bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Commerce and Conflict: Two Views of Portuguese Melaka in the 1620s
Authors: Subrahmanyam Sanjay
Published: August 2009

The great commercial emporium of Melaka in the Malay peninsula, which was in Portuguese hands for over a century and a quarter (1511–1641), has received a good deal of attention from historians in the past. Of the available studies on Melaka in the 16th and 17th centuries, those of M.A.P. Meilink-Roelofsz. and Luís Filipe F.R. Thomaz are particularly outstanding, being rich both in detail and in implications. Though less well-known than Meilink-Roelofsz.'s monumental work, Thomaz's essays on the early 16th century are particularly important for being based on a mass of fresh documentation, belying earlier beliefs that “a lack of relevant data” from the archives would force historians to rely heavily on a limited set of sources — notably Tomé Pires's Suma Oriental.
Southeast Asia's Incorporation into the World Rice Market: A Revisionist View
Authors: Coclanis Peter A.
Published: August 2009

The story of Southeast Asia's incorporation into the “world” — or, more properly, Western — rice market is well known. Indeed, this story is sufficiently familiar so as almost to invite employment of the presumptuous “as every schoolboy knows” rhetorical conceit. Briefly put, the region's incorporation into this market is said to have coincided with the “New Imperialism”, more or less as defined by Hobson and Lenin: the period between about 1860 or 1870 and 1900 or 1910. From small-scale beginnings in the 1850s and 1860s, Southeast Asia's extra-Asian rice trade is said to have grown dramatically in the years after 1870, quickly transforming a situation of market equilibrium into one of disequilibrium.
A Survey of Some Dutch-Language Materials on the Chinese in Indonesia
Authors: Cheong Yong Mun
Published: August 2009

Of all the non-indigenous groups resident in Indonesia, the Chinese have attracted the greatest attention in every respect. Their economic success has aroused both admiration and jealousy. Their clannishness has led to questions about their social organizations and, especially in the post–1945 period, their integration into the national matrix. Problems of assimilation have spawned numerous scholarly studies in the English language, while there have been no lack of studies on Chinese political movements in Indonesia and their relations with indigenous ones. In short, there is an exciting ongoing research on the Chinese in Indonesia that bodes well for the future and beckons greater participation from newcomers in the field.
The Contribution of the Chinese to the Development of Southeast Asia: A New Appraisal
Authors: Salmon Claudine
Published: August 2009

A great deal has been written during the last three decades on the Chinese in Southeast Asia in Chinese and Japanese generally and in English particularly. The outstanding feature of the Western approach to studying this ethnic community has been that research methods of sociologists, anthropologists, and political scientists have largely replaced those of historians.
Strategies of Survival: The Malay Royal Line of Lingga-Riau
Authors: Matheson Virginia
Published: August 2009

The kingdom of Lingga-Riau, with its dependencies of Johor and Pahang, traced its line of authority back to the earlier Malay kingdoms of Melaka, Singapore, Bintan and to the ultimate source Bukit Siguntang, Palembang. It was officially ended by the Dutch in 1911 when Sultan Abdul Rahman Muazzam Syah refused to sign a treaty of total submission to the colonial government of the Netherlands East Indies, and was obliged to leave the Riau-Lingga area and live in exile in Singapore until his death in 1930. Although the end of the kingdom was, and still remains, a trauma for those of noble descent in Lingga and Riau, the sultanate had in fact survived longer than most of the other indigenous kingdoms of the Malay-Indonesian world. The trauma of the ending of the kingdom prompted one descendant of the Malay royal line in Lingga to compile in 1930 an account of the Malay kings from Bukit Siguntang to Lingga. It is an account which highlights particular concerns of the author (and presumably of others in his position) about the Melaka-Johor-Lingga Malay royal lines, their relationship with other Malay royal lines and their relationship with their subjects.
Culture and Capitalism in the Pottery Enterprises of Biên Hòa, South Vietnam (1878–1975)
Authors: Van Luong HY , Hoa Diệp Đinh
Published: August 2009

In the past two decades, social scientists have paid considerably greater attention to the possible role of native sociocultural frameworks in structuring the organization of economic enterprises. The primary research focusing on the Japanese and Chinese cases relates to the emergence of many highly competitive industries in capitalist East Asia in which relations of production do not necessarily resemble American or Western industrial relations. The following historical analysis of production relations in the pottery industry of Tân Vạn, a major centre of Southern Vietnamese ceramic production, seeks to contribute empirical data for comparative purposes within the East Asian sociocultural sphere.
Islam and Muslims in the Southern Territories of the Philippine Islands During the American Colonial Period (1898 to 1946)
Authors: Federspiel Howard M.
Published: August 2009

The United States gained authority over the Philippine Islands as a result of the Spanish-American War (1898) and the Treaty of Paris (1899), which recognized American wartime territorial gains. Prior to that time the Spanish had general authority over the northern region of the Islands down to the Visayas, which they had ruled from their capital at Manila on Luzon for nearly three hundred years. The population in that Spanish zone was Christianized as a product of deliberate Spanish policy during that time frame. The area to the south, encompassing much of the island of Mindanao and all of the Sulu Archipelago, was under Spanish military control at the time of the Spanish American War (1898), having been taken over in the previous fifteen years by a protracted military campaign. This southern territory was held by the presence of Spanish military units in a series of strong forts located throughout the settled areas, but clear control over the society was quite weak and, in fact, collapsed after the American naval victory at Manila Bay. The United States did not establish its own presence in much of the southern region until 1902. It based its claim over the region on the treaty with the Spanish, and other colonial powers recognized that claim as legitimate.
Imagining Selves and Inventing Festival Sriwijaya
Authors: Daniels Timothy P.
Published: August 2009

Clifford Geertz, in his discussion of the social history of an East Central Javanese town, described how rural migrants attempted to make sense of modern elections and political factions by applying old systems of meanings. As people adjusted to the evolving social conditions of new urban contexts, new knowledge supposedly emerged to order social relations. Yet he observed that in the 1950s this rarely was the case; usually a sense of vagueness and incoherence persisted. Similarly, Geertz's analysis of a Javanese funeral concluded that the ritual “failed” and consequently tensions persisted and intensified as a result of societal and cultural discontinuity; the social and the cultural were moving in opposite directions. Old cultural notions did not tend to give way to new notions more adept at effecting social solidarity. The contest over whose voice, whose sense of self and image of post-colonial Indonesia would prevail eventually culminated in the bloodbath of 1965–66, which marked the abrupt end of the Old Order and the birth of the Suhartoled New Order regime.
Early nutrition and long-term health: a practical approach
Authors: Lanigan Julie , Singhal Atul
Published: August 2009

Nutrition in early life, a critical period for human development, can have long-term effects on health in adulthood. Supporting evidence comes from epidemiological studies, animal models and experimental interventions in human subjects. The mechanism is proposed to operate through nutritional influences on growth. Substantial evidence now supports the hypothesis that ‘accelerated’ or too fast infant growth increases the propensity to the major components of the metabolic syndrome (glucose intolerance, obesity, raised blood pressure and dyslipidaemia), the clustering of risk factors that predispose to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The association between infant growth and these risk factors is strong, consistent, shows a dose–response effect and is biologically plausible. Moreover, experimental data from prospective randomised controlled trials strongly support a causal link between infant growth and later risk factors for atherosclerosis. Evidence that infant growth affects the development of atherosclerosis therefore suggests that the primary prevention of CVD should begin from as early as the first few months of life. The present review considers this evidence, the underlying mechanisms involved and its implications for public health.
[v]at is going on? Local and global ideologies about Indian English
Authors: CHAND VINEETA
Published: August 2009

This article examines local and global language ideologies surrounding a particular phonetic feature in Indian English, the pronunciation of /v/ as [w]. By focusing on how local and global participants – both individuals and institutions – imagine language variation through disparate framings of “neutral” and “standard,” it highlights how processes of globalization and localization are interconnected, dialogic, and symbiotic. Compared are (i) sociolinguistic constructions of Indian cartoon characters, (ii) American “accent training” institutes, (iii) Indian call center and language improvement books, (iv) American speakers’ interpretations of merged IE speech, and, (v) IE speakers’ attitudes about IE, “neutral,” and ”standard” language. The relative social capital of these populations mediates both how each constructs its respective ideology about language variation, and how these ideologies dialogically interact with each other. (Language variation, language ideologies, dialogic, standard language)1
Style, indexicality, and the social meaning of tag questions
Authors: MOORE EMMA , PODESVA ROBERT
Published: August 2009

This article illustrates how the notions of style and indexicality can illuminate understanding of the social meaning of a specific linguistic variable, the tag question. Drawing on conversational speech and ethnographic data from a community of high school girls in northwest England, it quantitatively and qualitatively examines the discourse, grammatical, and phonological design of tag questions in this community. Members of four social groups are shown to use tag questions to similar effect, as a means of conducing particular points of view. However, these groups also exhibit striking differences in the stylistic composition of tags, distinctions that indexically construct stances and personas, which may in turn come to represent group identity. These data suggest that the social meaning of tag questions can be best ascertained by examining their internal composition and by situating them in their broader discursive and social stylistic contexts. (Adolescents, ethnography, indexicality, interactional context, quantitative discourse analysis, social meaning, style, tag questions)
Constitutional Government and the ‘Plural Society’: Some General Observations.
Authors: Ratnam K. J.
Published: August 2009

The nature of constitutional government in any society must strongly be dependent on whether the people to be governed are relatively homogeneous or belong to different communal groups with differing interests.

In a relatively homogeneous society, constitutional provisions usually reflect certain generally accepted values while at the same time giving sufficient scope for efficiency in administration. Admittedly the degree to which the values reflected are in fact ‘generally acceptable’ may be open to dispute; but agreement with, and opposition to, constitutional provisions in such a society are not generally the outcome of rigidly compartmentalized attitudes. Consequently, it is possible to rely on what is often called ‘popular opinion’.
Dr. Jose Rizal, Father of Filipino Nationalism
Authors: de Ocampo Estaban A.
Published: August 2009

For this International Conference of South-East Asian Historians, it is my honour to contribute a paper on “Dr. Jose Rizal, Father of Filipino Nationalism,” for several reasons. First, Dr. Rizal himself was very much interested in the history of this part of the world. Second, this year 1961 has been proclaimed by the President of the Philippines as the Rizal Centenary Year, for our hero was born in 1861. Third, if Rizal were alive today, he would have been happy to receive an invitation to attend our Conference because our hero was the organizer of the International Association of Filipinists in Europe in 1889. Fourth, Dr. Rizal has been ranked by his biographers, both Filipinos and foreigners, as one of the great intellectual leaders of Asia, together with Mahatma Gandhi of India and Dr. Sun Yat-sen of China. Lastly, Dr. Rizal visited this city of Singapore no less than three times in the course of his many travels to foreign lands.
British and American Influence in Post-War Thailand
Authors: Darling Frank C.
Published: August 2009

From the opening of Thailand (Siam) to the West in the middle of the nineteenth century until World War II the dominant European influence in thissmall independent country was that exerted by Great Britain. Although other Europeans played important roles in the technological and administrative development of Thailand, the British were able to retain a pre-eminent position in the affairs of the country. The bulk of Thailand's rice trade was with the British empire, and a British expert was traditionally employed by the Thai absolute monarchs as their leading financial adviser. The British likewise played a vital role in preventing the French from seizing larger territories in Thailand as these two leading colonial powers clashed in Southeast Asia in the 1890's. An agreement between Great Britain and France in 1896 enabled Thailand to retain its national independence, and until World War II Thailand served as a buffer state between the British colonialists in Burma and the French colons in Indochina.
The Malayan Chinese Association, 1948–65
Authors: Roff Margaret
Published: August 2009

In 1948, the Chinese alone of the three major communities of Malaya had no single political or quasi-political organisation concerned to foster and further their interests within that country. The United Malays National Organisation had evolved under the leadership of Dato' Onn bin Ja'afar to press Malay opposition to the Malayan Union scheme, with the enfeebling of the Sultans and the modification of the special position of the Malays that it involved. Having achieved this specific aim, it remained to work for the general welfare of Malays, air their felt grievances and assert their claimed rights. Fragmentation within the Indian community along religious and racial lines was reflected in the multiplication of organisations claiming to speak for it, though by 1948 the Malayan Indian Congress was beginning to emerge as the chief of these, and to draw others within its ambit. But, although many of the more important mainland Chinese political parties, including the Kuomintang and Communists, had their branches or counterparts within the Malayan Chinese community, the political strength of the community was dispersed and it spoke with no clear voice on matters concerning it as a whole. This is especially illustrated in its failure to organise any effective counter to U.M.N.O's crusade against the Malayan Union scheme, although the Chinese stood to gain much by its retention, and lost much when it was revoked. Tan Cheng Lock, and others aware of the long-term implications of the change, made efforts to arouse the Chinese to defend their newly gained rights, but the majority remained apathetic and politically disengaged. It would seem that many of the more conservative Chinese had serious reservations about their political future within Malaya, or felt that those predominantly Chinese organisations primarily concerned with local Malayan politics were dangerously tainted with left-wing bias: yet the organisations representative of the conservative group — the Chinese Chambers of Commerce and the Chinese Assembly Halls — appeared to have little access to, or influence upon Government.
The Spanish-Dutch Naval Battle of 1617 Outside Manila Bay
Authors: Chang Tien-Tse
Published: August 2009

A naval battle which decided the future of the Philippines for centuries to come was fought in 1617 outside Manila Bay. Very few historians, however, have written about this important event. I consider it worthwhile, therefore, to give an account of the battle, based on information gathered from available sources.
Political Parties in Indonesia
Authors: Lev Daniel S.
Published: August 2009

Writing about political parties in Indonesia makes one suddenly aware of how little research has been done on the subject. With the decline of the parliamentary system since 1957, interest has shifted away from the party order towards the forces of Guided Democracy: President Soekarno, the army, and the Communists. Among the parties, only the Communists have received a great deal of specific attention.
Singapore's Foreign Policy, 1965–1968
Authors: Chee Chan Heng
Published: August 2009

Singapore became an independent sovereign state on August 9, 1965 It may be alleged that to attempt an analysis of a country's foreign policy only three years after its independence is premature. Yet there are certain basic facts about Singapore which no political leader can ignore, and these become the determinants or roots of Singapore's foreign policy. To that extent, Singapore's foreign policy is predictable because the range for manoeuvre is limited.
Some Aspects of Indian Settlement in Singapore, 1819–1969
Authors: Sandhu Kernial Singh
Published: August 2009

The full story of the Indians in Malaya has yet to be told. Here an attempt is made to assemble the information relating to some aspects of their settlement in Singapore over the last one hundred and fifty years.
LEARNING FROM LAZARUS: THE SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY LUTHERAN ART OF DYING
Authors: Tilley Janette
Published: August 2009

The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus is the foundation upon which German composers of the seventeenth century experimented with longer musical forms. Composers interpolate new poetic material to a higher degree than with any other scriptural story, apart from the Passion. Additions to the story range from simple funeral songs for Lazarus to elaborate contrapuntal drinking songs for the Rich Man and his five brothers. We would expect the meaning imposed on the story in musical settings to be in line with local theology and exegesis. However, a close look at musical settings reveals how much they diverge from common theological explications. Onto the story of poverty, wealth, mercy and the fate of the soul are welded other topoi of Lutheran theology, including vanitas, penitence and the art of dying (Sterbekunst or ars moriendi), which effectively reinterpret the story in a direction not typically undertaken by writers of sermons and devotional volumes.
The Importation of Wild Ungulates into Latin America, with Remarks on Their Environmental Effects
Authors: Petrides George A.
Published: August 2009

A preliminary survey of thirteen Latin American nations indicated that both the number and rate of importations of wild hoofed animals from Europe, Asia, and Africa, has increased rapidly in recent years. This is especially true for Mexico, Argentina, and Chile. In nearly every instance reported, the original stock of hoofed game was held under fence and no importer intended that animals should escape from his control. From these and other instances around the world, it seems that eventual escapes of captive ungulates held under normal ranching conditions are a virtual certainty. As the full effects of imported species on the plants and animals in their new environment cannot be predicted with certainty, guideline principles to govern species introductions are sorely needed.
Range Expansion and Environmental Impress of the Introduced Walking Catfish in the United States
Authors: Courtenay Walter R. , Miley Woodard W.
Published: August 2009

The Walking Catfish (Clarias batrachus), accidentally introduced into southeastern Florida in the mid-1960s, is currently distributed over more than 8,750 square km in ten counties of that State. The range of this exotic can reasonably be expected to extend over still further counties within the next few years. The present threat to fish farming interests, and the potential threat to native fishes, are thought to be serious.
The Lessons of Climatic History
Authors: Bryson Reid A.
Published: August 2009

Studies of past climates show unequivocally what can happen to our atmospheric environment. From climatic history we can learn several very specific lessons.

The climate can change rapidly. Major climatic changes, such as the change from glacial to non-glacial conditions, can occur in a few centuries, even though the adjustment of biota and the wasting of continental ice-sheets may take longer. Smaller changes may take only decades.

Changed climatic states may persist for centuries or millennia. While the climatic excursion of this century appears to have lasted half-a-century or so, the ‘little ice-age’ was at least three centuries long (roughly 1550–1850 A.D.), a North American drought period lasted two centuries, and there was a monsoon failure of seven centuries. These have all been recorded in the evidence of Nature.

Climatic changes may occur in different senses in different parts of the world. This paper has outlined several cases where cooling in the sub-Arctic was associated with reduced rainfall or increased frequency of failure of the monsoon, and a case in which drought in North America was concomitant with wet weather in western Europe.

The climate we think of as normal is quite abnormal by the standards of the past few centuries, and the magnitude of the change since 1945 is significant by comparison with similar changes in the past.

Combining the nature of the recent climatic change with the present narrow margin of world food-grain reserves, an urgent need to consider and react to the possibility of continued climatic variation is indicated.
Varying Interest in Wildlife with Different Characteristics of Countryside Visitors
Authors: Everett Rodney D.
Published: August 2009

A total of 2,816 questionnaires were completed in the Dalby Forest Area in the period from March 1975 to March 1976. The answers to six questions were combined into a Wildlife Interest Index Value for each interviewee (Everett, 1977). The variations in the mean of this value are considered to indicate the wildlife interest of visitors in groups based on the following characteristics: income, occupation, age, party size, the visitors' attitude to the number of people present, their membership of wildlife organizations, the elements of the area that the visitors enjoyed, their activities, the benefits that the interviewees felt from visiting the area, the components of the area that were necessary to their enjoyment, the number of times that they visited the Dalby Forest Area per year, the day of the week, the month, the weather, the location of the interview, and the relationship to the visitor's home.
Depletion of a Great Plains Resource: The Case of Shelter-belts
Authors: Marotz Glen A. , Sorenson Curtis J.
Published: August 2009

The Great Plains Forest Shelter-belt Project began in 1935 and was the largest tree-planting programme ever attempted in the Great Plains. Its goals included soil-moisture conservation, enhancement of a seemingly featureless environment, improvement of crop yields, preservation of the soil resource, and climatic amelioration. The first four proved realistic, and quickly became the prime rationale for the programme. Millions of trees were planted, from the Dakotas to Texas, and some planting still continues under two federal cost-sharing arrangements. In many instances, the total number of hectares that have been planted exceeds the natural forest vegetation.
Recreational Pressures in the Summer Months on a Nature Reserve on the Yorkshire Coast, England
Authors: Usher Michael B. , Pitt Michael , de Boer George
Published: August 2009

Visitors to Spurn Nature Reserve, located at the south-east tip of Yorkshire, England, were surveyed during the summer holiday season of 1970. It was estimated that about 3,400 groups of people visited the Reserve in the three months of July, August, and September. Only 17% of the visitors were members of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Trust, which owns the Reserve, and only 12% of the visitors—mostly bird-watchers—came primarily for purposes of nature study. Pressure from the visitors was found to be concentrated, because of topographical and vegetational features, in areas where it could potentially do great harm to the wildlife and to the physical stability of the habitat itself. Examination was made of methods that might be used to control the total number of visitors and their effect upon the environment.

Economic analysis using the Clawson Demand Schedule, gave a Recreational Value for the Reserve of about £2,000 for the three months of this survey. The example would seem noteworthy for other comparable areas as population pressures and tourism increase.
Heavy-metal Pollution in the Sudbury Mining and Smelting Region of Canada, I. Soil and Vegetation Contamination by Nickel, Copper, and Other Metals
Authors: Hutchinson T. C. , Whitby L. M.
Published: August 2009

Soil, vegetation, and rainfall, have been collected in the vicinity of a nickel–copper smelter at Sudbury, Ontario. The region is a major producer of many metals, and the large areas of forest desolation in the vicinity have been ascribed to sulphur dioxide fumigations over the past 80 years. In the present study, attention has been focused on potentially toxic heavy metals. Very elevated soil levels of nickel and copper were found, with values up to 5,104 ppm Ni and 2,892 ppm Cu within 1.1 km of the smelter. The concentrations decreased with distance to 49.8 km in one direction. Surface soils were the most contaminated, and a decline through the soil profile was found. Other metals such as iron, cobalt, and silver, showed a similar pattern of distance and depth, suggestive of an airborne source. Analyses of the foliage of three plant species also showed excessive levels of nickel and copper, as well as of aluminium. The levels declined with distance from the smelter.

The relative possibilities of soilversusaerial uptake are considered. The soils within 2–3 km of the smelter were markedly more acidic than those from farther away, and this was paralleled by their increased conductivity. Dustfall–rainfall collections and analyses of the soluble heavy metals indicated that a major aerial source of metals existed, and that the problem of metallic emissions is not merely one of the past. Heavy metals are persistent in soils, and the ecological consequences to date have perhaps only been masked around Sudbury by the sulphur dioxide damage, and the particular importance attached to it in the past.
Heavy-metal Pollution in the Sudbury Mining and Smelting Region of Canada, II. Soil Toxicity Tests
Authors: Whitby L. M. , Hutchinson T. C.
Published: August 2009

Soils from the Sudbury region, Canada, which have been contaminated by the heavy metals nickel, copper, cobalt, and iron, from airborne smelter emissions, have been assayed for their toxicity to seedling growth. The extent of radicle elongation in bathing solutions of soil-water extracts has been used as a bioassay index of soil toxicity. The root growth of four species was reduced in extracts of soils which had been collected up to a distance of 49.8 km from the Coniston smelter. Inhibition was greatest in surface soils. Water extracts had metal concentrations of up to 142 ppm Ni, 59.5 ppm Cu, and 4.6 ppm Co. In addition, aluminium occurred in water extracts at 50.6 ppm at 0.8 km from the smelter, and up to 98.9 ppm somewhat farther away, even though it was not smelted in the region.

All of the four metals nickel, copper, cobalt, and aluminium, were shown to be markedly inhibitory to seedling growth at concentrations below 5 ppm. In addition, all of the metals tested were concentrated markedly in the seedlings, expecially in their roots. The concentration factor was often 50- to 100-fold that of the bathing solution. Nickel appears to be the greatest single heavy-metal problem with which the vegetation has to contend. Even in the event that the major emissions of sulphur dioxide in the area be controlled, the concentrations of the toxic heavy metals nickel and copper already existing in the soils over many square kilometres present severe problems for seedling establishment and, consequently, revegetation.
Potential Effects of Aquaculture on Inshore Coastal Waters
Authors: Odum William E.
Published: August 2009

Aquaculture, like any other industry, has the potential to generate pollutants for which the aquaculturist may be held legally responsible. Some of the pollutants created by aquaculture operations include both organic materials originating from excess primary production or inefficient supplemental feeding and toxic compounds such as herbicides, pesticides, and fish poisons. It is possible to utilize excess organic effluents for beneficial purposes such as culturing additional algal and animal species.

Construction of aquaculture facilities can result in physical alteration of the environment—including changes in circulation patterns, increased sedimentation, interference with freshwater input to the estuary, and direct destruction of productive areas. Intensive raft-culture may interfere with natural estuarine production.

Finally, the potentially serious threat from wide spread dissemination of culture species is discussed. Possible problems include introduction of pathogens and all of the ecological problems that are commonly associated with introduced species.
Conservation Problems and Progress in Northern and Southern Africa
Authors: Curry-Lindahl Kai
Published: August 2009

Northern Africa is rather poor in national parks and nature reserves in comparison with equatorial and southern Africa. The remaining populations of nomadic ungulates in the Saharan region are difficult to protect within the boundaries of national parks, if only because they are nomadic and move over great areas in an irregular pattern owing basically to the erratic rainfall. It ought, however, to be a conservation priority for many countries of northern Africa to make an effort to conserve desert and subdesert antelopes of various species before it is too late, because these animals are so productive and thrive in areas with meagre vegetation and no surface water for long periods. They are an excellent renewable resource of the deserts!

In northern Africa only a fraction of the former herds of wild ungulates still survive in declining numbers, whereas in southern Africa a semi-desert country such as Botswana still harbours important herds of many herbivorous species. But also in Botswana their numbers are declining drastically in comparison with the situation only about fifteen years ago, though, fortunately, several large reserves have been established in that country during recent years. This is also the case in most other countries of southern Africa.

Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands also share similar conservation problems with continental Africa, but in these areas with a high proportion of endemic plants and animals the human overexploitation tends to have more serious and immediate effects on the biota than is the case on the African mainland.

The present conservation needs of Africa include more national parks and other protected areas. These are of fundamental importance for environmental conservation, being in effect in many regions the only major areas where the environment of today and even of the past may be preserved.
On the Need for a System of Cloud-forest Parks in Middle America and the Caribbean
Authors: LaBastille Anne , Pool Douglas J.
Published: August 2009

Tropical New World cloud-forest may best be described as the area of persistent cloud contact with tropical mountain vegetation. Cloud-forest exists in at least five life-zones, being characterized, generally speaking, by having high precipitation and humidity, dripping moisture, continuous cloud or mist cover, absence of frost, and trees laden with mosses and epiphytes.
Environmental Ranking of Amazonian Development Projects in Brazil
Authors: Goodland Robert J. A.
Published: August 2009

The premise of an Amazonia full of immensely rich potentialities awaiting development to yield copious and abundant profit and lasting benefit, has only recently emerged as being tragically false. The most important environmental consideration in Amazonian discussions has been to convince the controllers of the enormous risks of the prevailing course of development.

People in Brazil and elsewhere who were concerned with various foreseeable dangers, intensified efforts to persuade the Government about them when the Transamazonian Highway programme was announced in June 1970. This programme, and the associated colonization scheme in 100-km strips on either side of the road network, subsequently was largely abandoned or postponed, as the harvests failed and roads deteriorated. The next development thrust—agro-industrial livestock—was even more damaging, and so the environmental movement in Brazil grew. Almost simultaneous announcements towards the end of the Geisel Government, of accelerated emancipation of Amerindians and risk-contracts to extract timber on unprecedented scales with no limit placed on area, were shelved with the change in government early in 1979 (cf. Schmithusen, 1978).
Evaluation and Management of Ambient Air Quality, with Special Reference to China
Authors: Zhi-Qi Yao
Published: August 2009

Monitoring and evaluation of air quality in urban and industrial areas are essential for air quality management. For evaluating the composite air-quality in the concomitant presence of several pollutants in the atmosphere, many air quality indices have been developed. This paper presents two indices, the ‘composite air-quality index (I1)’ and ‘the standard-exceeding index of air pollution (I2)’ together with their respective sub-indices, for the pollutants monitored and for use in combination.

The first index, I1, is based on the annual average concentration measured in a year for each pollutant; it measures the overall composite air-quality. By relating the annual average concentration (Ci) of each pollutant to its hygienic standard (Si), as many (Ci/Si) values as the number of pollutant parameters monitored are found, whereupon I1 is computed as the geometric mean of the maximum and average of all (Ci/Si) values. A greater value of I1 means worse composite air-quality. It is simpler to compute than those more sophisticated ones in the literature, and holds the unique characteristic of considering, and yet not overemphasizing as formula (3) does (Nemerow, 1974), the maximum (Ci/Si) value.
Greenland and the Future
Authors: Taagholt Jørgen
Published: August 2009

About 4,000 years ago the first Eskimo tribes reached Northern Greenland after a migration taking some thousands of years from Asia via the Bering Strait, then along the North American coastal areas and over the Canadian Arctic archipelago. They settled primarily in the northernmost part of Greenland, where archaeological finds are the basis of our knowledge of their life. Subsequent waves of immigration resulted in settlements to the south, along Greenland's east and west coasts (Fig. 1).
Photochemical Air-pollutants—a Threat to Mediterranean Coniferous Forests and Upland Ecosystems
Authors: Naveh Z. , Steinberger E. H. , Chaim S. , Rotmann A.
Published: August 2009

Photochemical smog in the densely-populated coastal region of Israel often results in temporary atmospheric ozone concentrations in excess of 0.1 ppm. In view of the rapid growth in urban—industrial development, energy consumption, and motorized traffic, these concentrations are increasing from year to year and the same is presumably true for other Mediterranean countries suffering similar conditions.

Moreover, as in California, these photochemical air pollutants can be transported inland under suitable meteorological conditions and may lead to ozone concentrations well above 0.05 ppm even in remote mountain regions with forested slopes. This is the case in the Shaar Hagai canyon leading to Jerusalem, where more than 0.2 ppm oxidant concentrations have been measured and where widespread decline and mortality of Pinus hale-pensis is occuring, accompanied by severe infestation by Matsucoccus josephi scales and Scolytidae beetles. Earlier stages of this decline can also be observed in other planted pine forests in Israel.
Methodological Problems in Evaluating Sustainability
Authors: Cocklin Christopher R.
Published: August 2009

To embody the concept of sustainability in environmental management and development planning has latterly become recognized internationally as a priority for the future. Governments in many countries have consequently dedicated substantial funds to the task of defining planning and management strategies that are sustainable. Somewhat surprisingly, however, there has been very little attention given so far to establishing appropriate frameworks within which to evaluate the implications of planning and policy alternatives for sustainability.

One of the most important questions to be addressed in evaluation exercises relates to the conflicts among different systems – economic, social, and biophysical – that may be realized in pursuing development options that may be sustainable. It is also important to establish whether the pursuit of sustainability may compromise the capability to fulfil other important societal goals and objectives. If the potential for these various conflicts can be discerned, then it may also be possible to identify development strategies that minimize conflict, while simultaneously achieving sustainability.
The Politics of Ecology: Dredge-mining in South Africa
Authors: Preston-Whyte Robert A.
Published: August 2009

The objective of interest-groups is to influence policy. Conflict is inevitable when two or more interest-groups are in competition for scarce resources. It then becomes the responsibility of the state to accommodate or resolve the conflict. However, an additional complexity occurs if the state agencies are themselves undergoing transformation, as has recently occurred in South Africa.

These issues are explored, using as a case-study the conflict that occurred between environmental interestgroups and a mining company over an application to dredge-mine the sand dunes that line the eastern shores of Lake St Lucia in Natal. The nature and objectives of these groups is discussed, and the role of the press in the controversy is analysed. The interests of black settlers who wish to return to their ancestral lands following the collapse of apartheid are shown to complicate further the dilemma that confronts state policymakers. The changing nature of the ‘decision environment’ in South Africa is addressed, and group theory is used to explain the relationship between state agencies and the mining, environmental, and black settler group, interests. Stages in the policy environment to match the modes of change over the period of political transformation in South Africa are identified by levels of conflict and ambiguity in a contingency model.
Biodiversity, Biotechnology, and Business
Authors: Mannion Antoinette M.
Published: August 2009

Biotechnology is probably the only industry, except agriculture, wherein the relationship between biodiversity and the wealth that it generates is so explicit. Biodiversity is the variety of organisms, their genetic variation, and the variability of associations that these organisms display spatially. Biotechnology is the harnessing of living organisms and/or their components to undertake specific processes and/or generate useful products. The modern industry is a product of the 1980s and relies heavily on genetic manipulation (commonly referred to as ‘engineering’). It has many applications, the most important sectors being in medicine, agriculture, and the environment, where it can be involved in resource recovery, recycling, and pollution abatement.
Measuring Tropical Deforestation: Development of the Methods
Authors: Downton Mary W.
Published: August 2009

Estimates of the rate and extent of tropical deforestation differ widely. The accuracy of the estimates for many countries has improved greatly during the last decade, especially with increased use of satellite data and advancements in analysis techniques. A good basis for ongoing global monitoring of tropical forests has been established by the FAO in its Forest Resources Assessment for 1990 (though data for some countries are still inadequate). The FAO assessment estimates that over one million km2of the Earth's tropical rain-forest and moist deciduous forest was destroyed during 1981–90, representing an annual deforestation rate of 0.75% of such forests throughout the decade.

This paper traces the controversy over measurements of deforestation in Brazil's Legal Amazon and the resulting confusion and exaggeration of research findings (in both directions). Some widely-cited estimates are highly inaccurate, indicating a need for critical evaluation of any estimates that are used. A substantial narrowing of the range of estimates is found in recent studies. Landsat data indicate that the deforestation rate in the Legal Amazon declined considerably from 1988 to 1991.
Local Communities and Protected Areas: Attitudes of Rural Residents Towards Conservation and Machalilla National Park, Ecuador
Authors: Fiallo Elba A. , Jacobson Susan K.
Published: August 2009

Economic and social problems facing many developing countries jeopardize the effectiveness and very existence of their national parks and protected areas. Rural poverty exacerbates the need for access to natural resources in protected areas and increases public conflict with protected-area management. A prerequisite for the long-term sustainability of parks and protected areas is public involvement and support for the conservation of natural resources.

Towards the above ends, the present study analyses local residents' attitudes, knowledge, and concept of values concerning conservation and the management of natural resources in Machalilla National Park, Ecuador. A survey was administered of 90 households in three villages located within the Park boundaries and two villages adjacent to the Park. Survey results indicated that local residents living either within or adjacent to Machalilla National Park hold a variety of negative attitudes towards the Park. Positive attitudes tended to increase with respondents' level of education (X2 = 19.001, df = 2, p < 0.0001) and knowledge about conservation issues (X2 = 26.616, df = 1, p < 0.0001). Younger residents (X2 = 12.960, df = 2, p = 0.002), respondents perceiving benefits from the Park (X2 = 14.292, df = 2, p = 0.001), and respondents reporting good relations with the Park staff (X2 = 5.514, df = 1, p = 0.019), were more positive towards the Park. Factors influencing public attitudes are compared with study results in other countries.
Deforestation Around Urban Centres in India
Authors: Bowonder B. , Prasad S. S. R. , Unni N. V. M.
Published: August 2009

Whereas it used to be supposed rather widely that fuel-wood was used mainly in rural areas, large-scale migration of rural people to urban areas, and the consequent mushrooming growth of squatter settlements in urban areas (cf. Fig. 4), have increased the consumption of fuel-wood in those areas. The shortage of fuel-wood coupled with the increase in demand, has caused steep rises in the price of fuel-wood in urban areas. Although a large number of studies on deforestation have appeared, the actual forces behind deforestation have been very poorly understood in most of the developing countries (Hadley & Lanly, 1983), while information of where fuel-wood is actually consumed is not widely available. If deforestation is really to be arrested, comprehensive studies on the demand and supply of fuel-wood will have to be generated and concomitant action ensured.
Lowland Forest Resources and Their Conservation in Southern Somalia
Authors: Douthwaite Robert J.
Published: August 2009

Lowland forest in southern Somalia is restricted to the Holawajir depression and banks of the Jubba and Shabeelle Rivers. Riverine forest probably covers less than 3,000 ha and is undergoing rapid clearance for farming, so that it seems unlikely to survive this century. Further biological survey is required but the flora, and bird and mammal faunas, appear to be impoverished compared with those on the lower Tana River in Kenya.
Conservation Problems and Management Options in Estuaries: The Bot River Estuary, South Africa, as a Case-history for Management of Closed Estuaries
Authors: Bally Roderick
Published: August 2009

Closed (or ‘blind’) estuaries are common features, practically throughout the world, of areas experiencing markedly seasonal rainfall. The Bot River vlei is a closed estuary which faces considerable problems of management and conservation. For the past 100 years or more, the estuary has been opened to the sea every 2 to 5 years by artificial means. This has resulted in a very great variability of physical conditions and a concomitantly low diversity of organisms that are able to occupy the estuary permanently. Nevertheless, those species that do exist in the Bot River vlei are mostly estuarine species.
IUCN in Retrospect and Prospect
Authors: Talbot Lee M.
Published: August 2009

IUCN is a unique, international but independent, organization which promotes and carries on scientifically-based action for conservation throughout the world. Founded originally for the ‘Protection of Nature’, it has evolved greatly in the intervening nearly 35 years in response to current needs, and now occupies a very prominent position in the environmental/conservational movement to withstand ever-increasing human population-pressures through rational use of resources and seeking to assure that development is environmentally sound.
Marine ‘Genetic Resources’ and the Potential Role of Protected Areas in Conserving Them
Authors: Polunin Nicholas V.C.
Published: August 2009

Marine genetic variability has been studied at all levels within the hierarchy of biological systems, and some major findings to date are briefly reviewed in this paper. Important conclusions are that many marine populations may be quite variable genetically, and that this variability is particularly high in species-rich communities such as those of coral reefs. It is generally thought that variability does change in relation to ecological variables, and thus must contribute to adaptation to environment. At the community level there are marked geographical differences not only in the composition of marine biota, but also in their richness. While the importance of threats to genetic resources cannot be quantified in relation either to one another and to other areas of environmental concern, it is clear that long-term measures such as the establishment of protected areas must be planned with genetic considerations in mind, as these resources are related to the survival of valuable species, and to the important theme of biotic diversity.