Solving the housing crisis without building new houses

There is a cross-party consensus that the way to tackle the housing crisis is to build more homes. But this approach isn’t working, and does little to address inequality and the environmental impacts of construction. Instead, governments should be pursuing innovative policies that make efficient use of the existing housing stock, of which there is plenty, argue Charlotte Rogers and Ian Gough

Fair decarbonisation of housing in the UK: a sufficiency approach

This paper addresses a neglected aspect of the UK housing crisis: how to rapidly but fairly decarbonise the housing stock to meet tough net zero targets while meeting housing needs of the entire population. To do so the authors adopt a radical approach based on sufficiency. The sufficiency approach is based on determining both a housing floor – a decent minimum standard for all – and a housing ceiling - above which lies unsustainable excess. The authors define these thresholds in terms of bedrooms and floorspace and analyse the distribution of housing in England. They find that excess housing is widespread, concentrated in home ownership, particularly outright ownership, and characterised by above average emissions per square metre. They conclude that current policies based solely on energy efficiency and increasing housing supply cannot achieve agreed decarbonisation goals while securing decent accommodation for those who are housing deprived. To do this will require new policies that distinguish between sufficient and excess housing and more effective use of the housing stock to meet housing needs within planetary boundaries

Temporal Change and Fishing Down Food Webs in Small-Scale Fisheries in Morondava, Madagascar

Small-scale fisheries (SSFs) are often undervalued and unmanaged as a result of a lack of data. A study of SSFs in Menabe, western Madagascar in 1991 found diverse catches and a productive fishery with some evidence of declining catches. Here we compare data collected at the same landing site in 1991 and 2011. 2011 had seven times greater total monthly landings due to more people fishing and higher individual catches. Catch composition showed a lower mean trophic level in 2011 indicating overfishing, the true extent of which may be masked due to changes in technology and fishing behaviours. Limited management action since 2011 means these trends have likely continued and an urgent need for both greater understanding, and management of these fisheries remains if they are to continue providing food and income for fishing communities

Assessing direct contributions of morphological awareness and prosodic sensitivity to children’s word reading and reading comprehension

We examined the independent contributions of prosodic sensitivity and morphological awareness to word reading, text reading accuracy, and reading comprehension. We did so in a longitudinal study of English-speaking children (N = 70). At 5 to 7 years of age, children completed the metalinguistic measures along with control measures of phonological awareness and vocabulary. Children completed the reading measures two years later. Morphological awareness, but not prosodic sensitivity made a significant independent contribution to word reading, text reading accuracy and reading comprehension. The effects of morphological awareness on reading comprehension remained after controls for word reading. These results suggest that morphological awareness needs to be considered seriously in models of reading development and that prosodic sensitivity might have primarily indirect relations to reading outcomes. Keywords: Morphological Awareness; Prosody; Word Reading; Reading Comprehension

Small-scale fisheries, food security, and the SSF Guidelines: value chain challenges in two community-managed fisheries in western Madagascar

Madagascar, among the world’s poorest countries, depends heavily on small-scale fisheries for food security and income. Many of its fisheries have transitioned from subsistence- to market-oriented in recent decades, driven by the emergence of new export markets. In this chapter we consider the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (‘SSF Guidelines’) in light of experiences from two small-scale fisheries in Madagascar: for octopus (Octopus cyanea) and mud crab (Scylla serrata). We focus on articles related to value chains, post-harvest and trade. The dispersed nature of the fisheries means fishers rely on private sector collectors to access markets. Post-harvest actors hold disproportionate negotiating power, with benefits from management initiatives accruing mainly to actors high in the value chain rather than the fishers who implement them. To address these imbalances and increase the contribution of these fisheries to poverty reduction and food security, it is critical to empower fishers and improve their representation in management processes. Data deficiencies must also be tackled, to enhance transparency and provide an evidence base for decision-making

A decade and a half of learning from Madagascar’s first locally managed marine area

While the participatory management of small scale fisheries has been widely promoted, we have limited understanding of the factors influencing its effectiveness. Here, we highlight lessons learnt from the implementation of Madagascar’s first locally managed marine area (LMMA), drawing on our insights and experiences as staff of a co-managing non-governmental organisation (NGO). We describe the LMMA’s context and history, and highlight aspects of our approach that we feel underpin its outcomes, including: i) co-management rather than community-management, ii) the permanent field presence of a supporting NGO, iii) a management focus on locally-important natural resources, iv) the implementation of poverty-alleviation initiatives aimed at reducing barriers to management, v) decision-making by resource users rather than scientists, vi) a diversified, entrepreneurial funding model, and vii) an emphasis on monitoring and adaptive management. We also highlight several challenges, including: i) the inability to influence fishery supply chains, ii) promoting participation and good governance, iii) promoting rule application, iv) standing up to outsiders, v) promoting environmental management in the long term, and vi) maintaining funding. Our experiences suggest that small scale fishers can be effective natural resource managers in low income contexts, but may need extended support from outsiders; however the role of supporting NGO is nuanced and complex

Participatory planning of a community-based payments for ecosystem services initiative in Madagascar’s mangroves

Although the dynamics of coastal resources are largely determined by the impacts of human users, spatially-explicit social data are rarely systematically integrated into coastal management planning in data-poor developing states. In order to plan a community-based mangrove payments for ecosystem services initiative in southwest Madagascar, we used two participatory approaches – public participation geographic information systems and concept modelling workshops – with 10 coastal communities to investigate the dynamics and spatial distribution of the mangrove resources they use. In each village we conducted participatory mapping of land and resource use with different livelihood groups using printed satellite images, and concept modelling workshops to develop concept models of the mangrove social-ecological system (including identification of threats and underlying drivers and proposal of targeted management strategies). Each community then proposed mangrove zoning consisting of strict conservation zones, sustainable use zones and restoration zones. Following validation and ground-truthing, the zones and management strategies proposed formed the basis of the zoning and management plan for the mangrove. Participatory approaches proved a simple and reliable way to gather spatial data and better understand the relationships between the mangrove and those who use it. Moreover, participation stimulated mangrove users to consider resource trends, the impacts of their activities, and required management actions, promoting a collective ‘buy-in’ for the project. Since participation extended beyond research to the development of management zones, rules and strategies, we believe that community ownership of the project has been strengthened and the chances of successfully conserving the mangrove improved

The labels and models used to describe problematic substance use impact discrete elements of stigma: A Registered Report

Objectives: Problematic substance use is one of the most stigmatised health conditions leading research to examine how the labels and models used to describe it influence public stigma. Two recent studies examine whether beliefs in a disease model of addiction influence public stigma but result in equivocal findings – in line with the mixed-blessings model, Kelly et al. (2021) found that whilst the label ‘chronically relapsing brain disease’ reduced blame attribution, it decreased prognostic optimism and increased perceived danger and need for continued care; however, Rundle et al. (2021) conclude absence of evidence. This study isolates the different factors used in these two studies to assess whether health condition (drug use vs. health concern), aetiological label (brain disease vs. problem), and attributional judgement (low vs. high treatment stability) influence public stigma towards problematic substance use. Methods: 1613 participants were assigned randomly to one of eight vignette conditions that manipulated these factors. They completed self-report measures of discrete and general public stigma and an indirect measure of discrimination. Results: Greater social distance, danger, and public stigma but lower blame were ascribed to drug use relative to a health concern. Greater (genetic) blame was reported when drug use was labelled as a ‘chronically relapsing brain disease’ relative to a ‘problem’. Findings for attributional judgement were either inconclusive or statistically equivalent. Discussion: The labels used to describe problematic substance use appear to impact discrete elements of stigma. We suggest that addiction is a functional attribution, which may explain the mixed literature on the impact of aetiological labels on stigma to date

Predicting and Validating Protein Interactions Using Network Structure

Protein interactions play a vital part in the function of a cell. As experimental techniques for detection and validation of protein interactions are time consuming, there is a need for computational methods for this task. Protein interactions appear to form a network with a relatively high degree of local clustering. In this paper we exploit this clustering by suggesting a score based on triplets of observed protein interactions. The score utilises both protein characteristics and network properties. Our score based on triplets is shown to complement existing techniques for predicting protein interactions, outperforming them on data sets which display a high degree of clustering. The predicted interactions score highly against test measures for accuracy. Compared to a similar score derived from pairwise interactions only, the triplet score displays higher sensitivity and specificity. By looking at specific examples, we show how an experimental set of interactions can be enriched and validated. As part of this work we also examine the effect of different prior databases upon the accuracy of prediction and find that the interactions from the same kingdom give better results than from across kingdoms, suggesting that there may be fundamental differences between the networks. These results all emphasize that network structure is important and helps in the accurate prediction of protein interactions. The protein interaction data set and the program used in our analysis, and a list of predictions and validations, are available at http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/bioinfo/resources/PredictingInteractions