Conservation Paradigm Research Articles

Reflections on the past and future of urban conservation in Iran

The material authenticity of cultural heritage has been questioned by societies in which the modern paradigm of conservation has not developed from within the native culture. This paper examines the philosophical and practical traditions in Iran regarding the materiality and authenticity of past structures. By reviewing the emergence of the Western conservation paradigm in Iran, this paper highlights two key factors: the rapidness of this paradigm shift and the remarkable contradiction between the new and old paradigms. By borrowing the Deleuzo-Guattarian concept of a ‘body without organs’ (BwO), this paper problematises the rapidness and radicality of the paradigm shift in Iran. It suggests exploring the under-investigated possibilities between the pre-modern and modern paradigms to address the gap between native circumstances and Western standards.

STUDENT AS A PARTNER IN THE CONTEXT OF PROJECT EDUCATION

The article is dedicated to the analysis of a student’s role as a partner in educational process. It is grounded that sense of modern crisis in education emerged from deep contradiction between traditionally formed, essentially conservative paradigm of educational process and explosive improvement of life conditions in modern society. It is underlined that recognition of a student as a partner, as an equal participant of a dialogue becomes meaningful within system of higher education. Consideration of a student as a partner in the context of project education is underlined by taking into account other’s subject position. It becomes «technically necessary» under conditions of emerging digital civilization to convert basic knowledge into effective learning as well as to program formation of such competences, necessary for a graduating student to solve professional tasks creatively. Adjustment of educational paradigm actually forming «soft skills» primarily enables shift of education processes from traditional subject-object “stuffing students up” with information to subject-subject “students’ self-education management”; students have their research, organizational and creative (in emotional, artistic and intellectual creativity forms) tasks. Such format of educational process organization is already used and known in educational field as project education, which forms valuable cross-functional skills. The offered project education can be a form of partner approach in subject-subject educational cooperation. Considering a student as a partner, a teacher motivates both increasing of hard skills and development of soft skills.

Mechanical Properties Improvement of Recycled Polypropylene with Material Value Conservation Schemes Using Virgin Plastic Blends

Plastic packaging that applied material value conservation paradigm will generate good quality plastic waste. It can be recycled to produce raw material for new packaging. However, repetitive recycling has impacts on lowering its mechanical properties. Recycled plastic is expected not to undergo mechanical properties degradation. This research proposed to blend recycled plastic pellets with its virgin plastic to reduce mechanical properties degradation. Mechanical properties of recycled polypropylene are compared to 100% virgin polypropylene and recycled/virgin polypropylene blends with composition 90/10, 70/30, 50/50, 30/70, and 10/90. Mechanical properties tested in this research are modulus of elasticity, tensile strength, elongation at break, and density. All were tested according to ASTM for mechanical properties testing materials. This study revealed blending 50% virgin polypropylene significantly improves mechanical properties of recycled plastics and keep improving at 70% virgin polypropylene. The optimum improvement based on four mechanical properties was found at composition 30/70 of recycled/virgin plastic. Elongation at break is the most critical property where degradation was found at 90/10. Blending 6th recycled and virgin polypropylene gives opportunities to improve the mechanical properties of recycled plastic products with careful consideration of the compositions. By implementing material value conservation, good quality plastic waste can be recycled repetitively. This will decrease accumulation of plastic waste generation and usage of non-renewable plastic’s raw material. The positive impact is not only to economic of plastic industry but also to the quality of environment.

Effect of Repetitive Recycling on the Mechanical Properties of Polypropylene Blends Based on Material Value Conservation Paradigm

Contaminated plastic waste if undergo a mechanical recycling process will have a low value. This can be overcome by repetitive implementation of Material Value Conservation (MVC) through material purity protection from design stage to the end of the material life cycle. Repetition of recycling up to eight times caused degradation of mechanical properties of plastics by up to 20%. The repetition was done on a laboratory scale with pure polypropylene as raw material. This research was conducted to overcome the degradation of plastic properties by mixing recycled plastic pellets with virgin plastic in the most optimal proportion. Plastic blends with certain compositions were recycled up to 8 times, then its mechanical properties are tested with the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) methods. This research revealed the opportunities to utilize the 6th recycled plastic pellets by mixing it with virgin plastic to improve its mechanical properties. Furthermore, this research shows that repetitive recycling of plastic blends with the implementation of material value conservation (MVC) ​​could increase the value of recycled plastic pellets as raw materials and extend the life time of plastic materials.

A formação docente e o tecnicismo pedagógico: um desafio para a educação contemporânea

The discussion about teacher education generates convergences and divergences between technical and innovative pedagogy. In this sense, the theme challenges educators, especially those working in higher education, to reassess educational practice, because learning based on conservative paradigms domesticates and immobilizes the subjects involved in the teaching-learning process, limiting their intellectual rebellion. Based on this premise, this article addresses teacher education and knowledge fragmentation, a heritage of conservative education paradigms based on traditional, scholastic, and technical approaches. This article provides a reflection on the pedagogical practice in higher education in teacher education and seeks to provoke a discussion about the reflective teacher. In addition, the article addresses Newtonian-Cartesian thinking, technicism and the insertion of technologies in education, in order to problematize the convergences and divergences between the technicist and innovative paradigms.

Defence Innovation: The Role of Design-Led Innovation in Disrupting the Conservative Paradigm

Design thinking is actively promoted in the military to accelerate innovation. However, governments do not provide adequate funding or prioritise design methods in defence innovation programs. Our study audits global defence innovation programs, the strategic direction for innovation labs, funding and the role of design. The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent and effectiveness of design methods used in defence innovation labs. We also examine the structure, methods and outcomes of three lab case studies within the global defence context. Results reveal a disproportionate focus on science and technology in innovation labs. Few organisations incorporate design methods, seen as critical to successful innovation, in their R&D programs. Where design is encouraged in military organisations, it is primarily directed at bottom-up innovation programs. In contrast, government and defence heavily support science and technology innovation programs as part of organisational strategy, with funding as well as sponsorship from senior officers. Therefore, government and military organisations have systematically constrained the potential to accelerate innovation using novel strategies such as design. We discuss the unrealised opportunity for use of design in defence as well as the potential model for increasing cross discipline collaboration and disruptive innovation.

Towards a more healthy conservation paradigm: integrating disease and molecular ecology to aid biological conservation†

Parasites, and the diseases they cause, are important from an ecological and evolutionary perspective because they can negatively affect host fitness and can regulate host populations. Consequently, conservation biology has long recognized the vital role that parasites can play in the process of species endangerment and recovery. However, we are only beginning to understand how deeply parasites are embedded in ecological systems, and there is a growing recognition of the important ways in which parasites affect ecosystem structure and function. Thus, there is an urgent need to revisit how parasites are viewed from a conservation perspective and broaden the role that disease ecology plays in conservation-related research and outcomes. This review broadly focusses on the role that disease ecology can play in biological conservation. Our review specifically emphasizes on how the integration of tools and analytical approaches associated with both disease and molecular ecology can be leveraged to aid conservation biology. Our review first concentrates on disease-mediated extinctions and wildlife epidemics. We then focus on elucidating how host–parasite interactions has improved our understanding of the eco-evolutionary dynamics affecting hosts at the individual, population, community and ecosystem scales. We believe that the role of parasites as drivers and indicators of ecosystem health is especially an exciting area of research that has the potential to fundamentally alter our view of parasites and their role in biological conservation. The review concludes with a broad overview of the current and potential applications of modern genomic tools in disease ecology to aid biological conservation.

National food security under institutional challenges (Russian experience)

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show how institutional conditions affect food security at the national level.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research with the usage of the methods of institutional, evolutionary, comparative and retrospective analysis is performed in this paper. During the study, emphasis was placed on the theory of sustainable development, the theory of economic security, the theory of economic systems and the theory of competitive advantages.FindingsFood security policies can be based on the use of the liberal or conservative paradigm. The liberal paradigm focuses on food supply. The conservative paradigm also considers food independence. The growth of global instability has led to increased use of the conservative paradigm. Within the framework of these paradigms, four alternative models of food security have been proposed: “Pure” market, procurement, distribution, directive. For their selection, the matrix method was used. The combination of market and nonmarket management methods in the production and distribution of food is considered. Each of the models is given a meaningful interpretation, and their strengths and weaknesses are identified, the conditions of applicability and efficiency factors are indicated.Originality/valueThe failure of the authorities to provide the population with access to food is largely determined by institutional factors. The system of national institutions sets limits for food security. The main limitations are: technological, land, labor, infrastructure, cluster, ecological. To overcome them, it is recommended to use the tools of innovative, scientific, technological, migration, financial, investment, cluster, sustainable development and other types of state policies. Institutional shocks that lead to crises have a significant impact on food security. The study, using the example of Russia, shows that effective institutional overcoming of them is possible using the conservative paradigm.

Bridging compassion and justice in conservation ethics

‘Traditional conservation’ customarily engages in the dismissal of individual non-human animal claims when these conflict with human interests or prevailing ideas of biodiversity. Emerging conservation paradigms, compassionate conservation (CC) and multispecies justice (MJ), concerned with the prevalence of harm to animals are challenging the normative and practical standards underlying this dismissal. We place these two emerging conservation paradigms in dialogue, highlighting their potential for convergence for appropriately considering nonhuman animal claims. We focus on some theoretical and practical tensions within both paradigms that may hinder their independent application. While we agree on the practice of compassion towards individuals as indispensable to ethics, we demonstrate how questions of harm ubiquitous in ethical dilemmas (situations of conflict) within conservation are inevitably intertwined with evaluations of competing human-animal claims potentially unsolvable only through compassion. Drawing on Mary Midgley's concept of the ‘mixed-community’ of species, we propose MJ as a complementary value promoting animal respect, dignity, and their appropriate consideration through the establishment of baseline duties to others. We recommend justice-promoting principles focused on recognizing different yet equitable sources of moral value (geocentrism), observing equitable consideration, evaluating harm and comparability of claims, among others. We proceed to discuss the limitations of justice, compassion and how we can correct for them, highlighting the indispensability of their simultaneous deployment. We conclude that a comprehensive conservation ethic should promote an ethics-of-care together with the codification and enforcement of animal claims so as to provide explicit ethical guidance in our mixed-community.

A novel human-based nature-conservation paradigm in Guatemala paves the way for overcoming the metabolic rift

Nature-conservation practices in the Global South are fraught with uncertainty due to fragile environmental governance and conflict stemming from their subaltern position in global capitalism, given the tension between human needs and habitat integrity. This article hinges on a recent effort spear-headed by the Centre of Conservation Studies at University of San Carlos in Guatemala, to discuss how a counterhegemonic narrative offers fertile grounds for a decolonized reading of the metabolic rift. I use my notes from eight workshops held in 2018 as the empirical body for a discourse analysis where the emerging categories have been singled out and problematized in the light of ethnoecological theory and David Harvey’s moments for the transition towards a post-Capitalist society vis-à-vis a prevailing environmental regime characterized by its verticality, lack of scientific substantiation, and proclivity to privilege exchange value at the expense of widening the metabolic rift. This regime arguably spawns several ecological rifts, namely the following: (1) between conventional scientific parlance and traditional ecological knowledge; (2) between utility-inspired natural resource management and local land husbandry practices; and (3) between nature as a reservoir of resources and nature as the sustenance for life. In addition, I present a case study where local advocacy in a peripheral community managed to bring about a relevant shift in the correlation of political powers by seizing the national legislation to achieve a transfer of property rights that enabled the inception of a brand-new nature reserve. The new conservation paradigm in question, this case seems to suggest, dovetails adequately with civil society’s efforts to foster nature-conservation practices, in line with human well-being and sound environmental governance. The latter provides some evidence for a principle of hope – à la Ernst Bloch – whereby, dissident groups are paving the way for a grassroots-oriented conservation science that eventually could bridge the metabolic rift.

Situating (in)significance

ABSTRACT In this paper we introduce the concept of ‘(in)significance’ as a way to think about values in heritage, and in the attribution, recording, description, assessment and categorisation practices that characterise heritage processes. Our aim is to throw light on how this concept shapes, and is shaped by, contemporary heritage practices and outcomes. We consider the history of the idea of significance, particularly as it is defined in the Burra Charter, and trace its inheritance lines in settler nation states and capitalist economic structures, and highlight its retention of concepts of heritage value as both intrinsic and culturally attributed. Using international, mainly Anglophone examples, we review a range of case studies and examples of significance and insignificance, of significance assessment in practice, and the tensions between expert, institutional or ‘official’ values and broader concepts of heritage and attachment. We suggest that the dual or layered concept of ‘(in)significance’ might allow for heritage practices that interact with emotions, memory, place and things in ways that are often not possible in the context of official heritage regimes because of rigid aesthetic and conservation paradigms, as well as identity and ownership claims and deeply invested national narratives.

Environmental Conservation Paradigm in islamic Ecological Perspective

Environmental Conservation Paradigm in islamic Ecological Perspective

Paradigma Kalam Dalam Konservasi Lingkungan Menurut Said Nursi

This research departs from the fact that environmental conservation efforts are increasingly needed due to natural damage that increases continually. However, the instrumental and social efforts performed by the environmental activists are still partial and have not touched the fundamental aspects. Islam as a Religion and basis of comprehensive science could resolve this aspect. Rasa’il Nur, a masterpiece written by Sa’id Nursi supposed to offers a solution to the problem. This study aims to reveal the environmental conservation paradigm by Sa'id Nursi and find a new direction based on Islamic environmental conservation. This research is a literature study, qualitative models and figure studies, using critical-reflective analysis, with a kalam perspective. Nursi views the strong relationship of Tauhid (monotheism) and nature. Tauhid (monotheism) is the principle understanding to see the ecological elements which he calls the God’s Sign. Human is supposed to see nature with the paradigm of 'harfi' instead of 'ismi'. The paradigm of ‘ismi’ which denied the divine value behind nature could be a reason for the environmental damage. As for ‘harfi’ perspective, the nature was inseparable from the divine’s side. The physical form of nature and its diversity are the visible book (kitab mandzur) and beautiful cosmos (syari’ah kauniyyah). Nature is a manifestation of ‘asma-ul khusna’, including the names ‘al-jalal’, ‘al jamal’ and ‘al quddus’. All ecological elements move and worship based on ‘mahabbah’. With these basics, Nursi denounced acts of destruction against nature.

Reptiles Under the Conservation Umbrella of the Greater Sage‐Grouse

ABSTRACTIn conservation paradigms, management actions for umbrella species also benefit co‐occurring species because of overlapping ranges and similar habitat associations. The greater sage‐grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is an umbrella species because it occurs across vast sagebrush ecosystems of western North America and is the recipient of extensive habitat conservation and restoration efforts that might benefit sympatric species. Biologists' understanding of how non‐target species might benefit from sage‐grouse conservation is, however, limited. Reptiles, in particular, are of interest in this regard because of their relatively high diversity in shrublands and grasslands where sage‐grouse are found. Using spatial overlap of species distributions, land cover similarity statistics, and a literature review, we quantified which reptile species may benefit from the protection of intact sage‐grouse habitat and which may be affected by recent (since about 1990) habitat restoration actions targeting sage‐grouse. Of 190 reptile species in the United States and Canadian provinces where greater sage‐grouse occur, 70 (37%) occur within the range of the bird. Of these 70 species, about a third (11 snake and 11 lizard species) have >10% of their distribution area within the sage‐grouse range. Land cover similarity indices revealed that 14 of the 22 species (8 snake and 6 lizard species) had relatively similar land cover associations to those of sage‐grouse, suggesting greater potential to be protected under the sage‐grouse conservation umbrella and greater potential to be affected, either positively or negatively, by habitat management actions intended for sage‐grouse. Conversely, the remaining 8 species are less likely to be protected because of less overlap with sage‐grouse habitat and thus uncertain effects of sage‐grouse habitat management actions. Our analyses of treatment databases indicated that from 1990 to 2014 there were at least 6,400 treatments implemented on public land that covered approximately 4 million ha within the range of the sage‐grouse and, of that, >1.5 million ha were intended to at least partially benefit sage‐grouse. Whereas our results suggest that conservation of intact sagebrush vegetation communities could benefit ≥14 reptiles, a greater number than previously estimated, additional research on each species' response to habitat restoration actions is needed to assess broader claims of multi‐taxa benefits when it comes to manipulative sage‐grouse habitat management. Published 2020. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Conservation implications of limited Native American impacts in pre-contact New England

An increasingly accepted paradigm in conservation attributes valued modern ecological conditions to past human activities. Disturbances, including prescribed fire, are therefore used by land managers to impede forest development in many potentially wooded landscapes under the interpretation that openland habitats were created and sustained by human-set fire for millennia. We test this paradigm using palaeoenvironmental and archaeological data from New England. Despite the region’s dense population, anthropogenic impacts on the landscape before European contact were limited, and fire activity was independent of changes in human populations. Whereas human populations reached maxima during the Late Archaic (5,000–3,000 yr bp) and Middle–Late Woodland (1,500–500 yr bp) periods, lake-sediment charcoal records indicate elevated fire activity only during the dry early Holocene (10,000–8,000 yr bp) and after European colonization. Pollen data indicate closed forests from 8,000 yr bp to the onset of European deforestation, and archaeological evidence of pre-contact horticultural activity is sparse. Climate largely controlled fire severity in New England during the postglacial interval, and widespread openlands developed only after deforestation for European agriculture. Land managers seeking to emulate pre-contact conditions should de-emphasize human disturbance and focus on developing mature forests; those seeking to maintain openlands should apply the agricultural approaches that initiated them four centuries ago. Modern land management often assumes that past human activity shaped iconic landscapes. This study finds that climate, rather than indigenous activity, controlled fire severity in New England, with open landscapes developing after deforestation for European agriculture.

Rewilding – Departures in Conservation Policy and Practice? an Evaluation of Developments in Britain

Rewilding has been hailed as ‘radical’ and ‘agenda-setting’ in the challenge it poses to mainstream conservation. This paper questions whether that is still the case, or if rewilding is now being mainstreamed and with what consequences? Our analysis focuses upon developments in Britain, up until 2018, discussing what changes have become manifest and the barriers and restraints that have been observed. As such, we evaluate the extent to which rewilding – in practice - departs from longstanding conservation sensibilities. Discussion is structured around three key questions— Who is now involved in rewilding across Britain? What they are seeking to do, in terms of how nature is conceptualised and managed (or not)? In what ways do their objectives involve people and human-centred aspirations? Our findings reveal three key differences from current conservation approaches. First, rewilding is associated with a proliferation of new actors, new mechanisms of finance and new spaces of conservation interest. Second, rewilding as an approach exhibits clear novelty in its stated aim to be nature-led and, despite challenges, attempts to work through ongoing negotiation and experimentation. Finally, rewilding is currently being advocated and pursued as an agenda for people and nature, which moves beyond earlier nature conservation paradigms of protecting nature from human influence. However, it remains to be seen whether rewilding advocates can realise their ambitions to popularise and create peopled wild spaces across Britain's landscapes.

Argumen Al-Qur’an Tentang Paradigma Ekopedagogi


 
 
 Conclution of the research states that ecopedagogy is a public educational movements of human responsibility in environ- mental conservation. It’s conducted by combining all environmen- tal conservation paradigms, analyzing its deficiency and advantages, thus, associating it with Qur’anic environmental themes. Some of the paradigms is analyzed in the effort to increase ecological concern are: anthropocentric, biocentric, ecocentric, zoocentric, ecophenomeno- logy, androcentric, conservation and ecofeminism. These paradigms all get reinforced arguments from the Qur’an which outline that all li- ving things and all their phonemes have relations with each other and need to be made in such harmony. But the Qur’an also emphasizes the other side that must be considered as a form of environmental balance and ethics. So by using the ecopedagogy method that combi- nes eight methods in nature conservation, the best public education method has been carried out in order to embody nature conservati- on. The methodology used in this study is a qualitative method that is integrated with the thematic method (mawdhu’i?), while the data used in this study were obtained through library research with three stages of research, namely the stages of description, comparison and analysis, which ultimately obtained conclusions in accordance with the formulation and research objectives.
 
 

M.M. Speransky and N.M. Karamzin: Two Ways of Civilized Development of Russia or a Dispute About a Rational System of Public Administration?

Introduction. The introduction identifies one of the most important problems in the political history of Russia – the problem of determining and choosing the path of the long-term civilizational development in the aspect of liberal and conservative paradigm. Methods and materials. As the main methods the authors apply: the historical-comparative, systemic, typological and historical-political ones. The main sources are the following: ”Plan of State Transformation” by M.M. Speransky and “Note on Ancient and New Russia in Its Political and Civil Relations” by N.M. Karamzin. Analysis. In the course of the comparative analysis the authors carry out the study of the plan of M.M. Speransky’s state reforms and N.M. Karamzin’s political program in the aspect of the liberal and conservative axiology. The authors conclude that there were two different models of civilizational development of the state. One of them, represented by M.M. Speransky, suggested radical changes in the political system, legislation, social relations and led Russia to the liberal Western path of development. N.M. Karamzin proceeded from the priority of national and state traditions and the perniciousness of transferring European political institutions, customs and practicies to the Russian soil. Results. The result of the study is the conclusion that in the complete absence of a basis for the formation of liberalism in Russia, M.M. Speransky’s constitutional search was doomed to failure and resulted in the practice of building a system of the rational public administration within the framework of absolutism. Centuries-old historical traditions of Russia were much stronger than the desire of Alexander I to give the country a Constitution.

USHUL FIQH SEBAGAI KERANGKA BERPIKIR DALAM ISTINBATH HUKUM EKONOMI ISLAM

Abstract
 Studying the science of ushul fiqh in the traditions of Islamic campuses and pesantren is significant for the discovery and formation of Islamic economic law. Even ushul fiqh was made a compulsory subject that must be mastered by Islamic economic law experts today. However, studying ushul fiqh on campus and Islamic boarding schools is trapped in a conservative paradigm, where studying ushul fiqh is limited to something that is consumptive, read and memorized, without contextualization and application. In fact, ushul fiqh must be presented in the midst of Islamic economic in a logical and realistic way, even ushul fiqh as the primary commodity of Muslim economic law experts in the methodology of istinbat al-hukm must touch the economic problems faced by contemporary society. That is the challenge of Islamic economics law experts in studying ushul fiqh today. This paper, how to explain the activities of Muslim economic law experts in studying and understanding ushul fiqh with a descriptive-qualitative research approach model. So what is studied in this paper is the paradigm of thinking in a community of Muslim economists in studying and developing ushul fiqh, when faced with socio-economic problems that require the juridists of Islamic law in the frame of religious texts. From the results of this discussion it can be seen that the ushul fiqh for Islamic economic jurists in the development and dynamics model of ushul fiqh is centered on; revitalization of ushul fiqh, text diversification (fahm nushus asy-shari'ah) and extensification of maqashid as-shari'ah, namely expansion in understanding the purpose of sharia (fahm maqashid as-shari'ah). Besides that, Islamic economic law experts can use the method of ushul fiqh as tariqatu al a'mal, (work patterns), first, making maslahah as a tool in establishing Islamic economic law. Second, it is like matching the fatwa of ulama's law, with the current situation and condition. Third, carry out the operation of Usul Fikih in the formation Islamic economic law as a deductive method. And fourth, complete with Qawaid al-Fiqhiyyah.

Policy paradigms for optimal residential heat savings in a transition to 100% renewable energy systems

In a transition to 100% renewable energy (RE) systems we move from a sector-based to an energy system-based heat conservation paradigm. This implies both liberation from the institutional path dependencies of the present heat sector approach and the creation of the new institutional conditions for heat conservation in integrated (RE) systems. In these systems it is much more important than in fossil fuel systems to synchronize the right amount, in time and of the right types of investments in heat conservation with investments in the energy supply system. The key findings firstly are that this synchronization is not happening in the Danish case due to institutional path dependencies in the shape of high fixed tariffs, low subsidies, split incentives and renovation codes that can be evaded. Secondly that this synchronization can be implemented by means of tariffs that reflect levelized costs of future supply systems in combination with a public guaranty for long-term low-interest loans when following the advice of certified energy consultants. Thirdly tariff philosophy should change to include the long term energy system benefits of heat conservation. The principles behind these findings are of generic interest for heat supply and heat conservation planning in the EU.