A Reciprocal Triangulation Process For Identifying And Mapping Potential Land Use Conflict.

Land use in many areas is highly contested. An understanding of the nature of such conflicts, and of spatial variation in their intensity, is required to develop planning solutions. We present a novel process for attaining these outcomes which involves mapping of values and potential conflict between stakeholders determined using participatory GIS (PGIS) processes. Our starting point was an a priori identification of the values that were potentially in conflict. We produced quantitative and qualitative maps of each of the values that formed a basis for workshop discussion among small stakeholder groups. Each participant was asked to complete a questionnaire to determine their values and their attitudes to land use and to map the places that they would not be prepared to lose. Principal components analysis was used to identify the major independent axes in values and attitudes among all participants. We then used repeatable descriptive quantitative procedures to identify attitude groups. These analyses allowed us to identify potential conflicts between values that could be expressed in land use, spatial variation in attachment of groups and the intensity of potential conflict. In our test of the process in the Tarkine region of Tasmania, Australia, we found that land use conflict was multidimensional, involving incompatible recreational activities and incompatibility between nature conservation and economic production. Two-fifths of the area was shown to be not in contest, with considerable spatial variation in the intensity of conflict potential in the remainder. This latter variation could facilitate a process of land use compromise.

Jump Horse Safety: Reconciling Public Debate and Australian Thoroughbred Jump Racing Data, 2012-2014.

Thoroughbred jump racing sits in the spotlight of contemporary welfare and ethical debates about horse racing. In Australia, jump racing comprises hurdle and steeplechase races and has ceased in all but two states, Victoria and South Australia. This paper documents the size, geography, composition, and dynamics of Australian jump racing for the 2012, 2013, and 2014 seasons with a focus on debate about risks to horses. We found that the majority of Australian jump racing is regional, based in Victoria, and involves a small group of experienced trainers and jockeys. Australian jump horses are on average 6.4 years of age. The jump career of the majority of horses involves participating in three or less hurdle races and over one season. Almost one quarter of Australian jump horses race only once. There were ten horse fatalities in races over the study period, with an overall fatality rate of 5.1 fatalities per 1000 horses starting in a jump race (0.51%). There was significant disparity between the fatality rate for hurdles, 0.75 fatalities per 1000 starts (0.075%) and steeplechases, 14 fatalities per 1000 starts (1.4%). Safety initiatives introduced by regulators in 2010 appear to have significantly decreased risks to horses in hurdles but have had little or no effect in steeplechases. Our discussion considers these Animals 2015, 5 1073 data in light of public controversy, political debate, and industry regulation related to jump horse safety.

Perception of climate change and its impact by smallholders in pastoral/agropastoral systems of Borana, South Ethiopia.

This study investigates the perception of historic changes in climate and associated impact on local agriculture among smallholders in pastoral/agropastoral systems of Borana in southern Ethiopia. We drew on empirical data obtained from farm household surveys conducted in 5 districts, 20 pastoral/agropastoral associations and 480 farm households. Using this data, this study analyses smallholders' perception of climate change and its associated impact on local agriculture, and the effect of various household and farm attributes on perception. Results suggest that most participants perceived climatic change and its negative impact on agricultural and considered climate change as a salient risk to their future livelihoods and economic development. Different levels of perception were expressed in terms of climate change and the impact on traditional rain-fed agriculture. Age, education level, livestock holding, access to climate information and extension services significantly affected perception levels. Household size, production system, farm and non-farm incomes did not significantly affect perception levels of smallholders. Smallholders attributed climate change to a range of biophysical, deistic and anthropogenic causes. Increased access to agricultural support services, which improves the availability and the quality of relevant climate information will further enhance awareness of climate change within of the rural community and result in better management of climate-induced risks in these vulnerable agricultural systems.

An analysis of the breakdown of paper products (toilet paper, tissues and tampons) in natural environments, Tasmania, Australia.

An examination of the relative breakdown rates of unused toilet paper, facial tissues and tampons was undertaken in nine different environments typical of Tasmanian natural areas. Bags of the paper products (toilet paper, facial tissues, tampons) were buried for periods of 6, 12 and 24 months at depths of 5 and 15 cm. A nutrient solution simulating human body wastes was added to half of the samples, to test the hypothesis that the addition of nutrients would enhance the breakdown of paper products buried in the soil. Mean annual rainfall was the most important measured variable determining mean breakdown in the nutrient addition treatment between sites, with high rainfall sites (mean annual rainfall of greater than 650 mm) recording less decayed products than the drier sites (mean annual rainfall of 500-650 mm). Temperature and soil organic content were important influences on the breakdown of the unfertilised products. Toilet paper and tissues decayed more readily than tampons. Nutrient addition enhanced decay for all products across all sites. Depth of burial was not important in determining the degree to which products decayed. In alpine environments, burial under rocks at the surface did not increase the speed of decay of any product. The Western Alpine site, typical of alpine sites in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, showed very little decay over the two-year period, even for nutrient enhanced products. Management prescriptions should be amended to dissuade people from depositing human toilet waste in the extreme (montane to alpine) environments in western Tasmania. Tampons should continue to be carried out as currently prescribed.

Impacts of nutrient additions and digging for human waste disposal in natural environments, Tasmania, Australia.

Very little research has been undertaken on the impacts of human toilet waste disposal in non-serviced sites in the wild. The objective of the present project was to determine the relative impacts of the mechanical disturbance of digging during the burial of toilet waste (faeces and toilet paper), and urination, on Tasmanian vegetation types that occur in areas used for wild country camping, in order to develop appropriate guidelines. The mechanical disturbance of digging cat-holes 15 cm deep, typical of those used for toilet disposal in the Tasmanian wild, had largely negative effects on the growth of a few native plant species. These effects were of little or no conservation significance. The nutrient additions simulated by the addition of artificial urine to undug ground and dug ground had largely positive effects on nine distinct types of native vegetation, encouraging the growth of many plant species at many sites, while discouraging the growth of moss at one site. No weed species found at any of the sites were significantly affected by the treatments. Thus, it appears that scattered disposal of urine, even combined with digging, is unlikely to present a major conservation problem in the Tasmania's wild country, and that present guidelines are appropriate, where achievable.