Changing positions and interests of stakeholders in environmental conflict: A New Zealand transport infrastructure case

Abstract: Stakeholders are an integral part of environmental conflict. Analysing the positions and interests of stakeholders is vital in effective environmental conflict management. This paper reviews the literature related to stakeholders and their dynamics in environmental conflict. It also presents the results of a study relating to a New Zealand transport infrastructure project where the positions and interests of stakeholders have kept on changing during the life of the project. This study plots the changing positions of some of the key stakeholders, towards this project. These stakeholders include a policy manager, a community stakeholder, an environmental stakeholder and a political stakeholder. The paper also analyses the changing positions by identifying and classifying the key drivers for these changes.     

An appraisal of environmental conflict management provisions in New Zealand's Resource Management Act 1991

Abstract: Since the 1970s a body of literature has developed internationally which can be termed loosely as ‘environmental conflict management’ (ECM) theory and practice. When New Zealand's disparate environmental management framework was reformed during the 1980s a ‘superstatute’ known as the Resource Management Act (RMA), passed in 1991, was the major outcome. During the RMA policy formulation process in the late 1980s, known as Resource Management Law Reform (RMLR), calls were made for better integration of mediation and other alternative dispute resolution (ADR) approaches into the statutory framework. The final wording of the RMA includes specific clauses on mediation and the option of ‘pre‐hearing meetings’, suggesting that ECM and environmental dispute resolution (EDR) approaches have become part of the new decision‐making framework in New Zealand. Given such provisions, and the fact that it is now more than ten years since the RMA was passed, an appraisal of ECM/EDR progress to date within this statute seems justified. It is argued that to date very little emphasis has been placed upon early EDR intervention. This lack of emphasis, it is concluded, is due primarily to low levels of awareness and inadequate training and despite limitations on its usefulness in certain resource conflict settings we suggest that there is scope for greater promotion and implementation of EDR approaches in the local government context.     

Inequality and conflict in Fiji: From purgatory to hell?

Abstract: This article examines socio‐economic inequality in Fiji and finds that, contrary to oft‐repeated claims, inequality between Fiji"s major ethnic groups (inter‐ethnic inequality) is less significant than inequality within each ethnic group (intra‐ethnic inequality). In spite of this reality, inter‐group inequality and affirmative action policies have remained central features of state policy in Fiji. This article suggests that Fiji's experience has three implications for the growing literature on the relationship between inequality and conflict. First, examining average inequality between groups can be misleading. Secondly, a key to understanding the relationship between ethnic and economic cleavages in post‐colonial plural societies, such as Fiji, is in the interaction between intra‐group and inter‐group inequality. Thirdly, there does not seem to be a straightforward relationship between actual levels of inequality, perceptions of inequality, and the prominence given to inequality in ethno‐nationalist discourse. In Fiji's case, the strategic deployment of inter‐group inequality has served, and continues to serve, the material and discursive interests of some political elites. As a result, the intersection between ethnicity, inequality and political rivalry in contemporary Fiji has been the source of much conflict and, importantly, may offer a nexus on which attempts at conflict resolution should focus.     

Political conflict in postcolonial Oceania

Abstract: This article provides an overview of growing conflict in Oceania and considers some of the broad attempts to explain it. It critically outlines the nature of the post‐colonial transformation of the region and considers the influence of this on patterns of instability. It concludes that the region exhibits an unprecedented vulnerability in politico‐economic, social and environmental terms and that useful interpretations of this must involve attention to local contingency as well as broad structural/historical change. This context is used to introduce the contributions to this special edition on postcolonial transformations and political conflict in Oceania.     

Social movements,environment, and technology in Indonesia’s pulp and paper industry

This paper examines community, environmental, and human rights activists’ influence on adoption of environmentally-friendly technologies in Indonesia’s pulp and paper industry. The story begins with conflict over the development of an export pulp mill in North Sumatra in the 1980s and continues with the adoption of environmental technologies in Indonesia’s pulp and paper industry in the 1990s. Organising around a number of specific events associated with pulp industry development, activists drew attention to the industry which led to a strengthening of government environmental regulation and enforcement, and hastened the adoption of cleaner production technologies.     

Measuring Potential Ethnic Conflict in Southeast Asia

This article offers insights into the identification of cases with a significant potential for ethnic conflict over a 2‐3 year time horizon through an examination of the application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to the analysis of ethnic conflict potential in those cases. The goal is to suggest an analytical framework with applicability to the assessment of ethnic conflicts in Southeast Asia and beyond; thus, factors are identified that tend to precipitate or facilitate ethnic conflict in a world dominated by the norms of the modern state system. Twenty‐four ethnic minority groups are identified in Southeast Asia that havesome potential for conflict over the next 2‐3 years. The AHP methodology is then employed as a means to measure the potential for ethnic conflict among these twenty‐four groups. Potential is defined as the product of desire or motivation to act (i.e., the motivating factors) and the ability or capability to act (i.e., the enabling conditions), such that: POTENTIAL = (MOTIVATION) X (ABILITY). This approach to ethnic conflict analysis promotes consideration of the contextual factors that influence feelings of marginalization and capacity to effect change—a considerable step forward over approaches that are based on (inevitably problematic) generalizations about the shared attributes or historically rooted prejudices toward ethnic groups.     

Genetic and environmental effects on chromosome doubling of sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris L.) haploids

Summary Chromosome doubling has been a limiting factor for production of doubled-haploids, a means of obtaining fruly homozygous individuals, and a time-saving alternative to repeated selfing for the creation of inbred lines. The existence of genetic, environmental and genotype × environment interaction effects on chromosome doubling ability of sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris L.) haploids was investigated. Haploids were derived from four distinct, highly heterozygous diploid populations through in vitro culture of unpollinated ovules. Ovule-derived plants were treated with colchicine to double their chromosome complement. Environmental effects were determined from replication of the experiment at seven dates. Both genetic and environmental factors were found to affect chromosome doubling ability of sugarbeet haploids. No significant interaction between genotype and environment was identified. The presence of genetic effects on chromosome doubling ability is discussed with regard to its implications on breeding programs.     

Negotiating local livelihoods: Scales of conflict in the Se San River Basin

Abstract: The Se San is an important tributary river basin of the Mekong. In 1993, Vietnam began building the Yali Falls Dam 80 kilometres upstream of the point at which this westward flowing river enters Cambodia. Ninety indigenous communities along the Se San River in two provinces of north‐eastern Cambodia have been impacted severely by flooding, and a dramatically altered hydrological regime that affects fisheries and all other aspects of livelihood, such as river bank agriculture. Since 2000, when the first turbines were commissioned, the affected communities have been increasingly vocal regarding the impacts of Yali and the plans for several more dams on upper reaches of the river. A complex set of actors including non‐governmental organisations, village, district and provincial authorities, national committees in Cambodia and Vietnam, the Mekong River Commission and a range of international players have become involved in a two‐track process, which has nevertheless allowed little space for negotiation over the Se San River on the part of those most directly affected. This case has fundamental implications for governance and conflict management in the Mekong and more widely. The Australian Mekong Resource Centre has been working with local actors to document the Se San case as part of an international project on River Basin Management: a negotiated approach, in support of six cases that involve up‐scaling of grassroots river basin initiatives in Africa, Latin America and Asia. In this article, we illustrate the significance of and problematise negotiation as a socially and politically embedded conflict management principle, with reference to the Se San case.     

Germplasm Variability and Environmental Effects on Stem Cellulose and Lignin Concentrations in Alfalfa*

Stem cellulose and lignin concentrations are major determining factors of alfalfa (Medicago sativa ssp. sativa L.) forage quality. Only limited information is available on the genetic variability and the influence of environmental effects on these two stem-quality traits. Our objectives were to: evaluate the variability for stem cellulose and lignin concentrations in modern alfalfa germplasms across several harvests; observe the environmental stability of these two quality traits in 32 alfalfa clones selected high or low for either stem cellulose or lignin concentration; and examine the relationships between these two stem-quality traits and leaf and stem crude protein (CP). Fifty alfalfa entries (cultivars and experimental populations) were established May 1993, and sampled for stem acid-detergent lignin (ADL), stem acid-detergent cellulose (ADC), and stem CP on Sep 1993, June and Aug 1994. Clones were vegetatively propagated from individual plants selected for extremes in stem ADL and ADC and transplanted into blocks at two locations in May 1994 and sampled for quality analysis in September 1994. For all samples, leaves were hand-separated from stems and stem ADL, ADC, CP and leaf CP concentration were determined using near infrared reflectance spectroscopy. Entry differences for stem ADL and ADC were detected only at the June 1994 harvest date in the cultivar study. Spearman's ranked correlations over years in the clonal study demonstrated greater environmental stability for stem ADC (r = 0.70, P ≥ 0.01) than for stem ADL (r = 0.54, P # 0.05). Environmental effects had an impact on both traits, but stem ADC showed greater potential for improving forage quality. Simple correlations showed that decreasing stem ADL or ADC would have minimal effect on leaf CP and may increase stem CP.     

Factors affecting the genotype × environment interaction in spring triticale grown in a Mediterranean environment

The identification of the genotypic and environmental factors responsible for the genotype by environment interaction is essential in any breeding program. A Multi Environmental Trial (MET) including 3 years, 3 locations and 14 lines of spring triticale (× TriticosecaleWittmack) was carried out in a Mediterranean environment (Sardinia, Italy). Water available to the crops was calculated through a model run with the environmental variables and the phenological data recorded in each environment. Yield, yield components and heading date were used to perform an Additive Main effects and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI) analysis. Interaction for yield was relevant only in 2 environments out of 8, one characterised by a late sowing, the other by the warmest pre-anthesis period. Correlations between Interaction Principal Component Axis (IPCA) scores and environmental and genotypic variables showed that genotype by environment interaction for yield and kernels per m² is related to interaction for phenology but not to the yield level. Yield level was significantly correlated with the water availability. Genotype by environment interaction for yield is mainly determined by thermal conditions in the pre-anthesis period, genotypic photoperiodic sensitivity and sowing time. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Waiting for fine times: genetics of flowering time in wheat

To maximise yield potential in any environment, wheat cultivars musthave an appropriate flowering time and life cycle duration which`fine-tunes' the life cycle to the target environment. This in turn, requiresa detailed knowledge of the genetical control of the key components of thelife cycle. This paper discusses our current knowledge of the geneticalcontrol of the three key groups of genes controlling life-cycle duration inwheat, namely those controlling vernalization response, photoperiodresponse and developmental rate (`earliness per se', Eps genes).It also discusses how our ability to carry out comparative mapping of thesegenes across Triticeae species, and particularly with barley, is indicatingnew target genes for discovery in wheat. Major genes controllingvernalization response, the Vrn-1 series, have now been located bothgenetically and physically on the long arms of the homoeologous group fivechromosomes. These genes are homoeologous to each other and to thevernalization genes on chromosomes 5H of barley and 5R of rye.Comparative analysis with barley also indicates that other series ofvernalization response genes may exit on chromosomes of homoeologousgroups 4 (4B, 4D, 5A) and 1. The major genes controlling photoperiodresponse in wheat, the Ppd-1 genes, are located on the homoeologousgroup 2 chromosomes, and are homoeologous to a gene on barleychromosome 2H. Mapping in barley also indicates a photoperiod responselocus on barley 1H and 6H, indicating that a homoeologous series shouldexist on wheat group 1 and 6 chromosomes. In wheat, only a few`earliness per se loci have been located, such as on chromosomes ofhomoeologous group 2. However, in barley, all chromosomes appear tocarry such loci, indicating that several series of loci that affectdevelopmental rate independent of environment remain to be discovered.Overall, comparative studies indicate that there are probably twenty-fiveloci controlling the duration of the life-cycle, Vrn, Ppd and Eps genes, that remain to be mapped in wheat. There are major gaps inour knowledge of the detailed physiological effects of genes discovered todate on the timing of the life cycle from different sowing dates. This isbeing addressed by studying the phenology of isogenic and deletion lines inboth field and controlled environmental conditions. This has indicated thatthe vernalization genes have major effects on the rate of primodiaproduction, whilst the photoperiod genes affect the timing of terminalspikelet production and stem elongation, and these effects interact withsowing date.     

Reviews

D. Denoon, M. Hudson, G. McCormack, T. Morris-Suzuki (eds), Multicultural Japan: palaeolithic to postmodern Khoo Boo Teik, Pardoxes of Mahathirism: An Intellectual Biography of Mahathir Mohamad William Case, Elites and Regimes in Malaysia: Revisiting a Consociational Democracy Edmund T. Gomez, The 1995 Malaysian General Elections: A Report and Commentary Bruce Grant, Indonesia B.S. Baviskar and Donald W. Attwood (eds.), Finding the middle path: the political economy of cooperation in rural India Harold Brookfield, Lesley Potter and Yvonne Bryon, In place of the forest. Environmental and socio-economic transformation in Borneo and the Eastern Malay Peninsula. UNU Studies on critical environmental regions     

Effectiveness and environmental stability of quantitative powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis) resistance among winter wheat cultivars

Powdery mildew in wheat (Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici) is a major disease in Northern and Central Europe. The aim of the study was to analyse the effectiveness and environmental stability of quantitative powdery mildew resistance under high epidemic pressure in the field across years in the absence/presence of ineffective race‐specific resistances. Cultivars with and without Pm (major) genes were inoculated in three experiments with a genetically broad mildew population with all matching virulences. Resistance was measured three times by assessing the percentage of leaf area covered by powdery mildew on a plot basis (0–100%). Mean powdery mildew severity of the highly susceptible cv. ‘Kanzler’ varied across 10 years from 24% to 66% (Exp. 1). Means of three cultivars without Pm genes, ‘Ramiro’, ‘Miras’ and ‘Zentos’, and several cultivars with ineffective Pm genes varied quantitatively from 4% to 13%. Environmental stability of the quantitative resistances was on average higher than that of susceptible genotypes, as revealed by a regression approach. In the second experiment, all groups of cultivars with ineffective Pm gene(s) contained a large proportion of entries with a similar low mildew rating as the quantitatively resistant standard ‘Miras’. Mildew severity of pairs of cultivars with the same Pm gene(s) was significantly different across 6 years (Exp. 3) indicating the presence of additional quantitative resistances in some of these cultivars. In the analysis of variance, genotypic variance had a high impact (P < 0.01) with low importance of genotype × environment interaction. Consequently, heritabilites were high (0.95–0.97). In conclusion, breeders have already accumulated effective minor genes for powdery mildew resistance in many of the released German winter wheat cultivars. These quantitative resistances are long lasting, environmentally stable and provide a high level of protection to powdery mildew.     

环境农药残留与毒理学终点在环境风险评估中的应用

介绍了美国和欧盟等发达国家和地区的农药注册管理机构在农药的环境风险评估中对环境农药残留的估算方法以及与毒理学终点的整合方式,介绍了部分非靶标生物在环境中的风险评判标准,对中国的环境风险评估提出了初步的建议。     

The peri‐urban Pacific: From exclusive to inclusive cities

Abstract: As the Pacific Islands continue to urbanise, existing models of governance and planning are coming under greater pressure and scrutiny. Both the city council approach and the ‘good’ urban governance agenda of donors have weaknesses in the region, especially in dealing with peri‐urban settlements where the most rapid urban population growth is occurring. This is resulting in increased social discontent and conflict. This paper critiques the ways in which Pacific Island towns and cities are governed and calls for an approach which is more inclusive (and less hierarchical) and informed by concepts of citizenship and social justice. Indeed, policy makers will need to broaden their concepts and practices of governance if many Pacific cities are to be socially, politically, and envir‐onmentally sustainable. However, the political‐economy of urban development in the region is not proving conducive to consensus, with conflict a more likely outcome in the foreseeable future.     

我国种植业无公害农产品产地环境标准发展历程及特征分析

无公害农产品产地环境质量标准是无公害农产品产地认定的依据,后者又是产品认证的前提和基础。本论文通过查阅文献资料,从标准类别、发展历程、特征分析等方面着手,梳理了中国种植业无公害农产品产地环境标准的发展历程及特点,探讨了中国现有的种植业无公害农产品产地环境标准的特征。结果表明,我国种植业无公害农产品产地环境标准发展较快,经历了数量上 “少-多-少”、种类上“单个农产品-农产品大类-综合性种植业农产品”的发展历程,2001年起步,2002年快速发展,2003年至2014年稳定发展,2015年和2016年完成标准整合,整合后的产地环境条件标准没有对环境空气质量设置要求,其技术指标仅包括灌溉水质量和土壤质量。同时指出了现有标准的优势及存在的主要问题,研究结果可为中国无公害农产品的发展提供依据。     

Green Strategy in China

Environmental protection has been a basic national policy since the 1980s. The State Environmental Protection Committee was established in 1984 and the first Environmental Protection Law formally issued in 1989. After     

Vakavanua,vakamatanitū: discourses of development in Fiji

Discourses about development have contributed to profound socio-economic transformation in all parts of the world. This paper examines the development debate in Fiji with particular reference to two distinctive approaches: state-led developmentalism (vakamatanitū) and a discourse about custom-led development (vakavanua). Political and economic dimensions of these alternative discourses are reviewed with particular reference to land tenure systems in Fiji. Challenges to both vakamatanitū and vakavanua from an emerging literature on globalism will shift the focus of debate from ‘intentional’ to ‘immanent’ development in Fiji.     

Inheritance of gibberellin induced heterostyly in the tomato

Environmental and genetic control of heterostyly or exserted stigma in the tomato has been observed by previous investigators (2, 4, 6, 7). Flowers developing subsequent to gibberellin treatment have been reported to have a similar effect (1). In the cross between a responding variety, Indian River, and non-responding variety, Fireball, the F₁ showed stigma exsertion due to gibberellin treatment. From an analysis of the F₂ and backcross segregation it was found that this response was conditioned by a single dominant gene. This gene was assigned the gene symbol Gx. There was no linkage between this character and uniform fruit, u, and self-pruning habit, sp.Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University, East Lansing Journal Article No. 3761 Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station     

Prediction of breeding values for average fruit weight in mango using a multivariate individual mixed model

Mango is an important horticultural fruit crop and breeding is a key strategy to improve ongoing sustainability. Knowledge of breeding values of potential parents is important for maximising progress from breeding. This study successfully employed a mixed linear model methods incorporating a pedigree to predict breeding values for average fruit weight from highly unbalanced data for genotypes planted over three field trials and assessed over several harvest seasons. Average fruit weight was found to be under strong additive genetic control. There was high correlation between hybrids propagated as seedlings and hybrids propagated as scions grafted onto rootstocks. Estimates of additive genetic correlation among trials ranged from 0.69 to 0.88 with correlations among harvest seasons within trials greater than 0.96. These results suggest that progress from selection for broad adaptation can be achieved, particularly as no repeatable environmental factor that could be used to predict G × E could be identified. Predicted breeding values for 35 known cultivars are presented for use in ongoing breeding programs.