and open-ended questions about their businesses and decision-making strategies. From these interviews an image emerges of rural minority business women who are operating their businesses at the nexus of family obligations, economic necessities, cultural ties and with a commitment for serving their communities. This revised version was published online in July 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.     

宁夏香山荒漠草原区植物群落多样性时空特征

采用多个多样性指数对宁夏香山荒漠草原区植物群落多样性时间、空间动态进行分析。结果表明，该地区群落时、空动态特征不明显。长期过度放牧导致环境恶化，生境碎化，这些作用的长期性、循环性是造成物种、群落格局与原有时、空动态规律相悖的主要因素，这些因素消除了物种或群落在时间梯度上应有的变化规律。干旱山地物种在长期进化过程中成功的发展了对环境的适应机制，环境的波动性强烈导致了群落多样性在原来消长动态基础上的复杂化，也使多样性动态机制复杂化。应用多种指数数学模型对研究对象进行综合评价，能够真实地反映群落多样性动态。     

Impact of habitat heterogeneity on plant community pattern in Gurbantunggut Desert

1IntroductionStudy on the interrelationship between vegetation patterns and their habitat heterogeneity is important to recover and rehabilitate the desert vegetation, stabilize the desert ecosystem and prevent desert expansion. Domestic and foreign researchers have carried out many studies on this topic (Archer etal., 2002; Bolling etal., 2000; Chen etal., 2003; Dasti etal., 1994; Gu etal., 2002, Li etal., 2001; Li etal., 2001; Liang etal., 2003), which have used and refined statistic tech…     

Targeting seasonal climate forecasts for integration into household level decisions: the case of smallholder farmers in Lesotho

Seasonal climate forecasts have been promoted as a means to increase the resilience of marginal groups in Africa. The manifestations of this are still to be seen. This paper argues that successful dissemination and adoption of the forecast requires an in-depth profile of the characteristics and needs of user groups. The case study of a mountainous village in southern Lesotho is used to highlight the decisions which one group of marginal users – smallholder farmers – might make in response to the forecast. A participatory role-play exercise explores what information households presently receive and how new climate forecast information could be integrated into seasonal decision making. Results show that there are a number of low-input options available to these farmers for responding to the forecast. Adoption, however, is going to require repeated exposure to the forecast in conjunction with forecast development that is suited to users' needs. The case study is linked back to the larger scale by suggesting paths that seasonal climate forecast development could take if it is to contribute to improving livelihood sustainability among marginal groups.     

RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN EL HATILLO, NICARAGUA: GENDER, NEOLIBERALISM AND ENVIRONMENTAL RISK

El Hatillo is a rural community in the Sébaco valley in Nicaragua, which suffers from an eroding resource base, high levels of poverty and malnutrition, and a high susceptibility to hazards. Structural adjustment policies have been devastating for small and subsistence farmers and have increased the level of economic, social and environmental marginalisation in rural Nicaragua. This paper explores initiatives to promote sustainable development in Nicaragua in the context of structural adjustment and environmental degradation. Drawing on qualitative research conducted in El Hatillo, it outlines the ways in which women in this community are attempting to address the multiple challenges of rural poverty and environmental risk and considers the potential of these strategies for gender equality.     

‘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.     

数字社区数据标准研究

当前数字社区建设缺乏统一的智能化综合管理平台以及相应的各项数据标准，使得数字社区难以真正实现统一的数字化管理。该文参考国内外相应数据标准，研究数字社区的标准体系结构。针对现有标准体系缺乏相关数据标准的现状，提出数字社区系列数据标准，包括数据接口层标准、数据分类编码标准、数据模型、数据字典和元数据标准。阐述系列标准中各标准间的相互关系以及各标准所包含的具体内容。     

智能卡和出租车轨迹数据中蕴含城市人群活动模式的差异性分析

当前采用交通流数据量化城市人群活动模式研究已经取得了丰硕的研究成果,但是对于同一区域、同一时段不同类型交通流数据反映城市人群活动模式的共性与差异性仍然知之甚少,直接影响了城市人群活动模式挖掘结果的可解释性与实际应用效果。为此,本文旨在对目前广泛采用的智能卡数据（公交和地铁刷卡）和出租车轨迹数据2种重要的交通流数据,从时空分布模式的差异性、行程距离及距离衰减效应的差异性、空间社团结构的差异性3个方面,探索二者反映城市人群活动模式的差异性：① 采用北京市六环以内区域2016年5月9日至15日的智能卡和出租车轨迹数据进行实验分析,研究发现：① 2种交通流反映出行需求的空间分布呈现出高度相关性,但是在同一空间单元上,2种交通流反映出行需求的时间相关性较低;② 2种交通流的使用率在不同空间位置存在明显差异,仅在城市中心区域使用率较为均衡;③ 2种交通流反映人群行程距离的空间分布、距离衰减效应存在明显差异,公共交通对于促进长距离出行更为重要;④ 从2种交通流发现的空间社团结构都显示了城市的多中心结构特征,但是二者发现社团结构存在的差异性表明两种交通方式对城市空间交互起着不同的作用。本研究有助于深入理解多源交通流反映城市人群活动的内在机理,提升城市人群活动模式在城市规划、交通管理等领域的应用效果。