TAFILELT KSAR: BETWEEN TRADITION AND MODERNITY, AN EXPERIMENT OF ENERGY ENHANCEMENT HOUSING IN ALGERIA

Energy is one of the common determinant factors related to social, environmental and economic problems, which can also contribute to their solution. Among sectors where studies could be done to reduce energy demand, is building. This latter is the largest primary energy consumer and responsible for more than 40% of total CO2 emissions. Therefore, improving energy efficiency in buildings represents an economic and ecological challenge. The built environment quality, with good insulation and high-performance building materials, constitutes the first step towards this aim. Yet, this is not enough to make buildings low energy consumption. But then again, a starting point for which, it is necessary to manage how it should be occupied and exploited. Improving energy efficiency of buildings involves several steps through which, coherent actions, will enable energy savings acting on different human and material parameters. The conceptual approach for improving energy efficiency is identical for residential and tertiary sectors. However, in practice this is different due to divergences related to: technical aspects; used tools; operating and maintenance costs and return time of investment. The purpose of this research is to investigate an example of Energy Enhancement housing in Tafilelt ksar in the M’zab valley in Algeria (an example of ecologic planning with modern habitat perfectly adapted to environment), with the objective of creating adaptable housing according to changing needs of future generations.

PARTICIPATORY ASSESSMENT OF LIVELIHOOD RESOURCES AND ADAPTATIONS TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN MADI VALLEY OF CHITWAN, NEPAL

This paper has applied participatory tools to assess the livelihood resources and adaptations in Madi Valley, Nepal. It has utilized the social, economic, and environmental aspects of the identified adaptations through participatory scoring (1 to 5) for participatory cost-benefit (PCB) analysis. Additionally, it considered gender equality, technical feasibility, inclusiveness, future vulnerability for multi-criteria assessment (MCA). Series of focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted to generate data based on communities’ perceptions. Based on PCB ratio, afforestation was the most prominent adaptation strategy, whereas early warning siren and evacuation tower (EWSET) was found the most effective adaptation based on the MCA.

ASSESSMENT OF THE LEVEL OF INTEGRATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION AND DISASTER RISK REDUCTION POLICIES IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS IN CAMBODIA, INDONESIA, AND MALAYSIA

More than 50 per cent of global disaster mortality occurred in Southeast Asia between 2004 and 2014, and four of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states are ranked in the top 10 countries most affected by climate risk between 1996 and 2015. As climate concerns and their attendant disaster risks are influenced by, and will affect, human activities across broad sectors, a holistic approach to addressing the issues is needed. In this regard, integrating climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction frameworks within the context of national development becomes critical. By ensuring an integrated approach in development plans, sufficient resource allocations can be better ensured and climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction efforts can be implemented more effectively. To enable further estimate of ASEAN’s readiness to face the effects of climate change, this study examines the level of integration of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in national development plans of select ASEAN member states. It specifically looks at the structure and design of climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction agenda within the development plans in Cambodia, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The assessment discovers that there is a varying degree of climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and development convergence in the countries under study, and concludes that Cambodia has them fully integrated while Indonesia and Malaysia have integrated them partially.

SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF BIVALVE COLLECTORS AND THEIR LIVELIHOOD RELATED ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH ANAIWASALA AND DUTCH BAY AREAS IN PUTTALAM LAGOON IN SRI LANKA

The present study provides information about the current socioeconomic conditions and livelihood related issues of the Anaiwasala and Dutch bay area’s bivalve collectors from July to August 2018. The highest percentage of bivalve collectors (34%) belong to the 31-40 age group and the lowest percentage in 11-20 and 61-70 age groups (03% each). Females (87%) and males (13%) were involved in bivalve collection, and all of them were married. Among the studied bivalve collectors 57%, 33%, and 10% of the bivalve collectors were Hindu, Christian, and Islam respectively. The present study shows that 37%, 40%, 20%, and 3% of the bivalve collectors have learned up to elementary level, junior secondary level, senior secondary level, and collegiate levels respectively. Families consisting of three members were dominant (37%) and most of them were (90%) nuclear families. During the July-August 2018 period, average monthly income per person per month was 14467 LKR. Among the studied bivalve collectors, 83% have own land and house and 73% of them were living in a partially completed house and 27% of them were lived in a completed house. According to the present study, 43% of the respondents don’t have other income sources. Also, 47%, 7%, and 3% of the bivalve collectors were involved in fishing, labor works, and dry fish production as other income sources. Conflicts between bivalve collectors and lagoon fishers for the space, lack of income source when bivalve population is low in the lagoon, lack of institutional support and lack of stable price for their products were identified as the main livelihood related issues.

IMPLEMENTING AUGMENTED REALITY SCENARIO-BASED LEARNING: IMPACT STUDY IN THE SECURITY INDUSTRY

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that allows virtual information to be overlaid onto a live direct or indirect real-world environment in real time. Augmented Reality Application for Security Training (ARAST) is an AR platform that is designed for security officer training. It can be used to supplement WSQ training for security operations and as refresher training for security officers at the workplace. ARAST sets itself apart from most other AR/VR training available, with its flexibility to create a learning environment using the deployment of markers (QR Code) and mobile app on trainee’s mobile devices. ARAST does not rely on bulky hardware (VR/AR glasses) thus making it conducive to adopt for workplace learning. To study the effectiveness of this program, from scenario design, AR App development, to training implementation and delivery to results measurements using the training evaluation framework by Donald Kirkpatrick through an experimental design impact study to demonstrate. • Realistic and mediated AR content to engage users in an immersive learning environment. • A supporting platform that allows collection of learning data for analysis. • Allows trainers to easily create training/assessment scenario as well as to remotely view progress. • Trainees can learn at their own time and reports can be made available to trainees regarding their learning progress and training gaps.

AGRICULTURAL SUPPORT POLICY OF NEPAL: CASES OF SUBSIDIES

As an agrarian nation, agriculture policies of Nepal have been prioritized subsidies to increase production, improve food security, and reduce poverty. Nepal government has been allocating a huge amount each year for agricultural subsidies. This paper focuses on identifying the critical issues of the effective implementation of agricultural policies and programs in Nepal. The paper is based on primary and secondary sources of information. The primary data were collected on the field visit and in-depth interview has been taken with key stakeholders of the agriculture field. The secondary sources of information are based on government and academics' publications and their study reports. Qualitative research method has been adopted for this study, and the collected data are being analyzed based on the narrative analysis method. This study found that the utilization of agricultural subsidies has not been utilized properly in practice, and small and needy farmers are not being benefitted from the agriculture support policies and programs. It is found that government subsidies are heavily influenced by political power and politically influential persons. The bureaucratic complicated system, lack of transparency and good governance, lack of proper information about the subsidy are found the key constraints to easy access of subsidy to the small and needy farmers. In addition, failure of anti-corruptions mechanism and degradation of the values, ethics and morality are also significant issues of Nepal.

POLITICAL PARTY PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL GOVERNANCE: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE RECENT GHANAIAN PROPOSAL

This paper discussed public views on the effort to introduce partisan politics into local government administration in Ghana. We report findings from a cross-sectional survey research in which questionnaire-based data were collected from a convenience sample of 2270 participants, drawn from the 16 administrative regions of Ghana. From the analysis and discussions, we found out that although 63% agreed that political party participation will increase local activism and where 71% agreed that it can increase participation in district assembly elections, 58% of participants did not support political party participation. Meanwhile 1769 (78%) disagreed that political party participation will promote development. Furthermore, 30% disagreed that political party participation will disparage the authority of the local assemblies, as only 23% disagreed that it will disparage traditional authorities of the people. Moreover, 73% of participants agreed to maintaining the status quo, while 46% agreed to blending party politics with a quota system. Overall, we argued that the introduction of political party-based politics into local governance poses many serious threats ----as it will stifle development in opposition areas, disparage traditional authorities of the people, degrade the value of common good in communities and disparage the authority of the local assemblies. To this end, we recommended that the introduction of party politics in Ghana’s local government system should be based on sound research, quality consultation and understanding of the threats.