Up in smoke? Asia and the Pacific – The threat from climate change to human development and the environment

The human drama of climate change will largely be played out in Asia, where over 60 per cent of the world’s population, around four billion people, live. Over half of those live near the coast, making them directly vulnerable to sea-level rise. Disruption to the region’s water cycle caused by climate change also threatens the security and productivity of the food systems upon which they depend. This report looks at positive measures that are being taken – by governments, by civil society and by people themselves – to reduce the causes of climate change and to overcome its effects. Summary and overview The human drama of climate change will largely be played out in Asia, where over 60 per cent of the world’s population, around four billion people, live. Over half of those live near the coast, making them directly vulnerable to sea-level rise. Disruption to the region’s water cycle caused by climate change also threatens the security and productivity of the food systems upon which they depend. In acknowledgement, both of the key meetings in 2007 and 2008 to secure a global climate agreement will be in Asia. The latest global scientific consensus from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates that all of Asia is very likely to warm during this century. Warming will be accompanied by less predictable and more extreme patterns of rainfall, including droughts and more extreme inundations. Tropical cyclones are projected to increase in magnitude and frequency, while monsoons, around which farming systems are designed, are expected to become more temperamental in their strength and time of onset. Ironically, if certain types of industrial pollution are reduced, the temporary cooling effect that results from having blankets of smog, could lead to very rapid warming. But existing projections are already bad enough. There is growing consensus about the current challenges facing Asia and what is needed to tackle them. Many of these are elaborated in this report. There is reason to hope. There is already enough knowledge and understanding to know what the main causes of climate change are, how to reduce future climate change, and how to begin to adapt. This report looks at positive measures that are being taken – by governments, by civil society and by people themselves – to reduce the causes of climate change and to overcome its effects. It gives examples of emissions reduction; alternative water and energy supply systems; preservation of strategic ecosystems and protected areas; increasing capacity, awareness and skills for risk and disaster management; and the employment of effective regulatory and policy instruments. The challenge is clear and many of the solutions are known: the point is, to act

Routledge Handbook of Chinese Medicine

The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Medicine is an extensive, interdisciplinary guide to the nature of traditional medicine and healing in the Chinese cultural region, and its plural epistemologies. Established experts and the next generation of scholars interpret the ways in which Chinese medicine has been understood and portrayed from the beginning of the empire (third century BCE) to the globalisation of Chinese products and practices in the present day, taking in subjects from ancient medical writings to therapeutic movement, to talismans for healing and traditional medicines that have inspired global solutions to contemporary epidemics. The volume is divided into seven parts: Longue Durée and Formation of Institutions and Traditions Sickness and Healing Food and Sex Spiritual and Orthodox Religious Practices The World of Sinographic Medicine Wider Diasporas Negotiating Modernity This handbook therefore introduces the broad range of ideas and techniques that comprise pre-modern medicine in China, and the historiographical and ethnographic approaches that have illuminated them. It will prove a useful resource to students and scholars of Chinese studies, and the history of medicine and anthropology. It will also be of interest to practitioners, patients and specialists wishing to refresh their knowledge with the latest developments in the field. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 licens

World History, Volume 1: To 1500

World History, Volume 1: to 1500 is designed to meet the scope and sequence of a world history course to 1500 offered at both two-year and four-year institutions. Suitable for both majors and non majors World History, Volume 1: to 1500 introduces students to a global perspective of history couched in an engaging narrative. Concepts and assessments help students think critically about the issues they encounter so they can broaden their perspective of global history. A special effort has been made to introduce and juxtapose people’s experiences of history for a rich and nuanced discussion. Primary source material represents the cultures being discussed from a firsthand perspective whenever possible. World History, Volume 1: to 1500 also includes the work of diverse and underrepresented scholars to ensure a full range of perspectives

Poverty, inequality and living standards in rural China 1978-90 : A comparative study of Anhui and Yunnan.

This dissertation is concerned with trends in poverty, inequality and living standards among the counties and villages of Anhui and Yunnan since 1978. Trends in absolute poverty, measured by both income- and nutrition-based poverty lines, show only a small decline during the 1980s. Based on province-specific poverty lines, there is a substantial increase in the incidence of poverty during the late 1980s, over the incidence based on a national poverty line. The overall trend in living standards is of increasing dispersion, for Anhui and Yunnan relative to the national average, and between the counties of the two provinces. Living standards show little change for the counties of Yunnan, with declines outnumbering increases. In Anhui, the large increase in mortality between the 1982 and 1990 censuses contribute to declines in absolute living standards as well. Increases in spatial inequality are apparent from the output data; differentials in the rate of economic growth fuelling this increase in the 1980s. In essence counties thrive or languish based on the performance of their agricultural sector. Rapid improvements in yields for basic food stuffs, and expanding cash crop production in many regions, together cause income levels to rise, and therefore living standards, based on commodities, to increase as well. Where this is not the case, there is a lack of investment funds for the establishment of private and collective rural enterprises, and a lack of consumer demand. The low level of income, and the small size and slow growth in the xiangzhen give sector in disadvantaged areas also means that local governments are short of revenue, and therefore the costs of health care and education are left to the individuals requiring these services, exacerbating the gap between rich and poor in terms of achieved functioning. The question of how to increase the profitability of the agricultural sector in poor areas of China remains unsolved. Without a source of investment funds and increasing incomes to foster modern sector enlargement growth in rural areas, it is difficult to imagine an increase in either commodity or non-commodity based functioning in the poor regions of rural China in the near future