Environmental Resources (environmental + resources)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Using geographic information to identify environmental resources: A tool for land use planning

ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2006
A. Gharagozlou
First page of article [source]


Variance estimation for spatially balanced samples of environmental resources

ENVIRONMETRICS, Issue 6 2003
Don L. Stevens Jr
Abstract The spatial distribution of a natural resource is an important consideration in designing an efficient survey or monitoring program for the resource. We review a unified strategy for designing probability samples of discrete, finite resource populations, such as lakes within some geographical region; linear populations, such as a stream network in a drainage basin, and continuous, two-dimensional populations, such as forests. The strategy can be viewed as a generalization of spatial stratification. In this article, we develop a local neighborhood variance estimator based on that perspective, and examine its behavior via simulation. The simulations indicate that the local neighborhood estimator is unbiased and stable. The Horvitz,Thompson variance estimator based on assuming independent random sampling (IRS) may be two times the magnitude of the local neighborhood estimate. An example using data from a generalized random-tessellation stratified design on the Oahe Reservoir resulted in local variance estimates being 22 to 58 percent smaller than Horvitz,Thompson IRS variance estimates. Variables with stronger spatial patterns had greater reductions in variance, as expected. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


HUMBOLDT'S NODES AND MODES OF INTERDISCIPLINARY ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE IN THE ANDEAN WORLD,

GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Issue 3 2006
Karl S. Zimmerer
ABSTRACT. Alexander von Humboldt engaged in a staggering array of diverse experiences in the Andes and adjoining lowlands of northwestern South America between 1801 and 1803. Yet examination of Humboldt's diaries, letters, and published works shows how his principal activities in the Andes centered on three interests: mining and geological landscapes; communications and cartography; and use and distribution of the quinine-yielding cinchona trees. Each node represented a pragmatic concern dealing with environmental resources in the context of the Andes. To pursue these interests in his Andean field studies, Humboldt relied on varied cultural interactions and vast social networks for knowledge exchange, in addition to extensive textual comparisons. These modes of inquiry dovetailed with his pragmatic interests and his open-ended intellectual curiosity. Fertile combinations in his Andean studies provided the foundation and main testing ground for Humboldt's fused nature-culture approach as well as his contributions to early geography and interdisciplinary environmental science. [source]


Experiments in Environmental Economics and Some Close Relatives

JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SURVEYS, Issue 3 2006
Bodo Sturm
Abstract., It is not only the great number of papers written on environment economics that make it worth dealing with this special branch of experimental research, but the environmental problem in all its facets seems to serve as a catalyst for identifying some methodological problems of the experimental method. For this reason, we will not only try to give an overview of recent experiments in environmental economics but also add some thoughts on the methodological implications of this work. We identify three direct connecting factors for the experimental method and environmental economics. First, social dilemmas are, in many cases, at the core of environmental problems. Experiments are able to test theoretical hypotheses for individual behavior in such social dilemma situations. The second connecting factor comes from the field of applied experimental work and can be characterized as the testbedding of institutional arrangements for the solution of environmental problems. The last direct application of experimental methods to environmental economics concerns the individual evaluation of environmental resources. [source]


How Do Real Indians Fish?

AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 4 2009
Contested Indigeneities in the Colorado Delta, Neoliberal Multiculturalism
ABSTRACT There has been a growing interest in anthropology regarding how certain political conditions set the stage for "articulations" between indigenous movements and environmental actors and discourses. However, relatively little attention has been paid to how these same conditions can suppress demands for indigenous rights. In this article, I argue that the pairing of neoliberalism and multiculturalism in contemporary Mexico has created political fields in which ethnic difference has been foregrounded as a way of denying certain rights to marginalized groups. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in northern Mexico, I analyze how the arguments of a group of Cucapá for fishing rights in the Colorado Delta have been constrained within these political circumstances. I argue that cultural difference has been leveraged by the Mexican federal government and local NGOs to prevent the redistribution of environmental resources among vulnerable groups such as the Cucapá. [source]


Shamans versus Pirates in the Amazonian Treasure Chest

AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 4 2002
Beth A. Conklin
This article explores how the recent rise of shamans as political representatives in Brazil addresses tensions and contradictions associated with the internationalization of indigenous rights movements. Identity politics and transnational organizational alliances concerning issues of environmentalism and human rights have greatly expanded the political leverage and influence of indigenous activism. However, some transnational environmentalist discourses collide with Brazilian discourses of national sovereignty, and the 1990s witnessed a nationalist backlash against Indians, whom politicians, military leaders, and media commentators have frequently portrayed as pawns of foreign imperialists. Opponents of indigenous rights also seized on apparent contradictions between rhetoric and action to discredit indigenous claims to environmental resources. The analysis examines how the shift to redefine knowledge as the core of indigenous identity circumvents some of these liabilities by shifting the basis for indigenous rights claims from environmental practices to environmental knowledge. As shamans mobilize and speak out against the threat of biopiracy, they blunt the nationalist backlash, repositioning indigenous peoples as defenders of the national patrimony and solid citizens of the Brazilian nationstate. [Keywords: Brazil, indigenous peoples, identity politics, shamans, biopiracy] [source]


From an environmental policy towards a sustainable tourism industry.

AQUATIC CONSERVATION: MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS, Issue 4 2001
The Albanian case
Abstract Albania possesses enormous potential in terms of environment resources, which could play a leading role in the economic reconstruction of the country. A great heritage of environmental resources, as well as of historical and archaeological sites, occurs along the coasts, which could allow a substantial development in the sector of tourism. Among the many priorities facing this emerging country, a valorization of the coastline may reveal that it represents one of the country's greatest resources, even if, at the moment, it shows signs of degradation and pollution. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Sustainable tourism in Greek islands: the integration of activity-based environmental management with a destination environmental scorecard based on the adaptive resource management paradigm

BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 1 2010
Benjamin Karatzoglou
Abstract Tourism is a major industry that can lead to economic gains as well as to degraded environment and social infrastructure. Tourism has the potential to destroy the available common environmental resources through overuse and poor management practices, as limited information disclosure and poor monitoring of actions encourage the perpetuation and extension of environmental problems. Based on the adaptive resource management paradigm for addressing problems related to the use of the commons, this paper suggests a methodology for the development of a management tool that can provide island hotels with a continuous flow of timely, relevant, accurate and objective information on the environmental impact of critical corporate activities. The tool, named the destination environmental scorecard (DES), draws on activity-based management concepts and can help local hotel SMEs measure and compare their performance against certain standards and thus conduct operations in a responsible and measurable way to the benefit of both business financial performance and regional sustainability. The paper presents the DES operational characteristics and the potential benefits from its implementation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]