Showing papers in "Environment and History in 1999"
TL;DR: An approach for using different types of data sources, and for bringing together understandings of ecosystem dynamics and of people's interaction with the environment, and thereby achieving 'closure' in a highly contested terrain is suggested.
Abstract: In semi-arid Africa, environmental change continues to be debated, focusing particularly on the status and significance of land degradation and on local versus scientific knowledge claims. This paper suggests an approach for using different types of data sources, and for bringing together understandings of ecosystem dynamics and of people's interaction with the environment, and thereby achieving 'closure' in a highly contested terrain. The environmental and socio-economic history of a village in north-eastern Botswana is investigated using oral histories of villagers, aerial photographs (1964 and 1988), and official records. At first, descriptions of the environment appear confusing and contradictory, and at odds with official records. Rainfall is the focal point around which most explanations of environmental change turn. Here scientists find no long-term change, while villagers perceive a decline. Overstocking has been a main concern for policymakers throughout this century, while villagers do not see this as a problem. These, and ensuing contradictory perceptions, are partly resolved by identifying the main components linking the wider society to the local and to the environment, and be seeking a shared meaning between local and official versions, as well as between different local versions, of environmental change. We found, instead of contradiction, a striking convergence between, on the one hand, recent scientific understanding of the unpredictability and complexity of semi-arid dynamics and, on the other hand, the description and explanation of change offered by villagers themselves.
32 citations
TL;DR: As the British entered the Mizo hills to chase the headhunting tribal raiders and try to gain control over them by securing a foothold in the heart of the hills at Aizawl, they witnessed an amazing ecological phenomenon: a severe famine apparently caused by rats.
Abstract: As the British entered the Mizo hills (part of the Indo-Burmese range of hills, then known as the Lushai hills) to chase the headhunting tribal raiders and try to gain control over them by securing a foothold in the heart of the hills at Aizawl, they witnessed an amazing ecological phenomenon: a severe famine apparently caused by rats. The Mizo hills are covered extensively by various species of bamboo, which periodically rot, flower and seed. The bamboo seeds appeared to be a delicious food item for jungle rats, which emerged in massive numbers to devour them, and the consumption of bamboo seeds seemed to produce a vast increase in the rodent population. Once the millions of rats had exhausted the bamboo seed, they began to attack the standing crops in the fields. As they devoured the grains the resulting scarcity of food led to massive hardship, starvation and deaths.
20 citations
TL;DR: In the Atlantic American tropics, from Florida to Brazil, yellow fever attacked different populations differently, which meant that, after yellow fever was firmly ensconced via an ecological reconfiguration connected to sugar, it underpinned a military and political status quo, keeping Spanish America Spanish.
Abstract: In the Atlantic American tropics, from Florida to Brazil, yellow fever attacked different populations differently. It killed outsiders more easily than locals, whites more easily than blacks, adults more easily than children. This meant that, after yellow fever was firmly ensconced via an ecological reconfiguration connected to sugar (c. 1640-90) it underpinned a military and political status quo, keeping Spanish America Spanish. After 1780, and particularly in the Haitian revolution, yellow fever undermined that status quo by assisting independence movements in the American tropics.
19 citations
18 citations
TL;DR: A modified form of Actant-Network Theory is used to look at the construction of Nature as part of the evolution of forestry, and to investigate the movement of ideas that underpin forestry in Australia and Canada.
Abstract: Professional German foresters have had a significant impact in many parts of the world. While this impact is acknowledged in India, Canada and the USA, it appears that many histories of Australian forestry are Anglocentric, spatially and temporally constrained, and unaware of the travel of ideas which underpin forestry practice. This article compares Australian and Canadian forestry histo ries, with particular reference to New South Wales and British Columbia respectively. It uses a modified form of Actant-Network Theory to look at the construction of Nature as part of the evolution of forestry, and to investigate the movement of ideas that underpin forestry in Australia and Canada.
17 citations
14 citations
TL;DR: This paper concentrates on the first period of anti-erosion policies in the mountain areas of Lesotho in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and examines the importance of South African pressures to the adoption of these policies.
Abstract: Commercial agriculture in the dry interior of South Africa is heavily reliant upon irrigation water from the Orange River. Most of this vital water does not fall as rain on South African soil but as rain and snow in the mountains of Lesotho. At various times over the past century fears have been expressed over the impact of soil erosion in the mountain areas of Lesotho on South African water resources. These fears have, on occasion, been translated into political pressure on Lesotho to implement anti-erosion policies such as grazing control in the mountain areas. This paper concentrates on the first period of anti-erosion policies in the mountain areas of Lesotho in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and examines the importance of South African pressures to the adoption of these policies. During this period the issue of soil erosion became an important element in the debate about the transfer of the High Commission Territories (Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana) to South African control and an issue that caused a great deal of concern amongst Lesotho's colonial officials. The subsequent development of an apartheid ideology changed the nature of South African demands in relation to the transfer of the High Commission Territories, and the issue of soil erosion rapidly dropped from the political agenda. The rise and fall of soil erosion as an issue of concern in this period had more to do with internal South African politics than it did with the reality of environmental conditions in the mountain areas of Lesotho.
12 citations
TL;DR: The legislative response to problems of over-abstraction was gradual (Sheail, 1982) and matched by slow evolution of water institutions and dialogue between interest groups (government, water undertakings and industry) assisted the development of protection policies, and in the promotion of subsequent legislation.
Abstract: ion, such as the diminished recharge of surface waters from springs. A landowner had the right to abstract water from a well sunk and villagers had the right to draw water from a communal well (Elworthy, 1994:46); English law provided no effective control. In 1922, in his presidential address to the Institution of Water Engineers, W.J.E. Binnie stated 'there is nothing to prevent a private individual sinking a well immediately adjacent (to a public source) by means of which the community may be deprived of its water supply.' He then called for a licensing system to be introduced, a situation not fully realised for some 40 years (Binnie, 1995). 1857 Thames Conservancy established 1868 Lee Conservancy Board established 1916 Federation of British Industry created 1925 Report of the Ministry of Health's Advisory Committee 1930 River Catchment Boards established 1945 Water Act framework for regional resource planning and establishes Central Advisory Water Committee 1948 River Boards established 1963 Water Resources Act introduces abstraction licences and establishes the Water Resources Board 1973 Water Act creates Regional Water Authorities (1 April, 1974) 1989 Water Act created National Rivers Authority with responsi bility for total water environment 1991 Water Industry Act 1991 Water Resources Act consolidates provision for protection zone definition 1995 Environment Act creates Environment Agency responsible for all aspects of water regulation and most aspects of environmental pollution TABLE 1. Timeline for key nineteenth and twentieth century events leading to groundwater resource management. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.173 on Thu, 19 May 2016 05:07:29 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 81 GROUNDWATER DEVELOPMENT IN ENGLAND The legislative response to problems of over-abstraction was gradual (Sheail, 1982) and matched by slow evolution of water institutions. The Thames Conservancy was established in 1857 and the Lee Conservancy Board in 1868 but River Catchment Boards were established in 1930 and dealt soley with land drainage. The trend since has been for the responsibilities of regulatory bodies to increase (DoE, 1971), yet it was to be decades before groundwaters were effectively protected. It must not be assumed that institutional interests in groundwaters lay only with public institutions. The Federation of British Industries (FBI) was founded in 1916 and was the precursor to the Confederation of British Industry. Both have served as the 'voice of British industry'. Sheail (1998) presents an analysis of its relationship with public authority which evolved over time. Following a drought in 1921, the Ministry of Health's Advisory Committee on Water (composed mainly of waterworks officials) pressed, in a report of 1925, for closer controls on groundwater abstraction. After some discussion involving the Mining Association, the FBI sought compromise; business interests should be considered in drafting legislation, while industry must retain the right to sink shafts wherever it chose or compensation be paid. Dialogue between interest groups (government, water undertakings and industry) assisted the development of protection policies, and in the promotion of subsequent legislation. Signifi cant progress was subsequently made in promoting 'green issues ' and groundwater conservation played a part. The 1945 Water Act set a framework for regional water policy and planning for the first time including the beginning of a national groundwater archive (Grey et al, 1995 p9). This was achieved through a limited licensing system for underground water sources in vulnerable areas (Part III) operated by central government, and the establishment of a Central Advisory Water Committee (CAWC) to advise the Ministry of Health on conservation and use of water resources. The Committee drew attention to a lack of basic information for water resource planning during the 1950s (Smith, 1972). However, the Act has been criticised for failing to recognise the close relationship between surface and groundwaters (Grey et a/., 1995 p. 8). It also reduced the number of statutory water undertakings, a process which has continued. The abstraction of groundwater before 1940 led to local reductions in water table height, affecting urban and neighbouring rural areas alike. Paradoxically, post-second World War rising groundwater levels in older industrial areas are today a cause for concern. Wilkinson and Brassington (1991) ascribe this to wartime damage, the loss of wells, licensing controls under the 1945 Water Act and the deterioration of groundwater quality due to salinisation and pollution. To these may be added the recent decline of older industries. The 1963 Water Resources Act represents a real milestone in abstraction control, which was achieved through abstraction licences issued in 1965 for surface and groundwater sources with charges used to finance conservation This content downloaded from 157.55.39.173 on Thu, 19 May 2016 05:07:29 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
10 citations
TL;DR: This article reviewed some aspects of the career of Sir George Stapledon, pioneer ecologist, geneticist and agricultural improver, focusing on the regeneration of rural Britain during the inter-war years and placing his work within the social and cultural context of the time.
Abstract: This article is concerned with some aspects of the career of Sir George Stapledon, pioneer ecologist, geneticist and agricultural improver. In reviewing some of Stapledon's writings on the regeneration of rural Britain during the inter-war years it places his work within the social and cultural context of the time. Stapledon's suspicions of inductive science and reductionist economics, his concern with holism, 'spiritual values' and 'the nature of things' and his emphasis upon breadth of vision and the cultivation of the imagination was in stark contrast to many scientists of the day. However debatable the effects upon the 'natural' environment may have been, Stapledon's remarkable achievements in upland agricultural improvement were largely responsible for the retention of the social, cultural and economic infrastructure of the hills and uplands of today's Britain.
9 citations
TL;DR: The origin and evolutionary role of microalgae, the phenomenon of red tides, the history of toxic dinoflagellate blooms in the Philippines since their regular occurrence in 1983, and the loss of livelihood, morbidity and even death caused through the consumption of contaminated blooms are examined.
Abstract: Historiography has traditionally been concerned with human societies in con flict: conflict between societies over land, people and resources; or conflict within societies over the distribution of power, the control of labour and the ownership of capital. Seldom, however, have historians recognised that other non-human forms of societies exist on our planet, or, if they are sometimes acknowledged, they are loosely referred to as natural history and usually relegated to the sphere of the zoologist and botanist. Yet other forms of societies do exist and compete, by necessity, often in complex and intricate ways with human societies for the same planetary resources. Sometimes this relationship is a symbiotic one, but, at other times, there exists a state of conflict between these societies and human societies.1 This paper investigates the nature of one such relationship, the state of conflict that presently exists between some species of microalgae, in the form of harmful planktonic blooms commonly referred to as red tides, and the contem porary human society known collectively as the Republic of the Philippines. In particular, the paper examines the origin and evolutionary role of microalgae, the phenomenon of red tides, the history of toxic dinoflagellate blooms in the Philippines since their regular occurrence in 1983, and the loss of livelihood, morbidity and even death caused through the consumption of contaminated
6 citations
TL;DR: A frontier environmental history of Cossack settlers in the North Caucasus reveals some of the weaknesses of the Russian imperial mission.
Abstract: A frontier environmental history of Cossack settlers in the North Caucasus reveals some of the weaknesses of the Russian imperial mission. Cossacks transformed the landscape of settlement through deforestation and canalisa tion; the resulting floods and disease regime put severe limits on their ability to be economic colonisers or cultural assimilators. In many respects, the land proved to be a tougher enemy than the mountain people whom they were sent to conquer.
TL;DR: Detailed examination of the fabric records suggests that there is no simple, direct relationship between coal use and fabric repair costs, and a whole set of complex human systems involved in identification of decay, the style of restoration and management of the repair work.
Abstract: Over the nineteenth century the spatial pattern of coal use in Exeter changes little, particularly near to the cathedral. Localised sources of pollution, such as the heating of the cathedral itself may, in this context, be important sources of potentially damaging pollutants. By the end of the nineteenth century coal use in Exeter of approximately 33,000 tons is at a similar level to Oxford. Restoration and repair costs vary over the nineteenth century, but seem to bear little relationship to the changes in coal use. Detailed examination of the fabric records suggests that there is no simple, direct relationship between coal use and fabric repair costs. Complicating the relationship are a whole set of complex human systems involved in identification of decay, the style of restoration and management of the repair work.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors counter the proposition that pre-colonial, caste-based, natural resource management regimes were superior, in terms of stability and coher ence, to colonial regimes.
Abstract: In this article I counter the proposition that pre-colonial, caste-based, natural resource management regimes were superior, in terms of stability and coher ence, to colonial regimes. By engaging with the English sources of the Gondwana region I show how the question of 'stability' ignores the unequal and oppressive character of pre-colonial societies. This is borne out by the history of the Gondwana, where the social and political marginalisation of the Gonds was a result of the changing nature of zamidari power and the creation of private property rights in early colonial India.
TL;DR: The present day Kalahandi district stretches across an area of 11,835 sq.
Abstract: Kalahandi is in the north-west portion of the present-day Orissa province, bordering Raipur (Madhya Pradesh) and the Koraput District in the west; the Koraput District in the south; Bolangir, Sambalpur and Raipur in the north; and the Koraput District and Baudh-Khondmals in the east. Originally a feudal state, with five zamindaris (Karlapat, Mahulpatana, Madanpur-Rampur, Lanjigarh and Kashipur),1 Kalahandi merged with Orissa on 1 January 1948. The present day Kalahandi district stretches across an area of 11,835 sq. km., and the breadth from east to west is roughly about 140 km. It is an extension of the Eastern Ghats. Bhawanipatana is the district headquarters. Very little is known about Kalahandi's past. During Panini' s time this region was called Tailika Janapada, and it was famous for its trade in rhino hide. It seems that its ruling family can be traced back to 1005 A.D. In a Narla Siva inscription of the 13th century A.D., the region is referred to as Kamala Mandala, which can be translated as 'lotus' or 'prosperous' region. It seems that this tract enjoyed an autonomous status until the time of Raghuji Bhonsle II, when a tribute of Rs 5,330 was extracted from the Raja of Kalahandi (some time between 1766 and 1788 A.D.).2 We are told about the umrao system which existed in the pre-colonial period. According to this system, tribal chiefs ruled clusters of villages, which had common lands.3 Everything was based on customary laws, including the link ages with the rajas and the zamindars. These indigenous people had played a
TL;DR: After centuries of seclusion, Pescasseroli and the upper Sangro River valley in Italy's central Apennine Mountains began opening to the world in the early twentieth century, with the inauguration of Abruzzo National Park in 1922.
Abstract: After centuries of seclusion, Pescasseroli and the upper Sangro River valley in Italy's central Apennine Mountains began opening to the world in the early twentieth century. Spearheading the drive was Ermino Sipari, cousin of the famous philosopher Benedetto Croce. Both Sipari and Croce, who was born in Pescasseroli, believed the natural world could bring great material and cultural benefits to the local population. All it would take was a proper land management structure. After a decade of debate in government, in the press, and in conserva tion circles, the result was the inauguration of Abruzzo National Park in 1922.
TL;DR: The paper will explore why, despite the growth of opposition to the pumping of raw sewage into the sea, this traditional method of waste disposal continued to be relied upon until the recent past.
Abstract: A case study of beach pollution illustrates economic and political influences that have shaped environmental policy in Britain. The need to provide irrefutable evidence that there was a risk to public health, before tangible steps were taken to control pollution, was a characteristic feature of official policy. The conse quent deterioration of the holiday industry's prime asset the marine environ ment is traced from the early nineteenth century. The postwar period is selected for detailed study. The paper will explore why, despite the growth of opposition to the pumping of raw sewage into the sea, this traditional method of waste disposal continued to be relied upon until the recent past.