Traditional Resource Management Systems Research Articles

On the Frontline of Climate Change

Stone tidal weirs are not just relics of the past; they also serve as a guide to future sustainable marine ecological conservation. They symbolize the ability of humans to adapt, use, and live in balance and harmony with the ocean environment. Situated along intertidal or coastal zones, these stone tidal weirs are on the frontline of climate impact and are often abandoned as the local community cannot afford the costs of repair. This has led to loss of this valuable traditional resource management system that contributes to tangible and intangible heritage of coastal communities, as well as to culture and biodiversity.

The Ecological Sustainability of Plato’s Republic

Abstract The Republic’s political discussion begins with the construction of two contrasting cities: a ‘healthy’ city and a ‘city with a fever’; one defined by environmentally sustainable subsistence practices and the other by ‘luxurious’ over consumption that exceeds the carrying capacity of its land. Plato’s characters proceed to cure the inflamed city of its fever, resulting in the delineation of the ideal political constitution, the Kallipolis, which recovers the virtues of the original, healthy city in an altered form. This paper develops an ecological reading of the Republic, highlighting Plato’s optimism regarding humans’ ability to limit their material consumption in accordance with the limits of the natural world. The conventional interpretation of the Republic’s first city, known as ‘the city of pigs’, is reconsidered in light of new socio-ecological research on traditional resource management systems.

A Key-Value Store Based Data Center Resource Scheduling System

Efficiently scheduling resources in large scale data center is a key problem that distributed resource management systems face. In the cloud computing environment, the quantity of resources expand and the size of users raises dramatically. It brought up following challenges such as accessing to vast amount of resource information, handling of highly concurrent user requests, tremendous pressure of the system brought up by the update of the mass resources and so on. Traditional resource management systems based on centralized or hierarchical structure have pool expansibility and can’t satisfy the new large scale applications. And existing distributed resource scheduling methods (such as P2P routing based and DHTs based resource scheduling methods) can’t process user requests with high concurrency rate and high-frequency resource updates well enough. We propose a resource schedule model based on Key-Value Store. The model solves the problem of storing mass resources and efficiently accessing resource information using Key-Value Store. Distributed resource scheduling method based on range-partition can locate the appropriate resources rapidly and also reduce the cost of resource updates by extended invalid push protocol. The evaluation on data from Planetlab shows that, compared to current, and to improve the scheduling efficiency.

Virtualization of Heterogeneous HPC-clusters Based on OpenStack Platform

A.G. Feoktistov, I.A. Sidorov, V.V. Sergeev, R.O. Kostromin, V.G. Bogdanova Matrosov Institute for System Dynamics and Control Theory of SB RAS (Lermontova str., 134, Irkutsk, 664033, Russia) E-mail: agf@icc.ru, ivan.sidorov@icc.ru, vvsergeev@mail.ru, kostromin@icc.ru, bvg@icc.ru. Феоктистов Александр Геннадьевич, к.ф.-м.н., доцент, лаборатория параллельных и распределенных вычислительных систем, Институт динамики систем и теории управления им. В.М. Матросова СО РАН (Иркутск, Российская Федерация) Сидоров Иван Александрович, к.ф.-м.н., доцент, лаборатория параллельных и распределенных вычислительных систем, Институт динамики систем и теории управления им. В.М. Матросова СО РАН (Иркутск, Российская Федерация) Сергеев Вадим Викторович, аспирант, лаборатория параллельных и распределенных вычислительных систем, Институт динамики систем и теории управления им. В.М. Матросова СО РАН (Иркутск, Российская Федерация) Костромин Роман Олегович, аспирант, лаборатория параллельных и распределенных вычислительных систем, Институт динамики систем и теории управления им. В.М. Матросова СО РАН (Иркутск, Российская Федерация) Богданова Вера Геннадьевна, к.ф.-м.н., доцент, лаборатория параллельных и распре деленных вычислительных систем, Институт динамики систем и теории управления им. В.М. Матросова СО РАН (Иркутск, Российская Федерация)

An approach for scaling cloud resource management

Given its current development trajectory, the complexity of cloud computing ecosystems are evolving to where traditional resource management strategies will struggle to remain fit for purpose. These strategies have to cope with ever-increasing numbers of heterogeneous resources, a proliferation of new services, and a growing user-base with diverse and specialized requirements. This growth not only significantly increases the number of parameters needed to make good decisions, it increases the time needed to take these decisions. Consequently, traditional resource management systems are increasingly prone to poor decisions making. Devolving resources management decisions to the local environment of that resource can dramatically increase the speed of decisions making; moreover, the cost of gathering global information can thus be eliminated; saving communication costs. Experimental data, provided in this paper, illustrate that extant cloud deployments can be used as effective vehicles for devolved decision making. This finding strengthens the case for the proposed paradigm shift, since it does not require a change to the architecture of existing cloud systems. This shift would result in systems in which resources decide for themselves how best they can be used. This paper takes this idea to its logical conclusion and proposes a system for supporting self-managing resources in cloud environments. It introduces the concept of coalitions, consisting of collaborating resources, formed for the purpose of service delivery. It suggests the utility of restricting the interactions between the end-user and the cloud service provider to a well-defined services interface. It shows how clouds can be considered functionally, as engines for delivering an appropriate set of resources in response to service requests. And finally, since modern applications are increasingly constructed from sophisticated workflows of complex components, it shows how combinatorial auctions can be used to effectively deliver packages of resources to support those workflows.

Job flow management for virtualized resources of heterogeneous distributed computing environment

We address to the problem of an integration of heterogeneous computational clusters to the united environment applying the OpenStack platform for a cluster resource virtualization. However, this platform does not interact with the traditional resource management systems such as the PBS Torque or SLURM that are used in cluster resources. To this end, we developed an additional hypervisor shell to run virtual machines through queues of the aforementioned systems. Thus, we expand the OpenStack capabilities for an application job management and provide a computation scalability for virtualized resources of clusters. In order to show the benefits of our approach to the scalable application management in integrated cluster environments, we developed a parameter sweep application for simulation modeling of warehouse logistics and solved three optimization tasks for the real refrigerated warehouse. We compared the selected criteria of task solving processes with the hypervisor shell applying and without it by means of simulation modeling. Experiments show that the hypervisor shell can significantly improve computation speedup and task solving time through reallocating virtual machines to queues of the resource management systems.

Actor, Customary Regulation and Case Study of Collective Forest Tenure Reform Intervention in China

The newly implemented collective forest tenure reform (CFTR) in China is a remarkable part of the global trend of forest management decentralization. This paper illustrates how local communities respond to the reform and how the various actors translate the policy principle into action under local social ecological condition in two case villages in Wuyuan County of Jiangxi Province in China. In the policy implementation of the CFTR, various actors, including local government, communities and villagers try to deconstruct the policy text, such as reform plan, forest distribution criterion and Forest Tenure Certificate system, with their own knowledge system. The cases of CFTR in the villages in Wuyuan County suggest there are major inconsistencies between national forest policy intervention and the local practice system. The traditional resource management system, which is based on the social customs in the local communities, is also effective to solve the collective action problem and contribute to efficient resource utilization. Thus the complexity and robustness of forest tenure combinations may ensure flexibility for sustainable forest management and accommodate the change of socioeconomic conditions.

The Paradigm of Management, Management Systems, and Resource Stewardship

Abstract The idea of “management” is central to our understanding of how people interact with their resources, but many challenges have arisen to traditional concepts of western, science-based resource management. Management is a set of actions taken to guide a system towards achieving desired goals and objectives. A Management System is the sum of these actions, goals and objectives, the process through which they are legitimized by social norms, and the institutions and actors involved in carrying them out. Reframing the concept from management to management system provides a tool for better understanding how social and ecological dynamics act as coupled drivers of managed ecosystems. Seen from this perspective, there are strong parallels between the traditional resource management systems of indigenous peoples and western science-based management systems. Stewardship is a western concept which resonates with the foundations of traditional resource management systems. Both systems of management can be u...

Descending the energy ladder? Oil price shocks and domestic fuel choices in Kano, Nigeria

In recent years, the densely populated region around the burgeoning city of Kano in northern Nigeria has been the focus of much academic enquiry into the links between vegetation modification and fuelwood production and consumption. While many scholars have praised the socio-economic and ecological sustainability of Kano's rural–urban interface, arguing that indigenous agro-forestry systems will continue to resist urban fuelwood pressures for many years to come, other less optimistic observers have warned that exposure to a rapidly changing world economy is challenging traditional resource management systems like never before. Focusing on the case of Kano and its resource hinterlands, recent field-based evidence presented in this paper suggests that the latter supposition may be gaining increasing currency. In peri-urban regions, the rising prices of kerosene and other petroleum-based domestic fuels, coupled with the economic knock-on effects of a current petro-boom, are making fuelwood a much more attractive alternative as a domestic fuel choice. As lower and middle-income households shift away from commercial petroleum-based energy sources in favour of cheaper and more readily available biomass alternatives, it may be placing increased pressure on woodland resources and Kano's surrounding rural ecology: in the hinterlands of the city, local perceptions of research informants suggest that deteriorating economic conditions have driven some individuals to ‘step up’ fuelwood production to meet rising peri-urban demands. Although the intention of the paper is not to perpetuate crisis narratives or to suggest that fuelwood demand is causing runaway deforestation, the evidence presented does suggest that as conventional fuels become progressively more expensive, the poorest and most disadvantaged households may find it increasingly challenging to meet their basic energy needs.

Human-scale systems in responsive environments

Every system can become smarter, efficient, and more valuable by factoring in presence information. Society's embrace of instant messaging has shown that a great deal of importance is placed on presence-enabled contact lists and instant connectivity. Even traditional resource management systems such as automated routing use availability and presence to select and connect people to the best available agent in a call center. Multimedia conferencing takes presence information a step further and asks the question of how to connect people based on their disparate communication capabilities. But all these uses of presence information, as exciting as they are now, and as much potential to develop further as they all have, are but a tip of the iceberg of the communication revolution ahead. In the future, the wealth of presence information - and the kinds of information we are able to obtain - changes everything. We can use new technologies - including sensors, wireless, image analysis, motion detection, and embedded systems - to capture, monitor, and track presence, action, and even intention. In this new era of pervasive presence information, why would my phone simply ring when my entire office could be used to alert me that someone wants to contact me? In this article, we learn of the exciting work done by the group FoAM, in which entire environments are transformed into responsive spaces where people are inextricably part of influencing their environment by their presence, actions, and even intentions. FoAM offers a small window into the future of presence technology - where a person's intentions, as well as their actions, can effect change.

Chinanteco Management of Aechmea magdalenae: Implications for the Use of TEK and TRM in Management Plans1

The importance of incorporating traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and traditional resource management (TRM) into resource management plans is increasingly recognized, but little quantitative data exists on the ecological and economic implications of these systems. We quantitatively evaluate the TEK and TRM associated with the nontimber forest species, Aechmea magdalenae, in indigenous Chinanteco communities in Mexico. Two TRM systems for A. magdalenae are described and their effects on growth rates of individuals and populations are measured. Simulations using matrix population models combined with yield experiments reveal that one management system is higher yielding and less costly than the other. Thinning and transplanting are two of the most important management practices that enable populations to withstand higher rates of harvest than those predicted in a management plan that was not based on TRM. Quantitative evaluation of Chinanteco TEK is used to discuss how it may be best combined with science in management plans for nontimber forest species.

Presence, performance, and institutional resilience of sasi, a traditional management institution in Central Maluku, Indonesia

This article presents the results of a study performed in 1997–98 on the presence, performance and institutional resilience of sasi, a local traditional resource management system in Central Maluku, Indonesia. The presence and functionality of sasi in 63 villages was determined by way of structured key informant interviews that explored the existence of sasi ceremonies, presence of written rules and sanctions, level and consistency of activity over time, area of application of rules, and governing authorities. Performance was measured in 11 villages with strong sasi and 11 villages where it was weak. Performance was expressed in terms of biological and social sustainability, efficiency and equity. A number of factors were identified that contribute positively to the resilience of sasi as a local institution. The results of the study can be useful in the revitalization of traditional institutions or the establishment of new institutions in the context of decentralization and co-management in Indonesia and elsewhere.

Grassroots environmental action: people's participation in sustainable development

1. Introduction, Dharam Ghai and Jessica Vivian Part I: Approaches and Concepts 2. Sustainable Development and Popular Participation: A Framework for Analysis Michael Redclift 3. Foundations for Sustainable Development: Participation, Empowerment and Local Resource Management Jessica Vivian Part II: Traditional Systems Of Resource Management 4. The Barabaig Pastoralists of Tanzania: Sustainable Land Use in Jeopardy Charles Lane 5. The Zanjeras and the Ilocos Norte Irrigation Project: Lessons of Environmental Sustainability from Philippine Traditional Resource Management Systems Ruth Ammerman Yabes 6. Sustainable Development and People's Participation in Wetland Ecosystem Conservation in Brazil: Two Comparative Studies Antonio Carlos S. Diegues Part III: Social Action and the Environment 7. Urban Social Organisation and Ecological Struggle in Durango, Mexico Julio Moguel and Enrique Velazquez 8. Strategies for Autochthonous Development: Two Initiatives in Rural Oaxaca, Mexico Jutta Blauert and Marta Guidi 9. Ruining the Commons and Responses of the Commoners: Coastal Overfishing and Fishworkers' Actions in Kerala State, India John Kurien 10. From Environmental Conflicts to Sustainable Mountain Transformation: Ecological Action in the Garhwal Himalaya Jayanta Bandyopadhyay Part IV: Lessons from Environmental Projects 11. Environmental Rehabilitation in the Northern Ethiopian Highlands: Constraints to People's Participation Michael Stahl 12. Local Resource Management and Development: Strategic Dimensions of People's Participation Philippe Egger and Jean Majeres 13. Who Should Manage Environmental Problems? Some Lessons from Latin America Charles A. Reilly.

Washington Watch

Does anyone seriously think cultural anthropology or ethnography can contribute to the protection of domestic cultural and natural resources? Can the field really help preservation agencies identify natural places or sites and structures that have been, and still are, pivotal to the viability of American cultures, including Native American? Can cultural anthropologists actually analyze and explain traditional resource management systems so that conservation agencies understand them and their long-term effects on the habitat? Perhaps anthropologists are prepared to act on the view that it is both possible and desirable to address cultural resource management from a holistic perspective which, as Kealiinohomoku discussed (PA 9 [4], 1987), would bring ethnographic data and methods to bear on relationships between cultural systems, their carriers, and the materials they produce?