Drought and institutional adaptation in the Great Plains of Alberta and Saskatchewan, 1914–1939

Agriculture in the southern Great Plains of Canada has been particularly vulnerable to prolonged episodes of drought. Using climate data and a precipitation minus potential evapotranspiration index, the extent of the region’s exposure to drought is examined. Between 1914 and 1917, the Dry Belt was particularly vulnerable to drought, whereas after 1928, a much larger region known as the Palliser Triangle covering most of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan was much more exposed to drought. These droughts provoked major institutional adaptation, in particular the establishment of the Special Areas Board by the Government of Alberta, and the creation of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration by the Government of Canada. Both organizations have proved to be relatively permanent public adaptations to the natural hazard of drought in the region. Moreover, these earlier experiences with prolonged drought as well as institution-building may be of value in helping the residents of the Palliser Triangle adapt to predicted climate changes in the future as well as anticipate some of the barriers to effective institutional adaptation.     

National ocean policy—new opportunities for Malaysian ocean development

Being a littoral state, Malaysian maritime sectors provide the basis for the growth and development of marine-related activities. As the country enters the new millennium along with the ‘2020 Vision’ which serves as the basic template against which the economic performance of these sectors should be judged, it poses a new challenge for Malaysia in developing these sectors. This paper attempts to address three basic issues: Firstly, is there any national ocean policy in place? Secondly, are the maritime sectors adequately organized to play an important role in achieving the objectives? Thirdly, what are the opportunities available in developing the ocean?It can be seen that existing policies to develop comprehensive ocean governance have not received the full attention they deserve. Organizational structures governing the ocean for implementing national policies are well in place but in a fragmented and uncoordinated fashion. As a result, sectoral and intersectoral management problems were created such as multiple-use conflicts, overlapping of jurisdiction and duplication of efforts. Environmental problems have also not been properly addressed. A few sectors have been identified as offering opportunities to further develop the Malaysian maritime areas. Among these are marine education and human resources development, marine tourism and the seafood industry.     

Evaluation of the ocean governance system in Korea

Considering the small land, dense population and poor natural resources, the oceans are important to Korea, but the recognition of oceans has been weak in Korean society. So ocean governance was fragmented in both institution and policies, which resulted in serious problems in the coastal waters and oceans. However, a series of maritime accidents and failures of policies increased the recognition of the coastal waters and resources and led to the establishment of one single ocean-related governmental agency in 1996. Over the last decade, the ocean governance in Korea has been successful and strong.     

Planning for source water protection in Ontario

Ontario began developing a drinking water source protection planning process in 2000, after a rural community's water supply was contaminated by pathogens from agricultural runoff. An expert committee report has recommended legislating a new source protection “sphere of jurisdiction” for municipalities; however, no specific new municipal tools or authorities have been proposed as yet. This paper reports findings from an evaluation of the extent to which existing institutional arrangements for land use planning and water management facilitate or constrain source protection by municipalities. A case study of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo suggests there is the potential to link land use planning more strongly to water management through creative use of existing tools, forgoing the need for major institutional changes.     

Biodiversity and studies of marine symbiotic siphonostomatoids off South Africa

Current knowledge of the biodiversity of the symbiotic marine siphonostomatoids from South African waters (136 species) is sparse compared to that globally (1 388 species). The difference is especially apparent when taking into account the diversity of fish (more than 2 000 species) and invertebrates (approximately 12 914 species) found in South African waters, all of which are all potential hosts of symbiotic siphonostomatoids. Most reports of symbiotic siphonostomatoids from South African waters are from Chondrichthyes and represent 80% of the currently known families and about 66% of the known genera. Taxonomic studies on the siphonostomatoids also provide information about their morphology, biology, habitat preference and host association, as well as the distribution of species and their associated host taxa. Molecular analysis, especially sequencing, provides additional information on the existence of cryptic species and population structure, but has high financial costs and a very low success rate in DNA isolation and PCR amplification. Reported declines in abundance of piscivorous fish species, for example, as a result of fishing pressure, with possible synergistic effects of environmental changes, and also the reported potential effects of anthropogenic and climate change on the broader coastal biota, may result in the loss of siphonostomatoid species before they can be described. Furthermore, in South Africa, there is a lack of professional taxonomists to study poorly known groups and this situation will not improve while research emphasis remains on commercially important groups and while taxonomic studies are not recognised for their value in research programmes.     

Conclusions: Benefits, lessons learned, and future challenges of marine spatial planning

This article summarizes briefly the principal conclusions from papers presented in this special issue on marine spatial planning. It identifies potential economic, ecological, and administrative benefits (and costs) that might be realized from the implementation of MSP. Finally, the article summarize lessons learned and identifies future challenges and directions for MSP, including the development of international guidelines for its implementation.     

Governance fit for climate change in a Caribbean coastal-marine context

Coastal-marine systems in small island developing states of the Caribbean are highly vulnerable to both current and future climate change. Societies navigate these changes in part through processes of governance and the institutions through which governance takes place. The concept of institutional adaptive capacity is used to explore how governance processes and institutional arrangements can be adapted to match the scale and extent of climate change in a case study of the Soufriere Marine Management Area, St. Lucia. Institutional adaptive capacity is analyzed based on the following factors: institutional variety, analytical deliberation and nesting and networks. The analysis is based on 36 semi-structured interviews conducted with key informants from NGOs, cooperatives, management authorities and government agencies. The findings suggest that governance to address climate change in the case study is contingent upon developing holistic, integrated management systems, improving flexibility in existing collaborative decision making processes, augmenting the capacity of local management authorities with support from higher-level government, exploring opportunities for private–social partnerships, and developing adequate social–environmental monitoring programs. These findings have potential implications and lessons for similar settings throughout the Caribbean.     

地理学视角下非物质文化遗产的跨地方实践

非物质文化遗产不仅是来源于过去的特定区域的传统实践,更是生成于全球化体系中面向未来的现代文化政治和文化经济过程。因此,本文尝试以跨地方性理论为切入点,架构非遗的形成、运作和认同的社会—空间过程,在此基础上使用跨地方聚合的思想重新概念化非遗实践,将其解读为多元主体权力关系中介下,由跨地方异质性要素聚合而成的不稳定的开放系统,以区别于固有对非遗实践“稳定”“以人为中心”和“边界化”的认知。通过分析云南鹤庆银器锻制技艺和摩梭纺织技艺两个案例来呈现非遗实践作为跨地方聚合的过程及特性,以及非遗传承和保护由此所面对的机遇和挑战,呼吁在重视非遗服务于乡村振兴等发展战略的潜力时,要进一步认识非遗实践的跨地方性对本土社区的影响,反思遗产原真性和文化价值与当前非遗实践的关系,强调在非遗全球化生产和消费中保持其与本土认同和本土生计之间的关联。     

CHALLENGES AND PROBLEMS：CHINA‘S URBAN GOVERNANCE

Chinaˊs urban reforms have brought social progress and development,but a comprehensive national system of social welfare(for example,unemployment insurance,pensions,medical care and public housing)for new migrants from rural areas is lacking.One of the most remarkable changes in Chinese cities in the last decade was a change in so-cial“equality“,with the rise of new poverty both in individual communities and some social groups in urban society.Howev-er,there is little social assistance and public infrastructure for the migrants.Governments or communities or individual should pay attention to the control of new urban poverty and new slums.This paper consider that it is necessary to launch a successful policy,which include mainly:1)accommodating urban growth through low-cost investment projects;2)ur-ban economy depends heavily on successful macroeconomic policy;3)to broaden the three channels linking adjustment to the incidence of urban poverty;4)to restructure urban economic based on the high or new technology;5)to coordi-nate relationship between urban economic growth and environment management for sustainable development of Beijingˊs metropolitan fringe.     

大数据时代下测绘地理信息产业的机遇和挑战

我们正在逐步进入大数据时代,大数据开启了一次重大的时代转型,必定会对各个领域中的生存和发展产生重大的影响。本文分析了大数据时代测绘地理信息产业呈现出的新特点、新趋势,阐述了大数据给测绘地理信息产业发展带来的机遇和面临的挑战,提出了推进测绘地理信息产业发展的对策及建议。