14 research outputs found
The Decline and Fall of the Dollar: Some Policy Issues
macroeconomics, dollars, decline, account balance, GNP, domestic demand
The Effect of Carbon Credits on Savanna Land Management and Priorities for Biodiversity Conservation
Carbon finance offers the potential to change land management and conservation planning priorities. We develop a novel approach to planning for improved land management to conserve biodiversity while utilizing potential revenue from carbon biosequestration. We apply our approach in northern Australia's tropical savanna, a region of global significance for biodiversity and carbon storage, both of which are threatened by current fire and grazing regimes. Our approach aims to identify priority locations for protecting species and vegetation communities by retaining existing vegetation and managing fire and grazing regimes at a minimum cost. We explore the impact of accounting for potential carbon revenue (using a carbon price of US5 per hectare per year in carbon revenue and prevent the release of 1–2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over approximately 90 years. This revenue could be used to reduce the costs of improved land management by three quarters or double the number of biodiversity targets achieved and meet carbon storage targets for the same cost. These results are based on generalised cost and carbon data; more comprehensive applications will rely on fine scale, site-specific data and a supportive policy environment. Our research illustrates that the duel objective of conserving biodiversity and reducing the release of greenhouse gases offers important opportunities for cost-effective land management investments
Social Science, Social Policy, and Lethal Violence: Looking for Upstream Solutions
18 pagesIt is the contention of this article that sociologists should
be more involved in social policy discussions because of their deep concern
and extensive knowledge about policy-related issues and their broad theoretical and methodological traditions. Recent work by Stockard and O’Brien on
changing age distributions in lethal violence is used to illustrate that policy
recommendations based on sociological research would be more universalistic and effective than current approaches. If greater involvement in policy
discussions were to occur, it would be important to pursue multidisciplinary work, use a nonpartisan approach, increase involvement in meta-analyses and field experiments, and develop collective and systematic ways
of translating findings into policy actions
Threats to an ecosystem service: Pressures on pollinators
Insect pollinators of crops and wild plants are under threat globally and their decline or loss could have profound economic and environmental consequences. Here, we argue that multiple anthropogenic pressures – including land-use intensification, climate change, and the spread of alien species and diseases – are primarily responsible for insect-pollinator declines. We show that a complex interplay between pressures (eg lack of food sources, diseases, and pesticides) and biological processes (eg species dispersal and interactions) at a range of scales (from genes to ecosystems) underpins the general decline in insect-pollinator populations. Interdisciplinary research on the nature and impacts of these interactions will be needed if human food security and ecosystem function are to be preserved. We highlight key areas that require research focus and outline some practical steps to alleviate the pressures on pollinators and the pollination services they deliver to wild and crop plants