Search results

When biologists investigate the present marine and coastal ecosystems, they always have to take into account the influence of human activity. Indeed, a real 'natural' biotope can no longer be found on our planet and this is most certainly true for North-western Europe, traditionally one of the most densely populated regions on earth. Common sense often states that this human influence only became significant during the last centuries (e.g. due to the industrialisation) and only evolved into 'a problem' in recent decades. However, when ecological data are viewed into a true historical, and even pre-historical perspective, another story appears. Quaternary geologists now realise that they have to replace the traditional paradigm of marine transgressions and regressions, used to explain the evolution of the Belgian coastal plain, by a new model in which humans play a markedly more prominent role. Evidence is growing that our ancestors voluntarily or unconsciously shaped their coast, instead of adapting to its naturally changing morphology. This breakthrough only became possible because geologists started to pay more attention to historical data and archaeological fieldwork, making their research interdisciplinary. The same process is now developing within ecology, since it is gradually more and more appreciated that historical, but certainly archaeological data provide the necessary time dimension for recent studies. The organic material excavated at archaeological sites often forms a biological sample dating from times in which biology was not yet invented. Using archaeology, it becomes possible to investigate the impact of man on marine and coastal environments during ancient times, and it has, for example, recently been proven that the growing exploitation of marine resources, perhaps even the onset of an overexploitation, can already be traced in late medieval collections of animal remains from Flanders. The use of archaeological data offers possibilities but also presents dangers. Most important is that it must always be taken into account that the data excavated are filtered, and biased, by human activities. Therefore, in order to interpret archaeological finds, one must also study human behaviour. This explains why archaeology cannot merely be treated as a natural science but also belongs to the humanities. Former human behaviour cannot be reconstructed and understood completely by rational laws and models, since it is also the result of ideology, symbolism, religion, and social phenomena such as gender differentiation, status, identity, or the structure of society (and therefore politics). In a way, the intrigues at the republican court at Rome have influenced the evolution of the Belgian coast as much as any sea-level rise. Indeed, somewhere at the low tide level, the sciences and the humanities meet.

The Ogallala Aquifer is an underground supply of water that stretches from South Dakota into the panhandle of Texas. It serves as the lifeblood of Southwestern Kansas' economy. The Southwestern Kansas Groundwater Management District (SWKGMD) is one of the largest groundwater regulating districts over the Ogallala Aquifer. The Ogallala Aquifer was once thought of as an infinite supply of water in the early 1900s with the drilling of the first irrigation wells. Over the last hundred years however, thanks to the assistance of hydrology and geology, the aquifer proved finite like many other precious commodities in nature. In the early 1970s, the Kansas State Legislature created groundwater management districts with the purpose of resolving the question of local regulation versus state intervention. With the adoption of this new law, each county in a designated district would be responsible for electing an individual to serve on the board once a district was organized. In order to serve on the board the elected person had to utilize one acre-foot of water per year or own forty contiguous acres. Consequently, large-scale irrigators became involved in water regulation. Over the next twenty- five years the district continued to produce educational forums, conservation pamphlets, and quick fix - it policies but little or no action was rendered to restrict excessive and wasteful water-usage by large scale irrigators. Though efficiency improved with the implementation of sprinklers and slow drip systems, the water table still continued to decrease. Moreover, state water regulation policies and economics encouraged farmers to exploit the Ogallala Aquifer further. Simultaneously, the SWKGMD Board of Directors (BOD) began to utilize the district's experts' hydrological studies as merely a clock measuring how much time they had left to exploit the water rather than a warning signal to create policies to help reduce usage or obtain a zero depletion recharge rate like other Groundwater Management Districts (GMD) throughout Kansas. Such exploitative policies have now left Southwestern Kansas in a precarious state. Throughout most of the region only a twenty-five year supply of water remains left to utilize. After twenty-five years irrigation will prove cost-prohibitive to extract water due to the decreasing water table. The implications of water usage yesterday and today will eventually determine the ultimate fate of Southwestern Kansas' future generations. In any case, the past actions of SWKGMD BOD will be linked directly with the understanding of that inevitable fate.

This article explores the historic evolution of the prosecution service at the Cape under both Dutch and British control, the two Boer republics, and its twentieth century role - first in the Union and then the Republic of South Africa. Emphasis is given to the struggle the prosecution service waged over the centuries to assert its independence against an interfering executive.A focus of the article is the establishment and role of South Africa's first centralised National Prosecuting Authority in 1998. The political controversy surrounding the promulgation of the National prosecuting Authority Act, in terms of which the National Prosecuting authority was established, and the appointment of the first national director of public prosecutions are discussed. The powers of the national director, and the degree of independence the position enjoys are analysed. The structure of the National Prosecuting Authority, and the legislative provisions governing investigating directorates, through which the prosecuting authority is granted formal investigative powers, are explained.

Susanna describes her flight from civil war in Angola in the 1980s, how she and her husband managed to establish themselves in a Zambian border village and their subsequent forced relocation to an official refugee settlement. She had also been displaced during the liberation war in the 1960s and similarly taken to Meheba. Her stories indicate that home is a group of people, kin and community, a way of life, sustenance and subsistence, as well as a local and national place. Also, the relative importance of persons, livelihood and territory to her selfidentity varies according to her own personal circumstances and the wider context. Suggests that the total estrangement that characterized her existence in Meheba at the end of her life could only be the product of repeated displacement and the socially fragmented world of the refugee settlement. (Quotes from original text)