Economic, social and biological attributes of two marine reserves within New Zealand

<p>Marine Reserves (MRs) are amongst the most common tools used for marine conservation around the world. New Zealand (NZ) has 34 MRs protecting approximately 7.6% of NZ's territorial seas. In NZ the main purpose of MRs is to allow scientific research to be conducted in the absence of human disturbance. The establishment of MRs around the country produces different biological, social and economic effects in the surrounding communities. However, the majority of previous MR studies have evaluated the biological effects of protection and not the social and economic effects. This thesis investigates how established MRs are performing in terms of social, economic, social and biological goals and contributing to society‘s well-being within New Zealand. For this research I conducted research at two MRs. The Taputeranga MR (TMR) was established in 2008, and is the newest MR established in New Zealand. It is located in the Wellington region, on the Wellington south coast, and extends from Princess Bay to Quarry Bay, protecting 8.54 km² of coastal waters. Kapiti MR (KMR), which is one of the oldest MRs in New Zealand, was established in 1992 in the Wellington region, approximately 50 km north of Wellington city. It is located on the Kapiti coast in front of Paraparaumu beach. The KMR covers 20.90 km² of coastal water, divided into two parts; the largest part is 17.50 km² and the smaller part is 3.4 km². In this thesis I am starting to explore the financial cost of the MRs (chapter 2), where I attempted to estimate all of the costs required to establish a MR. The Taputeranga MR was used as a case study along with an analysis of the management costs for four other MRs. I aimed to find predictor variables across these five MRs to explain differences in their management cost. In addition, I also estimated the displacement cost to fishermen. Results showed that the Taputeranga‘s pre-establishment process cost approximately NZ $508,000, and the establishment process cost approximately NZ $ 354,000. In addition, the average management cost across five MRs per year was around NZ $63,000 year⁻¹. With respect to the predictor variables, the Akaike Information Criterion (AICc) analysis showed that MR size best explains cost, where small MRs are more expensive to maintain than big MRs. The displacement cost was estimated as NZ $22,000 approximately per vessel. I also researched and examined the social impacts of MRs (chapter 3). The aim of this chapter was to explore the human dimensions of the TMR and KMR and a hypothetical MR as a control area. I used a series of questionnaires with five main groups affected by the establishment of the MRs. Results showed that of the people who conducted activities close to the TMR and KMR, nobody selected either area specifically because there was a MR in the vicinity. With respect to MR knowledge, the majority of people at both MRs and at the hypothetical MR believed they knew what a MR was, however, nobody could provide a correct description of the main reasons for MR designation in New Zealand. Most groups surveyed at KMR indicated that its establishment had not personally affected them. At TMR, all groups believed they had experienced direct (personal) and indirect problems since the establishment of the MR. At the hypothetical MR, the majority of respondents perceived that its establishment would not cause any personal or family problems. I found that respondents at both MRs and the hypothetical MR believed that MRs are a good tool for protecting the environment. I also develop a framework to understand and estimate MR goods and services by using the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment framework (chapter 4). The aim of this study was to identify and determine use and non-use values of the Taputeranga MR and Kapiti MR. At KMR and TMR I identified eight main value-categories: (1) Commercial fishing benefits from MR, (2) Nature-based tourism, (3) Education, (4) Research, (5) Public recreation, (6) Recreational fishing benefit from MR, (7) Ecosystem health, and (8) Existence – Bequest value. The existence-bequest values (non-use values) were estimated based on the public‘s willingness to pay (WTP) and found to have a mean value of NZ $61.54 at the TMR and NZ $31.45 at the KMR per household/year. After being exploring cost of MRs, social effects of MRs and MR goods and services, I researched the biological effects of MRs. For this I examined the effect of MRs on rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii) biomass and abundance (chapter 5). I investigated how rock lobsters (RLs) (Jasus edwardsii) have responded to the protection afforded by the TMR and KMR by comparing rock lobster Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) between reserve and nonreserve areas. The average CPUE was higher inside both MRs than outside. Also bigger RLs were caught inside both MRs'. In addition, the TMR catches were twice as high compared with historical catches, and the KMR compared with historical catches were 1.93 times higher. By integrating all these different chapters and methodologies I have been able to provide insights that will help in the future of conservation of MRs, by improving the level of information for better decision-making, improving the communication between decision makers and stakeholders and to build better relationships between researchers and nonextractive users of MRs. Moreover, I provide recommendations that could be useful to include within the current Marine Protected Area Policy and potentially improve it. These recommendations also attempt to minimize the time and costs involved in MRs from the pre-establishment stages, by creating effective and formal alliances between different groups of stakeholders.</p>

Economic, social and biological attributes of two marine reserves within New Zealand

<p>Marine Reserves (MRs) are amongst the most common tools used for marine conservation around the world. New Zealand (NZ) has 34 MRs protecting approximately 7.6% of NZ's territorial seas. In NZ the main purpose of MRs is to allow scientific research to be conducted in the absence of human disturbance. The establishment of MRs around the country produces different biological, social and economic effects in the surrounding communities. However, the majority of previous MR studies have evaluated the biological effects of protection and not the social and economic effects. This thesis investigates how established MRs are performing in terms of social, economic, social and biological goals and contributing to society‘s well-being within New Zealand. For this research I conducted research at two MRs. The Taputeranga MR (TMR) was established in 2008, and is the newest MR established in New Zealand. It is located in the Wellington region, on the Wellington south coast, and extends from Princess Bay to Quarry Bay, protecting 8.54 km² of coastal waters. Kapiti MR (KMR), which is one of the oldest MRs in New Zealand, was established in 1992 in the Wellington region, approximately 50 km north of Wellington city. It is located on the Kapiti coast in front of Paraparaumu beach. The KMR covers 20.90 km² of coastal water, divided into two parts; the largest part is 17.50 km² and the smaller part is 3.4 km². In this thesis I am starting to explore the financial cost of the MRs (chapter 2), where I attempted to estimate all of the costs required to establish a MR. The Taputeranga MR was used as a case study along with an analysis of the management costs for four other MRs. I aimed to find predictor variables across these five MRs to explain differences in their management cost. In addition, I also estimated the displacement cost to fishermen. Results showed that the Taputeranga‘s pre-establishment process cost approximately NZ $508,000, and the establishment process cost approximately NZ $ 354,000. In addition, the average management cost across five MRs per year was around NZ $63,000 year⁻¹. With respect to the predictor variables, the Akaike Information Criterion (AICc) analysis showed that MR size best explains cost, where small MRs are more expensive to maintain than big MRs. The displacement cost was estimated as NZ $22,000 approximately per vessel. I also researched and examined the social impacts of MRs (chapter 3). The aim of this chapter was to explore the human dimensions of the TMR and KMR and a hypothetical MR as a control area. I used a series of questionnaires with five main groups affected by the establishment of the MRs. Results showed that of the people who conducted activities close to the TMR and KMR, nobody selected either area specifically because there was a MR in the vicinity. With respect to MR knowledge, the majority of people at both MRs and at the hypothetical MR believed they knew what a MR was, however, nobody could provide a correct description of the main reasons for MR designation in New Zealand. Most groups surveyed at KMR indicated that its establishment had not personally affected them. At TMR, all groups believed they had experienced direct (personal) and indirect problems since the establishment of the MR. At the hypothetical MR, the majority of respondents perceived that its establishment would not cause any personal or family problems. I found that respondents at both MRs and the hypothetical MR believed that MRs are a good tool for protecting the environment. I also develop a framework to understand and estimate MR goods and services by using the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment framework (chapter 4). The aim of this study was to identify and determine use and non-use values of the Taputeranga MR and Kapiti MR. At KMR and TMR I identified eight main value-categories: (1) Commercial fishing benefits from MR, (2) Nature-based tourism, (3) Education, (4) Research, (5) Public recreation, (6) Recreational fishing benefit from MR, (7) Ecosystem health, and (8) Existence – Bequest value. The existence-bequest values (non-use values) were estimated based on the public‘s willingness to pay (WTP) and found to have a mean value of NZ $61.54 at the TMR and NZ $31.45 at the KMR per household/year. After being exploring cost of MRs, social effects of MRs and MR goods and services, I researched the biological effects of MRs. For this I examined the effect of MRs on rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii) biomass and abundance (chapter 5). I investigated how rock lobsters (RLs) (Jasus edwardsii) have responded to the protection afforded by the TMR and KMR by comparing rock lobster Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) between reserve and nonreserve areas. The average CPUE was higher inside both MRs than outside. Also bigger RLs were caught inside both MRs'. In addition, the TMR catches were twice as high compared with historical catches, and the KMR compared with historical catches were 1.93 times higher. By integrating all these different chapters and methodologies I have been able to provide insights that will help in the future of conservation of MRs, by improving the level of information for better decision-making, improving the communication between decision makers and stakeholders and to build better relationships between researchers and nonextractive users of MRs. Moreover, I provide recommendations that could be useful to include within the current Marine Protected Area Policy and potentially improve it. These recommendations also attempt to minimize the time and costs involved in MRs from the pre-establishment stages, by creating effective and formal alliances between different groups of stakeholders.</p>

Institutional Restrictions: Why can’t the Property Owners’ Committee be Established?: An Analysis of the Practice Process of Legal Texts

Why cannot property owners’ committees be established? This study answers this question from the perspective of legal practice process, which is different from previous discussions about the owner’s actions. Previous studies regard the law as a weapon and tool for owners to safeguard their rights, while this study focuses on the legal texts and regards the legal system as the key variable of the establishment of the property owners’ committees. We adopt field observation and in-depth interviews to analyze the establishment process of Guangzhou property owners’ committees in Guangzhou in the past 20 years. It is found that the legal system is often transformed into a governance tool, which is specifically characterized as the “anti-mobilization ability” of the system. In this case, local governments intervene in the development of legal texts by means of self-empowerment, raising the bar, and intentional delay, to embed administrative objectives and facilitate the convenience of administrative control and regulation, which partly results in the difficulty to establish owner’s committees.

Faith-Based Transnational Actors and Peacebuilding: An Analysis of the Role Of Nahdlatul Ulama in Afghanistan’s Peace Process

After the end of the Cold War, the idea of peacebuilding has been central to the main narrative within the study of international peace. For a significant period, the narrative was dominated by liberal and secular approaches which put state as the primary actor in peacebuilding processes. Nevertheless, many cases show that non-state actors, in particular faith-based transnational actors, might have contributed significantly to the conflict transformation mechanism through their faith-based peacebuilding activities. This article explores the modification that Rüland, von Lübke, and Baumann have made on Lederach’s concept on peacebuilding, which categorises peacebuilding processes into two dimensions: conflict evolution and crisis intervention. The first dimension of conflict evolution focuses on the identification of the root causes of the conflict and its development, while the second dimension is more concerned with the management of conflict and its transformation, as well as its impacts to the peace establishment process in certain areas. Referring to the Indonesian Nahdlatul Ulama’s involvement in the Afghanistan peacebuilding process, this article shows how the model offered by Rüland, von Lübke, and Baumann can well explain the opportunity transnational non-state actors have to contribute significantly to promote the establishment of peace in conflict areas.

ON MODELS WITH WOBBLING DISK FOR BRAKE SQUEAL

Among many mathematical models of disk brakes for the explanation of brake squeal, models with wobbling disk have their own advantage over planar models. Applying a recently developed matrix form of Euler equations in rigid body dynamics, the equations establishment process can now be performed with almost all popular computing software. Furthermore, the presented models are more generalized in terms of damping, in-plane vibration, and unsymmetrical mounting.

Algorithm for secure communication of wireless network based on node energy control

This paper analyzes the security algorithm and energy cost of wireless sensor networks in depth, and designs and implements a series of energy-optimized security solutions to ensure the secure establishment and operation of wireless sensor networks. This paper proposes an improved Ad hoc network routing protocol based on energy control. It introduces a low-energy balanced routing algorithm to reduce routing transmission energy consumption, balance network traffic, and improve the energy control performance of network routing protocols. The protocol uses a cross-layer design in this way, the route selection combines the information of the link the remaining energy. A joint function is formed by the transmit power level remaining energy. The joint function of all nodes on the path is used as the basis for route selection and applied to the route discovery stage. At the same time, the protocol introduces edge degree parameters in the establishment process, the idea of minimum energy consumption path and the introduction of energy consumption ratio parameters in the cluster skull backbone network generation process are adopted to realize the energy optimization of the path establishment process. At the same time, the protocol uses the message interaction mechanism in the path establishment process to implement a node security authentication scheme based on secret shared information without adding any routing communication messages, which effectively prevents the passive and active attacks of the attacker on the network. The results of simulation experiments prove that the secure routing protocol achieves the network’s balanced energy consumption while ensuring the secure communication of the network, and solves the energy problem.