Suchergebnisse

Naturkatastrophen bedeuten nicht nur momenthafte Zerstörung, die nach erfolgtem Wiederaufbau wieder vergessen ist. Katastrophen haben häufig nachhaltige Auswirkungen auf Politik und Gesellschaft und damit auf die menschliche Geschichte. Sie führen mitunter zu Verordnungen, Institutionenbildung, Politikwechsel und gesellschaftlichem Umdenken, können aber auch Anlass zu Aufbruchstimmung und Fortschrittsoptimismus geben. Durch die aktuelle Diskussion zum globalen Klimawandel hat sich in der Öffentlichkeit ein stärkeres Bewusstsein für die gesellschaftliche Relevanz von Naturkatastrophen entwickelt. Welche Rolle extreme Ereignisse in der Geschichte gespielt haben und welche Strategien zu ihrer Bewältigung in verschiedenen Zeiten wirksam waren, bilden die zentralen Fragen des Sammelbandes. Die Autoren untersuchen neben klassischen Naturkatastrophen auch Seuchen und Schädlingskalamitäten in historischer Perspektive und widmen sich theoretischen Fragen zu deren Genese und Auswirkungen. Der vorliegende Band ist das Ergebnis eines Workshops, der von den Herausgebern im Rahmen des DFG-Graduiertenkollegs "Interdisziplinäre Umweltgeschichte" unter dem Titel "Katastrophen machen Geschichte – Umweltgeschichtliche Prozesse im Spannungsfeld von Ressourcennutzung und Extremereignis" am 6. und 7. Mai 2009 in Göttingen veranstaltet wurde.

Globally, continuing environmental degradation is leading many countries to strengthen their systems of protected areas. However, this may not be sufficient to halt degradation and conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services. To supplement its growing system of protected areas, the Chinese government is adopting a strategy of Ecological Conservation Redlines (ECRs). The ECRs define limits to human encroachment into ecologically sensitive and vulnerable areas and enforce strict conservation in order to guarantee national ecological security. ECRs are integrated in their design, are based on sound science, and provide a systemic management mechanism. ECR supports the formation of a comprehensive ecological conservation system that will lead to effective conservation for the most ecologically valuable and fragile ecosystems. The ECR approach seeks to improve China's ecological security and guide nature conservation in the future. It could also provide a valuable example of an effective approach for improving nature conservation worldwide.

Introduction: Should African philosophers care about the sub-Saharan environment? -- Peripherality and non-philosophy in African philosophy : Womanist philosophy, environmental philosophy and other provocations / Bruce B. Janz -- Gaia hypothesis from an African perspective / Alexander O. E. Animalu and Jeff Unaegbu -- How to ground animal rights on African values : a constructive approach / Thaddeus Metz -- An African account of the moral obligation to preserve biodiversity / Kevin G. Behrens -- Transformation of urban space in South-West Nigeria, 2011 to present : ethical issues in development and aesthetics / Olatunji A. Oyeshile -- Animal rights vs. animal care ethics : interrogating the relationship to non-human animals in Yorùbá culture / Ebunoluwa Olufemi Oduwole and Ademola Kazeem Fayemi -- Women and the environment in Africa / Workineh Kelbessa -- Women's identities in African environmental ethics : a conversational approach / Ademola Kazeem Fayemi and Oladele Abiodun Balogun -- Ohanife : an account of the ecosystem based on the African notion of relationship / Jonathan O. Chimakonam -- Hermeneutics of trees in an African context : enriching the understanding of the environment 'for the common heritage of humankind.' /Angela Roothaan -- Global warming as an ontological boomerang effect : towards a philosophical rescue from the African place / Victor C. A. Nweke -- Laudato Si and the ecological crisis / Ralph Okechukwu Madu -- Catalysing climate change action in Nigeria : moderate anthropocentrism and the African perspective of the cosmos / Ada Agada -- Zimbabwe's environmental crisis : questioning ubuntu? / Fainos Mangena -- Exploring the African traditional belief systems (totems and taboos) in natural resources conservation and management in Ghana / Francis Diawuo and Abdul Karim Issifu.

So much of what we know of clean water, clean air, and now a stable climate rests on how fossil fuels first disrupted them. Negative Ecologies is a bold reappraisal of the outsized role fossil fuels have played in making the environment visible, factual, and politically operable in North America. Following stories of hydrocarbon harm that lay the groundwork for environmental science and policy in North America, this book brings into clear focus the dialectic between the negative ecologies of fossil fuels and the ongoing discovery of the environment. Exploring iconic sites of the oil economy, ranging from leaky Caribbean refineries to deepwater oil spills, from the petrochemical fallout of plastics manufacturing to the extractive frontiers of Canada, Negative Ecologies documents the disruptions, injuries, and disasters that have long accompanied fossil fuels and the manner in which our solutions have often been less about confronting the cause than managing the effects. This history of our present promises to re-situate scholarly understandings of fossil fuels and renovate environmental critique today. David Bond challenges us to consider what forms of research, critique, and mobilization may now be needed not only to confront the deleterious properties of fossil fuels, but to envision ways of living beyond them

Northern Canada's distinctive landscapes, its complex social relations and the contested place of the North in contemporary political, military, scientific and economic affairs have fueled recent scholarly discussion. At the same time, both the media and the wider public have shown increasing interest in the region. This timely volume extends our understanding of the environmental history of northern Canada—clarifying both its practice and promise, and providing critical perspectives on current public debates. Ice Blink provides opportunities to consider critical issues in other disciplines and geographic contexts. Contributors also examine whether distinctive approaches to environmental history are required when studying the Canadian North, and consider a range of broader questions. What, if anything, sets the study of environmental history in particular regions apart from its study elsewhere? Do environmental historians require regionally-specific research practices? How can the study of environmental history take into consideration the relations between Indigenous peoples; the environment, and the state? How can the history of regions be placed most effectively within transnational and circumpolar contexts? How relevant are historical approaches to contemporary environmental issues? Scholars from universities in Canada, the United States and Britain contribute to this examination of the relevance of historical study for contemporary arctic and sub-arctic issues, especially environmental challenges, security and sovereignty, indigenous politics and the place of science in northern affairs. By asking such questions, the volume offers lessons about the general practice of environmental history and engages an international body of scholarship that addresses the value of regional and interdisciplinary approaches. Crucially, however, it makes a distinctive contribution to the field of Canadian environmental history by identifying new areas of research and exploring how international scholarly developments might play out in the Canadian context. With Contributions By: Tina Adcock, Stephen Bocking, Emilie Cameron, Hans M. Carlson, Marionne Cronin, Matthew Farish, Arn Keeling, P. Whitney Lackenbauer, Tina Loo, Paul Nadasdy, Jonathan Peyton, Liza Piper, John Sandlos, and Andrew Stuhl.

In Western European countries like Belgium and the Netherlands several 10.000 hectares of land lie unused every year, awaiting their residential, infrastructural or industrial purpose. Usually it takes a number of years before the spatial designation of such areas is finally implemented. In the meantime these areas exert a strong attraction on certain rare pioneer species, such as Natterjack Toads and Common Terns, which are benefited by human dynamics. However, to avoid the judicial restrictions which could be attached to the presence of such protected species, landowners and developers try to keep nature off their sites, by for instance intensive mowing or regular ploughing. The concept of temporary nature marks a shift in thinking about nature conservation. Instead of preventing the development of a valuable habitat or breeding site from the very beginning, the decision could also be taken to temporarily allow nature to develop on these parcels of 'valuable' land. In this article the author first highlights the results of the application of current nature conservation law on a situation of temporary nature conservation, building on earlier research. In addition, he analyses some recent national case law with respect to temporary nature. Also, some general remarks on the adaptability of nature conservation law for temporary nature are made. The focus mainly lies on the Belgian (Flemish) situation, but, as temporary nature is already being applied in the Netherlands, reference is also made to this practice, too. Given the fact that the applicable nature conservation law in both countries consists mainly in an implementation of the European Directives, the conclusions of this contribution can also serve as an example for other European countries.

• Opsomming: Hierdie artikel word gewy aan 'n baanbrekerspoging om stedelike natuurbewaring in Suid-Afrika toe te pas. Die dorp Sandton het in 1969 tot stand gekom toe aan voorstedelike gebiede en kleinhoewes noord van Johannesburg plaaslike selfbestuur toegeken is. Uit die staanspoor het die Stadsraad die regte verhouding tussen stads- en natuurgebiede probeer bewerkstellig ten einde die lewensgehalte van die inwoners te bestendig en om dele van die hoëveld in die dorpsgrond te bewaar. Hoewel die Stadsraad destyds geloof is vir sy versiendheid en onverskrokke optrede, geniet bewaring nie meer voorkeur sover dit Sandton se plaaslike bestuur aanbetref nie. Die Sentrale regering tree nou egter op om te voorkom dat die natuurlike omgewing heeltemal deur stedelike ontwikkeling vernietig word. ; • Summary: In this article one of the pioneering efforts to conserve nature in urban areas in South Africa is examined. The town of Sandton was founded in 1969 by combining suburbs and small-holdings to the north of Johannesburg in an independent local authority. From the outset the Town Council had attempted to balance the urban and natural environments in order to enhance the quality of life for the residents and to conserve portions of the highveld within the town lands. Although these far-sighted and bold moves were widely acclaimed at the time, conservation is no longer a priority in Sandton's local government. The central government, however, is now taking steps to ensure that the natural environment is not completely obliterated by urban development.

Can Orthodox Christianity offer spiritual resources uniquely suited to the environmental concerns of today? This book makes the case emphatically that it can indeed. In addition to being the first substantial and comprehensive collection of essays, in any language, to address environmental issues from the Orthodox point of view, this volume (with contributions from many of the most influential theologians and philosophers in contemporary world Orthodoxy) will engage a wide audience, in academic as well as popular circles—resonating not only with Orthodox audiences but with all those in search of a fresh approach to environmental theory and ethics that can bring to bear the resources of ancient spirituality, often virtually unknown in the West, on modern challenges and dilemmas

Modern nature conservation is a product of post-Enlightenment modernity; I explore the heterogeneity of its conceptual and ideological background. The 19th century legacy comprises concern over human-caused extinctions; protests against excessive hunting and cruelty toward animals; utilitarian care for natural resources; and romantic sensibility concerning the value of nature for human health and spirituality. The 20th century added into conservation thinking increasing consciousness about human biospheric dependence; efforts to identify appropriate conservation targets; and most recently concern over the loss of biodiversity. The politics of nature conservation has taken shape within the framework of politics of nature, that is, choices vis-á-vis nature that have been made either as deliberate decisions on resource use or as side-effects of subsistence practices of various types. Because of tensions and conflicts with alternative ways of using nature, formulating realistic conservation policies has been a complicated task. Problems and uncertainties emerge: pursuing material aspirations of the current world society will necessarily bring about damage to ecological systems of the Earth. The way forward is to identify feasible alternatives in the midst of the tensions and ambiguities that arise, and to open up space for carrying through conservation initiatives.

Modern nature conservation is a product of post-Enlightenment modernity; I explore the heterogeneity of its conceptual and ideological background. The 19th century legacy comprises concern over human-caused extinctions; protests against excessive hunting and cruelty toward animals; utilitarian care for natural resources; and romantic sensibility concerning the value of nature for human health and spirituality. The 20th century added into conservation thinking increasing consciousness about human biospheric dependence; efforts to identify appropriate conservation targets; and most recently concern over the loss of biodiversity. The politics of nature conservation has taken shape within the framework of politics of nature, that is, choices vis-á-vis nature that have been made either as deliberate decisions on resource use or as side-effects of subsistence practices of various types. Because of tensions and conflicts with alternative ways of using nature, formulating realistic conservation policies has been a complicated task. Problems and uncertainties emerge: pursuing material aspirations of the current world society will necessarily bring about damage to ecological systems of the Earth. The way forward is to identify feasible alternatives in the midst of the tensions and ambiguities that arise, and to open up space for carrying through conservation initiatives.