Includes bibliography. / Central to a policy for sustainable urbanisation in Namibia, is the recognition of rural-urban relationships. The cross cutting spatial and sectoral issues, of circular migration need to be incorporated in an urbanisation policy. Government policies based on the assumptions of linear development theories such as 'urban bias', which isolate rural from urban as two mutually exclusive areas, mask the fact that poverty is experienced by urban and rural dwellers alike. At the crux of sustainable urbanisation in Namibia, is the ability of urban areas to absorb rapidly urbanising populations by way of provision of adequate urban infrastructure and services, housing and employment opportunities. In tum, this requires appropriate urban local governance, management and planning. The adoption of approaches which embody flexibility, adaptability, cooperation between the urban roleplayers, and speed of response are key to a sustainable urban environment. In the absence of urban conditions which can support a rapidly increasing population, migrants and the urban poor are forced to maintain a foothold in both rural and urban areas as a mechanism of risk diversification and survival. Mere survival, as embodied in circular migration in Namibia, does not suggest a process which can attain economic, social and biophysical sustainability. The implication is that the longer the conditions of circular migration remain entrenched in Namibia, the less likely the attainment of conditions of sustainability, and the more likely the further degradation of the environment, which ironically would probably further necessitate the split of households across the spatial continuum. Policies, such as Namibia's National Resettlement Policy, which target beneficiaries spatially and sectorally, tend not to have the expected benefits of poverty alleviation, and instead, often unintentionally, have the disbenefit of further entrenching poverty and circular migration. Fundamental then, to the sustainability of urbanisation in Namibia, is the integration of rural, urban and environmental policies, in turn requiring multi-sectoral and multi-spatial policies based on a thorough understanding of the forces underpinning circular migration.

It is well recognized that the global increase in obesity and metabolic diseases over the last several decades cannot be solely attributed to aging and modern lifestyle trends (i.e., excess caloric intake and lack of physical activity). Metabolism disrupting chemicals (MDCs) are environmental and consumer product chemicals that act at the molecular level in multiple organs to affect systemic metabolic homeostasis and are hypothesized to increase the risk of obesity and metabolic diseases. The nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator activated receptor γ (PPARγ) regulates insulin sensitivity, adipogenesis, and mature adipocyte maintenance, function and survival, which make it beneficial as a therapeutic target. However, PPARγ is also a target for structurally diverse MDCs that may not induce its health-promoting biological effects. One such PPARγ agonist is triphenyl phosphate (TPHP), an organophosphate ester commonly used in consumer products. Accumulating evidence from animal and in vitro studies demonstrates that MDCs act on multiple organs (e.g., liver, adipose, pancreas) to disrupt glucose and lipid homeostasis. Epidemiological studies have characterized human exposure to complex mixtures of MDCs and associated that exposure to obesity and metabolic diseases. However, not all suspected MDCs have been investigated in human epidemiological studies. Furthermore, these studies are complicated given the role of complex chemical mixtures. The objectives of this dissertation were: 1) to investigate the role of TPHP, a suspected MDC in animal studies, as a metabolic disruptor in humans, 2) to develop an improved biomarker of exposure to mixtures of environmental PPARγ ligands, the Serum PPARγ Activity Assay (SPAA), and 3) to investigate environmental exposures in a human cohort using the SPAA. In the first aim, we used publicly available data from the 2013-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to investigate the association between urinary diphenyl phosphate (DPHP), a metabolite of TPHP and biomarker of exposure, and measures of body adiposity as well as markers of type 2 diabetes risk. In adjusted multivariate linear regression models, urinary DPHP was positively associated with increased waist circumference, body mass index, and sagittal abdominal diameter in adults aged 20-50 years, but not in older adults aged 51-79 years. In all adults, urinary DPHP was not associated with any marker of type 2 diabetes risk (fasting plasma glucose, hemoglobin A1c, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance, 2-hour oral glucose). In the second aim, we developed and optimized the SPAA as a tool to measure cumulative PPARγ ligand activity in human serum samples and then used the assay to assess exposure to PPARγ ligands in a human cohort. SPAA generates robust PPRE transcriptional activity using Cos-7 cells transfected with a human PPARγ1 expression vector along with a PPRE (DR1)-driven luciferase vector. With small volumes of serum, the SPAA reliably detected high PPRE transcriptional activity levels induced by rosiglitazone, a potent and efficacious therapeutic PPARγ agonist, in serum from experimentally exposed mice. The SPAA also detected significant differences in the PPRE transcriptional activity induced by U.S. based human commercial serum samples. The abrogation of the activity by a PPARγ antagonist, T0070907, confirmed the receptor-specificity of the human serum-induced activity. Finally, we investigated PPARγ agonist exposure in serum samples from a population of Danish women with extensive environmental chemical biomarker data using SPAA and used an additivity model to estimate the contribution of a subset of the chemicals towards measured activity. The serum samples from the Danish cohort induced PPRE transcriptional activity in the SPAA, but with an overall lower efficacy than a U.S. based serum samples. Modeling of the PPRE transcriptional activity induced by the perfluoroalkyl substances and a polybrominated diphenyl ether at concentrations measured in the Danish serum with effect summation demonstrated that these chemicals are unlikely to be the source of the serum activity. Together, these findings demonstrate that TPHP exposure is associated with metabolic disruption, specifically adiposity, in people, which supports toxicological research, and lay the foundation for future work using the SPAA as an exposure biomarker in human populations.

The aim of this study is to determine youths' level of understanding of selected environmental concepts measured by their verbal responses. With the hypothesis being that youth would be able to observe their environment and note differences and similarities, with a basic understanding of concepts, especially those in the school curriculum but unable to take this further by hypothesising on why differences occur which is more typical of youth of ages 15 years and above. Youth would especially struggle to hypothesise theoretical and abstract concepts as opposed to describing what they observe. It is expected that studies by Piaget will be informative with regards to the cognitive developmental stages in the youth as being categorised into either stages three ( concrete-operational) or four (formal-operational). The study involved nine youths from Christel House, Cape Town, who were selected and assessed on their understanding of four environmental concepts. The crew of the sail ship noted their responses during various lessons offered on board before proceeding with the next. The results indicated that the participating youth were able to compare two different observed scenarios as being either similar or different, but were unable to compare theoretical scenarios. Once differences or similarities were established, youth were unable to link factors to hypothesise about why these differences or similarities were occurring, even when prompted or given clues from a crewmember on board the ship. However, the participants were able to hypothesise about the effects of one variable on another when they could actively manipulate a concept to see what might happen under given conditions.

Bibliography: leaves 150-154. / As a diamond mining company, Alexkor Ltd has had a great impact on the Namaqualand region. Its non-mining section, ABT, has begun implementing a development strategy that is focused on internal transformation of the company and post-mining economic alternatives. This dissertation focuses on how marginalised communities have been incorporated into the planning, decision-making and implementation of the two Alexkor Ltd diversification projects, tourism and mariculture, in the Northern Namaqualand region. Their participation in these projects is crucial to ensuring that alternative economic options become a vehicle for socio-economic development in a post-mining economy. This is particularly important since the Namaqualand economy is heavily dependent on diamond mining, which has been scientifically predicted to decommission over the next few years. The social disruption caused by the inevitable downscaling of mining is a concern for mining companies and government. It is of greater concern for communities who will suffer the effects of retrenchments and therefore, loss of income, directly. The ABT facilitators of the diversification projects recognise the necessity of applying the development strategy at a regional level. This is to ensure that mine-linked communities, especially those who have been historically marginalised, will be socio-economically empowered by diversification, and that their capacity will have been built in order to participate in post-mining economic options. in addition, the nature of tourism and mariculture requires an IBM approach, which incorporates regional bio-geographical and socio-economic factors. Thus, the implementation of the diversification options has had to incorporate: * the socio-political history of South Africa and the Namaqualand region * relevant legislative and institutional policies and processes that espouse the need for transformation, reconstruction and nation-building at national, provincial and local levels. This study focuses on how the participation of communities has occurred over a period of about eight months. It concludes with recommendations and guidelines which development activists and facilitators could use for similar projects.

Climate change mitigation efforts are increasingly forming part of the agendas of African nations, particularly since the inclusion of voluntary targets for these countries within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement of 2015. This focus towards the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, together with the need to achieve development objectives, has become combined in the practice of ‘low carbon development’ within developing countries. Technical assistance programmes have been set up to support the achievement of low carbon development, and these activities typically flow from the global North to Africa. However the power structures and flows of benefit that underlie these practices have not been the subject of much enquiry and are largely occluded within the climate change mitigation community of practice. With the inclusion of climate change mitigation targets for developing countries together with a direct call for increased capacity building within the Paris Agreement, the volume of technical assistance support focused towards Africa is likely to increase. As such the need to consider what effective technical assistance, that is both equitable and appropriate to the African context, might look like becomes a priority. This study engages with these issues. By considering the literature arising from decolonial studies and development theory together with bringing to the fore the perceptions of African climate change mitigation professionals, it provides a critical analysis of the tacit assumptions that are legitimated within the technical assistance practice in climate change mitigation. The study finds that current modes of technical assistance practice within low carbon development continues to entrench the hegemonic nature of knowledge of the global North, and perpetuates the placement of Africa in a position of extraversion towards the North, assuming African government and climate change practitioners as lacking in knowledge and expertise. The study advocates for a more equal and bilateral flow of knowledge between the two regions in order for African nations to faster and more effectively reach the twin goals of development and mitigation within Africa. It considers the lack of the critical theories of decolonial studies and development theory in climate change scholarship (particularly the absence of African voices in the debate) and brings these alternative voices and theories into low carbon development technical assistance practice.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / The thesis analyses the emergence of biocultural rights as a sub‐set of third generation, group rights in environmental law. It submits that these rights, which advocate a people's duty of stewardship over Nature, have arisen as a response to the world's ecological crisis. Indeed, the growing discourse about biocultural rights has begun a radical reconfiguration of the dominant notions property and the juridical subject. The thesis uses a multipronged approach, relying upon economic, anthropological, political and legal theories, to deconstruct the current concepts of private property from the perspective of indigenous peoples and traditional communities. It further presents evidence that this discursive shift is gaining formal legal recognition by referring to negotiations of multilateral environmental agreements, judicial decisions of regional and domestic courts and community initiatives. The thesis concludes with a description of the new biocultural jurisprudence including its application through innovative, community‐developed instruments such as biocultural community protocols.

Since the discovery of the Gulf of Mexico, it has become an area of extensive exploration. The Gulf of Mexico harbors specific commodities that are essential in our modern economy. Oil companies provided money and technology to find and study locations for oil exploitation. With the onset of seismic data acquisition, it was possible to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the formation and structure of this unique basin that is in constant dynamic disequilibrium, and facilitates hydrocarbon leakage. The natural seepage of oil and gas to the sea floor is of interest because these “leaks” expel methane which is potentially a significant factor in the global Carbon cycle. Determining the migration pathways through the sedimentary strata to the various primary conduits at the sea floor provides a comprehensive understanding of the large scale dynamic “plumbing system” in the Gulf of Mexico. One of the objectives in this research was to quantify the rate and volume of oil and gas released from two natural seeps in lease blocks GC600 (1200 m depth) and MC118 (850 m depth). Our purpose was to determine variability in bubble size and release rates at three individual vents and to estimate how changes in pressure affect bubble release rates. Observations with autonomous video cameras (VTLC) captured the formation of individual bubbles as they were released through gas hydrate outcrops. Image processing techniques determined bubble type (oily, gaseous, and mixed: oily and gaseous), size distribution, release rate, and temporal variations (observation intervals from 3 h to 26 d). One vent at GC600 (Birthday Candles) released oily bubbles with an average diameter of 5.0 mm (std. 1.30) at a rate of 4.37 bubbles s⁻¹. A second vent at GC600 (Mega Plume) released mixed oil and gas bubbles with an average diameter of 3.9 mm (std. 1.19) at a rate of 103 bubbles s⁻¹ (std. 24.6). A third vent at MC118 (Rudyville) released gaseous bubbles with an average diameter of 3.0 mm (std. 1.99) at a rate of 127 bubbles s⁻¹ (std. 34.1). To quantify bubble release, a robust image processing technique was developed that is adaptable to the various environments found in deep-sea oil and gas vents.   Our second objective was to constrain the migration of hydrocarbons from the source rock to the sea floor. A compilation of data sets from the macro to micro scale were used to describe the overall sequence of hydrocarbon migration and discharge from ~15 kmbsf to the water column. Geochemical similarities were found by fingerprinting oil samples from reservoir, active vents and sea-surface to show migration connectivity from source to seafloor. To support the geochemical data, measurements of fluxes and the magnitude of fluid flow indicators (e.g. bacteria mats, hydrate mounds, etc.) were compiled, and we have attempted to categorize and quantify the various processes that sequester hydrocarbons. Different stages of upward hydrocarbon flow were characterized by visual and morphological tracers. Varying reflectivity values in seismic and subbottom profile data delineate salt distribution, fault position, and acoustic blanking zones. Local geomorphological features such as hydrate mounds, carbonate hardground cover, and chemosynthetic communities, suggest passive/focused fluid flow. VTLC records and acoustic targets detected by swath mapping were used to determine the number of vents in the seep zone. We used a systems approach to combine the various data sets at different scales and resolutions to quantify values for the hydrocarbon budget at GC600. Finally, our third objective was to describe the type of benthic communities that frequented the vents in our study and to determine the evolutionary stage of the seep zone. Natural seeps provide a source of energy to chemosynthetic communities in seep areas. We used the autonomous VTLC that was deployed for extended periods of time for an “uninterrupted” view of the behavior of animals within this particular seep zone. We observed a number of metazoans including ice worms burrowing in hydrate outcrops, fish feeding on thick bacteria mats, swarms of annelids, and curious eels and crabs visiting bubble streams. By analyzing the type of organisms within the seep zone, we could determine that these seeps were immature based on the community composition. More matured seeps would include more authigenic carbonate hard grounds, less focused fluid flow (bubbling) and increased abundance of mussels and possibly tube worms. Of particular interest was the sheer abundance of ice worms (~2.8 x 10⁴ in GC600) that inhabit the gas hydrate outcrops and don’t seem to have any predators. Where they go once the gas hydrate dissociates is still an open question. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2016. / June 3, 2016. / autonomous video time lapse camera, bubbles, Gulf of mexico, migration, Natural hydrocarbon seeps / Includes bibliographical references. / Ian R. MacDonald, Professor Directing Dissertation; Tarek Abichou, University Representative; Bill Dewar, Committee Member; Jeff Chanton, Committee Member; Michael Abrams, Committee Member.

Land Use and Land Cover Changes (LULCC) are occurring rapidly around the globe, particularly in developing island nations, such as Indonesia. Increasing population, the spread of suburbia, and the transition to rubber plantations have resulted in LULCC in Semarang City, Indonesia. We use the lens of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to determine potential policies to address these LULCC; however, these goals can be conflicting in regard to preserving natural landscapes and bettering the lives of the poor. We documented the LULCC in Semarang City using remote sensing, overlay analysis, optimized hot spot analysis, expert validation, and Continuous Change Detection and Classification. We focused on the period between 2006 and 2015. The implications of this study show that these geospatial analyses and big data can be used to characterize the SDGs and the complex interplay of these goals. The results from the analysis are useful in implementing policies and assisting in decision making at multiple spatial scales.

Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants are widely used as non-reactive additives in textiles, polyurethane foams, plastics, furnishings, and electronic products. as a result of substantial, long-term usages, PBDEs have contaminated humans, wildlife, air, water, soil, and sediment, even in remote areas. Although the North American and Asian (particularly Chinese) markets have consumed the majority of global PBDE production, knowledge about PBDE contamination is limited in these two regions. Therefore, this research aimed to investigate PBDE contamination in some Chinese and North American areas by examining the birds of prey that have been considered as sensitive monitoring species for organochlorine contamination. Particular interests were in the bioaccumulation of BDE-209, a predominant congener in Deca-BDE and the only PBDE formulation still in use worldwide. It is widely believed to have limited bioavailability. The study was primarily performed in three regions: Beijing in North China, New England and the Chesapeake Bay regions in the U.S. to our best knowledge this study is the first to examine PBDE contamination in terrestrial raptors from both North America and Asia. The results revealed (1) dissimilar PBDE congener distribution patterns between aquatic and terrestrial birds of prey, suggesting that individual congeners may be subject to differences in bioaccumulation, biomagnification or metabolism in the aquatic and terrestrial environments; (2) substantial biomagnification of PBDEs (BMF = 41.4) in the Chesapeake Bay fish-osprey egg chain; (3) an influence by diet preference and living habitat on the contamination burdens and congener profiles in the birds; (4) substantial PBDE contamination in the Chinese birds of prey, indicating elevated exposure due to extensive application of PBDEs in the city; (5) record-high BDE-209 concentrations in Chinese kestrels and U.S. peregrine falcon eggs, indicating the substantial accumulation of this congener in the terrestrial birds of prey; (6) significantly higher BDE-209 concentrations in the urban peregrine falcon eggs, indicating a greater abundance of Deca-BDE in the urban environment; (7) a rapid increase in BDE-209 concentrations in the northeastern U.S. peregrine eggs, which may have resulted from the continuing use of Deca-BDE; and (8) a potential breakdown of BDE-209 to less brominated and more bioavailable congeners. A review of studies in birds of prey worldwide clearly indicated a greater abundance of BDE-209 in the North American and Chinese birds compared to European species. This follows well the global market demand pattern of Deca-BDE, in which North America and Asia have historically consumed 44% and 41% of the world's total production, respectively. The above findings of high BDE-209 concentrations, short doubling time, and potential biodegradation in the terrestrial birds of prey, indicate the need to limit unnecessary Deca-BDE release to the environment.

Urban areas are usually hotter than their surrounding rural areas, which is the well-known urban heat island (UHI) effect. With continuing urbanization, more people are threatened by the high thermal risks in urban areas, especially during heat waves (HWs). While there has been progress in improving our understanding of the physical processes controlling the urban thermal conditions, key questions remain, especially regarding the relative importance of different physical processes and their spatial variability. To bridge the gap, this dissertation aims to determine the key physical mechanisms that cause surface and near-surface air UHIs, and to quantify the contributions of different physical processes to the daytime warming rate of the urban boundary layer (UBL). In doing so, surface and boundary layer heat budget analyses are conducted using both observations and simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. In the first chapter of this dissertation, we quantify the magnitude of surface urban heat islands (SUHIs), or sometimes surface urban cool islands (SUCIs), and elucidate their biophysical and atmospheric drivers based on observational data collected from one urban site and two rural grassland sites in and near the city of Nanjing, China. The study highlights that the magnitude of SUHIs and SUCIs can vary strongly with the biophysical characteristics of the rural land. In the second chapter, we study the WRF-simulated surface and near-surface air UHIs during heat waves in two cities with contrasting climates (Boston and Phoenix). We demonstrate that the magnitude of UHIs or UCIs during HWs is strongly controlled by urban-rural differences in terms of aerodynamic features, moisture availability and heat storage, which show contrasting characteristics in different regions. In the last chapter, we further apply the UBL heat budget analysis to the WRF simulated results and show that in both Boston and Phoenix the surface sensible heat flux dominates the daytime UBL warming rate, whose behavior is the key to understanding how the daytime UBL warming rate changes throughout HWs. In summary, this dissertation improves our understanding of the physical processes modulating the thermal conditions of urban areas from the ground to the top of the boundary layer and provides scientific guidance on model development and mitigation of extreme heat conditions in cities.