title: Review: Encyclopedia of linguistics

authors: Barnard, Roger

subjects: linguistics

abstract: The two volumes of this new encyclopedia contain over five hundred self-contained essays, each between 1000 and 3000 words, covering a very wide range of topics. They have been written by some three hundred specialists from 34 countries (including several from New Zealand) who were invited to write for readers with no specialist knowledge of the subject by the reader, and without going into considerable theoretical detail. The essays are all very clearly written, and each provides a succinct introduction to the subject. In all cases, suggestions for further reading are provided, as are cross-references to related topics elsewhere in the encyclopedia.

text: Review: Encyclopedia of linguistics The two volumes of this new encyclopedia contain over five hundred self-contained essays, each between 1000 and 3000 words, covering a very wide range of topics. They have been written by some three hundred specialists from 34 countries (including several from New Zealand) who were invited to write for readers with no specialist knowledge of the subject by the reader, and without going into considerable theoretical detail. The essays are all very clearly written, and each provides a succinct introduction to the subject. In all cases, suggestions for further reading are provided, as are cross-references to related topics elsewhere in the encyclopedia.

year: 2005

title: Challenges to Implementing Community Based Ecotourism (CBET) as a Bottom up Development Approach in the Sinharaja Rain Forest (Sri Lanka)

authors: Halvitigala Ihala Gamage, Chaminda Kumara

subjects: Community Based Ecotourism

abstract: Community based ecotourism (CBET) is a well-established concept and its implementation has been an important component for many regional development strategies. This thesis argues that CBET originated as a Western concept, and there are many successful CBET projects. However, CBET operates within geo-political, economic and cultural contexts, which generate challenges for its implementation. This research examines a CBET initiative in the Kudawa- Sinharaja site, Sri Lanka which shifted in 1995 from a central government approach to a community forest informed master plan, in line with Western CBET development models. This case study therefore provides the opportunity to explore the success of this CBET project.
A qualitative approach has principally guided this research together with statistics to examine the socio-cultural, socio-economic and geo-political context. A total of 293 participants have informed this research, which includes 193 interviews (115 individuals, and 15 different focus groups totalling 78 people) and 100 questionnaire respondents. These participants were surveyed during late 2012 and early 2013, and included both domestic and overseas tourists, local community residents and tourist operators, tourism consultants, and government officials.
One of the main findings is that despite plans being developed at a community level, the wider context includes superimposed capitalism, which dominates and counteracts the ideologies of CBET. Superimposed capitalism results in individualistic and competitive behaviours that undermine the collaborative community approach. It encourages poaching and the selling of rare flora and fauna (biopiracy), and results in anthropogenic disturbances to nature. The influence of “drug-sex’ tourism, associated with superimposed capitalism, creates potential for further socio-cultural issues. This research also highlights the strong influence of geo-politics, which operates at both the international and domestic scale. National political conflicts in Sri Lanka have been extreme in recent times and this has generated security related issues for both residents and tourists. Political corruption, access to funds, and the lack of established decision making processes are also associated with geo-politics. This research also underlines the influence of the socio-cultural context such as gender inequality and caste discrimination, which substantially disempower certain people. 
The thesis concludes that CBET is an appropriate pathway for tourism development in Sri Lanka but recognition of the above problems is required and they need to be addressed, in particular, superimposed capitalism. A well-defined monitoring system and an effective legal framework to control adverse effects are important for achieving CBET goals.  The findings of this research will inform CBET in similar developing countries, but caution is required because the geo-political, economic and cultural context is different in every country.

text: Challenges to Implementing Community Based Ecotourism (CBET) as a Bottom up Development Approach in the Sinharaja Rain Forest (Sri Lanka) Community based ecotourism (CBET) is a well-established concept and its implementation has been an important component for many regional development strategies. This thesis argues that CBET originated as a Western concept, and there are many successful CBET projects. However, CBET operates within geo-political, economic and cultural contexts, which generate challenges for its implementation. This research examines a CBET initiative in the Kudawa- Sinharaja site, Sri Lanka which shifted in 1995 from a central government approach to a community forest informed master plan, in line with Western CBET development models. This case study therefore provides the opportunity to explore the success of this CBET project.
A qualitative approach has principally guided this research together with statistics to examine the socio-cultural, socio-economic and geo-political context. A total of 293 participants have informed this research, which includes 193 interviews (115 individuals, and 15 different focus groups totalling 78 people) and 100 questionnaire respondents. These participants were surveyed during late 2012 and early 2013, and included both domestic and overseas tourists, local community residents and tourist operators, tourism consultants, and government officials.
One of the main findings is that despite plans being developed at a community level, the wider context includes superimposed capitalism, which dominates and counteracts the ideologies of CBET. Superimposed capitalism results in individualistic and competitive behaviours that undermine the collaborative community approach. It encourages poaching and the selling of rare flora and fauna (biopiracy), and results in anthropogenic disturbances to nature. The influence of “drug-sex’ tourism, associated with superimposed capitalism, creates potential for further socio-cultural issues. This research also highlights the strong influence of geo-politics, which operates at both the international and domestic scale. National political conflicts in Sri Lanka have been extreme in recent times and this has generated security related issues for both residents and tourists. Political corruption, access to funds, and the lack of established decision making processes are also associated with geo-politics. This research also underlines the influence of the socio-cultural context such as gender inequality and caste discrimination, which substantially disempower certain people. 
The thesis concludes that CBET is an appropriate pathway for tourism development in Sri Lanka but recognition of the above problems is required and they need to be addressed, in particular, superimposed capitalism. A well-defined monitoring system and an effective legal framework to control adverse effects are important for achieving CBET goals.  The findings of this research will inform CBET in similar developing countries, but caution is required because the geo-political, economic and cultural context is different in every country.

year: 2016

title: An ashy septingentenarian: the Kaharoa tephra turns 700 (with notes on its volcanological, archaeological, and historical importance)

authors: Lowe, David J.

abstract: Most of us are aware of the basaltic Tarawera eruption on 10th June 1886: the high toll on life (~120 people), landscape devastation, and loss of the Pink and White Terraces. But this was not the first time that Mt Tarawera produced an eruption of importance both to volcanology and human history. This edition of the GSNZ Newsletter marks the 700th anniversary of the Kaharoa eruption – its septingentenary to be precise – which occurred at Mt Tarawera in the winter of 1314 AD (± 12 years) (Hogg et al. 2003) (Fig. 1). The importance of the Kaharoa eruption is at least threefold. (1) It is the most recent rhyolite eruption in New Zealand, and the largest New Zealand eruption volumetrically of the last millennium. (2) The Kaharoa tephra is an important marker horizon in late Holocene stratigraphy and geoarchaeology (Lowe et al. 1998, 2000), and in particular helps to constrain the timing of settlement of early Polynesians in North Island (Newnham et al. 1998; Hogg et al. 2003; Lowe 2011). (3) There is a link between the soils that developed on the Kaharoa tephra, the animal ‘wasting’ disease known as ‘bush sickness’, and the birth of a government soil survey group as an independent organisation (Tonkin 2012).

text: An ashy septingentenarian: the Kaharoa tephra turns 700 (with notes on its volcanological, archaeological, and historical importance) Most of us are aware of the basaltic Tarawera eruption on 10th June 1886: the high toll on life (~120 people), landscape devastation, and loss of the Pink and White Terraces. But this was not the first time that Mt Tarawera produced an eruption of importance both to volcanology and human history. This edition of the GSNZ Newsletter marks the 700th anniversary of the Kaharoa eruption – its septingentenary to be precise – which occurred at Mt Tarawera in the winter of 1314 AD (± 12 years) (Hogg et al. 2003) (Fig. 1). The importance of the Kaharoa eruption is at least threefold. (1) It is the most recent rhyolite eruption in New Zealand, and the largest New Zealand eruption volumetrically of the last millennium. (2) The Kaharoa tephra is an important marker horizon in late Holocene stratigraphy and geoarchaeology (Lowe et al. 1998, 2000), and in particular helps to constrain the timing of settlement of early Polynesians in North Island (Newnham et al. 1998; Hogg et al. 2003; Lowe 2011). (3) There is a link between the soils that developed on the Kaharoa tephra, the animal ‘wasting’ disease known as ‘bush sickness’, and the birth of a government soil survey group as an independent organisation (Tonkin 2012).

year: 2014