Research progress of socio-economic water cycle in China

China has made great progress in the study of socio-economic water cycle. She has completed national water resources appraisement and medium to long-term water supply planning. She has been engaging in study on water-deficient regions in North China and Northwest China for about half a century. For solving water shortage problem in northern China, she has put forward the famous South-to-North Water Transferring Projects, which has been set as one of the four biggest national projects in the Tenth Five-Year-Plan period although there are still debates. For promoting water use efficiency, China has been reforming her water management system, including water right system and water price system. There has already been a case of water right purchase. China has also done a lot of research on the interaction between human activity, water and ecosystem. For meeting the need of sustainability and coordinating water resources development and environmental protection, the study of ecological water requirement became very hot in recent years. There are three focuses of socio-economic water cycle study now in China: water transfer projects from the south to the north, water resources management and ecological water requirement.     

Efficient use of resources: urban waste ash and soil fertility on the Jos Plateau, Nigeria

Waste disposal constitutes an acute problem in numerous African cities. One solution could lie in the recycling of the nutrient-rich waste into agriculture taking place in and around cities. Farmers involved in vegetable production around Jos, Nigeria, have developed a sophisticated soil fertility management strategy combining inorganic fertilizers, manure and urban waste ash. This paper: (1) investigates the socio-economic constraints linked to obtaining scarce organic inputs, particularly urban waste ash and the health hazards (particularly heavy metal contamination of soil and crops) caused by using this ash and (2) suggests ways to improve use of this important resource.     

波浪能电站潜在社会经济效益多层次灰色评价

对海洋波浪能电站的潜在社会经济效益进行评价,旨在为电站选址和可行性分析提供参考。多层次灰色评价方法通过建立评价指标体系,采用专家评分法确定指标的权重和分值,定性与定量相结合得到综合评价值。其结果表明了电站建设对社会经济影响的程度。案例分析验证了综合评价方法具有可行性。     

Urban Seismic Risk Evaluation: A Holistic Approach

Risk has been defined, for management purposes, as the potential economic, social and environmental consequences of hazardous events that may occur in a specified period of time. However, in the past, the concept of risk has been defined in a fragmentary way in many cases, according to each scientific discipline involved in its appraisal. From the perspective of this article, risk requires a multidisciplinary evaluation that takes into account not only the expected physical damage, the number and type of casualties or economic losses, but also the conditions related to social fragility and lack of resilience conditions, which favour the second order effects (indirect effects) when a hazard event strikes an urban centre. The proposed general method of urban risk evaluation is multi hazard and holistic, that is, an integrated and comprehensive approach to guide decision-making. The evaluation of the potential physical damage (hard approach) as the result of the convolution of hazard and physical vulnerability of buildings and infrastructure is the first step of this method. Subsequently, a set of social context conditions that aggravate the physical effects are also considered (soft approach). In the method here proposed, the holistic risk evaluation is based on urban risk indicators. According to this procedure, a physical risk index is obtained, for each unit of analysis, from existing loss scenarios, whereas the total risk index is obtained by factoring the former index by an impact factor or aggravating coefficient, based on variables associated with the socio-economic conditions of each unit of analysis. Finally, the proposed method is applied in its single hazard form to the holistic seismic risk evaluation for the cities of Bogota (Colombia) and Barcelona (Spain).     

Obituaries

Helge Marcus Ingstad 1899–2001 By Kirsten A. Seaver
Francis William Carter 1938–2001 By David Turnock     

Identity building and social transformation: the cases of Namibia and Botswana compared

Namibia and Botswana differ from other sub-Saharan nations in their record of stable political performance. However, both countries have to face increasing social problems. In the case of Namibia these are still mainly related to the process of post-apartheid national reconciliation and identity building, in the case of Botswana they refer to issues of growing tribal tensions and of a gradual interior restructuring of society. This paper analyzes the various patterns of social transformation in the two countries and examines in what ways state-society relations are different from other African nations. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

全球气候变化中的人类活动视角:社会经济情景的演变

社会经济情景的设定是全球气候变化研究的基础,也是气候变化影响评估的关键环节.本文回顾了社会经济情景的发展过程,阐述了共享社会经济路径的主要特点和最新发展趋势,介绍了区域社会经济情景的构建及在灾害风险领域中的应用,最后对共享社会经济路径的发展进行了展望.     

Vulnerability,Partnerships and the Pursuit of Survival: Urban Livelihoods and Apprenticeship Contracts in a West African City

This paper analyses local level apprenticeship contracts and networks to highlight informal urban livelihoods within the context of socio-economic vulnerability and wider contemporary changes taking place in Koforidua, Ghana. It does so by specifically examining the complex entanglements of interpersonal relationships that characterize apprenticeship contracts within which home-based entrepreneurs and artisans in Koforidua engage in to sustain both current livelihoods, as well as to shore themselves against socio-economic vulnerability triggered in part by adjustment. As a result of the changing geography of the city, network entanglements, comprising resilient ties and egalitarian relations, have become vital to urban livelihoods in this community. However, apprenticeship contracts and the networks they engender can be a double-edged sword. For instance, demands of reciprocity or support from co-network members, neighbours and family, can be so taxing that some individuals opt out of the network. This tension notwithstanding, this paper contends that apprenticeship contracts and the network spaces they create have created a new social cohesion and community that transcend the traditionally known spaces of social support, i.e. ethnic ties, family ties or even institutional support.     

环鄱阳湖区农家菜地土壤重金属风险评价及来源分析

通过评价环鄱阳湖区10个县农家菜地土壤样品重金属的潜在生态风险,分析其与9个社会经济指标间的灰色关联度来探讨重金属的污染来源。结果显示,鄱阳湖区各菜地土壤中Cd的超标情况最严重,超标率达到90%,除部分地区Cu超标外,其余重金属均未超标。鄱阳湖区农家菜地土壤达到轻微生态风险,工业较发达地区重金属生态风险较大于工业落后地区,工业发展情况对湖区的空间污染分异有较大影响。蔬菜产量、工业发展情况、城镇化率、交通业发展情况和菜地土壤不同种重金属具有较高关联度,而地区生产总值、农药使用量对各种重金属含量的影响最弱。