Poverty transition through targeted programme: the case of Bangladesh Poultry Model

Poverty transition through a capacity development programme called the Bangladesh Poultry Model is assessed using self-assessment dimension in a quasi experiment framework. Current poverty situation is compared with money metric measure. The programme involves longer term intervention towards building the strength of stakeholders such as government department, NGOs, village organisations and women beneficiaries. A number of key questions related to poverty transition through poultry based activities, heterogeneity in livelihood choice and its impact on household welfare, extent of poverty reduction etc. are answered for policy recommendations. Data are drawn from a survey of 400 beneficiary households in 2006; about 50% of them are survivors in the programme. Poverty profiles, transition matrices and regression analysis using asset-base framework are used to analyse data. Results are discussed along with recommendations and policy implications. Adaptation of the programme in several countries is also reviewed briefly using published information to discuss wider implications.Bangladesh, Poultry, Poverty, Asset-base Framework, O3, Q16,

'Two-speed' Scotland : patterns and implications of the digital divide in contemporary Scotland

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Organic chemicals of environmental concern : water sampling and analytical challenges

Author Posting. © The Oceanography Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of The Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 27, no. 1 (2014): 214–216, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2014.24.A detailed understanding of the biogeochemical cycles of organic chemicals of environmental concern (OCEC) in the ocean requires measurement of their concentrations in the water column. Obtaining these measurements remains a major challenge. Those of us who have attempted low concentration OCEC measurements in open ocean seawater know that research vessels can be considered a floating cloud of contaminants of the same or interfering compounds, as is true for trace metals

Land Rental Markets in India: Efficiency and Equity Considerations

Despite the fact that land rental is restricted to varying degrees in India, the participation in this market is widespread and it is observed to operate relatively efficiently in 12 villages studied in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The estimated probit models predicted that the rental market transferred land to those with relatively smaller holdings, but greater ability to make productive use of land, more assets to invest, more adults available for labour and fewer off-farm opportunities. Also land is rented out predominantly to younger farmers and to farmers not involved in off-farm jobs. Renting in is predicted to be relatively higher in the villages which are remote and weakly integrated into mainstream infrastructure and institutions. Land rental markets make an important contribution towards land use redistribution in the villages where land rental is high and where land distribution without land rental is relatively more unequal. The study recommends that existing policies restricting land rental should be eased, and investment towards infrastructure development and off-farm employment generating projects expanded.land rental markets, economic efficiency, equity, India, Land Economics/Use,

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and plastics : examples of the status, trend, and cycling of organic chemicals of environmental concern in the ocean

Author Posting. © The Oceanography Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of The Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 27, no. 1 (2014): 196–213, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2014.23.Four decades of research have provided a reasonable understanding of the outline of the biogeochemical cycles of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in coastal ocean and surface ocean ecosystems, including atmospheric transport to the sea, air-sea exchange processes, and the role of particulate matter in removing these chemicals from surface waters. It is clear that deep ocean fish are contaminated with POPs. However, despite available sampling and analytical capabilities, deep ocean ecosystems are much less sampled and understood. A multidecade assessment of POPs and PAHs in US coastal waters using bivalve sentinel organisms documents high concentrations near urban areas and also some stations where concentrations have begun to decline. The results are consistent with coastal sediments near urban areas being a leaky sink for POPs and PAHs, and sources from land continuing to contribute these contaminants to the sea. Other studies document coastal and continental margin surface sediments as a sink, albeit a potentially leaky sink, for POPs and PAHs. Floating plastic debris, including small pellets, has reemerged as an oceanic environmental concern. A "Pellet Watch" assessing plastic pellets and associated POPs and PAHs is underway. Enhanced studies of deep-ocean ecosystems are recommended. The findings are also relevant to biogeochemical cycles for emerging organic pollutants

Changing ocean chemistry : an introduction to this special issue

Author Posting. © The Oceanography Society, 2014. This article is posted here by permission of The Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 27, no. 1 (2014): 12–15, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2014.03.The modern industrialized and urbanized world, dubbed the "Anthropocene" by Paul Crutzen (2006), includes the past 250 years of multiple human impacts. Nobel Prize winner and atmospheric chemist Crutzen states: During the past 3 centuries human population increased tenfold to 6,000 million, growing by a factor of four during the past century alone. More than half of all accessible fresh water is used by mankind. Fisheries remove more than 25% of the primary production of the oceans in the upwelling regions and 35% in the temperature continental shelf regions. 30–50% of the world's land surface has been transformed by human action. Coastal wetlands have lost 50% of the world's mangroves. More nitrogen is now fixed synthetically and applied as fertilizers in agriculture than fixed naturally in all terrestrial ecosystems. Many of the world's rivers have been dammed or diverted.US National Science Foundation for funding this special issue