Institutions and incentives for biodiversity conservation

Incentive measures for biodiversity conservation cannot be evaluated and compared outside the context of institutional performance and relationships. The institutional framework for biodiversity incentives includes a variety of organizations operating on different spatial scales. The institutional actors with an impact on biodiversity include community groups, local and national governmental structures, NGOs, business enterprises and international organizations. But the positve influence of conservation-oriented organizations is often significantly outweighed by the negative influence of other sets of institutional actors who are largely unaware of biodiversity as a concept and not unduly concerned with its conservation. There are several options for improving the institutional framework for biodiversity incentives: (1) decentralization of resource management decision making to local levels; (2) engaging and reorienting government institutions; (3) establishing new national and international institutions; and (4) establishing functional linkages between key institutional actors. The role of local, national and international institutions in designing and implementing effective incentive measures for biodiversity conservation will be critical. But the dynamics within and between institutional actors influencing biodiversity conservation are complex, variable and insufficiently understood, somewhat like biodiversity itself.     

Revisiting the Freedom of Fishing and Legal Obligations on States Not Party to Regional Fisheries Management Organizations

For decades, states have cooperated through regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) on the conservation and management of living marine resources on the high seas. Nonmembers, or third states not bound by their decisions, have been an Achilles’ heel. In this article, the legal status of RFMO nonmembers and the freedom of fishing are examined. It is concluded that RFMO nonmembers have concrete obligations with respect to established fisheries subject to RFMO regulation.     

Immigrant political socialization as bridging and boundary work: mapping the multi-layered incorporation of Latin American immigrants in Toronto

We present a longitudinal map of three overlapping organizational trajectories developed by Latin American immigrants in the city of Toronto. We propose the concept of bridging and boundary work to specify how new (1) intersectional political identities and organizational agendas are constituted by Latin American feminist women and artists in the interstice of (2) country-of-origin and (3) mainstream pan-ethnic organizations. Boundary work occurs as activists with intersectional priorities carve out a distinct political agenda; the ‘out-group’ relations based on a shared sectoral focus constitute bridging work. Tracing changes in the local and transnational political opportunity structures, we consider how negotiations over resources, representation and agendas between these three Latin American organizational forms generate multi-directional political learning and socialization and the coexistence of different Latin American political cultures. We define political socialization as in-group and out-group encounters between political cultures understood as civic toolkits or ways of doing politics.     

黑胸大蠊浓核病毒分类的相关研究

黑胸大蠊浓核病毒(pfDNV)是在我国首先发现并正式分类鉴定的蟑螂浓核病毒.该病毒属细小病毒科(Parvoviridae),浓核病毒亚科(Densovirinae).但对该病毒的归属问题却一直没有确定,本文对此予以探讨.pfDNV的最新研究进展包括两个方面全基因组核苷酸序列的测定,以及利用低温电镜技术和像重构方法对该病毒的三维重构(分辨率23(A)).在此基础上,本文将pfDNV与其它病毒在基因组结构和三维结构方面进行了全面的对比分析,其结果并不支持目前对pfDNV的分类,因此建议对该病毒重新进行分类.     

A lack of response of the financial behaviors of biodiversity conservation nonprofits to changing economic conditions

The effectiveness of conservation organizations is determined in part by how they adapt to changing conditions. Over the previous decade, economic conditions in the United States (US) showed marked variation including a period of rapid growth followed by a major recession. We examine how biodiversity conservation nonprofits in the US responded to these changes through their financial behaviors, focusing on a sample of 90 biodiversity conservation nonprofits and the largest individual organization (The Nature Conservancy; TNC). For the 90 sampled organizations, an analysis of financial ratios derived from tax return data revealed little response to economic conditions. Similarly, more detailed examination of conservation expenditures and land acquisition practices of TNC revealed only one significant relationship with economic conditions: TNC accepted a greater proportion of conservation easements as donated in more difficult economic conditions. Our results suggest that the financial behaviors of US biodiversity conservation nonprofits are unresponsive to economic conditions.     

国际政府间组织对传统知识议题的态度以及中国的对策建议

传统知识是多个国际政府间组织的重要议题,各个组织开展了一系列讨论,形成了相关报告和决议,反映了不同的利益诉求,也表达了对于传统知识的不同见解和立场。在国际政府间组织中,以《生物多样性公约》为代表的国际组织关注环境与生物;以世界知识产权组织和世界贸易组织为代表的国际组织关注经济与贸易;以《土著人民权利宣言》为代表的国际组织关注社会和权利。结合我国在国际政府间组织中的已有承诺,以及丰富多样的传统知识等具体国情,建议我国需要更重视传统知识保护,并采取惠益分享的立法行动,制定以《名古屋议定书》为基础的传统知识保护制度和惠益分享制度,以期达成环境、经济和社会的协调发展。     

Confronting the Structure of International Development: Political Agency and the Chiquitanos of Bolivia

In the past few decades, Latin America has encountered two related developments that are transforming indigenous peoples' ownership, use, and management of land and resources. The first has been a wave of political organizing among indigenous communities. International linkages, national and regional confederations, and local, intercommunal organizations have proliferated across Central and South America. Secondly, there has been a swift rise in the number and influence of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which have brought unprecedented financial support and political leverage to the struggles of indigenous people. This paper examines development, natural resource management, and ecopolitics in the Chiquitano communities of Lomerio in the Bolivian lowlands. I discuss the impact of NGO and government policies and practices on Chiquitano political organization, and present examples of political agency on the part of the Chiquitanos, and features of the structural conditions that frame relations among the different groups.     

Muslim community organizations – sites of active citizenship or self-segregation?

Ethno-religious community organizations in Western countries have often been described as being disconnected from mainstream society, and Muslim community groups have been a special focus of such critique. This article offers a counter-narrative to these widespread allegations. It draws on a synthesis of emerging research on the citizenship-enhancing effects of mosque involvement and on an explorative study involving thirty in-depth interviews with civically active Muslims in Australia and Germany. The article examines the potential of Muslim community organizations to mobilize their member into performing their citizenship through civic and political participation. It offers empirical evidence that many Muslim community organizations, rather than promoting social segregation, act as accessible entry point for Muslims’ civic participation, facilitate cross-community engagement and provide gateways to political involvement. These civic potentials of Muslim community organization have remained underestimated in the public and political discourse on cohesive societies and healthy democracies.     

青弋江鱼类分类群和功能群的α和β多样性纵向梯度格局

确定溪流鱼类多样性的时空分布格局可为鱼类多样性保护与管理提供科学基础。尽管溪流鱼类分类群多样性的纵向梯度格局已有大量报道, 但以鱼类生物学特征为基础的功能多样性研究较少。本文基于2009-2010年4个季度对青弋江1-5级溪流共15个样点的调查数据, 利用形态特征数据和食性构建了鱼类复合功能群, 研究了不同级别溪流间鱼类分类群和功能群组成及多样性的异同, 着重探讨了鱼类分类群和功能群的α和β多样性沿溪流纵向梯度的变化规律。采集到的56种鱼类可分为4个营养功能群和5个运动功能群, 共计14个“营养-运动”复合功能群。双因素交互相似性分析结果显示, 鱼类分类群和功能群组成都随河流级别显著变化, 但季节动态不显著; 双因素方差分析后发现, 鱼类分类群和功能群α、β多样性都随河流级别显著变化, 但受季节影响不显著。经回归分析, 分类群和功能群α多样性与河流级别大小呈显著的线性正相关, 但最大分类群α多样性出现于4级河流, 最大功能群α多样性在4级和5级河流间一致; 分类群和功能群β多样性与河流级别大小呈显著的二项式关系, 呈U型分布。分类群β多样性的空间变化主要取决于物种周转, 而功能群β多样性主要由嵌套所驱动。本研究表明, 沿着“上游-下游”的纵向梯度, 河流鱼类的α和β多样性的空间变化规律不同, 分类群和功能群α多样性的空间格局基本一致, 但分类群(主要是物种周转)和功能群β多样性(主要是功能嵌套)的空间变化过程的驱动机制不同。