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.

What Happens to Traditional Knowledge and Use of Natural Resources When People Migrate?

The study investigates traditional knowledge of forest plants in a community (La Quetzal) inhabited by people who returned to Guatemala at the end of the civil war, after 10–12 years in exile in Southern Mexico, and now are in the process of constructing a new community in the Lacandon jungle in the Petén, Guatemala. We ask if the basis of knowledge and the use of natural resources change when people migrate. The relevance of vascular plant diversity for consumption and other daily needs of the population is explored. Relatively few species are presently used, with the exception of timber species, where knowledge seems to be increasing. Traditional knowledge has been maintained in certain areas such as medicine. Nature as such is regarded as important primarily as potential monetary capital and not for its subsistence capital. We find that the refugee situation has led to the introduction of global consumption patterns. Still there continues to be a dynamic local intuitive knowledge arising directly from practical experiences. Two interlinked factors have been the driving forces altering the knowledge and the use of natural resources by the people in La Quetzal: Change in the natural environment and change in the social and economic environment.

Realistic threshold policy with hysteresis to control predator–prey continuous dynamics

This paper introduces a threshold policy with hysteresis (TPH) for the control of one-predator one-prey models. The models studied are the Lotka–Volterra and Rosenzweig–MacArthur two species density-dependent predator–prey models and the Arditi–Ginzburg nondimensional ratio-dependent model. The proposed policy (TPH) changes the dynamics of the system in such a way that a bounded oscillation is achieved confined to a region that does not allow extinction of either species. The policy can be designed by a suitable choice of so called virtual equilibrium points in a simple and intuitive manner.

Finding “Space” for Comanagement of Forests within the Neoliberal Paradigm: Rights,Strategies, and Tools for Asserting a Local Agenda

As neoliberalism continues to influence environmental governance, it affects notions about the appropriate level of community involvement in resource management. Under more recent iterations, hybrid forms of governance are emphasized, including government–civil society partnerships and approaches geared towards harnessing the strengths of local communities. Here we explore the characteristics of different resource management rights, strategies, and tools through which communities can find political space to assert their own agendas within a neoliberalized policy environment. We examine the successful use of some of these approaches by communities during the initial development of community forests policy and practice in British Columbia, Canada. While we confirm the complex, contingent and case-specific nature of opportunities for comanagement created through neoliberal policy elements, we suggest that space does exist for community forest bodies to assert local values, goals and strategies, demonstrating the creativity, ingenuity and determination of communities to attain a real voice in management.

Adaptationism and the adaptive landscape

Debates over adaptationism can be clarified and partially resolved by careful consideration of the ‘grain’ at which evolutionary processes are described. The framework of ‘adaptive landscapes’ can be used to illustrate and facilitate this investigation. We argue that natural selection may have special status at an intermediate grain of analysis of evolutionary processes. The cases of sickle-cell disease and genomic imprinting are used as case studies.

Fitness “kinematics”: biological function,altruism, and organism–environment development

It’s recently been argued that biological fitness can’t change over the course of an organism’s life as a result of organisms’ behaviors. However, some characterizations of biological function and biological altruism tacitly or explicitly assume that an effect of a trait can change an organism’s fitness. In the first part of the paper, I explain that the core idea of changing fitness can be understood in terms of conditional probabilities defined over sequences of events in an organism’s life. The result is a notion of “conditional fitness” which is static but which captures intuitions about apparent behavioral effects on fitness. The second part of the paper investigates the possibility of providing a systematic foundation for conditional fitness in terms of spaces of sequences of states of an organism and its environment. I argue that the resulting “organism–environment history conception” helps unify diverse biological perspectives, and may provide part of a metaphysics of natural selection.

Forest Management Policy, Amenity Migration, and Community Well-Being in the American West: Reflections from the Northwest Forest Plan

This paper examines the relation between public land management policy, amenity migration, and socioeconomic well-being using the case of the Northwest Forest Plan—a forest management policy that caused 11.6 million acres of federal land in the US Pacific Northwest to be reallocated from commodity production to biodiversity services. Our analysis focuses on three propositions implicit in much of the amenity migration literature in the USA: land management policies that reduce commodity production and/or increase environmental protection (1) improve the natural amenity values of public lands; (2) increase amenity migration to communities near public lands; and (3) stimulate economic development and increase socioeconomic well-being in these communities. Our findings indicate that all three propositions are problematic and demonstrate the importance of community-scale analysis for understanding the relation between land management policies, amenity migration, and community well-being. We discuss the implications of our findings for public land management and rural community development.

Navigating Diagnoses: Understanding Mind–Body Relations, Mental Health, and Stigma in Nepal

Anthropologists and psychiatrists traditionally have used the salience of a mind–body dichotomy to distinguish Western from non-Western ethnopsychologies. However, despite claims of mind–body holism in non-Western cultures, mind–body divisions are prominent in non-Western groups. In this article, we discuss three issues: the ethnopsychology of mind–body dichotomies in Nepal, the relationship between mind–body dichotomies and the hierarchy of resort in a medical pluralistic context, and, finally, the role of mind–body dichotomies in public health interventions (biomedical and psychosocial) aimed toward decreasing the stigmatization of mental illness. We assert that, by understanding mind–body relations in non-Western settings, their implications, and ways in which to reconstitute these relations in a less stigmatizing manner, medical anthropologists and mental health workers can contribute to the reduction of stigma in global mental health care.

Responses of marine organisms to physical and chemical impacts

Studies on the effects of a variety of exogenous and anthropogenic environmental factors, including endocrine disruptors, heavy metals, UV light, high temperature, and others, on marine organisms have been presented at the 2nd Bilateral Seminar Italy–Japan held in November 2006. Reports were discussed in order to reveal the current situation of marine ecosystems, aiming at evaluation and prediction of environmental risks.

Is it a revolution?

Jablonka and Lamb's claim that evolutionary biology is undergoing a ‘revolution’ is queried. But the very concept of revolutionary change has uncertain application to a field organized in the manner of contemporary biology. The explanatory primacy of sequence properties is also discussed.

Skunkworks in the Embers of the Cedar Fire: Enhancing Resilience in the Aftermath of Disaster

A coalition of environmental activists and professionals created the San Diego Fire Recovery Network (SDFRN) while the largest wildfire in California history was still burning at the city’s edge in October 2003. Acting quickly while the citizenry questioned governmental ability to protect their rapidly growing region, SDFRN proposed to reduce fire risk in a way that altered residential knowledge practices and identity while reshaping governance relationships. While this effort stalled after governmental agencies restored public confidence through massive fire prevention initiatives, SDFRN’s efforts may not have been in vain. Retained within collective memory, SDFRN contributed to community resilience by diversifying possible responses to environmental change and uncertainty. In this way, flexible, informal learning organizations such as SDFRN may serve as “skunkworks,” seizing on disaster in order to incubate social–ecological relationships that might avert greater tragedies to come.

Community Member Viewpoints on the Ría Celestún Biosphere Reserve,Yucatan, Mexico: Suggestions for Improving the Community/Natural Protected Area Relationship

The results of an analysis of the viewpoints of Celestún community members regarding the Ría Celestún Biosphere Reserve, Mexico, are used as the basis for recommendation to improve the community/natural protected area (NPA) relationship. Participant observation was used to record the opinions of 80 people (8–83 years of age) between April and August 2002. Twenty semistructured interviews were held with local young people randomly selected from the participant observation group and their fathers; one interview was held with a municipal officer. Results indicate that the informants perceived a lack of communication between community members and the Reserve concerning its objectives and action areas, minimal community participation in Reserve regulation development, an absence of alternative productive activities and unjustified restriction of natural resources. These perceived conditions can potentially generate conflict between the community and the Reserve administration, preventing fulfillment of the Reserve’s environmental protection mission and negatively affecting community welfare. It is suggested that communication between the Reserve and the community be mutual and free-flowing, that Reserve objectives be identified in conjunction with the community, that community members be included in Reserve activities and administration, that interdisciplinary teams be formed to encourage communication and participation and that alternative productive activities be developed. Particular emphasis is placed on the need to listen to and address the concerns of young people because they will define the community/Reserve relationship in the near future.

Compensating Human–Wildlife Conflict in Protected Area Communities: Ground-Level Perspectives from Uttarakhand, India

This paper examines people’s experiences with economic compensation for losses due to human–wildlife conflict (HWC) in Uttarakhand, India. Employing a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches, we used a case study approach to investigate (1) socio-economic characteristics of applicant versus non-applicant households, (2) explanations for why only some households chose to apply, and (3) perceptions of program effectiveness. We found that despite widespread complaints, the participation rate was only 37%. Our results broadly support the findings of other studies which have identified inadequate remuneration, processing delays, and corruption as key problems. However, we also found that non-participation was itself a critical problem. Our study indicates that participation in the scheme was shaped by factors including wealth, gender, social networks, and pre-existing expectations. We highlight the need for improved communication about what “compensation” can and should be, advocate for reconceptualizations of compensation that are more closely based on ground-level realities, and point to the potential for alternative forms of payment to be more sustainable and socially just.

A persistent species assemblage structure along a Hawaiian stream from catchment-to-sea

In Limahuli Stream on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, species assemblage structure was monitored from catchment-to-sea over a 6-year period to determine how individual species utilized the stream continuum spatiotemporally. A persistent pattern was identified in which ten fish and macroinvertebrate species (nine native and one alien) were distributed into distinct zones of highest abundances with overlapping species ranges. Species diversity, as quantified by a dominance measure (Berger–Parker Index), was highest and least variable at the midpoint of the continuum where upstream–downstream species’ ranges converged. Reciprocal fluctuations in the population abundances of dominant species limited overall variation in species diversity to a 22% range which was interpreted as evidence of spatiotemporal persistence of the species assemblage structure. The pattern was captured in a testable, conceptual model which partitions an idealized Hawaiian stream from catchment-to-sea into five functional zones (Estuarine, Lower–Middle–Upper Reach, and Headwaters) positioned as percentages of continuum length. This model may be overlaid upon other Hawaiian streams for testing its applicability as well as to ask a variety of ecological questions about the manner in which species partition habitat spatiotemporally along biophysical gradients.

Towards Solutions for State vs. Local Community Conflicts Over Forestland: The Impact of Formal Recognition of User Rights in Krui, Sumatra, Indonesia

In 1998, a decree issued by the Indonesian government enabled communities in Krui, Indonesia, to register for concession rights over the area of state forest land planted with their agroforests. Registration would provide farmers with the legal right to manage and benefit from these agroforests. In 2005, we found that even though none of the Krui communities has ever formally applied for their concession rights, the decree has been instrumental in stopping outsiders’ attempts to appropriate these agroforests. Farmers within the state forest zone felt secure enough to continue investing in their complex agroforestry systems, while planting trees reinforced their feeling of security. We conclude that it is not the legal status of tenure, but the perception of tenure security that is of significance in people’s land-use decisions. These results are considered in the wider context of state–community conflicts over forest land in the tropics.

The genomic basis of cerebral palsy: a HuGE systematic literature review

Cerebral palsy has been associated with a number of candidate genes. To date, no systematic review has been conducted to synthesise genetic polymorphism associations with cerebral palsy. We apply the HuGE NET guidelines to search PubMed and EMBASE databases for publications investigating single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and cerebral palsy outcome. 22 papers were identified and are discussed in this review. Candidate genes were grouped as (1) thrombophilic, (2) cytokine, (3) apolipoprotein E or (4) other SNPs, largely related to cardiovascular physiology/pathophysiology and the functioning of the immune system. Of the studies identified, cohorts were usually small, without adequate control and ethnically diverse, making direct comparison between studies difficult. The most promising candidate genes include factor V Leiden, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, lymphotoxin-α, tumour necrosis factor-α, eNOS and mannose binding lectin. Large case–control studies are needed to confirm these candidates with attention given to cohort ethnicity, cerebral palsy subtype analysis and possible multiple gene and gene–environment interactions.

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Teaching Evolution with Historical Narratives

This paper focuses on evolution as a unifying theme in biology education. Our aim is to argue that the different topics taught in secondary school biology classes should be enriched with and linked together by means of accounts of the history of life. We named this approach a “natural history perspective” on biology education. An essential aspect of the natural history perspective is the claim that evolutionary history forms the context for the development of an understanding of evolutionary processes. While there are some indications that a natural history perspective can function as a context for understanding micro-evolutionary processes, more research is called for.

Modeling brain dynamics using computational neurogenetic approach

The paper introduces a novel computational approach to brain dynamics modeling that integrates dynamic gene–protein regulatory networks with a neural network model. Interaction of genes and proteins in neurons affects the dynamics of the whole neural network. Through tuning the gene–protein interaction network and the initial gene/protein expression values, different states of the neural network dynamics can be achieved. A generic computational neurogenetic model is introduced that implements this approach. It is illustrated by means of a simple neurogenetic model of a spiking neural network of the generation of local field potential. Our approach allows for investigation of how deleted or mutated genes can alter the dynamics of a model neural network. We conclude with the proposal how to extend this approach to model cognitive neurodynamics.