Life and living in advanced age: a cohort study in New Zealand - Te Puāwaitanga o Nga Tapuwae Kia Ora Tonu, LiLACS NZ: Study protocol

The number of people of advanced age (85 years and older) is increasing and health systems may be challenged by increasing health-related needs. Recent overseas evidence suggests relatively high levels of wellbeing in this group, however little is known about people of advanced age, particularly the indigenous Māori, in Aotearoa, New Zealand. This paper outlines the methods of the study Life and Living in Advanced Age: A Cohort Study in New Zealand. The study aimed to establish predictors of successful advanced ageing and understand the relative importance of health, frailty, cultural, social & economic factors to successful ageing for Māori and non-Māori in New Zealand

Resolving confusions about jarrah dieback - don’t forget the plants

The name jarrah dieback has been used for two different disorders, leading to considerable confusion. It was coined in the 1940s to describe the sudden death of groups of jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) trees in south western Western Australia, which occurred on poorly drained sites, following exceptionally heavy rainfall. In the 1960s these sites were shown to be infested by Phytophthora cinnamomi and jarrah deaths were attributed to it, even though it was only isolated from 5 % of sampled trees. Also the definition of jarrah dieback was expanded to include deaths of many other plants on infested sites, from which P. cinnamomi was more readily isolated. Jarrah trees die from severe water deficiency, indicating problems with water conduction through roots. Xylem vessel diameters vary along roots, being narrow at the root collar, while distally they are larger, providing water storage. Jarrah transpires vigorously during summer, accessing water at depth on sites with deep soil, but being more dependent on internally stored water when root systems are shallower. Following waterlogging, sapwood vessels become blocked with tyloses, reducing both conductivity and potential water storage; such trees may have insufficient water reserves for summer survival. In jarrah P. cinnamomi is unlikely to cause water deficiency because sapwood invasion is rapidly contained in healthy roots. Recent investigations into P. cinnamomi invasion and host responses in other plants show that it can potentially cause a vascular wilt in Banksia spp. and chronic, symptomless infections in herbaceous plants. Susceptibility to waterlogging damage, and/or mortality resulting from infection by P. cinnamomi can only be clarified by detailed knowledge of the hosts and their vulnerabilities. This is essential for making diagnoses, devising management strategies, and avoiding the confusions of the past

Steering without navigation equipment: the lamentable state of Australian health policy reform

Steering without navigation equipment This paper comments on some issues of particular concern to Australian health policy makers and some areas needing urgent reform. The two sets of issues do not overlap. It is suggested that there are two fundamental reasons for this. The first is the failure to develop governance structures which promote the identification and resolution of problems according to their importance. The second and related failure is the failure to equip the health services industry with satisfactory navigation equipment – independent research capacity, independent reporting and evaluation – on a scale commensurate with the needs of the country’s largest industry. These two failures together deprive the health system – as a system – of the chief driver of progress in every successful industry in the 20th Century. Concluding comment is made on the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission which, to date, appears to be following the tradition of ad hoc ‘dab ’ reform aimed, apparently, at one-off improvement rather than the creation of an adaptive, self correcting system, proactively seeking system improvement. The proposals fail to make error learning a central part of ongoing reform

Voices from the field : fifth annual Social Forestry Writing Workshop

For more about the East-West Center, see http://www.eastwestcenter.org/Contents: Managing decentralizatio​n in social forestry: a review of issues and strategies in the Philippines / Maria Victoria Sabban -- Traditional community forest management: enhancing forest conservation in Thailand / Jintana Amornsanguansin -- Developing local organization for watershed management in Sam-Mun Highland Development Project / Samer Limchoowong -- Using the principles and methodology of social forestry to manage the Yangtze River shelterbelt in China / Yang Yunhai -- Improvement of village and small household forest farms through social forestry: case study of a proposed social forestry project in Yunnan province, China / Cao Xiyun -- Implications of forest policies forestry practices in Indonesia / Djoko Widardjo -- Evaluation of forest concession maps: a case study using GPS and GIS / Sukirno Prasodjo -- Mapping customary land: a case study in Long Uli Village, East Kalimantan / Martua T. Sirait -- GIS application for social forestry programs: a case study of watershed classification for social forestry planning / Chanchai Sangchyoswat -- Diagnostic tools for social forestry in Bangladesh / Syed Iqbal Ali, Kamrul Ahsan

Emerging environmental multi-level governance in China? Environmental protests, public participation and local institution-building

Chinese state reforms have resulted in a horizontal and vertical diffusion of actors in policy making and policy implementation, leading to the creation of new collaborative institutions between government and non-government actors. At the non-governmental level, this has inter alia enabled the development of non-governmental organizations and the passage of a raft of legislation for public participation and access to information. However, the political and legal constraints imposed by the authoritarian system have meant that private citizens still find it hard to make their voice heard. Public participation legislation has suffered from an implementation gap, leading to the proliferation of environmental protests across China. For private citizens, therefore, protest outside of the formal-legal channels is a key tool to influence the policy process and demand public participation and better government accountability. There are indications that protests may result in the improvement and creation of local institutions that facilitate public participation, which in turn help to foster a new model of governance that contains features of multilevel governance