Coping with Drought: Towards a Multilevel Understanding Based on Conservation of Resources Theory

There is substantial research on psychological consequences of disasters. However, most disaster studies to date have focused on acute disasters, ignoring slow-onset chronic hazards, such as extreme climate conditions and pollution. Using a multilevel theoretical framework based on the Conservation of Resources theory (S. E. Hobfoll, The Ecology of Stress, Hemisphere, New York, 1988; Stress, Culture, and Community: The Psychology and Philosophy of Stress, Plenum, New York, 1998) and the “ecological analogy” (see e.g., S. E. Hobfoll and R. S Lilly, Journal of Community Psychology, 21:128–148, 1993; E. J. Trickett, Extreme Stress and Communities: Impact and Intervention, Kluwer, Boston, 1995), this critical review of the current literature is aimed at increasing our understanding of personal and community impacts of drought as a classic example of a natural, slow-onset disaster affecting large numbers of people worldwide. A gap in the current literature was identified concerning appraisal and coping at the individual level. These include psychological coping strategies and the role of resources other than economic resources in explaining vulnerability to negative consequences of drought, such as personal resources (e.g., knowledge, skills, self-sufficiency, mastery, control) and social resources (e.g., social support). Important differences were identified with fast-onset disasters. Most importantly, dealing with drought is generally an integrated part of life for people in drought prone areas. Therefore, individuals may not recognize that their problems are part of a community wide stressor, and raising community awareness during severe and long droughts that deplete community resources needs special attention. Implications for studying drought and effective intervention strategies are given.     

Assessing agricultural soil acidification and nutrient management in life cycle assessment

Purpose  

This paper describes part of the first detailed environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) of Australian red meat (beef and sheep meat) production. The study was intended to assist the methodological development of life cycle impact assessment by examining the feasibility of new indicators for natural resource management (NRM) issues relevant to soil management in agricultural LCA. This paper is intended to describe the NRM indicators directly related to agricultural soil chemistry.     

Fuzzy-based methodological proposal for participatory diagnosis in the linear parks management

Participatory decision-making in the management of linear parks can provide better outcomes than classical top-down procedures. However, the integration of technical knowledge with the understanding of the community requires an approach able to deal with uncertainty, due to the issues of vagueness and subjectivity. Therefore, the present paper introduces a fuzzy-based proposal for supporting participatory diagnosis. For this purpose, five Mamdani-type systems were built based on the knowledge of experts, including as indicators the species richness of fauna and flora, land cover, basic and recreational facilities, support services, and the park users’ perceptions. By integrating such indicators, three indexes were obtained for assessing the natural condition, infrastructure, and functional performance of a linear park. The proposed system was then applied in a case study of the Tiquatira linear park in São Paulo city, Brazil. The results indicated that the park has high functional performance, but that improvements in its natural condition and infrastructure are needed, such as the reclamation of disturbed areas and ongoing maintenance of the facilities. The use of fuzzy modeling enabled integration of the technical assessment by experts and the users’ perception, in order to support a participatory diagnosis taking into account the existing uncertainties. In conclusion, this fuzzy-based proposal can be considered a promising approach for the participatory management of linear parks. In future studies, techniques for the case-by-case weighting of variables could be assessed, in order to strengthen the systems described in the present paper.     

Overview: Spatial information and indicators for sustainable management of natural resources

Natural resource management (NRM) is becoming increasingly important at all scales, local, regional, national and global, because of an increasing human population and increasing per capita use of resources and space. Conflicts are intensifying between different interest groups. Production and conservation aspects are particularly debated because conservation often conflicts with economic and social sustainability. There is public demand for objective decision based NRM but limitations are all pervasive due to the spatial and temporal complexity and interdisciplinary nature.This special issue explores the use of spatial data and models to overcome some limitations of NRM decision making. The papers in this issue show modern approaches of natural resources management with a particular focus on spatial data collection, analysis and the development of spatial indicators. This issue presents a balanced mix of review and research papers that give examples of how to find or improve the spatial information base for evidence-based decision making.This overview makes the argument that understanding complex spatial pattern and processes, and the development of spatial indicators, is an essential aspect of evidence-based NRM. If spatial and temporal patterns are complex, ecological evidence from field data or experiments may have limited value for NRM and observational study designs become more appropriate for understanding complex spatial pattern and processes. Data quality should be documented as a combination of accuracy and spatio-temporal representativeness in order to be useful in the NRM decision process.     

Same river,different values and why it matters

Summary Examination of the values that people assign to specific natural places is likely to be useful for environmental decision‐making but is an underdeveloped area of socio‐psychological research. A mail survey was used to examine the differences and similarities in values assigned by people to the Loddon River in south‐eastern Australia. Environmental, social and economic values were explored across five different community types: urban residents, rural residents, natural resource management (NRM) professionals, environmental group members (EGM) and landholders. While urban residents, rural residents and landholders had similar responses, NRM professionals and EGM placed much stronger emphasis on environmental values derived from the river, and much less emphasis on economic values. Members of two community types (EGM and NRM professionals) responded in a relatively homogenous way, within a narrow range of response options. By contrast, three community types (urban residents, rural residents and landholders) responded in more diverse ways. There were similarities in the social values (historical and aesthetic) expressed by the different community types, suggesting common points for stakeholder engagement in the management of the river. Results point to the need for environmental managers to ensure that consultation is not limited to the most actively engaged sectors of the community, as their responses may not be representative of other groups.     

Application of traditional ecological knowledge in the management and sustainability of fisheries in East Africa: a long-neglected strategy?

Management and sustainability of fisheries has been guided by theories and models derived from modern ecological science. Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) has been ignored in all spheres of decision-making for management and sustainability of fisheries in East Africa. TEK guided African communities in the way they associated and interacted with the natural environment around them. Spiritual rituals, religious practices, social taboos and sacred animal totems guided the peoples on how and when to utilize the available natural resources. In the advent of modern scientific knowledge, the African traditional knowledge quickly faded away and is generally seen as irrelevant. Today the potential of TEK in the management and sustainability of fisheries in East Africa has not been realized and its status and future is unknown. TEK should be complementary to modern scientific knowledge in the management and sustainability of fisheries. This paper therefore focuses on the potential application of TEK in the management and sustainability of fisheries in East Africa and the issues that impede its application.     

An Assessment of Integrated Risk Assessment

In order to promote international understanding and acceptance of the integrated risk assessment process, the World Health Organization/International Programme on Chemical Safety (WHO/IPCS), in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, initiated a number of activities related to integrated risk assessment. In this project, the WHO/IPCS defines integrated risk assessment as a science-based approach that combines the processes of risk estimation for humans, biota, and natural resources in one assessment. This article explores the strengths and weaknesses of integration as identified up to this date and the degree of acceptance of this concept by the global risk assessment/risk management community. It discusses both opportunities and impediments for further development and implementation.

The major emerging opportunities for an integrated approach stem from the increasing societal and political pressure to move away from vertebrate testing leading to a demand for scientific integrated approaches to in vitro and in vivo testing, as well as to computer simulations, in so-called Intelligent Testing Strategies. In addition, by weighing the evidence from conventional mammalian toxicology, ecotoxicology, human epidemiology, and eco-epidemiology, risk assessors could better characterize mechanisms of action and the forms of the relationships of exposures to responses. It is concluded that further demonstrations of scientific, economic and regulatory benefits of an integrated approach are needed. As risk assessment is becoming more mechanistic and molecular this may create an integrated approach based on common mechanisms and a common systems-biology approach.     

Increasing population and declining biological resources in the context of global change and globalization

In the context of over-consumption of natural resources in the name of development and rapid industrialization by a small section of the human population that is rapidly growing, the world is currently faced with a variety of environmental uncertainties. ‘Global change’ covering a whole variety of ecological issues, and ‘globalization’ in an economic sense, are two major phenomena that are responsible for these uncertainties. There is increasing evidence to suggest that the developing countries more than the developed, particularly the marginalized traditional (those living close to nature and natural resources) societies would be the worst sufferers. In order to cope with this problem in a situation where the traditional societies have to cope with rapidly depleting biodiversity on which they are dependant for their livelihood, there is an urgent need to explore additional pathways for sustainable management of natural resources and societal development. Such pathways should be based on a landscape management strategy, that takes into consideration the rich traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) that these societies have. This is critical because TEK is the connecting link between conservation and sustainable development. This paper explores the possibilities in this direction through a balanced approach to development, that links the ‘traditional’ with the ‘modern’, in a location-specific way.     

A research agenda for malaria eradication: cross-cutting issues for eradication

Discipline-specific Malaria Eradication Research Agenda (malERA) Consultative Groups have recognized several cross-cutting issues that must be addressed to prevent repetition of some of the mistakes of past malaria elimination campaigns in future programs. Integrated research is required to develop a decision-making framework for the switch from malaria control to elimination. Similarly, a strong economic case is needed for the very long-term financial support that is essential for elimination. Another cross-cutting priority is the development of improved measures of intensity of transmission, especially at low and nonrandom levels. Because sustained malaria elimination is dependent on a functioning health system, a further key cross-cutting research question is to determine how inputs for malaria can strengthen health systems, information systems, and overall health outcomes. Implementation of elimination programs must also be accompanied by capacity building and training to allow the assessment of the impact of new combinations of interventions, new roles for different individuals, and the operational research that is needed to facilitate program expansion. Finally, because community engagement, knowledge management, communication, political, and multisectoral support are critical but poorly understood success factors for malaria elimination, integrated research into these issues is vital.     

Towards an integrated management system based on abstraction of heterogeneous virtual resources

Virtualization technology reduces the costs for server installation, operation, and maintenance and it can simplify development of distributed systems. Currently, there are various virtualization technologies such as Xen, KVM, VMware, and etc, and all these technologies support various virtualization functions individually on the heterogeneous platforms. Therefore, it is important to be able to integrate and manage these heterogeneous virtualized resources in order to develop distributed systems based on the current virtualization techniques. This paper presents an integrated management system that is able to provide information for the usage of heterogeneous virtual resources and also to control them. The main focus of the system is to abstract various virtual resources and to reconfigure them flexibly. For this, an integrated management system has been developed and implemented based on a libvirt-based virtualization API and data distribution service (DDS).     

Integrating life cycle assessment and material flow cost accounting to account for resource productivity and economic-environmental performance

Purpose

This study contributes to measuring the interactions between human technological activities and the natural environment in an integrative approach to support organisations and supply chain partners in their efforts to increase the resource productivity and economic-environmental performance of their product systems. We expand existing knowledge on the underlying methodological facets of the integrative use of two standardised instruments. We further guide the discussion with a case study and depict areas for future research.

Methods

We discuss the integration of life cycle assessment and material flow cost accounting to examine resource inputs and product and non-product outputs alongside environmental impacts and costs. Life cycle assessment is a non-financial instrument to identify hotspots of resource use and associated environmental burdens, while material flow cost accounting is a powerful financial instrument used to monetise resource use (in)efficiencies and demonstrate the resources bound in product and non-product output. Both are valuable life cycle management instruments to measure and control strategic themes related to improvement measures and investment decisions and support communication between the different decision-makers involved. We highlight the methodological facets of this integrative assessment based on a holistic single case study in order to share the lessons learned.

Results and discussion

Our case study illustrates a typical case where manufacturing costs and environmental burdens are primarily borne by the product, whereas a substantial portion of the resources also flows into by-products and non-products. We highlight the relevance of a shared set of rules and assumptions for systems, functions, system boundaries, inventories, and allocation rules which avoid an undesired interfusion of the physical and monetary dimensions to support a more systematic, consistent, and comparable modelling of integrated life cycle assessment and material flow cost accounting. However, researchers and practitioners should bear in mind the benefits and limitations of such integrated assessments, such as methodological choice, which also affect the decisive direction of the results.

Conclusions

The present study expands existing knowledge on the methodological facets of combining life cycle assessment and material flow cost accounting. By contrasting the hotspots of resource use as well as associated costs and environmental burdens, the instruments jointly provide valuable insights to identify integrated resource saving as well as economic and environmental improvement potentials for present and future business operations. Future research is needed in the following arenas: further development of the environmental impact indicators to capture the temporal and geographical occurrence of impacts; updating allocation criteria for integrated assessments in standards and guidelines; improving the visualisation of revenues in Sankey diagrams, the flow-based classification in the modelling software, as well as cost accounting and information systems; formalisation of indicators in management processes to generate resource efficiency strategies and goals; and finally, assessment of circular economy strategies and negative effects.

     

Developing a protocol for managing the biophysical condition of a water management area: the Sabie catchment case study

Recent modification of the South African Water Law spells out fundamental changes for the way the country's water resources will be managed in the future. One of the most significant mandates is the establishment of Catchment Management Agencies (CMAs) and the delegation of water resource management responsibilities to these institutions. Their function will focus on the overall management of water resources on a catchment basis. Within the context of the new legal framework, there is a great need for support to CMAs, particularly in providing them with procedures for the optimal management of water resources in order to ensure a balance between sustainable use and protection of the resource. This paper describes a research project that aims to develop a protocol for the integrated management of the biophysical component of a catchment, with particular focus on river systems. This protocol will be a management tool for Catchment Management Agencies in support of more integrated and sustainable water resource management.

South Africa's Sabie-Sand catchment was selected as a case study area for several reasons. This catchment has a large number of current and historic water resource related initiatives, such as the Working for Water Programme (alien plant clearing), the River Health Programme (river quality assessment) and The Kruger National Park Rivers Research Programme (a river management programme). In addition the diversity of stakeholders and land-use issues in the catchment and the extensive collection of available information relating to water use and protection for this catchment makes the Sabie-Sand a rich learning ground.

This project aims to use information from the Sabie catchment to produce and implement a protocol which will combine and integrate the knowledge of water resource management from diverse but related fields in order to enhance catchment-based integrated water resource management. It also aims to extract and document lessons from current research initiatives, to assess the usefulness and relevance of their products for CMAs and to identify gaps in the research framework that need to be addressed in order to meet the water resource management needs of CMAs. This paper reports on the project development during its first phase, describes the next steps in the research process and provides a conceptual framework of how the research team envisages the practical implementation of the protocol.     

产业生态系统资源代谢分析方法

产业生态系统是由企业群、资源及环境组成的社会-经济-环境复合生态系统。资源代谢是其功能运行的重要保障。资源代谢在时间和空间尺度上的耗竭及阻滞是造成严重生态环境问题的主要原因。根据生态学原理,运用物质流分析手段解析了产业生态系统的物质流、能流及资金流结构,构建了产业生态系统资源代谢分析模型,提出了资源输入-使用-输出-循环共生四方面的资源代谢分析指标体系和基于模糊综合分析的资源代谢问题树分析方法。在此基础上提出了基于循环共生网络结构模型的生态管理模式。以期为产业资源的生态管理提供方法支撑。     

Capacity-Building for Natural Resource Management: Lessons from the Health Sector

This paper examines capacity-building measures used by the health sector relevant to natural resource management (NRM) using the delivery of two programs in Australia through its recently formalized 56 community-based regional NRM Boards as a reference point. The delivery of NRM outcomes through devolved governance arrangements has been hampered by inadequate capacity in other countries (e.g., New Zealand, Canada). The inherent complexities of NRM, coupled with professional “comfort zones,” often limit actors from looking to other sectors confronting similar issues. This paper summarizes findings from ∼70 sources in health reviewing nine major capacity-building measures. The outcomes of research evaluating the relative benefits and disbenefits of applying these measures are discussed. The paper identifies several opportunities to trial some of these measures in NRM.

粤港澳大湾区城市群生态系统智能化管理

开展生态系统数字化、信息化、智能化管理,全面提升粤港澳大湾区生态环境质量,是建设国际一流湾区的必然趋势。以城市群生态系统智能化管理为目标,系统整合各类生态环境相关数据资源,形成生态系统管理数据和决策支撑体系,并以此为基础构建生态智能管理平台。研究以生态系统要素和功能管理逻辑为核心,构建了生态系统管理业务流程：（1）精准剖析生态环境问题,确定问题发生的尺度、范围并对其进行分类和定性;（2）确立生态管理目标,制定适宜的管理策略;（3）根据现状与基线进行生态系统服务权衡,通过生态管理恢复工程提升生态系统质量;（4）通过环境物联网监测生态系统变化,及时调整和改进生态系统管理计划。针对城市群生态系统多尺度、多层次、复杂化等特点,在制定管理决策时应充分权衡管理目标和生态服务,兼顾各类生态系统服务效益;需通过示范性生态工程印证管理方案的可行性、适用性和协同性;以趋善化理念为指导思想,不断优化调整生态管理目标;同时在管理活动实施的过程中不断积累、凝练、总结所获得的反馈信息和经验。面向生态管理体制和管理能力的现代化提升需求,融合大数据、地理信息系统（GIS）、全球广域网络（Web）等信息化技术,构建粤港澳大湾区生态管理智能平台,实现多主体信息共享,打破管理决策的"黑箱",为推进生态环境管理现代化提供可靠可行的方案。构建的生态系统管理业务流程和管理策略,将知识充分融入管理决策的制定流程,能服务于粤港澳大湾区的生态文明建设,推动可持续和高质量发展。     

Informing Packaging Design Decisions at Toyota Motor Sales Using Life Cycle Assessment and Costing

Throughout their life cycle stages—material production, package manufacture, distribution, end-of-life management—packaging systems consume natural resources and energy, generate waste, and emit pollutants. Each of these stages also carries a financial cost. Motivated by a desire to decrease environmental burdens while reducing financial costs associated with the packaging of accessory and service parts, Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) partnered with the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management to build a life cycle assessment and costing tool to support packaging design decisions. The resulting Environmental Packaging Impact Calculator (EPIC) provides comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC). It allows packaging designers to identify environmentally and economically preferable packaging systems in daily decision-making. EPIC's parameterized process flow model allows users to assess many different packaging systems using a single model. Its input/output interface is designed for users without preexisting knowledge of LCA theory or practice and calculates results based on relatively few input data. The main motivation behind this environmental design tool is to provide relevant information to those individuals who are in the best position to reduce life cycle impacts and costs from TMS's packaging and distribution systems.     

Coping Strategies in Livestock-dependent Households in East and Southern Africa: A Synthesis of Four Case Studies

Integrated assessment seeks to combine models of the ecological as well as the social system to allow different scenarios to be tested in terms of their likely impacts on ecological functioning and household well-being. We outline such work undertaken in four case studies in East and southern Africa: pastoralist communities in northern Tanzania, agro-pastoralists in southern Kenya, communal and commercial ranchers in South Africa, and mixed crop-livestock farmers in western Kenya. Results from these case studies are synthesised to test the hypothesis that households’ capacity to adapt in the face of increasing external stresses is governed by flexibility in livelihood options. The results support this hypothesis. There is considerable variation in how households in these places cope with external stresses. Options include intensification, diversification, and increasing off-farm economic activities, and these depend on household objectives and attitudes as well as on access to natural resources, inputs and output markets. The results also indicate that generally it is the poorer households that can gain the most from implementing such options for coping and managing risk. Quantifying likely household and ecosystem impacts of different options is a crucial step in targeting appropriate technology, policy and adaptation interventions in the face of considerable system changes. We conclude with some research needs to improve integrated assessment tools that may allow us to represent more realistically the highly complex decision-making milieu of householders in sub-Saharan Africa who are dependent on ecosystem goods and services for a large part of their livelihoods.     

Perception of local people towards conservation of forest resources in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve,north-western Himalaya,India

This article examines the perception of the Bhotiya tribal community on the use and conservation of natural resources in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR), north-western Himalaya in India with an objective of identifying the bottlenecks in the sustainable management of forest resources of NDBR through people’s participation. Despite, 85% of the respondents supporting the concept of conservation of forest resources, management decisions such as ban on mountaineering activities by creation of the Nanda Devi National Park (NDNP) in 1982 and NDBR in 1988, developed negative attitude among local people towards NDBR management, mainly because of restricted access to the forest resources for their livelihood. Promotion of some alternative income generating activities to reduce the dependence on natural resources was responded positively by the local people.     

Natural Resource Management: The Need for Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Human influence is now so pervasive that every ecosystem on Earth is being managed, whether intentionally or inadvertently. It is therefore imperative for scientists and managers to work together so that appropriate management regimes can be put in place wherever possible. However, it is not always clear what is appropriate, and the difficulties that often arise when scientists and managers work together can be even further compounded by the inclusion of lay stakeholders in the decision-making process. The expansion of interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate programs would help both scientists and managers to deal more effectively with sociological issues and to understand how economic and demographic changes impact on natural resources. In addition, continuing education programs in these areas should be made available to established professionals to help them deal with new challenges. The concept of ecosystem services should be used to communicate the importance of various ecosystem components and processes to a broader audience. Consensus on a management regime can often be achieved through adaptive management. The process by which interdisciplinary collaboration can lead to new insights and research initiatives is exemplified by a resource management study on the island of Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia. As a paradigm of natural resource management, microcosms like this small island community offer a unique opportunity for training and education. Received 4 October 2000; accepted 20 March 2001.     

Participatory Resource Monitoring as a Means for Promoting Social Change in Yunnan,China

Recent international forest policies stimulate involvement of communities in forest management as a strategy to improve biodiversity conservation and the quality of local livelihoods. Increasingly, the role of local people in monitoring forest resources is also acknowledged. This paper presents a participatory resources monitoring (PRM) system developed and implemented by representatives of 12 villages, six each within and adjacent to two nature reserves in Yunnan, China. The short-term objectives are to monitor resource and wildlife abundance, resource use, wildlife damage to crops, and land use. Main methods used by the village monitoring team are: (1) observation through forest walk, (2) village interview, and (3) market survey. Monitoring is implemented throughout the year to fit in the daily work of villagers. Staff from the nature reserve or forestry bureau provide support by visiting the villages several days per year. Results indicate that participatory monitoring is a valuable tool for villagers to engage in self-owned management actions. We discuss how monitoring is also a process which could lead to social change. Based on narratives we suggest that participatory monitoring builds trust between stakeholders, changes perceptions and attitudes and leads to more democratic and transparent decision-making. In discussing accuracy, we argue that all stakeholders perceive and interpret nature differently based on different worldviews, knowledge systems, values and beliefs. We argue that if participatory monitoring is to be sustainable, community-based monitoring – preferably linked to scientific monitoring and patrolling – should be designed as a discursive institution where the process of building social capital and inter-actor learning is extremely important. Finally, we briefly reflect upon efforts to scale up participatory monitoring.