scholarly journals Modeling the Potential Distribution of the Malaria Vector Anopheles (Ano.) pseudopunctipennis Theobald (Diptera: Culicidae) in Arid Regions of Northern Chile

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Valderrama ◽  
Salvador Ayala ◽  
Carolina Reyes ◽  
Christian R. González

The extreme north of Chile presents a subtropical climate permissive of the establishment of potential disease vectors. Anopheles (Ano.) pseudopunctipennis is distributed from the south of the United States to the north of Argentina and Chile, and is one of the main vectors of malaria in Latin America. Malaria was eradicated from Chile in 1945. Nevertheless, the vector persists in river ravines of the Arica and Tarapacá regions. The principal effect of climate change in the north of Chile is temperature increase. Precipitation prediction is not accurate for this region because records were erratic during the last century. The objective of this study was to estimate the current and the projected distribution pattern of this species in Chile, given the potential impact due to climate change. We compiled distributional data for An. (Ano.) pseudopunctipennis and constructed species distribution models to predict the spatial distribution of this species using the MaxEnt algorithm with current and RCP 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios, using environmental and topographic layers. Our models estimated that the current expected range of An. (Ano.) pseudopunctipennis extends continuously from Arica to the north of Antofagasta region. Furthermore, the RCP 4.5 and 8.5 projected scenarios suggested that the range of distribution of An. (Ano.) pseudopunctipennis may increase in longitude, latitude, and altitude limits, enhancing the local extension area by 38 and 101%, respectively, and local presence probability (>0.7), from the northern limit in Arica y Parinacota region (18°S) to the northern Antofagasta region (23°S). This study contributes to geographic and ecologic knowledge about this species in Chile, as it represents the first local study of An. (Ano.) pseudopunctipennis. The information generated in this study can be used to inform decision making regarding vector control and surveillance programs of Latin America. These kinds of studies are very relevant to generate human, animal, and environmental health knowledge contributing to the “One Health” concept.

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 909-928
Author(s):  
Gonzalo Lizarralde ◽  
Holmes Páez ◽  
Adriana Lopez ◽  
Oswaldo Lopez ◽  
Lisa Bornstein ◽  
...  

PurposeFew people living in informal settlements in the Global South spontaneously claim that they are “resilient” or “adapting” to disaster risk or climate change. Surely, they often overcome multiple challenges, including natural hazards exacerbated by climate change. Yet their actions are increasingly examined through the framework of resilience, a notion developed in the North, and increasingly adopted in the South. To what extent eliminate’ do these initiatives correspond to the concepts that scholars and authorities place under the resilience framework?Design/methodology/approachThree longitudinal case studies in Yumbo, Salgar and San Andrés (Colombia) serve to investigate narratives of disaster risks and responses to them. Methods include narrative analysis from policy and project documents, presentations, five workshops, six focus groups and 24 interviews.FindingsThe discourse adopted by most international scholars and local authorities differs greatly from that used by citizens to explain risk and masks the politics involved in disaster reduction and the search for social justice. Besides, narratives of social change, aspirations and social status are increasingly masked in disaster risk explanations. Tensions are also concealed, including those regarding the winners and losers of interventions and the responsibilities for disaster risk reduction.Originality/valueOur findings confirm previous results that have shown that the resilience framework contributes to “depoliticize” the analysis of risk and serves to mask and dilute the responsibility of political and economic elites in disaster risk creation. But they also show that resilience fails to explain the type of socioeconomic change that is required to reduce vulnerabilities in Latin America.


1978 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
John T. Reid

Seldom has a literary device had such international political resonance as the famous Ariel-Caliban contraposition of José Enrique Rodó's essay. In the decades immediately following its publication in 1900 Ariel was an exceptionally valued credo for Spanish American youth, not only for its intrinsic grace, but also because it provided a timely answer to a widespread need. To a generation depressed by the frequently pessimistic conclusions of racist doctrines and an uneasy sense of inferiority, and irked by the admonitions of ninteenthcentury “Nordomaniacs,” Ariel offered in sonorous periods a set of values assumed to be peculiarly Latin and therefore the patrimony of Latin America. As Alberto Zum Felde says, “It was the longed-for reply of this weak backward America to the Titanic potentiality of the North: its self-justification, its compensation, its retaliation.” Luis Alberto Sánchez's generation must have derived, as he says he did, its primary image of the United States from Ariel. Arturo Torres-Ríoseco describes it as “the ethical gospel of the Spanish-speaking world.”


1992 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen H. Haber

After England began what came to be known as the First Industrial Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century, industrial technology quickly diffused throughout the nations of the North Atlantic. Within fifty years of the first rumblings of British industrialisation, the factory system had spread to Western Europe and the United States. Latin America, however, lagged behind. It was not until the twentieth century that manufacturing came to lead the economies of Latin America and that agrarian societies were transformed into industrial societies.This article seeks to understand this long lag in Latin American industrialisation through an analysis of the experience of Mexico during the period 1830–1940. The purpose of the paper is to look at the obstacles that prevented self-sustaining industrialisation from taking place in Mexico, as well as to assess the results of the industrialisation that did occur.The basic argument advanced is that two different types of constraints prevailed during different periods of Mexico's industrialisation. During the period from 1830 to 1880 the obstacles to industrialisation were largely external to firms: insecure property rights, low per capita income growth resulting from pre-capitalist agricultural organisation, and the lack of a national market (caused by inefficient transport, banditry and internal tariffs) all served as a brake on Mexico's industrial development. During the period 1880–1910 the obstacles to industrialisation were largely internal to firms. These factors included the inability to realise scale economies, high fixed capital costs and low labour productivity. During the period from 1910 to 1930 these internal constraints combined with new external constraints – including the Revolution of 1910–17, the political uncertainty of the post-revolutionary period and the onset of the Great Depression – which further slowed the rate of industrial growth.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 129
Author(s):  
David Robie

Environmental damage, climate change, and increasingly intense natural disasters are serious problems faced by humanity in this millennium. More ecological damage occurs due to expensive and destructive human activities. Illegal logging, expansion of mining areas, pollution of water sources, overfishing, trade-in protected wildlife continue to happen, and the scale is even greater. Meanwhile, climate change is increasingly visible and impacting communities in urban to rural areas. Coastal cities in the United States to coastal villages in the north of Java and the microstates of the South Pacific facing the real impact of sea-level rise. Disasters that occur bring not only material losses but also socio-economic consequences for people affected. The emergence of new ecological problems is being faced by humanity. The complexity of ecological problems is nonlinear, turbulent, and dynamic. This was the theme of the panel (New) Ecological Problems: Defining the Relationship between Humans and the Environment at the Symposium on Social Science 2020. This paper, part of the SOSS 2020 panel on ecological problems, argues for countries to overhaul and “reset” their public health and economic systems to ones based on strengthening multilateral institutions and collaboration, and to abandon or seriously curtail neoliberalism models that have failed. It also argues that the profession of journalism also needs to approach climate change strategies with as much urgency as for addressing the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The current crisis is a precursor to further crises unless the globe changes its ways to heal both people and the planet.


Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Lara Gálvez ◽  
Alan M. Sears

This chapter discusses the impact of free trade agreements (FTAs) on intermediary liability in Latin America, with special emphasis on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) provisions that have been included into every bilateral FTA the United States has entered into since 2002, thus promoting their inclusion in the national law of other countries. However, these provisions are controversial, and whether they drive the internet economy or create a more restrictive online space is a matter of debate. This chapter analyses the impact of such provisions in Latin American countries and the state of their implementation in national jurisdictions. In particular, this chapter reviews implementation and proposed implementation of the DMCA model in Chile, Costa Rica and other CAFTA bloc countries, Colombia, and Peru. It also discusses the failure of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement to create new intermediary liability rules and how the same language was ultimately included in the revision of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which became the US–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA).


2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
RAMIRO D. CREGO ◽  
CLAYTON K. NIELSEN ◽  
KARL A. DIDIER

SUMMARYClimate change is predicted to be a major threat for biodiversity and, from a conservation prospective, it is important to understand how ecosystems may respond to that change. Predicted climate change effects on the distribution of meadows in the arid and semi-arid Argentinean Patagonia by 2050 were assessed for change trends and areas of desertification vulnerability using species distribution models (SDM) and climate-change models. Four modelling techniques composed an ensemble-forecasting approach. Suitable areas for meadows will decrease by 7.85% by 2050 given predicted changes in climate. However, there were two contrasting trends: severe reduction of suitable areas for meadows in north-west Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego Island, and an expansion of suitable areas for meadows in the south and a small section in the north-west. Meadows in Patagonia will likely be impacted by climate change, probably due to changes in precipitation regimes, and consequently many species that rely on meadows in an arid environment will also be impacted. Given the low level of protection of meadows in Patagonia, such information on meadow distribution and vulnerability to climate change will be important for increasing and improving the network of conservation areas through conservation planning.


2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-209
Author(s):  
Alexandra G. Koval ◽  
Mikhail I. Sorokin

Venezuela suffers currently from a deep economic and political crisis. China, being significant partner for Venezuela, has recently increased its presence on the Venezuelan market. The study reveals the distinguishing features of modern Chinese-Venezuelan economic relations. It analyzes China's foreign economic strategy in Latin America and identifies the trends in trade, investment and finance relations between China and Venezuela. The conclusion is made that the Chinese strategy in Venezuela is not based on the concept of South - South cooperation, but it more relates to the North - South approach. At the same time, the political factor plays an increasingly significant role in the development of relationship between states from a perspective of escalation of the confrontation between the United States and China. The possible scenarios and consequences of the Venezuelan political crisis for China are identified and certain comparisons with Russia are presented.


2019 ◽  
pp. 82-88
Author(s):  
Anatoly Tkach

Formulation of the problem: In the article management problems are examined Geographic proximity has ensured strong linkages between the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean, based on diverse U.S. interests, including economic, political, and securityт concerns. The United States is a major trading partner and the largest source of foreign investment for many countries in the region, with free-trade agreements enhancing economic linkages with 11 countries. Purpose of the research: The region is a large source of U.S. immigration, both legal and illegal; proximity and economic and security conditions are major factors driving migration. Curbing the flow of illicit drugs has been a key component of U.S. relations with the region for more than three decades and currently involves close security cooperation with Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. U.S. support for democracy and human rights in the region has been long-standing, with particular current focus on Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The article analyzes the priorities of Administration of President Trump ordered U.S. withdrawal from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, which would have increased U.S. economic linkages with Mexico, Chile, and Peru. President Trump criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada as unfair, warned that the United States might withdraw, and initiated renegotiations; ultimately, the three countries agreed to a United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in late September 2018. The proposed agreement, which requires congressional approval, largely leaves NAFTA intact but includes some updates and changes, especially to the dairy and auto industries. Administration actions on immigration have caused concern in the region, including efforts to end the deportation relief program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations for Nicaragua, Haiti, El Salvador, and Honduras. President Trump unveiled a new policy in 2017 toward Cuba partially rolling back U.S. efforts to normalize relations and imposing new sanctions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Ferretto ◽  
Pete Smith ◽  
David Genney ◽  
Robin Matthews ◽  
Rob Brooker

AbstractSpecies distribution models (SDMs) have been widely used to predict species ranges and their future distribution under climate change scenarios. In this study we applied Maxent, one of the most used SDMs, to project the distribution of some rare bryophyte species in Scotland in the 2050s. Most of these species are strongly linked to the blanket bog habitat, which is threatened by climate change in the near future. To assess the extent to which changes in habitat distribution leads to a different modelled distribution of the selected bryophytes, blanket bog distribution was included in the model as one of the explanatory variables for some species, and Maxent was run for three 2050s scenarios: once with the current blanket bog distribution and two other runs using the blanket bog distribution derived from two bioclimatic models (Lindsay modified and Blanket Bog Tree model) under the same climate change scenario. For seven out of nine of our studied bryophyte species, the modelled distribution in Scotland was predicted to decline, with some species retreating towards the north-west and other species almost disappearing. When the change in blanket bog distribution was also accounted for, further areas in the north/centre east of Scotland and in the south were predicted to be unfavourable for many of the species considered. Our findings suggest that when modelling species distributions, habitat distribution also needs to be considered, especially when there is a strong relationship between the species and a particular habitat.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 641-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence C. Hamilton ◽  
Mary Lemcke-Stampone ◽  
Curt Grimm

Abstract Public acceptance of the reality of human-caused climate change has risen gradually in the United States, reflecting cumulative impacts from scientific research and communication, and perhaps also from experienced manifestations such as extreme weather or change to familiar seasons. In the rural North Country of northern New England, a key manifestation of climate change has been warming winters. A 2017 survey asked North Country residents whether they thought that recent winters have been warmer compared with earlier decades. Winter warming, which in this historically snowy region has broad impacts ranging from the economy to everyday life, was recognized by a majority of residents young and old, male and female, with little or much education—but not by the most conservative. Although our winter question does not mention climate change, responses followed patterns similar to a subsequent question about human-caused climate change. Moreover, the partisan gradient in response to both winter and climate questions is steepest among people reporting that most of their friends belong to the same political party. Partisan constraints on perception of a mundane physical reality could limit the scope for weather or climate experiences to alter beliefs among those whose political/social identity favors climate-change rejection.


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