Regional Socio-economic Context Research Articles

Weavers of profit: terminating building societies in Lancashire, 1780–1840

AbstractNumerous handloom weavers' cottages in Lancashire were constructed by terminating building societies. Given their numbers, it is evident that the role of such societies in the regional socio-economic context has been understated. Identifying their membership reveals that these were not self-help schemes to enable artisans to own their own homes, but rather that they offered opportunities for those with surplus income to invest in tenanted properties at a time when the skills of the handloom weaver were at a premium. This provision was vital to Lancashire's burgeoning economy, and offered subscribers an additional source of income.

Preservation of wide-ranging top predators by site-protection: Black and red kites in Doñana National Park

We used data from a long-term study on two medium-sized generalist predators, the black kite ( Milvus migrans) and the red kite ( Milvus milvus), to illustrate the complexity of managing wide-ranging top predators by site-protection. The study was conducted between 1989 and 2000 in the Reserva Biológica de Doñana, located at the core of Doñana National Park. Both species occurred at high density and showed high productivity. Black kites were slightly increasing, and red kites showed a non-significant trend. The main cause of breeding failure was nest predation, mainly by mammalian predators, most likely Iberian lynx ( Lynx pardinus) or common genet ( Genetta genetta). The main cause of mortality was illegal poisoning, which sharply increased in the late 1990s. Nest-site selection models showed that: (1) black kites selected areas near the seasonal marshes, rich in their main prey species and (2) red kites selected areas rich in marshland and far from the park border, possibly in response to illegal poisoning episodes. Productivity was positively related to the availability of marshland and of open terrestrial habitats for black and red kites, respectively, and negatively related for both species to the density of black kites within 200 m of the nest. Our results showed that: (1) intraguild predation and competition among predators make outcomes of interspecific interactions extremely complex, leading to unpredictable side-effects of priority actions targeting one species at a time and (2) though the park was fenced and patrolled by wardens, the wide ranging behaviour of the two species made park borders permeable to negative human pressures, such as poisoning, leading to extreme edge effects and absence of a true, safe core of the park. Park management needs to be better integrated with its regional socio-economic and cultural context. Education programmes against illegal poisoning should be urgently promoted.

The use of systems analysis methods in the sustainable management of wetlands

The management of the utilisation of natural resources from wetland ecosystems is a multiobjective and complex task. The creation of innovative decision making tools for sustainable wetland resource utilisation is an important challenge for the future. This is particularly crucial in the light of the growing shortages for high quality freshwater and the vanishing habitat for a large number of wetland fauna and flora species. Because wetlands combine attributes of both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, wetlands are often at the crossroads of a number of disciplines with no specific discipline of its own. Therefore, management programmes require a multidisciplinary approach founded on a systematic monitoring of key biological and physical parameters. A European Commission DG XII research project dedicated to the development of management tools for wetland resources in Latin America is being developed by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from eight universities, located in four EU member states, Argentina and Brazil. The study sites that will be utilised for this analysis are two shallow lakes in Northeast Argentina within the large (13 000 km2) wetland `Esteros del Ibera'. Continuous and periodic in-situ monitoring instrumentation has been installed in a long term monitoring programme of hydrological and meteorological factors, coupled with monthly biological and ecological data gathering. Potential future scenarios for wetland resource use are being discussed in a series of public meetings with key provincial and local actors (teachers, university professors, clergymen, local business persons and politicians). These meetings address both the small scale modifications of wetland use (water extraction for agriculture, tourism, controlled hunting) as well as regional projects related to the creation of large scale economic development (forestation, modification of nearby waterways for hydroelectric production and increased river transportation). Models are developed relating the chemical, physical, biological and ecological parameters monitored. These models will be dedicated to analysing the effects of development on wetland functions and resource quality. An economic model will be created to evaluate potential modifications in wetland functions in the local and regional socio-economic context. Evaluation instruments are developed and tested which include; qualitative models using loop analysis, goal functions based on the aquatic trophic web and the overall energy flux in the lagoon, and a geographical information system utilising satellite images. The purpose of these instruments is to examine the overall impacts of development alternatives on resource quality and ecosystem integrity, as well as demonstrating key parameters that should be more closely monitored. The final package will include an evaluation of the potential impacts of the development scenarios proposed by the key actors, recommendations to reduce specific impacts through alternative technologies, together with a monitoring programme and analysis tools for improved decision making in wetland resource management.

L'érosion des terres agricoles en Pays de Caux

Water erosion of arable land in the Pays de Caux Despite moderate geographical (topographical, climatic) conditions, a large area of farmland in the Pays de Caux is today subject to run-off and erosion. The explanation would appear to tie in with the agricultural changes of recent decades. However, although the factors are not difficult to identify, the same effects can be produced by a variety of combinations. From a long-term point of view, the present situation is the result of a process of readjustment to agricultural changes against a background of Holocene modifications, first natural and later manmade, of the Weichselian landscape. The problem is how to limit and control this process, given the regional socio-economic context.