bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
To Prevent Aridization, Combat Salinity
Authors: Kovda Victor A. 
Published: August 2009

With some 8% of the world's land-surface occupied by absolute desert, and up to another 40% estimated to be covered or threatened by less-extreme deserts or semideserts, it is clear that still-increasing desertification imposes one of the most critical situations and hence important considerations for the future of Man and Nature. All the inhabited continents are involved to varying degrees, with Australia (80% desertified) the worst-hit areally. And yet the area of the world that is affected by desertification, soil-degradation, erosion, and/or recurrent droughts, continues to increase at a rate of 5–7 million hectares annually in the face of ever-increasing overall human population. This survey warns again of foreseeable dangers for the future.Aridization and more advanced desertification of land result from the combined action of natural tendencies and ecological mistakes made by Man in the course of his manifold activities. Most alarmingly, the velocity of what is mainly anthropogenic aridization is commonly measured in terms of a few years or at most a single human generation. But help should come from the maintenance of rain-fed farming in less arid areas, and especially from the widespread establishment of irrigation systems which now involve some 250 millions of hectares. There are, however, very serious problems engendered by continuing irrigation, which is apt to be wasteful of fresh water. To begin with, river-water resources are becoming increasingly limited and artesian waters are too-easily depleted or become brackish. Worse still, with the high rate of evaporation in arid regions, salinization of the surface and the uppermost soil horizon commonly ensues, and gradually penetrates to lower strata in which plants mainly root. Most existing irrigation systems lack the piping or consistent lining of water-bringing canals and the deep (2.5–3 m) horizontal drainage-ducts that are needed to evacuate excessive soluble salts. The ultimate disposal of the salt, moreover, still causes problems when the sea cannot be used or salt-lakes be created for fish and waterfowl. Meanwhile, revegetation is becoming more and more widely practised and some success is attending efforts to develop salt-resistant crops in USA, India, and USSR.
Small-scale Hydroelectric Power for Developing Countries: Methodology of Site-selection Based on Environmental Issues
Authors: Cada Glenn F. , Zadroga Frank 
Published: August 2009

Small Hydropower Projects (SHPs), defined as including hydroelectric generating facilities with capacities of 1,000 kW or less, have great potential for elevating the standard of living and contributing to the economic growth of isolated rural communities especially in Third World countries. However, construction and operation of an SHP can result in adverse environmental impacts that should be assessed in the initial stages of site-selection and avoided in the development.Environmental concerns can be factored into a site-selection process both at the screening and feasibility stages. The screening study is the process by which a large number of potential sites are reduced to a much smaller number of candidate sites based on coarsegrained engineering, socio-economic, and environmental, criteria. Although many of the factors determining the suitability of a given site at the screening stage involve basic engineering or economic questions, fundamental environmental issues that should be addressed include an appropriate resource-development strategy to accompany the SHPs, the quality and quantity of water available for all project needs, the presence of near-by protected areas, habitats, or important species, and the adequacy of local support for environmental protection requirements of the project.The feasibility study is the final stage of site selection, where a relatively small number of candidate SHP sites are examined in proper detail and the best are selected for development. Potential environmental impacts of SHPs range from flow-disruption downstream to the spread of water-borne diseases and parasites, and are related to the design and size of the facility. We provide a check-list of environmental data that should be collected at this stage in order to judge the significance of projected impacts of candidate SHPs.It is important that site selection and impact evaluation be conducted by competent individuals with formal training and experience in an appropriate environmental field. After compiling relevant information (e.g., through literature searches and contacts with government agencies or universities), the feasibility study team should visit the site of each at all likely-to-be chosen SHP. This will allow the interdisciplinary team's members to identify any previously unanticipated problems, to receive inputs from the local community, and to weigh the various benefits and consequences of SHP development before making their final selection.
History, Distribution, and Conservation, of Large Mammals and Their Habitats in Jordan
Authors: Hatough-Bouran Alia , Disi Ahmad M. 
Published: August 2009

Jordan lies at a meeting-point of three zoogeographical areas: the Palaearctic, the Afrotropical, and the Oriental—circumstances which were conducive to habitat diversity in Jordan and hence the diversity and often abundant occurrence of different floral and faunal elements.The present paper gives information about the history and past occurrence of large mammalian species and their populations in Jordan, while also focusing on the present status of the large mammalian species, and gives the reasons for extinctions and the preventive measures that are being taken to conserve the populations remaining. In addition, this study gives a future prospective outlook for habitat and mammalian conservation, and the reintroduction programme that is being implemented in Jordan.The first part of the paper sheds light on the past existence of large mammals in Jordan. The historical sequence of events starting from the Upper Palaeolithic and continuing right up to the present, and the succession of civilizations, had a negative impact on the large mammalian populations. This section gives tabulated data on the past occurrence of 26 species, supported by evidence of their past existence such as bone remains, rock drawings, engravings, mosaics, and frescos, found in various archaeological sites in Jordan.The second part of the paper deals with the present status of large mammalian populations, their distribution being reflected through maps indicating recent sightings in some outstanding cases. Among those are reintroduced species such as the Arabian Oryx and the Syrian Wild Ass, and highly threatened species such as the Nubian Ibex. This part also investigates the reasons for extinction, which mainly link the destruction of habitats with the direct deterioration of mammalian populations. Habitat destruction was chiefly due to the rapid decline of the natural pasture areas, overgrazing, urban expansions, unorganized construction plans, human impact, mismanagement of the highlands, fire, and hunting. All of these factors led to deforestation and soil erosion, resulting in a patchy, fragile ecocomplex. The decrease of rainfall assisted the severe deterioration of natural forests.The future outlook of this study includes plans to restore ecosystems and, with them, much of the overall ecocomplex. For this and other reasons it also stresses the urgent need to establish more reserves, both grazing and natural. This concluding part of the paper encourages the improvement of national parks, and urges the authorities to look seriously at the often disastrous effects of mismanagement. The importance of collaboration between Jordan and the various international agencies is emphasized, as well as the need to speed up work on the National Conservation Strategy of Jordan.
East Australian Rain-forests: A Case-study in Resource Harvesting and Conservation
Authors: Whitehouse John F. 
Published: August 2009

Human interactions with rain-forest on the Australian continent have played, and will continue to play, a vital role in their distribution and survival. The presence and significance of rain-forest in Australia lies in the evolutionary history of the Australian plate since the break-up of the Gondwanan supercontinent. Its continued survival and distribution illustrates and encapsulates the history of plant evolution and biogeography in Australia.Since human arrival in Australia at least 40,000 years ago, human interactions with rain-forest have been marked by a number of phases — ranging from Aboriginal use of rain-forest resources to the impetus given by the hunt for the prized Red Cedar, and from the early European settlement on the east coast of Australia in the midto late-19th century to the wholesale clearing of rain forests for agricultural settlement and dairying in the late 19th century. In more modern times, human interactions with rain-forest have focused on adapting forest management techniques to rain-forest logging, restructuring the native forest timber industry in the face of mechanization, changing markets and resource constraints, convulsions as a result of conservationist challenges in Terania Creek and Daintree, and finally the implications of conserving rain-forests in the context of natural processes including fire, climate change, and the impact of human visitors and their recreation.The course of the controversies over rain-forest conservation in Australia has meant that rain-forest logging either has been dramatically curtailed or is in the process of generally ceasing. The protection of rainforests from logging and forestry operations in the future seems secure, given the widespread community support for rain-forest conservation. Threats to rain-forest conservation in the future are likely to be found in more subtle processes: the impact of fire regimes on the spread and contractions of rain-forests, the impacts of exotic species such as Lantana (Lantana camara) and Camphor Laurel (Cinnamomum camphora), the impacts of human uses through tourism and recreation, the diminution of the viability of isolated pockets by ‘edge effects’, and the damage to the remaining stands on freehold property by conflicting land-uses.Overlying all of these potential threats is the impact of global climate change. Climate change since the Tertiary has reduced the once widespread rain-forest communities of Australia practically to the status of relicts in refugia. Will the remaining rain-forests be able to withstand the projected human-induced climate changes of the future?
ModernizationversusSustainability: Disintegrating Village Agro-ecocomplexes in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka
Authors: Ulluwishewa Rohana 
Published: August 2009

The agro-ecocomplexes of traditional villages in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka included four major components, namely crop cultivation, animal husbandry, fishery, and forestry. While these four components collectively provided practically all the food and other needs of the village inhabitants, the ecological interactions between these components contributed to the sustainability of the village agro-ecocomplex. Thus the livestock were used to provide draught power for farming, and were fed on crop residues and straw, their dung being used to fertilize the soil. Fishery was mainly on irrigated paddy fields and in the irrigation system, while the fish on the paddy fields consumed harmful insects and worms, and provided fertilizer in their excreta. The village forest on the catchment area, and the trees sparsely grown on the cultivated area and in the irrigation system, substantially contributed to maintain the natural productivity, yielding firewood, timber, and various foods. In this manner, the village agro-ecocomplex functioned to satisfy the needs of its human inhabitants without impairing its own sustainability.This village agro-ecocomplex system is now in the process of disintegration owing to structural, technological, and institutional, changes brought about by modem development. The reason is that these modern development strategies were basically designed to raise the production of the land-area rather than to preserve the productivity of the given agro-ecocomplex. For while farm mechanization displaced the draught animals, the increased population pressure of more and more humans reduced the grazing lands. Both modern development and population pressure had destructive effects on the forest cover, while increased utilization of agrochemicals adversely affected the fish culture on paddy fields. In this way, livestock, fishery, and forestry, all became insignificant or at least insufficient, and were de-linked from crop cultivation. In consequence, the village agro-ecocomplex has become de-stabilized, and dependence on external inputs has increased so greatly that self-sustainability of the village agro-ecocomplex has ceased to exist except in some remote areas.
Reducing Air Pollution from Electric Power-generation in China
Authors: Wang Zhiyong 
Published: August 2009

This paper addresses current and future concerns regarding the air-pollution situation in China, and focuses on reduction of particulates', SO2, and CO2, emissions in China's electric power-generation sector. Technical aspects of control methods include an assessment of innovative approaches such as enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Suggestions are made pertaining to the technical planning and management aspects of air-pollutant control.In a technological context, improving coal-use efficiency, increasing the proportion of coal pretreatment, and using EOR technology, should be considered; these measures have proven effective and relatively economical elsewhere. If the measures could be adopted in China's electric power-generation sector, as much as about 50% of the particulates, 34% of the SO2, and 95% of the CO2, emitted from power-plants, could be removed. If fully engaged, these actions would improve China's air environment significantly.In a planning and management context, five suggestions are made with respect to air quality regulations: administrative measures, coal prices, developing ‘clean’ energy systems, reforestation, and transferring to new energy-saving and pollution-controlling technologies. In addition to domestic efforts, active engagement in international cooperation would be extremely beneficial to China.
Accumulation of Fishing Debris, Plastic Litter, and Other Artefacts, on Heard and Macquarie Islands in the Southern Ocean
Authors: Slip David J. , Burton Harry R. 
Published: August 2009

Sections of coastline of Heard and Macquarie Islands were surveyed for marine debris in the summer of 1987–88 and 1989, respectively. These surveys were carried out at the same sites as previous surveys in 1986–87 at Heard Island, and in 1988 at Macquarie Island. The minimum rate of artefact accumulation was 13 objects per km of shoreline per year for Heard Island, and 90 objects per km of shoreline per year for Macquarie Island. Drift-cards, released from known locations and collected on the two islands, show a similar artefact catchment area.Plastic litter was a major component of the debris at both islands. Fisheries-related debris accounted for 40% of all artefacts on Heard Island, compared with 29% on Macquarie Island. Entanglement of Fur Seals appears to be more common at Heard Island, while plastic ingestion by seabirds appears to be more common at Macquarie Island.
The MINK Project: A New Methodology for Identifying Regional Influences of, and Responses to, Increasing Atmospheric CO2 and Climate Change
Authors: Rosenberg Norman J. , Crosson Pierre R. 
Published: August 2009

In a study that was recently completed at Resources for the Future, the impacts of a future change in climate on the total economy of the Missouri–Iowa–Nebraska–Kansas (MINK) region were assessed, as were the possibilities of response (including adaptation) to the climatic change. Impacts on agriculture, forestry, water resources, and energy, were emphasized. The study was future-oriented, focusing on the year 2030, by which time the effects of ‘greenhouse’ warming may be felt. The records of the AD 1930s were used to provide an analog of the kinds of climate change (warmer and drier) that climate models predict will occur in the MINK region.Our results indicate that impacts of the projected climate change on agriculture, at least in the future, are expected to be profound, but that likely-to-be available technologies should facilitate substantial adaptation; that current water-resource limitations in the region would be exacerbated and lead to an eastward shift in irrigation; that impacts on forestry would be severe, and that opportunities for forestry adaptation would be very limited unless biomass production were to become economically viable; and that the net impacts on energy supply and demand would be small and adaptation to them relatively simple.Climate change in the MINK region could, of course, go somewhat beyond the conditions represented by the AD 1930s analog, in which case the findings of this study may be too optimistic. However, the future-oriented ‘MINK methodology’ is not scenario-dependent, and can be used to test other, more severe (or benign), scenarios as well. Further, the capacity for adaptation to climate change demonstrated in this study, may remain applicable even in more stringent circumstances.
Australia's Distinctive National Parks System
Authors: Wescott Geoffrey Charles 
Published: August 2009

Australia possesses a distinctive national parks and conservation reserves system, in which it is the State Governments rather than the Federal Government which owns, plans, and manages, national parks and other conservation reserves.Most Australian States declared their first national parks in the latter quarter of last century, Australia's first national park being declared in New South Wales in March 1879. These critical declarations were followed by a slow accumulation of parks and reserves through to 1968. The pace of acquisition then quickened dramatically with an eight-fold expansion in the total area of national parks between 1968 and 1990, at an average rate of over 750,000 ha per annum. The present Australian system contains 530 national parks covering 20.18 million hectares or 2.6% of the land-mass. A further 28.3 million hectares is protected in other parks and conservation reserves. In terms of the percentage of their land-mass now in national parks, the leading States are Tasmania (12.8%) and Victoria (10.0%), with Western Australia (1.9%) and Queensland (2.1%) trailing far behind, and New South Wales (3.92%) and South Australia (3.1%) lying between.The Australian system is also compared with the Canadian and USA systems. All three are countries of widely comparable cultures that have national parks covering similar percentage areas, but Canada and the USA have far fewer national parks than Australia and they are in general of much greater size. In addition, Canada and the USA ‘resource’ these parks far better than the Australians do theirs. The paper concludes that Australia needs to rationalize its current system by introducing direct funding, by the Federal Government, of national park management, and duly examining the whole system of reserves from a national rather than States' viewpoint.
Population, Environment, and Development
Authors: Myers Norman 
Published: August 2009

We face major and intimately interlinked problems of population, environment, and development. They are so profound and pervasive that they surely represent a uniquescale challenge for Humankind. The issues and policy responses will preoccupy the best understanding on the part of political leaders and scientists alike during the planning process leading up to the United Nations Conference on Population and Development which is to be held in Cairo from 5–13 September 1994.Scientific aspects are to be addressed at an earlier conference that is to be attended by representatives of some 80 of the world's academies in New Delhi in late October 1993. The present paper reviews the principal factors and analyses relating to the three problems, with emphasis upon their interactive relationships. It concludes with an extended list of strategies to reduce both population growth and environmental degradation—twin challenges to be tackled within a framework of sustainable development, to which both will make critical contributions.
Contradictions in Sustainability
Authors: Dovers Stephen R. , Handmer John W. 
Published: August 2009

Issues of environment and development are increasingly being analysed within the framework offered by sustainability and sustainable development. This article explores a number of deep-seated contradictions and tensions that exist within these concepts at least as they are currently construed. It is noted that these contradictions are often glossed over in intellectual and policy debates, but are nonetheless profound and should be made explicit.The contradictions identified and discussed in the paper are as follows:–the paradox of technology (cause or cure?);–uncertainty and decision-making (humility or arrogance in the face of ignorance?);–intergenerational and intragenerational equity (a politically impossible trade-off?);–economic growth versus ecological limits (is ‘sustainable development’ an oxymoron?);–the reconciliation of individual and collective interests, applying both to individuals in their society, and nation states in the international community;–the potential conflict between the diversity of democracy and purposeful action;–differing kinds of resilience in the face of change (resistance, marginal change, and adaptability); and–the question of whether or not optimization is anti-sustainability.In conclusion we ask what the implications of this labyrinth of contradictions are for moving towards a sustainable state. Are these contradictions too profound and thus insurmountable, or does Homo sapiens' apparently innate ability to live with contradiction and logical inconsistency offer a way out?
Analysis of Recent Climatic Changes in the Arabian Gulf Region
Authors: Nasrallah Hassan A. , Balling Robert C. 
Published: August 2009

Within the past few years, interest in climate change has increased dramatically in the face of the many apocalyptic predictions associated with the highly-popularized ‘greenhouse’ effect. Accordingly, scientists have produced many studies based on global, hemispheric, and regional, climatic data-bases. While most of the regional studies have been based on data from North America, Europe, and Australia, little research has been conducted in other areas of the world that have an equal (or greater) economic and climatic stake in the ‘greenhouse’ debate. In this investigation, we analyse the climatic records of the Arabian Gulf area in an attempt to identify recent changes that may or may not be related to any ‘greenhouse’ effects.The observed climate changes over the past century in the Arabian Gulf area include (a) an increase in temperature of 0.65°C, (b) warming in summer and little or no warming in winter, (c) no warming in the first 60 years of record but accelerated warming in the most recent 40 years, and (d) a small decline in precipitation. In many cases, the results are unlike those found in the analysis of Northern Hemispheric and/or global climate records. However, many of these observed climate changes in the Arabian Gulf area are broadly consistent with 2×CO2 predictions from various numerical climate models. We hope that the analyses presented in this investigation will aid decisionmakers in their difficult policymaking activities.