Geographic Information (GI) Product Marketing through Advertisements: An Application of Content Analysis

Marketing, particularly for new products, heavily depends on advertising. Advertising creates awareness among the potential buyers of the product and also poses the product as a need even if it is a want in reality. This study analyzed contents of 1749 marketing messages of Geographic Information (GI) product advertisements over the period of two decades (1989 to 2008). A tailored methodology was developed based on the approach of Resnick and Stern (1977). The contents analyzed include changing pattern of marketing message in the area of picture and text ratio, relevancy of headline message, sub-headline message and picture to the advertised products, image colour depth, and message media.  The use of picture dominated the text in the second half of the study period. A majority of the headline messages were of a direct product descriptive nature while the use of indirect product descriptive type gained momentum lately. The use of sub-headline message was found to be comparatively low. Pictorial elements/images of the products were mirrored in a majority of the marketing messages. Photorealistic image dominated the message having the combination of both image and text. The study also revealed that marketing messages of GIS software products were dominant in the first half while it was GPS/survey product in the second half. No significant relationship was found between various elements of the GI product marketing messages. Based on the above findings, the likely future trends of GI product marketing messages were predicted. Keywords: GI products; Marketing Message; Content Analysis; Advertisement; Print medi

Planning and costing of agricultural adaptation with reference to integrated hill farming systems in Nepal.

1. Despite an existing information gap in scientific evidence regarding the effects of future changes in climate patterns and options for the future, the community-based adaptation process should nevertheless be initiated. This requires community involvement through participatory planning in order to make use of local experiences and knowledge. 2. The existing technologies at the community level, and among researchers supporting communities in undertaking adaptations to climate change, are currently inadequately disseminated. While the generation of additional technologies is regarded as a priority in the long term, transfer of already available technologies to the user community should be the immediate priority. 3. The local adaptation plan of action (LAPA) is an effective means to mainstream adaptation options in national and local governmental plans, and to support local communities in planning for adaptation. Although the initial costs of defining this methodology are high, they will decrease as soon as it is evolved and scaled up. Hence, the adaptation costs and resulting benefits will also remain at the local level. 4. The majority of the adaptation actions identified for the hill farming system in Nepal are long-term actions. In order to achieve sustainability, the adaptation actions should not be part of any project or one-time investment, but must be integrated into the regular agricultural development process. 5. Adaptation priorities for the hill farming system of Nepal mainly incorporate improved practices for integrated soil, land, hedgerow and water management – for instance, through water harvesting and small-scale irrigation measures

Turning conflict into collaboration in managing commons: A case of Rupa Lake Watershed, Nepal

A growing body of literature on the commons has provided fascinating and intricate insights on how some local institutions have successfully managed to avoid a seemingly inevitable “tragedy of the commons” once popularized by Garrett Hardin. Primarily benefitting from the recent studies on the commonpool resources conducted by Elinor Ostrom and colleagues, polycentric selforganization and autonomy, rather than the direct state or market control over the commons, are often recognized as key features of the long enduring commons.However, these commons are quite diverse and the outcomes are often multiple and complex, accentuating the needs to differentiate among multiple commons outcomes. Furthermore, relatively under-reported are the cases where the degradation of common-pool resources are actually halted, and even restored. This study examines both the turbulent history of fishery mismanagement in Rupa Lake, Nepal and its reversal built around the participation, engagement and inclusiveness in the governance of its watershed. We find that Rupa Lake’s experience tells two stories. Reflecting Hardin’s dire forecast, the Rupa Lake watershed verged on collapse as population grew and seemingly selfish behaviorintensified under an open-access regime. But the users also found a way to rebound and reverse their course as they adopted a bottom-up approach to fishery management and established an innovative community institution, the ‘Rupa Lake Rehabilitation and Fishery Cooperative’, dedicated to the sustainable governance of the commons. This case highlights how one community at the threshold of ‘tragedy’ transformed itself by turning conflict into collaboration, which we hope contributes to the effort of better understanding multiple commons

Identifying potential critical transitions in a forest ecosystem using satellite data

Ecosystems can undergo changes that are slow and gradual, or an abrupt change - a sudden nonlinear dynamics that can bring catastrophic changes and ultimately leads to the change in the structure and functioning. Non-linear and discontinuous changes sometimes may cause the system to shift into another undesirable state, called ‘regime shifts’ or ‘critical transition’. Recent model based and simulation studies have identified indicators of impending regime shifts that can be used to provide early warning signals of a critical transition or tipping points. However, these studies lack an empirical base and studies in real world ecosystems are largely missing. Therefore, this study attempted to identify potential critical transitions and tipping points in a Mediterranean type forest ecosystem. In this study, we argue that time series of enhanced vegetation index (EVI) derived from MODIS satellite images can help to identify potential tipping points and critical transitions. The long term increasing trend and changes in the statistical properties of the observed time series of metric-based early warning indicators of critical transition and tipping points - autocorrelation-at-lag-1, standard deviation and skewness are used to identify the potential transitions and tipping points. The study quantified early warning indicators for the Northern Jarrah Forest (NJF) ecosystem, but the strongest signals did not flag any forest that showed any signs of an impending shift. In contrast, it largely identified the areas that were mined in the past and are susceptible to human interference and land use change. Some forest pixels are identified but it did not show any collapse while monitored using imagery from Google Earth at different time. There might be several possible reasons why the results indicated a non-tipping forest. The possible false indication of tipping points could be possibly due to the environmental and climatic variability that might have triggered the rise in indicators to act as a source of false alarm of impending critical transition or tipping point. On the other hand, it could also be that the NJF forest ecosystem is not yet close to tipping points. This study shows that detecting critical transitions and tipping points in real world ecosystems remains challenging and may not be as promising and straightforward as suggested by simulation studies. The gaps in evidences of tipping points in real world examples could be filled by analyzing high resolution and high frequency data, integrating remote sensing with process based approach dynamic vegetation models and validate the results with ground observations.Ecosystems can undergo changes that are slow and gradual, or an abrupt change - a sudden nonlinear dynamics that can bring catastrophic changes and ultimately leads to the change in the structure and functioning. Non-linear and discontinuous changes sometimes may cause the system to shift into another undesirable state, called ‘regime shifts’ or ‘critical transition’. The critical transitions occur at a point called ‘tipping point’ – defined as a point at which a change becomes significant (i.e. crosses the threshold) that a dynamic system suddenly switches to another state. Tipping points can cause drastic changes in ecosystems in a relatively short time-span. The scientific community has accepted the concepts of critical transition theory and methods to detect early warning signals of impending regime shifts or critical transition have been developed. These were focused on spatial and temporal indicators, such as autocorrelation-at-lag-1, skewedness and variance. However, most of these studies were based on theoretical and mathematical models, and lack an empirical base. Therefore, this study attempted to identify potential critical transitions and tipping points in a real-world example by using time series of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite images. The research attempted to identify whether the areas with high levels of early warning indicators are undergoing critical transitions, and analyze if generic early warning indicators of tipping points - autocorrelation-at-lag-1, variance, and skewness increase before a critical transition in a forest ecosystem. In this study, we argue that time series of enhanced vegetation index derived from MODIS satellite images can help to identify potential tipping points and critical transitions. The long term increasing trend and changes in the statistical properties of the observed time series of metric-based early warning indicators of critical transition and tipping points - autocorrelation-at-lag-1, standard deviation and skewedness - are used to identify the potential transitions and tipping points. This study was done in Northern Jarrah Forest (NJF) located in the Southwestern Botanical Province or bioregion of Western Australia, directly east of Perth. In this study, MOD13A1 Version 6 product for vegetation index and the MCD12Q1 land cover data were used. MOD13A1 data was used to prepare and extract the time series of ecosystem variable (EVI) and test early warning indicators of tipping points. MCD12Q1 Land cover data was utilized solely to extract area of interest (AOI). The extracted time series of EVI was used to test the early warning of critical transitions in the time series. All the operations were done in R using the functionalities of raster, rts, MODIStsp and earlywarning packages. The study quantified early warning indicators for the Northern Jarrah Forest (NJF) ecosystem, but the strongest signals did not flag any forest that showed any signs of an impending shift. In contrast, it largely identified the areas that were mined in the past and are susceptible to human interference and land use change. Some forest pixels are identified but it did not show any collapse while monitored using imagery from Google Earth at different time. There might be several possible reasons why the results indicated a non-tipping forest. The possible false indication of tipping points was found possibly due to the environmental and climatic variability that might have triggered the rise in indicators to act as a source of false alarm of impending critical transition or tipping point, but alternatively, it could also be that NJF forest ecosystem is not yet close to tipping points i.e. forest is still resilient. The results show that detecting critical transitions and tipping points in real-world ecosystems may not be as promising and straightforward as suggested by model simulations. Future studies should focus on filling the gaps in evidences of tipping points in real world examples by analyzing high resolution and high frequency data, integrating remote sensing with process based approach dynamic vegetation models and validate the results with ground observations

Tourism and wetland conservation: application of travel cost and willingness to pay an entry fee at Ghodaghodi Lake Complex, Nepal

This study investigated the need and applicability of wetland tourism for resource conservation, using the case of Ghodaghodi Lake Complex, a Ramsar Site in western Nepal. The travel cost method (TCM) was used to determine the recreation potential of the lake complex, while the contingent valuation method (CVM) was used to calculate willingness of visitors to pay an entry fee as a payment vehicle for conservation. The per capita travel cost was found to be NPR 540 (US $7.71), while the mean willingness to pay an entry fee was NPR 34 (US$0.48) per visitor per entry. In addition, factors affecting wetland visitation rates and maximum willingness to pay were identified. Policy implications include the establishment of an entry fee system to offset conservation budgetary constraints, government investment in social benefits equating to at least per capita travel cost identified, and public-private partnerships, with community participation in tourism promotion and wetland conservation

An analysis of willingness to pay for community-based conservation activities at the Ghodaghodi Lake Complex, Nepal

Wetlands comprise an important ecosystem but are under threat in developing countries due to increasing human encroachment. Community-based conservation is an approach for sustainable management of the wetlands near settlements. This study investigated willingness to pay of local people for community-based conservation activities and the variables affecting it in the Ghodaghodi Lake Complex, Nepal. A sample of 217 households residing near the lake complex was surveyed. The result showed that households were willing to pay for community-based conservation activities, at an average of NPR 378 (US$5.4) per annum. The age of the household head, wetland income, agricultural income and prior experiences on participation in conservation activities positively affected household's willingness to pay. Government expenditure of at least the amount of willingness to pay estimated by this study for the community-based conservation activities would be economically and environmentally justified