scholarly journals Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 12118
Author(s):  
Robert J. DiNapoli ◽  
Carl P. Lipo ◽  
Terry L. Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Tragedy Of The Commons ◽  
Easter Island ◽  
Rapa Nui ◽  
Ecological Changes ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Past Land Use

The history of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) has long been framed as a parable for how societies can fail catastrophically due to the selfish actions of individuals and a failure to wisely manage common-pool resources. While originating in the interpretations made by 18th-century visitors to the island, 20th-century scholars recast this narrative as a “tragedy of the commons,” assuming that past populations were unsustainable and selfishly overexploited the limited resources on the island. This narrative, however, is now at odds with a range of archaeological, ethnohistoric, and environmental evidence. Here, we argue that while Rapa Nui did experience large-scale deforestation and ecological changes, these must be contextualized given past land-use practices on the island. We provide a synthesis of this evidence, showing that Rapa Nui populations were sustainable and avoided a tragedy of the commons through a variety of community practices. We discuss this evidence in the context of Elinor Ostrom’s “core design principles” for sustainable communities and argue that Rapa Nui provides a model for long-term sustainability.

The Effect of Incentives: Diffusion of Responsibility

2021 ◽  
pp. 166-182
Author(s):  
Jason Brennan ◽  
William English ◽  
John Hasnas ◽  
Peter Jaworski
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Tragedy Of The Commons ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Collective Action Problem ◽  
P Diffusion ◽  
Perverse Incentives ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Diffusion Of Responsibility

Diffusion of responsibility refers to the problem that when something is everyone’s job, it in effect ends up being nobody’s job. This explains why many collective problems arise. People face perverse incentives to free ride on others’ actions and not to do their part. As a result, agents often think in short-term rather than long-term ways. Problems such as climate change can be modeled as instances of the tragedy of the commons, one form of a collective action problem that arises due to perverse incentives created by the diffusion of responsibility.

The Holocaust

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
George R. Mastroianni
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Cultural Processes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Situational Pressures

Chapter 2 traces the history of psychological thinking about Hitler, the Nazi accession to power, and, eventually, the Holocaust. Explanations of these phenomena took several forms. Some focused on putative psychopathology, either of Nazi leaders or Germans as a whole; some focused on particular German cultural and social adaptations that were thought to produce particularly obedient and authoritarian individuals; still others emphasized the interaction of some or all of these factors with long-term, large-scale historical and cultural processes. Gordon Allport saw prejudice and racism as central to understanding the Holocaust. After Stanley Milgram’s studies appeared in the early 1960s, genocidal behavior was largely seen by psychologists as an obedient response to situational pressures. Recent decades have brought greater diversity in social psychological explanations of perpetrator behavior in the Holocaust and in genocide more generally.

Trends in the frequency, extent, and severity of spruce budworm outbreaks in eastern Canada

1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Blais
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Spruce Budworm ◽  
Forest Composition ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Clear Cutting ◽  
The Past ◽  
Spruce Stands ◽  
History Of

The history of spruce budworm (Choristoneurafumiferana (Clem.)) outbreaks for the past 200 to 300 years, for nine regions in eastern Canada, indicates that outbreaks have occurred more frequently in the 20th century than previously. Regionally, 21 outbreaks took place in the past 80 years compared with 9 in the preceding 100 years. Earlier infestations were restricted to specific regions, but in the 20th century they have coalesced and increased in size, the outbreaks of 1910, 1940, and 1970 having covered 10, 25, and 55 million ha respectively. Reasons for the increase in frequency, extent, and severity of outbreaks appear mostly attributable to changes caused by man, in the forest ecosystem. Clear-cutting of pulpwood stands, fire protection, and use of pesticides against budworm favor fir–spruce stands, rendering the forest more prone to budworm attack. The manner and degree to which each of these practices has altered forest composition is discussed. In the future, most of these practices are expected to continue and their effects could intensify, especially in regions of recent application. Other practices, including large-scale planting of white spruce, could further increase the susceptibility of forest stands. Forest management, aimed at reducing the occurrence of extensive fir–spruce stands, has been advocated as a long-term solution to the budworm problem. The implementation of this measure at a time when man's actions result in the proliferation of fir presents a most serious challenge to forest managers.

scholarly journals South Korea's Scramble for Africa: Complexities and Implications

2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-72
Author(s):  
Mark Curry
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Food Resources ◽  
Limited Experience ◽  
History Of

South Korea had recently made agreements to secure large-scale deals in Tanzania, among other places, to secure cheap, long term agriculture supplies. Having limited experience in Africa, the potential for problems with Korea’s partners is great. The feasibility, desirability and legitimacy of such projects must be examined to forestall difficulties. Africa’s volatility and Tanzania’s complex historical context likewise need to be understood alongside Korea’s own history of colonization of Tanzanian indigenous people’s land. Also, Korea’s geopolitical standing and emergency as a developed county are implicated by such ventures. Significantly, securing future food resources by controlling large territories in distant continents is relevant to any discussion of Korea’s security and international relations.

scholarly journals Survey of the terrestrial habitats and vegetation of Shetland, 1974 – a framework for long-term ecological monitoring

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire M. Wood ◽  
Robert G. H. Bunce
Keyword(s):  
Natural Environment ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Oil Industry ◽  
Ecological Monitoring ◽  
Robust Methods ◽  
Ecological Changes ◽  
Terrestrial Habitats ◽  
Environmental Monitoring Programme

Abstract. A survey of the natural environment was undertaken in Shetland in 1974, after concern was expressed that large-scale development from the new oil industry could threaten the natural features of the islands. A framework was constructed by the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology on which to select samples for the survey. The vegetation and habitat data that were collected, along with the sampling framework, have recently been made public via the following doi:10.5285/06fc0b8c-cc4a-4ea8-b4be-f8bd7ee25342 (Terrestrial habitat, vegetation and soil data from Shetland, 1974) and doi:10.5285/f1b3179e-b446-473d-a5fb-4166668da146 (Land Classification of Shetland 1974). In addition to providing valuable information about the state of the natural environment of Shetland, the repeatable and statistically robust methods developed in the survey were used to underpin the Countryside Survey, Great Britain's national long-term integrated environmental monitoring programme. The demonstration of the effectiveness of the methodology indicates that a repeat of the Shetland survey would yield statistics about ecological changes in the islands, such as those arising from the impacts of the oil industry, a range of socio-economic impacts, and perhaps climate change. Currently no such figures are available, although there is much information on the sociological impacts, as well as changes in agriculture.

scholarly journals Deep time diversity and the early radiations of birds

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (10) ◽  
pp. e2019865118
Author(s):  
Yilun Yu ◽  
Chi Zhang ◽  
Xing Xu
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Evolutionary Rate ◽  
Rapid Evolution ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
The Third ◽  
Time Diversity ◽  
History Of

Reconstructing the history of biodiversity has been hindered by often-separate analyses of stem and crown groups of the clades in question that are not easily understood within the same unified evolutionary framework. Here, we investigate the evolutionary history of birds by analyzing three supertrees that combine published phylogenies of both stem and crown birds. Our analyses reveal three distinct large-scale increases in the diversification rate across bird evolutionary history. The first increase, which began between 160 and 170 Ma and reached its peak between 130 and 135 Ma, corresponds to an accelerated morphological evolutionary rate associated with the locomotory systems among early stem birds. This radiation resulted in morphospace occupation that is larger and different from their close dinosaurian relatives, demonstrating the occurrence of a radiation among early stem birds. The second increase, which started ∼90 Ma and reached its peak between 65 and 55 Ma, is associated with rapid evolution of the cranial skeleton among early crown birds, driven differently from the first radiation. The third increase, which occurred after ∼40 to 45 Ma, has yet to be supported by quantitative morphological data but gains some support from the fossil record. Our analyses indicate that the bird biodiversity evolution was influenced mainly by long-term climatic changes and also by major paleobiological events such as the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction.

A Minimal Demographic History of Israel

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio DellaPergola
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Development ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Demographic History ◽  
Mass Movement ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
Population Projections ◽  
Demographic Development ◽  
History Of

This chapter surveys the demographic development of Israel/Palestine from antiquity through the present and looking toward the future. Territory and habitability is described regarding changing boundary definitions and internal divisions that have reflected shifting political rule. Population change is examined in the long term, noting the significant historical ups and downs in population size and socioeconomic development. The development of contemporary population in Israel and Palestine reflects large-scale international migration, including mass movement of Jewish and Arab refugees. Variable fertility levels and birth rates have also significantly affected the pace of population growth. Attention is paid to the more recent balance of Jews and Palestinians over the whole territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and an overview is presented of the distribution of world Jewish and Palestinian diasporas. Finally, population projections for the Jewish people, the state of Israel, and the whole territory of Israel/Palestine are presented.

scholarly journals Anthropogenic Biomes: 10,000 BCE to 2015 CE

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erle C. Ellis ◽  
Arthur H.W. Beusen ◽  
Kees Klein Goldewijk
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Substantial Reduction ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Major Advance ◽  
Terrestrial Biosphere ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
History Of ◽  
Time Periods

Human populations and their use of land have reshaped landscapes for thousands of years, creating the anthropogenic biomes (anthromes) that now cover most of the terrestrial biosphere. Here we introduce the first global reconstruction and mapping of anthromes and their changes across the 12,000-year interval from 10,000 BCE to 2015 CE; the Anthromes 12K dataset. Anthromes were mapped using gridded global estimates of human population density and land use from the History of the Global Environment database (HYDE version 3.2) by a classification procedure similar to that used for prior anthrome maps. Anthromes 12K maps generally agreed with prior anthrome maps for the same time periods, though significant differences were observed, including a substantial reduction in Rangelands anthromes in 2000 CE but with increases before that time. Differences between maps resulted largely from improvements in HYDE’s representation of land use, including pastures and rangelands, compared with the HYDE 3.1 input data used in prior anthromes maps. The larger extent of early land use in Anthromes 12K also agrees more closely with empirical assessments than prior anthrome maps; the result of an evidence-based paradigm shift in characterizing the history of Earth’s transformation through land use, from a mostly recent large-scale conversion of uninhabited wildlands, to a long-term trend of increasingly intensive transformation and use of already inhabited and used landscapes. The spatial history of anthropogenic changes depicted in Anthromes 12K remain to be validated, especially for earlier time periods. Nevertheless, Anthromes 12K is a major advance over all prior anthrome datasets and provides a new platform for assessing the long-term environmental consequences of human transformation of the terrestrial biosphere.

Iraq's Burgeoning Judiciary: Current Issues and the Best Way Forward

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Charles Roberts
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Due Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sustainable Growth ◽  
Department Of Justice ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
And Training

Following the United States takeover of Iraq in 2003, the Department of Justice released an assessment of Iraq’s fractured judiciary. Corruption, public distrust of the courts, and other roadblocks provided a bleak outlook on the rebuilding of the Iraqi judiciary. Nevertheless, recent large-scale judicial reforms have been moderately successful, including the separation of executive and judicial power, guarantee of due process, and efforts to protect the system from corruption, bribery, and political pressure. Now, during a period of relative stability, the Iraqi government must focus the improvement of the judiciary on four major areas: judicial independence, the debate between transparency and national security, the ability to prosecute high-ranking officials, issues with Kurdish autonomy, and international assistance and training. While each of these issues is deeply complex, this research asserts that there are six crucial improvements that will best enhance the Iraqi judiciary going forward. These improvements include increased courthouse rehabilitation to provide security for judges, a policy of erring on the side of transparency instead of worry over national security, a focus on promoting judges by merit instead of removing them through review, the rolling back of the ministerial protection law, a movement toward the election of judges instead of appointment, and an initiative to educate the Iraqi people and judiciary on the rich history of Iraqi law, as Iraq was the birthplace of codified law. If these improvements begin to be implemented now, they will ensure solid and sustainable growth of the Iraqi society and economy in the long-term.

Managing the refugee crises in South Asia: The role of SAARC

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-219
Author(s):  
Zahid Shahab Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Complex Issue ◽  
History Of

South Asia is home to roughly three million refugees and their long-term presence brings enormous challenges. South Asia’s history of colonialism, low economic development, and intra- and inter-state conflicts have contributed to the large-scale refugee movement and the lack of capacity to address the problem. This article examines the history, current activity and potential for regional cooperation in South Asia to address the issue. The article focuses particularly on the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the structure and culture of the organization and the likelihood of it addressing the politically complex issue of forced migration.

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