Landscape change and the sustainable development strategy of different types of ethnic villages driven by the grain for Green Program

The Grain for Green Program (GGP) is an important ecological project in China that was implemented to tackle serious soil erosion and forest loss for sustainable development. Investigating landscape change is an efficient way to monitor and assess the implementation of GGP. In this paper, 180 ethnic villages, including 36 Miao and Dong (MD) villages with combined populations of Miao people and Dong people, 65 Dong villages, and 79 Miao villages in Qiandongnan Prefecture were selected to investigate the influence of GGP on ethnic villages by evaluating the landscape changes before and after the implementation of the GGP within 1-km and 2-km distance buffers around ethnic villages. The results show that the GGP has more significant positive impacts on reforestation around Miao villages than Dong villages and MD villages because Miao villages are mostly located in higher and steeper areas, which are the focus of the GGP. Based on the analysis, a continuation of the GGP in Qiandongnan Prefecture is recommended, as it can incentivize the recovery of forest cover in steeper slopes. More attention should now be paid to the Dong villages and MD villages, which were not previously a focus of the GGP

Giant palaeo-landslide dammed the Yangtze river

Field evidence is presented to demonstrate that a very large landslide blocked the Jinsha River (the main stem of the Yangtze) near the present day town of Qiaojia, Yunnan Province. The discovery is significant because no persistent river-blocking landslide has been reported so far downstream in a major catchment. At the location of the landslide dam the upstream catchment area is 445 × 103 km^2. Sediments deposited behind the dam indicate that the minimum crest height was approximately 200 m with a lake volume of 11.4 +/− 1.3 km^3. The landslide occurred on the western (Sichuan) side of the river and displaced an estimated volume of at least 3.75 km^3, with material riding up to 550 m above the river on the eastern (Yunnan) side of the valley. The location is at the intersection of the Xiaojiang and Zemuhe fault zones which form part of the eastern boundary fault of the Sichuan-Yunnan Fault Block, an area where many earthquakes exceeding magnitude 7.0 have been documented in the historical record

Future improvements on performance of an EU landfill directive driven municipal solid waste management for a city in England

Sustainable municipal solid waste (MSW) management is regarded as one of the key elements for achieving urban sustainability via mitigating global climate change, recycling resources and recovering energy. Landfill is considered as the least preferable disposal method and the EU Landfill Directive (ELD) announced in 1999 requires member countries to reduce the volume of landfilled biodegradable materials. The enforcement of ELD initiated the evolution of MSW management system UK. This study depicted and assessed the transition and performance of MSW management after the millennium in Nottingham via materials flow analysis (MFA), as well as appropriately selected indicators based on the concept of waste management hierarchy and targets set in waste management regulations. We observed improvements in waste reduction, material recycling, energy recovery, and landfill prevention. During the period 2001/02 to 2016/17, annual waste generation reduced from 463 kg/Ca to 361 kg/Ca, the recycling and composting share increased from 4.6% to 44.4%, and the landfill share reduced from 54.7% to 7.3%. These signs of progress are believed to be driven by the ELD and the associated policies and waste management targets established at the national and local levels. An alternative scenario with food waste and textile separation at source and utilizing anaerobic digestion to treat separately collected organic waste is proposed at the end of this paper to fulfil the high targets set by local government and we further suggest that the recycling share may be improved by educating and supporting the public on waste separation at the sources

Our friend in the north: the origins, evolution and appeal of the cult of St Duthac of Tain in later Middle Ages

St Duthac of Tain was one of the most popular Scottish saints of the later middle ages. From the late fourteenth century until the reformation devotion to Duthac outstripped that of Andrew, Columba, Margaret and Mungo, and Duthac's shrine in Easter Ross became a regular haunt of James IV (1488-1513) and James V (1513-42). Hitherto historians have tacitly accepted the view of David McRoberts that Duthac was one of several local saints whose emergence and popularity in the fifteenth century was part of a wider self-consciously nationalist trend in Scottish religious practice. This study looks beyond the paradigm of nationalism to trace and explain the popularity of St Duthac from the shadowy origins of the cult to its heyday in the early sixteenth century

Non-invasive multiresidue screening methods for the determination of pesticides in heritage collections

This paper describes the development of a novel non-invasive sampling and analysis method that can be used to assess the presence of volatile pesticides on objects held in heritage collections. Vapour phase sampling was conducted using sampling tubes loaded with Tenax-TA™ and trapped analytes were determined using thermal desorption-gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS). The results of this study are presented in a simple ‘decision tree’ diagram to provide the heritage sector with the best methods to identify the presence of pesticides in collections. To illustrate the use of the methodology developed, the results from two case studies in heritage institutions are presented. Attempts were made to measure a range of pesticides, known to have been used in heritage collections, in the vapour phase including aldrin, camphor, chloronaphthalene, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (4,4′-DDT), dichlorvos, dieldrin, endrin, a mixture of α-, β-, γ- and δ-hexachlorocyclohexane (hereafter referred to as HCH), naphthalene, and thymol. Of the analytes included in this study, as expected 4,4′-DDT was not sufficiently volatile to be detected in the vapour phase and swab sampling (using hexane) is recommended for this analyte. After method development and validation, the air inside a display case (Swiss Cottage, Isle of Wight) was sampled. The results gave a positive identification for camphor, chloronaphthalene and naphthalene. In contrast, the air around a ceremonial dance mask from the British Museum was analysed but no volatile pesticides were identified. In this case, liquid chromatographic analysis of swab samples from the mask yielded a positive identification of dichlorvos. The proposed non-invasive sampling methods require sampling of a volume of air around an object. To be detected the pesticide must possess suitable volatility. It was demonstrated that camphor, chloronaphthalene, naphthalene and thymol could be successfully trapped onto Tenax TA™ sorbent tubes and pseudo-quantitatively analysed using TD-GC-MS. Dichlorvos, HCH, aldrin, dieldrin and endrin were also trapped onto Tenax TA™ and qualitatively detected by TD-GC-MS. Although a key objective of the developed methods was non-invasive sampling, the low volatility of 4,4′-DDT precluded it from vapour phase monitoring and hexane swabbing followed by HPLC analysis was required

Land degradation, conservation and globalization: a Mediterranean perspective LOCAL ENVIRONMENTS, SUSTAINABILITY AND GLOBAL TRADES: THEORETICAL ISSUES LAND DEGRADATION, CONSERVATION AND GLOBALIZATION: A MEDITERRANEAN PERSPECTIVE

To cite th is article / Pou r citer cet article ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABSTRACT The era of globalization poses new challenges to the sustainable use of soil and water as rapid population growth, expansion of urban areas and creation of new markets, both local and afar, elevate production demand and expectations on the fragile soils. One of the main objectives of the Concerted Action has been to co-ordinate research efforts on the sustainable use of soil and water at the interface between urbanization, agriculture and tourism. But how have existing attempts to manage soil and water resources faired? The paper explores the conflicts between the control of land use for the sustainable use of soil and water and the pressure for land use change exerted by opportunities in the globalizing economy. Promoting sustainable use of soil and water is a difficult task in the Mediterranean environments as it requires a sound basis for the scientific judgement of sustainability, alternatives to market controls on land use decisions and effective dissemination of appropriate measures and technologies

International perspectives on the effectiveness of geography fieldwork for learning

This article is not available through ChesterRep.This article discusses assumptions on the effectiveness of fieldwork as a mode of learning in geography. This is approached from an international perspective, both in the review of available evidence, which demonstrates a need for rigorous research into the issue, and in providing preliminary findings of research into the value of fieldwork from universities across three continents.This article was submitted to the RAE2008 for the University of Chester - Geography & Environmental Studies