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- ; This report is a slightly revised version of my master's thesis in Development studies. I approach the interplay between farming and tourism in the Norwegian countryside using narrative and discourse analysis. Geiranger has survived on a combination of farming and tourism for more than a century. However, more recently, the area has been protected as a Landscape Protected Area and obtained World Heritage Status. These designations constitute interesting additional factors affecting the interplay between the sectors. More specifically, I assess the narratives of different actor groups related to the field I am studying. Furthermore, I compare the identified narratives to each other and link them to broader environmental discourses. The study is done within a framework of political ecology.

In Namibia, the encroachment by a native, but invasive bush on Savannah land leads to both environmental and economic loss. This invasive bush is, however, suitable for harvesting as a source of biomass for local industry. Harvesting biomass from the invasive bush has been shown to restore biodiversity, improve water conservation efforts, and restore grazing lands. Beyond the environmental benefits of removing the invasive bush, the raw biomass harvested is amenable to simple value-added production. Although some efforts are underway to make use of harvested biomass, current harvesting practices are not selective enough to meet governmental requirements intended to protect several species of local fauna and flora. Limitations, such as a lack of knowledge, during the harvesting process, can be overcome to a significant degree through the introduction of a smart application. This can integrate geographical context with computer vision to provide a ground-level tool for the identification of areas suitable for harvesting. This study shows that this tool can identify indigenous taxonomies with an accuracy of 76

The following essay seeks to distinguish some relevant factors which permitted a G. W. Bush presidency. Among the composite pieces of the puzzle: G. W. the man, the political dynamics which surround him, and the powerful machine that helped him into office. No less relevant, is the political culture that dominates his administration and permeates his electorate, especially the rising influence of the South, and its implications. Finally, the wider context of the collective unconscious must be addressed. This deeper angle best puts into perspective the recent success of G. W. Bush and the ideology he represents. A section entitled "Fear" ties the individuals, and the machine, to a long-term, and largely instinctual impulse of nationalism to resist the penetration and encroachment of a hostile outside world. Because the anxiety of being infiltrated calls attention to those margins underscored by Derrida, we thought it appropriate to entitle this contribution Deconstructing George W. Bush. ; El siguiente ensayo busca identificar algunos factores relevantes que le permitieron a G. W. Bush ascender a la presidencia. Entre las piezas compuestas del rompecabezas tenemos: G. W. el hombre, las dinámicas políticas que lo rodean y la poderosa maquinaria que lo llevo al poder. No menos relevante es la cultura política que domina su administración y penetra a su electorado, especialmente la influencia creciente del sur y sus implicaciones. Finalmente, el contexto más amplio del inconsciente colectivo debe ser presentado. Este ángulo más profundo pone mejor en perspectiva el éxito reciente de G. W. Bush y la ideología que él representa. Una sección titulada "El miedo" enlaza a los individuos y a la maquinaria a un impulso a largo plazo y mayormente instintivo de nacionalismo a resistir la penetración e intrusión de un mundo externo hostil. Debido a que la ansiedad de ser infiltrado llama la atención de esos márgenes subrayados por Derrida, pensamos que era apropiado titular esta contribución Descomponiendo a George W. Bush.

Monitoring vegetation change is important because the nature, extent and rate of change in key measures, such as plant biomass, cover and species composition, provides critical insight into broader environmental and land use drivers and leads to the development of appropriate policy. We used Landsat data between 1984 and 2018 to produce a map of Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) change over South Africa at 30 m resolution and an interactive web application to make the analysis both globally applicable and locally meaningful. We found an increase in EVI of 0.37 ± 0.59% yr−1 (mean ± standard deviation), confirming global vegetation greening trends observed with lower-resolution satellites. Mesic, productive biomes including the Albany Thicket and Savanna, exhibited the largest greening trends while browning trends were dominant in more arid biomes, such as the Succulent Karoo and Desert. Although overall EVI trends correspond to vegetation index trends derived from the Advanced Very-High-Resolution Radiometer (8 km resolution), the relative scarcity of Landsat data availability during the 1980 s is a potential source of error. Using repeat very-high-resolution satellite (ca. 3 m resolution) imagery and ground-based photography as reference, we found good correspondence with EVI trends, revealing patterns of degradation (e.g. woody plant encroachment, desertification), and restoration (e.g. increased rangeland productivity, alien clearing) over selected landscapes. The utility of the EVI trend layer to government and industry for monitoring ecosystem changes will be enhanced by the ability to distinguish climatic from anthropogenic drivers of change. This may be partially achieved though interactive exploration of the EVI trends using the application found here: http://evitrend.zsv.co.za ; acceptedVersion

Land degradation and desertification (LDD) is a serious global threat to humans and the environment. Globally, 10-20% of drylands and 24% of the world's productive lands are potentially degraded, which affects 1.5 billion people and reduces GDP by €3.4 billion. Large parts of southern African arid, semi-arid and sub-humid areas are considered to be undergoing severe degradation processes, such as forest degradation, deforestation and bush encroachment that affect up to a third of the area, leading to a decline in the ecosystem services provided to some of the continent's poorest and most vulnerable communities. There is, therefore, a pressing need for an objective, repeatable, systematic and spatially explicit measure of land degradation over the region and this is why the main aim of the LanDDApp project was to develop an appraisal system for assessing LDD in the southern African region. According to some assessments, only in South Africa bush encroachment, i.e. the advancement of woody plants into grasslands, and the subsequent conversion of savannahs and open woodlands into shrublands, has rendered 1.1 million ha of savannah unusable, it threatens another 27 million ha (~17% of the country), and has reduced the grazing capacity throughout the region by up to 50%. For this reason, one of the key objectives of LanDDApp was to devise an accurate methodology for mapping and monitoring bush encroachment using open access Earth Observation (EO) data. The use of multi-temporal and multi-sensor data from both the dry and the wet seasons proved to be a highly successful approach. To describe and map changes in ecosystem functioning at the regional scale, LanDDApp also carried out time-series analyses of vegetation index data: a proxy for vegetation vigour. Spatio‐temporal patterns of change in two different vegetation indices covering 33 years from 1981–2014 were identified. Areas of diverging trends in the vegetation indices were linked to well‐known changes in land use and land cover, such as deforestation and bush encroachment. Moreover, the patterns of diverging vegetation index trends were used as a reference in evaluating the impacts of environmental changes related to trends in Net Primary Productivity and Rain Use Efficiency. Field visits to three diverse study sites were carried out to verify the results using a variety of cameras mounted on poles, fixed wing and octocopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), as well as expert knowledge. The results indicate areas of localized land degradation where ecosystem functioning has been reducing. Degradation impacts were reflected as reductions in productivity that varied along a continuum from slight to severe, depending on the specific land use/cover. The results from LanDDApp are relevant to various local, regional, national and international stakeholders related with savannah LDD, from small communal to larger private farmers, NGOs related with helping local communities maintain sustainable livelihoods while protecting their environment, Provincial and Central Government Organisations, Universities from all affected countries in the southern African region, research organisations as well as SMEs working on mapping tools and UAV/EO technologies.

Part One: Marginality, poverty and political economy -- 1 Introduction: Marginality and exclusion in Egypt and the Middle East Ray Bush and Habib Ayeb -- 2 Marginality: curse or cure? Asef Bayat -- 3 Accumulation by encroachment in the Arab Mashreq Ali Kadri -- Part Two: Creating and reproducing marginality 4 Marginality or abjection? The political economy of poverty production in Egypt Ray Bush -- 5 The marginalization of the small peasantry: Egypt and Tunisia Habib Ayeb -- 6 Margins and frontiers Reem Saad -- 7 Transport thugs: spatial marginalization in a Cairo suburb Dalia Wahdan -- 8 Against marginalization: workers, youth and class in the 25 January revolution Rabab el Mahdi -- 9 National geographical targeting of poverty in Upper Egypt Saker el Nour -- 10 Working with street kids: unsettling accounts from the field Kamal Fahmi -- 11 Marginalization and self-marginalization: commercial education and its graduates Moushira Elgeziri -- 12 Disability in transition in Egypt: between marginalization and rights Heba Hagrass

The Borana Plateau is an important region for Ethiopia— but it is challenged by very serious problems. Both the human and livestock populations are growing while poverty is increasing for the majority of pastoralists. The rangeland also shows signs of extreme degradation including gullying, bush encroachment, and high rates of pond siltation. This brief summarizes points made at a pastoralist conference held for 71 participants during December, 2014, in Yabelo town in the Borana Zone. The purpose of the conference was to chart a way forward for the Boran society to better address problems. The conference included speakers from the pastoral community, policy-making realm, private sector, and research organizations. It was concluded that the pastoralists must begin to better manage grazing, rehabilitate the land, and diversify livelihoods. Both the traditional leadership and the government must work together in this process, but it is the people themselves who have the power to make these changes.

Preface -- Chapter 1. Assessing the Household Preference Level for Sustainable Clean Cooking Energy in Lagos State, Nigeria: Case Study of Biofuel -- Chapter 2. The Challenges and Opportunities for Climate Change Education at Makerere University in Kampala Uganda -- Chapter 3. Sustainable Cropping Intensification and its Role on Profitability of Cassava-Based Farms in a Changing Climate: Evidence from Rivers State, Nigeria -- Chapter 4. COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A THREAT TOWARDS ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS ON COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS IMPACTS IN ZIMBABWE'S RURAL COMMUNITIES -- Chapter 5. Experimental study of fire behavior in annually burned humid savanna of West Africa in the context of bush encroachment -- Chapter 6. NEW WEEDING TECHNOLOGY: A SOLUTION FOR IMPROVING THE WELFARE OF RICE PRODUCERS IN CAMEROON -- Chapter 7. Possibilities of translanguaging pedagogy for sustainable education in Africa -- Chapter 8. But we cannot do it all': Investors' sustainability tensions and strategic selectivity in the development of Kenya's largest geothermal energy plants in Olkaria -- Chapter 9. Fostering university contribution towards sustainable development within an African context: The instrumentality of indigenous knowledge system -- Chapter 10. Gender, agricultural productivity and sustainability in Cameroon.

This study investigates how the ecosystem services (ES) linked to livestock grazing are perceived across countries. A total of 82 case studies collected from 42 countries via survey (53.7% cases from Europe and 46.3% from outside of Europe) have been analysed through a multivariate approach. In all, 18 non-provisioning ES were considered. Overall, the reported impacts of livestock grazing on the different ES were much more positive than negative. Notably, a large proportion of respondents reported either positive or very positive impacts for some cultural ES, namely cultural, historic and natural heritage (84%), knowledge systems and educational values (77%), landscape values (74%), and for some supporting and regulating ES, namely habitat provision (66%), nutrient cycling (65%), and bush encroachment/fire control (66%). Based on multiple regression analysis, geographic origin, stakeholder type and species category, as well as protection status of the grazing area, had significant effects on the perception of the impacts. Respondents reported those impacts as more positive in Europe, in protected areas and where several species were present in the grazing area. A significantly larger proportion of respondents reported recognition of ES provided by the grazing livestock population in European countries (40.9%) compared with non-European countries (23.7%). Based on the survey responses it appears that in non-European countries absence of formal recognition, especially by policy makers, is a major challenge for the continued provision of ES in grazing systems. In Europe, where such recognition is already often included in legislation, the long-term sustainability of related policies and incentives to provide such services is viewed as a major issue by the respondents.

Wind is a valuable renewable resource supporting a rapidly growing wind energy industry. Executive Order 13212, signed by President George W. Bush in 2001, tasks the Departments of the Interior, Energy, Agriculture, and Defense to work together in support of wind energy development on public lands in the eleven western states. Over 28% of the land area in the eleven western states that is suitable for wind energy production lies under U.S. military training airspace. Since the wind turbines are vertical obstructions to both Special Use Airspace (SUAS) and military training routes (MTRs), this level of geospatial convergence threatens to reduce the viability of this valuable renewable resource. Technological innovation and modernization within the wind energy industry have pushed wind turbine heights higher into the airspace, beyond the minimum altitudes of some training airspace. This geospatial convergence creates a significant potential for encroachment. To support Executive Order 13212, while protecting training airspace from encroachment, this project assesses the geospatial relationship between military training airspace and wind energy development in the eleven western states. In follow-on analysis, this project transitions from the regional eleven western states perspective to a focus on the Fallon Range Training Complex (FRTC) in northern Nevada, analyzing 17 areas of interest (AOI) and assessing the potential for encroachment. The objective of the FRTC analysis is to further examine the encroachment conditions around the FRTC and quantify potential encroachment scenarios. The client is Navy Captain Scott Ryder, the Commanding Officer of Naval Air Station Fallon who is responsible to a large extent for the oversight of northern Nevada's military training airspace. From the perspective of the client, this project yields valuable knowledge and an improved geospatial understanding of the physical relationship between wind energy development and military training airspace. That knowledge and understanding will be directed towards the development of the most appropriate management policy and procedures. This project effectively predicts the amount of wind energy related encroachment that could occur within the study areas. It also identifies the most likely encroachment points around the FRTC perimeter, where encroachment will most likely occur, and from what direction it will likely come. The project effectively demonstrates fundamental GIS problem solving concepts, integrating many relevant factors, and demonstrating the power and advantage of GIS. This analysis presented in this project does not limit wind energy development, but identifies potential encroachment as well as where wind energy developers should focus and where they should limit their exploration.

My paper studies the issue of power and empire in the colonialist discourses of Rudyard Kipling, Edward Morgan Forster and Joseph Conrad. It focuses on the consolidation of the English imperial power in the Orient at the expense of the native power structures. Therefore, two main interrelated issues are developed. First, the writers celebrate the encroachment of the English political power in the Orient. Second, they deny native rules by their focus on the idea of Oriental despotism and misrule as the essential factors that incite the decimation of the native rule. This process of denying the native authority is accompanied by the subject people's obedience to the colonial authority. I have concluded my paper with drawing parallels with contemporary issues, analysing an official discourse by George W. Bush as an instance. In his "Iraq War Discourse" (2003), Bush denies native authority in Iraq and reiterates nineteenth century Orientalist discourse about Oriental despotism and its replacements by the blessings of Western "democracy".