The reflection of human activity in the sediments of Iwankowskie Lake from Subatlantic Phase (Polish Outer Carpathians)

The paper presents the analysis of organic and mineral sediments filling the depression, which developed over the landslide located at the slope (767–773 m a.s.l.) of Lubań ridge decscending to the Ochotnica river valley in the Polish Flysch Carpathians. The landslide formed in an early stage of the Subatlantic Phase (2490 ± 35 BP). The top of peat is dated at 1360 ± 50 years BP and is covered by 72 cm of clayey silts with some sandy intercalations, which indicate slopewash after deforestation. The pollen of ruderal plants and Cerealia (undiff.) reflect agricultural activity in the surroundings. The fragments of charcoal indicate the age of the forest clearance to the first half of the 17^th century. The late forest clearance at the elevated north exposed slopes followed 200–300 years later in relation to the foundation of the village at the valley floor.     

Quantifying scarcity: deforestation in the Upper Volga region and early debates over climate change in nineteenth-century Russia

ABSTRACT

The paper examines the early history of environmental concerns in Russia. It focuses on a case study: the debates about a potentially detrimental impact of deforestation on water regimes, which took place in the 1830s–40s. It examines two sets of issues: the role of ideas about a growing scarcity of forest resources in Europe; and the actual state of forests in Russia that provided some evidentiary basis for these debates. It argues that these debates were possible at the convergence of several trends: an expanding role and objectives of the forest administration well-versed in European scientific debates of the age and at the same time a visible danger of deforestation in some regions of a strategic significance to the empire. The author also considers different expert cultures and evidentiary standards that could be observed during the debates.     

Soybeans,Development and Conservation on the Amazon Frontier

Bolivia's rate of deforestation throughout the 1990s was among the most rapid anywhere in the Amazon Basin. This drastic clearing stood in sharp contrast to the relatively slow rates of landscape change that had prevailed in previous decades. This article reviews the models used for explaining deforestation, and argues that the new context of globalization, structural adjustment, regional integration and rapid technological change contributed to accelerated forest cutting during the 1990s. The author suggests that many environmental policy approaches developed during the 1970s and 1980s no longer address the current clearing situation effectively, and that today's frontiers differ profoundly from previous ones. The widely held idea that intensive production per se reduces forest destruction may not be valid on tropical agro‐industrial frontiers, such as the soybean zones of Bolivia and Brazil.     

喀斯特山区城市地域结构问题及其优化对策——以贵阳市为例

贵州喀斯特发育典型,碳酸盐岩出露面积占全省土地总面积的73%,全省主要城市都坐落在喀斯特地区,城市地域结构问题突出,并业已成为城市可持续发展的障碍。本文以贵阳市为例,在阐述贵阳城市地域结构现状问题的基础上,剖析了贵阳城市地域结构问题产生的原因,并据此提出了贵阳城市地域结构优化的对策措施。     

Provenancing East Mediterranean cedar wood with the <Superscript>87</Superscript>Sr/<Superscript>86</Superscript>Sr strontium isotope ratio

⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotope ratios of cedar wood from forests in the East Mediterranean have been compiled in order to investigate the feasibility of provenancing archaeological cedar wood finds. Cedrus sp. forests furnished a great amount of wood in antiquity, for purposes ranging from ship to temple construction, and for fashioning cult statues and sarcophagi. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr signatures of archaeological cedar samples may be compared with the preliminary dataset presented here to help determine the geographic origin of wooden artifacts. Sample sites include two forest areas in the Troodos Massif of Cyprus, five in the Lebanon, and two in Turkey’s Taurus Mountains. Sr ratios for wood varieties (i.e., early heartwood, late heartwood, sapwood, and twig wood) demonstrate relative uniformity between the xylem types frequently recovered from archaeological contexts. As such, this pilot study also assesses important issues of archaeological sampling and the geographical factors that influence Sr uptake in cedar trees of this region. While the regional signatures are distinct in most cases, small sample sizes and range overlap indicate the need for additional methods to make a case for a certain source forest. Alone, this method continues to be best used to disprove assumed wood provenances.     

Opening Panama's Darien Gap

The Darien "gap" was opened in the 1970s when a ribbon of highway was cut through the wilderness allowing uncontrolled colonization to penetrate the region. The Gap Highway and associated settlement frontier led to the removal of rain forest habitats and resulted in drastic reductions in wild plant and animal resources. Other resettlement programs also altered the indigenous landscape which had survived largely intact since colonial times. The region's historic Negro riverlowns have declined while population growth has occurred along the new "cattle front" and in the "cultural parks." These new patterns have undermined the region's traditional subsistence base. Although the Darien has experienced considerable deforestation, it nevertheless contains one of the last remaining stands of Central American rain forest and continues to nurture the cultural heritage of the Kuna and Choc Indians.     

The role of forests in global climate change: whence we come and where we go

Neither the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) nor the Kyoto Protocol include a satisfying mechanism for reducing the substantial emissions from deforestation which are responsible for about a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. It is acknowledged that planting forests, for example through afforestation and reforestation in the Clean Development Mechanism, clearly provides an opportunity to sequester carbon in vegetation and soils. However, it takes decades to restore carbon stocks that have been lost as a result of land-use changes. Reducing the rate of deforestation is the only effective way to reduce carbon losses from forest ecosystems. As negotiations on a post-Kyoto agreement have already started the authors argue that a complete and fair post-Kyoto regime will have to expand existing regulations by creating a framework to encompass all land-use and forest-related changes in carbon stocks. Developing countries administer the majority of the world's environmental resources and provide a vital global public good by maintaining environmental assets. However, with increasing pressure on development and the use of resources, developing countries can hardly be expected to provide these services free. Therefore, they will have to be integrated into a more comprehensive incentive framework which also rewards forestry conservation, sustainable forest management and afforestation. The authors discuss how an incentive system for the protection of forests can be included in a future climate regime. Different design choices are considered and two recent approaches to reward developing countries that avoid further deforestation are compared: the 'compensated reduction of deforestation' approach and the Carbon Stock Approach.     

Fashioned Forest Pasts,Occluded Histories? International Environmental Analysis in West African Locales

This article considers how environmental problematics are produced and interpreted, using case material from West Africa’s humid forest zone. Examing the experiences of several countries over the long term, it is possible to identify a deforestation discourse produced through national and international institutions. This represents forest and social history in particular ways that structure forest conservation but which obscure the experience and knowledge of resource users. Using fine‐grained ethnography to explore how such discourse is experienced and interpreted in a particular locale, the article uncovers problems with ‘discourse’ perspectives which produce analytical dichotomies which confront state and villager, and scientific and ‘local’ knowledges. The authors explore the day‐to‐day encounters between villagers and administrators, and the social and historical experiences which condition these. Instances where the deforestation discourse becomes juxtaposed with villagers’ alternative ideas about landscape history prove relatively few and insignificant, while the powerful material effects of the discourse tend to be interpreted locally within other frames. These findings present departures from the ways relations between citizen sciences and expert institutions have been conceived in recent work on the sociology of science and public policy.     

Sustainable Development Frontiers: Is ‘Sustainable’ Cocoa Delivering Development and Reducing Deforestation?

Forest frontiers are important areas for sustainable development as they combine the need to halt deforestation with the challenges of rural poverty. In the region of San Martín, Peru, the ‘Production, Protection and Inclusion’ model combines narratives of conservation, economic development and social inclusion in what can be defined as a ‘sustainable development frontier’. This article asks how such sustainable development frontiers change social, economic and ecological outcomes in the localities where they are found. The authors examine the reality of sustainable cocoa production linked to conservation and development goals, as promoted by government bodies, international agencies, cooperatives and chocolate brands in Peru, and show how, paradoxically, sustainability goals intensify production and attract smallholders into forest frontier areas. In doing so, the boom in demand for sustainable commodities has inadvertently created conditions encouraging further colonization of forested areas leading to a continuing rise in deforestation, ecological degradation and economic instability. Narratives of sustainable development can thus reinforce commodity intensification, as they obscure alternative approaches and reproduce traditional frontier dynamics.     

Tikal timbers and temples: ancient Maya agroforestry and the end of time

Tikal, a major lowland Maya civic-ceremonial center in the heart of the Petén region of Central America, relied heavily on the adjacent lowland rainforest as a resource base for fuel and construction materials. In this study, we analyzed 135 wood samples from timbers used in the construction of all six of the city's major temples as well as two major palaces to determine which tree species were being exploited and to better understand ancient Maya agroforestry practices during the Late Classic period. We found evidence for a change in preference from the large-growing, upland forest species, Manilkara zapota, to a seasonal wetland species Haematoxylon campechianum in A.D. 741 as well as a decrease in lintel beam widths over time. Though M. zapota later returned as the wood species of choice in A.D. 810, beam widths were found to be significantly smaller. These findings concur with models that hypothesize widespread deforestation during the Late Classic period and indicate a declining forest resource base by the 9th century A.D. Because of the many large timbers available for temple construction in the 8th century, some system of forest conservation is indicated for the ancient Maya prior to the Late Classic period.     

森林史研究:以菲律宾森林滥伐史研究为重点

本文主要介绍国际森林史研究的发展历程和解释菲律宾森林滥伐史的主要观点。就国际森林史研究来看, 经历了一个从重点研究温带森林史向热带森林史转变的过程。就菲律宾森林滥伐史研究来看, 提出了诸如人口增长压力说、木材生产和贸易说、林业政策鼓励说、行政不力和政治腐败说等重要解释框架。森林史研究需要超越从单因素出发进行解释的现状, 需要向综合研究转变。国别和专题的森林史研究需要从全球森林史和环境史的整体视野来关注。     

In search of a Mediterranean creativity. Cultural and creative industries in Italy,Spain and Turkey

The Mediterranean region has been increasingly receiving attention in recent years. This is due to the heterogeneity of the countries composing it, which raises several problems in business collaborations, but also unfolds several cross-national economic opportunities among Mediterranean countries. The analysis of cultural and creative industries can be useful to show that this area has many similarities, making intercultural exchange and cross-national economic development possible. This research starts from the comparison of three main Mediterranean countries situated both in Europe and outside, Italy, Spain and Turkey, and aims at highlighting the most striking similarities and differences of their features. The creativity specialization found in this region is alike, which allows us to begin to discuss the idea of a Mediterranean creativity.     

THE LEAD INGOTS OF CAPO PASSERO: ROMAN GLOBAL MEDITERRANEAN TRADE

Summary.   Epigraphic and isotopic analysis of the lead ingots recovered from a shipwreck off Capo Passero (in Sicily) in mid-2006 suggests that the ingots were produced in Spain, in the Cartagena region. The shipwreck is estimated to have occurred around 38 BC, at the beginning of the Hispanic era. This provides further evidence that the Romans were trading lead throughout the Mediterranean Sea.     

Invasion of a karst aquifer by hydrothermal fluids: evidence from stable isotopic compositions of cave mineralization

Mineral deposits in the Cupp‐Coutunn/Promeszutochnaya cave system (Turkmenia, central Asia) record a phase of hydrothermal activity within a pre‐existing karstic groundwater conduit system. Hydrothermal fluids entered the caves through fault zones and deposited sulphate, sulphide and carbonate minerals under phreatic conditions. Locally, intense alteration of limestone wall rocks also occurred at this stage. Elsewhere in the region, similar faults contain economic quantities of galena and elemental sulphur mineralization. Comparisons between the Pb and S isotope compositions of minerals found in cave and ore deposits confirm the link between economic mineralization and hydrothermal activity at Cupp‐Coutunn. The predominance of sulphate mineralization in Cupp‐Coutunn implies that the fluids were more oxidized in the higher permeability zone associated with the karst aquifer. A slight increase in the δ³⁴S of sulphate minerals and a corresponding δ³⁴S decrease in sulphides suggest that partial isotopic equilibration occurred during oxidation. Carbonate minerals indicate that the hydrothermal fluid was enriched in ¹⁸O (δ¹⁸O_SMOW ～ + 10‰) relative to meteoric groundwater and seawater. Estimated values for δ¹³C_DIC (δ¹³C_PDB ～ ? 13‰) are consistent with compositions expected for dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) derived from the products of thermal decomposition of organic matter and dissolution of marine carbonate. Values derived for δ¹³C_DIC and δ¹⁸O_water indicate that the hydrothermal fluid was of basinal brine origin, generated by extensive water–rock interaction. Following the hydrothermal phase, speleothemic minerals were precipitated under vadose conditions. Speleothemic sulphates show a bimodal sulphur isotope distribution. One group has compositions similar to the hydrothermal sulphates, whilst the second group is characterized by higher δ³⁴S values. This latter group may either record the effects of microbial sulphate reduction, or reflect the introduction of sulphate‐rich groundwater generated by the dissolution of overlying evaporites. Oxygen isotope compositions show that calcite speleothems were precipitated from nonthermal groundwater of meteoric origin. Carbonate speleothems are relatively enriched in ¹³C compared to most cave deposits, but can be explained by normal speleothem‐forming processes under thin, arid‐zone soils dominated by C4 vegetation. However, the presence of sulphate speleothems, with isotopic compositions indicative of the oxidation of hydrothermal sulphide, implies that CO₂ derived by reaction of limestone with sulphuric acid (‘condensation corrosion’) contributed to the formation of ¹³C‐enriched speleothem deposits.     

Forest transition theory and the reforesting of Scotland

During the 20th century, the forest area in Scotland expanded threefold, after many centuries of decline. Similar trends of forest expansion following deforestation have operated in many other developed countries. The passage from net deforestation to net reforestation is defined as the forest transition, and over the last few years a body of theory relating to its drivers has evolved. The case of Scotland is considered in order to contribute to this growing body of theory.     

TROPICAL DEFORESTATION AND FOREST MANAGEMENT UNDER THE SYSTEM OF CONCESSION LOGGING: A DECISION-THEORETIC ANALYSIS*

ABSTRACT. Deforestation caused by concession logging is often the result of harvest decisions which focus on short-run profits rather than on long-run sustainable harvest yields. A sequential-decision model of this type of behavior is here developed which focuses on a logger's annual decisions of whether or not to remain in compliance with the terms of a concession contract. The contract stipulates harvesting procedures for a sustained forest yield, and noncompliance is taken to result in deforestation. An optimal decision policy for the concession logger is characterized in terms of optimal-stopping theory, and is employed to construct payoff incentives which encourage compliance. In particular, a forest management problem is formulated which focuses on the effectiveness of partial inspection policies in deterring noncompliant behavior. General necessary and sufficient conditions for the effectiveness of such policies are established, and are given a more operational form for the Markov case. A numerical example based on actual concession-contract data is also developed which suggests certain policy implications.     

The Caspian Forests of Northern Iran during the Qajar and Pahlavi Periods: Deforestation,Regulation, and Reforestation

Uniquely among the world’s temperate forests, much of the vegetation of the Caspian forests is now endangered. But while deforestation has accelerated in Iran, these processes were actually underway in the nineteenth century. This article offers a brief introduction to the history of forest exploitation and concessions during the Qajar and Pahlavi periods, addressing actions taken by the Iranian state to protect and extend forest cover, but also the deficiencies of that legislation and the reasons for its failure. Though it is one of the most forested countries in the Middle East, Iran’s forests remain understudied. Existing scholarship mostly addresses the contemporary period; this paper extends the scope of our knowledge, offering a deeper history of forest exploitation in Iran.     

FIRE IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON: A SPATIALLY EXPLICIT MODEL FOR POLICY IMPACT ANALYSIS*

ABSTRACT.  This article implements a spatially explicit model to estimate the probability of forest and agricultural fires in the Brazilian Amazon. We innovate by using variables that reflect farm-gate prices of beef and soy, and also provide a conceptual model of field management and deforestation fires to simulate the impact of road-paving, cattle exports, and conservation area designation on the occurrence of fire. Our analysis shows that fire is positively correlated with the price of beef and soy, and that the creation of new conservation units may offset the negative environmental impacts caused by the increasing number of fire events associated with early stages of frontier development.     

Land Use Transition and Deforestation in Developing Countries

Deforestation in developing countries frequently occurs when logging interests abandon cut plots to farmers, who then make use of the land by producing either cash or food crops. This paper presents a model of land use transition that reveals conditions under which logging interests abandon cut plots to follow-on farmers. The model incorporates key characteristics of forest utilization contracts so that the effects of particular contracts may be observed. Thus, the model serves as a basis for designing contracts that can help control deforestation.     

Facing two seas: Mediterranean and Atlantic contacts in the north-west of Iberia in the first millennium BC

Summary.  Despite the marginality of the region, the Later Bronze Age and Iron Age communities of the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula were engaged in active relationships with both Atlantic and Mediterranean peoples. Unlike other Atlantic regions, the area maintained direct contacts both with Mediterranean sailors and with the communities of the British Isles and north-western France simultaneously. The social relevance of these interactions and the range of imported goods transported varied throughout the first millennium BC. New evidence shows an intense involvement in Mediterranean trade from the fifth century BC onwards, while Atlantic contacts increased from the late second century BC, to reach a climax under Roman rule (first–second centuries AD).