Search results for "natural resource"
showing 10 items of 482 documents
Medicines of high health and economic impact: The required balance between innovation and sustainability
2019
Route for political interests to weaken conservation
2009
Plant visibility through mobile learning? Implementation and evaluation of an interactiveFlower Huntin a botanic garden
2017
Plants have an enormous importance for life on earth but are often overlooked. This phenomenon called plant blindness is reinforced as students prefer to spend their recreation time with modern med...
Territorial tripolarization in Bolivia : genesis and current situation
2012
The Bolivian urban system is outstanding : three major cities concentrate about half of the nation’s population and employment. Their territories’ trajectories lead us to question their economic role in the face of the successful economic achievement of Potosi and Tarija, territories well endowed in natural resources. We wanted to highlight the Bolivian current territorial tripolarization, firstly by studying its emergence, through the study of their economical history; secondly, by investigating the most recent economical data in order to display the strengths and weaknesses of this tripolarized system. Each component of the tripole is situated in a different geographical setting. In the W…
Sustainable Development and Technological Impact on CO2 Reducing Conditions in Romania
2015
Climate change is a reality all over the world, and its complexity is increasing. Therefore, sustainability has become a national and international concern, ingrained in many organizational processes. The ability of organizations to respond to sustainability concerns is sometimes hindered by the complexity of integrating sustainability into business models and by the need to rethink their strategic directions. In Romania, sustainable development has become a priority for businesses, but even though companies are showing some concern, there are yet to demonstrate any full commitment (they are mainly concerned with areas such as society and the environment). This paper assesses Romania’s invo…
Regulating Internet Trade in CITES Species
2013
International trade in species that are or may be endangered by collection from the wild is regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) for 176 member States (Parties). Internet commerce is a relatively new route for such trade. In 2007, the CITES Secretariat asked Parties to collect information on internet wildlife trade and report problems and implemented regulations. The reports indicated it was difficult to even approximate the influence of e-commerce on CITES-listed species (CITES Secretariat 2009). We report a case study in which we quantified international transactions over an internet auction site of CITES-listed cacti …
Development of a Sensor for Continuous and Accurate Monitoring of Air Flow for Open-System Whole Canopy Gas-Exchange Measurements
2007
The research describes the development and set-up of a simple and accurate solid-state device for continuous monitoring of airflow forced into an open-flow gas-exchange chamber for whole-canopy transpiration and photosynthesis measurements. The ventilation system was formed by a centrifugal fan powered by an electric motor and a PVC pipe (0.193 m inner diameter). To damp airflow turbulence, 50 cm of the main pipe was filled with a bundle of smaller PVC pipes (3 cm inner diameter). The measurement principle of the sensor is the thermal balance of an electrically heated copper plate compared to an unheated one. Calibration of the sensor was performed by two independent methods: gas dilution (…
The resilience of Finnish farms: Exploring the interplay between agency and structure
2020
Resilience implies, in its essence, the capacity of a system to tolerate disturbances while retaining its essential functions. In the context of agriculture, resilience thinking calls for considering the ability of farms to thrive in turbulent times along with the ability of the ecological system – in which the agricultural production is embedded – to retain its function and integrity. Resilience is a relevant conceptual tool to analyse the contradictory management demands that farms are facing within the current neoliberal market regime: being economically viable and environmentally sustainable. In this study, the resilience of farms was operationalised through farmers' perceptions concern…
A Basic View on Models of Nature and the Concept of “Sustainability”
2010
The discussion below is primarily connected to the challenge of agricultural crop production in western and northern Europe by the global change of climate (Box IV.3), but the ideas are of a general character and could therefore be extended outside this geographical area. We believe that strategic thinking and strategic decisions on agriculture and the way of preparing tactical decisions have to be reconsidered everywhere.
Urban water quality modelling: a parsimonious holistic approach for a complex real case study
2010
In the past three decades, scientific research has focused on the preservation of water resources, and in particular, on the polluting impact of urban areas on natural water bodies. One approach to this research has involved the development of tools to describe the phenomena that take place on the urban catchment during both wet and dry periods. Research has demonstrated the importance of the integrated analysis of all the transformation phases that characterise the delivery and treatment of urban water pollutants from source to outfall. With this aim, numerous integrated urban drainage models have been developed to analyse the fate of pollution from urban catchments to the final receiving …