scholarly journals Global threat to agriculture from invasive species

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (27) ◽  
pp. 7575-7579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean R. Paini ◽  
Andy W. Sheppard ◽  
David C. Cook ◽  
Paul J. De Barro ◽  
Susan P. Worner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Invasive Species ◽  
The United States ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Potential Cost ◽  
Trade Patterns ◽  
Species Invasions ◽  
The World ◽  
Potential Sources

Invasive species present significant threats to global agriculture, although how the magnitude and distribution of the threats vary between countries and regions remains unclear. Here, we present an analysis of almost 1,300 known invasive insect pests and pathogens, calculating the total potential cost of these species invading each of 124 countries of the world, as well as determining which countries present the greatest threat to the rest of the world given their trading partners and incumbent pool of invasive species. We find that countries vary in terms of potential threat from invasive species and also their role as potential sources, with apparently similar countries sometimes varying markedly depending on specifics of agricultural commodities and trade patterns. Overall, the biggest agricultural producers (China and the United States) could experience the greatest absolute cost from further species invasions. However, developing countries, in particular, Sub-Saharan African countries, appear most vulnerable in relative terms. Furthermore, China and the United States represent the greatest potential sources of invasive species for the rest of the world. The analysis reveals considerable scope for ongoing redistribution of known invasive pests and highlights the need for international cooperation to slow their spread.

scholarly journals The Philippine-US Relations: Living or Leaving the Bandung Spirit?

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 133
Author(s):  
Anna Rhodora Solar ◽  
John Matthew Poblete
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Independent State ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Colonial Master

The Philippines had its own share of colonial past. Just as other Asian and African countries which were under the Western colonizers, the Philippines partook of the momentous event that proposed an alternative to the world order dominated by superpowers—the Bandung Conference. The principles collectively known as Bandung Spirit were embraced by the Philippines and had a clear understanding of its symbolic significance. Yet such understanding of these principles was coupled with compromises on the Philippines relations with the United States. Over the decades, the Philippines had to do a balancing act between its being sovereign, independent state and its recognition of the relevance of its past colonial master—the US. Hence, this raises the question of whether the Philippines is living or leaving the Bandung Spirit. Specifically, this paper assesses whether the Philippines still upholds the same Bandung Spirit in its traditional form or has it given a contemporary understanding of it. The paper argues that the Philippine-US relations remain to be an evident display of US presence in Southeast Asia albeit redefined to blend with the Bandung Spirit.

Homonationalism and Media

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Dhoest
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The European Union ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Northern European ◽  
The World ◽  
Bisexual And Transgender ◽  
Set Up

Homonationalism, as defined by Jasbir Puar, refers to the growing embrace of LGBT rights by (mostly Western) nations, as well as the parallel complicity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals and associations with nationalist politics. First developed in the context of the U.S. “war on terror,” where the United States presented itself as exceptionally LGBT-friendly in contrast to “homophobic” Muslim others, the concept of homonationalism was quickly adopted by authors across the world and in different disciplines, writing on a number of LGBT-friendly in-groups in contrast to a number of homophobic out-groups. Besides the United States, other Western countries figure prominently as in-groups in this literature, particularly Western and Northern European ones, but also larger regions such as the European Union (EU) as well as subnations such as Catalonia and Québec. Muslims constitute the most prominent out-group in homonationalist discourses, although other groups and regions also appear, in particular, African countries and, in the European context, Central and Eastern Europe as well as Russia. In each case, a simplistic opposition is set up between a homogeneously modern and LGBT-friendly “us” and an equally homogeneous antimodern homophobic “them.” These discourses are prominent in (often right-wing) politics but are equally replicated across a range of media, which play a crucial role in the spread of homonationalist discourses but remain underexplored to date.

Adapting China’s African strategy to the realities of the post-COVID world

2021 ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Olga L. Fituni
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Security ◽  
World Order ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
The United States ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Mutual Communication

In the end of 2021, the eighth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Ministerial Conference was held. The conference, which takes place every three years alternately in the PRC and one of the African countries, each time marks a certain new stage in the development of Sino-African relations and charts new paths along this path. The Dakar forum however was of particular strategic importance. It took place in fundamentally new conditions of a profoundly changed post-COVID world, in which the physical capabilities and limitations of mutual communication became different, because of the pandemic; the conditions of human security on the planet have fundamentally changed; the prevailing paradigms of the globalization process have been seriously. The FOCAC-2021 sought to outline the ways for the development of the entire multifaceted complex of Sino-African in new historical conditions. The author analyzes the degree of implementation of the plans and targets of the previous FOCAC-2018 Summit. New benchmarks and goals for the next three years of Sino-African cooperation and the impact on them of new objective conditions, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the growth of confrontation in relations between the PRC and the United States and its allies, and the reformatting of previous globalization ties and interdependencies are highlighted as they have been outlined in Dakar. The author argues that, despite these fundamental global transformations, China's African strategy, in contrast to relations with a number of key world actors, does not undergo a profound modification. China sets the task not to fundamentally change, its strategy in African and routine engagement with its with partners on the continent under the influence of the new factors, but only to adapt to the realities of the post-COVID world order, in the context of the emerging balance of power and interests in the world.

scholarly journals Eucalypts and Their Potential for Invasiveness Particularly in Frost-Prone Regions

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor H. Booth
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Invasive Species ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biofuel Production ◽  
Research Needs ◽  
Invasive Potential ◽  
Eucalypt Plantations ◽  
The World ◽  
Lower Coastal Plain

Eucalypts are being considered for biofuel production in the Lower Coastal Plain of the United States. The evolution of eucalypts in Australia has equipped some species to be successful in plantations and has also influenced their potential as invasive species. More than 200 eucalypt species have been evaluated in many countries around the world. Generally eucalypts have proved to have limited invasive potential for a number of reasons, including their poor dispersal capabilities. Two regions with climates similar to the Lower Coastal Plain of the United States are identified in Argentina and China. Frosts, particularly sudden frosts, are an important limitation for eucalypts in these regions, so existing plantations are very limited. However, invasive eucalypts do not appear to be a major problem in other regions of either country. The use of carefully selected frost-tolerant species and the development of genetically modified eucalypts may now open up more frost-affected areas for eucalypt plantations. Some control actions may be necessary and research needs are outlined, but it is concluded that experience in other regions around the world suggests that eucalypts are likely to be a relatively low risk as invasive species in the Lower Coastal Plain.

Fanonian practices in South Africa: From Steve Biko to Abahlali baseMjondolo (Nigel Gibson)

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Munyaradzi Mawere
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Latin America ◽  
South African ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
Frantz Fanon ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The World

Frantz Fanon, the Algerian theorist of revolution and social change, continues living through his profoundly luminous work that remains influential to the thinking and actions of many a people across the world even today. In Fanonian Practices in South Africa (2011), which comprises an introduction and five chapters, Nigel Gibson grapples with the important question of the relevance of Fanon's thought, 50 years after his death in 1961, to the South African situation especially from the time of Steve Biko to the time of the birth of the shack dwellers' movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo (Abahlali) in Durban on 19 March 2005. Gibson acknowledges that the idea of Fanonian Practices is not limited to South Africa but relevant also for other African countries. Elsewhere, Fanon's ideas have been exported to Black theology of liberation by scholars such as James Cone in the United States of America (USA) and Paulo Freire in Latin America.

Cytisus scoparius (scotch broom).

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julissa Rojas-Sandoval
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Invasive Species ◽  
The United States ◽  
Natural Forests ◽  
Fire Hazards ◽  
Scotch Broom ◽  
Native Grasslands ◽  
The World ◽  
Perennial Shrub

Abstract C. scoparius is a perennial shrub that has been widely commercialized as an ornamental in temperate and subtropical regions of the world. It is a prolific seeder that escaped from cultivation and has become an invasive species and a serious weed in temperate areas of the United States, Canada, Hawaii, Chile and Argentina, the eastern halves of both islands of New Zealand, Australia (including Tasmania), India, Iran, Japan and South Africa (Holm et al., 1979; Parsons and Cuthbertson, 1992; Hosking et al., 1998; Peterson and Prasad, 1998; Isaacson, 2000). C. scoparius is an aggressive fast-growing invader with the capability to grow forming dense impenetrable monospecific stands that degrade native grasslands, forests, rangelands, and agricultural lands; prevent the regeneration of natural forests and prairies; and create fire hazards (Syrett et al., 1999; USDA-NRCS, 2016). Because of its association with nitrogen fixing bacteria, it is very competitive in areas with poor soils and can alter the nutrient cycling of invaded areas (Peterson and Prasad, 1998).

Sex Differences in Mass Media Preferences Across Four Asian Countries

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 186-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malini Ratnasingam ◽  
Lee Ellis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
The United States ◽  
Female Students ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Evolutionary Explanation ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
The World ◽  
Media Preferences

Background. Nearly all of the research on sex differences in mass media utilization has been based on samples from the United States and a few other Western countries. Aim. The present study examines sex differences in mass media utilization in four Asian countries (Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, and Singapore). Methods. College students self-reported the frequency with which they accessed the following five mass media outlets: television dramas, televised news and documentaries, music, newspapers and magazines, and the Internet. Results. Two significant sex differences were found when participants from the four countries were considered as a whole: Women watched television dramas more than did men; and in Japan, female students listened to music more than did their male counterparts. Limitations. A wider array of mass media outlets could have been explored. Conclusions. Findings were largely consistent with results from studies conducted elsewhere in the world, particularly regarding sex differences in television drama viewing. A neurohormonal evolutionary explanation is offered for the basic findings.

Sandra Ramos Revisited

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 32-54
Author(s):  
Silvia Spitta
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Graphic Arts ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
The World ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Political Choices ◽  
The Rich

Sandra Ramos (b. 1969) is one of the few artists to reflect critically on both sides of the Cuban di-lemma, fully embodying the etymological origins of the word in ancient Greek: di-, meaning twice, and lemma, denoting a form of argument involving a choice between equally unfavorable alternatives. Throughout her works she shines a light on the dilemmas faced by Cubans whether in Cuba or the United States, underlining the bad personal and political choices people face in both countries. During the hard 1990s, while still in Havana, the artist focused on the traumatic one-way journey into exile by thousands, as well as the experience of profound abandonment experienced by those who were left behind on the island. Today she lives in Miami and operates a studio there as well as one in Havana. Her initial disorientation in the USA has morphed into an acerbic representation and critique of the current administration and a deep concern with the environmental collapse we face. A buffoonlike Trumpito has joined el Bobo de Abela and Liborio in her gallery of comic characters derived from the rich Cuban graphic arts tradition where she was formed. While Cuba is now represented as a rotten cake with menacing flies hovering over it ready to pounce, a bombastic Trumpito marches across the world stage, trampling everything underfoot, a dollar sign for a face.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document