Climate and colonialism

Recent years have seen a growth in scholarship on the intertwined histories of climate, science and European imperialism. Scholarship has focused both on how the material realities of climate shaped colonial enterprises, and on how ideas about climate informed imperial ideologies. Historians have shown how European expansion was justified by its protagonists with theories of racial superiority, which were often closely tied to ideas of climatic determinism. Meanwhile, the colonial spaces established by European powers offered novel ‘laboratories’ where ideas about acclimatisation and climatic improvement could be tested on the ground. While historical scholarship has focused on how powerful ideas of climate informed imperial projects, emerging scholarship in environmental history, history of science and historical geography focuses instead on the material and cognitive practices by which the climates of colonial spaces were made known and dealt with in fields such as forestry, agriculture and human health. These heretofore rather disparate areas of historical research carry great contemporary relevance of studies of how climates and their changes have been understood, debated and adapted to in the past

Biodiversity, traditional medicine and public health: where do they meet?

Given the increased use of traditional medicines, possibilities that would ensure its successful integration into a public health framework should be explored. This paper discusses some of the links between biodiversity and traditional medicine, and addresses their implications to public health. We explore the importance of biodiversity and ecosystem services to global and human health, the risks which human impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity present to human health and welfare

The Social Dimensions of Biological Invasions in South Africa

Thischapterexaminescurrentknowledgerelatingtothehumanandsocial dimensions of biological invasions in South Africa. We do so by advancing 12 propo- sitions and examining the evidence for or against each using South African literature. The propositions cover four broad issues: how people cause invasions; how they conceptualise them; effects of invasive species on people; and peoples’ responses to them. The propositions we assess include: (1) intentional introductions were and continue to reflect the social ethos of the time; (2) people go to great lengths to ensure that newly introduced species establish themselves; (3) human-mediated modifications help invasive species to establish; (4) how people think about and study invasive species is strongly shaped by social-ecological contexts; (5) knowledge and awareness of invasive species is low amongst the general public; (6) personal values are the primary factor affecting perceptions of invasive alien species and their control; (7) specific social-ecological contexts mediate how invasive species affect people; (8) research on social effects of invasive species primarily focuses on negative impacts; (9) the negative social impacts of invasive species on local livelihoods are of more concern to people than impacts on biodiversity; (10) people are less willing to manage species regarded as ‘charismatic’; (11) social heterogeneity increases conflicts around the management of biological invasions; and (12) engagement with society is key to successful manage- ment. By advancing and questioning propositions, we were able to determine what is known, provide evidence for where gaps lie, and thus identify areas for future research

Towards best practice supervision of clinical psychology trainees

Supervision of professional practice is mandated in the training of clinical psychologists and consensually agreed to be central in such training. Supervision is intended to serve three related, but somewhat conflicting, functions: (1) normative functions of monitoring and ensuring client well-being, and monitoring and evaluating supervisee competence; (2), restorative functions of supporting supervisee personal and professional well-being; and (3) formative functions of educating and guiding supervisee's professional practice. Research suggests supervision as currently practised can achieve the restorative-and to some extent, the formative-functions of supervision. However, current supervision practice has not been demonstrated to be effective in its normative functions. Recommendations on how to enhance supervision practice are described, which include systematic assessment of supervisee competence and client outcome and options for reconciling the normative function of supervision with the other functions