Environment resilience and public health: Assessing healthcare's vulnerability to climate change in the San Francisco Bay Area

This study investigated the vulnerability of people's health to the impact of climate change on healthcare accessibility in the San Francisco Bay Area. The study developed spatial analysis models in ArcGIS with a high-resolution elevation data set (1 m raster base map) and summarized the scenario assessments of the associations between healthcare and the populations vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The results reveal that 34.3% of low-income households could reach hospitals in the baseline scenario. In the peak water level (PWL) (140) scenario, 33.3% of low-income households were within 30 min of the nearest hospital. In the baseline scenario, hospitals were accessible to 35.9% of the general population, whereas in the PWL (140) scenario the percentage was slightly lower, with 35.1% having access to hospitals. Healthcare reform increased the accessibility of hospitals to low-income households, and these populations had equal access in the PWL (140) scenario. However, access to healthcare is controlled by distance and other variables, including income, insurance, spatial distribution, and transportation mobility. The findings and implications of this study address the explicit recognition in strategic planning of the effects of climate change in adopting policies to benefit health in the future.     

Thoughts on the Development of Characteristic Cultural Tourism Products of the Republic of Vanuatu

Vanuatu is an underdeveloped country,but it is rich in tourism resources and has become an increasingly popular tourist destination.Tourism is one of the pillar industries of national economy.At present,the core component of Vanuatu’s tourism consumption structure is the basic elements based on accommodation,transportation and catering.However,the proportion of shopping,sightseeing and entertainment,which are factors of tourism value-added consumption,is very low.Therefore,it is urgent to improve efficiency and quality of tourism.This study suggested that Vanuatu develop characteristic cultural tourism products in multiple dimensions,build its characteristic cultural tourism pedestrian streets,make cultural tourism products with food tourism as the theme,create a brand series of Vanuatu characteristic tourist souvenirs,design the characteristic homestay experience with "slow tourism" as the core and optimize the structure of tourism consumption in Vanuatu to improve its cultural influence and the level of modern service industry and realize the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure.     

Benefits and risks for Melanesian households from commercialising Canarium indicum

This research note discusses the benefits and risks for Melanesian households arising from attempts to increasingly commercialise Canarium indicum, an edible tree nut indigenous to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Qualitative data were generated during workshops and interviews with Canarium industry stakeholders about the impacts associated with a series of interventions designed to encourage further commercialisation of Canarium. The findings are organised according to three dimensions that elucidate the social implications of industry development for local communities: (i) income and growth; (ii) equity; and (iii) voice and choice. Broader distribution of benefits within and between countries, as well as among supply chain actors, requires a stronger policy response at regional (Melanesia) and national scales, equitable gender representation to avoid reinforcing existing inequalities, and delegation of decision‐making power to the appropriate level to facilitate effective community participation and their links with other stakeholders. Thus, it remains to be seen whether Canarium‐related benefits arising from its commercialisation can be sufficiently reliable compared with either other sources of income (e.g. existing employment opportunities for those located near urban areas) or utilising the resource for subsistence purposes.     

Climate change,migration and human rights in Bangladesh: Perspectives on governance

Bangladesh experiences some of the most severe impacts of climate change, with impacts already evident in the coastal regions. Recent data shows that around 32% of the coastal communities in Bangladesh are affected by climate‐induced hazards each year. In 2011, 64% among them were displaced locally and 27% were displaced to other locations in Bangladesh. It requires comprehensive and viable polices and planning to meet the challenges of managing a large number of displaced people. In this context, this paper reviews and investigates the effectiveness of current governance frameworks to address migration of affected communities. It argues that migration can be an effective way to cope with environmental shocks. Finally, it discusses policy imperatives for effective protection of people displaced by climate risks with a special reference to adopting a human rights‐based approach in law and policy making for climate‐induced migration.     

Resources,population and migration in the Pacific: Connecting islands and rim

This article examines international migration in the Pacific and argues that there should be still greater opportunities for the people of Pacific countries to migrate between their home states and the developed states of the Pacific Rim. The case for borders that are more permeable to human migration is based in part on the common Pacific predicament of poor resource endowments, rapidly growing populations, depletion and degradation of existing resources, and threats posed by anthropogenic climate change. Coupled with this is a history of colonisation that has left some Pacific peoples with liberal access to economic opportunities in developed states by virtue of their citizenship or preferential visa status, while others have no such opportunities. Both New Zealand and the United States have been reasonably generous in facilitating migration from Polynesia and Micronesia. It is Australia that stands out as the Pacific neighbour with the greatest capacity to develop new migration streams. The seasonal worker scheme announced by the Australian Government in August 2008 takes a cautious but valuable step along this path, yet there is scope for further expanding Pacific access by broadening the geographical, temporal and material scope of existing migration arrangements.     

基于碳效应的荥经县土地系统脆弱性分析

区域土地利用变化直接影响着土地系统的生态系统功能,而生态服务功能的改变将导致土地系统脆弱性的发生,笔者旨在引入净碳排放量来对土地系统脆弱性响应机理展开分析。通过分析荥经县土地利用变化（包括耕地、林地、园地、建设用地和其他地类）引起的碳排放量和碳储量的波动状况,得到研究区净碳排放量的变化趋势。研究结果表明：（1）荥经县土地系统净碳排放量呈上升趋势;（2）化石燃料消耗量增加是净碳排放量逐年递增的主要原因;（3）1997—2011 年荥经县土地系统脆弱性逐年增强。建议通过调整产业结构、优化土地资源配置、发展清洁能源和改善能源结构来减少研究区的碳排放量,同时通过大力发展生态农业、积极开展生态旅游来增加其碳储量。     

基于主成分分析法的铜川市环境脆弱性研究

摘要：基于2001-2007年铜川市的生态环境统计数据,运用主成分分析法分析了铜川市的环境的脆弱性的变动规律。结果显示：铜川市的环境脆弱性指数在2001-2007年之间,呈现出“大幅上升--大幅下降--小幅上升--小幅下降”的变化规律。在这7年中,只有2005、2007年的环境脆弱性指数小于1,处于轻微脆弱状态;其余5年的环境脆弱性指数均大于1,处于严重脆弱状态。其中环境脆弱性指数最大的年份2002（6.5624）是最小的年份2005年（0.3259）的20.13倍。建议铜川市政府应该加大污染治理本年投资总额、增加人均区绿地面积、提高工业废水排放达标量和排放达标率、控制噪声等方面继续做出不懈的努力。     

Resettlement and the environment in Vietnam: Implications for climate change adaptation planning

Increasingly the environment, and climate risks in particular, are influencing migration and planned resettlement in Vietnam, raising the spectre of increased displacement in a country already confronting serious challenges around sustainable land and water use as well as urbanisation. Planned resettlement has emerged as part of a suite of measures being pursued as part of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation strategies. This paper provides an historical, political, legal and environmental overview of resettlement in Vietnam identifying key challenges for framing resettlement as climate change adaptation. The paper outlines the scale of past resettlement in Vietnam, identifying the drivers and implications for vulnerability. Detailed case studies of resettlement are reviewed. Through this review, the paper reflects on the growing threat of climate change and the likelihood of increased displacement associated with worsening climate risks to identify some critical considerations for planned resettlement in climate change adaptation planning.     

气候变化适应及其影响因素研究——山东胶州湾地区居民的实证分析

为探索气候变化感知在适应决策过程中的作用机理，本研究以深度访谈数据为基础，基于“感知－适应”分析框架，采用二元Probit模型和泊松回归模型，分析胶州湾地区居民气候变化适应决策和适应选择的影响因素。研究表明，胶州湾地区绝大多数居民已经感知到气候变化，半数以上居民采取了一定的适应措施，大多数居民对适应措施效果的感到满意。居民采取适应措施介于0-4项，平均为1.07项，适应措施的普及率和多样化仍有提升空间。影响胶州湾地区居民气候变化适应决策与适应选择的主要因素存在一定差异性，但“居民对气候变化的感知”不论是对适应决策还是对适应选择的影响都较大，其中又以“对降水变化的感知”和“对气象灾害损失的感知”最为显著。     

Achievements in breeding coconut hybrids for tolerance to coconut foliar decay disease in Vanuatu,South Pacific

Coconut foliar decay (CFD) is a disease of coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) associated with infection by coconut foliar decay virus (CFDV), which is endemic in Vanuatu, South Pacific. The local cultivar ‘Vanuatu Tall’ (VTT) is the only cultivar that is fully tolerant to CFD, whereas introduced cultivars and hybrids are affected to different degrees. From 1967 to 2008 a conventional breeding programme was conducted with the aim of creating hybrid planting material combining tolerance to CFD with improved copra yield and high copra weight per nut. This objective was achieved by crossing the progeny of selfed trees of ‘Rennell Island Tall’ (RIT) cultivar, selected for their low susceptibility to CFD in field screening tests, with VTT, improved by mass selection and intercrossing. An improved VTT × RIT hybrid was identified with a high degree of tolerance to CFD (less than 1% of diseased trees after 11 years of exposure to high disease pressure). The annual production of the improved VTT × RIT hybrid ranged from 21.9 to 28.6 kg of copra per tree, depending on the RIT parent, and was, on average, 34% higher than that of ‘VTT Elite’ an advanced cultivar obtained after four selection cycles of local VTT. However, the production of the hybrid in Vanuatu involves constraints such as frequent replanting and isolation of the seed garden and CFD control for the RIT parents. The importance of conducting research on the genetic determinism and the mechanism of tolerance to CFD for better control of the disease in the event that it spreads outside Vanuatu is discussed.     

气候变化对不同产区苹果安全越冬的可能影响

为科学评估气候变化对中国产区苹果安全越冬的影响,结合现有成果提出了分别表征果树初冬低温伤害风险、冬季持续性低温伤害风险、冬季极端低温危害风险和脱驯化期的低温伤害风险4个农业气象指标,利用1961—2015年中国苹果主产区的气象资料,分黄土高原、环渤海湾、黄河故道、西南高地和新疆5个产区,评估了气候变化对苹果安全越冬的可能影响。结果表明：苹果产区越冬期升温明显,霜冻日数和极端低温事件发生频次显著减少。初冬首次低温与初霜日间隔缩短导致渤海湾北部产区、黄河故道及北疆苹果的初冬低温伤害风险增加。越冬期持续性低温伤害风险和极端低温危害风险总体降低,特别是中高纬度表现明显,而黄土高原和新疆产区的极端低温事件发生的不确定性较大。同时黄土高原、辽宁、川西和北疆等产区苹果脱驯化期的低温伤害风险有所增加。总体上,苹果深度休眠期的冬季极端低温和持续性低温冻害风险有所降低,而初冬和脱驯化期低温冻害风险显著增加。     

Spatiality,belonging and citizenship in the age of migration in contemporary China

While internal migration in contemporary China ascribes a great change to urban China's demographic composition, social structures and economic development trajectories, it is yet to restructure the formal definitions of urban identity and belonging, which are still dominated by the household registration system (hukou). The paper suggests that as a result of changes in the political, economic, demographic and social contexts within which China's internal migration develops, there emerge a crucial need to re‐examine the crude forms of determining identity and belonging, questioning the addressing of spatiality within the existing mechanisms (such as hukou system or the shiminhua discourse). To do so, the paper argues that the existing de‐territorialisation of the migration experience has to be replaced with a more nuanced understanding of how spatial practices and conceptualisations shape migrants’ experiences, as it is becoming imperative to develop a new framework that is more sensitive to migrants’ lived process of identification and belonging, especially as these traverse multiple geographies and spatial scales. This close engagement with migrants’ spatiality can then be used as a base from which to engage with a more complex view of migrants’ spatial and social relatedness, as well as the development of their urban belonging and identity.     

民勤绿洲边缘沙拐枣群落分布与土壤理化因子关系研究

在全球气候和土地利用变化背景下,及时了解植被和土壤环境在特定区域的关系有助于预测植被群落的演替变化。在野外调查取样与室内分析的基础上,采用经典统计学和冗余分析的方法,研究了民勤绿洲边缘沙拐枣群落空间分布与土壤理化性质的相互关系。结果表明：民勤绿洲边缘沙拐枣群落出现14种植物,分属7科14属,物种组成贫乏,科属组成较为分散,结构简单。除了pH和电导率之外,沙拐枣群落土壤其他因子在各样带之间差异不显著。整体上看,沙拐枣群落生境土壤水分条件差,养分贫瘠,以粗化呈弱碱性的风沙土为主。冗余分析表明,电导率和pH对沙拐枣群落空间分布有显著的影响。沙拐枣是干旱区优良的固沙造林树种,建议在选择造林地时要考虑土壤盐碱性的影响。     

Elderly migration and development in small communities

"This paper develops a conceptual model of the process of community change [in the United States] in response to elderly inmigration. Analysis of intra-regional variation in elderly migration patterns in Appalachia, and synthesis of an emergent literature on the benefits and costs of attracting elderly migrants, serve as a backdrop for case studies, based on field observations and interviews, of three contrasting Appalachian communities at different stages of development as retirement destinations."     

土壤微生物菌群变化对土传病害的影响及生物调控

土传病害是农业生产上危害最重的病害之一。笔者主要从土壤微生物区系、多样性、群落结构、以及微生物相互作用方面,综述了它们的变化对土传病害发生的影响,探讨了土传病害的发生机理,并概述了利用多种微生物制剂防治土传病害和调控微生物菌群的作用和进展。同时,分析了目前存在的问题,并对研究前景进行了展望。     

Local expert experiences and perceptions of environmentally induced migration from Bangladesh to India

This study investigates local expert perceptions of the role of environmental factors, especially in terms of contemporary climate change, in population movements from Bangladesh to India. The aim is to delve into locally held understandings of the phenomenon and to gain a better understanding of these migration processes, which are actively intertwined with local experiences. Both Indian and Bangladeshi experts were interviewed using semi‐structured, in‐depth interviews in order to explore insights from locally held perceptions and understandings of contextual factors. In total, 10 Bangladeshi and 15 Indian experts were interviewed, covering different disciplines, sectors, regions and job types, together providing a more complete and grounded picture of views of environmentally induced migration in Bangladesh and India. The results show that climate change is perceived by local experts as one of the key factors influencing migration in Bangladesh, both internally and externally. The interviewees, however, placed environmentally induced migration in a broader context of labour and economic migration. In particular, migration for environmental reasons in Bangladesh was evident long before the emergence of climate change as an issue. According to the interviewed experts, this does not preclude increased environmentally induced migration within and from Bangladesh in the future, but its analyses ought to be placed in historical and economical contexts.     

Trading in waste: Integrating sustainable development goals and environmental policies in trade negotiations toward enhanced solid waste management in Pacific Islands countries and territories

This paper provides a broad survey of existing literature on contemporary solid waste management (SWM) in the Pacific region to underscore an urgent and compelling need for improved SWM. Despite advances in waste management systems and funding for technical support and capacity building from a range of sources, waste continues to threaten public and ecological health and the economy in Pacific Islands Countries and Territories (PICTs). SWM in the Pacific requires innovative thinking in a challenging environment of remoteness, limited available land, fragile ecosystems, vulnerability to natural hazards and subsequent climate sensitivity. Many PICTs are under considerable pressure to open their markets up to trade liberalisation. Increasing links to the global economy through trade liberalisation could either further exacerbate waste management challenges in the Pacific or contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development goals. The authors argue that if the PICTs' urgent waste management challenges are to be meaningfully addressed, the region's leaders must ensure trading partners conform to local environmental protection policies and that trade agreements align with sustainable development goals.     

Participatory natural resource management in rural China: Making and unmaking environmental narratives

Environmental and development discourses in China can be categorised into three narrative motifs framing human–nature relationships: peasant, indigenous, and community. Indigenous and community narratives have been widely adopted by environmental NGOs (eNGOs) in China in promoting community‐based natural resource management projects, but there has been very limited critical research on such phenomena. Analysis of socio‐economic change in two ethnic minority communities in Yunnan shows that neither narrative theme is fully internalised by the relevant communities. Instead narratives may be strategically modified or even rejected by local communities. This is due to different agendas being held by local communities and eNGOs, and two factors pertinent to rural China: the incompatibility of concepts of ‘community’ in Chinese and international contexts results in confusion, and a lack of recent territorial and cultural claims by rural communities since the collectivist era makes it difficult to construct the identity of a community. It remains challenging for eNGOs in China to advocate either community or indigenous narratives in contexts of rapid socio‐economic change.     

Migration management and mobility pathways for Filipino migrants to New Zealand

There has been an increasing focus on migration management by academics and policy makers, especially in relation to temporary and transitional forms of mobility. This paper considers the acceleration of Filipino migration to New Zealand in recent years, partly driven by changing policies allowing migrants to transition from student and work visas to permanent residence. It outlines the history of Filipino migration to New Zealand, the roles of the Philippines and New Zealand governments and intermediaries in migration management and the nature of student, temporary work and permanent residence migration. The transitional pathways used by Filipino migrants are analysed in relation to the influence of skills and educational characteristics in creating opportunities for some and vulnerability for others.     

Village seed systems and the biological diversity of millet crops in marginal environments of India

The study relates village seed systems to biological diversity of millet crops grown by farmers in the semi-arid lands of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, India. In these subsistence-oriented, semi-arid production systems the environment is marginal for crop growth and often there is no substitute for millet crops. Across communities, farmers grow 13 different combinations of pearl millet, sorghum, finger millet, little millet, and foxtail millet varieties, but individual farmers grow an average of only 2–3 millet varieties per season. The “village seed system” in this study refers to all channels through which farmers acquire genetic materials, separate from or in interaction with the commercial seed industry, observed at the local level. Data are compiled through household surveys and interviews with traders and dealers in village and district markets. Based on the concept of the seed lot, several seed system parameters are defined and measured by millet crop. Most seed transactions, including gifts of seed, appear to be monetized. Seed supply channels differ by improvement status of the genetic material. Regression results confirm that seed system parameters are statistically significant determinants of the spatial diversity of millet crops measured at the village level. Furthermore, both the trade through weekly village markets (shandies) and through the formal seed supply channel contribute positively to the breadth of genetic materials in these communities. Ways should be found to strengthen and improve the overall efficiency of the seed system, including both formal and informal channels, in order to reduce the costs to farmers of procuring and managing diverse crop varieties.