Suchergebnisse

Groundwater is a vital resource in arid and semi-arid regions, increasingly relied upon for year-round access, though lack of both study and regulation contribute to unsustainable pressures potentially contributing to a negative spiral of ecological, social and economic decline. Using field visits, interviews with locals and experts, and literature reviews, we explored a successful programme of community-based groundwater recharge in three adjacent catchments (the Arvari, Sarsa and Baghani) in semi-arid north Rajasthan, India, led by the NGO Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS) in order to determine how successes were achieved and could be replicated. TBS-led initiatives rebuilt traditional village governance structures and participation in community-designed and maintained water harvesting structures (WHSs), which were efficient both economically and in technical design using indigenous knowledge. Enhanced seasonal groundwater recharge enabled by WHSs regenerated aquatic, farmed and natural ecosystems, underpinning a positive cycle of interdependent social and economic regeneration. Locally appropriate, integrated social and technical solutions maintaining this positive cycle have increased the quality of ecosystems and the wellbeing of local people. We used the STEEP (Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political) framework to stratify outcomes, exploring principles underpinning successful local and catchment-scale regeneration and drawing out lessons transferrable to similarly water-stressed regions.

Contemporary markets and societal norms externalise many ecosystem services important for a sustainable future. A range of external legal, market, social protocol and other mechanisms, referred to as 'societal levers', constrain or otherwise influence the behaviour of resource managers, and the expectations and assumptions of the society within which they operate. These 'societal levers' have progressively institutionalised evolving societal values, influencing markets and other choices. We use the STEEP (social, technological, economic, environmental and political) framework to explore case studies of societal transitions, analysing how emergent concerns become shared and ultimately transformed into 'levers', shifting societal norms. Emerging concerns become influential only when they are shared across societal sectors, and when broader implications are realised across multiple dimensions of the STEEP framework. We propose and advocate use of a 'ripple effect' of values as a means to direct and accelerate the pace at which environmental concerns shape mainstream societal norms and structures, and become institutionalised in the form of 'societal levers'.

This is the first comprehensive study of an east African lake for thirty years. It represents the culmination of research expeditions which stretch back twenty years and is thus able to pick up long term changes which the individual research activities do not reveal. Lake Naivasha is a tropical lake whose natural fluctuations are now dwarfed by human impacts. Papers show how the irrigation for horticulture and power cooling has reduced the lake depth significantly; exotic arrivals have altered the plant community beyond recognition and its commercial value as a fishery and a tourist feature are reduced by over use. Despite this, the lake has considerable conservation value at present. It provides a different case study in the ever-growing library of the effects of human follies. Lake Naivasha has achieved global importance in the past ten years because its waters are used to sustain the largest horticultural industry in Africa. The book highlights its fragility under such pressure and points out the way towards sustainable use of the water and the ecosystem

1. Conservation of biodiversity involves dealing with problems caused by humans, by applying solutions that comprise actions by humans. Understanding human attitudes, knowledge and behaviour are thus central to conservation research and practice. 2. The special feature brings together authors from a range of disciplines (ecology, human geography, political science, land economy, management) to examine a set of qualitative techniques used in conservation research: Interviews, Focus group discussion, The Nominal Group Technique and multi-criteria decision analysis. 3. These techniques can be used for a range of purposes—most notably to understand people's perspectives, values and attitudes and to gather information about approaches to management of species, ecosystems or natural resources. 4. Incorporating human values, perceptions, judgements and knowledge into conservation decision making is an important role for qualitative techniques; they provide robust means for submitting this information or knowledge as evidence. 5. The articles in this special feature highlight a worrying extent of poor justification and inadequate reporting of qualitative methods in the conservation literature. 6. To improve and encourage greater use of these techniques in conservation science, we urge improved reporting of rationales and methods, along with innovation, adaptation and further testing of the methods themselves.

The proliferation of new drugs challenges clinicians to keep abreast of new developments and to integrate clinical expertise with the best available clinical evidence. Pressures of the introduction (and cost) of new drugs and technologies, an aging population and the increasing expectations of patients are forcing policy makers in developed countries to look at how they are to control the increasing cost of health care. The pharmaceutical industry is keen to recover the costs spent on research and development of new pharmaceuticals. Increasingly economic analyses are being used to justify policies and the use of resources, by introducing measures of cost and quality as well as effectiveness. Moreover decisions on what should and should not be funded from public funds will be influenced by the overall framework of national aims and objectives, by professional opinion and public values. Linking clinical and financial aspects of drug use requires expanded skills for clinicians, policy makers and for those who make decisions to include drugs on formulary. Moreover, formulary management activities are increasingly being evaluated in terms of their impact on overall disease management not just acquisition costs. A model of the practice is being developed to provide a discipline in understanding the nature of the local practice and in exploring options for future policy and action. The development of the model will lead to a concurrent progress of the practice. The project is at the stage of assessment and situation analysis. A concerted effort will be indispensable for the realisation of this project. This conference groups together all the parties involved including policy makers, clinicians and representatives of the pharmaceutical industry. The opportunity is being taken to introduce the project, to obtain feedback for its implementation and to encourage cooperation from all concerned and the objectives of the project will be used to motivate contribution. ; peer-reviewed

Nepal's predominantly rural population depends on the ecosystem services of heterogeneous mountainous landscapes that are degrading under changing climate and development pressures. Invasive alien plants (IAPs) compound threats to ecosystem services including water resource security from mid-hill springs, though implications for Nepal's water resources are under-researched. South Africa's Working for Water (WfW) programme addresses linked policy priorities related to IAP management including water, biodiversity and employability. We use the STEEP (Social, Technological, Environmental, Economic, Political) framework to explore success criteria behind WfW and their potential translation into the geographically, culturally and politically different Nepali context, including local considerations at three sites in Kavrepalanchok district. An adapted WfW approach could potentially contribute to water, food, biodiversity, forest, soil, gender equity, community development and security outcomes in Nepal, delivering national and international policy priorities. Evidence from study sites suggests four priority IAPs – Lantana camara, Ageratina adenophora, Chromolaena odorata and Pinus roxburghii – of differing characteristics, extents of invasion and perceived impacts at selected sites requiring control. These initial observations warrant trial management of IAPs in a test area with monitoring to evaluate outcomes for water, food and livelihood security, with potential for subsequent regional or national roll-out of a management programme.

The theoretical framework outlined in this paper was developed initially through a series of expert workshops as part of the Valuing Nature Network — BRIDGE: From Values to Decisions project, funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). It was developed further through the follow-on phase of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (Work Package 6: Shared, Plural and Cultural Values) funded by the UK Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Welsh Government, NERC, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). ; Social valuation of ecosystem services and public policy alternatives is one of the greatest challenges facing ecological economists today. Frameworks for valuing nature increasingly include shared/social values as a distinct category of values. However, the nature of shared/social values, as well as their relationship to other values, has not yet been clearly established and empirical evidence about the importance of shared/social values for valuation of ecosystem services is lacking. To help address these theoretical and empirical limitations, this paper outlines a framework of shared/social values across five dimensions: value concept, provider, intention, scale, and elicitation process. Along these dimensions we identify seven main, non-mutually exclusive types of shared values: transcendental, cultural/societal, communal, group, deliberated and other-regarding values, and value to society. Using a case study of a recent controversial policy on forest ownership in England, we conceptualise the dynamic interplay between shared/social and individual values. The way in which social value is assessed in neoclassical economics is discussed and critiqued, followed by consideration of the relation between shared/social values and Total Economic Value, and a review of deliberative and non-monetary methods for assessing shared/social values. We conclude with a discussion of the importance of shared/social values for decision-making. ; Publisher PDF ; Peer reviewed