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Endorheic lakes, lacking river outflows, are highly sensitive to environmental changes and human interventions. Central Asia (CA) has over 6000 lakes that have experienced substantial water level variability in the past century, yet causes of recent changes in many lakes remain unexplored. Modelling hydrological processes for CA lakes poses challenges in separating climatic change impacts from human management impacts due to limited data and long-term variability in hydrological regimes. This study developed a spatially lumped empirical model to investigate the effects of climate change and human water abstraction, using Shortandy Lake in Burabay National Nature Park (BNNP) as a case study. Modelling results show a significant water volume decline from 231.7x106m3 in 1986 to 172.5x106m3 in 2016, primarily driven by anthropogenic water abstraction, accounting for 92% of the total volume deficit. The highest rates of water abstraction (greater than 25% of annual outflow) occurred from 1989 to 1993, coinciding with the driest period. Since 2013, the water volume has increased due to increased precipitation and, more importantly, reduced water abstraction. Despite limited observational data with which to calibrate the model, it performs well. Our analysis underscores the challenges in modelling lakes in data-sparse regions such as CA, and highlights the importance and benefits of developing lake water balance models for the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the twenty-first century, Canadian writers have been doing something they did infrequently in the past: acknowledging and referencing the work of past Canadian writers. Although declining pedagogical and academic interest in Canadian literature has made this development hard to see, writers themselves have been quietly building upon and contributing to something that looks very much like a literary tradition. Canadian writers of course continue to read and be influenced by writers outside Canada, just as they always have: but in their own words, they are now telling us that they are reading, learning from, and responding to other Canadian writers – that there is a Canadian literary tradition that crosses generational and regional borders, and that Canadian writers (and publishers, and readers) are aware of parts of that tradition, the parts that matter to them.

You find one on Madison Street, near Pike, beyond the shadow of the Manhattan Bridge. It hovers on the wall of a makeshift parking lot, over exhaust, rust, old tags. [...]

We could stand in wreckage and adored, Where nothing ever fades before it falls. KAREN SOLIE, 'The Vandal Confesses' I've been loving Banksy since around the time he tagged his [...]

He is a small, quiet man, this poet across the table from me in an empty bar. While he talks, his hands worry a salt shaker. He is thoughtful, concentrated, [...]

You find one on Madison Street, near Pike, beyond the shadow of the Manhattan Bridge. It hovers on the wall of a makeshift parking lot, over exhaust, rust, old tags. [...]

Bibliography matters. Lists matter. Matter matters. Saying that here, to you, needs no courage. Telling bibliographers that bibliography matters is like telling chiropractors that chiropractic matters: a safe bet in [...]

Responsibility for flood risk management (FRM) is increasingly being devolved to a wider set of stakeholders, and effective participation by multiple FRM agencies and communities at risk calls for engagement approaches that supplement and make the best possible use of hydrologic and hydraulic flood modelling. Stakeholder engagement must strike a considered balance between participation ideals and the pragmatic realities of existing mechanisms for FRM decision‐making. This article evaluates the potential for using participatory modelling to facilitate engagement and co‐production of knowledge by FRM modellers, practitioners and other stakeholders. Participatory modelling offers an approach that is flexible and versatile, yet sufficiently structured that it can support meaningful representation of scientific, empirical and local knowledges in producing outcomes that can readily be integrated into existing procedures for shared decision‐making. This article frames the qualities of participatory modelling useful to FRM, as being accessible, transparent, adaptable, evaluative and holistic. These qualities are used as criteria with which to assess the practical utility of three popular participatory techniques: Bayesian networks, system dynamics and fuzzy cognitive mapping. Case studies are used to illustrate how each technique might benefit FRM options appraisal and decision‐making. While each technique has potential, none is ideal, and local contexts will guide selection of which technique is best suited to deliver effective stakeholder participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]