Abstract not available

This is a case study about the Maasai and their land rights. The Maasai are semi-nomadic pastoralists, living in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. It is said that they came to this area, now called Maasailand, about 300 years ago. In the beginning, they were independent and free to walk and graze their cattle without limitations and regulations. But when the British and German colonizers of these countries came to Maasailand, they discovered the advantages of its nature and started creating reserves. The Maasai were not strong enough to resist and it resulted in a land loss of two thirds for them. This has forced them to change their livelihood. They have to combine their pastoral lifestyle with other ways to make a living. The main purpose with the study is to look at how the land loss has affected the Maasai and their livelihoods. The essay is mainly built on secondary sources, but also on a field work from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, with qualitative interviews. This is used here, in order to give an example of a conservation area where the Maasai and the wildlife successfully coexist. To be able to understand the changes in Maasai livelihoods, the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach has been adapted. With this approach, a more holistic view of the changes can be made. The land losses have not always brought negative results for the Maasai. They have been able to adapt a multiple livelihood, including pastoralism, agriculture and tourist industry. The Maasai might benefit more by adapting different assets; instead of only rely on one.

Studies of Himalayan glacial response to climatic forcing are few and a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between the two is needed. This has been highlighted by recent controversies over future glacier change in this area. This study has therefore reviewed if there is a connection between glacier mass balance indexes and precipitation pattern in the Everest region. 111 glaciers were mapped in ArcGIS through remote sensing. Glacial total area, accumulation area as well as snowline altitudes and aspect were mapped. From this, the two mass balance indexes Accumulation Area Ratio, AAR and Area-Altitude Balance Ratios, AABR were derived. The intention was to search for patterns. In addition to this, an expedition to parts of the study area was conducted in March to April 2011. Hundreds of photographs of snow stratigraphy, debris cover ice snouts, accumulation etc were taken. The expedition also led to an understanding of the environment and of the glaciers which was helpful for the assessment of the remote sensing results. No pattern in glacier size, ELA, AAR or AABR was found that suggests a connection between mass balance and local precipitation pattern. The glaciers instead appear to be more sensitive to elevation. The largest glaciers and highest AAR and AABR are found at high - although not the highest - elevations.

Thèse--Paris. / Bibliography: p. [557]-606.

The northwest part of the North America-Caribbean plate boundary zone is characterized by active, left-lateral strike-slip faults that are well constrained seismically and are corroborated by on- and offshore geologic mapping. The onshore plate boundary zone comprises the Motogua and Polochic fault systems of southern Guatemala which join and continue offshore as the Swan Islands fault zone along the southern edge of the Cayman trough. At the Mid-Cayman spreading center in the central Caribbean Sea, the fault motion is transferred at a 100 km wide left-step in the fault system to the Oriente fault zone. A third system, the Walton fault zone, continues east from the Mid-Cayman Spreading center to define the Gonave microplate. Seafloor features produced by strike-slip faulting along the Swan Islands and Walton fault zones have been imaged and mapped using the SeaMARC II side-scan sonar and swath bathymetric mapping system, single-channel seismic data, multichannel seismic data and 3.5 kHz depth profiles. Structures mapped along the Swan Islands and Walton fault zones include: 1) twenty-six restraining bends and five releasing bends ranging in size from several kilometers in area to several hundred kilometers in area; 2)en echelon folds which occur only within the restraining bends; 3) straight, continuous fault segments of up to several tens of kilometers in length; 4) restraining and releasing bends forming in "paired" configurations; and 5) a fault-parallel fold belt fold and thrust belt adjacent to a major restraining bend. The features observed along the Swan Islands and Walton fault systems are compared to other features observed along other strike-slip fault systems, from which empirical models have previously been derived. Based on the features observed in these strike-slip systems, a rigid plate scenario is envisioned where the geometry of the fault and the direction of plate motion have controlled the types of deformation that have occurred. In a related study, microtectonic features in an area of Neogene extension within the northwestern Caribbean plate were investigated in order to provide insight on the nature of intraplate deformation related to the motion along the plate boundary. Microtectonic features were measured in the Sula-Yojoa rift of northwestern Honduras with the intention of inverting the data to estimate stress states responsible for the observed strains. Data inversion for the estimation of stress states could not be undertaken with the available measurements, however, the observations made can be used to support several existing models for the intraplate deformation as well as to encourage the elimination of other models. / text

No description available.

Av naturvårdsskäl är det viktigt att förstå vilken betydelse area och ålder på anlagda våtmarker har för artsammansättningen av sjöfåglar. I Linköpings kommun har man sedan 2004 anlagt ett flertal våtmarker och dessa har lockat bland annat den rödlistade arten svarthakedopping, Podiceps auritus, i stor mängd. Våtmarker är viktiga för fågellivet av många olika anledningar. Bland annat kan fåglarna söka skydd mot predatorer, häcka där eller rasta på sin väg mot häckningsplatser. Tidigare studier har bland annat visat att det finns fler fåglar i större våtmarker och att våtmarkens ålder spelar roll för vilka fågelarter som går att finna där. Genom räkning av antal fågelindivider och vilka olika arter som finns i de olika våtmarkerna kunde vi se att både ålder och storlek på våtmarken hade betydelse för vilka fåglar som utnyttjade dessa. Ju större våtmark desto fler fågelindivider och olika arter fanns det där. Det visar sig också att fågellivet gynnades då det fanns flera våtmarker av olika storlek och ålder i området. Vi kunde även se att svarthakedoppingens täthet var störst i lite mindre våtmarker och ökade signifikant med ökande antal skrattmåsar i våtmarken. / From the perspective of preservation it is important to understand how waterfowl are influenced by wetlands created by humans. Since 2004 the municipality of Linköping has created several wetlands which, among others, have attracted the threatened species the Horned Grebe, Podiceps auritus. The Horned Grebe is listed on the Swedish Red List of Threatened Species. Wetlands are important for bird life for many reasons. Among other things, the birds use them to seek shelter from predators, breed there or rest on their way to the breeding sites. Previous studies have shown that there are more birds in larger wetlands, and that age of the wetland does matter for which birds can be found there. By counting the number of individuals of birds and also the different species in the wetlands we found that both age and size of the wetland are important for which birds that are attracted. It also appears that the birds thrive when there are several wetlands in the area, and of different size and age. We also found that the Horned Grebe preferred smaller wetlands and that their abundance increased with increasing numbers of Black-Headed Gulls.

This study is an investigation of the constraints and opportunities in the implementation of the Slums Clearance Programme in the Ethekwini Metropolitan Area (EMA). It embraces a case study method and, as such, uses Quarry Road West Informal Settlement, Welbadagt West and Urnzomuhle Parkgate Relocation Areas. Furthermore, the study has an endeavour to uncover the factors that influence the formation and increase of informal settlements within the city. To realise this fundamental objective, questionnaire surveys (including socioeconomic information) of the beneficiaries and interviews with the Metro Council Officials and others were employed in areas used as case studies to gather as much data as possible regarding the constraints and opportunities of this programme. It has become explicitly clear, moreover, that the majority of people living in the three case studies came from areas outside Durban for employment opportunities. Due to the fact that they were unemployed at the time of this research project and were still looking for jobs, they stated that they had no option but to live in the informal settlements closer to the city to minimise travelling costs. Apparently, some of these informal settlements are located closer to high-risk areas such as flood lines, dumping sites and so on, as a consequence of this, the National Department of Housing in conjunction with the Ethekwini Municipality (Metro Housing Department), are in the process of implementing the Slums Clearance Programme in order, according these bodies to respond to such situation. The Slums Clearance Programme, which basically involves upgrading and relocating the affected informal settlements, is analysed in the light of the past and contemporary experiences within the context of developing countries to broaden the horizons of this project. A relevant theoretical framework and literature review is presented as a support for the study and to put it in a relevant perspective. The results based on the hypothesis indicate that although the Slums Clearance Programme is in deed, at face value, an appropriate response to dealing with the affected informal settlements, it fails to meet the basic needs of the beneficiaries. Such basic needs include, among other things, access to employment opportunities, access to public facilities such as health care, education and others. One of the recommendations highlighted in this study is that holistic development approach should be emphasised to avoid the marginalisation of the project beneficiaries. In conclusion, some of the major challenges when implementing the programme have been mentioned, which include among other things, beneficiaries high unemployment rate, excessive distances between areas of economic opportunities and places of residence and lack of holistic development approach in the implementation of the programme. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, 2003.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, 1997.

Urbanisation is one of the most forceful social and economic trends currently affecting large cities in the developing world and is an important component of national economic development processes. This is despite the general decline of formal urban economies in both developed and developing countries. A mirror-image reflection of the urbanisation process is increasing urban poverty, clearly evident in large cities and metropolitan areas in South Africa. The urban poor, local government, and urban planners have responded to urbanisation and poverty in different ways. Informal settlement processes take place and consolidate themselves in a climate of isolation and continuous conflict with the rules of the established formal urban economy, with the informal sector providing a safety net for survival. With the barest minimum of resources people living in informal settlements have provided some sort of shelter for themselves in spite of successive and systematic governmental opposition. They have generated many income earning opportunities in the informal sector; and in some cases they have made and effort to supplement household food supplies through direct production within the city. The practice of urban agriculture is guided by the "logic for survival" and it may be equated to squatter housing and street trading in that they are all examples of innovative responses from the urban poor. In the recent past the general response of local government planning authorities in African cities has been the fomiulation and implementation of urban management programmes linked to poverty alleviation programmes. It is within this context that various government authorities have responded by repressing the survival strategies of the urban poor, · tolerating it if they lacked the capacity to control it, or encouraging it by having had enabling mechanisms in place to support such activities. Generally, government authorities have used all of the above strategies simultaneously due to a relatively greater acceptance or tolerance of some informal activities in comparison to others. The practice of urban agriculture has been repressed in certain countries, while tolerated or promoted in others. For urban planners the connection between food and the land on which it is produced has become increasingly remote and abstract as an issue that directly concerns urban planning and wellfare. Food production and distribution is intricately linked to the global economic trade, and it will be difficult to change the terms of trade in an effort to produce subsistence food supplies. People living in urban areas are reliant on the cash purchase of food which in turn is linked to levels of affordability. However in the face of declining real incomes and reduced purchasing power, and as mentioned above, the poor and destitute have resorted to supplementing their household food supplies through direct production within the city. Food relief programmes are an added expense to government's already overburdened coffers. As such food security is a matter that urban planners and policy makers should consider from now on. Urban agriculture has an important role to play in feeding the ever growing urban popUlation, especially the urban poor. The planning of cities rarely considers the production of urban food supplies since the prevailing attitude is one that consigns food production to the rural areas, with the focus of the city on the pursuit of economic activities. There is an compelling urgency to defeat the ethical, ideological, psychological, attitudinal and practical obstacles to promoting urban agriculture since positive policies in support of urban agriculture are unlikely to emerge from this negative frame of mind. / Thesis (MTRP)-University of Natal, Durban, 1995.