The ancient woodland concept as a practical conservation tool: the Turkish experience

2018 ◽  
pp. 213-239
Author(s):  
Simay Kırca ◽  
Alper H. Çolak ◽  
Ian D. Rotherham
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Cultural Landscapes ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Taxus Baccata ◽  
Ancient Woodland ◽  
Buxus Sempervirens ◽  
Ancient Woodlands ◽  
Ancient Wood

Why ancient woodlands and wood species restoration and rehabilitation is necessary? In Turkey there are over 500 taxa of trees and shrubs, however only a few of them play a vital role both naturally and culturally. The technical term here is ‘intergenerational equity’, or in plainer language, not messing things up for our children and grandchildren. In ancient woodland restoration and rehabilitation approach in Turkey, there is no lack of knowledge to implement suitable strategies, however what is more often lacking is an understanding of the overall landscape and the factors that determine whether different land-uses are mutually reinforcing or in conflict. These applications need to accommodate new perspectives and ideas to put ancient woods back into the natural and cultural landscapes. The experience gained indicates that such implementations require supportive local and national policy frameworks and a strong constituency of local-level support. As a country with already significant areas of a highly degraded nature, but also containing diverse natural and cultural landscapes, Turkey should apply suitable techniques to bring these ancient woods back into their original landscapes in order to sustain its cultural and natural heritage. Ascertaining, and then maintaining, the condition of ancient woodland in Turkey like in UK will be a major challenge for the future. Turkey contains ancient cultural landscapes with distinctive ancient wood and ancient woodlands. They are strongly influenced by human activity reaching back far into history. This is very obvious in Anatolia, a region where eastern and western civilizations meet. The region has also been recognized by eastern and western civilizations nearly as a ‘tree paradise’ with its diverse tree species adapted to different climatic and geomorphological conditions. In this context, it has been aimed to; (1) emphasize the interaction between cultural features and diverse forest landscapes with ancient woodlands, (2) introduce the understanding of ancient woodland concept in Turkey, (3) determine the typical prominent ancient woodland taxa, (4) represent some techniques in order to restore degraded ancient woodland ecosystems in Turkey and (5) seek opportunities for the planning of undisturbed ancient landscapes as a cultural heritage. Additionally, the importance of developing strategies in order to prevent the loss of ancient woodlands was tried to be illustrated by two case studies on Common yew (Taxus baccata L.) and Common boxwood (Buxus sempervirens L.), which have been continuosly present in Anatolia since thousands of years, became an important component of cultural landscapes, however strongly influenced by human activity resulting with the degardation and loss of their habitats.

scholarly journals Wetlands in Ethiopia: Lessons From 20 years of Research, Policy and Practice

Wetlands ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Dixon ◽  
Adrian Wood ◽  
Afework Hailu
Keyword(s):  
Research Policy ◽  
Wetland Management ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Wetland Use

AbstractThroughout sub-Saharan Africa wetlands provide ecosystem services that are critical to the development needs of many people. Local wetland use, however, is often at odds with broader national policy goals in which narratives of conservation and protection dominate, hence a recurring challenge is how to reconcile these tensions through the development of policies and field practice that deliver sustainable development. In this paper we examine the extent to which this challenge has been achieved in Ethiopia, charting the changes in wetlands policy and discourse over the last twenty years while reviewing the contribution of the multidisciplinary Ethiopian Wetlands Research Programme (EWRP) (1997–2000). Our analysis suggests that despite EWRP having a significant legacy in developing national interest in wetlands among research, government and non-governmental organisations, its more holistic social-ecological interpretation of wetland management remains neglected within a policy arena dominated by specific sectoral interests and little recognition of the needs of local people. In exploring the impacts at the local level, recent investigations with communities in Ilu Aba Bora Zone highlight adjustments in wetland use that famers attribute to environmental, economic and social change, but which also evidence the adaptive nature of wetland-based livelihoods.

Optimising horizontal and vertical partnership connections: bringing partnerships together to create a network advantage

2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Wallace
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Policy ◽  
State Level ◽  
Community Partnership ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
Partnership Network ◽  
Local Partnerships ◽  
Network Advantage

Partnerships bring actors together to make horizontal connections between organisations. This has proven to be an effective model at the local level in Ireland. This paper explores possibilities for local partnerships to come together through a network to make vertical connections to national policy processes. It is written as a practice and innovation paper by the national coordinator of the Community Partnership Network in Ireland. A review of current practice and expectations of the Community Partnership Network indicates there has been greater success in providing support to members compared with impacts from strong vertical connections. This experience is common for a range of local actors in the community development sector in Ireland who find that there are insufficient meaningful connections between local and national institutions. This limits the opportunity for transfer of knowledge from the local level to inform national policy. Going forward, the notion of network advantage is explored as a means to make the necessary vertical connections. It is proposed that the outcomes from a network should cover the dimensions of: joint value creation, mutual capacity development and collective engagement with decision makers. There is real opportunity to apply this in Ireland as the three networks representing local development are about to merge into a single representative body for what are now local integrated development partnerships. Thinking about network advantage also provides possible application for creating stronger vertical linkages between local partnerships in Victoria, Australia and bodies at the state level, including the Victorian State Government.

The Protection of the Culturally and Spiritually Important Landscapes of Arctic Indigenous Peoples under the Convention on Biological Diversity and First Experiences from the Application of the Akwé:Kon Guidelines in Finland

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-225
Author(s):  
Leena Heinämäki ◽  
Thora Martina Herrmann ◽  
Antje Neumann
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Cultural Landscapes ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Wilderness Area ◽  
Testing Case

Culturally and spiritually important landscapes in the Arctic region express the interconnectedness of Indigenous Peoples with the natural and spiritual environment, and their preservation has been, and continues to be, essential to Indigenous People’s identity and traditional livelihoods. During the last decade, the importance of cultural landscapes for the conservation of biological and cultural diversity has received increasing legal attention. One of the international legal instruments developed are the Akwé:Kon Voluntary Guidelines, under the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD). This paper elaborates on the worldwide first implementation process of the Akwé:Kon Guidelines in Finland, and draws on first experiences made during the testing case of these guidelines in the management process of the Hammastunturi Wilderness Area, in order to investigate to what extent culturally and spiritually important landscapes of Arctic Indigenous Peoples are recognized internationally, especially under the CBD and related international agreements and jurisprudence, and in the national context of Finland, in particular at the local level of the Hammastunturi Wilderness Area.

Structural Performance of Typical Beam-Column Joints in Yingxian Wood Pagoda - An Experimental Study

2012 ◽  
Vol 517 ◽  
pp. 669-676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi Yong Chen ◽  
En Chun Zhu ◽  
Jing Long Pan ◽  
Guo Fang Wu
Keyword(s):  
Failure Modes ◽  
Least Square Method ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Shanxi Province ◽  
Structural Performance ◽  
Vertical Load ◽  
Loading Test ◽  
Ancient Wood ◽  
Non Destructive

Yingxian Wood Pagoda, built in 1056, is located in the town of Yingxian County, Shanxi Province, China. It is the oldest and highest standing ancient wood structure in China. The pagoda is octagon-shaped in plan, with a total height of 67.31m and a base diameter of 30.27m. It appears as a five-storeyed structure, but actually consists of nine storeys, with four shorter but stiffer storeys hidden between the five apparent storeys. Yingxian Wood Pagoda was built without any metal connectors like nail, screw, or bolt. Instead, Tenon-Mortise connections and Dou-Gong brackets were used to connect all posts and beams. Tenon-Mortise connections and Dou-Gong brackets have been playing a vital role for the pagoda to resist severe winds, earthquakes and some human-induced disasters for nearly a thousand years. To evaluate the safety of the pagoda, it is, therefore, useful to investigate the structural performance of the beam-column joints, most important for Yingxian Wood Pagoda to resist lateral load. In this study, two models of typical beam-column joints of the pagoda, MBCJ-I and MBCJ-II, were manufactured following a ratio of 3.4 to the prototype of the joints. Non-destructive cyclic loading test of the models under different vertical load and destructive cyclic test of the models under vertical load of 20kN were conducted. The hysteretic stiffness of MBCJ-I was lager than MBCJ-II, and increased linearly with vertical load N. The relationship between and N was obtained by regression of the test results using the least square method. The stiffness of model joint under vertical load was 70.6kN/mm. The failure modes, energy-dissipation performance, moment resistance and bending stiffness of both model joints were derived and discussed.

scholarly journals Disaster management strategies and relation of good governance for the coastal Bangladesh

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-279
Author(s):  
Prabal Barua ◽  
◽  
Abhijit Mitra ◽  
Saeid Eslamian ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Management ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Management Policies

Although Bangladesh’s immense steps in preparing the disaster management policies following the values of good governance issue, the quantity to which these policies have productively been executing at the local level remnants mostly unknown. The objectives of this investigation were dual: firstly, to inspect the roles and efficiency of the local-level governance and disaster management organization, and lastly, to recognize the obstacles to the execution of national the policies and Disaster-Risk-Reduction guidelines at the local community level. The authors applied qualitative research and case Study approach, using techniques from the Participatory Rural Appraisal toolbox to collect data from local community members as well as government and NGO officials. From the finding of the study, it was revealed that interactive disaster governance, decentralization of disaster management, and compliance by local-level institutions with good governance principles and national policy guidelines can be extremely effective in reducing disaster-loss and damages. According to coastal community members, the local governments have generally failed to uphold good governance principles, and triangulated data confirm that the region at large suffers from rampant corruption, political favoritism, lack of transparency and accountability and minimal inclusion of local inhabitants in decision-making – all of which have severely impeded the successful implementation of national disaster-management policies. This study contributes to these research gaps, with identification of further research agenda in these areas. The paper deals with International Sendai Framework that called for enhancement of local level community resilience to disasters. Thus, it contributes to numerous policy and practice areas relating to good disaster governance. The study identified the specific manifestations of these failures in coastal communities in Bangladesh. These results underscore the vital need to address the wide gap between national DRR goals and the on-the-ground realities of policy implementation to successfully enhance the country’s resilience to climate change-induced disasters.

Introduction

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vance T. Holliday
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Cultural Landscapes ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Site Formation ◽  
Site Formation Processes ◽  
Active Components ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Integral Component ◽  
Archaeological Materials

Soils are a potential source of much information in archaeological studies on site and feature-specific scales as well as on a regional scale. Soils are a part of the stage on which humans have evolved. As an integral component of most natural landscapes, soils also are an integral component of cultural landscapes. “Soils are active components of functioning ecosystems that reflect the spatial variability of ecological processes and at the same time have varying degrees of suitability for different kinds of human behavior” (Warren, 1982b, p. 47). Beyond physically supporting humans and their endeavors, however, soils are indicators of the nature and history of the physical and human landscape; they record the impact of human activity, they are a source of food and fuel, and they reflect the environment and record the passage of time. Soils also affect the nature of the cultural record left to archaeologists. They are a reservoir for artifacts and other traces of human activity, encasing archaeological materials and archaeological sites. Soil-forming processes also are an important component of site formation processes. Pedogenesis influences which artifacts, features, and environmental indicators (floral, faunal, and geological) are destroyed, which are preserved, and the degree of preservation. Those involved in field archaeology (as archaeologists, geoscientists, or bioscientists) routinely deal with soils—probably more so than most soil scientists or geologists (Birkeland, 1994, p. 143). However, what the soils or a soil scientist can tell archaeologists about the site and about the archaeological record is not always clear. In part, the integration of soil science in archaeology has been hampered by ambiguities in use of the term “soil” and confusion over what a soil is or is not. The bigger issue is that pedological research, particularly in the United States, has not traditionally been a component of geoarchaeology (the application of the earth science in archaeology) until recent years, in comparison with applications of other aspects of geoscience such as stratigraphy, sedimentology, or geomorphology. This situation evolved in large part because the academic study of soils typically is located in the agricultural sciences rather than the earth sciences.

scholarly journals Decentralization and Corruption: Does Decentralization Lead to Corruption in Local Level in Nepal?

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 17-36
Author(s):  
Dipesh Kumar Ghimire
Keyword(s):  
Fiscal Decentralization ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The People ◽  
Self Rule ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
Corrupt Behavior ◽  
The Relationship

Federalism has been constitutionally uniting separate political communities in a limited by encompassing political community (Kincaid and Tarr 2005). Federalism as a mode of governance is concerned with combining 'self-rule and shared rule' (Elazar, 1987), where by the constituent members of the federal union can govern themselves autonomously while they and their citizen also participate together in the common national governing regime, which is autonomous within its sphere of constitutional authority (Kincaid, 2011). Federalism is the extreme form of decentralization. Similarly, corruption is defined as exercise of official powers against public interest or the abuse of public office for private gain. Corruption is a symptom of degeneration of the relationship between the state and the people, characterized by bribery, extortion and nepotism (Altas, 1968). Similarly, Sen (1999) defines corruption or corrupt behavior as "the violation of established rules for personal gains and profits". This article tries to explore the relationship among federalism, decentralization and corruption. My finding is: constitutional, political and spatial decentralization is very strong and fiscal decentralization is very weak in Nepal. Fiscal decentralization plays vital role to improve quality of governance. However, lack of proper fiscal decentralization and highly constitutional, political and spatial federalism or decentralization promote corruption in the local level. Similarly the monitoring mechanism and vertical controls system are very weak in Nepal. It shows that the localization process motivate to corrupt behavior among public authorities.

scholarly journals SolarView: Georgia Solar Adoption in Context

Data ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Tidwell ◽  
Abraham Tidwell ◽  
Steffan Nelson ◽  
Marcus Hill
Keyword(s):  
Census Data ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
County Level ◽  
Solar Pv ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Transition Issues

The local-national gap is a problem currently plaguing the adoption of emerging technologies targeted at resolving energy transition issues that are characterized by disparities in the adoption of innovations and policies on a local level in response to national policy implementation. These disparities reflect a complex system of technical, economic, social, political, and ecological factors linked to the perceptions held by communities and how they see energy development and national/global policy goals. This dataset is an attempt to bridge the local-national gap regarding solar PV adoption in the State of Georgia (U.S.) by aggregating variables from seven different publicly-available sources. The objective of this activity was to design a resource that would help researchers interested in the context underlying solar adoption on the local scale of governance (e.g., the county level). The SolarView database includes information necessary for informing policy-making activities such as solar installation information, a historical county zip code directory, county-level census data, housing value indexes, renewable energy incentive totals, PV rooftop suitability percentages, and utility rates. As this is a database from multiple sources, incomplete data entries are noted.

scholarly journals “Thinking about drinking”

2016 ◽  
Vol 116 (6) ◽  
pp. 541-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siobhan Farmer ◽  
Lorna Porcellato
Keyword(s):  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Alcohol Education ◽  
Primary School Teachers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
North West ◽  
Written Responses

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore perceptions of alcohol held by schoolchildren using the “Draw and Write” tool, to inform the planning of alcohol education in the classroom setting. Design/methodology/approach A specifically designed “Draw and Write” booklet was used with 169 children aged nine to ten years (Year 5) across seven primary schools in a small Local Authority in North West England. Written responses were thematically coded. Findings Results demonstrated that the children had a good basic understanding of alcohol, including who drinks, where it can be purchased and the range of products available. Participants were aware that alcohol could be harmful and held mainly negative views. Findings suggest that alcohol education at this age is both appropriate and necessary to help children explore, understand and clarify their perceptions and misconceptions in a safe classroom environment. Practical implications The range and depth of responses from the children demonstrated that Draw and Write can be used successfully to explore children’s perceptions of alcohol. The tool can be used as a baseline assessment to inform classroom-based alcohol education for primary school teachers and those supporting delivery at local level, in line with national policy recommendations. Originality/value This paper adds to the existing literature on the use of “Draw and Write” in personal, social and health education, demonstrating that it can be used specifically to investigate children’s knowledge and attitudes about alcohol.

Municipal reaction to functional rescaling in Italy

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 448-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Bolgherini ◽  
Mattia Casula ◽  
Mariano Marotta
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Joint Management ◽  
Italian Regions ◽  
Intermunicipal Cooperation ◽  
Future Policy ◽  
Mind Set ◽  
National Policy Maker ◽  
Structured Questionnaire

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss the municipal reaction to a recent rescaling policy in Italy that, since 2010, require to small municipalities to jointly manage their basic tasks (compulsory joint management – CJM) through intermunicipal forms of cooperation. The paper will investigate: how many small municipalities did effectively join their basic tasks; which forms of cooperation did they choose to perform these tasks; and which kind of reaction municipalities enacted toward the national provision.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative data rely on an original database collecting information on all Italian municipalities up to 2015. A qualitative research has also been conducted by submitting a semi-structured questionnaire and interviews to the civil servants in charge of the CJM in each of the 20 Italian regions and to other privileged interlocutors.FindingsItalian municipalities poorly complied with the CJM norm and when they did, they choose the easiest way to do it (using the simplest available intermunicipal cooperation form). Among the explanations for this reaction: the lack of consistency and clear political will of the national policy maker in respect to this norm and the lack of a mind set at the local level oriented to cooperation and networking.Originality/valueThis paper highlights the main patterns of conflict in functional rescaling of small-sized municipalities in Italy, thus providing both fresh new data on this phenomena and useful elements for shaping future policy making on this topic.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document