The consequences of land-use change and water demands in Central Mongolia

After two decades of decreasing agricultural activities, in 2008 the Mongolian government started the “Third Campaign of Reclaiming Virgin Lands”, aiming at massive expansion and intensification of the agricultural sector. This policy motivated the study presented here, for which we used an integrated modelling approach to investigate the feedbacks between land-use dynamics, agricultural management and biophysical conditions, with a strong focus on assessing availability of water for irrigation. Our simulation results clearly show that under the current extend of irrigated agriculture in several years water demands exceeded water availability, indicating an overexploitation of water resources, mainly in the period 1995–2006. Consequently, the targeted expansion of agricultural water use will either severely deplete water resources with potential negative effects on other users and the environment, or policies are needed to mitigate or avoid potential adverse effects. As simultaneously Mongolian authorities struggle to implement integrated water resources management (IWRM), the latter might provide monitoring concepts and regulations needed to minimise the potential gap between water demands and availability. In this context, integrated modelling could be a scientific tool to support future land and water management decisions, as researchers already started to integrate views and demands of Mongolian authorities into scenario and model development (identified during stakeholder workshops), and will continue to do so during the coming years of collaborative research.     

A typology of graziers to inform a more targeted approach for developing natural resource management policies and agricultural extension programs

The use of landholder typologies to assist in the development of natural resource management (NRM) policies and agricultural extension programs has increased considerably in the past decade. In this paper we explore the potential of developing a typology of graziers to more effectively tailor policies and programs with the aim of improving land management outcomes. This is of particular importance since growing public concern about the environmental performance of the beef industry has led to increasing pressures on graziers to change their land management practices to decrease off-property impacts. To gain a better understanding of graziers’ land management practices and the factors that inform their decisions on how they manage their land we first developed a conceptual model of the relationship between grazier and grazing land where both can, ideally, thrive through conscious and timely land management decisions made and implemented by the grazier. A successful grazier land relationship is likely to be consistent with value systems and social and economic factors, although the particulars of any individual approach may vary spatially and temporally. These factors, in particular graziers’ values and motivations to follow a particular management strategy, guided the development of our typology of graziers. Australia's Bowen-Broken basin, which has been identified as a major contributor of sediment and nutrients that enter the Great Barrier Reef lagoon, served as a case study for this research. Three broad types of graziers emerged: (1) traditionalists, (2) diversifiers, and (3) innovators. The authors argue that by understanding graziers’ values and motivations underlying each of the grazier types, government agencies and NRM organisations can more effectively tailor their policy and extension programs towards specific types of graziers and can work with specific groups to achieve reductions in sediment and nutrient runoff from grazing properties.     

Land suitability,water balance and agricultural technology as a Geographic-Technological Index to support regional planning and economic studies

Land suitability, water balance and agricultural technological inputs are important characteristics of the soil as a natural resource and can play a significant role in the agricultural production and productivity. Based on these characteristics, a Geographic and Technological Index, the GeoTec Index, is proposed in order to help detecting regional agricultural income inequalities and also to be used as a geographic variable in economic studies. The GeoTec Index is built as a weighted average of three sub indices, namely, Land Suitability, Hydrological and Technological Indices. The Land Suitability Index is based on the agricultural suitability or the aptitude of a given land to support a defined agricultural use. The Hydrological Index (HyI) is based on a water balance which determines the potential and actual amounts of evapotranspiration and water surplus, or excess of precipitation over evapotranspiration, and corresponds to a number that represents either the annual soil water excesses or deficits. And the Technological Index is the sum of several sub indices, based on technological inputs used in the agriculture, such as soil conservation practices, farmer’s technical assistance, use of soil fertilizers and correctives, presence of electric power, use of pest and disease control and use of irrigation. The Geographic and Technological Index (GeoTec) is a combination of the Land Suitability, Hydrological and Technological Indices and it is calculated with data from Minas Gerais State, Brazil, for the period of 1990–2001. The criterion for the regional subdivision of Minas Gerais State was the one proposed by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), which divides the state into 66 micro regions. The highest values of GeoTec Index are obtained at micro regions of the most developed part of the state, whereas the lowest values of the GeoTec Index are found in micro regions located in the poorest part of Minas Gerais State. There was a strong and positive relationship between the GeoTec Index and the productivity of grains and, at the same time, there is a strong negative relationship between the GeoTec Index and the percentage of poor people in Minas Gerais State micro regions. The GeoTec Index can be a powerful instrument for detecting regional inequalities and to implement public policies as an attempt to decrease the agricultural income disparities among regions.     

创新机制 转变方式 努力开创森林保护和经营新局面

湖南省紧紧围绕国家林业局采伐管理改革具体部署:推进采伐分类管理,使采伐管理范围更加明确;编制森林经营方案,使限额管理更加科学;创新分配机制,使采伐指标分配更加公平;简化审批程序,使采伐指标申请更加便捷;加强监督管理,使采伐秩序更加规范。     

Welfare Losses Due to Livestock Grazing on Public Lands: A Count Data Systemwide Treatment

Backcountry hikers' willingness-to-pay for removing grazing from trails in the Hoover Wilderness is analyzed using a multinomial Dirichlet negative binomial distribution. This multivariate discrete distribution allows the direct calculation of seasonal welfare measures that are derived from an incomplete demand specification. The welfare maximizing choice of activities is examined on a trail-by-trail basis using the results of the analysis. Our findings suggest that a mix of hiking and grazing activities provide the greatest social welfare.     

Exploring agricultural advice networks,beneficial management practices and water quality on the landscape: A geospatial social-ecological systems analysis

Agricultural practices have been linked to detrimental effects on ecosystems, with water quality of particular concern. Research has been devoted to understanding uptake of beneficial, or best, management practices (BMPs) in agriculture; however, sources of advice and subsequent effects on the landscape have not been elucidated. This study set out to understand (1) what sources of information agricultural producers rely on when making land-management decisions; (2) the characteristics of their advice networks; and (3) how the advice network linked spatially to water quality on the landscape. A watershed in Alberta was used as a case study and respondents identified that regional advisors were relied upon most often for advice and these advisors had the most influence on the adoption of BMPs. Results indicate that respondents with connections to regional actors implemented more BMPs that those without. Regional government actors had a greater effect than regional non-governmental actors. Local actors played a lesser role in advice networks related to BMP adoption. A 3D geovisualization was used to explore linkages among advisors, BMPs, and water quality. This technique may be useful for other scenarios and can contribute to policy development and enhanced practices.     

农业科研事业单位岗位设置与管理浅析——以中国水产科学研究院为例

岗位设置和管理是事业单位人事制度改革的主要内容和目标。文章以中国水产科学研究院为例,概述岗位设置与管理,从人员比例、配套政策、人事管理制度等角度分析了科研事业单位岗位设置过程中存在的问题和难点,通过完善岗位管理办法和使用岗位等级评定办法来形成科学合理的岗位设置方案,通过岗位聘用、聘后管理和加强培训来完善岗位设定后的岗位管理制度。