Documents found
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24893.More information
After approximately a decade of management, it was found that actors still face difficulties in assessing the real impact of Bamboung protected area in the Saloum Delta. Based on the perceptions of local people and visitors, this study was a way to assess the environmental conditions, fisheries and ecotourism issues of Bamboung protected area. The bioecological effects are the improvement of environmental quality considered as good by local people and visitors. Related to fisheries, their effects are considered benefit by fishermen. The positive consequences of the environmental preservation are the attraction of the visitors and financial benefits. Moreover, the financial benefits from ecotourism help to ensure the financial autonomy of the MPA management. But commercial opportunities for local products, ecotourism diversification and employment are less than the expectations. It is clear that the benefits are compatible because the protection of marine ecosystems and the improvement of environmental quality have positive impact on fishing and ecotourism. Meanwhile, it was also demonstrated that the degrees of perceptions and issues of social acceptability of actions taken vary between different socio-economic actors. Indeed, fishermen are not satisfied with the establishment of the MPA. Each category, of socio-economic actors, tends to favor the choice of his activity. Also various threats and expectations have been raised by local people. This divergence of views on the issues and alternatives is the main cause of social conflict. Under these conditions, any strategy for sustainable management should go through a reorganization of the system of local management, a better distribution of financial resources and diversification of recreational activities.
Keywords: Aire marine protégée, perceptions, enjeux, intérêts, environnement, pêche, écotourisme, gestion, Afrique, Sénégal, marine protected area, perceptions, issues, interests, environment, fishing, ecotourism, management
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24894.More information
Protected areas represent a key tool to mitigate climate change, as they provide several ecosystem services to people, especially the surrounding communities. However, their multiple roles in adaptation or resilience to climate change are often overlooked. In addition, the ecosystem services they provide to populations are mostly unknown, which affects their appropriation by neighbouring communities and, therefore, their protection. Our study consists of evaluating the knowledge of local communities on the role played by the Ivorian Marahoue National Park (MNP) and the ecosystem services it can provide. More specifically, the study aims to question the surrounding communities on the importance of the MNP at the local and national level and the ecosystem services that it can provide as a regional biosphere. The results show that local populations have different perceptions of the role of the MNP, assets, and ecosystem services. However, knowledge is not evenly distributed among neighbouring communities. Teachers and those with higher levels of education better understand the roles of the MNP and have different knowledge about ecosystem services. Although a large part of the population wishes to be involved in the MNP management process, the majority believe that the management of the protected area is poor, and therefore its restoration is unnecessary. To better integrate the surrounding communities into the park's management processes, this research highlights the need to develop awareness-raising projects on the benefits and ecosystem services offered by the MNP at the local level.
Keywords: aires protégées, Changement climatique, Services écosystémiques, Marahoué, Côte d'Ivoire, protected areas, Climate Change, Ecosystem services, Marahoue, Ivory Coast
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24895.More information
In the 1960's Britain's traditional industry-wide collective bargaining system was modified significantly by the growth of local bargaining, the introduction of an incomes policy and government recommendations for the general reform of industrial relations. Other important innovations were long term agreements, status agreements and productivity bargaining. The Conservative Governments new Industrial Relations Act will have a significant impact on the industrial relations system, particularly with regard to union recognition, internal unions affairs and the protection of the rights of individual employees. However, the Acts restrictions on the right to strike are likely to have only a minimal impact on established bargaining relationships. As Great Britain enters the 1970's the industrial relations system's main challenge is for unions and management to voluntarily respond to the problems which continue to be posed by the uncoordinated growth of plant bargaining.
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24896.More information
ABSTRACTPollen and macrofossil analyses, as well as radiocarbon dating, of four cores of postglacial lake sediments collected from central Nouveau-Québec, provide an estimate of the minimum age for the disappearance of some of the last remnants of the Wisconsinan ice in Québec, and allow a reconstruction of the postglacial history of the vegetation. The final stages of déglaciation span from about 6200 to about 5600 years BP. The first date marks the time of inception of the final stagnation of the ice southwest of the terminal ice-divide and the second gives the minimum age of the final melting of the ice on the uplands north of the divide. The time which elapsed between the uncovering of the cored lake basins by the ice and the accumulation of datable organic matter in these was short due to the rapid colonisation of the newly uncovered land by trees, shrubs and herbs. Green alder (Alnus crispa) and larch (Larix laricina) dominated the landscape at first, but all the other species of trees and shrubs were already present. From ca. 5500 to 4400 years BP, the region supported a dense black spruce (Picea mariana) taiga. The main feature of the subsequent postglacial history of the vegetation is the opening of the arboreal cover around 4700 to 4400 years BP reflecting the cooling of the regional climate. The only indication of possible postglacial climatic fluctuations other than the general cooling trend are represented by two pollen influx pulses of white birch (Betula papyrifera) between 5760 and 4750 years BP and between 3600 and 2500 years BP, recorded at one of the sites.
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24897.More information
Abstract A deglacial chronology for northern New England has been formulated using an atmospheric 14 C calibration of the New England Varve Chronology and paleomagnetic records. This 14 C chronology is based on 14 C ages from macrofossils of non-aquatic plants and is about 1 500 yr younger than existing chronologies that are based primarily on 14 C ages of bulk organic samples. The lower and upper Connecticut Valley varve sequences of Ernst Antevs (NE varves 2 701-6 352 and 6 601-8 500) overlap (lower 6 012 = upper 6 601) based on their crudely matching varve records and their similar paleomagnetic records. Three 14 C ages at Canoe Brook, Vermont (NE varve 6 150 = 12.3 14C ka) calibrate the lower Con necticut Valley sequence. New AMS and con ventional 14 C ages on woody twigs from Newbury, Vermont calibrate the upper se quence from 11.6-10.4 14 C ka (NE varves 7 440-8 660) and are consistent with the over lapping varve and paleomagnetic records, and the Canoe Brook 14 C ages. Deglaciation of the Connecticut Valley in southern Vermont began at 12.6 14 C ka (15.2 cal ka) and the Littleton-Bethlehem Readvance in northern New Hampshire and Vermont reached its maximum at11.9-11.8 14 C ka (14.0-13.9 cal ka) followed by recession of ice into Québec at about 11.5 14 C ka (13.4 cal ka). A lake persisted in the upper Connecticut Valley until at least 10.4 14 C ka (12.3 cal ka) and may have been seen by the first humans in the area.
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24898.More information
AbstractIn this review we consider the current state of the field of ecotoxicology, with an emphasis on aquatic environments, and explore its strengths and weaknesses. We compare and contrast the environmental behaviour of organic and inorganic contaminants, and identify a number of challenges for the future development of the field. The uptake of synthetic organic contaminants normally occurs by simple passive diffusion across a cell membrane. Given the lipidic and thus hydrophobic nature of biological membranes, the octanol-water partitioning coefficient of an organic contaminant (Kow) is often a good predictor of its tendency to bioaccumulate. In contrast, metals present in the aquatic environment are generally present in hydrated and hydrophilic forms, which cannot cross biological membranes by simple diffusion. Thus their uptake normally occurs by facilitated transport involving membrane carriers or channels. The octanol-water partitioning coefficients of these metallic species thus have no bearing on the relative facility with which they can cross biological membranes. It follows that the modeling approaches will differ greatly between organic and inorganic (metallic) contaminants.For metals, two types of models are currently popular: equilibrium models (e.g., the “Biotic Ligand Model” or BLM) and kinetic models of metal uptake and elimination. In both cases, the biological parameters of the models are considered as “constants”, which are unaffected by the ambient water quality (e.g., pH; hardness) or by prior exposure to the metal. However, recent research suggests that the key epithelial properties of aquatic organisms that govern metal accumulation and toxicity are not constant, thus compromising the application of the models to real-world cases of chronic exposure to metals. In the case of organic contaminants, ecotoxicological concerns tend to focus on their capacity to resist various degradation mechanisms and on their bioavailability. Fugacity models can be used to predict the distribution of organic molecules among various environmental compartments for systems at equilibrium, but many chemical and biological constraints limit the application of such models. Case studies with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and organometallic species are presented to illustrate these constraints.Finally, among new frontiers and opportunities for ecotoxicology, we briefly consider the development of toxicogenomics, the need to consider the effects of contaminants on trophic interactions in a truly ecosystemic approach, and the challenge posed by nanoparticles of industrial origin. The future of ecotoxicology will necessarily involve: (1) the collection of high quality data in the laboratory and in the field; (2) an improved understanding of the mechanisms of toxicity at the molecular and cellular levels; (3) the development of theoretical and empirical models that better integrate physiological and ecological reality; and (4) the development of ecosystem indicators that can be used to evaluate the quality of aquatic environments, despite their inherent complexity.
Keywords: écotoxicologie, écosystèmes aquatiques, métaux traces, composés organiques et organométalliques, modèle de l'ion libre, approche PBT (persistance-bioaccumulation-toxicité), modèle BLM, modèle de la fugacité, nanoparticules, ecotoxicology, aquatic ecosystems, trace metals, organic and organometallic compounds, free ion model, PBT (persistence-bioaccumulation-toxicity) approach, BLM model, fugacity model, nanoparticles
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24900.More information
The goal of this article is describing reinsurance principles and major forms of reinsurance: proportional reinsurance, non proportional reinsurance, compulsory reinsurance and facultative reinsurance. The author concludes on the reinsurer'sperformance mitigated by several catastrophic events in the recent years, the need of financing fosses and the importance of setting up new protection mechanisms.
Keywords: Réassurance, traité, réassurance proportionnelle, réassurance non proportionnelle, réassurance obligatoire, réassurance facultative, Reinsurance, treaty, proportional reinsurance, non proportional reinsurance, compulsory reinsurance, facultative reinsurance