Rhetoric or action: Are South African municipalities planning for climate change?

In 2008 the South African National Disaster Management Centre commissioned a study into measures taken by local municipalities to plan for climate change. Two areas were selected for their dissimilar climatic challenges: the //Khara Hais Municipality,1 ¹The // spelling represents the click consonant in the Kxoe language that the name comes from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki///Khara_Hais_Local_Municipality * Brendon Solik is now a Consultant at Environmental Resources Management (ERM), Johannesburg, South AfricaView all notes a semi-desert area in the Northern Cape Province plagued by droughts and severe weather events, and the George Municipality, an area in the Western Cape Province plagued by droughts, the rising sea level and flash floods. It was found that despite South African laws and regulations requiring local government to take action to reduce the risk of disasters, planning for climate change is still no more than sophisticated rhetoric in the two municipalities. This lack of urgency can be ascribed to local municipalities having other more pressing developmental priorities. It would, however, be short-sighted of municipalities not to plan for climate change, as major setbacks in hard-won economic and social development follow a disaster.     

北方干旱与防旱保墒技术—对灌溉农业的反思

我国北方降水不足,存在着旱灾易于发生的自然条件。近些年来,黄河年年断流。许多地区地下水位下降,给片面依赖灌溉发展农业的指导思想敲响了警钟。北方地区的农业有近万年的历史,在漫长的历史时期中,我国人民主要是依靠传统的防旱保墒技术,而不是灌溉,来发展农业生产的。     

广西钦州市旱涝灾害特点与成因分析

钦州市旱涝灾害发生频率高且灾情惨重;1950~2001年旱涝灾害发生有周期缩短和时空的影响不均衡等特征;主要的致灾因子有自然环境复杂多样、气候异常、防灾减灾体系脆弱以及人口与社会财富集聚体的增多和集中等。     

基于遥感与GIS的西藏草原雪灾监测与评估

该研究提出了用于西藏雪灾监测与评估的方法,该方法结合遥感与地理信息系统,以MODIS数据得到的归一化雪盖指数(NDSI)为基础,同时估算厚云区的积雪覆盖的可能性,综合考虑包括DEM、道路等区域基础地理信息系统数据,对2007年3月中旬发生在西藏南部的一次大雪灾进行了监测与评估.结果表明,该方法能够有效地提取积雪覆盖区域,并对雪灾发生面积进行估算.     

青岛近海地区风暴潮灾害风险区划研究

风暴潮灾害风险区划是在风暴潮灾害风险评价基础上的宏观分区,有助于更清晰的把握灾害风险的空间格局与内在规律。文章首先对风暴潮灾害风险相关概念进行了阐述,试图达到理清和规范的目的,然后根据风暴潮灾害风险因素建立了风暴潮灾害风险评价指标体系,采用聚类分析、熵值法及灰色关联分析方法,构建了青岛近海地区风暴潮灾害风险区划,将青岛9区市划分为4个不同风险等级,揭示了青岛近海地区风暴潮灾害风险的地域差异性,为因地制宜地制定防灾减灾措施与规划提供了科学依据。     

2000～2010年我国洪涝灾害损失综合评估及其成因分析

利用我国的洪涝灾害损失数据,分析了我国2000～2010年洪涝灾害受灾人口、农业受灾面积和直接受灾经济损失之间的关系,洪涝灾害损失的空间分布特征以及受灾损失与年平均降水量之间的关系。根据近10年来我国洪涝灾害的新特点,提出了我国洪水管理及防灾减灾的若干措施。     

石灰岩地区小水库除险加固工程的经济社会效益分析

简要介绍石灰岩地区小水库的特点、存在问题以及综合采用灌浆、复合土工膜覆盖和坡面复合式防渗等技术集成的加固方案。以江苏省徐州市石灰岩地区的5座小水库为例,参照相关规范分析水库工程取得的社会效益和生态效益,从防洪、灌溉和多种经营效益等方面详细计算了病险水库除险加固工程的经济效益。根据工程的实际资料,采用国民经济评价方法,对5座小水库除险加固工程的经济内部收益率、经济效益费用比、经济净现值3项指标进行了分析。结果表明,该工程在经济上是合理的,具有显著的社会效益和环境生态效益。     

Mitigating rice production risks from drought through improving irrigation infrastructure and management in China

Rice, China's most important food crop, is highly dependent on irrigation, but an increasing number of extreme drought events have challenged rice production in many regions. This paper investigates the role of local irrigation infrastructure in improving farmers' ability to respond to drought and its effectiveness in mitigating the drought risk in rice production in China. The analysis relies on a moment‐based specification of the stochastic production function, capturing mean, variance and skewness effects. Using household survey data from 86 villages in five provinces, we jointly estimate farmers' adaptive irrigation decisions and their effects on rice yield and production risk. Our econometric analyses show that irrigation infrastructure in villages contributes to enhancing farmers' irrigation capacity in adapting to drought, and increased irrigation leads to a significant increase in mean yield and a reduction in exposure to risk as well as downside risk in rice production. The paper concludes with policy implications.     

When a Sinner Does a Good Deed: The Path‐Dependence of Reputation Repair

This study examines how shareholders will interpret a socially desirable action taken by firms with a damaged corporate reputation status. We first explain theoretically why shareholders’ path‐dependent judgments of a tainted firm increase the likelihood of shareholders making less favourable judgments of the firm's socially desirable actions. We then test the theoretical predictions using a sample of Chinese listed firms that were sanctioned for securities fraud and subsequently made donations to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake relief funds. We find that the shareholders evaluate the donations made by fraud‐tainted firms less favourably than those made by firms that have not been sanctioned for fraud. Furthermore, the shareholders’ evaluations of the donations made by fraud‐tainted firms is less favourable if the firms have committed more serious fraud and undertaken fewer positive remedial actions in the post‐fraud period. Overall, our evidence demonstrates that shareholders’ path‐dependent judgments of fraud‐tainted firms constitute a major obstacle that constrains the effectiveness of reputation repair.     

Effects of drought on cultural tourism: selected cases of Maasai tourism groups surrounding Tarangire National Park in Tanzania

This study explores the effect of drought on cultural tourism by applying the case study approach using the Maasai women’s groups surrounding Tarangire National Park (TNP) in Tanzania. Semi-structured interviews and observations were used to collect data from 30 purposefully selected Maasai women and 30 tourists. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings show that drought affects tourism both positively and negatively. Positively, drought forges unity among individuals, and creates the community’s external links that are crucial for tourism development. Negatively, drought interferes with the development and delivery of tourist products, thus destroying their quality and service delivery. Despite the challenges tourism faces during times of drought, including the scarcity of raw materials for making cultural products, 50% of the respondents would rather continue with tourism as a strategy to curb the effect of drought than their traditional livelihoods. Theoretically, the study shows the importance of the cultural ecology and livelihood lenses in investigating the effects of drought on tourism in a cultural setting. Practical recommendations for tourism authorities and stakeholders, as well as areas for future research, are provided.