Predicting water availability in the Antarctic dry valleys using GIS and remote sensing

Water is one of the most important ingredients for life on Earth. The presence or absence of biologically available water determines whether or not life will exist. In Antarctica most water exists as ice and is not available for sustaining life. It is usually only during December and January that temperatures will rise above zero and melt water becomes available (Kennedy, 1993). For this reason Antarctica is regarded as the driest desert in the world (Peck et al., 2006, McKnight et al., 1999)

Population need and geographical access to general practitioners in rural New Zealand

To use a geographical information system (GIS) approach to demonstrate the extent to which different areas in New Zealand vary in their geographical access to GPs, and to analyse the extent to which spatial access varies in relation to different population groups. Methods Three methods; population/GP ratios, least cost path analysis (LCPA), and an allocation method (which considered the capacity constraint of GPs) were used to demonstrate differences in geographic accessibility to GPs. Travel time, and distance to the closest GP, was calculated for every census enumeration district in New Zealand (n=38336)—thus enabling population-based accessibility statistics to be calculated and aggregated to the territorial local authority level. These calculations include the average travel time if everybody visited a GP once and the population more than 30 minutes from a GP. The composition of this population is analysed according to three criteria of need: the level of deprivation (NZDep2001), ethnicity (%Maori), and age (% <5 years, and %65 years and over). Results There are significant regional variations in geographical accessibility in New Zealand, and these differences are dependent upon the method to calculate accessibility. Ratio measures give a different picture of GP access than the other two indicators, reflecting the fact that TAs with similar ratios often have wide variations in travel times as well as the size and proportion of the population living more than 30 minutes from the closest GP. TAs with larger numbers and a higher proportion of their populations living in such areas tend to be more deprived and have a higher proportion of Maori, especially in the North Island. There appears to be no significant trend by age. Conclusion Given the health and service consequences of poor access, the results suggest that more attention needs to be paid to extending the spatial information base in primary care, in order to achieve more effective planning of services for disadvantaged populations

Protection against judicially compelled disclosure of the identity of news gatherers' confidential sources in common law jurisdictions

In many common law liberal democracies today, news gatherers are resisting efforts to use the powers of the courts to compel them to identify their confidential sources. Often the struggles are epic. Often the public interest in effective news gathering fuelling the vitality of a modern liberal democracy is insufficiently recognised. The article uses recent cases to spotlight the shortfalls in the approach and legacy of the common law in dealing with news gatherer/confidential source relationships. Post Human Rights Act English decisions, especially that of Tugendhat J in Ackroyd, combining European style commitment to the public interest in vigorous newsgathering with common law style analysis of evidence, point the way to a more effective approach. US and Hong Kong cases remind news gatherers of their public interest responsibilities.postprin

Developing a conceptual model of marine farming in New Zealand

Survey and Geographic Information System (GIS) data analysis describes the relative influence of biophysical and human variables on site choices made by marine farmers in New Zealand. Community conflicts have grown in importance in determining farm location and different government planning strategies leave distinct signature patterns. Recent legislation empowers local governments to choose among three strategies for future regional aquaculture development. This paper suggests each strategy could result in different spatial outcomes. Simulation modelling of the type described here can provide a better understanding of farmer responses to management approaches and the range of futures that could result from planning choices made today

Bringing nature back into cities: urban land environments, indigenous cover and urban restoration

1. The restoration of urban ecosystems is an increasingly important strategy to maintain and enhance indigenous biodiversity as well as reconnecting people to the environment. High levels of endemism, the sensitivity of species that have evolved without humans, and the invasion of exotic species have all contributed to severe depletion of indigenous biodiversity in New Zealand. In this work, we analysed national patterns of urban biodiversity in New Zealand and the contribution that urban restoration can make to maximising and enhancing indigenous biodiversity. 2. We analysed data from two national databases in relation to the 20 largest New Zealand cities. We quantified existing indigenous biodiversity within cities, both within the core built up matrix and in centroid buffer zones of 5, 10 and 20 km around this urban centre. We analysed the type and frequency of land environments underlying cities as indicators of the range of native ecosystems that are (or can potentially be) represented within the broader environmental profile of New Zealand. We identified acutely threatened land environments that are represented within urban and periurban areas and the potential role of cities in enhancing biodiversity from these land environments. 3. New Zealand cities are highly variable in both landform and level of indigenous resource. Thirteen of 20 major land environments in New Zealand are represented in cities, and nearly three-quarters of all acutely threatened land environments are represented within 20 km of city cores nationally. Indigenous land cover is low within urban cores, with less than 2% on average remaining, and fragmentation is high. However, indigenous cover increases to more than 10% on average in the periurban zone, and the size of indigenous remnants also increases. The number of remaining indigenous landcover types also increases from only 5 types within the urban centre, to 14 types within 20 km of the inner urban cores. 4. In New Zealand, ecosystem restoration alone is not enough to prevent biodiversity loss from urban environments, with remnant indigenous cover in the urban core too small (and currently too degraded) to support biodiversity long-term. For some cities, indigenous cover in the periurban zone is also extremely low. This has significant ramifications for the threatened lowland and coastal environments that are most commonly represented in cities. Reconstruction of ecosystems is required to achieve a target of 10% indigenous cover in cities: the addition of land to land banks for this purpose is crucial. Future planning that protects indigenous remnants within the periurban zone is critical to the survival of many species within urban areas, mitigating the homogenisation and depletion of indigenous flora and fauna typical of urbanisation. A national urban biodiversity plan would help city councils address biodiversity issues beyond a local and regional focus, while encouraging predominantly local solutions to restoration challenges, based on the highly variable land environments, ecosystems and patch connectivity present within different urban areas

Secondary party criminal liability in Hong Kong

The article sets out the current law relating to secondary party criminal liability in Hong Kong, beginning with joint enterprise and then considering accessorial liability in the absence of prior agreement. The object is to ensure that any adoption of recent changes of approach in England, specifi cally those in and arising from Rahman and Bryce, is a matter of deliberate and informed choice. The article concludes that taking the subjective mens rea requirements for secondary party liability seriously requires taking Hong Kong's current strong agreement/ intention/knowledge requirements with respect to target offences seriously and guarding against dilution of actual foresight of possible collateral offences requirements by excessive abstraction of foreseen and committed acts. In other bwords, Rahman, Bryce and their progeny should be rejected.published_or_final_versio

A Defendant's 'Good Character' in a Criminal Trial

This article sets out the main complexities and indeterminacies in the current law relating to the admission of evidence of a criminal defendant's good character in a criminal trial. Specific attention is given to problems in directing juries in this area, with special reference to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Court of Final Appeal decision in Tang Siu Man. The article explores the present and potential relevance of good character evidence, concluding that such evidence is currently misunderstood and undervalued. Finally, a skeleton outline of a simplified and more coherent and principled approach to good character evidence is provided.published_or_final_versio

The Fundamental Freedom of Assembly and Part III of the Public Order Ordinance

Part III of the Public Order Ordinance is now the main source of prior restraints applicable to public assemblies in Hong Kong. It is also an important source of 'at the scene' control and dispersal powers. Non-compliance with the prior restraints or disobedience of 'at the scene' orders is punishable according to the criminal provisions contained in Part III. However, since the reunification of Hong Kong and China in 1997, some of the prior restraint provisions have been widely disregarded. Their consistency with the fundamental freedom of peaceful assembly demanded by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has also been questioned. In this article, the author first sets out the fundamental freedom approach by which it is suggested that the consistency of Part III with the ICCPR can best be tested. Then the substance of fundamental freedom of peaceful assembly and its significance in a democratic society is explained. Finally, using afundamental freedom approach, the ICCPR standard for the fundamental freedom of assembly is applied to the terms of Part III.published_or_final_versio

Relevant Lies

This article has three main objectives. The first is to promote an overt, objectively rigorous and principled approach to both the discipline and the potential of rational relevance as the cornerstone of admissibility, use and weight of evidence decisions in common law criminal trials. The second is to demonstrate the inadequacy in principle and practice of the traditional common law admissibility proxy for probative value of a division between relevance to issue and relevance to credit. Both objectives are approached through an in-depth examination of the irrational disparities in treatment of decisions to lie by prosecution/law enforcement personnel (officers), sexual offence complainants and defendants that adherence to the issue/ credit distinction has at least facilitated throughout the common law world. The third objective is to propose and illustrate the probable implications of an overt, objective and principled approach to relevance with the alternative starting point of a division between decisions to utter current offence lies and non-current offence lies.published_or_final_versio

Leung Kwok Hung and Others Through the Hong Kong Courts

This article tracks the prosecution of Leung Kwok Hung and Others through the Hong Kong courts, from the magistracy to the CFA, for offences of holding and assisting in the holding of an unauthorised assembly. The six judgments, spanning three courts and as many years, illustrate at least three very different approaches to the issues in the case. Each has, in addition, distinctive and important points of interest. Together they form a fascinating collage. For this reason, after a brief description of the legislative provisions and established legal background for constitutional challenge to legislation in the HKSAR, each judgment is given separate attention, with a particular emphasis on the CFA judgments, and the practical implications of that decision. The final part of the article deals with the 'rightness' of the CFA decision. Although the CFA majority did make an important contribution to an understanding of this area of the law, the author concludes that, with regard to Part III of the Public Order Ordinance, the court missed the opportunity to deal with some of the most important issues.published_or_final_versio