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PubMed2005

Application of a physical input-output table to evaluate the development and sustainability of continental water resources in Spain.

Continental waters are complex resources in terms of a measurable physical quantity, and measuring them requires a good knowledge of total water availability. In this research, an accounting physical input-output table (PIOT) was applied to evaluate total water resources and gross annual availabilities at each stage of the natural-artificial water cycle. These stages are considered subsystems of a continental water resource system describing water transfers for an average year within 13 administrative basins of Spain. Water transfers between various subsystems are characterized by internal flows decreasing the water resource availabilities. The PIOT analysis establishes these internal flows, and the origins and final uses of the total resources for each subsystem. The input-output balance registered an unsustainable negative net accumulation in eight water basins. The PIOT analysis also allowed the calculation of significant indicators such as water resource developments (RDI) and their sustainable use (SUI). RDI and SUI demonstrate that groundwater is a critical resource affecting the environment (e.g., wetlands in the upper Guadiana) and the water supply (e.g., irrigation in the Segura basin). The results of this model suggest that above-/below-ground hydrological links are important when decisions have to be made in order to provide a satisfactory supply of water in Spain. The model integrates the different water basins under territorial criteria, and therefore it may be useful for the Spanish National Hydrological Plan.

Conservation of Natural Resources↗
PubMed2002

The functional integrity of normally forested landscapes: a proposal for an index of environmental capital.

The report of the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development [(1999) Our Forests, Our Future: Report of the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, U.K.)] has called attention to a global need to restore the functional integrity of nature. The assumption that the biophysical world is capable of supporting any intensity of economic and political activity is now obviously wrong. The failures are seen as global changes such as the global climatic disruption now underway. The global disruptions are the product of cumulative local disruptions. Despite a conspicuous need, the scientific community has been slow in developing tools to appraise the functional integrity of landscapes. The proposal is advanced that the first steps deal with forests because they are so large in their influences on global biophysics. Analyses carried out by the commission are elaborated here as an index of functional integrity in the forest zone. The proposal is based on a simple, transparent approach. The scale is 0-100 with 100 as the nominal climax. Decrements and increments are applied as the structural and functional integrity of the landscape varies with whatever cause. The unit of area for these trials has been 10,000 hectares. The index has been applied to extremes such as the large extractive reserves in Acre, Brazil (100), the once-forested landscape of Haiti (0), and a managed forest stand in Maine. The analyses offer a scalar system for defining how well landowners and governments are protecting the public's interests in the integrity of the habitat of all.

Brazil↗
PubMed2004

Overcoming historical and institutional distrust: key elements in developing and sustaining the community mobilization against HIV in the Boston Haitian community.

The Metro Boston REACH 2010 HIV Coalition needs to develop innovative processes aimed at overcoming a history of distrust that has led to limited cooperation from the Haitian community. Among the key elements being implemented are the development of a community vision through a community mobilization process; the development of an innovative working group process, in which coalition members worked together to develop and implement culturally and linguistically appropriate HIV prevention curricula; participatory leadership and joint accountability processes, manifested in decision-making approaches, such as the fund allocation system, and in the provision of technical assistance workshops on team building, designed to engender cohesion, skills, and resources sharing among coalition members. The success of this venture is measured through the growing expectation that this coalition could serve as a community planning body for all HIV-related services aimed at reducing HIV infection in the Greater Boston Haitian population.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Bottom up and top down: analysis of participatory processes for sustainability indicator identification as a pathway to community empowerment and sustainable environmental management.

The modern environmental management literature stresses the need for community involvement to identify indicators to monitor progress towards sustainable development and environmental management goals. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of participatory processes on sustainability indicator identification and environmental management in three disparate case studies. The first is a process of developing partnerships between First Nations communities, environmental groups, and forestry companies to resolve conflicts over forest management in Western Canada. The second describes a situation in Botswana where local pastoral communities worked with development researchers to reduce desertification. The third case study details an on-going government led process of developing sustainability indicators in Guernsey, UK, that was designed to monitor the environmental, social, and economic impacts of changes in the economy. The comparative assessment between case studies allows us to draw three primary conclusions. (1) The identification and collection of sustainability indicators not only provide valuable databases for making management decisions, but the process of engaging people to select indicators also provides an opportunity for community empowerment that conventional development approaches have failed to provide. (2) Multi-stakeholder processes must formally feed into decision-making forums or they risk being viewed as irrelevant by policy-makers and stakeholders. (3) Since ecological boundaries rarely meet up with political jurisdictions, it is necessary to be flexible when choosing the scale at which monitoring and decision-making occurs. This requires an awareness of major environmental pathways that run through landscapes to understand how seemingly remote areas may be connected in ways that are not immediately apparent.

Botswana↗
PubMed2000

Forest Protection and Reforestation in Costa Rica: Evaluation of a Clean Development Mechanism Prototype.

/ Costa Rica has recently established a program that provides funds for reforestation and forest protection on private lands, partly through the sale of carbon certificates to industrialized countries. Countries purchasing these carbon offsets hope one day to receive credit against their own commitments to limit emissions of greenhouse gases. Costa Rica has used the proceeds of the sale of carbon offsets to Norway to help finance this forest incentive program, called the Private Forestry Project, which pays thousands of participants to reforest or protect forest on their lands. The Private Forestry Project is accompanied by a monitoring program conducted by Costa Rican forest engineers that seeks to determine net carbon storage accomplished on these lands each year. The Private Forestry Project, which is officially registered as an Activity Implemented Jointly, is a possible model for bundled projects funded by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) established by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It also serves as an interesting example for the CDM because it was designed by a developing country host-not by an industrialized country investor. Accordingly, it reflects the particular "sustainable development" objectives of the host country or at least the host planners. Early experience in implementing the Private Forestry Project is evaluated in light of the main objectives of the CDM and its precursor-Activities Implemented Jointly. It is concluded that the project appears to meet the criteria of global cost-effectiveness and financing from non-ODA sources. The sustainable development implications of the project are specific to the region and would not necessarily match the ideals of all investing and developing countries. The project may be seen to achieve additional greenhouse gas abatement when compared against some (although not all) baselines.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Position of the American Dietetic Association: Addressing world hunger, malnutrition, and food insecurity.

It is the position of the American Dietetic Association (ADA) that access to adequate amounts of safe, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food at all times is a fundamental human right. Hunger continues to be a worldwide problem of staggering proportions. The Association supports programs and encourages practices that combat hunger and malnutrition, produce food security, promote self-sufficiency, and are environmentally and economically sustainable. The Association is aware that hunger exists in a world of plenty and that poverty, gender inequity, ethnocentrism, racism, and the lack of political will are key constraints to solving the problems of global hunger and malnutrition. Recognizing that simplistic approaches are inadequate, the ADA identifies sustainable development as the long-term strategy to ending world hunger and achieving food security. Sustainable development requires political, economic, and social changes that include empowering the disenfranchised, widening access to assets and other resources, narrowing the gap between rich and poor, and adjusting consumption patterns so as to foster good stewardship of nature. Additionally, because the health status of future generations is related to the well-being of their mothers, achieving food security will also require increased access for women to education, adequate health care and sanitation, and economic opportunities. This position paper reviews the complex issues of global food insecurity and discusses long-term solutions for achieving world food security. Achieving the end of world hunger has been and is now within our grasp. There is sufficient food to feed everyone, and solutions can be realized now that will benefit all of humanity. As noted in the paper, most people who examine the costs of ending versus not ending world hunger are bewildered by the question of why humanity did not solve the problem a long time ago. The Association supports programs and encourages practices that combat hunger and malnutrition, produce food security, promote self-sufficiency, respect local cultures, and are environmentally and economically sustainable. The ADA recognizes that decisions and actions that dietetics professionals make as practitioners and consumers can help reduce the extent of poverty and hunger both here and abroad. This paper provides information, resources, and strategies to assist dietetics professionals in improving the public's understanding of key issues, becoming advocates of the poor, and influencing the political will to end world hunger.

Agriculture↗
PubMed2004

[Function and application of soil microorganisms in forest ecosystem].

Soil microorganism is an important part of forest ecosystem, and plays an important role in sustainable development of forestry. In this paper, we summarized the main functions of soil microorganisms in forest sustainable development from the aspects of 1) the role of soil microorganism and microbiomass; 2) the function of mycorrhizal fungi; 3) the impact of pathogen; and 4) the effect of PGPR. Finally, we also discussed the research trends of forest soil microorganism and its application. Some study areas which should be further studied were also proposed.

Azospirillum↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Natural capital in ecology and economics: an overview.

The Brundtland Commission report, Our Common Future, defined sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Although the idea of sustainable development has been widely accepted, it has proved difficult to identify and implement policies and practices that promote sustainable economic growth. Some economists, environmental scientists and policy analysts believe that they can transform the consensus about sustainability into manageable practices. They propose to accomplish this feat with a set of new ideas about the relationships between the economy and the environment offered under the banner of 'natural capital'. An ideal account of natural capital would be one or more standard measures or models that would allow the direct comparison of environmental goods, like forests, fresh water and clean air, with economic goods, like money, capital and productivity. By bringing economic science and environmental science to an objective common ground, a natural capital model has the potential to provide a concrete means of comparing the economic and ecological costs and benefits of particular policies and programmes. This paper offers a survey and analysis of several new contributions to the formation of the natural capital concept from economists, ecologists, policy analysts, biometricians, foresters and a philosopher. The paper concludes that existing microeconomic theory may be 'ungreenable', if it is not reformulated. While macroeconomic approaches to natural capital have beenmore successful, they share the limitation that ecosystems and species are valued solely in monetary terms. These problems are taken to suggest that the development of a successful natural capital model may require economic theory to be recast to include non-monetary social preferences and values.

Conservation of Natural Resources↗
PubMed1997

PROFILE: Indigenous Institutions and Environmental Assessment: The Caseof Ghana

/ The search for sustainable development provides the impetus forexamining the role of indigenous institutions and their ecological knowledgein environmental assessment and local sustainability. This paper attempts totrace the evolution of environmental assessment in Ghana. Focusing on theAshanti Region, the paper further discusses the nature and operations ofindigenous institutions, their ecological knowledge, beliefs, practices, andsocial norms that are relevant to environmental assessment process in thecountry. Some of the challenges that emerge from the discussions arehighlighted. There is a need to establish environmental assessment andcooperative management boards that would include representatives ofindigenous institutions. In addition, the introduction of technicaldictionaries and training manuals based on indigenous ecological knowledgeand their humane environmental practices will further improve theenvironmental assessment process in Ghana.KEY WORDS: Environmental assessment; Indigenous institutions; Indigenousecological knowledge; Sustainable development; Environmental assessmentboards

Journal Article↗
PubMed1996

Internal cardioversion in two patients with atrial fibrillation refractory to external cardioversion.

A 26-year-old man underwent an electrophysiological study for evaluation of a history of congenital heart disease, presyncope, and wide complex tachycardia. During the study the patient developed sustained atrial fibrillation with a rapid ventricular response. A 17-year-old man with a history of sick sinus syndrome developed sustained atrial fibrillation. Both patients failed four attempts at external cardioversion with a maximum delivered energy of 360 J. Low energy cardioversion was successful in both patients using biphasic waveforms and internal transvenous defibrillation electrodes. Internal cardioversion using a transvenous electrode system can be successful in patients with atrial fibrillation refractory to external cardioversion.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Assault of the earth.

The NHS needs more incentives to take sustainable development to heart. Achievements by trusts are largely due to personal commitment, and are not systematic. A centrally backed programme of sustainable development could save money and would benefit staff, patients and visitors.

Conservation of Natural Resources↗
PubMed2006

Linking carbon sequestration science with local sustainability: an integrated assessment approach.

This paper introduces an integrated assessment (IA) approach for a Canada-China joint research project that linked forest carbon sequestration, forest resource management, and local sustainability enhancement. The purpose of the IA was to improve the measurement of carbon in different land uses and vegetation covers, as well as to direct decision makers to those land uses or options as an CO(2) emission reduction strategy while supporting rural sustainable development. In this connection, three questions are addressed in this paper: 1) How will forestry carbon sequestration land use policies affect regional sustainability prospects in rural China? 2) How could carbon sequestration land use plans be better integrated into sustainable development strategies? and 3) How can the IA approach assist Chinese government agencies in design effective forestry land use policies? The IA approach was applied in three rural sites of western China. These case studies are described in detail by following articles in this volume. The project improved the capacity of local resource managers in identifying the economic, social and environmental impacts of rural land use decisions that might increase carbon sequestration and enhance local livelihood.

Carbon↗
PubMed1991

Development of sustained achlorhydria in a patient with the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome treated with omeprazole.

Spontaneous remission of gastric acid hypersecretion in the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome occurs rarely. This study shows the development of gastric secretory mucosal atrophy resulting in achlorhydria and loss of pepsin secretion in a 63-year-old woman with the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. Reduced secretion began soon after starting treatment with omeprazole, and achlorhydria became complete 6 months later. The patient remains well with normal endoscopy results and is achlorhydric 4 years after the start of treatment and 34 months after stopping omeprazole. She was not colonized with Helicobacter pylori until 36 months after developing achlorhydria. Serum gastrin has increased from 1000 to between 5000 and 12,500 ng/L (pg/mL), was not suppressible by gastric acidification, and was not associated with G-cell hyperplasia. She also has a normal Schilling test and normal immunoglobulins, and lacks antibodies to parietal cells or H+, K(+)-ATPase. Moderate enterochromaffinlike cell hyperplasia is apparent for the first time on the latest biopsy sample.

Achlorhydria↗
PubMed2004

Sustainable energy planning with efficient office buildings and cogeneration plants in Frankfurt am Main.

Sustainable development of a city not only is determined through the amount of protected areas, but it is also an important task to integrate sustainable development in urban energy planning. In the last 10 years, many new areas for offices and residential buildings have been developed in Frankfurt am Main. In this context, the municipality has taken over a new role as organizer for the integrated energy planning. This article gives an overview of the achievements.

City Planning↗
PubMed2003

Allelopathy as a new strategy for sustainable ecosystems development.

Natural products involved in plant-plant and plant-microorganism ecological interaction (Allelochemicals) are an important potential source for alternative agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, in order to solve the many problems derived from inadequate culture practices and abuse of synthetic herbicides. Isolation, structural determination, bioassay techniques and applicability for these compounds in crop protection and pharmaceutical research are discussed, and future trends on Allelochemicals applications are examined. The new strategies for sustainable ecosystems controlled by allelochemicals offer a particular interest for the development of human bases in space, since these products can stimulate or inhibit plant germination and growth, and permit to develop crops with low residue amounts in water, facilitating wastewater treatment and recycling.

Agriculture↗
PubMed2001

The Applied Nutrition Project of eastern Kenya--an initiative for reducing hunger and malnutrition.

Sustainable development is the only kind of development possible for help in the third world. Due to various historical, political, geographic and climatic conditions the divergence between those countries providing and those receiving help is so vast that donations of labor and/or money is simply not enough. Rather, communities have to be taught to support and develop themselves during the receipt of aid and especially after the help pulls out. It is our goal in this article to summarize one such "sustainable development" project. As volunteers for AMREF (African Medical and Research Foundation), we worked with the remarkable Makueni Applied Nutrition Project in eastern Kenya in the summer of 2001. Our job was to visit the various locations in this semi-arid and arid environment and to write a report on the situation of the diverse parts of the project. The Applied Nutrition Project (ANP) started in 1984 and serves as an excellent example of the significant help that can be provided to needy areas of the world with a multifaceted approach.

Adolescent↗