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Mitigation
Kinds of Mitigation Terms modified by Mitigation Selected AbstractsMitigation of Electromagnetic Instabilities in Fast Ignition ScenarioCONTRIBUTIONS TO PLASMA PHYSICS, Issue 3-4 2005C. Deutsch Abstract We address the issues of collective stopping for intense relativistic electron beams (REB) used to selectively ignite precompressed deuterium + tritium (DT) fuels. We investigate the subtle interplay of electron collisions in target as well as in beam plasmas with quasi-linear electromagnetic growth rates. Intrabeam scattering is found effective in taming those instabilities, in particular for high transverse temperatures. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Climate-Change Mitigation Revisited: Low-Carbon Energy Transitions for China and IndiaDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 6 2009Frauke Urban China and India are heavily dependent on high-carbon fossil fuels. This article elaborates the implications of low-carbon energy transitions in the two countries, which can mitigate their serious contribution to climate change while allowing economic growth. Three modelling case studies are presented: for the Chinese power sector, the economy of Beijing and rural Indian households without access to electricity. They demonstrate a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and energy use, while costs are likely to increase. Financial assistance and technology transfer will be needed to support their efforts towards a climate-friendly low-carbon economy. [source] Learning from others: the scope and challenges for participatory disaster risk assessmentDISASTERS, Issue 4 2007Mark Pelling This paper develops a framework based on procedural, methodological and ideological elements of participatory vulnerability and risk assessment tools for placing individual approaches within the wide range of work that claims a participatory, local or community orientation. In so doing it draws on relevant experience from other areas of development practice from which the disasters field can learn. Participatory disaster risk assessments are examined for their potential to be empowering, to generate knowledge, to be scaled up, to be a vehicle for negotiating local change and as part of multiple-methods approaches to disaster risk identification and reduction. The paper is a response to an international workshop on Community Risk Assessment organised by ProVention Consortium and the Disaster Mitigation for Sustainable Livelihoods Programme, University of Cape Town. The workshop brought together practitioners and academics to review the challenges and opportunities for participatory methodologies in the field of disaster risk reduction. In conclusion the contribution made by participatory methodologies to global disaster risk reduction assessment and policy is discussed. [source] Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness: The Case of NGOs in the PhilippinesDISASTERS, Issue 3 2001Emmanuel M. Luna The Philippines is very vulnerable to natural disasters because of its natural setting, as well as its socio-economic, political and environmental context - especially its widespread poverty. The Philippines has a well-established institutional and legal framework for disaster management, including built-in mechanisms for participation of the people and NGOs in decision-making and programme implementation. The nature and extent of collaboration with government in disaster preparedness and mitigation issues varies greatly according to their roots, either in past confrontation and political struggles or traditional charity activities. The growing NGO involvement in disaster management has been influenced by this history. Some agencies work well with local government and there is an increasing trend for collaborative work in disaster mitigation and preparedness. Some NGOs, however, retain critical positions. These organisations tend to engage more in advocacy and legal support for communities facing increased risk because of development projects and environmental destruction. Entry points into disaster mitigation and preparedness vary as well. Development-oriented agencies are drawn into these issues when the community members with whom they work face disaster. Relief organisations, too, realise the need for community mobilisation, and are thus drawn towards development roles. [source] Cyclone Mitigation, Resource Allocation and Post-disaster Reconstruction in South India: Lessons from Two Decades of ResearchDISASTERS, Issue 1 2000Peter Winchester This paper opens with a history of development and disaster-prevention strategies in a cyclone-prone area of the east coast of India and traces the evolution in the area of British and Indian governments' programmes and policy over a century. Research over the last 20 years has shown however that the programmes and policies have failed to balance economic growth with safety. Resources intended for the benefit of all have been diverted by alliances of powerful people to a small minority, and recent developments have reduced the physical protection of the area. The result is that increasing numbers of people are vulnerable to the effects of cyclones and floods. The findings suggest that the best way to reduce vulnerability is to improve the socio-economic standing of the most vulnerable and for this to happen these people must have an assured income based on assets that will enable them to acquire social and economic credit-worthiness within the local economy. This paper presents evidence that suggests that non-governmental organisation (NGO)-supported co-operatives are the best way to achieve this through self-help and self-employment schemes. It also suggests that NGOs should be encouraged to take up environmentally and ecologically beneficial activities involving the poorest groups in the communities, in this way combining sustained self-employment with environmental protection. [source] Mitigation of the produced voltages in AC overhead power-lines/pipelines parallelism during power frequency and lightning conditionsEUROPEAN TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL POWER, Issue 4 2005I. A. Metwally Abstract This paper presents a theoretical simulation for a pipeline running in parallel to AC overhead power lines using the ,CONCEPT II' package. This package is based on the method of moment combined with a transmission-line model. A 1,km long, 132,kV, three-phase, double-circuit transmission line, and a 2,km long, 40,cm diameter, 1,m high above-ground pipeline are modelled. Extra shielding wires (ESW) under the phase conductors are investigated. Produced voltages in the pipeline are computed under steady-state power frequency (50,Hz) as well as under direct and indirect lightning strikes to the power line. Different current waveforms are simulated to cover the whole range of those of the anticipated lightning. Under lightning strikes, the voltages across line insulators are computed, too. The results reveal that the ESW give many advantages; namely, (1) reducing the power-frequency electric and magnetic fields at the ground level to meet the regularity limits, (2) improving the shielding effectiveness during lightning strikes by reducing the insulator voltages, (3) mitigating the induced voltages in any metallic structure near the power lines, e.g., pipelines, and (4) using them as optical ground wires for telecommunication purposes, where the probability of lightning strikes to such ESW is much lower than that for the normally used grounding wire(s) at the tower top. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Teaching and Learning Guide for: The Geopolitics of Climate ChangeGEOGRAPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 5 2008Jon Barnett Author's Introduction Climate change is a security problem in as much as the kinds of environmental changes that may result pose risks to peace and development. However, responsibilities for the causes of climate change, vulnerability to its effects, and capacity to solve the problem, are not equally distributed between countries, classes and cultures. There is no uniformity in the geopolitics of climate change, and this impedes solutions. Author Recommends 1.,Adger, W. N., et al. (eds) (2006). Fairness in adaptation to climate change. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. A comprehensive collection of articles on the justice dimensions of adaptation to climate change. Chapters discuss potential points at which climate change becomes ,dangerous', the issue of adaptation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the unequal outcomes of adaptation within a society, the effects of violent conflict on adaptation, the costs of adaptation, and examples from Bangladesh, Tanzania, Botswana, and Hungary. 2.,Leichenko, R., and O'Brien, K. (2008). Environmental change and globalization: double exposures. New York: Oxford University Press. This book uses examples from around the world to show the way global economic and political processes interact with environmental changes to create unequal outcomes within and across societies. A very clear demonstration of the way vulnerability to environmental change is as much driven by social processes as environmental ones, and how solutions lie within the realm of decisions about ,development' and ,environment'. 3.,Nordås, R., and Gleditsch, N. (2007). Climate conflict: common sense or nonsense? Political Geography 26 (6), pp. 627,638. doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2007.06.003 An up-to-date, systematic and balanced review of research on the links between climate change and violent conflict. See also the other papers in this special issue of Political Geography. 4.,Parry, M., et al. (eds) (2007). Climate change 2007: impacts adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. The definitive review of all the peer-reviewed research on the way climate change may impact on places and sectors across the world. Includes chapters on ecosystems, health, human settlements, primary industries, water resources, and the major regions of the world. All chapters are available online at http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg2.htm 5.,Salehyan, I. (2008). From climate change to conflict? No consensus yet. Journal of Peace Research 45 (3), pp. 315,326. doi:10.1177/0022343308088812 A balanced review of research on the links between climate change and conflict, with attention to existing evidence. 6.,Schwartz, P., and Randall, D. (2003). An abrupt climate change scenario and its implications for United States national security. San Francisco, CA: Global Business Network. Gives insight into how the US security policy community is framing the problem of climate change. This needs to be read critically. Available at http://www.gbn.com/ArticleDisplayServlet.srv?aid=26231 7.,German Advisory Council on Global Change. (2007). World in transition: climate change as a security risk. Berlin, Germany: WBGU. A major report from the German Advisory Council on Global Change on the risks climate changes poses to peace and stability. Needs to be read with caution. Summary and background studies are available online at http://www.wbgu.de/wbgu_jg2007_engl.html 8.,Yamin, F., and Depedge, J. (2004). The International climate change regime: a guide to rules, institutions and procedures. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. A clear and very detailed explanation of the UNFCCC's objectives, actors, history, and challenges. A must read for anyone seeking to understand the UNFCCC process, written by two scholars with practical experience in negotiations. Online Materials 1.,Environmental Change and Security Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars http://www.wilsoncenter.org/ecsp The major website for information about environmental security. From here, you can download many reports and studies, including the Environmental Change and Security Project Report. 2.,Global Environmental Change and Human Security Project http://www.gechs.org This website is a clearing house for work and events on environmental change and human security. 3.,Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) http://www.ipcc.ch/ From this website, you can download all the chapters of all the IPCC's reports, including its comprehensive and highly influential assessment reports, the most recent of which was published in 2007. The IPCC were awarded of the Nobel Peace Prize ,for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made (sic) climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change'. 4.,Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research http://www.tyndall.ac.uk The website of a major centre for research on climate change, and probably the world's leading centre for social science based analysis of climate change. From this site, you can download many publications about mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, and about various issues in the UNFCCC. 5.,United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change http://unfccc.int/ The website contains every major document relation to the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol, including the text of the agreements, national communications, country submissions, negotiated outcomes, and background documents about most key issues. Sample Syllabus: The Geopolitics of Climate Change topics for lecture and discussion Week I: Introduction Barnett, J. (2007). The geopolitics of climate change. Geography Compass 1 (6), pp. 1361,1375. United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, address to the 12th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Nairobi, 15 November 2006. Available online at http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=495&ArticleID=5424&l=en Week II: The History and Geography of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Topic: The drivers of climate change in space and time Reading Baer, P. (2006). Adaptation: who pays whom? In: Adger, N., et al. (eds) Fairness in adaptation to climate change. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 131,154. Boyden, S., and Dovers, S. (1992). Natural-resource consumption and its environmental impacts in the Western World: impacts of increasing per capita consumption. Ambio 21 (1), pp. 63,69. Week III: The Environmental Consequences of climate change Topic: The risks climate change poses to environmental systems Reading Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2007). Climate change 2007: climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability: summary for policymakers. Geneva, Switzerland: IPCC Secretariat. Watch: Al Gore. The Inconvenient Truth. Weeks IV and V: The Social Consequences of Climate Change Topic: The risks climate change poses to social systems Reading Adger, W. N. (1999). Social vulnerability to climate change and extremes in coastal Vietnam. World Development 27, pp. 249,269. Comrie, A. (2007). Climate change and human health. Geography Compass 1 (3), pp. 325,339. Leary, N., et al. (2006). For whom the bell tolls: vulnerability in a changing climate. A Synthesis from the AIACC project, AIACC Working Paper No. 21, International START Secretariat, Florida. Stern, N. (2007). Economics of climate change: the Stern review. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press (Chapters 3,5). Week VI: Mitigation of Climate Change: The UNFCCC Topic: The UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol Reading Najam, A., Huq, S., and Sokona, Y. (2003). Climate negotiations beyond Kyoto: developing countries concerns and interests. Climate Policy 3 (3), pp. 221,231. UNFCCC Secretariat. (2005). Caring for climate: a guide to the climate change convention and the Kyoto Protocol. Bonn, Germany: UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat. Weeks VII and VIII: Adaptation to Climate Change Topic: What can be done to allow societies to adapt to avoid climate impacts? Reading Adger, N., et al. (2007). Assessment of adaptation practices, options, constraints and capacity. In: Parry, M., et al. (eds) Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 717,744. Burton, I., et al. (2002). From impacts assessment to adaptation priorities: the shaping of adaptation policy. Climate Policy 2 (2,3), pp. 145,159. Eakin, H., and Lemos, M. C. (2006). Adaptation and the state: Latin America and the challenge of capacity-building under globalization. Global Environmental Change: Human and Policy Dimensions 16 (1), pp. 7,18. Ziervogel, G., Bharwani, S., and Downing, T. (2006). Adapting to climate variability: pumpkins, people and policy. Natural Resources Forum 30, pp. 294,305. Weeks IX and X: Climate Change and Migration Topic: Will climate change force migration? Readings Gaim, K. (1997). Environmental causes and impact of refugee movements: a critique of the current debate. Disasters 21 (1), pp. 20,38. McLeman, R., and Smit, B. (2006). Migration as adaptation to climate change. Climatic Change 76 (1), pp. 31,53. Myers, N. (2002). Environmental refugees: a growing phenomenon of the 21st century. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 357 (1420), pp. 609,613. Perch-Nielsen, S., Bättig, M., and Imboden, D. (2008). Exploring the link between climate change and migration. Climatic Change (online first, forthcoming); doi:10.1007/s10584-008-9416-y Weeks XI and XII: Climate Change and Violent Conflict Topic: Will Climate change cause violent conflict? Readings Barnett, J., and Adger, N. (2007). Climate change, human security and violent conflict. Political Geography 26 (6), pp. 639,655. Centre for Strategic and International Studies. (2007). The age of consequences: the foreign policy and national security implications of global climate change. Washington, DC: CSIS. Nordås, R., and Gleditsch, N. (2007). Climate conflict: common sense or nonsense? Political Geography 26 (6), pp. 627,638. Schwartz, P., and Randall, D. (2003). An abrupt climate change scenario and its implications for United States national security. San Francisco, CA: Global Business Network. [online]. Retrieved on 8 April 2007 from http://www.gbn.com/ArticleDisplayServlet.srv?aid=26231 Focus Questions 1Who is most responsible for climate change? 2Who is most vulnerable to climate change? 3Does everyone have equal power in the UNFCCC process? 4Will climate change force people to migrate? Who? 5What is the relationship between adaptation to climate change and violent conflict? [source] Severe Deep Moist Convective Storms: Forecasting and MitigationGEOGRAPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2008David L. Arnold Small-scale (2,20 km) circulations, termed ,severe deep moist convective storms', account for a disproportionate share of the world's insured weather-related losses. Spatial frequency maximums of severe convective events occur in South Africa, India, Mexico, the Caucasus, and Great Plains/Prairies region of North America, where the maximum tornado frequency occurs east of the Rocky Mountains. Interest in forecasting severe deep moist convective systems, especially those that produce tornadoes, dates to 1884 when tornado alerts were first provided in the central United States. Modern thunderstorm and tornado forecasting relies on technology and theory, but in the post-World War II era interest in forecasting has also been driven by public pressure. The forecasting process begins with a diagnostic analysis, in which the forecaster considers the potential of the atmospheric environment to produce severe convective storms (which requires knowledge of the evolving kinematic and thermodynamic fields, and the character of the land surface over which the storms will pass), and the likely character of the storms that may develop. Improvements in forecasting will likely depend on technological advancements, such as the development of phased-array radar systems and finer resolution numerical weather prediction models. Once initiated, the evolution of deep convective storms is monitored by satellite and radar. Mitigation of the hazards posed by severe deep moist convective storms is a three-step process, involving preparedness, response, and recovery. Preparedness implies that risks have been identified and organizations and individuals are familiar with a response plan. Response necessitates that potential events are identified before they occur and the developing threat is communicated to the public. Recovery is a function of the awareness of local, regional, and even national governments to the character and magnitude of potential events in specific locations, and whether or not long-term operational plans are in place at the time of disasters. [source] REVIEW: Mechanisms driving change: altered species interactions and ecosystem function through global warmingJOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2010Lochran W. Traill Summary 1.,We review the mechanisms behind ecosystem functions, the processes that facilitate energy transfer along food webs, and the major processes that allow the cycling of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen, and use case studies to show how these have already been, and will continue to be, altered by global warming. 2.,Increased temperatures will affect the interactions between heterotrophs and autotrophs (e.g. pollination and seed dispersal), and between heterotrophs (e.g. predators-prey, parasites/pathogens-hosts), with generally negative ramifications for important ecosystem services (functions that provide direct benefit to human society such as pollination) and potential for heightened species co-extinction rates. 3.,Mitigation of likely impacts of warming will require, in particular, the maintenance of species diversity as insurance for the provision of basic ecosystem services. Key to this will be long-term monitoring and focused research that seek to maintain ecosystem resilience in the face of global warming. 4.,We provide guidelines for pursuing research that quantifies the nexus between ecosystem function and global warming. These include documentation of key functional species groups within systems, and understanding the principal outcomes arising from direct and indirect effects of a rapidly warming environment. Localized and targeted research and monitoring, complemented with laboratory work, will determine outcomes for resilience and guide adaptive conservation responses and long-term planning. [source] Peaking of World Oil Production and Its Mitigation,AICHE JOURNAL, Issue 1 2006Robert L. Hirsch First page of article [source] Frontloading Mitigation: The "Legal" and the "Human" in Death Penalty DefenseLAW & SOCIAL INQUIRY, Issue 1 2010Jesse Cheng The bifurcation of capital trials into determinations of guilt and sentencing presents defense advocates with what seem to be two distinct domains of knowledge,one apparently "legal" in character, the other "human." But this epistemological division is actually not so clear in practice. This article dissects the procedural and strategic mechanisms through which these two domains unsettle and reconstitute the other. I provide a historical, empirically grounded account that explicitly articulates the connections between developments in legal procedure, prevailing standards of care concerning the need to conduct humanistic investigations of mitigating factors, and the on-the-ground trial practice of "frontloading" as a defense strategy. Drawing from documentary research, interview data with leading capital defense practitioners, and analytical observations based on my own experience as a mitigation specialist, this article presents itself as a case study of the processes of mutually constitutive rupturing that reconfigure the categories of the legal and the human. [source] Possibilities and options for the Clean Development Mechanism and the Green Investment Scheme in Central and Eastern Europe: Macedonian and Romanian perspectivesNATURAL RESOURCES FORUM, Issue 1 2007Maria Khovanskaia Abstract Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is a rapidly changing and developing region which is making the transition to a market based economy. Along with economic reforms, the countries of the region are engaged in substantial environmental reforms, including climate change mitigation activities. Mitigation of, and adaptation to, the consequences of climate change are costly processes. It is therefore of great importance that the national and international mechanisms addressing these problems use methods both environmentally sound and economically efficient. Through two case studies that address the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and the Green Investment Scheme (GIS) in Romania, this paper explores challenges, related tasks and main problems in the establishment of mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol in Central and Eastern Europe. [source] A concept for simultaneous wasteland reclamation, fuel production, and socio-economic development in degraded areas in India: Need, potential and perspectives of Jatropha plantationsNATURAL RESOURCES FORUM, Issue 1 2005George Francis Abstract The concept of substituting bio-diesel produced from plantations on eroded soils for conventional diesel fuel has gained wide-spread attention in India. In recent months, the Indian central Government as well as some state governments have expressed their support for bringing marginal lands, which cannot be used for food production, under cultivation for this purpose. Jatropha curcas is a well established plant in India. It produces oil-rich seeds, is known to thrive on eroded lands, and to require only limited amounts of water, nutrients and capital inputs. This plant offers the option both to cultivate wastelands and to produce vegetable oil suitable for conversion to bio-diesel. More versatile than hydrogen and new propulsion systems such as fuel cell technology, bio-diesel can be used in today's vehicle fleets worldwide and may also offer a viable path to sustainable transportation, i.e., lower greenhouse gas emissions and enhanced mobility, even in remote areas. Mitigation of global warming and the creation of new regional employment opportunities can be important cornerstones of any forward looking transportation system for emerging economies. [source] Mitigation of establishment of Brassica napus transgenes in volunteers using a tandem construct containing a selectively unfit genePLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL, Issue 1 2006Hani Al-Ahmad Summary Transgenic oilseed rape (Brassica napus) plants may remain as ,volunteer' weeds in following crops, complicating cultivation and contaminating crop yield. Volunteers can become feral as well as act as a genetic bridge for the transfer of transgenes to weedy relatives. Transgenic mitigation using genes that are positive or neutral to the crop, but deleterious to weeds, should prevent volunteer establishment, as previously intimated using a tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) model. A transgenically mitigated (TM), dwarf, herbicide-resistant construct using a gibberellic acid-insensitive (,gai) gene in the B. napus crop was effective in offsetting the risks of transgene establishment in volunteer populations of B. napus. This may be useful in the absence of herbicide, e.g. when wheat is rotated with oilseed rape. The TM dwarf B. napus plants grown alone had a much higher yield than the non-transgenics, but were exceedingly unfit in competition with non-transgenic tall cohorts. The reproductive fitness of TM B. napus was 0% at 2.5-cm and 4% at 5-cm spacing between glasshouse-grown plants relative to non-transgenic B. napus. Under screen-house conditions, the reproductive fitness of TM B. napus relative to non-transgenic B. napus was less than 12%, and the harvest index of the TM plants was less than 40% of that of the non-transgenic competitors. The data clearly indicate that the ,gai gene greatly enhances the yield in a weed-free transgenic crop, but the dwarf plants can be eliminated when competing with non-transgenic cohorts (and presumably other species) when the selective herbicide is not used. [source] Mitigation of rocuronium-induced anaphylaxis by sugammadex: the great unknownANAESTHESIA, Issue 1 2010P. M. Jones No abstract is available for this article. [source] Reconciling Economic Growth and Carbon Mitigation: Challenges and Policy Options in ChinaASIAN ECONOMIC POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2010Jing CAO C68; D58; H23; Q54 As the biggest carbon emitter in the world, China is facing tremendous pressure domestically and internationally. To promote the international efforts to tackle climate change, the Chinese government announced its 2020 carbon intensity target and is actively taking part in the international climate negotiations. In this paper, we review some of the climate burden-sharing proposals raised by Chinese scholars to shed some light on China's perspective on the post-Kyoto climate architecture. Then we summarize China's current pollution abatement policies and measures, and analyze some potential policy instruments for China to reconcile its future economic growth and carbon mitigation, as well as some practical design and enforcement issues to be considered for the near term. [source] Comment on "Reconciling Economic Growth and Carbon Mitigation: Challenges and Policy Options in China"ASIAN ECONOMIC POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2010Yongding YU No abstract is available for this article. [source] Comment on "Reconciling Economic Growth and Carbon Mitigation: Challenges and Policy Options in China"ASIAN ECONOMIC POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2010Akihisa MORI No abstract is available for this article. [source] Foreign direct investment and hydropower in Lao PDR: the Theun-Hinboun hydropower projectCORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2006Maarit Virtanen Abstract This paper examines the impact of foreign direct investment and especially the role of hydropower projects in achieving national development goals in the Lao PDR. It focuses on the environmental and social impacts of large-scale projects by using the Theun-Hinboun hydropower project as an example of controversies related to development interventions affecting livelihoods dependent on the natural resource base. Findings suggest that even though the Theun-Hinboun hydropower project has evolved into a kind of model project, several questions related to the final impact on poverty reduction, mitigation of environmental and social impacts and the participation of project affected people remain open. The relative success of Theun-Hinboun may not be easily repeated, especially as planned new hydropower schemes cause even more profound impacts on still largely subsistence based livelihoods and the environment. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Carbon dioxide emission trading, or not?CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2004An institutional analysis of company behaviour in Sweden The Kyoto Protocol opens up for market based solutions in climate change mitigation. A number of companies in Europe, North America and Asia have already practiced carbon dioxide emission trading. Sweden and Swedish companies have a tradition of being proactive in environmental policy and management. However, Swedish companies are acting reactively or even passively when it comes to emission trading. This paper aims to elucidate and explain the Swedish companies' behaviour on this matter. From our study, which focuses primarily on the energy and forestry sectors, it was found that companies are principally in favour of emission trading, but they have not developed initiatives for emission trading in practice. The study indicates that the institutional arrangements in which companies are situated do not encourage emission trading. Ambiguous government policies are claimed to prevent the companies from making long-term strategies on climate change mitigation in general and emission trading in particular. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Pain Sensation during Intradermal Injections of Three Different Botulinum Toxin Preparations in Different Doses and DilutionsDERMATOLOGIC SURGERY, Issue 7 2006GOTTFRIED KRANZ MD BACKGROUND Pain sensation associated with injections of botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) is commonly reported. To date differences in pain sensation between the commercially available products containing BoNT have not been quantified. OBJECTIVES The pain sensations during injection of Dysport, Botox, Neurobloc, and pure saline (control) were compared. In addition, the nociceptive effect of different volumes used for the dilution of the same BoNT dose was investigated. METHODS In a prospective, double-blind, controlled trial, 10 healthy subjects were injected intradermally with Dysport (12 U), Botox (3 and 4 U), Neurobloc (150 and 300 U) reconstituted in 0.9% saline, and pure saline. Pain sensation was quantified during injections. RESULTS Neurobloc injections caused significantly more injection pain than Botox, Dysport, and saline. No significant differences between Dysport, Botox, and saline were found, although there was a trend toward less pain with pure saline injections. Higher pain levels with higher volumes could not be demonstrated significantly. CONCLUSION Our data demonstrate that BoNT type B injections are associated with substantial pain. There is a considerable difference between the commercially available BoNT type B compared to the two BoNT type A preparations. Therefore, considering mitigation of injection pain seems necessary when using BoNT type B. [source] The Impact of AIDS on Rural Households in Africa: A Shock Like Any Other?DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 4 2002Carolyn Baylies In areas where HIV prevalence is high, household production can be significantly affected and the integrity of households compromised. Yet policy responses to the impact of HIV/AIDS have been muted in comparison to outcomes of other shocks, such as drought or complex political emergencies. This article looks at the reasons for the apparent under,reaction to AIDS, using data from Zambia, and examines recent calls to mitigate the effects of AIDS at household level. Critical consideration is directed at proposals relating to community safety nets, micro,finance and the mainstreaming of AIDS within larger poverty alleviation programmes. It is argued that effective initiatives must attend to the specific features of AIDS, incorporating both an assault on those inequalities which drive the epidemic and sensitivity to the staging of AIDS both across and within households. A multi,pronged approach is advocated which is addressed not just at mitigation or prevention, but also at emergency relief, rehabilitation and development. [source] Forensic psychiatry, ethics and protective sentencing: what are the limits of psychiatric participation in the criminal justice process?ACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 399 2000S. N. Verdun-Jones As clinicians, psychiatrists are unequivocally dedicated to relieving the suffering of those who are afflicted with mental disorders. However, the public and those individuals, who are assessed, find it difficult to draw a distinction between forensic psychiatrists acting in a clinical role and the very same professionals acting in an evaluative role, on behalf of the state. This paper examines the ethical issues raised by psychiatric involvement in the sentencing process. It rejects the view that a forensic psychiatrist, who undertakes an evaluation for the state, is to be considered as an advocate of justice who is not bound by conventional ethical duties to the individual whom he or she assesses. It contends that the forensic psychiatrist has an important role to play in presenting evidence that may result in the mitigation of the sentence that may be imposed on a person who is mentally disordered. The paper will focus on these issues in the particular context of the situation in England and Wales, Canada and the United States. [source] Cyclone disaster vulnerability and response experiences in coastal BangladeshDISASTERS, Issue 4 2010Edris Alam For generations, cyclones and tidal surges have frequently devastated lives and property in coastal and island Bangladesh. This study explores vulnerability to cyclone hazards using first-hand coping recollections from prior to, during and after these events. Qualitative field data suggest that, beyond extreme cyclone forces, localised vulnerability is defined in terms of response processes, infrastructure, socially uneven exposure, settlement development patterns, and livelihoods. Prior to cyclones, religious activities increase and people try to save food and valuable possessions. Those in dispersed settlements who fail to reach cyclone shelters take refuge in thatched-roof houses and big-branch trees. However, women and children are affected more despite the modification of traditional hierarchies during cyclone periods. Instinctive survival strategies and intra-community cooperation improve coping post cyclone. This study recommends that disaster reduction programmes encourage cyclone mitigation while being aware of localised realities, endogenous risk analyses, and coping and adaptation of affected communities (as active survivors rather than helpless victims). [source] Why the poor pay with their lives: oil pipeline vandalisation, fires and human security in NigeriaDISASTERS, Issue 3 2009Freedom C. Onuoha Since its discovery in Nigeria in 1956 crude oil has been a source of mixed blessing to the country. It is believed to have generated enormous wealth, but it has also claimed a great many lives. Scholarly attention on the impact of oil on security in Nigeria has largely focused on internal conflicts rather than on how disasters associated with oil pipeline vandalisation have impacted on human security in terms of causing bodily injuries and death, destroying livelihoods and fracturing families. This paper examines how pipeline vandalisation affects human security in these ways. It identifies women and children as those who are hardest hit and questions why the poor are the most vulnerable in oil pipeline disasters in this country. It recommends the adoption of a comprehensive and integrated framework of disaster management that will ensure prompt response to key early warning signs, risk-reduction and appropriate mitigation and management strategies. [source] The importance of mangrove forest in tsunami disaster mitigationDISASTERS, Issue 2 2009Rabindra Osti Tsunamis and storm surges have killed more than one million people and some three billion people currently live with a high risk of these disasters, which are becoming more frequent and devastating worldwide. Effective mitigation of such disasters is possible via healthy coastal forests, which can reduce the energy of tsunamis. In recent years, these natural barriers have declined due to adverse human and natural activities. In the past 20 years, the world has lost almost 50 per cent of its mangrove forests, making them one of the most endangered landscapes. It is essential to recover them and to use them as a shield against a tsunami and as a resource to secure optimal socio-economic, ecological and environmental benefits. This paper examines the emerging scenario facing mangrove forests, discusses protection from tsunamis, and proposes a way to improve the current situation. We hope that practical tips will help communities and agencies to work collectively to achieve a common goal. [source] Disaster management and mitigation: the telecommunications infrastructureDISASTERS, Issue 1 2009Frédéric Patricelli Among the most typical consequences of disasters is the near or complete collapse of terrestrial telecommunications infrastructures (especially the distribution network,the ,last mile') and their concomitant unavailability to the rescuers and the higher echelons of mitigation teams. Even when such damage does not take place, the communications overload/congestion resulting from significantly elevated traffic generated by affected residents can be highly disturbing. The paper proposes innovative remedies to the telecommunications difficulties in disaster struck regions. The offered solutions are network-centric operations-cap able, and can be employed in management of disasters of any magnitude (local to national or international). Their implementation provide ground rescue teams (such as law enforcement, firemen, healthcare personnel, civilian authorities) with tactical connectivity among themselves, and, through the Next Generation Network backbone, ensure the essential bidirectional free flow of information and distribution of Actionable Knowledge among ground units, command/control centres, and civilian and military agencies participating in the rescue effort. [source] Realising a resilient and sustainable built environment: towards a strategic agenda for the United KingdomDISASTERS, Issue 3 2007Lee Bosher Recent natural and human-induced emergencies have highlighted the vulnerability of the built environment. Although most emergency events are not entirely unexpected, and the effects can be mitigated, emergency managers in the United Kingdom have not played a sufficiently proactive role in the mitigation of such events. If a resilient and sustainable built environment is to be achieved, emergency management should be more proactive and receive greater input from the stakeholders responsible for the planning, design, construction and operation of the built environment. This paper highlights the need for emergency management to take a more systematic approach to hazard mitigation by integrating more with professions from the construction sector. In particular, design changes may have to be considered, critical infrastructures must be protected, planning policies should be reviewed, and resilient and sustainable agendas adopted by all stakeholders. [source] Human Vulnerability, Dislocation and Resettlement: Adaptation Processes of River-bank Erosion-induced Displacees in BangladeshDISASTERS, Issue 1 2004David Mutton The purpose of this research was to identify and analyse patterns of economic and social adaptation among river-bank erosion-induced displacees in Bangladesh. It was hypothesised that the role of social demographic and socio-economic variables in determining the coping ability and recovery of the river-bank erosion-induced displacees is quite significant. The findings of the research reveal that displacees experience substantial socio-economic impoverishment and marginalisation as a consequence of involuntary migration. This in part is a socially constructed process, reflecting inequitable access to land and other resources. Vulnerability to disasters is further heightened by a number of identifiable social and demographic factors including gender, education and age, although extreme poverty and marginalisation create complexity to isolate the relative influence of these variables. The need to integrate hazard analysis and mitigation with the broader economic and social context is discussed. It is argued that the capacity of people to respond to environmental threats is a function of not only the physical forces which affect them, but also of underlying economic and social relationships which increase human vulnerability to risk. Hazard analysis and mitigation can be more effective when it takes into account such social and demographic and socio-economic dimensions of disasters. [source] NGO Initiatives in Risk Reduction: An OverviewDISASTERS, Issue 3 2001Charlotte Benson NGOs appear to be well placed to play a significant role in natural disaster mitigation and preparedness (DMP), working, as they do, with poorer and marginalised groups in society. However, there is little information on the scale or nature of NGO DMP activities. This paper reports the findings of a study seeking to address that gap. It confirms that NGOs are involved in a diverse range of DMP activities but that a number of them are not labelled as such. Moreover, evidence of the demonstrable quality and benefits of DMP involvement is poor. The paper concludes that a number of problems need to be overcome before DMP can be satisfactorily mainstreamed into NGO development and post-disaster rehabilitation programmes. However, there are some early indications of momentum for change. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||