Agricultural pesticides, especially insecticides, are an integral part of modern farming. However, these may often leave their target ecosystems and cause adverse effects in non- target, especially freshwater ecosystems, leading to their deterioration. In this thesis, the focus will be on Insect Growth Regulators (IGRs) that can in many ways cause disruption of the endocrine system of invertebrates. Freshwater invertebrates play important ecological, economic and medical roles, and disruption of their endocrine systems may be crucial, considering the important role hormones play in the developmental and reproductive processes in organisms. Although Endocrine Disruption Chemicals (EDCs) can affect moulting, behaviour, morphology, sexual maturity, time to first brood, egg development time, brood size (fecundity), and sex determination in invertebrates, there is currently no agreement upon how to characterize and assess endocrine disruption (ED). Current traditional ecotoxicity tests for Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) show limitations on generating data at the population level that may be relevant for the assessment of EDCs, which effects may be sublethal, latent and persist for several generations of species (transgenerational). It is therefore the primary objective of this thesis to use a test method to investigate adverse effects of EDCs on endpoints concerning development and reproduction in freshwater invertebrates. The full life-cycle test over two generations that includes all sensitive life stages of C. riparius (a sexual reproductive organism) allows an assessment of its reproduction and should be suitable for the investigation of long-term toxicity of EDCs in freshwater invertebrates. C. riparius is appropriate for this purpose because of its short life cycle that enables the assessment of functional endpoints of the organism over several generations. Moreover, the chironomid life cycle consists of a complete metamorphosis controlled by a well-known endocrine mechanism and the endocrine system of insects has been most investigated in great detail among invertebrates. Hence, the full life-cycle test with C. riparius provides an approach to assess functional endpoints (e.g. reproduction, sex ratio) that are population-relevant as a useful amendment to the ERA of EDCs. In the laboratory, C. riparius was exposed to environmentally-relevant concentrations of the selected IGRs in either spiked water or spiked sediment scenario over two subsequent generations. The results reported in this thesis revealed significant effects of the IGRs on the development and the reproduction of C. riparius with the second (F1) generation showing greater sensitivity. These findings indicated for the first time the suitability of multigenerational testing for various groups of EDCs and strongly suggested considering the full life-cycle of C. riparius as an appropriate test method for a better assessment of EDCs in the freshwater environment. In conclusion, this thesis helps to detect additional information that can be extrapolated at population level and, thus, might contribute to better protection of freshwater ecosystems against the risks of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs.) It may furthermore contribute to changes in the ERA process that are necessary for a real implementation of the new European chemical legislation, REACH (Registration, Evaluation Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals). Finally, significant interactions between temperature, chemical exposure and generation were reported for the first time and, may help predict impacts that may occur in the future, in the field, under predicted climate change scenarios.
Whilst Edward Gibbon's Memoirs of My Life comprise a notoriously complex document of autobiographical artifice, there is no reason to question the honesty of its revelation of his attitudes to geography and its relationship to the historian's craft. Writing of his boyhood before going up to Oxford, Gibbon commented that his vague and multifarious reading could not teach me to think, to write, or to act; and the only principle, that darted a ray of light into the indigested chaos, was an early and rational application of the order of time and place. The maps of Cellarius and Wells imprinted in my mind the picture of ancient geography: from Stranchius I imbibed the elements of chronology: the Tables of Helvicus and Anderson, the Annals of Usher [sic] and Prideaux, distinguished the connection of events . . . This seems a fairly direct comment on Gibbon's attitude to geography as a historian in that it is confirmed by various of his working documents and commonplace book comments not aimed at posterity and by the practice embodied in his great work that was thus targeted, the Decline and Fall. Taking Gibbon's private documents, the first manuscript we have in his English Essays, for example, is a tabulated chronology from circa 1751 when Gibbon was fourteen years old, which begins with the creation of the world in 6000 BC and runs up to 1590 BC, this being exactly the sort of material which could be commonplaced from the likes of Ussher and Prideaux. Matching this attention to chronology is a concern with geography, and indeed the two are coupled together as in his comment in the Memoirs. Thus in his Index Expurgatoris (1768–9), Gibbon berates Sallust as "no very correct historian" on the grounds that his chronology is not credible and that "notwithstanding his laboured description of Africa, nothing can be more confused than his Geography without either division of provinces or fixing of towns". In this regard, Gibbon the author of the Decline and Fall was a "correct" historian, in that he was careful to frame each arena in which historical events were narrated in the light of a prefatory description of the geography of the location under discussion. This is most readily apparent in the second half of the opening chapter of the work, where Gibbon proceeds on what his "Table of Contents" calls a "View of the Provinces of the Roman Empire", starting in the West with Spain and then proceeding clockwise to reach Africa on the other side of the Pillars of Hercules, a pattern of geographical description directly mirroring ancient practice in Strabo's Geography and Pomponius Mela's De Situ Orbis. But this practice of prefacing a historical account with geographical description repeats itself at various points in the work, as when, approaching the end of his grand narrative, Gibbon reaches the impact of "Mahomet, with sword in one hand and the Koran in the other" on "the causes of the decline and fall of the Eastern empire". Before discussing the birth of Islam, Gibbon treats his readers to a discussion of the geography of Arabia, beginning with its size and shape before moving on to its soils, climate and physical–geographic subdivisions.
The climate change it has revealed as the main atmospheric pollution problem at present. Some of the compounds that are directly implicated in the generation of this problem are emitted from mobile sources as a result of the combustion processes of fossil fuels in vehicles. For this reason it is necessary to use new energetic sources less pollutant than fossil fuel as hydrogen, biomass, biofuels, etc. But before installing a new energetic source, it is necessary to study its viability from different points of view as the economic, energetic performance and the environmental impact. In this sense, the present work studies the effect of different biofuels on the unregulated exhaust emissions from a diesel engine. Traditionally the legislation establishes the emission limit levels of the regulated compounds as the total hydrocarbons, CO2, NOx and particulate matter, but furthermore the implications of these compounds in the atmospheric reactivity must be considered. Specifically, the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are heavily involved in key atmospheric processes and play a central role in the chemical processes that determine the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere. Firstly this study has been centered in the identification and quantification of VOCs proceeding from the combustion of fuels with different chemical compositions as diesel, eb-diesel and 100% rapeseed biofuel. Preconcentration techniques as adsorption on Tenax and derivatization with 2,4-DNPH have been used and GC-MS and HPLC as analysis techniques. After comparing the influence of the oxygen content in each fuel in the emissions of alkanes, alkenes, ketones, aromatic compounds, alcohols and aldehydes, the atmospheric reactivity of some of these compounds has been studied in the laboratory. The kinetic behaviours of 3-methylfuran with OH and NO3 radicals and 2-furaldehyde, 3-furaldehyde and 5-methylfufural with Cl atoms have been studied at room temperature and atmospheric pressure using the relative technique to determine rate coefficients. For a better knowledge, furthermore, the products of the reaction of 3-methylfuran with OH and NO3 have been investigated using two analysis techniques, GC-MS joint with solid-phase microextraction (SPME) as preconcentration system and FTIR. Finally, in order to assess the measured VOCs emissions concerning the photochemical ozone production, the ozone formation potential has been calculated for the emissions of the different biofuels. It is confirmed that emission factors of alkanes, alkenes and aromatic compounds decrease at the same time that the oxygen content increases in the fuel, but acetaldehyde concentration increases in the eb-diesel emissions compared with diesel and 100% rapeseed biofuel which confers a higher capacity of ozone production on eb-diesel. The absolute rate coefficients obtained for OH and NO3 radical reactions with 3-methylfuran in units of cm3 molec.-1 s-1 are (1.13 ± 0.22) 10-10 and 1.28 10-11. On the other side the absolute rate coefficients obtained for Cl atom reactions with 2-furaldehyde, 3-furaldehyde and 5-methylfuraldehyde in units of 10-10 cm3 molec.-1 s-1 are (2.61 ± 0.27), (3.15 ± 0.27) and (3.96 ± 0.50). The OH and NO3 initiated oxidation of 3-methylfuran led to the formation of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds such as 2-methylbutenedial and aldehydes such as 3-furaldehyde, ketones as 3-methyl-2,5-furanodione, 5-hydroxi-3-methyl-2(5H)-furanone and 5-hydroxi-4-methyl-2(5H)-furanone, and nitroperoxy compounds.
This dissertation is a rethinking and critique of the concept of "national socialism." I show that this concept not only emerged in Germany years before Nazism, but also arose within the mainstream of German society, alongside and independently of parallel developments in the radical right. Alarmed by the dramatic rise of an internationalist, Marxist socialism in the years following German unification, a succession of prominent public figures gave voice to an alternative, nationalist reading of the social problems accompanying capitalist industrialization. This endeavor involved a wholesale reconceptualization of social life and social reform, and a marginalization of the concern for social justice and emancipation in favor of a preoccupation with national order, homogeneity, and power. The dissertation focuses on two variants of national socialism developed in Germany prior to the First World War, one by the left-leaning bourgeois reformist Friedrich Naumann and the other by the right-wing völkisch antisemite Theodor Fritsch. Their differences notwithstanding, both strands of national socialism shared two major ideational foundations. First, both were underpinned by a national existentialism: the claim that the nation is facing a "struggle for existence" which necessitates aggressive international expansion, colonization, and ethnic purification. The social reforms demanded by national socialism were, accordingly, geared at systematically harnessing all socio-economic forces in the service of these purportedly "existential" struggles. Second, both variants of national socialism adhered to a national productivism that, by stressing the need for cooperation among all the "productive" strata of the nation, elided the class-based exploitation characteristic of industrial capitalism. On the basis of their national productivism, both Naumann and Fritsch were opposed simultaneously to Marxism with its class-conflict view of society on the one hand, and to liberalism with its individualistic worldview on the other hand. Given that Naumann and Fritsch were pivotal figures in their respective social, cultural, and political milieux--Naumann in the reformist bourgeoisie, Fritsch in the radical right--their articulation of a national-existential claim on the social is indicative of a profound generational shift in the ideational climate of Imperial Germany. This generational shift did not consist in the appearance of national socialism itself, which had already been articulated in the 1870s by prominent figures such as political economist Gustav Schmoller and Christian socialist Adolf Stoecker. Rather, the shift consisted in the shedding of the ethical-conservative sensibility of the first generation of national socialism in favor of a sense of existential urgency grounded in a biologistic imagination. The impact of national socialism on the generation of Naumann and Fritsch reached its apex in the First World War, when an existential national socialism constituted the ideological underpinning of Germany's war economy, i.e. the systematic regimentation and mobilization of the national economy in service of the war effort. Beyond the fresh perspective it offers on the historical dynamics of Imperial Germany, the dissertation also sheds new light on the intellectual-historical context in which national socialism made its way into the name and program of the Nazi movement from 1920 onward. The study suggests that the conceptual field of national socialism into which Nazism entered after the First World War was more variegated, more sophisticated, and had deeper historical and intellectual roots than previously believed.
International audience ; In the last few decades, urban drainage systems have become much more than a simple removal of storm-water and sewage out of the city. Urban water management must adapt to the city and its evolutions; the driving forces are numerous with a diverse range of origins: social evolution (increasing expectations regarding levels of service), societal evolution (increasing complexity of regulations and institutions, which make urban water management more complex), environmental evolution (climate change and its consequences, etc.), technologic evolution (including new monitoring possibilities), economic evolution (global markets, share of costs between stakeholders). Importantly, urbanization has had significant impacts on urban water cycle (Chocat et al., 2007). Pressure exerted on cities and, in our context, on urban water system has lead to the need to consider more functions, thus making it necessary to modify (expand) the boundaries of the system. Urban water system must include drainage system, the catchment and the city itself, in order to establish a balance between each of the three sub-systems. This will enable functions such as ecosystem protection, water resource scarcity, adaptability, re-use of storm and waste waters to be promoted. Studies identifying these functions is well documented (Ashley et al., 2002 ; Ashley et al., 2007 ; Chocat et al., 2007 ; Fletcher et al., 2009 ; Novotny et Brown, 2007 ; Wong et al., 2008). This sustainable water management presents a worldwide challenge for the 21st century. In the scope of this challenge, it is necessary to replace traditional management approaches by a new concept, often referred to as sustainable urban water management (SUWM) (Brown et al., 2006; De Graaf, 2009; Hellström et al., 2000; Kaufmann, 2007; Larsen, 1997; Mitchell, 2009). One key aspect of this approach is the necessity that storm water and wastewater should become again considered as a resource (as they were a few centuries ago) and not as a nuisance or a risk (Chocat et al., 2007). This new paradigm introduces the necessity to evaluate new methodological approaches and new tools and technologies. In terms of methodological approaches, recent research has focused on three main directions: performance indicators (Matos et al., 2003), guidelines (Boogaard et al., 2008; Hall and Lobrina, 2009; Lems et al., 2006) and decision-support tools dedicated to a part or the whole system (Förster et al., 2003; Taylor et al., 2006; Le Gauffre et al., 2007 ; Moura, 2008; Saegrov, 2006). However, sustainable urban water management must also consider means of interactions and cooperation between all stakeholders and institutions, at the catchment-scale and at the city-scale. Methods must thus address both technical facilities (devices, treatment systems, etc) and the organisations (local authorities, private enterprise, community group, etc.) which play a role in urban water management. The objective of our project (Granger, 2009; Cherqui et al., 2009) is to develop and test a multi-disciplinary assessment management methodology, which gives (i) urban water manager the ability to measure the provided service by urban water system; and gives (ii) stakeholders the ability to choose a strategy that matches their expectation of the service provided. An implicit objective of this project is to initiate a cooperative relationship between service provider, local government and others stakeholders. This close collaboration has been initiated thanks to this project.
Not Available ; The recent increase in the number of publications, debates and public discourse about the displacement of people caused by environmental changes can be reasonably attributed to the alarming intensity of the situation. In the near future, the proliferation of environmentally forced migrants (EM) is expected to create tremendous socio-economic and political problems. In spite of the immensity of the problem, no official definition of this class of migrants has been established and no policy measures are adopted at the national and international level1 . The absence of any real effort to define the status of environmental migrants is often linked to the deliberate effort not to include them in the class of (political) refugees and consequently grant them the protection provided by the Geneva Convention (Kibreab, 1997). Thus, the effort of the advocates of an ad hoc policy for the EM amounts to persuading the political community that those migrants should also be considered as persecuted (Myers, 1997, Conisbee and Simms,, 2003).This reasoning has found support in the prevailing political tendency to limit immigration flows. Another explanation given to this 'agenda denial' (Cobb and Ross, 1997) is related to the uncertainty of the phenomenon. All figures advanced on the displacement of millions of people cover periods as distant as 2025 or 2050 (Myers 2002). Many scholars remain sceptical and contest those numbers (Castles 2002, Black 2001). They emphasise the absence of certainty about these apocalyptic scenarios and ask for more analysis of the complex factors behind them. Governments hesitate to engage in policy action in a context of uncertain long-term impacts. In response to this situation, more case studies are requested in order to prove the necessity for further consideration. However, the advocates of the asylum regime and the uncertainty of the future are not the only reasons for the difficulties in this agenda-setting process. A further explanation of failure appears to be much more complex and largely related to the specificity of the issue which involves different policy sectors. Each one 1 In order not to create confusion with traditional refugees, I use the terms environmental (forced) migrant and environmentally displaced persons. ENVIRONMENT, FORCED MIGRATION AND SOCIAL VULNERABILITY Chapter 2 2 of these sectors has its own rationality and its policy goals and priorities. Therefore, a compromise on problem definition and policy content becomes particularly difficult2 . The first part of this contribution seeks to present the complex process of public problem definition. The second part proposes an analysis of the constraints imposed by the multi-sectoral aspect of the issue. The third part discusses the recent evolution of the international debate that restrictively defines the environmental migrant as a climate migrant. We suggest that this effort to define the identity of those who need protection paradoxically leads to postponement of any attempt to officially recognise environmentally displaced persons as an autonomous public problem and to propose specific policy measures. The final section breaks with the globalising and the restrictive definitional strategies outlined in the previous parts. It suggests a more pragmatic approach consisting of the use of present policy instruments in order to give different policy sectors the possibility to help environmentally vulnerable populations. This could be a first stage for further negotiations for a more integrated approach in the future. ; Not Available
17 pages, 3 figures, 5 tables, 63 references. We thank the Consejería de Medio Ambiente (Andalusian Government) and the directors of the Sierra Nevada National Park and Alcornocales Natural Park for facilities and support to carry out the field work. We also thank Rafael Villar for his advice in the experimental design of seedling growth measurements and for providing Q. pyrenaica acorns; and Luis V. García, Eduardo Gutiérrez, Ana Polo, Rocío Sánchez, Maite Domínguez, Carmen Navarro, Sergio de Haro, Asier Herrero, Ángel Navarro and Joaquín Sánchez for invaluable lab and field assistance. Many thanks to Lora Murphy and Charlie Canham for developing and providing the likelihood package for statistical analyses. Eugene W. Schupp provided helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. ; Understanding seedling performance across resource gradients is crucial for defining the regeneration niche of plant species under current environmental conditions and for predicting potential changes under a global change scenario. A 2-year field experiment was conducted to determine how seedling survival and growth of two evergreen and two deciduous Quercus species vary along gradients of light and soil properties in two Mediterranean forests with contrasting soils and climatic conditions. Half the seedlings were subjected to an irrigation treatment during the first year to quantify the effects on performance of an alteration in the summer drought intensity. Linear and non-linear models were parameterized and compared to identify major resources controlling seedling performance. We found both site-specific and general patterns of regeneration. Strong site-specificity was found in the identity of the best predictors of seedling survival: survival decreased linearly with increasing light (i.e. increasing desiccation risk) in the drier site, whereas it decreased logistically with increasing spring soil water content (i.e. increasing waterlogging risk) in the wetter site. We found strong empirical support for multiple resource limitation at the drier site, the response to light being modulated by the availability of soil resources (water and P). Evidence for regeneration niche partitioning among Quercus species was only found at the wetter site. However, at both sites Quercus species shared the same response to summer drought alleviation through water addition: increased first-year survival but not final survival (i.e. after two years). This suggests that extremely dry summers (i.e. the second summer in the experiment) can cancel out the positive effects of previous wetter summers. Therefore, an increase in the intensity and frequency of summer drought with climate change might cause a double negative impact on Quercus regeneration, due to a general reduction in survival probability and the annulment of the positive effects of (infrequent) 'wet' years. Overall, results presented in this study are a major step towards the development of a mechanistic model of Mediterranean forest dynamics that incorporates the idiosyncrasies and generalities of tree regeneration in these systems, and that allow simulation and prediction of the ecological consequences of resource level alterations due to global change. ; This study was supported by a Juan de la Cierva contract to LGA, grants FPU-MEC to IMPR and IM, grants FPIMEC to J.L.Q. and L.M. and by the coordinated Spanish MEC projects HETEROMED (REN2002-04041-C02) and DINAMED (CGL2005-05830-C03). This research is part of REDBOME (www.ugr.es/ redbome/ ) and GLOBIMED (www.globimed.net) networks on forest ecology. ; Peer reviewed
Ukraine's recent political developments have been rather turbulent and their effects on the economy controversial. The economy was rapidly growing between 2000 and 2004, albeit starting from a very low base. Among the growth factors were the devaluation of the hryvnia in 1999, the rising demand in Russia, other CIS markets and Asia, high world market prices of steel and a dramatic upswing in domestic demand for capital goods. Yet in 2005 economic growth slowed down dramatically, as the investment climate suffered from a re-privatization campaign, the world steel prices plunged, while imports were fostered by increased social spending and the currency revaluation undertaken. Newly available data show that the economic slowdown has reversed recently. Private consumption gained momentum once again, backed by an impressive growth of money incomes of households and expanding bank lending. The new Yanukovych government appears to be returning to the more liberal course pursued prior to the Orange Revolution cutting the corporate profit tax, re-instating the Special Economic Zones and shifting the social insurance burden from employers to employees. The consolidated deficit envisaged by the 2007 budget draft (2.6% of GDP) is to be covered largely by privatization receipts. Foreign trade developments during the past one and a half decades have been generally characterized by a re-orientation of trade flows away from Russia and the CIS. However, Ukraine's trade and integration relations with the EU have not advanced very much. The Partnership and Co-operation Agreement envisages the formation of a free trade area with the EU only after the Ukraine has joined the WTO; the latter seems now likely to be delayed and synchronized with that of Russia. The project of a Common Economic Space (CES) between Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan - agreed upon in September 2003 - remains largely on paper as well. Ukraine has scarce reserves of fossil fuels but an extremely energy-intensive economy. In order to reduce the energy dependence on Russia, the 'Energy Strategy of Ukraine until 2030' aims at using more nuclear power and domestically produced coal. An even better recipe in solving the country's energy problems would be a large-scale implementation of energy-saving technologies, including those brought by foreign investors. However, until now the FDI flows into Ukraine have been rather disappointing. The EU-15 share in Ukraine's FDI stock stood at 58% by the end of 2005. The relative political stability following the formation of the new government in the summer of 2006 is likely to bring benefits in the form of increasing investments and higher economic growth. The relations with Russia will almost certainly improve. Further price hikes for imported natural gas are likely to be gradual so that their impact on Ukraine's economy will probably be smoothed. The expected economic growth is 6.5% in 2006 and 7% next year, with annual consumer price inflation hovering around 10%. The recent upturn in exports implies that the trade and the current account deficits will be relatively small. In the longer run, a diversification of the economic structure away from metals and chemicals, and towards goods with a higher value-added, accompanied by an implementation of energy-saving measures, will be essential for ensuring the sustainability of economic growth.
Governments and international development agencies have intensified efforts to promote small-scale enterprises as an engine of pro-poor growth. In Brazil, however, small scale industries may also be responsible for the bulk of air pollution emissions. Although employees of polluting small-scale industries in Brazil are not disproportionately poor, simulations suggest that stringent environmental regulation resulting in widespread closures of pollution-intensive small-scale industries would result in a non-negligible increase in poverty among employees of these firms. The results suggest that the enthusiasm for small-scale enterprises needs to be tempered by awareness of the potential environmental costs imposed by this sector.
This report synthesizes the findings for the energy sector of a broader study, the Brazil low carbon study, which was undertaken by the World Bank in its initiative to support Brazil's integrated effort towards reducing national and global emissions of greenhouse gases while promoting long term development. The main aim of the study is to examine the potential for abating Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in Brazil in the energy area and to assess the relative costs of doing so for the time frame 2010-2030. Basically the study seeks to demonstrate by how much, by when and at what cost Brazil could reduce its GHG energy sector emissions. Given its special features, the fuel use and emissions of greenhouse gases in the transportation sector are dealt with in another report of this project. In addition the study aims to provide information for the Brazilian government to enable it to develop a long-term strategy (2030) for reducing carbon in the energy area (except the transport sector) and, more specifically, to provide the technical input needed for evaluating the potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced by the key economic sectors. In short, the study seeks to identify the different options and opportunities that could justify possible international resources being allocated to Brazil. The teams involved in the study needed first to focus on the proposed mitigation and carbon sequestering options and then, after identifying these proposals, to focus on existing barriers to the successful deployment of these options and suggest a set of public policies which could be mobilized to overcome them. The study also provides estimates of the scale of investments and operating costs likely to be involved, as well as a mitigation cost curve.
My thesis deals with the evolution of the relationships between large alpine lakes, watersheds, and society since the 1930s. By referring to the disciplineof geography, the topic was addressed through the following questions: How have pollutants that affect lakes also impacted related human activities? How have human activities been affected by the impacts of pollutions on the state of the lakes and where? How have the degradations and various pressures been revealed? What responses from society arose following these impacts ? How have actions been implemented to restore the quality of lakes?The study aims at answering all these questions based on a cross analysis of the evolution of the lacustrine social-ecological systems (SES), associated ecosystem services (ES) and pollutions. The operational perspective is to consider extending the current observation systems of great lakes to the territorial components they are associated to.For the longest time, the resources supplied by great alpine lakes have been associated with the functioning of human societies, which develop at their boundaries. This cohabitation occured for millennia without exerting major pressures on ecosystems as a whole. However, eutrophication, a generalized pollution of aquatic environments, emerged in the 1950s. Large lake / watershed / society relationships then became a major concern, thus requiring the establishment of a global management of water bodies and the coordination of political and scientific stakeholders, and human activities.Since the end of the 20th century, large lakes uses have been threatened by a series of micropollutions. Four societal challenges are at the core of aquatic ecosystem management issues: tourism, fisheries, water resource and biodiversity. These issues depend on the quality of the ecosystem and its natural resources, quality which can be preserved (Annecy) or recovered (Geneva lake, Bourget) owing to watershed pollution management actions. Carrying out these actions over the past 60 years have allowed to curb the degradation processes observed from the beginning of the 20th century, a period from which the flows transferred to the lakes from their watershed increased under the effects of urban, agricultural and industrial development.On the short term, new threats are arising (e.g. increased urbanization of watershed, micro-plastics, climate change, changes in uses and over-frequentation of lakes and coastlines). These worrying perspectives will engage a new debate that will lead to the mobilization of a large body of stakeholders, and ought to be anticipated and prepared by a feedback on the evolution of the lake – watershed – society relationships. Through this retrospective analysis, novel knowledge and models will emerge and will likely facilitate the dialogue between science and society and frame prospects.Our reflection is a contribution to the creation of a new approach to the geographical study of lake territories, mobilizing the concepts of ES and SES as tools that can help the sustainable and integrated management of large lakes. To achieve this goal, one of the most widely used models for characterizing ES (the cascade model, Haines-Young and Potschin 2010) has been adapted to the study of large alpine lakes, and a conceptual framework applied to the study of large lakes SES has been produced.On the scientific level, methodologies are proposed to make the concepts of SE and SSE applicable to retrospective approaches, and to take into account the specificities of lake ecosystems, thus responding to the shortcomings well identified in the literature. The strengths of this research are that it (1) proposes well-suited typologies to the characterization of the interactions between ecological and social processes, (2) defines the roles and limits of the ES involved in water and environment quality regulation in the provision of almost all of the lakes ES, (3) demonstrates that the evolution of practices and techniques of ES exploitation shape up the access to ES and must be considered in lake monitoring to management applications.From an operational point of view, the coupling of these two concepts allows us to characterize the driving processes of the Great Lakes / BV / society relationships and thereby to structure the response to pollution threats. These concepts then invite to define the limits of the system, and to question the current observatories for monitoring of large lakes, which are centered on biophysical indicators (bioindication and hydrochemical flows). According to us, theses observatories should evolve into a more systemic and integrative approach, which would be better suited to respond to challenges at the crossroads of global warming and micropollutants impacts, and to anticipate future societal changes. ; Les lacs rendent d'innombrables services à la société. Ils représentent l'une des plus importantes sources d'eau potable, constituent des lieux de production de ressources alimentaires, d'implantation des sociétés, de bien-être, spiritualité et de récréation. Plus ces écosystèmes sont étendus, volumineux et riches en biodiversité, plus les bénéfices qu'en tire la société sont diversifiés et importants. Les grands lacs sont, de ce fait, tout particulièrement investis par les populations humaines. Cependant, ces services dépendent très largement de l'état des milieux aquatiques. La problématique des différentes formes de pollution affectant les grands lacs est dès lors centrale, dans la mesure où elle est intrinsèquement liée à la qualité et la quantité des services rendus par ces derniers.Les grands lacs alpins français fournissent des exemples pertinents d'écosystèmes dont l'évolution est intimement liée à une succession de problématiques de pollutions – essais de restauration. L'évolution de notre société et nos modes de vie ont entraîné un accroissement de l'attrait général pour ces lacs, dû en partie à la qualité des eaux et des milieux lacustres retrouvée (le Léman, lac du Bourget) ou maintenue (lac d'Annecy), fruit des investissements passés.Au cours du XXème siècle, les lacs Léman, d'Annecy et du Bourget ont connu plusieurs crises de pollutions qui ont fortement dégradé la qualité de leurs écosystèmes et usages associés, au point de nécessiter la mise en place d'actions de gestion visant à restaurer un état satisfaisant pour les activités humaines. Néanmoins, le succès de la restauration des grands lacs alpins reste fragile et de nouvelles menaces se profilent : changement climatique, espèces invasives, polluants émergeants, micropolluants plastiques, intensification des loisirs nautiques, périurbanisation galopante, perte et manque de ressources en eau, etc. Ces problématiques affectent la plupart des grands lacs dans le monde et font partie des principaux enjeux globaux des écosystèmes aquatiques. Elles surviennent dans un contexte d'écosystèmes probablement affaiblis par les effets cumulés des perturbations passées, un contexte historique et culturel spécifique mais aussi d'évolutions des usages des lacs dont les impacts et les besoins en matière de qualité et quantité d'eau sont difficiles à prévoir mais néanmoins toujours en croissance.Gérer un grand lac suppose d'intégrer une diversité de facteurs et composantes associés au lac et relevant autant des fonctionnements biophysiques et des flux qui en résultent, que du fonctionnement de structures sociales, économiques et institutionnelles. Une analyse en termes de trajectoire d'évolution et de modélisation de ce système doit être menée, avec l'ambition d'aider à la prise de décision et à l'action des gestionnaires des milieux lacustres.L'enjeu de cette recherche est de réaliser une synthèse des connaissances sur l'évolution des relations sociétés - grands lacs depuis le début du XXème siècle, en partant de l'hypothèse que les concepts de service écosystémiques et de socio-écosystèmes peuvent aider au dialogue pour la gestion durable et intégrée des écosystèmes lacustres. Notre réflexion est une contribution à créer une nouvelle approche d'étude géographique des territoires limniques, mobilisant ces concepts en tant qu'outils d'analyse des relations entre la nature et la société et dans une démarche opérationnelle.
This paper provides evidence on the impacts of agricultural productivity on employment growth and structural transformation of non-farm activities. To guide the empirical work, this paper develops a general equilibrium model that emphasizes distinctions among non-farm activities in terms of tradable-non-tradable and the formal-informal characteristics. The model shows that when a significant portion of village income is spent on town/urban goods, restricting empirical analysis to the village sample leads to underestimation of agriculture's role in employment growth and transformation of non-farm activities. Using rainfall as an instrument for agricultural productivity, empirical analysis finds a significant positive effect of agricultural productivity growth on growth of informal (small-scale) manufacturing and skilled services employment, mainly in education and health services. For formal employment, the effect of agricultural productivity growth on employment is found to be largest in the samples that include urban areas and rural towns compared with rural areas alone. Agricultural productivity growth is found to induce structural transformation within the services sector with employment in formal/skilled services growing at a faster pace than that of low skilled services.
This report is part of a series aimed at monitoring economic developments in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The main objective of these reports is to provide regular updates on key macroeconomic developments and reform initiatives. The reports focus on macroeconomic developments and key structural reforms that have both significant short and medium term impacts. This report presents a broad overview of macroeconomic, political and structural developments in the DRC up to January 2011 and the outlook for the remainder of 2011. DRC's constitution adopted in 2006 has been revised in January 2011 by Parliament. The main changes to the original texts include the election of the president by a majority in a single round vote. The Congolese authorities have maintained prudent fiscal policies under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Extended Credit Facility (ECF) program, which has achieved the main objectives of this program in 2010 with an inflation rate (end-of-period) below the target of 9.9 percent. The economy has registered, thanks to the dynamism of the mining sector, a solid growth rate of 7.2 percent compared to 2.8 percent in 2009. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for 2011 is projected to reach 6.5 percent. The country's external position has improved. The current account balance, including grants, improved from a deficit of 10.5 percent of GDP in 2009 to 6.8 percent in 2010. Favorable commodity prices on the world market contributed to this development.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth has moderated from 6.7 percent in FY11 to 6.3 percent in FY12 due to unfavorable external economics and internal supply constraints. Monetary policy remained accommodative for most of 2011 but gradual tightening is occurring. With the high fiscal deficit and domestic borrowing by Government, monetary policy is now bearing the brunt of macroeconomic policy adjustment. The balance of payments (BoP) is on a deteriorating track, with reserves falling to below three months of imports and export growth turning negative in March 2012. A coordinated policy response is required to ease macroeconomic pressures and improve growth prospects. Key actions include the need to create fiscal space, contain government borrowing to mitigate the risk of crowding out of credit to the private sector, better regulate the capital market, and stimulate investment and job growth in the export sector. Unlike in 2008, Bangladesh has insufficient policy space to avert the negative impact of a global slowdown through fiscal stimulus packages and monetary easing.
OL αυτόχθονες πολιτισμοί, όπως ο αρχαιοελληνικός, συνδέονται άμεσα με το γεωλογικό δυναμικό και το φυσικογεωγραφικό περιβάλλον του ευρύτερου χώρου στον οποίο έχουν αναπτυχθεί, και κυρίως με την εξέλιξη του μετά την τελευταία παγετώδη περίοδο (18.000 ΒΡ) (Before Present, πριν από σήμερα = π.α.σ.). Στο γεωλογικό δυναμικό υπάγονται τα ηφαίστεια, οι σεισμοί, ο ορυκτός πλούτος και το υπόγειο νερό. Στο φυσικογεωγραφικό δυναμικό ενός τόπου εντάσσονται κυρίως το έδαφος, το κλίμα, το ανάγλυφο και η κατανομή ξηράς και θάλασσας. Ο τρίτος παράγοντας είναι το ανθρώπινο δυναμικό και κυρίως η θρησκεία, οι γνώσεις και το πολιτικό σύστημα. Ο ευρύτερος ελλαδικός χώρος, εκεί δηλαδή που αναπτύχθηκε ο προϊστορικός και ιστορικός αρχαιοελληνικός πολιτισμός (Ελλαδικός χώρος, Αιγαίο και παράλια Μικράς Ασίας), από γεωτεκτονική άποψη αποτελείτο Ελληνικό Τόξο και χαρακτηρίζεται από έντονη τεκτονική, σεισμική και ηφαιστειακή δραστηριότητα. Ένας από τους βασικότερους παράγοντες που συνέβαλαν στην ανάπτυξη του Ελληνικού πολιτισμού, είναι το κλίμα και οι μεταβολές του, ιδιαίτερα τα τελευταία 18.000 χρόνια και κυρίως οι επιπτώσεις των μεταβολών αυτών στη διαμόρφωση των ακτογραμμών και γενικά των παράκτιων περιοχών. Το κλίμα είναι γνωστό ότι μεταβάλλεται περιοδικά και ότι τα κυριότερα αίτια αυτής της περιοδικότητας είναι αστρονομικά (θεωρία Milankowitch). Έτσι, κατά το Τεταρτογενές, έχουν παρατηρηθεί διαδοχικές παγετώδεις και μεσοπαγετώδεις περίοδοι, λόγω αυξομείωσης της ηλιακής ακτινοβολίας που δέχεται η Γη. Η τελευταία παγετώδης περίοδος τελειώνει πριν από 18.000 έτη περίπου, επειδή, για τους ίδιους αστρονομικούς λόγους, η μέση θερμοκρασία της Γης άρχισε σχεδόν απότομα να αυξάνεται. Εξαιτίας αυτής της αύξησης, τεράστιες μάζες παγετώνων που είχαν συσσωρευτεί στις ηπείρους άρχισαν να τήκονται, με αποτέλεσμα την απελευθέρωση τεράστιων ποσοτήτων υδάτων, που μέχρι τότε ήταν δεσμευμένο στους παγετώνες, με επακόλουθο την βαθμιαία άνοδο της στάθμης της παγκόσμιας θάλασσας, που γύρω στο 18.000 ΒΡ βρισκόταν περί τα 125 μέτρα χαμηλότερα από σήμερα. Η άνοδος αυτή προκάλεσε βαθμιαία την κατάκλυση πολλών περιοχών που σήμερα αποτελούν τον πυθμένα του Αιγαίου μέχρι ένα βάθος γύρω στα 125 μέτρα, και αυτό συνέβη μέσα σε λίγες χιλιάδες χρόνια, ήτοι μεταξύ του 18.000 και του 6.000 χρόνια πριν από σήμερα περίπου. Ο προϊστορικός άνθρωπος λοιπόν, που κατοικούσε στην ευρύτερη περιοχή του Αιγαίου, ενώ μέχρι πριν 18.000 χρόνιαζούσε για δεκάδες χιλιάδες χρόνια σ' ένα γεωπεριβάλλον δυσμενές μεν, αλλά σχετικά σταθερό, μετά το 18.000 ΒΡ, εξαιτίας της αύξησης της μέσης θερμοκρασίας της ατμόσφαιρας της Γης, γίνεται μάρτυρας κοσμογονικών μεταβολών, ιδιαίτερα όσον αφορά την μεταβολή του παράκτιου τοπίου, αφού χρόνο με το χρόνο κατακλύζονταν, αργά μεν, αλλά σταθερά οι παράκτιες περιοχές, με μεγάλες σχετικά μέσες ταχύτητες, αφού κάτω από ορισμένες συνθήκες πρέπει να ξεπερνούσαν τα 5 εκατοστόμετρα το χρόνο. Εάν μαζί μ' αυτές τις μεταβολές των ακτογραμμών λάβουμε υπόψη και τη σεισμικότητα, την ηφαιστειότητα και τα σύνδρομα φαινόμενα (παλιρροιακά κύματα, απότομες καταβυθίσεις ή ανυψώσεις παράκτιων περιοχών λόγω σεισμών, κατολισθήσεις, καταπτώσεις βράχων κ.α.) το φυσικογεωγραφικό σκηνικό, ιδιαίτερα κατά τη διάρκεια ορισμένων περιόδων, πρέπει να ήταν εφιαλτικό. Την περίοδο αυτή, πρέπει να δημιουργήθηκε η Τρίτη γενιά των θεών που προέρχεται από το ζευγάρωμα της Γαίας, της Μεγάλης Μάνας των πάντων, και του Ουρανού: οι Τιτάνες, οι Εκατόγχειρες, οι Κύκλωπες και οι Γίγαντες, πρέπει να αντιπροσωπεύουν της καταστροφικές δυνάμεις της φύσης, αυτές που τον τρομοκρατούν και του παίρνουν τη Γη κάτω από τα πόδια του. Τι άλλο μπορεί να αντιπροσωπεύουν οι Γίγαντες παρά ηφαίστεια όταν, σύμφωνα με την Ελληνική Μυθολογία, ". έπνεαν πυρ από το στόμα τους.", ".έκραζαν αγριότατα.", ". ακόντιζαν δε στους ουρανούς πέτρες και δέντρα αναμμένα."; Ο παλαιολιθικός άνθρωπος όμως, έχει ανάγκη να δημιουργήσει κι άλλους θεούς που θα τον προστατεύσουν από τις φυσικές καταστροφές. Έτσι, δημιουργεί την τέταρτη γενιά θεών από το ζευγάρωμα ενός Τιτάνα, του Κρόνου, και μιας Τιτανίδας, της Ρέας. Σ' αυτήν τη γενιά ανήκουν ορισμένοι από τους μεγάλους θεούς και συγκεκριμένα οι 6 πρώτοι, όπως η Δήμητρα, η Εστία, η Ήρα, ο Άδης, ο Ποσειδών και ο Ζευς. Εξάλλου, το ευνοϊκό του κλίματος, εξασφαλίζει στον προϊστορικό άνθρωπο τα βασικά είδη διατροφής του, είτε είναι τροφοσυλλέκτης είτε τροφοπαραγωγός, και μάλιστα χωρίς ιδιαίτερη προσπάθεια, κάτι που σημαίνει ότι του αφήνει ελεύθερο χρόνο που του επιτρέπει να κινείται συνεχώς έξω στον ελεύθερο χώρο και του επιτρέπει να συναναστρέφεται άλλους ανθρώπους, που κι αυτοί έχουν ελεύθερο χρόνο. Για να μπορέσει να σταθεί στη μικρή του κοινωνία όμως πρέπει να μάθει να συζητάει, να επιχειρηματολογεί, να αντικρούει, να συμφωνεί ή να διαφωνεί με τον συνομιλητή του. Όλα αυτά τα στοιχεία όμως αποτελούν ουσιαστικά τα βασικά στοιχεία της Δημοκρατίας, του πολιτεύματος του λόγου και του αντίλογου. Εμείς λοιπόν πιστεύουμε ότι οι φυσικογεωγραφικές και γεωλογικές μεταβολές κατά την μυθολογική και γενικά την προϊστορική εποχή έχουν καθορίσει άμεσα ή έμμεσα όλα τα επιμέρους στοιχεία, αλλά κι αυτή την ίδια την εξέλιξη του αρχαιοελληνικού πολιτισμού ; Native civilizations, as that of the ancient Greeks, are directly connected to the geological and the physicogeographical regime of the regional area in which they have been developed, and mainly to its geoenvironmental evolution since the last glacial period (18,000 BP). Volcanoes, earthquakes and mineral resources, as building materials, the underground water and the various minerals, consist the so called geological regime. Soil, climate, relief, shorelines and coastal areas belong to the physicogeographical regime of an area. The regional territory, where the prehistorical and historical ancient Hellenic civilization has been developed is the Hellenic Peninsula, Aegean Sea and the coasts of Minor Asia, from the geotectonic point of view, composing the Hellenic Arc which is characterized by intense tectonic, seismic and volcanic activity. The main factor contributing to the evolution of the Hellenic civilization is the climate and its fluctuations, mainly during the last 18,000 years, and most essentially the impact of these changes in the displacement of the shorelines and the coastal areas in general. It is widely known that climate changes periodically and that the main reasons for this periodicity are astronomical (Milankowitch theory). Thus, during Quaternary, several successive glacial and interglacial periods have been observed due to the increasing and decreasing of the solar radiation that earth receives. The last glacial period ends approximately 18,000 years BP, since, for the same astronomical reasons, earth's mean temperature abruptly increased. Due to this increase, huge volume of glaciers started to melt resulting to the release of large water quantities, which until that time were trapped within the glaciers, resulting in the gradual rise of the global sea level that, around 18,000 years BP, was about 125 m. lower than today. This rise caused successively transgression of all areas that nowadays constitutes the seafloor of Aegean Sea until a depth around 125 m. This transgression happened within a few thousands of years, namely between 18,000 and 6,000 years BP approximately. Therefore, prehistoric man who inhabited the area of the Aegean Sea, though until 18,000 years BP was living for tens of thousands of years in a geoenvironment unfavourable but more or less stable, following 18,000 BP and due to the increase of the mean temperature of the earth's atmosphere, he witnessed cosmogony changes. These especially concern the change of the coastal scene, since year after year, slowly but steadily, coastal areas are being submerged, featuring high mean velocities that under certain conditions should exceed 5 m per year. Together with these shoreline displacements if one takes also into account seismicity, volcanic activity and the related phenomena (tsunamis, abrupt uplift or subsidence of the coastal areas caused by earthquakes, landslides, rockfalls, etc.), the physicogeological scenery should have been a nightmare. The third generation of the Gods must have been originated during this period. This generation is the result of the union of Gaia (Earth), the Big Mother of all, and Ouranos (Heaven), namely Titans, Ekatoncheires, Cyclops and Giants, who might represent the destructive natural powers that terrify man and move the earth under his feet. What else than volcanoes might Giants represent, when, according to the Hellenic Mythology ". they (the giants) breathed fire from their mouth ." ".they were crying out wildly.", "they were shooting rocks and blazing trees in the sky "! ? Yet, Paleolithic and Mesolithic man needs to create more gods who will protect him from all these natural disasters. So, he originates the fourth generation that comes out of the union of the Titan Kronos and the Titanide Rhea. In this generation belong some of the great gods, such as Hera, Demeter, Estia, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus. The favorable climate ensures the basic nutrition species that man needs, either he is a food collector or he is a food producer, and especially without any particular effort. This means that it allows prehistoric man to have enough free time. Especially after his inhabitance in towns, he may be continuously mobile in the open space and he may communicate with other men having free time as well. In order to attitude within his small society, he has to learn to discuss, to argue, to oppose, to agree or to disagree with his co-speakers. Yet, all these constitute the basic substantial features of Democracy. All these physicogeographical and geological changes of the mythological and the prehistorical, in general, era, that have determined directly or indirectly all partial settings and the evolution of the civilization itself, should be promoted in such a way that the relationship between physicogeographical environment and civilization should be primarily introduced.
