Gender Differences in the Relation Between Locus of Control and Physiological Responses

The relationship between locus of control and the physiological responses of heart rate (HR) and electrodermal activity (EDA) was investigated in 30 males and 31 females during an arithmetic task. The Levenson\u27s Internal, Powerful Others and Chance (IPC) scales (Levenson, 1974) were used to assess the various degrees of internality for each subject. Additionally, to determine each subject\u27s physiological Lability or Stability (LS), EDA was measured by recording spontaneous skin conductance responses during a ten minute rest period and to a tone (an Orienting Response (OR) task). A simple difficulty effect was found on the performance scores across the three levels of difficulty for all subjects. There was an inverse relationship between the I and C scales and the EDA, but no gender differences were found. Males, however, showed more electrodermal spontaneous fluctuations than females

Comparison of a systemic modelling of farm vulnerability and classical methods to appraise flood damage on agricultural activities

International audienceIn Europe, economic appraisals of flood management projects, generally Cost-Benefit Analysis, become a commonly used decision tool. At the same time, new flood management policies that may have strong impacts on farms, are promoted, i.e. floodplain restoration and vulnerability mitigation. Since damage must be estimated to estimate the benefits in a CBA, flood damage estimation on agricultural areas becomes an issue to tackle. In this paper, firstly, a review of existing methods to appraise flood damage on agricultural areas shows the gap between qualitative approaches that underline the complexity of flood damage on farm and the simplification made in flood damage appraisal methods. It confirms that the majority only take into account crop loss, simplification that may be irrelevant to appraise new policies. Moreover, modelling assumptions are often implicit and hardly questionable. Secondly, EVA model which has been designed to estimate and monetize damage categories, that were not taken into account before, is presented and assumptions modelling have been described as explicitly as possible. Third, a test bench of EVA model on a farm type is proposed to simulate damage distribution and when possible, to compare the results with existing methods. More than the figures, the interesting part of our work is to point and try to explain differences. Finally, the outlooks concerning the use of the model at a larger scale are discussed. The main contribution is to open the black boxes that are usually used to appraise flood damage in order to make modelling assumptions more explicit and questionable by experts and decision-makers

The economic and livelihood value of provisioning services of the Ga-Mampa wetland, South Africa

The size of the Ga-Mampa wetland (1 km2), in the Olifants River catchment in South Africa, was halved between 1996 and 2004. This jeopardizes the ecological integrity and influences the benefits people obtain from the wetland. This study therefore analysed the economic values of the provisioning services derived from the Ga-Mampa wetland and evaluated their contribution to the livelihoods of local stakeholders. Using a direct market valuation technique and based on a mix of data collection approaches that include questionnaire survey, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, field observation and measurements and collection of market prices, we estimated the economic value of the main provisioning services provided by the wetland (collection of edible plants, crop production, livestock grazing, fishing, hunting, fuel-wood, reeds and sedge collection). The results show that the contribution of the wetland to the livelihoods of local community, estimated at an annual net financial value of $211 per household, far exceeds its annual cash income of$35 per household and is about half of the average monthly cash income from all income sources. Crop production contributes the highest gross and net financial value, whereas sedge collection yields the highest cash income. Most of the materials harvested from the wetland are used for household subsistence and are rarely sold. In addition to their economic and livelihood value, the wetland services are also essential to sustain the social and cultural responsibilities in gift giving to neighbours and relatives. The study concludes that the local people are highly dependent on the wetland ecosystem services in many ways but that current use exceeds sustainability levels, which jeopardizes their future livelihoods. We therefore recommend that the local stakeholders be supported in identifying alternative sources of livelihoods while simultaneously developing sustainable management strategies for small wetlands such as Ga-Mampa. In addition, other ecosystem services (regulating, supporting and cultural, including recreational benefits) provided by the wetland to local and downstream stakeholders need to be further studied and economically assessed.ZONE HUMIDE;ECOSYSTEME;GESTION DE L'EAU;ANALYSE ECONOMIQUE;VALEUR NON MARCHANDE;AFRIQUE DU SUD;ECONOMIC VALUATION;LIVELIHOOD ANALYSIS;MARKET VALUATION;PROVISIONING SERVICES;WETLAND ECOSYSTEMS

Risk-sharing policies in the context of the French Flood Prevention Action Programmes

This article analyzes the consequences for risk distribution of the French Flood Prevention Action Programme (PAPI). By redirecting floods from the most vulnerable to the least vulnerable areas, PAPIs expose farmers to greater flood risks. This has led local water management institutions to introduce compensation payments. The article outlines the results of an exhaustive survey of all PAPI programmes in France, which examined the way the compensation policies are set up locally. Results of the survey showed that the proposed policies may be financially non-viable. Several more viable risk-sharing solutions are then discussed, involving insurance schemes, state intervention and local institutions.flood risk management; flood storage; washland creation; risk transfer; compensation payments; insurance; floodplain restoration; over-flooding; damage assessment.

Des outils en appui aux gestionnaires des inondations : méthodes d'évaluation économiques et implication des habitants. Application à la gestion des inondations sur la basse vallée de l'Orb

National audienceSession 7 Outils: re-questionner l'évaluation. Ce document rassemble trois articles: 1. Des outils en appui aux gestionnaires des inondations : méthodes d'évaluation économiques et moyens d'implication des habitants 2. Comment évaluer les effets de la modélisation participative dans l'émergence d'une gouvernance territoriale ? 3. Démarches participatives et asymétries de pouvoir : éliciter et interroger les positionnement

De la vulnérabilité de la parcelle à celle de l'exploitation agricole : un changement d'échelle nécessaire pour l'évaluation économique des projets de gestion des inondations

En France, peu de travaux ont été consacrés à la caractérisation de la vulnérabilité des zones agricoles exposées aux inondations, encore moins à son utilisation dans le cadre d'une évaluation économique de politique de gestion des inondations. Nous proposons dans cet article un modèle conceptuel de la vulnérabilité agricole pouvant servir à une telle évaluation, lorsque les politiques visent à une modification de l'événement physique à l'origine de l'inondation ou à une modification de la vulnérabilité des enjeux exposés à cet événement. / Flood management policies promoted by French government impact agriculture land in two ways. Firstly, they may be designated as potential areas for flood expansion. Secondly, since the 2003 law, local authorities have the right to flood these areas more than those which have been deemed to be more vulnerable (urban areas). Meanwhile, policy-driven appraisals of flood management projects are becoming commonplace in France. This highlights the need to better understand agricultural vulnerability and to develop methods for quantifying it. To introduce our approach, we first present the research conducted by Plan Loire which marks a shift away from existing practices of agriculture vulnerability assessment by considering vulnerability at the farm scale rather than at the plot scale. Based on ex-post flood damage assessment and the results of stakeholders questionnaires in the agricultural sector, forty seven determinants of farm vulnerability to flooding were identified and classified. These determinants were used to draft a guide for farmers. This guide aims to highlight the impacts their farm activities could face in case of flooding and to identify measures to mitigate their vulnerability. At the present, this guide is used along the Rhone River and will be probably used along the Loire River in the future. The current application of these guides to mitigate vulnerability of farms revealed the need for further research which is partly presented here. By focusing on the farming system, we aimed at providing a framework to economically assess agricultural vulnerability to flooding. Firstly, we identified flood effects at the farming system scale including possible interactions with the territorial scale, in order to propose a conceptual model which provides a framework for economic assessment. Finally, we discuss the implications for projects economic appraisal. The provided framework for agricultural vulnerability assessment would enable a selection of most efficient measures to mitigate farm vulnerability using a ratio depending on the agricultural context. It would also help to prioritize projects to reduce vulnerability by economic appraisal at a wider spatial scale such as water basin

La méthode Inondabilité : appropriation par les hydrologues de la vulnérabilité dans le diagnostic sur le risque d'inondation

Direction d'ouvrage : Sylvia Becerra et Anne PeltierLa méthode Inondabilité a été développée dans les années 1990 par le Cemagref pour disposer d'un outil d'évaluation du risque d'inondation à l'échelle du bassin versant et proposer un cadre de négociation sur la notion de risque acceptable. Elle repose sur l'idée d'exprimer aléa (intensité physique du phénomène naturel) et vulnérabilité (sensibilité d'un usage du sol aux inondations) avec une même unité hydrologique, la période de retour. Pour l'aléa, il s'agit de la période de retour de la première crue inondante. Pour la vulnérabilité, l'usager indique le niveau de protection souhaité en terme de période de retour, le corollaire étant qu'il accepte ou tolère d'être inondé par des crues plus importantes. Après un rappel sur les principes de la méthode Inondabilité, nous présentons une discussion sur la définition hydrologique de la vulnérabilité, et un travail complémentaire effectué sur l'évaluation économique du consentement à payer pour bénéficier de mesures de protection contre les inondations. / The Inondabilite method has been developed in the nineties by Cemagref as a tool for flood risk assessment at a basin scale. The main idea was to propose a framework of negotiation on acceptable flood risk. Both components, flood hazard and flood vulnerabilty were defined as a return period, the former being related to the first overflowing event, the latter being related to the expected level of protection. After a presentation on the Inondabilite framework, a discussion gives the advantages and limitations of such hydrological assessment of flood vulnerability. A complementary work is presented on the economical assessment of the willingness of population to pay for flood risk mitigation

Review Article: "Flood damage assessment on agricultural areas: review and analysis of existing methods"

In Europe, economic evaluation of flood management projects is becoming a commonly used decision tool. At the same time, flood management policies shift towards new concepts such as giving more room to water by restoring floodplain and living with floods. Agricultural areas are particularly targeted by these policies since they are more frequently located in floodplain areas and are considered less vulnerable than other assets such as cities or industries. Since additional or avoided damage on agriculture may have a high influence on the efficiency of these policies, flood damage assessment on agricultural areas becomes an issue to tackle. This paper reviews existing studies addressing the question of flood damage on agriculture. Based on 41 studies, which can be qualitative or quantitative approaches, we propose a conceptual framework to analyze evaluation methods. Then, 26 studies which propose a method to evaluate agricultural damage are analyzed according to the following criterias: types of damage considered, influencing flood parameters chosen and monetized damage indicators used. The main findings of this review are that existing methods focus mainly on crop damage and do not allow correct evaluation of new flood management policies. Finally, future research challenges and recommendations for practitioners are highlighted

La méthode Inondabilité : appropriation par les hydrologues de la vulnérabilité dans le diagnostic sur le risque d'inondation

La méthode Inondabilité a été développée dans les années 1990 par le Cemagref pour disposer d'un outil d'évaluation du risque d'inondation à l'échelle du bassin versant et proposer un cadre de négociation sur la notion de risque acceptable. Elle repose sur l'idée d'exprimer aléa (intensité physique du phénomène naturel) et vulnérabilité (sensibilité d'un usage du sol aux inondations) avec une même unité hydrologique, la période de retour. Pour l'aléa, il s'agit de la période de retour de la première crue inondante. Pour la vulnérabilité, l'usager indique le niveau de protection souhaité en terme de période de retour, le corollaire étant qu'il accepte ou tolère d'être inondé par des crues plus importantes. Après un rappel sur les principes de la méthode Inondabilité, nous présentons une discussion sur la définition hydrologique de la vulnérabilité, et un travail complémentaire effectué sur l'évaluation économique du consentement à payer pour bénéficier de mesures de protection contre les inondations. / The Inondabilite method has been developed in the nineties by Cemagref as a tool for flood risk assessment at a basin scale. The main idea was to propose a framework of negotiation on acceptable flood risk. Both components, flood hazard and flood vulnerabilty were defined as a return period, the former being related to the first overflowing event, the latter being related to the expected level of protection. After a presentation on the Inondabilite framework, a discussion gives the advantages and limitations of such hydrological assessment of flood vulnerability. A complementary work is presented on the economical assessment of the willingness of population to pay for flood risk mitigation.Inondabilité; Vulnerabilité; Crue; Evaluation des risques; Economie; Aléa; Consentement à payer