Out of the wilderness? Achieving sustainable development within Scottish national parks

The introduction of national parks to Scotland represents a significant shift in the evolution of protected area management within the UK. Although the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 adopts the established national park aims of conservation and recreation, provisions are also made for advancing notions of sustainable development. This paper provides an assessment of the degree to which the Scottish national park model is likely to enable the realisation of multiple national park objectives. Five key areas are considered for analysis. These relate to management aims, institutional arrangements, implementation, democratic accountability and funding. The evaluation reveals that whilst management provisions have been established in accordance with international sustainable development guidelines, a number of concerns relating to operational processes remain.

Examining Participatory Governance in a Devolving UK: insights from national parks policy development in Northern Ireland

This paper provides a contemporary examination of policy making and participatory practice in the context of devolving governance in the UK. The paper takes Northern Ireland as its focus and is particularly timely considering the context of devolved governance, the ongoing transition from conflict to relative peace and the potential for rejuvenating democracy through participatory
governance. The paper concentrates on one particular policy process, namely the attempted designation of a national park in the Mournes Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. A thematic analysis of qualitative data is drawn upon to analyse the structural factors that framed the policymaking process, in particular the role of power in determining how consultation processes were 2 initiated, designed and undertaken. Using Lukes’ model) as an analytical framework, power is shown to manifest at multiple levels within the policy-making process to influence policy outcomes. The paper reveals how the persistence of a top-down approach to policy development combined with a highly parochial political outlook undermined attempts to designate a Mourne National Park. The paper concludes that, given the immaturity of recently devolved government in
Northern Ireland, in this instance, the democratising intentions of devolved governance have not been met. This has implications for Northern Ireland’s recent reform of public administration which devolves certain planning powers to local authority level and the management of the internationally significant Mournes landscape.

Sustainability and the Multifunctional Landscape: An Assessment of the Cairngorms National Park Authority’s Approach to Planning and Management in Upland Scotland.

Upland Scotland contains some of Britain’s most prized areas of natural heritage value. However, although such areas may appear both ‘wild’ and ‘remote’, these are typically working landscapes which symbolise the interdependence of nature and society. The complexity of this relationship means that management responses will need to address a multitude of potentially conflicting priorities whilst at the same time ensuring that sufficient social and institutional capital exists to allow for the promotion of landscape integrity. The introduction of national parks to Scotland in the form of the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 allows for a high-level of protection for designated areas in upland Scotland. Yet, whilst the recent Act outlines the statutory purpose and direction national parks should take, it allows a significant degree of flexibility in theway in which the Actmay be implemented. This level of discretion allows for significant local distinctiveness within the model but also raises questions about the potential effectiveness of chosen responses. In order to assess the potential implications of a model rooted in self-determination,we provide a case study review of the institutional basis of the Cairngorms National Park along with an assessment of the strategic character of the first National Park Plan. It is argued that whilst the Cairngorms National Park Authority has developed a significant level of stakeholder engagement, the authority may struggle to bridge the policy-implementation gap. Although a number of shortcomings are identified, particular concerns relate to the potential mismatch between strategic ambition and local level capacity.

Levels of cadmium and zinc in soil and plants following the toxic spill from a pyrite mine, Aznalcollar, Spain

On 25 April 1998, a breach of the tailings dam of the Los Frailes pyrite mine in southwestern Spain resulted in the release of 6 million m(3) of acidic water and toxic sludge high in heavy metals. Contaminated material extended 40 km downstream, affecting agricultural land and parts of the wildlife-rich Donana Natural and National Parks, including the Entremuros, a very important area for birds. We report on the concentrations, distributions and bioavailability of zinc and cadmium in soil and vegetation from the Entremuros in November 1998 and October 1999, following 2 'cleanup' operations. Levels of Zn and Cd in soil increased significantly over this period, although this was not reflected consistently in metal concentrations in emergent macrophytes. We recommend monitoring of further cleanup attempts in order to develop means of minimizing potential impacts to wildlife in the area.

Protected area networks and savannah bird biodiversity in the face of climate change and land degradation

The extent to which climate change might diminish the efficacy of protected areas is one of the most pressing conservation questions. Many projections suggest that climate-driven species distribution shifts will leave protected areas impoverished and species inadequately protected while other evidence suggests that intact ecosystems within protected areas will be resilient to change. Here, we tackle this problem empirically. We show how recent changes in distribution of 139 Tanzanian savannah bird species are linked to climate change, protected area status and land degradation. We provide the first evidence of climate-driven range shifts for an African bird community. Our results suggest that the continued maintenance of existing protected areas is an appropriate conservation response to the challenge of climate and environmental change.

Extraordinary solute-stress tolerance contributes to the environmental tenacity of mycobacteria

Mycobacteria are associated with a number of well-characterized diseases, yet we know little about their stress-biology in natural ecosystems. This study focuses on the isolation and characterization of strains from Yellowstone-(YNP) and Glacier-National-Parks (GNP; USA), the majority of those identified were Mycobacterium parascrofulaceum, Mycobacterium avium (YNP) or Mycobacterium gordonae (GNP). Generally, their temperature windows for growth were >60°C; selected isolates grew at super-saturated concentrations of hydrophobic stressors and at levels of osmotic stress and chaotropic activity (up to 13.4 kJkg-1) similar to, or exceeding, those for the xerophilic fungus Aspergillus wentii and solvent-tolerant bacterium Pseudomonas putida. For example, mycobacteria grew down to 0.800 water-activity indicating that they are, with the sole exception of halophiles, more xerotolerant than other bacteria (or any Archaea). Furthermore, the fatty-acid composition of Mycobacterium cells grown over a range of salt concentrations changed less than that of other bacteria, indicating a high level of resilience, regardless of the stress load. Cells of M. parascrofulaceum, M. smegmatis and M. avium resisted the acute, potentially lethal challenges from extremes of pH (<1; >13), and saturated MgCl2-solutions (5 M; 212 kJ kg-1 chaotropicity). Collectively, these findings challenge the paradigm that bacteria have solute tolerances inferior to those of eukaryotes.

The African National Congress and its Critics: 'Predatory Liberalism', Black Empowerment and Intra-Alliance Tensions in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Post-apartheid South Africa is characterized by centralized, neo-liberal policymaking that perpetuates, and in some cases exaggerates, socio-economic inequalities inherited from the apartheid era. The African National Congress (ANC) leadership’s alignment with powerful international and domestic market actors produces tensions within the Tripartite Alliance and between government and civil society. Consequently, several characteristics of ‘predatory liberalism’ are evident in contemporary South Africa: neo-liberal restructuring of the economy is combined with an increasing willingness by government to assert its authority, to marginalize and delegitimize those critical of its abandonment of inclusive governance. A new form of oligarch power, combining entrenched economic interests with those of a new ‘black bourgeoisie’ promoted by narrowly implemented Black Economic Empowerment policies, diminishes prospects for broad-based socio-economic transformation. Because the new policy environment is failing to resolve tensions between global market demands for increasing market liberalization and domestic popular demands for poverty-alleviation and socio-economic transformation, the ANC leadership is forced increasingly to confront ‘ultra-leftists’ who are challenging its credentials as defender of the National Democratic Revolution which was the cornerstone in the anti-apartheid struggle.