Irrigation in Africa, Europe and Latin America : update of the Digital Global Map of Irrigation Areas to version 4

The Land and Water Development Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, are cooperating in the development of a global irrigation-mapping facility. This report describes an update of the Digital Global Map of Irrigation Areas for the continents of Africa and Europe as well as for the countries Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay in Latin America. For this update, an new inventory of subnational irrigation statistics was compiled. The reference year for the statistics is 2000. Adding up the irrigated areas per country as documented in the report gives a total of 48.8 million ha while the total area equipped for irrigation at the global scale is 278.8 million ha. The total number of subnational units in the inventory used for this update is 16 822 while the number of subnational units in the global inventory increased to 26 909. In order to distribute the irrigation statistics per subnational unit, digital spatial data layers and printed maps were used. Irrigation maps were derived from project reports, irrigation subsector studies, and books related to irrigation and drainage. These maps were digitized and compared with satellite images of many regions. In areas without spatial information on irrigated areas, additional information was used to locate areas where irrigation is likely, such as land-cover and land-use maps that indicate agricultural areas or areas with crops that are usually grown under irrigation

Från koja till plan

This thesis concerns questions regarding how children’s perspectives on the outdoor environment can be approached in a planning context. Attention is drawn to the general understanding of childhood and the definition of outdoor environment as variables in different planning contexts. Together these variables define in which way children become visible in the planning context. Children’s participation is emphasized in contemporary planning. This thesis argues that understanding and insights concerning children’s experiences and understanding of their own places can create complementary lines of communication. The first article provides the empirical and methodological point of departure. Through walkabouts with children, questions are developed concerning children’s use and experiences of outdoor environments. These questions are compared and related to problems, insights and experiences that planners have concerning environments for children. Parts of two perspectives are described in order to elucidate some of the problems that can arise due to differences between a child’s perspective and a planner’s perspective. In the second article children’s own places is the pivot. Through in depth studies of children’s dens it is shown that finding a suitable place, collecting, sorting and manipulating with environment and accessible materials are crucial parts of starting a den making process and appropriating a place as one’s own. Specific examples are put forward which show the close relationship between children’s experience and understanding of the outdoor environment and their construction and design of dens. Children’s dens are used to exemplify and clarify the difference between children’s perspectives and planner’s perspectives. The last article is concerned with the theoretical and practical analysis of these questions. Through interviews, studies of planning documents and reflections on my own planning experience an analysis is made of the importance of maps and plans as tools in the planning process. It is argued that the bias of these tools emphasizes and reinforces the visual point of departure to the physical environment and outdoor places, while children’s multi-sensuous and acting oriented point of departure is difficult to handle and process in maps and plans. A practical contribution is suggested on how to improve insights and understanding of children’s perspectives in planning contexts

Landscape change and its effects on the visual experience of a case study area in the Öresunds region

The study focuses on landscape change, from an historical perspective (year 1915) and as a discussion of future changes (year 2015) for a case study area in southern Sweden. The historical situation is based on map data while the situation of 2015 is a predictive modelling based on spatial planning and policy documents for the case study area. The study identifies changes in land cover and their spatial distribution within the landscape. The result is discussed in relation to perceived change as well as the areas sensitivity to change. The paper further outlines implications of the result for management and planning in the context of the European Landscape Convention.

The Global Organic Food Market and Transformation Deductive Definition of Empiric Indicators The Demand Explanation The Institutional Explanation & Comparative Country Report: Denmark versus Sweden

The present study is part of the project “Public Policies and Demand for Organic Food: An International Comparison of Policy Effects and Policy Determinants” (COP). It is carried out in WP II that concerns the supply-side policies and demand. In the WP it has been an initial task to formulate a theoretical approach as the conceptual framework to be used in comparative studies. The present study represents the first contribution to apply the conceptual framework in an empirical context and here it is the evolution of the organic sectors in Denmark and Sweden that are compared. The study is searching for indicators to explain which factors can explain increase in organic foods production and consumption. It reaches the conclusion that the picture concerning the demand side is very blurred and that it is impossible to reveal which elements are crucial. However, the study also concludes that institutional design and set up seem to be rather crucial for the evolution of the organic sector

Epiphyte metapopulation dynamics are explained by species traits, connectivity, and patch dynamics

The colonization-extinction dynamics of many species are affected by the dynamics of their patches. For increasing our understanding of the metapopulation dynamics of sessile species confined to dynamic patches, we fitted a Bayesian incidence function model extended for dynamic landscapes to snapshot data on five epiphytic lichens among 2083 mapped oaks (dynamic patches). We estimate the age at which trees become suitable patches for different species, which defines their niche breadth (number of suitable trees). We show that the colonization rates were generally low, but increased with increasing connectivity in accordance with metapopulation theory. The rates were related to species traits, and we show, for the first time, that they are higher for species with wide niches and small dispersal propagules than for species with narrow niches or large propagules. We also show frequent long-distance dispersal in epiphytes by quantifying the relative importance of local dispersal and background deposition of dispersal propagules. Local stochastic extinctions from intact trees were negligible in all study species, and thus, the extinction rate is set by the rate of patch destruction (tree fall). These findings mean that epiphyte metapopulations may have slow colonization-extinction dynamics that are explained by connectivity, species traits, and patch dynamics

Law and the Balance of Power. By Stewart Macaulay

I dagens samhälle blir vi allt mer beroende av internet. Myndigheter försöker med hjälp av e-delegationen införa e-förvaltning. E-deltagande är en del av e-förvaltningen som innebär att medborgare får chans att lämna sina synpunkter elektroniskt via någon form av verktyg på internet. Tidigare studier visar på att det oftast är en medelålders, föreningsaktiv och välutbildad man som deltar i planeringfrågorna. Unga, lågutbildade och kvinnor deltar däremot mindre frekvent vid rådande deltagarmöjligheter. Denna kandidatuppsats har därför fått frågeställningarna: Hur påverkas medborgarnas delaktighet i planeringsprocessen av e-deltagande? Samt: Vilka möjligheter och hinder skapar e-deltagande när det gäller inflytande i planeringsfrågor? Studien grundar sig på tidigare skriven litteratur samt en fallstudie av två fall i Nacka kommun: Henriksdal och Fisksätra. Tjänstemän på Nacka kommun har intervjuats för att syftet med projektet ska klargöras samt att få en inblick i hur dialogformer fungerar i en expansiv kommun. Resultatet visade på ett ökat intresse för planeringsfrågor i de två fallen samt att det finns möjligheter för inflytande genom dialogen då den publiceras på hemsidan tillgänglig för allmänheten. Kommunen måste dock inte följa de konkreta förslag som inkommit utan måste göra avvägningar mellan allmänna och enskilda intressen. Slutsatsen grundar sig i att inflytande i planeringen är bra, men att det kan vara ett sken av inflytande i den kommunala planeringen eftersom frågorna som ställs till medborgare inte går ut på om något ska byggas, utan snarare vad.

Planning for a sustainable city region? Regional district heating in Stockholm

Stockholm is by far the largest city in Sweden and it is also the only region with legislated regional planning. Since the region has the highest and most dense population, regional cooperation is important in many aspects, for example by finding regional solutions for the infrastructure and for energy systems. By cooperating to create regional supply systems it is possible to create more robust and ecologically and economically sustainable systems that use the land as efficiently as possible. An example of such cooperation is the regional district heating systems in the region. The energy consumption for heating and hotwater in buildings is a major share of the Swedish energy balance, and in Stockholm 13 of 55 annual TWh energy use is consumed by district heating. Great potential for climate friendly solutions therefore lie in the system. The individual district heating systems have gradually been interconnected and through these interconnections a better optimized system can be created where peak loads can be evened out, and thus using less fossil fuel. District heating's economies of scale can be used advantageous and makes it possible to build combined heat and power plants for more efficient and environmentally friendly energy production. However, such development does not happen by itself. The municipalities in Sweden have planning monopoly so the creation of a regional energy system requires a shared vision and long-term planning. The aim of this study is therefore to study and compare the municipalities' comprehensive plans from a regional perspective regarding district heating. By studying Stockholm region's 26 municipalities' comprehensive plans between 1978 and 2009, and comparing these with the regional plans, it is possible to understand of their perception of the importance of regional cooperation regarding energy systems and district heating. Furthermore, the aim is to study how the view towards energy and district heating has changed over the time period chosen. What general differences between the municipalities can be seen, how does this change over time and how can this be explained

Ett stort engagemang är nyckeln till det mesta

Den här uppsatsen undersöker varför kommuner i Norrlands inland arbetar med inflyttning och vilka strategier som används. Undersökningen studerar även vad som fungerar bra och vilka utmaningar som finns. Studien består kvalitativa intervjuer med sex personer som arbetar på Sollefteå kommun, Talangattraktionskraft Höga Kusten, Projektet Hej Hemby och Kiruna kommun. Det framkom att samverkan, platsmarknadsföring och platsidentitet är viktiga komponenter i kommunernas arbete för att öka inflyttning. Vikten av att arbeta med inflyttning grundar sig i behovet av att öka arbetstagare och skatteunderlaget i kommunerna. Strategierna för att få fler att flytta till kommunerna handlar om att erbjuda någon typ av inflyttarservice, använda platsmarknadsföring och att samverka med olika aktörer samt att ta vara på den platsidentitet som finns i lokalsamhällena. Samverkan är den strategi som tydligast präglar kommunernas arbete även om utmaningar och dilemman uppstår. Arbetet för att öka inflyttning underlättar om kommuner och de andra aktörerna är medvetna om sina och varandras förutsättningar.This study examines why municipalities in Norrlands inland work with immigration and what strategies they use. The study also examines what is working with the strategies and what challenges may exist. This study consists of qualitative interviews with six people working in Solleftea municipality, Talangattraktionskraft Hoga Kusten, the project Hej Hemby and Kiruna municipality. It was shown that cooperation, place marketing and place identity is important components in municipalities work. The importance of working with immigration is founded in the idea of higher amount of workers and to increase the tax base in the municipalities. The strategies to increase immigration was to offer some kind of service for immigrants, place marketing, cooperation with different actors and to use the place identity that exists in the local communities. Cooperation is the important component in the work of municipalities even in challenges and dilemmas. The work to increasing immigration is made easier if the municipalities and the other actors is aware of each other’s essentials

Rätten till bostad - En kvantitativ vinjettstudie om kommunernas handläggning av boendeärenden

Enligt socialtjänstlagen har kommunen det yttersta ansvaret för de personer som vistas där. Det finns dock personer där det inte är självklart vilken kommun som har det yttersta ansvaret. Studiens syfte har varit att undersöka hur socialtjänstlagen, som reglerar kommunens yttersta ansvar tillämpas samt att undersöka om socialtjänstens handläggning av boendeärenden uppfyller rimliga krav på rättvisa. Använder sig handläggare av samma beslutsmetoder och fattar de i huvudsak samma beslut utifrån givna förutsättningar? Om inte, vilka faktorer är då avgörande för vilket bistånd som beviljas. Vi ville också förklara hur eventuella skillnader i biståndsbesluten är möjliga. För att besvara studiens frågeställningar och syfte har en är webbenkät använts. Enkäten består i huvudsak av fyra vinjetter och ett antal bakgrundsfrågor. Enkäten har skickats ut till Sveriges samtliga 290 kommuner. Till detta har vi även bedrivit litteraturstudier, främst juridisk litteratur, som syftat till att hitta teorier som kan förklara vårt material samt fastställa gällande rätt. Resultatet av vår studie visar att de biståndsbeslut som våra respondenter fattat skiljer sig alltför mycket åt för att de skall anses vara rättssäkra. Det går däremot inte att, utifrån vårt material, se vad det är för faktorer som påverkat deras beslut. Vi förklarar skillnaderna i de fattade besluten med dels, bristande juridiska kunskaper hos respondenterna och dels med hur lagarna är konstruerade