Search

This work proposes a methodological approach to redistribute population data obtained from polygonal census tracts into population density surfaces (grids) based on a cell space database. The methodology was first developed for the municipality of Marabá, Pará state, in the Brazilian Amazon. We used a dasymetric method to eliminate areas of environmental restriction to human presence; then integrated environmental data indicative of human presence to generate a potential surface of population occurrence; and finally, census population count data were redistributed into cells. The methodology was subsequently adapted for 13 municipalities of the Sustainable Forests District (SFD) of BR-163, generating population distribution surfaces for 2000 and 2007. The evolution of the resident population over the SFD-BR163 showed spatial patterns compatible with the occupation process described in the literature and verified by fieldwork. To be applied over other areas, the proposed methodology must be adapted with local parameters but in this way, population density surfaces can be useful as an additional data source to study population and environment relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, technological development has grown enormously and reached unprecedented levels. Like no other time in human history have been so many discoveries in all fields of science, creating an unparalleled production productivity. But also, is the period in which the human being over produced means that can take you to your own destruction. Well, this is time intensive and rampant degradation, soil contamination, water, air and irrational use of natural resources that there's a new concern for our quality of life, change the behavior of populations of Brazil inland tract with environmental issues. It discusses the lack of population in the countryside of Brazil in the practice of environmental conservation, which previously was done regularly, changing the outlook of many scholars and causing strangeness with regard to this type of behavior. Thus, we have aimed to inquire why the intensification of degradation in recent years in corporate interior of Brazil, previously taken by many scholars as naturally green, conservative, etc.. There followed a methodological way of observation, visits to places degraded, interviews, collections of information and record in notebook. It is hoped in this way, as a result, we can become aware of the seriousness of the situation that is our planet in order to obtain the necessary means to overcome the existential crisis of a more sustainable way possible, which is characterized by this even be a question of survival. The results point to the need to develop an environmental education project, as a factor of this intense repairing environmental degradation in inner cities of Brazil. As well, we become aware of the seriousness of the situation that is our planet, so that we can find means to overcome the existential crisis of a more sustainable way possible, which is characterized, therefore being a matter of survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental degradation of wetlands is a major issue in the Yellow River Delta of China. Natural threats and human activities, such as flow cut-off of the Yellow River and droughts, population growth and urbanization, cause wetlands degradation of the delta during the last century, especially in the recent 50 years. Wetland degradation in the Yellow River Delta was investigated and its causation was analyzed. The results indicated that landscape changes of wetlands were mostly tremendous in the whole delta, namely loss of wetland area, surface water and groundwater pollution. Some new degradation control measures based on traditional and scientific knowledge must be used to reverse the wetlands degradation in the Yellow River Delta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seven bromobenzene flame retardants were measured in vapor-phase samples collected at five sites, all near the shores of the North American Great Lakes during 2008-2009, inclusive. The target compounds were hexabromobenzene (HBB), pentabromobenzene (PBBz), pentabromotoluene (PBT), pentabromobenzylacrylate (PBBA), pentabromobenzyl bromide (PBBB), tetrabromo-p-xylene (pTBX), and pentabromoethyl benzene (PBEB). Detection frequencies were, on average, higher than 50% for all of the compounds, with the exception of PBBA, which was detected only in 22% of all the samples. Considering all the sampling sites together, HBB showed the highest average concentration (4.6 ± 1.0 pg/m3), followed by PBBB (3.3 ± 0.5 pg/m3) and PBEB (1.0 ± 0.1 pg/m3). The concentrations of these compounds were generally significantly correlated with one another, with the exception of PBBA, which was correlated only to PBBB. The atmospheric concentrations of PBT, pTBX, PBBB, and PBBA tracked local human population density, suggesting that these compounds are or were used in a variety of commercial products. Unexpectedly, the concentration of PBEB was highest at the remote site of Eagle Harbor in northern Michigan, whereas that of HBB was highest at Sturgeon Point, 25 km southwest of Buffalo, New York. The lack of dependence of these two compounds’ concentrations on human population suggests local point sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including concerns over the traverse ecology of the region, specific practices and practitioners for climate change, and population growth.

It is an axiom of ecological economics that resource depletion and environmental pollution depend on the number of people and how many goods‐and‐services each consumes, modified by the technological efficiency of production. The paper reviews some studies quantifying the contribution of human numbers to environmental impact. It warns against playing this factor off against that of high consumption in rich countries. It asks whether from the environmental point of view complacency about either present or predicted population size is warranted. The answer depends both on fertility and mortality assumptions and on constraints such as resource and food availability. The concept of cultural carrying capacity would aid societies in determining their optimal population when account is taken not only of subsistence, but of quality of life. A population-control toolkit for both rich and poor societies is sketched, and some controversial, ‘coercive’ policy possibilities analysed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

World population growth, overconsumption of resources, competition among countries and climate change are putting significant pressure on agriculture. In Canada, changes in precipitation, the appearance of new pests and poor soil quality are threatening the prosperity of small farmers. What human competencies could facilitate citizens’ adaptation to climate change? The competencies displayed by six Canadian farmers were observed as they tried to improve the quality of their soil in order to increase its climate resilience. The farmers in the case study demonstrated a wide array of skills while adapting to climate change. Used to adjusting their farming practices to bad weather, the participants predicted that their already declining soil was very vulnerable to extreme events. They implemented some adaptations: planting forage radish and practicing more crop rotations. During the adaptation process, the farmers showed in-depth local and agricultural knowledge, critical thinking (which they used to assess the solutions), futures thinking and hindsight, identification and control of the variables affecting the crops, openness to novelty, collaboration, optimism and self-efficacy. The research, which results in the identification of competencies conducive to adaptation, leads to the recommendation of a few educational strategies to strengthen adaptive competencies when supporting citizens in a climate change adaptation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Production and consumption activities in industrialized countries are increasingly dependent on material and energy resources from other world regions and imply significant economic and environmental consequences in other regions around the world. The substitution of domestic material extraction and processing through imports is also shifting environmental burden abroad and thus extends the responsibility for environmental impacts as well as social consequences from the national to the global level. Based on the results of the Global Resource Accounting Model, this paper presents the first trade balances and consumption indicators for embodied materials in a time series from 1995 to 2005. The model includes 53 countries and two world regions. It is based on the 2009 edition of the input–output tables and bilateral trade data published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and is extended by physical data on global material extraction. The results quantify the global shift of embodied material resources from developing and emerging countries to the industrialized world. In addition to the level of industrialization and wealth, population density is identified as an important factor for the formation of physical trade patterns. Exports of embodied materials of less densely populated countries tend to surpass their imports, and vice versa. We also provide a quantitative comparison between conventionally applied indicators on material consumption based on direct material flows and indicators including embodied material flows. We show that the difference between those two indicators can be as much as 200%, calling for an adjustment of conventional national material flow indicators. Multi-regional input–output models prove to be a useful methodological approach to derive globally consistent and comprehensive data on material embodiments of trade and consumption. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The poor state of solid waste management in cities of developing countries is fast assuming the scale of a major social/environmental challenge. The main drivers of the waste problem in Nigeria, for instance, are poverty, high population and urbanization growth rates, compounded by a weak and underfunded infrastructure. The gravity of this problem is perhaps best reflected in the level of attention given to it in the United Nations Millennium Declaration in September, 2000. Three of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the Declaration have waste or resource efficiency implications. In response to the waste challenge many developed countries have embarked upon ambitious environmental reforms, recording remarkable advances in best practises and sustainable management of their Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). The same cannot be said for most countries in Sub-Sahara Africa, however, as a result of several barriers militating against sustainable MSW management. Adopting a questionnaire interview methodology, this study surveyed 1557 respondents’ drawn from households, business and waste policy-makers in Abuja, Nigeria. Data analysis was carried out using the Statistical Programme for Social Sciences, (SPSS). Multivariate statistical analysis was used to carry out a between subjects multiple comparison of respondents views on the barriers as well as success factors affecting MSW management in the case study area. Findings point towards the need for a sustained public education programme on waste prevention and reuse as the panacea to waste problems in Nigeria. Based on the findings, a case is made for the adaptation of globally successful waste management best practises and strategies to suit local conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Fast over population in the world is increasing the pressures on the natural environment. Natural environment are significantly contaminated and depleted with the accelerating process of urbanization and industrialization. Ecological cycles in the natural environment are, in a large extent, being interrupted and deteriorated due to the incorrect land-use. As a result, environmental issues which are difficult to be solved are emerging day by day. Non-environmentally and non-sustainable planning and projects related to these planning make the world uninhabitable and more risky for all living things, in the world day by day. Opening areas, which are risky in terms of natural disasters and are not suitable for settling, up to settlement contribute to increase the material and moral damages caused by natural disasters. Indeed, while flood hazard and flood risk were extremely low (but Kilis has experienced 4 major flood events in the last 12 years) in Kilis in the past, settlement floods and damages based on the erosion-drought resources are increasing due to the global climate change, urbanization and incorrect land use day by day. Thereby, disasters caused more by natural process become the human originated disasters due to the human activities. In this study, the impact of development of the city on the increasing risks caused by the flood events occurred in Kilis and the link between global climate change and the storm rainfall will be discussed and evaluated. For this reason, at first the unplanned development of climate elements examined in detail in Kilis city and the connection with climate, and urbanization in Kilis set out in the flood events. In order to do this evaluation, the meteorological data, satellite images and field work was consulted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

demoniche is a freely available R-package which simulates stochastic population dynamics in multiple populations of a species. A demographic model projects population sizes utilizing several transition matrices that can represent impacts on species growth. The demoniche model offers options for setting demographic stochasticity, carrying capacity, and dispersal. The demographic projection in each population is linked to spatially-explicit niche values, which affect the species growth. With the demoniche package it is possible to compare the influence of scenarios of environmental changes on future population sizes, extinction probabilities, and range shifts of species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops the way first studied from a scientific level, the problems that humanity begins to suffer more intensely on the planet in the fifties (population growth, industrialization, pollution). These studies are prepared by the international scientific community represented by an outstanding group of scientists from one of the world's most prestigious academy, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). These scientists are those who are responsible for developing the first reports that contain numbers alarming of what was happening in the decade of the fifties, and what could happen to humanity in the very near future, with the aim of the rulers, responsible for leading their nations, take immediate action against the impending planetary catastrophe looks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The human history of coastal regions around the world has been under assault for decades, from forces that include dam building, coastal modifications, the destruction of wetlands, marine erosion, population growth and rampant development, looting, and other processes. Global warming will exacerbate the destruction of cultural resources in coastal zones through accelerated sea level rise, intensified storm cycles, and related coastal erosion. Although average global sea levels have been rising for ∼20,000 years, they slowed dramatically about 7,000 years ago. Rates of sea level rise now appear to be increasing rapidly due to growing anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Global warming and rising seas, especially when combined with population growth and the implementation of measures designed to protect endangered coastal properties, threaten the deep maritime history of human migrations, settlement, and adaptations in coastal areas around the world. Ranging in age from the mid-Pleistocene to recent historic times, coastal archaeological sites contain invaluable data on ancient coastal societies, fisheries, and ecosystems. Archaeologists, historians, and other cultural resource managers must do more to anticipate, evaluate, and mitigate the effects of global warming, sea level rise, and coastal erosion on the long history of human maritime cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal archaeological resources around the world often coincide with dense contemporary human populations and a rapidly changing physical environment. Projected sea level rise and urban expansion during the 21 century threaten to destroy much of our global coastal archaeological heritage. In this study, we adapt an environmental vulnerability analysis to quantify the threats of modern development and sea level rise on archaeological sites in California's Santa Barbara Channel region. Using spatial and statistical techniques, we create a Cultural Resource Vulnerability Index that combines environmental factors, current and projected urban footprints, and archaeological site positioning. We illustrate the importance of this method for targeting threatened archaeological sites for mitigation and salvage research. In the process, we highlight the significance of coastal archaeological sites for helping better understand contemporary environmental and cultural issues, underscoring the need to preserve or salvage these sites for their significant research value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the conceptual advantages of including economic incentives in the basket of policy alternatives available for motivating improvements in water quality. With a particular focus on Asia, we discuss the incentives available for encouraging reductions in point and nonpoint source pollutants in urban, rural, and peri-urban settings. Several countries in Asia are implementing some form of economic incentives, either directly, in the form of effluent taxes or subsidies, or in combination with regulatory measures that help to ensure water quality standards are achieved. We also describe the importance of institutional capacity and political will in support of economic incentives, and the increasing usefulness of incentive programmes as economies develop and expand. The discussion includes several examples of programmes in China and Thailand, along with observations from India, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The relative role of space and place has long been debated in geography. Yet modeling efforts applied to coupled human–natural systems seemingly favor models assuming continuous spatial relationships. We examine the relative importance of place-based hierarchical versus spatial clustering influences in tropical land use/cover change (LUCC). Guatemala was chosen as our study site given its high rural population growth and deforestation in recent decades. We test predictors of 2009 forest cover and forest cover change from 2001 to 2009 across Guatemala's 331 municipalities and 22 departments using spatial and multi-level statistical models. Our results indicate the emergence of several socio-economic predictors of LUCC regardless of model choice. Hierarchical model results suggest that significant differences exist at the municipal and departmental levels but largely maintain the magnitude and direction of single-level model coefficient estimates. They are also intervention-relevant since policies tend to be applicable to distinct political units rather than to continuous space. Spatial models complement hierarchical approaches by indicating where and to what magnitude significant negative and positive clustering associations emerge. Appreciating the comparative advantages and limitations of spatial and nested models enhances a holistic approach to geographical analysis of tropical LUCC and human–environment interactions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The sustainability of water resources in future decades is likely to be affected by increases in water demand due to population growth, increases in power generation, and climate change. This study presents water withdrawal projections in the United States (U.S.) in 2050 as a result of projected population increases and power generation at the county level as well as the availability of local renewable water supplies. The growth scenario assumes the per capita water use rate for municipal withdrawals to remain at 2005 levels and the water use rates for new thermoelectric plants at levels in modern closed-loop cooling systems. In projecting renewable water supply in future years, median projected monthly precipitation and temperature by sixteen climate models were used to derive available precipitation in 2050 (averaged over 2040-2059). Withdrawals and available precipitation were compared to identify regions that use a large fraction of their renewable local water supply. A water supply sustainability risk index that takes into account additional attributes such as susceptibility to drought, growth in water withdrawal, increased need for storage, and groundwater use was developed to evaluate areas at greater risk. Based on the ranking by the index, high risk areas can be assessed in more mechanistic detail in future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization has transformed daily lives and industrial production in China. We investigate the effects of this process on Chinese energy consumption patterns. Three energy-consuming sectors intricately associated with urbanization are identified and analyzed: residential households, transportation, and the building materials industry. Urbanization has profoundly affected each; moreover, the latter two are high energy consumption and potentially high carbon producing. We estimate energy consumption attributable to each sector to quantitatively evaluate their impacts on societal transition. Transportation and the production of building materials are identified as the most significant linkages from urbanization to energy consumption. Strikingly, despite the large increase in the proportion of the population that is urban, the share of urban energy consumption, as estimated here, in total energy consumption has remained stable. This suggests that economic growth, in the form of the production of goods for export and domestic consumption, is the most important driver of energy demand in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural catastrophes such as earthquakes can, in addition to causing loss of life, disrupt the urbanization process through the need for forced population redistribution and the modification of resource and environmental carrying capacity. The population carrying capacity (PCC) of an altered environment following an earthquake is a crucial determinant in the relocation of displaced persons. We use data adaptive methods to model the correlation between the physical environment and human population density in estimating PCC in areas affected by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Comparing actual population distributions with ideal population distributions allows for the identification of villages where population exceeds PCC, or conversely, areas where the environment can support a higher population. Such a comparison can provide the basis for a relocation plan, a critical element of post-catastrophe policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid growth and globalization of the domestic economy have dramatically accelerated urbanization in China, resulting in significant environmental impacts and challenges for sustainable development. Using a multistate model accounting for distributional aspects of age, sex, education, and migration in rural and urban regions, we estimate the magnitude of urbanization in China through 2030 and examine some major associated sustainability issues. Results indicate that: (1) for a range of assumptions, China's urban population will nearly double from 2000 to 2030; (2) the labor force will constitute a larger share of total population in urban areas than rural due to internal migration of younger workers-this appears particularly true for the mega-urban metropolises of Beijing and Shanghai; (3) rural populations will experience more aging than urban; and (4) level of education among China's rural labor force will remain low, which could pressure China's industrial structural transition from an agricultural to a service-based economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water quality is a continuing national concern, in part because the containment of pollution from nonpoint (diffuse) sources remains a challenge. We examine the spatial distribution of nonpoint-source threats to water quality. On the basis of comprehensive data sets for a series of watershed stressors, the relative risk of water-quality impairment was estimated for the over 15,000 fifth-level watersheds in the contiguous United States. A broad division emerged at about the 100th meridian, with eastern areas typically under higher stress than western areas, reflecting the generally higher housing, road, and agriculture densities and higher levels of atmospheric deposition in the eastern division. Recent trends in some stressors are encouraging, but the prospect of further substantial population growth indicates continued pressure on water quality, suggesting that renewed focus on controlling nonpoint-source pollution will be needed if the goals of the Clean Water Act are to be attained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade the environment problems have being more critical and frequent, mainly due to the population growth and the increase of industrial activities. The observation of microbial answer to the human environmental intervention, shows the capacity of these organisms in degrading the pollutant and its utilization as source of nutrients. Therefore, the use of microorganisms in degrading the pollutant presents in polluted areas is called bioremediation. The main of these project is join some papers that justify the use of microorganisms in the remediation of polluted areas, as a didactic tool in the environmental education at universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prehistoric hunter-gatherer population size is often assumed to follow climatic and other environmental forcings that affect environmental productivity and the availability of food for human foragers. We tested this assumption by studying the co-variation of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records during the Holocene in eastern Fennoscandia. The reconstruction of population history is based on the summed probability distribution of archaeological radiocarbon dates, and environmental changes are tracked with locally available, high-resolution biological and physical proxies that are relevant in terms of hunter-gatherer food availability and population dynamics. The results show major population growth during the period of high summer temperature and high productivity of the terrestrial, lacustrine and marine ecosystems that occurred during 7500–5700 cal. yr BP. The growth was followed by an abrupt decline during 5500–4000 cal. yr BP correlating with the onset of late-Holocene cooling and a major forest ecosystem change brought about by the expansion of Norway spruce and the associated change from species-rich mixed forests to a conifer-dominated boreal ecosystem. Forest ecosystem changes likely enforced the negative effects of decreasing productivity on hunter-gatherer food availability. The link between population and environmental proxies breaks down along with the intensification of agriculture after 3500 cal. yr BP, which indicates that agriculture weakened the environmental forcing on long-term human population dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has as principal objective to point out the aspects related to ecodesign and 3D modelling of a trolley for firewood that can be realised using CAD systems. From these, the CATIA program has been chosen. The main purpose of the trolley is to provide an ecological means of transporting firewood, without using fuel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study of the environmental impact of global birth rate on future biodiverse wilderness and on the proportion of the surface area without extinction. It explores human population growth, agricultural efficiency, and groundwater drawdown by irrigation. Results show that the surface area of biodiverse unmanaged land will drop by around 6.4% from 2012 to 2050.

Geographers have long been interested in population and its interactions with Earth's natural systems. In recent decades it has become continually more apparent that steady population growth, coupled with increasing affluence, has wreaked havoc on many natural systems, has caused the decline and even extinction of many species of plants and animals that share the planet with us, has changed our global climate, and has exacerbated numerous other problems. Now populations in some countries, including Japan, Russia, and Germany are, or soon will be, starting to decline. This trend would seem to bode well for the planet, but the depopulation of some rich countries may be drowned out by the continuing wave of population growth in the United States and in many poor countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Argentine Gran Chaco is the largest forest and the largest reservoir of biomass in the extratropical Southern Hemisphere. The area west of the seven-hundred-millimeter isohyet is the semiarid environment or Dry Chaco, occupying parts of the provinces of Salta, Chaco, Formosa, Santiago del Estero, and Tucumán. This area of the Chaco has a great biological diversity and is characterized by an accelerated process of deforestation, especially as a result of farming soybean crops. The Dry Chaco has been generally considered a demographic vacuum, poor and marginal. But the changes currently occurring in relation to the advancement of the agricultural frontier are altering the demographic dynamics of local populations. This article tries to show the extent of deforestation and the impact of agricultural frontier expansion (especially from soybeans) on demographic dynamics of the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Henan Province is China''s big province with large population, abundant resources, and promising economics. The total GDP was 1.9367 trillion Yuan in 2009, ranking in the fifth in China. In recent years, economic growth has accelerated in Henan Province, and the impact on the resource environment is also growing. But there is a deep contradiction between those two elements. This article analyzes from the Environmental Kuznets Curve, make a quantitative analysis on the economic growth in Henan Province impacted on the resource and environment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The dimensions of environmental issues are getting expanded due to rapid technological advancements, increase in population, urbanization and industrialization. Thus, the importance of living in a healthy, adequate and well-balanced environment is emphasized. The significance of right to environment in the context of handing down an inhabitable environment to the future generations is gradually increasing. The right to clean environment which is included among the solidarity rights underlines the reality that future generations have a claim on the right to environment and is a human right that can be executed with the cooperation of all countries. Right to environment lays a burden on individuals, non-governmental organizations and states, and requires participating in environmental policies and administration processes. In this study, the development right to environment as a human right at the global, national and local levels is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ekologija is the property of Lithuanian Academy of Sciences Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The typical framework for assessing human population distribution is across a flat, two-dimensional landscape. We alter this perspective by examining population distribution with respect to a third dimension, elevation. This alternative framework, termed hypsographic demography, conceptually provides a more complete visualization and understanding of population distribution. We apply hypsographic demography to North Carolina from the scale of the entire state to streams of different sizes. At the state scale, elevation and population are generally inversely correlated. The flat coastal plain contains the majority of the population at low elevations, whereas higher elevations contain smaller populations due to steep topography, which limits development. At the county scale, the historic location and expansion of cities was more closely correlated with observed patterns of hypsographic demography than elevation or topography. At the scale of the stream, the influence of topography on hypsographic demographics gains importance where topography limits the land available to develop. We use this approach to illustrate how changing the perspective for viewing population distribution can be applied to floodplain policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Beijing is under severe water resource pressure due to the rapid economic development and growing population. This study quantitatively evaluates the water footprint of Beijing in an interregional input–output framework with a focus on blue water resources and uses. The inter-connections of water resources between Beijing and other provinces are analyzed with a sectoral specification. The results show that the total water footprint of Beijing is 4498.4 106 m3/year, of which 51% is from the external water footprint acquired through virtual water import. Agriculture has the highest water footprint of 1524.5 106 m3/year with 56% coming from external sources. The main virtual water provider for Beijing is Hebei, another water scarce region, from which Beijing receives virtual water of 373.3 106 m3/year with 40% from agriculture. The results of this study suggest that the interregional trade coordination, especially for the main sectors with high water use intensity, is important for enhancing the efficiency of regional and national water resource utilization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The authors discuss the effects of increasing population of older people to the debate regarding climate change. They mention that demographics of the household will change which will result to change in energy consumption. They state that older people must be considered in the debate because they are much affected by climate change. They argue that older people must be always included in the debate because they could tell if they have lived in climate change.

Climate change will likely exacerbate already existing urban social inequities and health risks, thereby exacerbating existing urban health inequities. Cities in low- and middle-income countries are particularly vulnerable. Urbanization is both a cause of and potential solution to global climate change. Most population growth in the foreseeable future will occur in urban areas primarily in developing countries. How this growth is managed has enormous implications for climate change given the increasing concentration and magnitude of economic production in urban localities, as well as the higher consumption practices of urbanites, especially the middle classes, compared to rural populations. There is still much to learn about the extent to which climate change affects urban health equity and what can be done effectively in different socio-political and socio-economic contexts to improve the health of urban dwelling humans and the environment. But it is clear that equity-oriented climate change adaptation means attention to the social conditions in which urban populations live-this is not just a climate change policy issue, it requires inter-sectoral action. Policies and programs in urban planning and design, workplace health and safety, and urban agriculture can help mitigate further climate change and adapt to existing climate change. If done well, these will also be good for urban health equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explosive population growth and increasing demand for rural homes and lifestyles fueled exurbanization and urbanization in the western USA over the past decades. Using National Land Cover Data we analyzed land fragmentation trends from 1992 to 2001 in five southwestern cities associated with Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites. We observed two general fragmentation trends: expansion of the urbanized area leading to fragmentation in the exurban and peri-urban regions and decreased fragmentation associated with infill in the previously developed urban areas. We identified three fragmentation patterns, riparian, polycentric, and monocentric, that reflect the recent western experience with growth and urbanization. From the literature and local expert opinion, we identified five relevant drivers - water provisioning, population dynamics, transportation, topography, and institutions - that shape land use decision-making and fragmentation in the southwest. In order to assess the relative importance of each driver on urbanization, we linked historical site-specific driver information obtained through literature reviews and archival analyses to the observed fragmentation patterns. Our work highlights the importance of understanding land use decision-making drivers in concert and throughout time, as historic decisions leave legacies on landscapes that continue to affect land form and function, a process often forgotten in a region and era of blinding change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to analyse the spatial distribution of vascular plants along a 21-kilometre rural-urban-rural transect in the city of Tampere, Finland. The study emphasised the distribution of native and non-native species, both in absolute numbers and proportionally. The observed differences are explained by the share of forest land, the number of detached houses, distance from the city centre, and human population. Non-natives showed the highest values in suburban areas. Still, the difference in number of non-natives between suburban and central areas was quite small. In the city of Tampere, there are not continuous large areas devoid of vegetation. The number of native species remained high until the urban core and natives dominated in the rural-type areas of the city. However, there was not a great difference in the number of native species between rural and suburban areas. In the suburban areas, the detached houses and block-of-flats have little effect on the general vegetation. Proportionally, the share of natives decreases in line with the urban traits of the city. Urbanisation therefore affects native species in Finland. Overall, the characteristic features of a Finnish city, such as dispersed urban structure, small population, late urbanisation, abundant natural vegetation (forest) and the qualities of Finnish forests, guarantee the continuing diversity of urban vascular plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inquiries into global discipline and dissent are apt to carry thinking from the most situated and specific instances of power and counter-power to broad structural orders, in a manner that is remarkably independent of political mediation and thus respectful of the ways in which actually existing human beings negotiate lives sutured at the intersection of the local and the global. This article is part of a broader theoretical project that is informed by historical research on a wide variety of movements of resistance against world ordering—from slave revolts at the beginning of the nineteenth century, to coolies uprisings in the twentieth, to gas and water wars at the beginning of the twenty-first. In it, I come to distinguish between two modes of relation to the world economy. In creative dislocation, situated life gets resolved before being carried off, neat and bereft of possibilities, into the global. In the process, a putative subject gets made that carries a reified sense of itself. In the dialectics of presence, the unresolved lot of situated life gets taken whole to the world economy. Wars of position give way to wars of movement. Dialectically, positions come to be charged with a sense of context and possibilities. World-historical subjects sometimes make themselves for a while, from conditions that were not of their choosing. Las investigaciones dentro de la disciplina y disidencia globales están aptas para acarrear el pensamiento desde los casos más específicos y situacionales de poder y contrapoder a las órdenes estructurales más amplias, de una forma que resulta notablemente independiente de mediación política y por tanto, respetuosa en las manera como los seres humanos existentes negocian sus vidas en la intersección de lo local y lo global. Este artículo es parte de un proyecto teórico más amplio, cuya información se tomó de la investigación histórica, sobre una amplia variedad de movimientos de resistencia contra el ordenamiento mundial—desde las revueltas de esclavos al inicio del siglo diecinueve, a los levantamientos de los culíes en el siglo veinte, a las guerras de petróleo y agua al inicio del siglo veintiuno. En este artículo, llego a distinguir entre dos modos de relación a la economía mundial. Dentro del desplazamiento creativo, la vida situacional logra resolverse antes de destruirse, simple y despojada de posibilidades, dentro de lo global. En el proceso, se produce un supuesto tema que lleva un sentido concreto de sí mismo. En la dialéctica de la presencia, la parte sin resolver de la vida situacional, se toma enteramente por la economía mundial. Las guerras de posición abren el paso a las guerras de movimiento. Dialécticamente, las posiciones vienen cargadas con un sentido de contexto y posibilidades. A veces, los temas históricos mundiales se hacen a sí mismos por un tiempo, de condiciones que no fueron de su elección. 对全球规训和异议的研究，倾向于从最情境化、最具体的权力和反权力的实例到广泛的结构性秩序角度进行思考，以一种完全独立于政治调解的方式，对当今人们在本土和全球交界处进行生存谈判的方式表示尊重。本文是对各种反抗世界秩序的运动——从19世纪初的奴隶起义到20世纪的劳工起义到21世纪初的油气、水资源战争——进行历史研究的更大理论工程的一部分。在文中，我对世界经济关系的两种模式进行了区分。在创造性的变位中，固有的生活在被完全和毫无选择地带入世界经济之前消解了。在这一过程中，假定的行为主体产生了并带有具体的自我意识。在生存辩证法中，固有的生活未消解的部分就被完全带入世界经济中。地位战争让位于运动战争。辩证地说，地位承担着脉络感和多种可能性。世界历史的主体有时是在并非自我选择的条件下塑造自己的。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary Australia concerns about the future population have seen the creation of a federal ministry on population for the first time. One of the unique dimensions of the population (and immigration) debate in Australia compared with North America and Europe is a strong concern with the environmental implications of growth. The discourse around these issues has been strong in Australia from the colonial period and in the last century geographers have been among the social and physical scientists who have not only provided an empirical basis for the discussion but have been significant protagonists in the debate. This paper surveys the debates around Australia's population since the early years of European settlement and discusses the involvement of geographers. It argues that there is a great deal of continuity in the population debate and that it is important that the lessons of their history inform the contemporary discussion. There is both the need and opportunity for Australia to develop a coherent, holistic, sustainable population policy. It is important that contemporary geographers emulate their forebears and add their knowledge and expertise to the national discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the highly stochastic nature of the hydrological process, wavelet transform was used to analyse the characteristics, trends and causes of variations in annual run-off (1917-2006) into Tianjin in the Haihe River Basin. Run-off was steadily declining due to climate change and human activity and a significant decrease in run-off along the time series was discovered around the 1960s; however, the change in precipitation was insignificant. The time series of run-off was heavily influenced by a nonlinear feature and mainly influenced by the natural climate before the 1960s, but after the 1970s the change remained steady, with an annual run-off that fluctuated between 0·2 and 48·4 mm and was maintained at a low level (9·3 mm). The main cause of the run-off decline in the 1960s was that more than 1900 reservoirs with a total holding capacity of up to 83 mm were constructed in the upper and middle reaches, which controlled 85% of the total run-off. These projects have played an active role in the reservoir action and water conservation since they were implemented. At the beginning of the 1980s, the demand for water resources increased with the rapid growth of the population and the large-scale development of industry and agriculture in the Haihe River Basin, which caused a reduction in run-off into Tianjin. Overall, the hydrological effects of water storage projects regulating river run-off were beneficial to flood control, but might cause a serious reduction in river run-off into Tianjin and the lower reaches of the basin. In addition, a decrease in annual precipitation and changes in temperature in Northern China have also had an adverse effect on natural run-off, which caused a greater decline in water resources, but this did not have a powerful influence on the overall decline in the run-off. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Easter Island is a fascinating example of resource depletion and population collapse, and its relatively short period of human habitation combined with its isolation lends itself well to investigation by students in a first-semester ordinary differential equations course. This article describes curricular materials for a semester-long case study into environmental and sustainability issues in the history of Easter Island. Using results that appeared in recent journal articles, students investigate the date of arrival of early settlers, the impact they had on natural resources through population growth as well as through the introduction of non-native species, and the effect of European diseases on the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HOPE VI has funded the demolition of public housing developments across the United States and created in their place mixed-income communities that are often inaccessible to the majority of former tenants. This recent uprooting of low-income, urban, and predominantly African American communities raises concern about the health impacts of the HOPE VI program for a population that already shoulders an enormous burden of excess morbidity and mortality. In this paper, we rely on existing literature about HOPE VI relocation to evaluate the program from the perspective of weathering-a biosocial process hypothesized by Geronimus to underlie early health deterioration and excess mortality observed among African Americans. Relying on the weathering framework, we consider the effects of HOPE VI relocation on the material context of urban poverty, autonomous institutions that are health protective, and on the broader discourse surrounding urban poverty. We conclude that relocated HOPE VI residents have experienced few improvements to the living conditions and economic realities that are likely sources of stress and illness among this population. Additionally, we find that relocated residents must contend with these material realities, without the health-protective, community-based social resources that they often rely on in public housing. Finally, we conclude that by disregarding the significance of health-protective autonomous institutions and by obscuring the structural context that gave rise to racially segregated public housing projects, the discourse surrounding HOPE VI is likely to reinforce health-demoting stereotypes of low-income urban African American communities. Given the potential for urban and housing policies to negatively affect the health of an already vulnerable population, we argue that a health-equity perspective is a critical component of future policy conversations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do local elected and staff officials play different roles in collaborative environmental management? Local elected officials express more concern about threats to property rights and excessive government taxes and are more likely to participate in watershed partnerships to head off state and federal regulations. In contrast, local staff officials express more concern about excessive population growth, impaired water quality, and threats to species. Local elected officials associate more with resource users and local districts whereas local staff officials associate more with federal and state government officials, environmentalists, and scientists. The conclusion extends the findings into an exploration into the respective roles of elected and staff officials in sustainable politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author discusses the quality of environmental resources and the population in Great Britain. She mentions that the environmental quality in Great Britain relies on cutting down the number of its population. Furthermore, the people's consumption levels and their way of living have greater effect on the environment than the population.

This article discusses population growth and climate change and refutes several statements made in an article titled "Bevölkerungswachstum und Klimawandel" ("Population Growth and Climate Change") by the German physics professor Gerd Ganteför. Several topics are discussed, including how the population growth in developing countries is contributing to climate change, how cheaper fossil fuel affects economic growth, and how increased precipitation affects the livelihoods of people.

A model is developed to assess risk to a municipal water supply system under the influence of population growth and climate variability. To incorporate the uncertainty in water use, a model that combines time series Monte Carlo simulations and a deterministic artificial neural network (ANN) is developed to simulate the daily water demand under climate variation. The model is first applied to assess how climate change alters the risk of a current water supply system and is then used to estimate the effects of demand management programs and system expansion. The model quantifies water supply system risk in terms of reliability, resiliency, and vulnerability (RRV). The model evaluates 11 scenarios defined by combining various population growth forecasts, demand management programs, system expansions, and global climate model (GCM) scenarios. The simulation results suggest that a rise in temperature and a change in precipitation magnitude will negatively impact the performance of the case study system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a methodological contribution to the study of the effect of changes in population age structure on carbon dioxide (CO(2)) emissions. First, I propose a generalization of the IPAT equation to a multisector economy with an age-structured population and discuss the insights that can be obtained in the context of stable population theory. Second, I suggest a statistical model of household consumption as a function of household size and age structure to quantitatively evaluate the extent of economies of scale in consumption of energy-intensive goods, and to estimate age-specific profiles of consumption of energy-intensive goods and of CO(2) emissions. Third, I offer an illustration of the methodologies using data for the United States. The analysis shows that per-capita CO(2) emissions increase with age until the individual is in his or her 60s, and then emissions tend to decrease. Holding everything else constant, the expected change in U.S. population age distribution during the next four decades is likely to have a small, but noticeable, positive impact on CO(2) emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of our global population and its CO emissions can be attributed to urban areas. The process of urbanization changes terrestrial carbon stocks and fluxes, which, in turn, impact ecosystem functions and atmospheric CO concentrations. Using the Seattle, WA, region as a case study, this paper explores the relationships between aboveground carbon stocks and land cover within an urbanizing area. The major objectives were to estimate aboveground live and dead terrestrial carbon stocks across multiple land cover classes and quantify the relationships between urban cover and vegetation across a gradient of urbanization. We established 154 sample plots in the Seattle region to assess carbon stocks as a function of distance from the urban core and land cover [urban (heavy, medium, and low), mixed forest, and conifer forest land covers]. The mean (and 95% CI) aboveground live biomass for the region was 89±22 Mg C ha with an additional 11.8±4 Mg C ha of coarse woody debris biomass. The average live biomass stored within forested and urban land covers was 140±40 and 18±14 Mg C ha, respectively, with a 57% mean vegetated canopy cover regionally. Both the total carbon stocks and mean vegetated canopy cover were surprisingly high, even within the heavily urbanized areas, well exceeding observations within other urbanizing areas and the average US forested carbon stocks. As urban land covers and populations continue to rapidly increase across the globe, these results highlight the importance of considering vegetation in urbanizing areas within the terrestrial carbon cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global population growth exerts stresses on river basins that provide food, water, energy and other ecosystem services. In some basins, evidence is emerging of failures to satisfy these demands. This paper assembles data from nine river basins in a framework that relates water and food systems to development. The framework provides a consistent basis for analysis of the water and food problem globally, while providing insight into specific conditions within basins. The authors find that successes occur when demand is met by increased productivity, while failure occurs when factors conspire to prevent development of land and water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Niche analysis methods developed within the biogeography community are routinely used for species distribution modeling of wildlife and endangered species. So far, such techniques have not been used to explain distribution of people in an area, nor to assess spatio-temporal dynamics of human populations. In this paper, the MaxEnt approach to species distribution modeling and publicly available gridded predictors were used to analyze the population dynamics in Southern Serbia (South Pomoravlje Region) for the period 1961–2027. Population values from the census administrative units were first downscaled to 200m grid using a detailed map of populated places and dasymetric interpolation. In the second step, a point pattern representing the whole population (468,500 inhabitants in 2002) was simulated using the R package spatstat. MaxEnt was then used to derive habitat suitability index (HSI) as a function of gridded predictors: distance to roads, elevation, slope, topographic wetness index, enhanced vegetation index and land cover classes. HSI and environmental predictors were further used to explain spatial patterns in the population change index (PCI) through regression modeling. The results show that inhabiting preference for year 1961 is mainly a function of topography (TWI, elevation). The HSI for year 2027 shows that large portions of remote areas are becoming less preferred for inhabiting. The results of cross-validation in MaxEnt show that distribution of population is distinctly controlled by environmental factors (AUC>0.84). Population decrease is particularly significant in areas >25km distant from the main road network. The results of regression analysis show that 40% of variability in the PCI values can be explained with these environmental maps, distance to roads and urban areas being the main drivers of migration process. This approach allows precise mapping of demographic patterns that otherwise would not be visible from the census data alone. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This review article provides one professional geographer's view of some of the major dilemmas that population growth has created for us during the past four decades. During that time, Earth's population grew by just over three billion, a number that is nearly ten times the current population of the United States. Arguably, that growth has come with some price tags that we've not yet reckoned with, from rapid depletion of oil and other energy resources to environmental degradation and atmospheric changes that are likely to worsen in the decades ahead. In trying to look at views of population growth and increasing affluence from different perspectives, it seems clear to me that there is growing evidence that in the long run the ecologists are going to be right and the economists wrong. Earth cannot sustain a growing population of ever-wealthier people living on a planet that has a finite supply of resources, and the twenty-first century is going to be the proving ground for this proposition. It would be prudent for us to consider various ways to slow population and economic growth so that we can bring our population into a closer balance with Earth's carrying capacity for our species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]