Anti-politics movement

Does fair trade operate as economic development for farmers and artisans of the Global South, or is it a social movement that speaks to neo-liberal political subjectivities of the Global North? Fisher’s (Cult Agric 29(2):78–88, 2007) framework of “articulating modes of social transformation” allows both interpretations to be relevant. I use interviews, participant observation at a Chicago fair trade organization, and discourse analysis of fair trade materials to “study up” (Nader in Reinventing anthropology, Vintage Books, London, 284–311, 1969) the side of fair trade partnerships that exercise more economic power. I argue that participation in fair trade offers Northerners a way to reconcile their recognition of possessing disproportionate wealth in the global economic system with their uncertainty of how to create structural change in that system. Because fair trade calls on Northern consumers to make change at the individual level, the identities of Southern producers at the “underdeveloped” end of trade relationships are constructed in depoliticized, acontextual ways, thus limiting the possibilities for conceptualizing more radical transformation of poverty in the Global South.     

Economic Support to Patients in HIV and TB Grants in Rounds 7 and 10 from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,Tuberculosis and Malaria

People with TB and/or HIV frequently experience severe economic barriers to health care, including out-of-pocket expenses related to diagnosis and treatment, as well as indirect costs due to loss of income. These barriers can both aggravate economic hardship and prevent or delay diagnosis, treatment and successful outcome, leading to increased transmission, morbidity and mortality. WHO, UNAIDS and the ILO argue that economic support of various kinds is essential to enable vulnerable people to protect themselves from infection, avoid delayed diagnosis and treatment, overcome barriers to adherence, and avert destitution. This paper analyses successful country proposals to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria that include economic support in Rounds 7 and 10; 36 and 20 HIV and TB grants in Round 7 and 32 and 26, respectively, in Round 10. Of these, up to 84 percent included direct or indirect economic support for beneficiaries, although the amount constituted a very small proportion of the total grant. In TB grants, the objectives of economic support were generally clearly stated, and focused on mechanisms to improve treatment uptake and adherence, and the case was most clearly made for MDR-TB patients. In HIV grants, the objectives were much broader in scope, including mitigation of adverse economic and social effects of HIV and its treatment on both patients and families. The analysis shows that economic support is on the radar for countries developing Global Fund proposals, and a wide range of economic support activities are in place. In order to move forward in this area, the wealth of country experience that exists needs to be collated, assessed and disseminated. In addition to trials, operational research and programme evaluations, more precise guidance to countries is needed to inform evidence-based decision about activities that are cost-effective, affordable and feasible.     

在我国开展林业碳汇项目的利弊分析

因为CO2等温室气体的增加导致的全球气候变暖严重影响了世界各国社会和经济的发展,而森林具有吸收大气中的CO2,减缓气候变暖的作用,因此2001年的《波恩政治协议》和《马拉喀什协定》同意将造林、再造林等林业碳汇项目作为第一承诺期合格的清洁发展机制(CDM)项目。目前,国际上此类活动已相继展开,而我国还未展开此类活动。为了给我国是否可以开展林业碳汇项目提供参考,文章对我国开展林业碳汇项目的利与弊进行了比较详细的分析和比较,认为可以在我国适当开展林业碳汇项目,以促进我国经济和社会的可持续发展,并进一步加强我国在国际上的地位。     

尼泊尔社会经济-生态复合系统恢复力评价及影响因素辨识

“一带一路”沿线部分国家处于生态环境脆弱、社会经济落后状态,开展社会经济-生态复合系统恢复力时空特征评估及关键要素识,对于实现“一带一路”倡议“走出去”战略和绿色丝路建设至关重要。基于社会发展、经济水平、基础设施建设、生态环境、自然灾害风险5个一级指标24个二级指标构建了社会经济-生态复合系统恢复力评价指标体系,利用主成分分析法和结构方程模型评价了2000—2015年尼泊尔县域尺度社会经济-生态复合系统恢复力并分析了其时空分异特征,厘清了影响社会经济-生态复合系统恢复力的关键因素及其影响机制。结果表明：(1)尼泊尔社会经济-生态复合系统恢复力在县域尺度上主要集中在中低和中等恢复力水平,而中高恢复力呈由南向北逐渐降低态势,南部地区以及位于中部发展区的首都加德满都河谷地区恢复力水平相对较高;(2)2000—2015年尼泊尔社会经济-生态复合系统恢复力在不同阶段呈现波动变化状态,2005年恢复力最优,2010和2015年部分区域恢复力降低明显,系统恢复力区域间差异逐步增大;(3)社会发展、经济水平、基础设施、建设生态环境和自然灾害风险对系统恢复力提升的总效应分别为0.99,0.07,0.11...     

Tackling the threat of antimicrobial resistance: from policy to sustainable action

Antibiotics underpin all of modern medicine, from routine major surgery through to caesarean sections and modern cancer therapies. These drugs have revolutionized how we practice medicine, but we are in a constant evolutionary battle to evade microbial resistance and this has become a major global public health problem. We have overused and misused these essential medicines both in the human and animal health sectors and this threatens the effectiveness of antimicrobials for future generations. We can only address the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through international collaboration across human and animal health sectors integrating social, economic and behavioural factors. Our global organizations are rising to the challenge with the recent World Health Assembly resolution on AMR and development of the Global Action plan but we must act now to avoid a return to a pre-antibiotic era.     

中国不同规模城市可持续发展综合评价

城市是一类社会-经济-自然复合生态系统,城市的可持续发展指标体系和评价方法是衡量城市经济、社会、环境状况及可持续发展能力的重要手段。采用全排列多边形综合图示法,以中国277个地级及地级以上城市为研究对象,建立了不同规模城市的可持续发展指标体系,包括经济发展、社会进步、生态环境3类24项指标,对其2000—2010年的可持续发展能力进行了综合评价。研究结果表明:从不同城市规模类型间横向对比分析来看,随着城市规模的增大,经济发展、社会进步和可持续发展综合指数相应提高,生态环境指数却随之下降。从不同规模城市类型内的时间序列分析对比来看,2000—2010年不同规模城市的经济发展、社会进步、生态环境指数各个方面均有显著提高,可持续发展综合指数也伴随着提升。并且,巨大特大型城市在生态环境保护方面提高幅度最大;大型城市在社会进步方面提高幅度最大;中小型城市在经济发展和可持续发展综合能力方面提高幅度最大。但截止到2010年,不同规模城市的可持续发展综合指数均为Ⅲ级,可持续发展能力仅处于一般水平。探究了中国不同规模的城市可持续发展过程中面临的诸多问题,然后提出相应的对策建议,为今后的新型城市化建设提供参考。     

基于MSIASM方法的沈阳城市代谢研究

本文采用社会代谢多尺度综合分析方法分析沈阳经济的演化过程。研究表明,1978～2003年,沈阳投入在第一、二产业的人类活动时间(HA值)所占比重有所下降;而第三产业的比重有增加趋势,但不明显;同时投入在家政部门的人类活动量(包括所有非经济活动)逐年下降;1978～1995年每个工作时间负担的非工作时间数量越来越小,1995～2003年每个工作时间负担的非工作时间数量越来越大,这与沈阳市的经济发展规律一致;沈阳社会/劳动生产率显著增加,社会经济生产率、社会劳动生产率、农业部门劳动生产率、生产部门劳动生产率,以及服务与管理部门的劳动生产率增长了20～30倍,说明沈阳的社会经济发展主要靠工业的拉动力。     

煤炭资源型城市生态-经济-社会协调发展分析——以淮南市为例

以典型的煤炭资源型城市淮南市为例,构建“经济-社会-生态”三维系统指标体系,通过熵权法、耦合协调发展模型和灰色关联系数研究了该系统2002—2016年间的发展,从宏观角度分析淮南市多维关系的协调发展.结果表明: 生态子系统所占权重最大,其发展水平整体呈U型(先减后增),并对综合发展水平造成显著影响;三维耦合系统总体呈上升态势,耦合绝对水平较低,生态系统压力在逐渐增大的过程中制约经济和社会的发展,并反作用于协调发展水平;经济发展和经济活力分别对社会和生态子系统发展产生积极影响,社会发展对生态子系统影响较大,环境现状的改善对经济和社会发展具有支撑作用;在淮南市转型过程中,需保持经济的稳定快速发展,增加对社会发展和环境污染治理方面的投入力度,同时注重生态的支撑能力,避免对社会经济发展产生限制作用.     

Physical growth in a transitional economy: the aftermath of South African apartheid

The economic transition in developing countries is not always the result of the change from a centrally-planned to a free-market economy, but may be found within an already existing free-market economy as a result of profound political change, as in South Africa. The release of Nelson Mandela in February 1990 heralded an end both to the political system of apartheid and to the concomitant social, political, and economic disenfranchisement of 30 million non-White people in South Africa. The first freely elected non-White government came to power in 1994 and initiated a number of social and economic reforms aimed at alleviating the worst consequences of apartheid. This paper examines the effect of post-apartheid economic and social transition on the growth and development of urban children. Over 4000 children born in Soweto and Johannesburg were enrolled in the Birth to Ten (BTT) birth-cohort study in 1990. Whilst these children were born with lower birth weights than in developed countries, they did grow strongly in infancy, particularly in weight, to reflect normal reference values for body mass index (BMI) by 1 year of age. While post-apartheid social and economic changes were expected to take some time to affect child growth and development, the rate of change has been slower than expected. Data from the BTT study demonstrate that the growth of White children continues to be superior to that of their non-White peers and differences that existed at birth and during infancy have not diminished during childhood and early adolescence. Whatever factors are changed at the national or community levels during economic (and social) transition in South Africa appear not yet to have resulted in improved child physical growth.     

中国旱灾风险定量评估

全球变暖及经济社会快速发展导致区域及全球性灾害风险增大,中国更是几乎每年都会遭受旱灾,因此,开展旱灾风险评估及影响因素研究对于区域经济社会可持续发展和灾害风险管理具有重要意义。以前的旱灾风险评估在评估方法以及评估指标选取方面都具有很强的主观性,导致风险评估结果具有强烈的不确定性,这在划定我国的高旱灾风险区域时可能会造成问题。基于旱灾风险的定义,合理假设"历史上旱灾损失高的地区遭受高旱灾损失的概率越大",引入历史旱灾损失资料对旱灾风险进行校正,构建了新的旱灾风险评估模型,揭示了中国旱灾风险的区域分异规律,并量化了各个影响因子的贡献水平。分析结果表明,我国存在5个显著的旱灾高风险区：东北地区、华北地区、西北地区东部、西南地区东部以及西北地区西部的小部分区域。影响因子分析进一步表明,高暴露度和高脆弱性是导致地区出现高旱灾风险的主要原因。     

京津冀地区城市化发展时空差异特征

随着京津冀一体化协同发展的提出,如何协调城市间城市化和产业发展的差异成为目前关注的焦点。因历史原因和政策影响,尤其在城市化发展方面地区之间存在较大差异,定量识别该区城市发展的时空差异性对于制定合理的区域协同发展政策具有重要的指导意义。基于1984—2012年社会经济统计数据,通过引入偏离度指数和变异系数,从人口、土地、社会、经济四方面研究了不同时期京津冀地区城市化发展时空差异特征。研究表明:(1)京津冀地区城市化4个方面的发展均呈整体上升趋势,尤其表现在经济和社会发展方面。整体增长幅度为:经济社会土地人口。(2)从发展速度看,京津冀地区人口与土地增速最快时期发生在2000—2004年;而社会与经济增速最快时期发生在1992—1996年;这些特征充分反映了我国阶段性政策的影响。(3)从城市化发展的驱动因子分析,京津冀地区人口与土地增长速度差异较小,发展趋势较为一致,呈现显著的正相关关系;经济、社会增长速度差异较小,发展趋势较为一致,表现出高度的正相关性;而人口与社会、人口与经济、土地与社会、土地与经济之间的相关性不显著。(4)京津冀地区城市化发展区域差异较大,不同时段各城市发展存在明显差异;在城市化进程中区域间最大差异性表现在土地的扩张,其次是人口增长,而经济和社会增长差异性相对较小。(5)人口、土地、社会、经济四项城市化驱动因子与城市生态因子的耦合协调度均不断提高。     

GLOBALIZATION, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

Globalization, a process characterized by the growing interdependence of the world's people, impacts health systems and the social determinants of health in ways that are detrimental to health equity. In a world in which there are few countervailing normative and policy approaches to the dominant neoliberal regime underpinning globalization, the human rights paradigm constitutes a widely shared foundation for challenging globalization's effects. The substantive rights enumerated in human rights instruments include the right to the highest attainable level of physical and mental health and others that are relevant to the determinants of health. The rights stipulated in these documents impose extensive legal obligations on states that have ratified these documents and confer health entitlements on their residents. Human rights norms have also inspired civil society efforts to improve access to essential medicines and medical services, particularly for HIV/AIDS. Nevertheless, many factors reduce the potential counterweight human rights might exert, including and specifically the nature of the human rights approach, weak political commitments to promoting and protecting health rights on the part of some states and their lack of institutional and economic resources to do so. Global economic markets and the relative power of global economic institutions are also shrinking national policy space. This article reviews the potential contributions and limitations of human rights to achieving greater equity in shaping the social determinants of health.     

韧性科学的回顾与展望:从生态理论到城市实践

城市韧性的概念在生态与环境领域正在兴起,如何将城市的结构复杂性和功能多样性与自然、经济和社会要科学地耦合尤为重要。实践方面,城市韧性在国际组织、政府机构和私人基金会等计划的支持下得到世界各地城市的日益重视。对此,回顾了韧性在生态系统科学中的概念起源及其在工程技术与社会学科的应用发展;整合了城市系统的科学知识,以进一步阐述城市韧性的概念及理论发展;举例了目前联合国、洛克菲勒基金会和跨国企业所构建的全球合作网络中韧性城市的实践。基于城市韧性理论的回顾和韧性城市实践,结合城市系统在生态、经济和社会维度的差异性,就我国城市以韧性为导向的转型发展过程中存在的机遇、挑战及解决途径提出了参考建议。     

Social and economic policy issues relevant to marine aquaculture

This paper presents a critical review of current social, economic and policy issues relevant to marine aquaculture (mariculture) in Europe. Tools for identifying the full range of social, economic and environmental issues that influence the sustainable development of mariculture are examined. Under present sectoral approaches to policy, investment, development planning and natural resources management, these issues continue to be treated in isolation. The four main challenges presented in this paper are: (i) how to create a more objective information base with which to assess the social, economic and environmental factors that condition the sustainability of mariculture; (ii) how to provide information from different disciplines in an easy to obtain and compatible format; (iii) how to better integrate knowledge and skills from different disciplines to create a holistic and robust framework for assessing options for mariculture development that integrates social, economic and environmental parameters; and (iv) the effective integration of these assessments into the formulation of policy, investment strategies, spatial plans and natural resources management for coastal areas. Specific issues that need to be addressed within the framework for the integrated evaluation of the economic, social and environmental parameters governing the sustainable development of mariculture include: ? development of more accurate information on the economic, social and environmental benefits and costs of well‐planned and managed mariculture; ? clearer definition of gaps in existing knowledge on factors critical to the sustainable and equitable development of mariculture; ? development of pro‐active consideration of the coastal land and water resource requirements of mariculture as part of strategic economic planning, spatial planning and natural resources management; ? the need for more equitable treatment of mariculture regarding rights of access to sites for development and use of resources; ? development of awareness among decision‐makers, planners, and managers from different sectoral agencies of the contribution that mariculture may make in promoting the sustainable use of coastal ecosystems; ? promotion of a shift in emphasis away from controlling the end use of resources and toward a more balanced approach to coastal development where emphasis is also given to maintaining the health and productivity of coastal ecosystems and the resources they generate that sustain different forms of activity, including mariculture.     

国家重点生态功能区生态-经济-社会系统耦合协调的动态演化——以新疆阿勒泰地区为例

探究国家重点生态功能区生态-经济-社会系统耦合协调的演化特征,对实现可持续发展目标、建设美丽中国有重要意义。运用耦合协调模型、剪刀差方法、耦合度模型以及VAR模型对2007—2019年阿勒泰地区EES系统耦合协调度的动态演化进行分析。结果表明：(1)2007—2019年阿勒泰地区整体耦合协调度呈现不断上升趋势,由2007年的中度失调(0.271)向2019年的轻度失调(0.371)演进,生态系统与经济系统、社会系统的发展水平呈现“X”型变动趋势,经济系统与社会系统持续上升,而生态系统略微下降。(2)经济系统与社会系统、生态系统与社会系统演化速率的剪刀差在2014年以后出现较大幅度的波动,而生态系统与经济系统演化速率的剪刀差趋于稳定态势,生态系统与经济系统、经济系统与社会系统的耦合度呈现出由无序到有序的初始过渡。(3)由脉冲响应函数及方差分解可得,阿勒泰地区EES系统耦合协调水平的提升是三系统共同作用的结果,前期主要由社会系统、经济系统驱动,后期主要依赖生态系统的改善。研究表明：国家重点生态功能区应着重减轻经济系统对社会系统和生态系统的胁迫强度,进而实现三者的协同发展。     

Social status,social context,and arterial blood pressure

As social change and economic development have proceeded, the prevalence of chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular diseases, has increased in the developing world. In part this is due to the adoption of diets and other health behaviors characteristic of industrialized nations; in part it is a function of changing social and economic circumstances. In this paper, we describe the development and testing of a model designed to account for social and economic effects on cardiovascular disease risk. The model incorporates the fact that global economic processes have made a lifestyle characterized by the consumption of Euroamerican material goods and information a basis for the assignment of social status in local communities. But economic change at the local level is rarely sufficient to provide a foundation for individuals' status aspirations. Hence, many individuals attempt to maintain a lifestyle inconsistent with their economic standing, a variable we term lifestyle incongruity. Here we describe how this factor is associated with higher blood pressure in a variety of settings and also how the effects of lifestyle incongruity can be modified in local contexts by social class and social role processes. This latter process, contextual modification, is illustrated by data from American Samoa. In this example, the association of lifestyle incongruity with blood pressure is examined in 30 male household heads and 26 spouses. After an examination of Samoan ethnography focused attention on the importance of age and gender differences as defining social contexts of intracultural variation, the model was modified to assess interactions between age and gender as they affect the association of lifestyle incongruity and blood pressure. Lifestyle incongruity is strongly associated with higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure for the younger household heads, minimally associated with blood pressure for older household heads, and only slightly associated with the blood pressure of their spouses. The regression coefficients for the lifestyle incongruity by age by sex interaction term was significant at P ≤ 0.01 for both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The consistency of these results with expectations based on the ethnographic record is emphasized in the interpretation. We feel that the lifestyle incongruity model represents an empirically successful attempt to link global political-economic processes, local social structure, and biological outcomes. Am J Phys Anthropol 102:55–66, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Towards a global criteria based framework for the sustainability assessment of bioethanol supply chains: Application to the Swiss dilemma: Is local produced bioethanol more sustainable than bioethanol imported from Brazil?

Biofuels are considered as a promising substitute for fossil fuels when considering the possible reduction of greenhouse gases emissions. However limiting their impacts on potential benefits for reducing climate change is shortsighted. Global sustainability assessments are necessary to determine the sustainability of supply chains. We propose a new global criterion based framework enabling a comprehensive international comparison of bioethanol supply chains. The interest of this framework is that the selection of the sustainability indicators is qualified on three criterions: relevance, reliability and adaptability to the local context. Sustainability issues have been handled along environmental, social and economical issues. This new framework has been applied for a specific issue: from a Swiss perspective, is locally produced bioethanol in Switzerland more sustainable than imported from Brazil? Thanks to this framework integrating local context in its indicator definition, Brazilian production of bioethanol is shown as energy efficient and economically interesting for Brazil. From a strictly economic point of view, bioethanol production within Switzerland is not justified for Swiss consumption and questionable for the environmental issue. The social dimension is delicate to assess due to the lack of reliable data and is strongly linked to the agricultural policy in both countries. There is a need of establishing minimum sustainability criteria for imported bioethanol to avoid unwanted negative or leakage effects.     

Does Embryo Culture Medium Influence the Health and Development of Children Born after In Vitro Fertilization?

In animal studies, extensive data revealed the influence of culture medium on embryonic development, foetal growth and the behaviour of offspring. However, this impact has never been investigated in humans. For the first time, we investigated in depth the effects of embryo culture media on health, growth and development of infants conceived by In Vitro Fertilization until the age of 5 years old. This single-centre cohort study was based on an earlier randomized study. During six months, in vitro fertilization attempts (No. 371) were randomized according to two media (Single Step Medium—SSM group) or Global medium (Global group). This randomized study was stopped prematurely as significantly lower pregnancy and implantation rates were observed in the SSM group. Singletons (No. 73) conceived in the randomized study were included (42 for Global and 31 for SSM). The medical data for gestational, neonatal and early childhood periods were extracted from medical records and parental interviews (256 variables recorded). The developmental profiles of the children in eight domains (social, self-help, gross motor, fine motor, expressive language, language comprehension, letter knowledge and number knowledge – 270 items) were compared in relation to the culture medium. The delivery rate was significantly lower in the SSM group than in the Global group (p<0.05). The culture medium had no significant effect on birthweight, risk of malformation (minor and major), growth and the frequency of medical concerns. However, the children of the Global group were less likely than those of the SSM group to show developmental problems (p = 0.002), irrespective of the different domains. In conclusion, our findings showed that the embryo culture medium may have an impact on further development.     

Sustainable Forestry and Local People: The Case of Hainan’s Li Minority

On the island of Hainan, China, the provincial government has recently committed itself to sustainable development, which requires the integration of social, environmental, and economic factors in decision making. However, while Hainan’s recent Eco-province designation establishes environmental and economic factors as the basis of policy development, it overlooks the equally important social component of sustainability, in which social needs and values are key considerations. This paper presents the results of a study on Hainan in 2002, with government officials, forestry workers, and the Li, an indigenous minority group, and places the province’s situation within the context of both the larger changes underway in China, and the theory and practice of sustainable forestry. The research results show that the government of Hainan has not yet been able to manage both social welfare and environmental and economic issues, demonstrating the difficulty of implementing sustainable forestry and of balancing short- with long-term goals. The inclusion of Li communities in forestry-related decision making could reduce tensions between local communities and forestry management and also improve the sustainability of the government’s forestry practices.

Interaction characteristics and development pattern of sustainability system in BHR (Bohai Rim) and YRD (Yangtze River) regions,China

The well-run structure, function and dynamics of complex regional sustainability system are critical for maintaining regional sustainability stability, so exploring the interaction characteristics and development pattern of the system should be considerably significant. Based on the new comprehensive index system of sustainability system, the indices of social, economic and eco-environmental dimensions and nine thematic indices are firstly presented for BHR (Bohai Rim) and YRD (Yangtze River) regions during the period 2001–2010, and then the regional sustainability changes are further tracked by regional sustainability index (RSI) and regional coordination index (RCI). Furthermore, we mainly focus on the dynamic interaction characteristics and propose green development index (GDI) to reflect the development pattern of BHR and YRD from the perspective of taking all indicators into account. The study results show that: the average annual growth rates of the indices of social, economic and eco-environmental dimensions of the BHR region are 10.00%, 19.11% and 0.37% during the study period, while the ones of YRD region are 7.32%, 20.25% and 0.46%, respectively, demonstrating that economic progress is the fastest-improving pillar for RSI of the two regions; the standard deviations of the indices of three dimensions that can construct a triangle diagram and the amount of that failed to construct are both decreasing from 2001 to 2012, showing that the RCI of two regions have made some progresses; BHR have stayed in some positions where eco-environmental level gradually decreases (from 0.50 to 0.45) with the progression of socioeconomic situations (from 0.20 to 0.50), while BHR in a position where eco-environmental level gradually increases (from 0.53 to 0.57) with the progression of socioeconomic situations (from 0.25 to 0.55), revealing dynamic interaction characteristics, and then in their evolution trajectories, YRD has been principally at the intermediate sustainable development stage while BHR always at the potentially unsustainable one; the green social or economic development degree, associated with the uneven resource utilization and eco-environment occupancy among provinces, should contribute most to regional development pattern. The study guides a direction where the policy makers need to improve in regional sustainability management.