Suchergebnisse

Examines the concept of community as a means of implementing renewable natural resource management. Decades of exclusionary conservation policies failed to protect resources & have had undesirable distributive effects. The poor populations that have most needed the resources have been marginalized & disempowered. A central role for community in conservation may improve the opportunities of poor rural communities. Presently, over 50 countries have reported attempts to form partnerships with local communities in conservation & have made new attempts to distribute the benefits of environmental management within the community. Conceptualizations of community in conservation & resource management are explored, including community as a small spatial unit, as a homogeneous social structure, & as shared norms. Implementation of community-based natural resource management policies will require an understanding of the community, including the multiplicity of actors & interests, institutions & processes, & the production of community. Careful images of community are required to understand its internal differences & processes, its interactions with the outside world, & the institutions that structure their interactions. L. A. Hoffman

Explores biodiversity conservation as a hybrid space characterized by the relationship between the space of places (nature areas, buffer zones, stepping stones) & the space of flows (ie, social & ecological networks). Key issues in current debates on biodiversity are introduced, highlighting the conceptual cases for "global life support," the moral rights of nature, & local values. Implications for the evaluation of physical & social dimensions of biodiversity are discussed. These conceptual cases are then linked to the social & physical networks involved in biodiversity conservation. Four configurations in the realm of biodiversity are distinguished: classical nature conservation, local development, global ecology, & product chains. These configurations are assessed & some theoretical points are made in closing. Tables, Boxes, References. D. Edelman

Explores biodiversity conservation as a hybrid space characterized by the relationship between the space of places (nature areas, buffer zones, stepping stones) & the space of flows (ie, social & ecological networks). Key issues in current debates on biodiversity are introduced, highlighting the conceptual cases for "global life support," the moral rights of nature, & local values. Implications for the evaluation of physical & social dimensions of biodiversity are discussed. These conceptual cases are then linked to the social & physical networks involved in biodiversity conservation. Four configurations in the realm of biodiversity are distinguished: classical nature conservation, local development, global ecology, & product chains. These configurations are assessed & some theoretical points are made in closing. Tables, Boxes, References. D. Edelman

W. E. B. Du Bois's concept of race (1940) is argued to have been primarily spiritual & cultural, & to have been a repudiation that physical & biological characteristics correlated with spiritual ones. Lucius Outlaw's treatment (1996 [see abstract 9715698]) of Kwame Anthony Appiah's (1986) criticism of Du Bois's concept of race is argued to have misunderstood the nature of Appiah's interpretation. Appiah's criticism finds that Du Bois's concept of race centered on common language, large family, blood, history, & impulses & strivings. The most important of these criteria in Appiah's interpretation are the biological, not the sociohistorical, as Outlaw seems to think. It is argued that, contrary to Appiah, Du Bois repudiates the biological conception of race, & instead develops one on the basis of distinct spiritual messages that manifest themselves in similar habits of thought & a conscious striving for certain ideals. H. von Rautenfeld

The decision-making processes of transnational social movement organizations are studied to indicate how such organizations determine where to deploy their conservation strategies. An overview of transnational organizations concerned with various conservation issues is presented, emphasizing these organizations' primary strategies for preserving biodiversity. Informed by the thought of transnational conservationists & the concept of political opportunity structure, the participation of various transnational social movement organizations in Ecuador, Chile, & Peru is investigated. The domestic political structure, presence of nongovernmental organizations, & involvement of transnational organizations in each nation are analyzed, & factors responsible for the high level of transnational organization involvement in Ecuador, the moderate level of participation in Peru, & the low level of involvement in Chile are noted. Differences between transnational conservation, environmental, & human rights movements are pointed out. 1 Table, 76 References. J. W. Parker

The colonization of indigenous people's knowledge & resources is discussed in relation to the global market. Impoverishment & dispossession occurs as commercial harvesters, public demands to cease traditional hunting practices, & limitations imposed on indigenous people by conservation managers. The different views of conservation biologist's versus indigenous peoples reflect the conflict between world views of humans apart from or a part of nature. The author concludes that sustainable use of biodiversity in remnant indigenous homelands through propriety rights will provide the maintenance for their traditional way of life, & an economic base to reduce the inequities. References. J. Harwell

"This chapter deals with the currently developing systems of knowledge conservation with a special emphasis on local knowledge. The relevance of this local knowledge seems to represent a knowledge-gap or actually a blindspot in the industrial world. Paradoxically, certain local knowledge (in developing countries) has been discovered as valuable source for industrial innovation. This does not only lead to its extraction but may even cause its destruction. After a Jong and intensive discourse on biopiracy and the conservation of intellectual property rights attached to biodiversity, many questions remain unsolved, and, apparently, legal instruments alone cannot guarantee the protection and maintenance of local knowledge." (author's abstract)

The author poses the question of whether or not cities can establish a sustainable relationship with the planet. Asserting that the historical evolution of large cities & the questions of waste generation, soil exhaustion & redistribution of resources indicates the need for a new look at urban system functions & ecological footprint, the author offers the solution that cities need to mimic natural ecosystems. A case study of the metabolism of London indicates the need to conceptualize the city as super-organism that is a circular metabolism that results in mutual benefit. A new definition of a sustainable city is presented that would be inclusive of alternative fuels. References. J. Harwell

Argues for the involvement of civil society actors in the global politics of environmental protection. Human & nonhuman production takes place in a socionatural web where social & ecological relations are unified, & this relationship has been interwoven since life on the planet began. However, the modern private factory/free market/proprietary technology regime has increased social production without ecological & social feedback mechanisms for remaining within ecosystem limits. The state & the market are both inadequate for slowing growth & improving the quality of the ecosystem. Civil society intervention is needed at the local, national, regional, & global levels. The activities of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in promoting sustainable production & consumption of global forest products are explored as one such civil society actor. Its efforts are compared with that of the Standards Council of Canada (SCC)/Canadian Standards Assoc (CSA) to illustrate the relative weakness of state & industry response to the forest crisis. L. A. Hoffman

The authors trace the history of the depletion of soil fertility in Europe & North America from 1830 to 1870 & expand to current concerns about the effect of synthetic fertilizers on the environment. Nations searched throughout the world for sources of natural fertilizers such as guano, developed a soil science, introduced synthetic fertilizers, & saw the rise of environmental groups who demanded sustainable methods. The development of the fertilizer industry & the intense use of synthetic fertilizers in the mid-20th century appeared to solve the fertility problem until people became aware of the ecological damage these fertilizers were causing. Current problems include the huge amounts of energy required to produce, ship, & apply fertilizers; pollution of groundwater & surface water by synthetic fertilizers; the mixture of industrial pollutants with potentially helpful urban sewage sludges; lack of crop rotation; the cruel, unhealthy conditions under which animals are raised; & environmental damage caused by the mining of nutrients. The need for an ecologically sound relationship between people & the soil is recognized. L. A. Hoffman

Die legislativen und exekutiven Zuständigkeiten von Bund und Ländern in den Bereichen Bildung, Wissenschaft, Gesundheit und Umweltschutz gehören zu den schwierigsten Fragen des gesamten Reformprozesses. Die Verantwortung für Bildung und Kultur liegt jetzt - mit wenigen Ausnahmen im Hochschul- und Forschungsbereich - vollständig bei den Ländern (ausschließliche Länderkompetenz). Umweltschutz bleibt Bundessache, ist aber der Abweichungsgesetzgebung unterworfen. Im Gesundheitswesen hat sich nichts geändert, da hier der Prozess der sogenannten Gesundheitsreform noch nicht abgeschlossen ist. Der Öffentlich Dienst inklusive der Lohn- und Gehaltspolitik geht von Bundesverantwortung in Länderverantwortung über und könnte ein heiß umstrittener Bereich werden. In den Bereichen Bildung, Kultur, Umweltschutz und Öffentlicher Dienst sind die Länder die eindeutigen Gewinner der Föderalismusreform. (ICEÜbers).;;;"The distribution of legislative powers and functions between the Federation and the Länder in the realms of education and culture, health care and environmental matters has been the most disputed issue in the entire reform process. Difficult negotiations resulted in several changes. Responsibility for education and culture completely moved to the Länder in the form of 'exclusive legislative powers' (with the exception of federal grants for science and research at universities according to special agreements between both levels). The federal level continues to be in charge of nature conservation but the Länder will be allowed to deviate from federal legislation. Health care remains nearly untouched because of an ongoing reform of the whole German health care system. The entire civil service jurisdiction (including legislation on salaries and pensions) has been shifted from the federal level to the Länder and could become subject to strong competition. In education and culture, nature conservation and civil service the Länder are the clear winners of Germany's federalism reform." (author's abstract).

Alpine open spaces are becoming noticeably scarcer. In the Alps, this applies to the inherently limited area of permanent settlement, which in the case of Tyrol covers only 11.8%. The population is growing in many of the valleys and with it the infrastructure it requires. However, the open spaces, situated at altitudes above the settlements, are also being successively broken up and exploited through technical facilities (e.g. cable cars, hydro-electric facilities) or increasingly intensive types of use (e.g. e-mountain bikes). The preservation of open spaces began in Bavaria as early as 1972 with the implementation of the Alpine Plan, which established spatial planning objectives. The Alpine Plan divided Bavaria's Alpine region into three zones of varying traffic intensity, a true legislative innovation. Zone C was intended for nature conservation, which was still in its infancy at that time, and also aimed to reduce natural Alpine hazards. Primarily, however, this planning initiative was related to the role of the landscape as a setting for recreation in open spaces, i.e. leisure and tourism activities in natural surroundings. Today, there are similar initiatives of varying success in South Tyrol (Italy), Austria and Switzerland. This paper aims to analyse, compare and describe these initiatives and to critically assess how they are formulated, how they work, and how they are implemented by planners. The focus is on comparing analyses of approaches for preserving open space for people (local residents and their traditional economic activities, but also visitors) and the natural heritage. Present-day regional and spatial planning practices related to Alpine open spaces in the Germanspeaking and Swiss Alpine regions are presented and critically evaluated and future options for harmonising approaches across the borders are discussed.

Power generation in Germany is increasingly moving from the use of fossil fuels and nuclear power towards renewable energy. A significant 'pillar' of this transition is the use of wind power. However, despite high levels of general support for the energy transition, there is an increasing amount of civic protest against the construction of wind turbines. This article aims to explore the range of the key patterns of argumentation used by citizens' initiatives, some of which support and some of which oppose the further development of wind power. Discourse analysis is used to identify centrally anchored patterns within the structures of the arguments used by the protest movements in order to shed light on the discursive field of the energy transition. The key areas of conflict in the negotiation processes are multifaceted, spanning from economic or health-related aspects to issues related in particular to the topic of landscape and the legal frameworks of nature conservation. Both supporters and opponents refer to these issues - although using significantly differing arguments.

It is contended that conservative politicians & political philosophers should stringently support environmental protection & conservation policies. The popular conservative assertions that environmentalism necessitates leftist thought, Christianity is in conflict with environmentalism, & that environmental policy is anti-business are perceived as misconceptions. Rather than support the conservative contention that environmentalism is incompatible with economic development, it is argued that environmental protection statutes have not devastated business practices. Several aspects of conservative political philosophy that are compatible with environmentalism are subsequently identified, eg, the nonmaterialistic & nonideological nature of conservatism & the perception that society is intergenerational. Various issues concerning different kinds of pollution, the use of public lands, global warming, protecting endangered species, & achieving economic sustainability are discussed in order to demonstrate how conservatives should approach these problems. The implications of the emergence of free market environmentalism within contemporary political discourse for conservatism are also considered. This book contains a Preface, an Introduction, 10 Chpts, & a Conclusion. J. W. Parker

On 10 June 2011, the district council of Ahrweiler in the north of the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany took the decision to meet 100% of the district's electricity needs through renewable energy by 2030. Yet the share of renewable energy in the district's overall electricity consumption has barely grown since then. This major discrepancy between political will and reality gave rise to a local research project entitled 'EnAHRgie - Nachhaltige Gestaltung der Landnutzung und Energieversorgung auf kommunaler Ebene. Umsetzung für die Modellregion Kreis Ahrweiler' ('EnAHRgie - the sustainable organisation of land use and energy supply at the municipal level: implementation in the model district of Ahrweiler'), funded by the BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research). At TU Dortmund University, the Department of Planning and Environmental Law of the Faculty of Spatial Planning is responsible for questions relating to planning law and public administration in the context of the project. With these issues in mind, an analysis of the status quo was completed in September 2016 and showed that, from a planning point of view, the prevailing circumstances for a local energy transition in the district of Ahrweiler have been extremely unfavourable right from the start. This applies in particular to the use of wind power, which conflicts with issues surrounding the conservation of sites, species, cultural landscapes and historic buildings and monuments. The EnAHRgie project is thus likely to face a major challenge in terms of developing a sustainable energy strategy for the area under study.