Regional Integration and Household Resilience: Infrastructure Connectivity and Livelihood Diversity in the Southwestern Amazon

The Inter-Oceanic Highway is among the first wave of large infrastructure projects under the auspices of the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America, which proposes regional integration as a means of economic development. Such projects have reignited debates over infrastructure impacts, which in many ways center on the ramifications for natural resource management. We pursue an analysis of the implications of highway paving for local livelihoods by focusing on the effects of market connectivity on livelihood diversity. Given that infrastructure brings shocks to affected regions, we argue that livelihood diversity is usefully interpreted in terms of household resilience to such shocks. We draw on rural household surveys from the tri-national frontier where Bolivia, Brazil and Peru meet in the southwestern Amazon, where the Inter-Oceanic Highway has recently been paved. The findings show that households more connected to markets in terms of travel time and road paving have less diverse livelihoods. This confirms concerns about regional integration and rural household vulnerability.     

Political ecology and environmental management in the Loess Plateau,China

This paper explores the changing political ecology of soil and water management—the articulation of physical and political-economic processes—in the Loess Plateau of north-central China. Market-oriented reforms and the shift from collective to household farming have created a diverse array of tenure, management, and financing arrangements. In the process relationships between farm households, the collective, and the state have been altered, with profound implications for land use and sustainability. The paper reviews the political ecology approach and its relevance to environmental management in China. An outline of the physical and economic context of soil erosion in the Loess Plateau is followed by examination of the impact of reform on rural environmental management. Local innovations in the organization of environmental management are highlighted. The conclusion comments on the utility of the regional political ecology approach and suggests some critical issues for further research.     

A life cycle model for high-speed rail infrastructure: environmental inventories and assessment of the Tours-Bordeaux railway in France

Purpose

The objective of the study is to progress towards a comprehensive component-based Life Cycle Assessment model with clear and reusable Life Cycle Inventories (LCIs) for high-speed rail (HSR) infrastructure components, and to assess the main environmental impacts of HSR infrastructure over its lifespan, to finally determine environmental hotpots and good practices.

Methods

A process-based LCA compliant with ISO 14040 and 14044 is performed. Construction-stage LCIs rely on data collection conducted with the concessionaire of the HSR line combined with EcoInvent 3.1 inventories. Use and End-of-Life stages LCIs rest on expert feedback scenarios and field data. A set of 13 midpoint indicators is proposed to capture the diversity of the environmental damage: climate change, consumptions of primary energy and non-renewable resources, human toxicity and ecotoxicities, eutrophication, acidification, radioactive and bulk wastes, stratospheric ozone depletion, and summer smog. Three characterization methods are used: the “Cumulative Energy Demand” method to quantify energy demand, the EDIP method for waste productions, and the CML method for the rest.

Results and discussion

The study shows major contributions to environmental impact from rails (10–71%), roadbed (3–48%), and civil engineering structures (4–28%). More limited impact is noted from ballast (1–22%), building machines (0–17%), sleepers (4–11%), and power supply system (2–12%). The two last components, chairs and fasteners, have negligible impact (max. 1 and 3% of total contributions, respectively). Direct transportation can contribute up to 18% of total impact. The production and maintenance stages contribute roughly equally to environmental deterioration (respectively average of 62 and 59%). Because the End-of-Life (EoL) mainly includes recycling with environmental credit accounted for in our 100:100 approach, this stage has globally a positive impact (??9 to ??98%) on all the impact categories except terrestrial ecotoxicity (58%), radioactive waste (11%), and ozone depletion (8%). Contribution analyses show that if concrete production is one of the important contributing processes over the construction stage, primary steel production is unquestionably the most important process on all the impact categories over the entire life cycle.

Conclusions

These results are of interest for public authorities and the rail industry, in order to consider the full life cycle impacts of transportation infrastructure in a decision-making process with better understanding and inclusion of the environmental constraints. Suggestions are provided in this way for life cycle good practices—for instance as regards gravel recycling choices—and additional research to reduce the impact of current major contributors.

     

Are public payments for organic farming cost-effective? Combining a decision-support model with LCA

Purpose  

The agricultural sector fulfils several functions such as the production of food energy and landscape conservation. An equilibrium between economic development and environmental protection should be found and research should aid political decision-making. In recent years, great efforts have been made to assess the environmental and economic implications of changes in both environmental and agricultural policies. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been extended by cost functions and social parameters. The validation of suggestions for political measures can be improved by combining existing environmental and economic models. This approach is applied in this paper in order to compare an increased support for organic farming with specific environmental policy measures, focusing on the resulting impacts and socioeconomic indicators.     

Biotechnology and the UK 2000-05: Globalization and innovation

This paper discusses some selected topics seen as being most important in currently affecting the development of biotechnology in the UK. The importance of demand side factors such as the role of professional experts, regulatory bodies, retailers, public opinion and political activity in stimulating or discouraging innovation in biotechnology is discussed. Supply side factors are then analysed, particularly the major changes in the organizations which generate biotechnology innovations - especially collaborative alliances and network firms, and the restructuring of the chemical, pharmaceutical and agro-food industries which use biotechnology, via merger, acquisition, demerger and divestment. Two important aspects of the infrastructure for innovation, which are rapidly changing and generating debate and concern, are then considered. These are intellectual property regimes on the one hand, and corporate governance and the sources of finance for investment on the other. The issue of globalization of innovative activity in biotechnology and in the industries which use it is addressed next, and it is concluded that collaborative alliances are the main mechanism by which overseas sourcing of technology is taking place. Finally, future trends and some policy implications are considered.     

Changing Islam,changing the world: contrasting visions within political Islam

ABSTRACT

How do political Islamists, movements and thinkers view political change? To what extent do they promote violence as a means of bringing about change? Are they themselves willing to change and adapt to modern political systems? There is a wide array of movements in the Muslim world that grapple with these questions and as a consequence, numerous answers and disagreements. This paper will focus on three cardinal and contested issues: Is violence a legitimate means to bring about change? Is it legitimate to adopt Western political institutions? How should Muslim movements and regimes coexist with ancient political entities such as tribes and ethnic groups? By comparing and contrasting the political outlooks of the Muslim Brothers and the Salafi-Jihadis, the article highlights the ideological gaps between moderate and militant political Islam.     

Assessment of sustainable livelihoods of different farmers in hilly red soil erosion areas of southern China

Livelihood vulnerability in environmentally fragile areas is emerging as a key issue due to its positive feedback to environmental degradation. Assessment of sustainable livelihoods is a crucial prerequisite for targeting interventions. However, aggregated analysis usually obtained ambiguous conclusions because they ignored the heterogeneity of rural households. Here, we evaluated the livelihood sustainability of different rural households by constructing an improved Livelihood Sustainability Index (LSI) in hilly red soil erosion areas of southern China. Changting County was selected as the study case by virtue of its unique representativeness in soil erosion and poverty. The results showed that livelihood sustainability among rural households was far from equivalent. Different from previous studies, higher nonfarm income share was not always consistent with higher extent of livelihood sustainability. Besides nonfarm employment, agricultural specialization could be another viable pathway to attain sustainable livelihoods. We also found that intergenerational sustainability was one primary cause for long-term livelihood differentiation of rural households. The poor education in rural areas would aggravate livelihood vulnerability of the poor and threaten the sustainable livelihoods of specialized agricultural households. Policy implications include further investment in rural infrastructure, irrigation and drainage, and stimulus for land transfer and concentration to facilitate agrarian specialization; enhancing investment in rural education to improve intergenerational sustainability; as well as targeting of the most vulnerable households, for example, promoting development of social insurance, social relief, and medical services for orphans and widows.     

Reindeer (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Rangifer tarandus</Emphasis>) avoidance of a highway as revealed by lichen measurements

Reindeer and caribou Rangifer tarandus are reported to avoid human infrastructure such as roads, high-voltage power lines, pipelines, and tourist resorts. Lichens are important forage for reindeer during winter, and their relatively slow growth rates make them vulnerable to overgrazing. Height and volume of lichens are often used as an indicator of grazing pressure by reindeer and, thus, as an indirect measure of Rangifer avoidance of human infrastructure. We sampled lichen height in Cetraria nivalis-dominated communities along 4 and 3 parallel transects located on two parallel mountain ridges in Hardangervidda, south central Norway. The lichen measurements were analyzed in relation to altitude and the distance from four tourist cabins in the area and a highway (Rv7) running perpendicular to the 7 transects. The mountain ridge with 4 transects is part of a much used migratory corridor for wild reindeer R. tarandus tarandus. Along the nonmigratory ridge, lichen height decreased 35% over an 8-km distance from Rv7 and a tourist cabin, indicating reindeer aversion toward Rv7 and/or a tourist cabin. No similar relationship was found for the migration ridge in relation to distance from Rv7 or the tourist cabins. Our results suggest that avoidance of human infrastructure by wild reindeer might be limited where reindeer use of winter pastures is influenced by herd traditions and/or motivation to follow established migration corridors. This has important implications for addressing the use of similar pasture measurements when testing for Rangifer aversion toward human disturbances.     

The environmental consequences of a change in Australian cotton lint production

Purpose

Changes in the production of Australian cotton lint are expected to have a direct environmental impact, as well as indirect impacts related to co-product substitution and induced changes in crop production. The environmental consequences of a 50% expansion or contraction in production were compared to Australian cotton production’s current environmental footprint. Both were then assessed to investigate whether current impacts are suitable for predicting the environmental impact of a change in demand for cotton lint.

Methods

A consequential life cycle assessment (LCA) model of Australian cotton lint production (cradle-to-gin gate) was developed using plausible scenarios regarding domestic regions and technologies affected by changes in supply, with both expansion (additional cotton) and contraction (less cotton) being modelled. Modelling accounted for direct impacts from cotton production and indirect impacts associated with changes to cotton production, including co-product substitution and changes to related crops at regional and global scales. Impact categories assessed included climate change, fossil energy demand, freshwater consumption, water stress, marine and freshwater eutrophication, land occupation and land-use change.

Results and discussion

For both the expansion and contraction scenarios, the changes to climate change impacts (including iLUC) and water impacts were less than would be assumed from current production as determined using attributional LCA. However, the opposite was true for all other impact categories, indicating trade-offs across the impact categories. Climate change impacts under both scenarios were relatively minor because these were largely offset by iLUC. Similarly, under the contraction scenario, water impacts were dominated by indirect impacts associated with regional crops. A sensitivity analysis showed that the results were sufficiently robust to indicate the quantum of changes that could be expected.

Conclusions

A complex array of changes in technologies, production regions and related crops were required to model the environmental impacts of a gross change in cotton production. Australian cotton lint production provides an example of legislation constraining the direct water impacts of production, leading to a contrast between impacts estimated by attributional and consequential LCA. This model demonstrated that indirect products and processes are important contributors to the environmental impacts of Australian cotton lint.

     

“Two kinds of bioscope”: Practical community concerns and ethnographic film in Namibia

A quote from a Namibian Ju/'hoan political leader introduces the topic of community concerns about the practical implications of various styles of ethnographic filmmaking. The main issues addressed include communication, leadership, and decision‐making processes internal to the community being filmed; development planning and self‐presentation in state and international contexts; community participation in design of, and remuneration from, film projects; images produced and their relevance to governmental and international funding; and dialogue within both the local and the anthropological communities on the consequences of filmic decisions. Examples from six film projects in Nyae Nyae, Namibia, over the last decade are used to illustrate how complex land rights, natural resource rights, development planning, and external political issues may be more (or less) effectively dealt with depending on community involvement, presentational choices and activist goals.     

Biodiversity e‐Science: LifeWatch,the European infrastructure on biodiversity and ecosystem research

Abstract

LifeWatch is the European research infrastructure on biodiversity. It is building virtual, instead of physical, laboratories supplied by the most advanced facilities to capture, standardise, integrate, analyse and model biodiversity, and to consider scenarios of change. LifeWatch is aimed at supporting a deeper understanding of biodiversity for societal benefits.     

Operationalizing the ecosystems approach: Assessing the environmental impact of major infrastructure development

The ecosystem services approach is increasingly applied in the context of environmental resources management and impact assessment. Assessments often involve analysis of alternative scenarios for which potential changes in ecosystem services are quantified. For such assessments to be effective there is a requirement to represent changes in ecosystem services supply in a clear and informative manner. Here we compute Ecosystem Services Ratio (ESR), a simple index that quantifies the relative change in ecosystem service provision under altered conditions given the baseline, and the Modified Ecosystem Services State Index, which averages the ESR scores obtained for each ecosystem service assessed, to provide an overall measure of the change. Given that modelling approaches to quantification of ecosystem services often result in production of maps of ecosystem supply, the proposed metrics can be visualized as maps in support to decision making processes. We use these indices to investigate potential changes in the supply of seven modelled ecosystem services resulting from the introduction of a major road development – a highway with associated green infrastructure – into a predominantly agricultural landscape in the UK. We find that the planted woodland, scrubland and grassland can increase the supply of multiple ecosystem services not accounted for in previous green infrastructure studies, although the magnitude of change differs with the type of vegetation, initial conditions and timeframes of the assessment.     

Environmental assessment of multi-functional building elements constructed with digital fabrication techniques

Purpose

Digital fabrication is revolutionizing architecture, enabling the construction of complex and multi-functional building elements. Multi-functionality is often achieved through material reduction strategies such as functional or material hybridization. However, these design strategies may increase environmental impacts over the life cycle. The integration of functions may hinder the maintenance and shorten the service life. Moreover, once a building element has reached the end of life, hybrid materials may influence negatively its recycling capacity. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to analyze the influence of multi-functionality in the environmental performance of two digitally fabricated architectural elements: The Sequential Roof and Concrete-Sandstone Composite Slab and to compare them with existing standard elements.

Methods

A method based on the life-cycle assessment (LCA) framework is applied for the evaluation of the environmental implications of multi-functionality in digital fabrication. The evaluation consists of the comparison of embodied impacts between a multi-functional building element constructed with digital fabrication techniques and a conventional one, both with the same building functions. Specifically, the method considers the lifetime uncertainty caused by multi-functionality by considering two alternative service life scenarios during the evaluation of the digitally fabricated building element. The study is extended with a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the additional environmental implications during end-of-life processing derived from the use of hybrid materials to achieve multi-functionality in architecture.

Results and discussion

The evaluation of two case studies of digitally fabricated architecture indicates that their environmental impacts are very sensitive to the duration of their service life. Considering production and life span phases, multi-functional building elements should have a minimum service life of 30 years to bring environmental benefits over conventional construction. Furthermore, the case study of Concrete-Sandstone Composite Slab shows that using hybrid materials to achieve multi-functionality carries important environmental consequences at the end of life, such as the emission of air pollutants during recycling.

Conclusions

The results from the case studies allow the identification of key environmental criteria to consider during the design of digitally fabricated building elements. Multi-functionality provides material efficiency during production, but design adaptability must be a priority to avoid a decrease in their environmental performance. Moreover, the high environmental impacts caused by end-of-life processing should be compensated during design.

     

Dance and glance: Visualizing tribal identity in Highland Yemen

This paper is a study in the ways that esthetic markers—dancing, poetry, clothing, food—underlie, define, and construct conceptions of the tribe in the northern highlands of Yemen. As the rural Yemeni economy has changed from economic and political self‐sufficiency to dependence on the world market and a strong central government, so has the significance of tribalism. Ironically, nationalism is presented by the Yemeni media in tribal terms. While rural expressions of tribal identity have declined, use of tribal markers has intensified in towns and cities even by those who were not formerly defined as tribal. The significance of esthetic phenomena in the formation of identity and the construction of culture is addressed.¹     

Social life cycle assessment: in pursuit of a framework for assessing wood-based products from bioeconomy regions in Germany

Purpose

With many policies in Germany steering towards a bioeconomy, there is a need for analytical tools that assess not only the environmental and economic implications but also the social implications of a transition to a bioeconomy. Wood is expected to become a major biomass resource in bioeconomy regions. Therefore, this paper develops a social life cycle assessment (sLCA) framework that can be applied specifically to a wood-based production system in one of Germany’s bioeconomy regions.

Methods

This paper reviews and analyses existing sLCA approaches, in terms of how applicable they are for assessing a wood-based production system in a German bioeconomy regional context. The analysis is structured according to the standard phases of environmental life cycle assessment (LCA). However, we use the term social effects rather than social impacts, to acknowledge the unknown cause–effect relationship between an organisation’s activities and its social impacts. We also consider the establishment of regional system boundaries, as well as the relationship between the social effects and the product being assessed. Additionally, an approach for the development and selection of social indicators and indices is outlined. Furthermore, we discuss data requirements and present an approach for a social life cycle impact assessment method.

Results and discussion

A new conceptual framework for a context-specific sLCA to assess wood-based products manufactured in a bioeconomy region was developed. It enables sLCA practitioners to identify “social hotspots” and “social opportunities” from a regional perspective. The location and characteristics of these social hotspots and opportunities can be analysed, in particular, for major production activities in a bioeconomy region in Germany. Therefore, according to this framework, the development of social indices and indicators, the collection of data and the approach used for characterising social effects need to relate to the geographical context of the product being assessed. The proposed framework can, thus, help to identify, monitor and evaluate the social sustainability of wood-based bioeconomy chains in a regional context.

Conclusions

This framework requires a high level of detail in the social inventory and impact assessment phase, in order to assess the regional foreground activities in a German wood-based bioeconomy region. It enables sLCA studies to identify which social hotspots and social opportunities occur and where they are located in the wood-based production system of a regional bioeconomy.

     

Response to Drought Among Farmers and Herders in Southern Kajiado District, Kenya: A Comparison of 1972-1976 and 1994-1995

This article examines continuity and change in farming and herder communities' strategies for coping with food deficits in S.E. Kajiado District, Kenya, through a comparison of coping strategies reported in surveys conducted in 1977 and 1996. It provides empirical evidence of the dynamic responses that one rural society prone to recurrent drought-related food insecurity has made to the complex interactions between exogenous and local political, economic, social and demographic, and environmental processes. It demonstrates that although driving forces emanating from national and international scales create the broad context for developmental change, local processes mediate these. As these alter, so do the options available for coping with food insecurity. The availability of these options differs according to a person's age, gender, and socio-economic status. Such dynamism and differentiation is inherent in rural development and should inform development planners and those seeking to include monitoring of coping strategies as a component of famine early-warning systems.     

Zimbabwe's wildlife conservation regime: Rural farmers and the state

This article examines the rhino and elephant conservation policies of Zimbabwe, focusing on the historical experiences of rural farmers with colonial and post-colonial wildlife policies. It begins by defining the social and political ramifications of the current environmental conservation debate in Africa, and how these are crucially affected by rural people's perceptions of environmental goods. Next, the paper explores the exploitative colonial legacy of wildlife conservation in Zimbabwe, and how that legacy has or has not been transformed since independence. The paper pays close attention to the development of linkages between rural farmers, local conservation NGOs, and local and national governmental bodies. Finally, the paper finds that, while many positive linkages have been made between conservation authorities and rural farmers and ranchers in elephant conservation programs, few such linkages have been made in the various rhino conservation schemes. Since Zimbabwe has been relatively successful in conserving its elephant population, but relatively unsuccessful in stopping rhino poaching, the paper concludes that the development of positive linkages between rural farmers and the state, which include heavy doses of popular participation at the grassroots level, is crucial for any successful natural resource policy.     

Environmental assessment of black locust (<Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">Robinia pseudoacacia</Emphasis> L.)-based ethanol as potential transport fuel

Purpose  

Lignocellulosic ethanol has received special research interest, driven by concerns over high fuel prices, security of energy supplies, global climate change as well as the search of opportunities for rural economic development. A well-to-wheel analysis was conducted for ethanol obtained from black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) by means of the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. This study assesses the environmental profile of using ethanol in mixtures E10 and E85 as transport fuel in comparison with conventional gasoline (CG). In addition, the best model of black locust cultivation was analysed under an environmental point of view.     

Through the Eyes of Children: Perceptions of Environmental Change in Tropical Forests

This study seeks to understand children''s perceptions of their present and future environments in the highly biodiverse and rapidly changing landscapes of Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. We analyzed drawings by children (target age 10–15 years) from 22 villages, which show how children perceive the present conditions of forests and wildlife surrounding their villages and how they expect conditions to change over the next 15 years. Analyses of picture elements and their relationships to current landscape variables indicate that children have a sophisticated understanding of their environment and how different environmental factors interact, either positively or negatively. Children appear to have landscape-dependent environmental perceptions, showing awareness of past environmental conditions and many aspects of recent trends, and translating these into predictions for future environmental conditions. The further removed their present landscape is from the originally forested one, the more environmental change they expect in the future, particularly declines in forest cover, rivers, animal diversity and increases in temperature and natural disasters. This suggests that loss of past perceptions and associated “shifting environmental baselines” do not feature strongly among children on Borneo, at least not for the perceptions we investigated here. Our findings that children have negative expectations of their future environmental conditions have important political implications. More than other generations, children have a stake in ensuring that future environmental conditions support their long-term well-being. Understanding what drives environmental views among children, and how they consider trade-offs between economic development and social and environmental change, should inform optimal policies on land use. Our study illuminates part of the complex interplay between perceptions of land cover and land use change. Capturing the views of children through artistic expressions provides a potentially powerful tool to influence public and political opinions, as well as a valuable approach for developing localized education and nature conservation programs.     

Political efficacy and interest as mediators of expected political participation among Belgian adolescents

Abstract

Citizenship education intends to prepare students to become politically active citizens. However, studies investigating the relationship between citizenship education and political participation have largely neglected the mediating role of political attitudes. This study examines whether political efficacy and political interest are mediators of expected political participation, using the data of the Belgian (Flemish) sample of the ICCS 2016 study. The results indicate that three educational strategies (i.e., classroom discussions, civic learning opportunities, and student participation at school) are positively associated with expected political participation (i.e., institutionalized and noninstitutionalized participation) in a distinct way. A substantial part of this relationship is mediated by political interest and political efficacy. Future research should take this underlying mechanism into account when studying the development of civic engagement amongst adolescents in a school context. The findings of this study call for a broad approach to citizenship education for the development of political attitudes, as well as behavior.