The feasibility of establishing the northeast coast of St. Lucia as a UNESCO-designated Biosphere Reserve was investigated. A Biosphere Reserve is a concept of sustainability that attempts to harmonize development, the welfare of the people, and the maintenance of a healthy ecological system while learning how to manage socio-ecological systems on the ground (UNESCO 1996a). The west coast of the island is heavily concentrated with commercial, tourism, and residential developments while the northeast coast of the island consists largely of dry forest and small, rural communities. The northeast is thus seen as the next frontier for development. However, in contrast to the west coast, conservation and habitat development in the dry forest on the east coast of the island remains possible because large scale tourism development is still in the planning stages there. This research investigates the feasibility of designating the northeast coast of St. Lucia as a Biosphere Reserve as one possible approach to sustainable development especially with regard to biodiversity conservation, tourism, and rural livelihoods. The dry forest is understudied in St. Lucia as are the concepts of sustainable development. The investigation of this study can highlight the sustainability deficiencies that could potentially hinder a biosphere reserve designation. Thus, this research focus and its findings have the potential to address a matter of key concern in St. Lucia’s sustainability planning efforts. Two hundred and fifty individuals participated in interviews and surveys which constituted the potential stakeholder groups of a Biosphere Reserve. They included community members, civil society, government officials, tour operators, tourists, developers, and private land owners. Qualitative analysis within the context of a sustainability framework revealed various themes pertinent to the designation of a Biosphere Reserve. The use of the statistical program NVIVO and Microsoft Excel were employed for such analysis. The results were analyzed using a combined sustainability framework of the Gibson sustainability assessment criteria (Gibson et al 2005) and the ecosystem-based approach (UNESCO 2000) which is promoted by the Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (2000). The conceptual framework is the product of conceptualisation prior to the analysis of results as well as having emerged from the analysis as a piece of grounded theory. The sustainability criteria embraces the principles of socio-ecological integrity, precaution and adaption, livelihood sufficiency and opportunity, socio-ecological civility and democratic governance, inter- and intra-generational equity that must be integrated to achieve overall positive benefits towards sustainability (Gibson et al 2005). The ecosystem approach and the sustainability criteria overlap significantly however there are areas where they complement each other. The ecosystem approach espouses adaptive management principles to foster learning within unpredictable socio-ecological systems and promotes decisions that employ precaution but that also lead to better understanding of socio-ecological systems (UNESCO 2005). The ecosystem approach also espouses using economic incentives to protect biodiversity in opposition to market distortions that often undervalue ecosystem services. Major findings of the analysis included the weakness of the development process on the island; its lack of rigorous policies, the absence of a national land use plan and low public participation; all hindrances to sustainable development and to proper environmental management. Attempting to compete internationally while trying to maintain the island’s natural, cultural, and human resources has become an exceedingly difficult challenge and the island has often resorted to the high-density mass tourism route for economic development while the ideal aspiration has been for low-density, environmentally friendly and socio-culturally acceptable tourism. Furthermore, mass tourism impacts negatively on the environment and the majority of the economic benefits are repatriated to the countries of origin. Hence, there seems to be a disconnect between the relevant authorities who have the power to implement acts, laws and plans with the technocrats who prepare those plans and who are involved in research as well as with civil society and the general public who have concerns about the environmental toll and the overall direction of the tourism sector. People need development within their communities and see the dry forest as suitable for large scale development, more than likely of the tourism form. The ecosystems on the northeast coast which include the dry forest, mangroves, beaches, and the marine environment provide considerable ecosystem services to the people and to the island, such as natural hazard regulation, the provision of food, fuel, erosion control, water purification and waste treatment as well as the cultural services of sense of place, inspiration, and recreation. The northeast coast is therefore not yet ready to be designated a Biosphere Reserve as it must overcome certain challenges that impede sustainability. The major arguments point to the need for stronger policies for conservation, land use development, and equitable economic benefits for all from the tourism industry. The resolution of many of these issues lies in the structural changes of governance, constitutional reform, empowering the local citizenry through the building of human and social capital, and the creation of a democracy that is more participatory. Civil society and local governance are very weak within the communities and must therefore be built up in order for people to develop a sense of ownership and control over the development of their surroundings. People must be sensitized and educated about the dry forest as an important ecosystem that needs preservation. These are grand feats that will require a lot of time, vast amounts of effort, and a common vision before the designation of a Biosphere Reserve can be contemplated. Based on the research outcomes a preparatory phase of no less than 10 years to make the northeast coast an area suitable for a Biosphere Reserve is recommended. During this period of time significant gains should be made towards sustainable community economic and social development, environmental education concerning northeast coast ecosystems of the dry forest mangroves, and coastal systems, communities should be educated on Biosphere Reserves, small-scale sustainable tourism should be undertaken as well as other economic development initiatives in other sectors such as agriculture.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

In many parts of South Africa, a growing trend to convert traditional commercial agricultural farms to wildlife-based forms of land use is having significant but largely unexplored impacts on farm dwellers and neighbouring rural communities. This trend is very evident in the province of KwaZulu-Natal where there has been a significant shift in rural landscapes as land is being “rehabilitated”, from commercial cattle farming in particular, and developed into Private Game Reserves (PGRs). This research forms part of a larger project funded by Southern African Programme for Alternatives in Development (SANPAD). One of the research partners was the Association For Rural Advancement (AFRA), an independent Non-Governmental Organisation working on land rights and agrarian reform in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. AFRA‟s work focuses on black rural people whose rights to land have been undermined, whose tenure is insecure, and who do not have access to sufficient land to fulfil their development aspirations or their basic needs. Very little research has, however, been conducted on the large shift in land use in northern KwaZulu-Natal and how rural communities are being impacted in these areas; a situation this study intends to begin to remedy. This study focuses on the north-eastern area of the province, and in particular the Mkuze region, where the move to create PGRs has significantly changed the social and physical geography of the area. In order to gain a clearer understanding of this phenomenon, research was conducted on the relationship between the tribal/ traditional community of Ingwenya and five surrounding game reserves (namely, Thanda/ Intibane, Mkuze, Phinda, and Kube-Yini). While Mkuze is a state game reserve, created in the early twentieth century, the others are PGRs. The study was both quantitative and qualitative in nature which involved collecting household questionnaire surveys in the community of Ingwenya, in-depth interviews with ex-farm dwellers, questionnaire surveys with the managers of the five PGRs chosen in this study, oral and documentary evidence and participant observation. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

This study is a content analysis examining coverage of the use/preservation debate in the National Park Service's internal magazine (Courier) and in the magazine (National Parks) of the National Parks and Conservation Association (an environmental lobbying group). The premise of this study is that under a Democratic, as opposed to a Republican, President, the Courier's coverage of the debate will have a similar level of pro-preservation/anti-use spin as the National Parks.A chi-square analysis of coded data derived from selected articles from the January to October 1979 and 1987 issues of the magazines demonstrated that although both magazines were predominantly neutral, National Parks had a significantly greater amount of propreservation/anti-use spin in both 1979 and 1987. The researcher suggested that the Courier's consistently neutral coverage was a condition of the NPS's role as compromiser in the use/preservation debate. / Department of Journalism

In 1938 the Canadian government approved a plan to train fishermen as naval reservists in British Columbia. The fishermen were recruited as whole crews and trained to shoot accurately, form fours, navigate, signal properly and drop depth charges – all aboard their own converted fishing vessels. On paper, and to the general public, the specialized reserve known as the Fishermen’s Reserve or “Gumboot Navy”, was a patriotic group of fishermen doing their bit and better preparing for emergencies. However, in reality, the Canadian government instituted the Fishermen’s Reserve in 1938 for a very specific reason – to round up and remove Japanese Canadians and their boats from the coast prior to the outbreak of war between Canada and Japan. This thesis explores various aspects of the Fishermen’s Reserve from 1938 to 1941 in order to better understand the Canadian Government’s wartime policies. As there are almost no secondary sources on the subject, this paper uses extensive primary sources to uncover and analyze the Royal Canadian Navy’s recruitment policy, unconventional regulations and racist underpinnings in instituting the Fishermen’s Reserve. / Graduate / 0334 / 0750 / 0740 / gregory.kier@gmail.com

Throughout the Pacific, many species of echinoderms and molluscs have cultural value and are harvested extensively in subsistence fisheries. Many of these species are sedentary and often associated with distinct reef-top habitats. Despite the significance of reef habitats and their fauna for fisheries and biodiversity etc, little information has been available on the distribution of habitats and their influence on the reef-top fauna in the Cook Islands. This thesis developed a novel approach to assess the status of the shallow-water reef-tops of Rarotonga, Cook Islands, to provide critical information to fisheries and conservation managers. The approach used remote sensing (aerial photography with ground truthing) to map the spatial arrangement and extent of the entire reef-top habitats accurately, and historical wind data and coastline shape to determine the windward and leeward sides of the island. The benthic habitat maps and degree of wind exposure were used to design and undertake a stratified sampling programme to assess the distribution and abundance of the epibenthic macroinvertebrate fauna of the reef-top. I quantified the distribution and abundance of the epibenthic macroinvertebrates and how they varied with habitat, assessed the effectiveness of a traditional ra�ui (marine protected area) for conserving stocks of Trochus niloticus and other invertebrates, and investigated the reproductive biology and impacts of traditional gonad harvesting on Holothuria leucospilota. There were four major habitat types (rubble/rock, sand/coral matrix, algal rim and sand) identified, the most extensive being rubble/rock (45%) and sand/coral matrix (35%). The degree of exposure to winds was found to correlate with the reef development and habitat distribution. The assemblage composition of each major habitat type differed significantly from every other habitat. The rubble/rock habitat had the greatest substratum heterogeneity and structural complexity, and the highest number of species and individuals. The overall abundance of the fauna was dominated by holothurians (68%) and echinoids (30%), while Trochus niloticus and Tridacna maxima accounted for the remaining 2% of the total invertebrate assemblage. Clear habitat partitioning was also found for adult and juvenile Trochus niloticus and Tridacna maxima. In the traditional fishery for Holothuria leucospilota, the mature gonads of males are harvested by making an incision in the body-wall of the animal, removing the gonads and then returning the animal to the reef to allow regeneration. Monthly collections of H. leucospilota were used to describe the reproductive biology of this species. Gametogenesis and spawning were synchronous between the sexes and spawning occurred annually during summer, when water temperature and photoperiod were at their highest. Although the incision in the body-wall and gonad removal had no impact on the survival of H.leucospilota in experimental cages, their body weight, and general sheltering and feeding behaviors were affected. Gonads took at least 41 days to start regenerating, suggesting a considerable delay in the spawning of fished individuals. In 1998, five Rarotongan communities re-introduced the traditional ra�ui system of resource management, prohibiting all fishing and gathering from their reefs. The performance of the Nikao ra�ui, which had been put in place to allow trochus stocks to increase, was investigated. Comparisons of macroinvertebrate assemblage composition and species density were made between three fishing treatments, i.e. fished areas adjacent to the ra�ui, within the ra�ui after two years of protection, and in the ra�ui after it had been lifted for three weeks to allow a commercial trochus harvest. Analysis of variance on the count data for the twelve most abundant species, and non-metric multi-dimensional scaling indicated that there were no differences in the microhabitat or the invertebrate assemblage composition between the three fishing treatments. However, there were significant differences between the rubble/rock and sand/coral matrix habitat types. The results on the effectiveness of the Nikao ra�ui are equivocal, due to the small sample size, and the variability between samples which was highlighted by the wide confidence intervals. This study highlights the importance of habitat to the macroinvertebrate fauna of the reef-top and the need for accurate habitat maps to increase the cost-effectiveness of future resource surveys, to provide information to management, and for the design of Marine Protected Areas. The mapping and survey methods must be reliable and repeatable in terms of the limitations of time, and the availability of expertise, funding and resources. The results provide important information for fisheries and conservation managers of Rarotonga and other Pacific Islands to better design rigorous sampling programmes for monitoring the status of reef-top resources, and for evaluating and planning Marine Protected Areas.

This thesis examines community structure of cliff-top coastal heathlands in Botany Bay National Park, Sydney. Community properties of floristic composition, structure and species richness are investigated. This investigation is made in order to assess the justification for contemporary pre-emphasis in local studies on individual community properties. It is also made in order to assess the relative and independent contributions of individual properties to variance in overall community structure. It is also made in order to assess the relative utility of multi-property classifications in summarising community structure of cliff-top coastal heathlands. First, the presence of determinable structure in each property is assessed through multivariate classification of respective data sets. Secondly, a new model of community structure is developed in which the hypothesis that community structure is a function of common (shared) and independent (unique) variance in each of the three properties is assessed. This is achieved through application of variance partitioning using correspondence analysis techniques. Thirdly, a matrix combining variance in all three properties is classified. This classification is compared with those of individual properties in order to assess the hypothesis that more ecologically cohesive classifications than those of single properties are obtainable. The ecological significance (environmental relativity) of all classifications and variance components is assessed through examination of relationships with variance in 20 environmental factors which encompass variation in maritime factors, soil physical factors, soil nutrition factors and effects of time since fire. Classifications of individual properties showed the presence of determinable structure in each. Eleven floristic complexes, nine structural complexes and eighteen species richness complexes were recognised. Nineteen community complexes were recognised from the classification of the combined property matrix. All complexes were shown to differ significantly with respect to multiple environmental factors. Variance partitioning showed the presence of both independent and common variance components with respect to properties compared pairwise. These were all shown to differ in magnitude. Examination of environmental correlates showed ecological differentiation of all properties and most variance components. Maritime and fire factors provide a major axis of environmental differentiation for most properties and variance components. A second major axis was resolved with respect to physical soil factors. With the exception of variance in species richness, major soil nutrients were generally of secondary importance to community structure. Low soil nutrients may demarcate heathlands from other vegetation types. However, this study shows elevated importance of other major areas of environment for community structure within cliff-top coastal heathlands. Comparisons of environmental homogeneity characteristics between all classification systems showed the classification of the combined property matrix to be more ecologically robust than those of structure or species richness. Homogeneity characteristics of the combined classification remained statistically inseparable from that of floristic composition. However, studies provided some evidence suggesting greater robustness of the combined classification with regard to fine-scale variance in community structure. This thesis shows that variance in all major community properties of the studied vegetation to be of ecological significance. It also shows that this significance is differential with respect to properties and their variance components. Pre-emphasis on individual properties in syntheses of local systems thus involves the loss of ecological information. I thus conclude that if adequate ecological syntheses of cliff-top coastal heathlands are to be obtained which are appropriate to their scale of distribution and functioning in the Sydney area then inclusion of attributes of multiple properties is required. Equally, multiple sources of environmental variation need to be examined.

The safe, economically viable and sustainable extraction, transportation and processing of remote sub-sea hydrocarbon reserves presents many challenges. The limits of technology are increasingly being stretched in order to find and produce more natural gas and oil. Sub-sea processing is seen as a very promising, fast emerging, technology that has the potential to meet the increasing demands for hydrocarbon resources. / As an integral part of a current research project into the development of a unique subsea natural gas dehydration system is the need to have a robust, highly reliable power generation system. This power system must be continually operated within a harsh, remote environment. The proposed system must not only display extremely high reliability, but also have the ability to draw on its surrounding resources such as wave motion, wind and solar energy to supplement / wholly utilize for the primary source of energy. / This thesis reviews current power generating technologies, including their adaptation and fuel requirements / sources, which can be applied to the sub-sea gas dehydration plant power demands.

Thesis (M. of Military Art and Science)--U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, 2007. / The original document contains color images. Title from title page of PDF document (viewed on May 27, 2008).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Flinders University, School of Politics and International Studies. / Typescript bound. Includes bibliographical references: (leaves 336-398) Also available online.