The use and misuse of religious language: Zionism and the Palestinians

Every discipline which deals with the land question in Canaan-Palestine- Israel is afflicted by the problem of specialisation. The political scientist and historian usually discuss the issue of land in Israel purely in terms of interethnic and international relations, biblical scholars concentrate on the historical and archaeological question with virtually no reference to ethics, and scholars of human rights usually evade the question of God. What follows is an attempt, through theology and political history, to understand the history of the Israel-Palestine land question in a way which respects the complexity of the question. From a scrutiny of the language used in the Bible to the development of political Zionism from the late 19th century it is possible to see the way in which a secular movement mobilised the figurative language of religion into a literal 'title deed' to the land of Palestine signed by God.

Cows, cockies and atlases : use and abuse of biodiversity monitoring in environmental decision making

Lesson #I. Good long-term monitoring makes for informed and confident decisions on land management.
Lesson #2. Monitoring showing species and habitat decline can directly lead to better protection mechanisms.
Lesson #3. Results of monitoring can be ignored, misused and misquoted to achieve political ends.
Lesson #4. Are we seeing a decline in systematic species surveys by government?
Lesson #5. We don't know enough about what monitoring is happening and why monitoring isn't happening.
Lesson #6. Disparate data sets and cumbersome collection methods are hindering species status monitoring.
Lesson #7. Make better use of existing resomces and expertise.
Lesson #8. Make monitoring data more accessible and enable it to be more repeatable.
Lesson #9. Embed the requirement for monitoring in biodiversity and threatened species legislation.
Lesson #10. Understand better the social elements of ecological monitoring

Soil carbon stocks in wetlands of New Zealand and impact of land conversion since European settlement

Freshwater wetlands provide a range of ecosystem services, one of which is climate regulation. They are known to contain large pools of carbon (C) that can be affected by land-use change. In New Zealand, only 10 % of the original freshwater wetlands remain due to conversion into agriculture. This study presents the first national estimation of C stocks in freshwater wetlands based on the compilation of soil carbon data from 126 sites across the country. We estimated C stocks for two soil sample types (mineral and organic) in different classes of wetlands (fen, bog, swamp, marsh, pakihi and ephemeral), and extrapolated C stocks to national level using GIS. Bogs had high C content and low bulk densities, while ephemeral wetlands were the reverse. A regression between bulk density and C content showed a high influence of the soil type. Average C densities (average ± standard error) were 1,348 ± 184 t C ha⁻¹ at full peat depth (average of 3.9 m) and 102 ± 5 t C ha⁻¹ (0.3 m depth) for organic soils, and 121 ± 24 t C ha⁻¹ (0.3 m depth) for mineral soils. At national level, C stocks were estimated at 11 ± 1 Mt (0.3 m depth) and 144 ± 17 Mt (full peat depth) in organic soils, and 23 ± 1 Mt (0.3 m depth) in mineral soils. Since European settlement, 146,000 ha of organic soils have been converted to agriculture, which could release between 0.5 and 2 Mt CO2 year⁻¹, equivalent to 1–6 % of New Zealand’s total agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.

Habitat use and distribution of the beautiful firetail (stagonopleura bella) in foothill forests of the Victorian highlands, Australia

The Beautiful Firetail (Stagonopleura bella) is an uncommon, granivorous finch from coastal south-eastern Australia, with a distribution extending from mid-coastal New South Wales to south-eastern South Australia, including Tasmania. This paper presents a quantitative assessment of habitat use by the Beautiful Firetail based on data collected from 30 paired riparian and non-riparian sites in the foothill forests of the Victorian Highlands, Australia. The Beautiful Firetail occurred in two of the three forest blocks surveyed and was found almost exclusively at riparian sites. The Beautiful Firetail was most likely to occur at riparian sites on the coastal fall of the ranges at sites with high sedge cover and low cover of shrubs and bare ground. The species occurred at low densities (0.10–0.19 individuals ha^–1) throughout the year. Records from the Atlas of Victorian Wildlife were used to describe the distribution of Beautiful Firetails in Victoria. Notable observations inland of the Great Dividing Range were recorded during the present study. Further study is required to understand the ecological requirements of the Beautiful Firetail throughout its range.

Perceptions and attitudes of land managers in multi-tenure reserve networks and the implications for conservation

Multi-tenure reserve networks aim to connect areas managed for biodiversity conservation across public and private land and address the impacts of fragmentation on both biotic and social systems. The operation and function of Australian multi-tenure reserve networks as perceived by their land managers was investigated. Overall, the conservation of natural assets was the most frequently reported primary reason for involvement in a network. The perceived aims of the respective networks largely reflected the response identified for involvement and management. Over 88% of managers considered their involvement in multi-tenure reserve networks to be a positive or very positive experience. A lack of resources and time for management were considered major limitations of these networks. The majority (80%) of private land managers within networks were willing to be included in a national reserve system of conservation lands. As the Australian National Reserve System currently incorporates mostly public land, these findings have important and potentially positive implications for a greater role for protected private land.

How did we do anything without it?: Indigenous art and craft micro-enterprise use and perception of new media technology

The degree of new media technologies that are broadly available has changed considerably ill nearly two decades since they emerged. How do Indigenous art and craft micro-enterprises use these technologies today? What are their perceptions of it? There is a lack of current data about use of computer technology by Indigenous-owned art and craft enterprises. A current snapshot is needed of the use and consequences of new media technologies in these organisations. This paper reports on results from a 2006 survey of small Indigenous-owned arts enterprises across Australia, including for-profit and non-profit enterprises, those from metropolitan, regional and remote areas, and including both art centres and other types of arts enterprises. The data suggest a major change over the previous decade in the degree that small Indigenous art and craft organisations use and perceive new media technology.

Patterns of use and exchange of genetic resources of the striped catfish Pangasianodon hypophthalmus (Sauvage 1878)

The present paper reviews the use and exchange of genetic resources of the migratory freshwater fish Pangasianodon hypophthalmus (Sauvage 1878) (the striped or sutchi catfish). This species is naturally distributed in the Mekong River and Chao Phraya River basins, and is cultured in several countries, but current production occurs predominantly in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Catfish aquaculture in Vietnam has evolved from extensive systems using wild-caught seed to an intensified farming system that is entirely dependent on hatchery-produced seed. Genetic improvement programmes on catfish have started in Vietnam, but are still in their infancy. Genetic studies have revealed several subpopulations of the species. Apart from selective breeding and the production of hybrids with closely related species, no other technologies have been applied to improve the performance of catfish. The use and exchange of P. hypophthalmus genetic resources have brought benefits to rural communities. Aquaculture development of catfish has evolved from being seen as an exploitation of natural resources to an activity that can reduce pressure on wild fish populations. Management of aquaculture stocks need to be rationalised to minimise the potential impacts it might cause to wild populations.

Use and exchange of genetic resources of emerging species for aquaculture and other purposes

From a genetic resources viewpoint, emerging aquaculture species and species groups are examined mainly in terms of food use. In addition, we include species that are becoming increasingly important for biodiversity conservation and related ecotourism aspects. Together with ornamental fish species, we argue that these species are facing increasing vulnerability and warrant attention. Our intention is to raise awareness of the potential for increasing production and revenues from emerging species/species groups with an emphasis on an underlying link to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem preservation, and how this information will inform policy on access to the genetic resources and the sharing of benefits derived from their use. For food purposes, the fastest growing aquaculture sector is mariculture, and within this sector groupers and wrasses are considered to be the most important because they cater to the relatively lucrative live food fish restaurant trade (LFFRT), which is rapidly expanding in selected South-East Asian countries. In the Asian region, ecotourism is an emerging sector and a prominent fish group for this purpose is considered to be mahseer. A number of mahseer species are culturally and commercially important and are often seen as a group of indigenous species that are suitable for aquaculture. This review summarizes much of the limited information related to the patterns of use and exchange of genetic resources on emerging aquatic species/species groups, with particular reference to Asia.

Use and perceptions of worked example videos for first-year students studying mathematics in a primary education degree

Worked example videos have great potential to be useful for students when learning mathematics as they can work through the questions at their own pace, pausing as needed, but still learn from the way the demonstrator thinks and solves problems. We created worked example videos each week for a mathematics subject taught in the first year of a primary education degree and investigated student perceptions and their usage patterns. An additional aspect of this undertaking was the inclusion of subtitles to make the videos accessible to hearing impaired and ESL students. This report will reflect on the process of creating these videos, as well as some initial findings on their success.