A Study of Voter Attitudes Toward Different Proposals for the Use of an Undeveloped Island

1977 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-92
Author(s):  
Milton D. Seekins ◽  
David A. Storey

Public concern with decisions about the use of land, particularly if it is undeveloped, is an increasing phenomenon in our society. This is especially true in the coastal zone, where land and water resources are extremely limited in quantity and subject to strong and growing demand, and where there are not only direct interrelationships among the ways adjacent parcels of shoreland and water are used, but also indirect interrelationships among various land and water uses that are effected through complex coastal ecosystems. Since the coastal waters are largely common property resources, there is a particularly strong rationale for concern about the impact of human activities upon their availability, quality, and viability within the ecosystem.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Yi ◽  
Jing Qian ◽  
Muhammadjon Kobuliev ◽  
Pengpeng Han ◽  
Jun Li

Coastal ecosystems undergoing rapid urbanisation have characteristics of both natural and artificial ecosystems. How we evaluate the dynamic impact of human activities on coastal ecosystems is important for coastal zone management and development. In this study, we first developed a method to extract both the natural and artificial features of coastal land cover, and classified the coastal landscapes impacted by human activities from an ecological service perspective. We then constructed an ecological interference index for classification to evaluate the impact of coastal human interference on both artificial and natural ecosystems during rapid urbanisation. Lastly, we verified our method by applying it to the coastal zone in Shenzhen, China. Our results show that this method can describe the effects of human activities on coastal zones in more detail. The distribution of human activity was mainly associated with the geomorphology of the coastal zone. Changes in human interference were seen strongly in proximity to both the landward and coastal boundaries of the study area, in close correlation with the public’s increasing conscience for ecological environment protection.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Bingyu Wang ◽  
Takashi Oguchi ◽  
Lin Zhang

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Inland river basins in arid to semi-arid regions are widely distributed in Northwest China, Central Asia, Central Australia, and North Africa, and are often subject to significant human activities. The most distinctive natural feature of such basins is the shortage of water resources, and the pivotal reasons involve less precipitation and heavy evapotranspiration (ET). In recent years, intensive human activities also damage the natural environment of the basins. They result in many problems especially the deterioration of ecological environment which will lead to severe consequences such as desertification, sandstorm, the disappearance of wetlands, reduction of forest and grassland degradation. They prevent us from achieving the goal of sustainable development. How to balance economic development and ecosystem conservation and to realize the sense of sustainability in inland river basins will be vitally important.</p><p>The Heihe River is the second largest inland river in the Northwest of China with a long history development by human (Figure 1). Water resources from the river are crucial not only for the ecosystem but also for local human societies. The Heihe River Basin (HRB) is divided into three zones with different landscapes and natural environments. The upstream of HRB is the headstream which generates water resources mainly from glaciers and snow in Qilian Mountain. A large population of nomadic national minorities inhabits here and keeps animal husbandry as the primary production activity. In the early times, the Chinese government encouraged production activities to stimulate economic growth, and significant over-grazing and resultant severe grassland degradation occurred. Grassland is crucial for maintaining water resources especially in arid regions, without grasses most water will quickly evaporate into the air. Therefore, land resource management about grassland and the impact of human activities on the natural environment are of high research value in the HRB.</p><p>This research aims to investigate the impact of over-grazing on grassland degradation in the inland ecosystem of the HRB. The changes of grassland distribution were simulated under different over-grazing scenarios to provide a reference for resource management and the related decision-making process and to contribute to the sustainable development of the region.</p>


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 3543-3570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Y. Zhang ◽  
H. Yang ◽  
M. J. Shi ◽  
A. J. B. Zehnder ◽  
K. C. Abbaspour

Abstract. This study provides an insight into the impact of China's international trade of goods and services on its water resources and uses. Virtual water flows associated with China's international trade are quantified in an input-output framework. The analysis is scaled down to the sectoral and provincial levels to trace the origins and destinations of virtual water flows associated with the international trade. The results reveal that China is a net virtual water exporter of 4.7 × 1010 m3 year−1, accounting for 2.1% of its total water resources and 8.9% of the total water use. Water scarce regions tend to have higher percentages of virtual water export relative to their water resources and water uses. In the water scarce Huang-Huai-Hai region, the net virtual water export accounts for 7.9% of the region's water resources and 11.2% of its water uses. For individual sectors, major net virtual water exporters are those where agriculture provides raw materials in the initial process of the production chain and/or pollution intensity is high. The results suggest that China's economic gains from being a world "manufacture factory" have come at a high cost to its water resources and through pollution to its environment.


EDIS ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy R. Carriker ◽  
Tatiana Borisova

FE799, an 8-page illustrated fact sheet by Roy R. Carriker and Tatiana Borisova, describes the state policies and regulations that provide the framework for water resources use and the impact of human activities on water resources in the state of Florida. Includes references. Published by the UF Department of Food and Resource Economics, May 2009.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 2892
Author(s):  
Zhibo Xie ◽  
Xingmin Mu ◽  
Peng Gao ◽  
Changxue Wu ◽  
Dexun Qiu

Quantitatively assessing the characteristics of river streamflow variation and conducting research on attribution identification are the basis for formulating climate-change response strategies and rational use of water resources. Based on the daily streamflow data of the Zhuangtou Hydrological Station in 1970–2018, this paper analyzes the streamflow changes in the Beiluo River Basin and studies the impact of climate change and anthropogenic activities on the streamflow in this basin. A non-parametric Mann–Kendall test and Pettitt’s test were used to determine the trend and detect abrupt changes of streamflow and baseflow. The method based on precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, as well as the double-mass curve of precipitation–streamflow, was established to evaluate the impact of climate change and non-climate factors on annual streamflow. The results reveal a statistically significant downward trend (p = 0.01) in both annual streamflow and baseflow, with the abrupt point year in 1994 and 1988, respectively. When comparing to a modest declining trend in annual average precipitation, we see that the temperature showed a significant upward trend (p = 0.01), whose abrupt point year was 1996. Under the policy of returning farmland to forest, land-use analysis shows that the area of farmland had decreased by 222.4 km2, of which 31.4% was mainly converted into the forestland. By the end of 2015, the area of forestland had increased by 123.4 km2, which has largely caused streamflow decrease. For the method based on precipitation and potential evapotranspiration, climate change contributed 43.7% of the annual streamflow change, and human activities (mainly refers to LUCC) contributed 56.3%. For the DMC of precipitation–streamflow, the precipitation contributed 9.4%, and non-precipitation factors (mainly refers to human activities) contributed 90.6%, and human activities played a more vital part in driving streamflow reduction in different decades, with a contribution rate of more than 70%. This study is of great practical significance to the planning, management, development and utilization of water resources in basins.


Author(s):  
Deng Wang ◽  
Shengqi Jian ◽  
Zening Wu ◽  
Zhaoxi Zhang ◽  
Caihong Hu

Abstract. The runoff of the Fenhe River flowed into the Yellow River (RRY) is reducing significantly due to the influence of climate change and human activities. It is generating bad situation of shortage of water resources and led to the deterioration of ecological environment of Shanxi Province. At the same time, the reduction in RRY causes the runoff reduction in Yellow River and exacerbated the water resources shortage of the middle area of the Yellow River. Therefore, it is important to alleviate water shortage and develop the soil and water conservation measurements and regional water policy by analyzing the influence of human activities and climate change on the RRY. The existing study quantified the reduction in amount of RRY which caused by human activities and climate change using statistical methods and watershed hydrological model. The main results of the study were as follow: Using hydrological variation diagnosis system, the variation characteristics of long time series of measured annual runoff were analyzed in Hejin station that is the Fenhe River control station. The results showed that the runoff of Fenhe River run into Yellow River declined year by year, in 1971, fell the most obviously. The impact of LUCC on runoff was calculated using the method of area ratio in the Fenhe River basin. Human activities were major factor in the reduction of RRY than the climate change, contributed 83.09 % of the total reduction in RRY, Groundwater exploitation gave the greatest contribution to the decrease in RRY in the scope of several kinds of human activity (30.09 %), followed by coal mining (26.03 %), climate changed contributed 19.17 % of the total reduction of RRY, and the decrease of precipitation contributed 20.81 %. But the variation of air temperature and wind speed would result in the increase of the amount of RRY.


2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 2871-2880 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Y. Zhang ◽  
H. Yang ◽  
M. J. Shi ◽  
A. J. B. Zehnder ◽  
K. C. Abbaspour

Abstract. This study provides an insight into the impact of China's international trade of goods and services on its water resources and uses. Virtual water flows associated with China's international trade are quantified in an input-output framework. The analysis is scaled down to the sectoral and provincial levels to trace the origins and destinations of virtual water flows associated with the international trade. The results show that China is a net virtual water exporter of 4.8 × 1010 m3 yr−1, accounting for 2.1% of its renewable water resources and 8.6% of the total water use. Water scarce regions tend to have higher percentages of virtual water export relative to their water resources and water uses. In the water scarce Huang-Huai-Hai region, the net virtual water export accounts for 8.0% of the region's water resources and 11.3% of its water uses. For individual sectors, major net virtual water exporters are those where agriculture provides raw materials in the initial process of the production chain. The results suggest that China's economic gains from being a world "manufacture factory" have come at a high cost to its water resources.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shadrack M. Kithiia

This paper presents a critical analysis of the water quality changes and their impacts on water resources within the Athi River Catchment and its implications of the people’s livelihoods. The paper analyses the effects of land use activities on water quality in the headwater areas of the basin which has a profound impacts on the downstream water uses within the basin. The paper in addition makes an attempt to relate the impacts of human activities on water quality degradation trends within the basin against the available and potential water resources in the basin. The Athi River is the second largest in Kenya and traverses areas of diverse land use activities from the more agricultural head water areas through the industrial hub of Kenya in Nairobi to the Indian Ocean discharging its waters near Malindi town north of Mombasa. The paper gives a detailed analysis of the impacts of human activities on the water resources in regard to water quality degradation, pollution and mitigation measures. The study was based on field data collection and measurements and laboratory analysis. The researcher used 10 sampling points located within the Nairobi sub-basin and distributed along the river profile to examine the trends in water quality degradation and its implication on human livelihoods in the basin. The researcher noted a declining trend in water quality status downstream the river profile. A close analysis of the water situation in the basin paints a blink future on the available water resources in the basin against the projected water uses and increasing population compounded by the impacts of water pollution and climate change. This is likely to increase incidences of water shortage and food insecurity in many parts of the basin. The researcher recommends more investments in water harvesting infrastructure, environmental conservation and adoption of modern water management technologies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanwen Zhang ◽  
Wei Xu ◽  
Xintong Xu ◽  
Baohong Lu

It is now common knowledge that many water resources stresses relate to access to water within a basin. Yi River Basin, a typical river basin characterized by intensive agricultural processes, significant population growth, and water management, has been undergoing grave water problems. In this paper, the long-term trend of precipitation and streamflow in Yi River Basin, from 1964 to 2010, was investigated via Mann-Kendall test. The change point occurred in the year 1965 dividing the long-term series into two periods. Climate elasticity method and linear regression method were implemented to quantify the impact of precipitation and human activities on runoff and presented basically consistent results of the percentage change in an annual runoff for the postchange period. The results reveal that the decline of annual runoff in postchange period is mainly attributed to precipitation variability of 53.66–58.25% and human activities of 46.34–41.74%, as estimated by climate elasticity method and linear regression method, respectively. This study detected the changes in the precipitation-streamflow relationship and investigated the possible causes in the Yi River, which will be helpful for providing a reference for the management of regional water resources.


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