scholarly journals Reducing land use-induced spillover risk by fostering landscape immunity: policy priorities for conservation practitioners

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Reaser ◽  
Brookline E. Hund ◽  
Manuel Ruiz-Aravena ◽  
Gary M. Tabor ◽  
Jonathan A. Patz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Preventive Measure ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Wildlife Trade ◽  
Landscape Conservation

Anthropogenic land use change is the major driver of zoonotic pathogen spillover from wildlife to humans. In response to the global spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (the agent of COVID-19 disease), there have been renewed calls for landscape conservation as a disease preventive measure. While protected areas are a vital conservation tool for wildlands, more than 50% of habitable land is now human-modified and thus requires strategic, site-based measures to prevent land use-induced spillover, especially by managing landscape immunity and the dynamics of animal-human proximity. Crisis is a conversation starter for reimagining and recommitting ourselves to what is most vital and generative. Here we provide a brief overview of zoonotic spillover concepts and dynamics from a conservation practitioner perspective and outline a landscape-oriented policy agenda to minimize the risk of future large-scale zoonoses outbreaks. Among other things, we need to recognize human health as a vital ecological service, ensure ecological resilience, and facilitate public investment in biosecurity to sustain economic viability and human well-being. Landscape management approaches to spillover risk reduction are part of a toolkit that includes ecological, veterinary, and medical interventions, disease surveillance, and wildlife trade policy measures.

scholarly journals Coastal Landscape Vulnerability Analysis in Eastern China—Based on Land-Use Change in Jiangsu Province

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 1702
Author(s):  
Yangfan Zhou ◽  
Lijie Pu ◽  
Ming Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Eastern China ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Jiangsu Province ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Rapid Urbanization

The unreasonable land use in rapid urbanization areas induced by large-scale urban construction activities have caused massive ecological issues. In this study, landscape vulnerability index (LVI) and landscape human interference index (LHAI) were originally addressed and calculated using multi-temporal land-use data from 2000 to 2015. Then, the spatial-temporal relationship assessment model of landscape fragility caused by human activities were constructed for each county of Jiangsu Province, China, so as to analyze the spatial distribution of landscape vulnerability and determine the impacts of artificial disturbance on landscape vulnerability. The results showed: (1) The number of counties with middle and high landscape vulnerability increased from 20 in 2000 to 27 in 2015 with a peak value (33) in 2010. (2) Counties with high-intensity human activities showed an upward trend. (3) Land use generally has a significant and diverse impact on landscape vulnerability. At the county level, the LVI was positively correlated with the LHAI before 2010 and was followed by a negative correlation of them. As concluded from this study, a total of four sub-regions (continuous benefit zones, variable benefit zones, continuous harmful zones, and variable harmful zones) have been identified for sustainable landscape management in the future. (4) The LVI suggests that the landscape vulnerability in Jiangsu did not continue to deteriorate in the study period. Further, accelerated land exploitation has produced a positive impact on regional economic development and ecological protection. This study provided an effective method set for analyzing the environmental impacts caused by human activities and promoting future ecosystem management in coastal areas.

scholarly journals Rethinking Landscape Conservation: Linking Globalized Agriculture to Changes to Indigenous Community-Managed Landscapes

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 194008291988950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted J. Lawrence ◽  
Richard C. Stedman ◽  
Stephen J. Morreale ◽  
Sarah R. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Indigenous Community ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Landscape Conservation ◽  
Crop Cultivation ◽  
Causal Pathway ◽  
Managed Landscapes

Community-managed landscapes have valuable conservation potential. In particular, indigenous community management has slowed deforestation. However, globalized agriculture is an underlying driver of changes to indigenous community-managed landscapes. Our objective is to explain a hypothesized global-to-local causal pathway that stems from processes of globalized agriculture and changes to indigenous community-managed landscapes. The global-to-local pathway involves a nested hierarchy of political–economic processes, specifically land and natural resource privatization, commodification, and acquisition. At the local landscape level, we focus on changes to land tenure, livelihoods, land use, and land cover. Changes to land tenure involve a shift away from community and toward individual ownership and management. Concurrently, livelihoods shift away from subsistence and toward market-oriented activities. Subsequently, land use shifts away from small-scale extensive and toward large-scale intensive crop cultivation, away from diverse crop cultivation and toward monocropping, and away from crop toward livestock farming. Ultimately, land cover shifts away from diverse agro-forested and toward homogeneous deforested lands. We illustrate our approach using ejidos, a type of community-managed lands, in Yucatán, México as an exploratory example. We use descriptive statistics to initially assess the shift in ejido land tenure, from community to individually parcelized systems, and the shift in a principal subsistence livelihood and land use activity, from maize cultivation to cattle rearing. We highlight that individually parceled areas within ejidos are more deforested than community-managed areas. In all, we urge landscape conservation scientists to more fully consider not just local actions but also impacts stemming from globalized agriculture and to advance the breadth and depth of more extensive studies and analyses.

scholarly journals Deploying Ecological Countermeasures as a Biosecurity Imperative

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Reaser ◽  
Gary M. Tabor ◽  
Rohit A. Chitale ◽  
Peter Hudson ◽  
Raina Plowright
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
National Security ◽  
Department Of Defense ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Security Threat ◽  
Health Security ◽  
The Us

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought biosecurity to the forefront of national security policy. Land use change is a fundamental driver of zoonotic disease outbreaks, yet substantial study is yet required to unravel the mechanisms by which land use-induced spillover operates. Ecological degradation may be the 21st Century’s most overlooked security threat. Within the biosecurity context, we introduce ecological countermeasures as highly targeted, landscape-based interventions aimed at arresting one or more of the components of land use-induced spillover, the chain of biological events that facilitate large-scale outbreaks of diseases transmitted between wildlife and people. We provide case studies of ecological countermeasures of particular interest to the US Department of Defense, broadly discuss countermeasures in the defense and health sectors, and provide an overview of recent US policy decisions related to health security in order to underscore the need for greater attention to ecological resilience as our best defense against future pandemics.

scholarly journals Sustainable Landscape Management and Planning

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2354
Author(s):  
Ivo Machar
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Global Change ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Landscape Planning ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Landscape Conservation ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Sustainable Landscape Management ◽  
Sustainable Landscape

Dynamic changes of landscape structure affect the abundance and distribution of organisms. Currently, changing land-use is one of the major forces altering ecosystem services in landscapes globally. Human activities are transforming land at a faster rate and greater extent than at any time in history. This is a perspective challenge for research in the field of emerging sustainability science. The human conversion of natural habitats and land use change is not only a local/regional phenomenon but can be considered as one of important global change drivers. Some of the impacts of global change on biodiversity can be studied only at the landscape scale, such as the climate change-induced shift of vegetation zones. A landscape perspective fosters a multi-scale approach to sustainable landscape management and landscape planning. Additionally, a landscape scale is very useful for the innovative application of the common management paradigm to multiple uses in agriculture, forestry and water resource management. The need for sustainable landscape management and planning is now obvious. Landscape conservation seems to be a new paradigm for the conservation of biodiversity. This Special Issue (SI) of the Sustainability journal is focused on building a bridge between scientific theory and the practice of landscape management and planning based on the application of sustainability as a key conceptual framework. Papers dealing with various theoretical studies and case studies of the best practice for sustainable landscape management and planning across diverse landscapes around the world are included.

Immigrant Youth in Germany

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 158-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Frankenberg ◽  
Katharina Kupper ◽  
Ruth Wagner ◽  
Stephan Bongard
Keyword(s):  
School System ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ethnic Discrimination ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Problems ◽  
Sociocultural Adaptation ◽  
Age Related ◽  
German School ◽  
Transcultural Adaptation

This paper reviews research on young migrants in Germany. Particular attention is given to the question of how Germany’s history of migration, immigration policies, and public attitude toward migrants influence the transcultural adaptation of children and adolescents from different ethnic backgrounds. We combine past research with the results of new empirical studies in order to shed light on migrants’ psychological and sociocultural adaptation. Studies comparing young migrants and their German peers in terms of psychological well-being, life satisfaction, and mental health outcome suggest higher rates of emotional and behavioral problems among migrants of most age groups. With regard to adolescent populations between the ages of 14 and 17 years, however, the existence of differences between migrants and natives appears to be less clear. Research has also yielded inconsistent findings regarding the time trajectory of transcultural adaptation among adolescents. The coincidence of acculturation and age-related change is discussed as a possible source of these inconsistencies. Further, we provide an overview of risk and protective factors such as conflicting role expectations and ethnic discrimination, which may cause heightened vulnerability to adverse adaptation outcomes in some groups. Large-scale studies have repeatedly shown migrants of all age groups to be less successful within the German school system, indicating poor sociocultural adaptation. Possible explanations, such as the idiosyncrasies of the German school system, are presented. Our own studies contribute to the understanding of young migrants’ adaptation process by showing that it is their orientation to German culture, rather than the acculturation strategy of integration, that leads to the most positive psychological and sociocultural outcomes. The paper concludes by discussing implications for future cross-cultural research on young migrants and by suggesting recommendations for multicultural policies.

Can SPLUMA Play a Role in Transforming Spatial Injustice to Spatial Justice in Housing in South Africa?

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeannie Van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Spatial Planning ◽  
National Development ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Spatial Development ◽  
Land Use Management ◽  
Spatial Justice ◽  
Spatial Environment

Our spatial environment is one of the most important determinants of our well-being and life chances. It relates to schools, opportunities, businesses, recreation and access to public services. Spatial injustice results where discrimination determines that spatial environment. Since Apartheid in South Africa epitomised the notion of spatial injustice, tools and instruments are required to transform spatial injustice into spatial justice. One of these is the employment of principles of spatial justice. While the National Development Plan (NDP) recognised that all spatial development should conform to certain normative principles and should explicitly indicate how the requirements of these should be met, the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act 16 of 2013 (SPLUMA) contains a more concrete principle of spatial justice. It echoes aspects of both the South African land reform programme and global principles of spatial justice. Essentially section 7(a) of SPLUMA entails three components: (1) redressing past spatial imbalances and exclusions; (2) including people and areas previously excluded and (3) upgrading informal areas and settlements. SPLUMA directs municipalities to apply the principle in its spatial development frameworks, land use schemes and, most importantly, in decision-making on development applications. The aim of this article is to determine whether the application of this principle in practice can move beyond the confines of spatial planning and land use management to address the housing issue in South Africa. Central to housing is section 26 of the Constitution, that has received the extensive attention of the Constitutional Court. The court has not hesitated to criticize the continuing existence of spatial injustice, thus contributing to the transformation of spatial injustice to spatial justice. Since planning, housing and land reform are all intertwined not only the role of SPLUMA, but also the NDP and the myriad other policies, programmes and legislation that are attempting to address the situation are examined and tested against the components of the principle of spatial justice in SPLUMA.

The Green New Deal

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Hockett
Keyword(s):  
New Deal ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Good News ◽  
Carbon Neutrality ◽  
The One ◽  
In Virtue Of

This white paper lays out the guiding vision behind the Green New Deal Resolution proposed to the U.S. Congress by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bill Markey in February of 2019. It explains the senses in which the Green New Deal is 'green' on the one hand, and a new 'New Deal' on the other hand. It also 'makes the case' for a shamelessly ambitious, not a low-ball or slow-walked, Green New Deal agenda. At the core of the paper's argument lies the observation that only a true national mobilization on the scale of those associated with the original New Deal and the Second World War will be up to the task of comprehensively revitalizing the nation's economy, justly growing our middle class, and expeditiously achieving carbon-neutrality within the twelve-year time-frame that climate science tells us we have before reaching an environmental 'tipping point.' But this is actually good news, the paper argues. For, paradoxically, an ambitious Green New Deal also will be the most 'affordable' Green New Deal, in virtue of the enormous productivity, widespread prosperity, and attendant public revenue benefits that large-scale public investment will bring. In effect, the Green New Deal will amount to that very transformative stimulus which the nation has awaited since the crash of 2008 and its debt-deflationary sequel.

A Perspective On The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic in Basic Science Research and its Future implications

Coronaviruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yam Nath Paudel ◽  
Efthalia Angelopoulou ◽  
Bhupendra Raj Giri ◽  
Christina Piperi ◽  
Iekhsan Othman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Basic Science ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Preventive Measure ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Institutes ◽  
Basic Science Research ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
Long Term Impact ◽  
The Impact

: COVID-19 has emerged as a devastating pandemic of the century that the current generations have ever experienced. The COVID-19 pandemic has infected more than 12 million people around the globe and 0.5 million people have succumbed to death. Due to the lack of effective vaccines against the COVID-19, several nations throughout the globe has imposed a lock-down as a preventive measure to lower the spread of COVID-19 infection. As a result of lock-down most of the universities and research institutes has witnessed a long pause in basic science research ever. Much has been talked about the long-term impact of COVID-19 in economy, tourism, public health, small and large-scale business of several kind. However, the long-term implication of these research lab shutdown and its impact in the basic science research has not been much focused. Herein, we provide a perspective that portrays a common problem of all the basic science researchers throughout the globe and its long-term consequences.

Psychosocial Consequences of Body Weight and Obesity

2018 ◽  
pp. 274-286
Author(s):  
Deborah Carr ◽  
Vera K. Tsenkova
Keyword(s):  
Body Weight ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
The Body ◽  
Integrative Health ◽  
Psychosocial Consequences ◽  
Adults And Children

The body weight of U.S. adults and children has risen markedly over the past three decades. The physical health consequences of obesity are widely documented, and emerging research from the Midlife in the United States study and other large-scale surveys reveals the harmful impact of obesity on adults’ psychosocial and interpersonal well-being. This chapter synthesizes recent research on the psychosocial implications of body weight, with attention to explanatory mechanisms and subgroup differences in these patterns. A brief statistical portrait of body weight is provided, documenting rates and correlates of obesity, with a focus on race, gender, and socioeconomic status disparities. The consequences of body weight for three main outcomes are described: institutional and everyday discrimination, interpersonal relationships, and psychological well-being. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the ways that recent integrative health research on the psychosocial consequences of overweight and obesity inform our understanding of population health.

scholarly journals Leisure Time Sports Activities and Life Satisfaction: Deeper Insights Based on a Representative Survey from Germany

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mutz ◽  
Anne K. Reimers ◽  
Yolanda Demetriou
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Leisure Time ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Activity Level ◽  
Leisure Satisfaction ◽  
General Life Satisfaction ◽  
Sports Activities

Abstract Observational and experimental studies show that leisure time sporting activity (LTSA) is associated with higher well-being. However, scholars often seem to assume that 1) LTSA fosters “general” life satisfaction, thereby ignoring effects on domain satisfaction; 2) the effect of LTSA on well-being is linear and independent of a person’s general activity level; 3) the amount of LTSA is more important than the repertoire of LTSA, i.e. the number of different activities; 4) all kinds of LTSA are equal in their effects, irrespective of spatial and organisational context conditions. Using data from the German SALLSA-Study (“Sport, Active Lifestyle and Life Satisfaction”), a large-scale CAWI-Survey (N = 1008) representing the population ≥ 14 years, the paper takes a closer look on these assumptions. Findings demonstrate that LTSA is associated with general life satisfaction and domain-specific satisfaction (concerning relationships, appearance, leisure, work and health), but that the relationship is most pronounced for leisure satisfaction. Associations of sport with life satisfaction, leisure satisfaction and subjective health are non-linear, approaching an injection point from which on additional LTSA is no longer beneficial. Moreover, findings lend support to the notion that diversity in LTSA matters, as individuals with higher variation in sports activities are more satisfied. Finally, results with regard to spatial and organizational context suggest that outdoor sports and club-organized sports have additional benefits.

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