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The Consequences of Biodiversity Loss for Human Well-being
Charles Perrings and Ann Kinzig (Arizona State University)
1. Biodiversity Change and Human Wellbeing
Biodiversity is frequently thought of as synonymous with species diversity in wild lands, and biodiversity loss is frequently thought of as synonymous with the extinction of wild species. But biodiversity is much more than species diversity in wild lands, and biodiversity loss is much more than species extinction. Biodiversity is the variety of species used in both the production and consumption of goods and services. Examples include the ornamental plants, birds and animals that people use to enrich their lives, the variety of foods they use to enrich their diet, the mix of biofuels or fibers used to support productive activities. It includes the genetic diversity of cultivated crops, of crop pests, of wild crop relatives, of weedy species. It includes the range of biotic disease agents that affect human, animal and plant health, and the species used to control disease such as traditional medicinal plants and the plants used as the source of modern pharmaceuticals. The biotechnology sector is as dependent on genetic and species diversity as agriculture, forestry or wild capture fisheries. Biodiversity change does encompass a dramatic increase in the rate at which species are going extinct (Convention on Biological Diversity 2010, Hoffmann et al. 2010). But it also encompasses an even more dramatic transformation of terrestrial and marine ecosystems fueled by land use and land cover change. It includes the simplification of agro-ecosystems, production forests, wild capture fisheries and aquaculture, resulting in the increased abundance of crops, livestock, and farmed fish stocks, and the suppression of crop and livestock competitors, predators, pests, and pathogens (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005a).
The last century has seen more change in all these facets of biodiversity than the preceding millennium. That change has impact human wellbeing in many ways. Sometimes the impact is captured in market prices. Diseases of commercial crops, for example, almost always result in an increase in their cost of production, and so the cost to the consumer. Sometimes they do not. The local extinction of a songbird is unlikely to trigger a change in prices. It turns out that if we are judging how much biodiversity change is warranted by the benefits conferred on humanity, this distinction matters. Changes that are directly reflected in market prices attract our attention. Changes that have no direct affect on market prices are ignored. In this paper we ask what can be said about the welfare implications of anthropogenic changes in the diversity of genes, species, and ecosystems. To do this, we discuss why people have altered their environment in such dramatic ways, and what they might have missed in the process.
Our starting point is the concept of ecosystem services, popularized by the Millennium Assessment (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005b). This concept gives us a way of characterizing the interests that people have in their environment. Ecosystem services are the flow of benefits (or costs) obtained from ecosystems. Many are managed through the control people exercise over ecosystem structures and processes. Production of most foods, fuels, and fibers, for example, involves the transformation of natural ecosystems, and their distribution involves market transactions between producers and consumers. The marketed products of agriculture, aquaculture, forestry and fisheries are private goods—said to be both 'rival' and 'exclusive' in consumption. They are rival in the sense that their consumption by one person precludes their consumption by others (two people can't eat the same food). They are exclusive in the sense that their ownership by one person confers the right to exclude others (the person who purchases food is able to deny others access to that food). These properties give individual producers and consumers of foods, fuels, and fibers secure rights over the capturable benefits they offer, and hence a strong interest in their production and consumption. Many of the incidental effects of agriculture, aquaculture, forestry and fisheries are neither rival nor exclusive. The depletion and fragmentation of habitat, the offsite pollution of air, soil, and water, and the genetic effects of pesticide applications, all affect other people and other species. Moreover, their impacts on one person or one species do not diminish their impacts on other people or other species. They are public goods (or bads) generated through market transactions, but external to those transactions.
Many of the environmental consequences of productive activities have similar properties. The storm protection offered by coastal mangroves, for example, depends on the combined activities of many independent land users. Once provided, none can be excluded from the benefits it offers. Moreover, the protection of one person has no implications for the protection offered to others. While the benefits it offers may be capitalized into the value of protected assets, they are directly priced.
Agriculture is one example of an activity that has yielded substantial private benefits to humankind, but only at the public cost of reducing biodiversity. While the benefits are recorded faithfully in national income and product account, the biodiversity costs are not. There are many other activities that similarly yield benefits at some biodiversity cost. Aside from agriculture, industrial activity, infrastructural development, and urbanization all involve the conversion of habitat to alternative uses, and so lead to the loss of the species that occupied the converted habitat. Industrial development frequently has offsite effects involving the pollution of air, water and soils that reduce the abundance or richness of species in affected areas. The development of roads, railways, power transmission corridors, and canals also fragments the habitats through which they pass, with similar effects on species richness and abundance. Urban development typically transforms existing habitat, sometimes leaving fragments intact, but always introducing new communities of microorganisms, insects, plants and animals. In some cases, the biodiversity in urban systems is much greater than the biodiversity in the habitats displaced by urban development. This is almost always true of microorganisms, but is frequently true of plants as well (Crane and Kinzig 2005). In others, little is added beyond the human commensals and micro-and macro-parasites that accompany dense human populations.
By contrast, conservation is an activity that focuses first and foremost on the preservation of biodiversity for the public good. It involves not just the designation and implementation of protected areas in existing wilderness areas, but the restoration of degraded ecosystems, the design and implementation of conservation-compatible development projects, and the establishment of a regulatory framework designed to limit the impact of other activities on biodiversity outside protected areas. The earliest protected areas were hunting reserves, and many modern wildlife sanctuaries and national parks have their origin in such reserves. In the last century, the focus has switched to the protection of wilderness areas of outstanding natural beauty, and landscapes of special cultural significance. In the USA, much of the impetus came from the conservation-minded president Theodore Roosevelt. Across the world, however, the designation of protected areas has followed a similar pattern, focusing on landscapes of special significance, reserves dedicated to the protection of mega- vertebrates, or sites of special scientific interest. Just under 15% of the worlds land area is now protected. A much smaller proportion of the oceans under territorial jurisdiction, around 7%, is protected as of now, but the rate at which new sea areas within national jurisdiction are being brought under some form of protection is much greater than on land. In the period since the Caracas Action Plan, protected national waters have increased by more than 130%. It is nevertheless is a vanishingly small proportion of the world's oceans as a whole, but is expected to continue to grow rapidly.
In Latin America, Eastern, South-Eastern and Western Asia the selection of new areas for protection increasingly targets densely populated areas having high 'conservation value'. These 'biodiversity hotspots' (Myers 1988) are areas characterized by high levels of endemism, on the one hand, and high levels of anthropogenic stress, on the other. Just as the growth of agriculture in pursuit of privately capturable benefits has had a (public) external cost, so the growth of protected areas has a (private) external cost – to the people who lose access to the resources involved. And just as neglect of the public external costs of agriculture can result in too much biodiversity loss, so neglect of the private external costs of protection can result in too much conservation. The two cases are not, however, symmetric.
Since most of the gains from agriculture are private, while most of the external costs are public, the default outcome has been neglect of the public costs. Farmers have had little incentive to take account of their effect on biodiversity. Since most of the gains from conservation are public, however, while most of the external costs are private, the default outcome has been under-provision of the public good. Those displaced by protected areas have had an incentive to oppose them. Those asked to fund protected areas have had an incentive to free ride on the efforts of others.
The same asymmetry affects all activities that contribute to biodiversity loss. While the gains offered by those activities warrant some biodiversity loss, no one has an incentive to ask how much. Nor do they have an incentive to limit their activity. The protection of human, animal, and plant health warrants some reduction in the abundance of viruses, bacteria, and fungi. The production of foods, fuels, and fibers warrants some reduction in the abundance of plant pests and predators. That is not the problem. It is the unwarranted, ill-considered loss of biodiversity as an external effect of production and consumption decisions that is the problem.
In this paper we consider the impact of unwarranted biodiversity loss on human wellbeing. To do this we first discuss the effect of biodiversity loss on ecosystem functioning, and the delivery of ecosystem services. We then consider which services are most likely to be neglected in the decisions people make, and why those services matter.
2. Unwarranted biodiversity loss as a consequence of poverty, parochialism and myopia
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment identified four broad types of ecosystem services. The first, the provisioning services, involve the production of foods, fuels, fibers, genetic material, water and so on. They all involve the consumptive use of ecosystems. The second, the cultural services, include the non-consumptive benefits that people get from their environment, such as recreation, aesthetic satisfaction, inspiration, information, spiritual meaning, and the importance of place. The third, the regulating services, comprise the buffering functions of the environment. They include the mitigation of a wide range of natural and anthropogenic environmental risks, including storms, flooding, drought, and disease. They also include the assimilation of pollutants of one kind or another. The fourth, the supporting services, comprise basic ecosystem processes such at photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, soil formation and so on. The first two are generally well served by markets. The last two are not. They are also the services that most depend on the diversity of species in an ecosystem, and that are most likely to be public in nature. The external effects of production and consumption decisions are accordingly most likely to impact these services.
Our central point is there are very good reasons why people should behave in ways that cause a loss of biodiversity. The need to produce food, to generate a safe living environment or to combat disease, can all be expected to lead to a loss of biodiversity. But at the same time, the concerns that lead people to simplify agro-ecosystems, to exclude predators, or to control disease vectors, have consequences for human wellbeing over greater areas and on longer time scales than most people are able to consider. Taking the long view, or empathizing with people on the other side of the world is, for many, a luxury they cannot afford. Parochialism and myopia are often products of poverty.
The Brundtland Report (WCED, 1987) argued that there existed a causal connection between environmental change and poverty both within and between generations. A large literature has subsequently examined the empirical relation between per capita income (GDP or GNP) and environmental change. What it shows is that the relation between changes in income and changes in the environment are complex, involving feedback effects in both directions. The consensus view by the time the Millennium Assessment began its work was that although poverty alleviation did not necessarily enhance environmental quality, and could increase stress on the environment, environmental protection generally benefitted the poor (Markandya 2001).
The evidence since then is more mixed. The linkages between poverty and environmental change are often indirect – working through, for example, changes in fertility rates. Where people's access to assets is uncertain, and their expectations of secure future income are low, their response is often to increase fertility rates. This can increase pressure on the environment, further compromising future income, resulting in a positive feedback between poverty, fertility, and environmental change (Dasgupta 2001). While growth in the demand for food in high-income countries has generally stimulated the intensification of agriculture, in low-income countries it has frequently led to extensive growth. More mouths to feed has meant more people farming more land. In cases where traditional land tenure and resource access regimes prevail, and where credit markets are poorly developed, increasing demand for food can only be met by land clearance (International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge Science and Technology for Development 2008).
Most people in the least developed countries still live in rural areas, and still make a living from agriculture. In the poorest countries, more than 75% of the population earn a living from agriculture.[1] In many of these countries rural population growth rates are still positive and, in some Sub-Saharan African countries (specifically in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Uganda) are still increasing (World Bank 2013).
Poverty alleviation in such cases implies agricultural growth – whether extensive or intensive. The case for poverty alleviation to benefit biodiversity assumes intensive growth. Where it reduces the rate of land conversion, for example, intensification reduces habitat loss (Foley 2005, Bruinsma 2009, Sachs et al. 2009, Godfray et al. 2010, Foley et al. 2011). Initiatives designed to promote crop improvements and integrated pest management are accordingly argued to offer positive conservation externalities (Pretty et al. 2011). The evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa does support the notion that intensification offers long-term but not short-term conservation benefits. It also shows that extensive growth is the primary threat to endangered endemic species. The extensive growth of agriculture over the last fifty years is strongly and positively correlated with the threat to endemic species. Intensification has the opposite effect. In the long run, intensification reduces the incentive for poorer farmers to convert forests, savannas, and grasslands to crop production (Perrings and Halkos 2015).
On shorter timescales, however, extensive growth and intensive growth are equally damaging. Aside from habitat loss, nutrient runoff and the application of insecticides and fungicides have negative impacts on wild plants (Firbank et al. 2008, Geiger et al. 2010), as well as indirect impacts via effects on pollinators (Kremen et al. 2002, Potts et al. 2010), and pest predators (Zhao et al. 2015). Expansion of the area committed to agriculture reduces habitat, and with it both species richness and abundance. The introduction of roads (and development along roads) leads to the fragmentation of habitat. While this may not immediately reduce species richness, the long run effects are quite similar.
The question is how much habitat (and hence biodiversity) loss is warranted. The answer depends on the balance between the costs of the biodiversity lost through habitat conversion and the benefits of income growth amongst the rural poor. The costs of biodiversity loss occur at many scales. The conservation of the genetic diversity on which all future evolution depends, for example, is a public good at the global scale, as is the control of emerging infectious diseases that have the potential to become pandemic. But the conservation of species that have totemic, cultural or spiritual significance to particular groups is a public good at the scale of those groups only. Similarly, the ecosystem services supported by biodiversity provide benefits at many different scales. Pollination services tend to be quite localized. Watershed protection, on the other hand, can extend from extremely small scales to regions involving several countries.
At both local and global levels, the public good nature of biodiversity conservation implies that, if left to the market, there will be too little conservation effort. People will take some account of the biodiversity costs of their activities, but not enough. They will acknowledge the costs that fall on them, but not on others. Biodiversity loss that affects ecosystem services benefiting future generations or people other than kith and kin will be neglected.
Myopia and parochialism have many causes. Just as the resurgent nationalism of the post recession years is marked by an unwillingness to acknowledge the international environmental consequences of local production and consumption, so the adoption of corporate approaches to accountability is marked by a reluctance to take a long view of the public good. Our concern is with the role of poverty as a driver of both myopia and parochialism. There are three elements to this.
The first element is the relation between poverty and information on the broader and longer-term consequences of biodiversity change. Poor resource users might well have a good understanding of the local ecological consequences of their actions gained through observation (Berkes et al. 2000), but could not be expected to have the kind of understanding of system-wide consequences that can only be gained from a scientific education. In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, although primary school enrolment rates have been rising rapidly, nearly one quarter of all young people have never attended primary school, and nearly three quarters have never attended secondary school (Preece 2006).
The second element is the rate at which households discount the future. Building on a long-standing observation that discount rates depend on income (Fisher 1930), it has been found that increasing poverty causes people to discount the longer-term consequences of their decisions more heavily (Perrings 1989, Chavas 2002). This in turn discourages investment in conservation and environmental enhancement. Perversely, it can induce the poor to run down environmental assets in ways that undermine their own future security.
The third element, is the relation between poverty and the weight people attach to their impact on those outside their immediate community. Two manifestations of this are the weakness of the social capital to which the poor have access (Cleaver 2005), and its limited reach (Collier 2002). While household networks might well extend along labor migration routes, there is little to connect poor communities.
A common consequence of this is that changes caused by the independent decisions of rural households in many parts of the world have impacts that are largely unknown, and largely ignored. What are they?
3. The costs of unwarranted loss
We have argued that the value of biodiversity – the composition of species – derives from the complementarity and substitutability between species in the supply of ecosystem services over a range of environmental conditions. Biodiversity has a portfolio effect on the risks attaching the supply of ecosystem services. Species have functional traits that enable them to execute the ecological functions that underpin particular services. Individual species may be near-perfect functional substitutes for other species only if they share a full set of traits with those other species (Naeem 1998). Species are also related through ecological interactions – trophic relationships, competition, parasitism, facilitation and so on – that make them more or less complementary in executing ecological functions (Thébault and Loreau 2006). Their value depends on their substitutability and complementarity in the delivery of valuable services. Value is not an inherent property of either individual species or species richness, but reflects the fact that people are willing to pay (either monetarily or in other ways) for the services biodiversity yields.
What people are willing to pay depends partly on the characteristics of individual species, functional groups of species and so on, and partly on peoples' preferences, institutions, culture and technology. But it also depends on the distribution of income and wealth. The rich are able to pay more for ecosystem services than the poor. This biases the relative value of the many ecosystem services supported by biodiversity in favour of those preferred by the rich. In fact, even if the relative weight given to some service by the poor was greater than that given to the same service by the rich, the preferences of the rich would still dominate.
Much effort has gone into estimating the aggregate willingness to pay of different communities for the benefits of ecosystem services (Heal et al. 2005). Ecosystem services are typically intermediate inputs – they are used to produce directly valued goods or services. It is clear that non-consumptive use values map into the Millennium Assessment's cultural services, whereas direct and indirect consumptive use values map into the provisioning services. Non-use values may map into either category. They refer to use by other people or other species and that use may be either consumptive or non-consumptive. The timing of use is also important. This is partly because consumption in the future is less valuable to people than consumption today, and partly because the future is uncertain. Ecosystem services of species that are not important today might be important in the future. It follows that today's biodiversity has an option value (in the sense that it might contain a cure for future diseases, the biological control of future pests, or the basis for a new technology) (Simpson et al. 1996, Goeschl and Swanson 2003). So the option value of biodiversity conservation is equivalent to an insurance premium against future pests or diseases (Baumgärtner 2007, Quaas and Baumgartner 2007).
We note, in passing, that none of these values are consistent with the notion that species have intrinsic value. This is not to say that ethics and aesthetics are unimportant. They are major factors in the value of species for some people. So too are religious convictions, cultural traditions and social norms. The non-use values identified by economists include the value of assuring the continued existence of species, not only for the enjoyment of the valuer, but also for the benefit of future generations, of people elsewhere on the planet, and of other species. It is the willingness of people to commit resources towards some end that enables us to derive the value of the ecosystem components needed to meet that end. This is ultimately constrained by the availability of resources: i.e. willingness to pay is ultimately constrained by ability to pay. The environmental impacts of local land use decisions, but neglected by local land users, typically affect risks at different scales. We take just two examples. The first involves the risks posed by the emergence and dispersal of pests and pathogens through the extensive growth of agriculture. The conversion of wild habitat to pasture or crop production is not only a driver of local biodiversity loss, but also a source of species introductions across the wider system. While the potential costs this imposes on producers elsewhere are substantial, they are not part of the local land users' calculus. The poor ignore the risk.
The opening of new markets or trade routes has resulted in the introduction of new species either as the object of trade or, more frequently, as the unintended consequence of trade. The growth in the volume of trade along existing routes has increased the frequency with which new introductions are repeated, and hence the probability that an introduced species will establish and spread (Cassey et al. 2004, Semmens et al. 2004). Indeed, the volume and direction of trade turn out to be good empirical predictors of species dispersal (Levine et al. 2003, Costello et al. 2007).
The costs of species dispersal include both direct and indirect effects. Direct effects include the impacts of pests and disease outbreaks in agricultural systems generally. One (dated) estimate of the damage caused by species dispersal put it at 53% of agricultural GDP in the U.S.A., but at 96% of agricultural GDP in South Africa, and 112% of agricultural GDP in Brazil (Pimentel et al. 2001). The indirect effects have not been evaluated but include, for example, the loss of native species over a wide range of ecosystems (Daszak et al. 2000). This in turn affects the capacity of ecosystems to deliver the services that underpin much economic activity, and to absorb anthropogenic and environmental stresses and shocks without losing resilience (Kinzig et al. 2002, Loreau et al. 2002, Naeem et al. 2009).
Potentially much larger, are the costs of infectious diseases of humans. Most such diseases are zoonotic, and have their origin at the interface between wildlands and farmlands. Although the burden of infectious diseases falls primarily on the people in the developing world, pandemics such as HIV-AIDS, SARS, or highly pathogenic avian flu, affect the wellbeing of people everywhere. For SARS, for example, the global cost of a single outbreak was estimated to be as much as USD 50 billion (Gupta et al. 2005, Beutels et al. 2009). The World Bank estimates that a severe influenza pandemic could cost $3 trillion – nearly 5% of GDP (World Bank 2012). Globally, total health expenditures accounted for just under 10% of GDP in 2014 (World Bank 2017). The range of expenditures is very wide – from 1.5% of GDP in East Timor to 17.1% in the USA. This reflects disparities in income and priorities rather than disparities in health. The first Global Burden of Disease survey showed that Sub-Saharan Africa and India experienced 21.4% and 20·9% of the burden of disease, respectively, but accounted for only 0.7% and 1.0% of health expenditures. The established market economies, on the other hand, accounted for 7.2% of the burden of disease but 87·3% of health expenditures (Murray and Lopez 1997). Nor has the position changed much since then. Emerging infectious diseases that have their origins in cross-species contact at the interface between farmlands and wildlands in poor countries may impose the highest cost in rich countries.
Our second example, involves the cumulative risks of biodiversity loss in agro- ecosystems. In these systems, the species with the greatest impact on human wellbeing are cultivated plants. The raw material for all modern varieties are landraces – traditionally cultivated plants that are morphologically distinct, have some genetic integrity but are also genetically variable and dynamic, and have distinctive properties in terms of yield, date of maturity, pest and disease resistance and so on. The traits of many landraces have been bred into modern cultivars offering a range of benefits in terms of productivity, pest and disease resistance, and drought tolerance. The modern cultivars are also genetically stable. The conservation problem in these developments lies in the widespread adoption of improved seeds. The more that farmers adopt the modern varieties, the less effort is made to maintain landraces and wild crop relatives. Indeed, genetic erosion of crops has been mostly associated with the introduction of modern cultivars (van de Wouw et al. 2010).
The conservation of land races and crop wild relatives lies in their dynamic nature. If in situ populations of land races and crop wild relatives are able to evolve under climatic or other selection pressure, they may develop traits that are helpful to future plant breeding efforts (Food and Agriculture Organization 2010). Ex situ collections can provide valuable insurance against extinction in place, but they cannot substitute for this property of land races and wild crop relatives. Wild crop relatives are particularly problematic, since they have fallen into the cracks between ex situ conservation of domesticated crops in collections and in situ conservation of endangered wild species in protected areas (Food and Agriculture Organization 2010).[2]
The genetic engineering of modern cultivars may be opening some new options for seed producers, but the disappearance of landraces and wild crop relatives at a time of rapid environmental change is closing down many more. A reduction in the genetic diversity of landraces and wild crop relatives is reducing the resilience of agro-ecosystems, and hence the capacity to adapt the production of foods, fuels and fibers to future environmental stresses – climate change amongst them. In the language of ecosystem services, the role of landraces and wild crop relatives in regulating production risks over time has been compromised. At the same time, the increasingly widespread adoption of a small number of modern varieties has potentially increased the spatial correlation of risk across agro-ecosystems. The more widespread is the adoption of common cultivars, the greater is the potential for simultaneous crop failures across the system (Smale et al. 2008).
4. What to do?
Many of the poorest people in the world have a natural interest in biodiversity – in the species needed to support production of foods, fuels and fibers, in the availability of medicines (old and new), in landscapes that have totemic or cultural significance, in the regulation of water flows, microclimate, pests and pathogens. They have a farmer's interest in predators, weeds, and diseases, a hunter's interest in wildlife, a gatherer's interest in honey and fruits. In fact these are the interests that make land conversion destructive of habitat. Decades of evidence on the effectiveness of integrated conservation and development projects has shown how difficult it is to reconcile protected area-based conservation with the development aspirations of a growing rural population (Adams et al. 2004, Wells et al. 2004).
The most urgent and important objective in many countries is poverty alleviation, not biodiversity conservation. For the rural poor, the only reasonable road to poverty alleviation is agriculture. If the Global North believes that the cost of biodiversity loss caused by the extensive growth of agriculture in poor countries is unacceptably high, then it should invest in development options that conserve natural assets of global importance, and that involve less collateral damage to other species. There is little evidence that appeals based on conservation value have had much impact beyond the establishment of protected areas. Aside from the arguments most frequently invoked by conservation biologists, however, there are two utilitarian reasons to believe that global investment in the economic development of the poorest countries in the world would offer benefits both in terms of the conservation of endangered endemic species everywhere, and in terms of our global capacity to navigate the risks of environmental change.
First, as the One Health approach indicates, human, animal, and plant health are closely interconnected across space and over time. The experience of HIV-AIDS, SARS, MERS, Nipah Virus, Zika and many other zoonotic epidemics has shown that human health in the richest countries is tightly connected to contact between livestock and wildlife in the poorest countries. The 2014 West African Ebola outbreak prompted a review of the effectiveness of current efforts to manage global health, along with calls for the establishment of stronger global mechanisms for the governance of the health risks of trade and travel, and increased global investment in epidemic and pandemic response capability (Gates 2015). The World Bank estimates that if the international community invested $3.4 billion annually in improved global pandemic detection and response, it could generate annual benefits to the global community of $30 billion (depending upon how many pandemics were averted) (World Bank 2012). It is reasonable to see investment in measures that reduce the risks of cross-species contacts in the same way.
Second, we have argued that all of humanity has a strong interest in the in situ conservation of the genetic material in landraces and wild crop relatives that are currently being lost as poor farmers switch to modern varieties. The ever-widening range of pharmaceutical, industrial, and consumer products that incorporate genetic material from other species suggests that global interest in the in situ conservation of genetically dynamic material extends well beyond foods, fuels, and fibers. But even if we were only concerned with our capacity to feed ourselves as environmental conditions change, there is a strong case for strengthening farmers' incentives to conserve plant genetic material.
At the international level, farmers' rights are recognized through the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), (United Nations 1993) and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the Plant Treaty)(International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture 2009). Both instruments leave authority over genetic resources with national governments. The CBD focuses on the conservation and sustainable use of wild-living species and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their utilization, while the Plant Treaty focuses on the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their use. Landraces clearly fall under the Plant Treaty. While wild crop relatives are in principle covered by the CBD, in practice they tend to fall between the two stools.
Both treaties aim to protect a global public good – the genetic resources needed to manage environmental change in an uncertain future. But both also force interventions through bilateral or multilateral agreements between national governments. There are, however, other options. Direct investment by the Gates Foundation, or by non- governmental organizations such at the Nature Conservancy or Conservation International, illustrate one option. Payments for Ecosystem Services are another. Such schemes offer a mechanism for civil society to invest in the common wealth of humankind. They may not be effective mechanisms for poverty alleviation (Kinzig et al. 2011), but they can potentially convert global willingness to pay for the conservation of plant genetic material into direct incentives to farmers (Perrings 2014).
What is needed to secure the global public interest in conservation is little short of a 'Marshall Plan' for environmentally sustainable development in the world's poorest economies. Biodiversity conservation is only one among many potential global benefits of a development strategy that focuses on the poorest countries, and that specifically takes the environmental consequences of alternative investment options into account. While this is a frequently stated aim of development assistance programs, there is not much evidence that development programs have in fact been structured in this way. The pervasiveness of "win-win" narratives for simultaneous biodiversity protection and poverty alleviation (Sachs et al. 2009) – whether through creation of protected areas or introduction of payment for ecosystem services schemes – means that needed protections both for biodiversity and for people have often been overlooked, or added only later in an ad hoc and often inefficient manner, after harms have already been experienced.
There are also good examples of what not to do. Large-scale land acquisition (LaSLA) is the phenomenon of multinational companies and/or foreign governments, sometimes in collaboration with national-level wealthy investors, leasing or purchasing significant tracts of land in developing countries for the purposes of producing food or biofuels for export. Although LaSLA is argued to spur investment, to develop rural infrastructure, and to build capacity in local populations, the evidence suggests that more common outcomes are the disenfranchisement, and loss of livelihood of local people. Much of this investment is taking place in Sub-Saharan Africa. An analysis of the factors that "drive" investor interest in LaSLA in 20 countries in the region for which there was sufficient data revealed that the main factors contributing to LaSLA were government effectiveness, regulatory quality, and the "rule of law". Interestingly, though, LaSLA activity increased with improvements in government effectiveness, but decreased with improvements in regulatory quality and rule of law (which includes effectiveness of property rights regimes). This suggests investors are looking for countries where "making a deal" is straightforward (government effectiveness) but enforcement of that deal may be weak. This reinforces the concern that local people may be deprived of the potential benefits of LaSLA, while bearing the costs (Nkansah-Dwamena and Kinzig In review).
There is little evidence that economic growth will, by and of itself, reduce the threat to valuable functional groups of species. There is, however, evidence, that development programs can be devised that both improve living standards and mitigate the biodiversity risks of extensive agricultural growth. Some components of such programs are quite familiar: intensification of agriculture, development of employment opportunities in non-agricultural sectors, extension of education and training opportunities, strengthening of credit markets, establishment of secure property rights and so on. Others are less so: land use/investment zones to complement protected areas, separation of agricultural production zones from wild habitat, extension of property rights to include genetic material, institutional reforms to regulate common pool resources, and the development of incentives to resource users to undertake activities that serve the global public good (public-private environmental partnerships) (Perrings 2014).
To conclude, we draw attention to the significant social justice issues associated both with unwarranted biodiversity loss and with efforts to protect biodiversity, or mitigate loss. For one thing, the poor (at household, community, and national scales) are more dependent on natural resources than are the rich, and thus more likely to suffer the negative consequences of unwarranted biodiversity loss. For another, the poor are less likely to have the rights – or the capacity to exercise those rights – to be represented in decisions about how local biodiversity is to be managed. That means decisions being taken are more likely to reflect the interests of the rich and powerful – either within the nation or those who are foreign nationals. Since we have already seen that the poor and rich can have very different interests in how biodiversity is to be managed, this can undermine the often already precarious livelihoods of the poor. Furthermore, when the national or global community is willing to compensate the local community for biodiversity management that favors the broader interests, the poor may be overlooked in that compensation if they lack property rights or representation.
In a provocative paper on climate change, Schelling argued that the best climate-change strategy for poor nations was to develop their economies. Although this would inevitably lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, and so would be worse from a global perspective, each poor country would be better off because they would have reduced their reliance on the natural resource base (Schelling 1997). We have drawn attention to something quite similar in the case of biodiversity. In the "rich" nations of the world, agriculture's share in GDP averages about 5%, while in the poor nations of the world it averages about 25%. And in these poor nations, nearly 70% of the population resides in rural areas, and is directly dependent on both marketed and non-marketed natural resources for survival (Dasgupta 2007). A survey of rural communities in 24 developing countries found that "environmental income" (income derived from uncultivated forest and non-forest products) delivered, on average, 28% of total household income (Angelsen et al. 2014). One implication of this is that any unwarranted degradation in biodiversity is going to disproportionately affect the poor – both at the household and national level. A second, is that if the economic development of poor countries reduces the number of people directly dependent on natural resources, it will also reduce stress on biodiversity.
Our central point is that some loss of biodiversity to advance human well being is undoubtedly warranted, though the decisions of the rich and poor as to how much and what types of biodiversity could productively be eliminated will differ. Since the poor often lack property rights or are otherwise disenfranchised from decision making, the world risks biodiversity outcomes that reflect the desires of the rich more than they do the poor. But this also creates a space for negotiation between the rich and the poor. This can (and does) include government-to-government or intergovernmental organization-to-government negotiated conservation and development projects, but it can also include private and/or non-governmental initiatives. At a time when many national governments are pulling back from established international commitments, and are becoming more isolationist and protectionist, this may be the space in which the global public interest is best protected.
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[1] This group of countries includes Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lao People's Dem Rep, Lesotho, Malawi, Micronesia, Fed States, Nepal, Niger, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uganda.
[2] In situ conservation priorities for wild relatives include: in Africa, finger millet (Eleusine spp.), pearl millet (Pennisetum spp.), garden pea (Pisum spp.) and cowpea (Vigna spp.); in the Americas, barley (Hordeum spp.), sweet potato (Ipomoea spp.), cassava (Manihot spp.), potato (Solanum spp.) and maize (Zea spp.); in Asia and the Pacific, wild rice (Oryza spp.) and the cultivated banana/plantain (Musa spp.); and in the Near East, the garden pea (Pisum spp.), wheat (Triticum spp. and Aegilops spp.), barley (Hordeum spontaneum and H. bulbosum), faba bean (Vicia spp.), chickpea (Cicer spp.), alfalfa (Medicago spp.), clover (Trifolium spp.), Pistachio (Pistacia spp.) and stone fruits (Prunus spp.) (Maxted and Kell 2009).
How to Save the Natural World on Which We Depend PAS-PASS Workshop, Casina Pio IV, 27 February-1... Continua


On Thursday night, May 28, a slender crescent moon will be bracketed by two bright star clusters: M44 (the Beehive) and M67 (King Cobra).
This month, new moon was on Sunday, May 24. By Thursday evening the moon will be five days old, and the lunar crescent will have broadened to be 27 percent illuminated. This is bright enough to be easily seen, but not so bright as to dim objects nearby.
And two beautiful open star clusters are nearby. On Thursday evening, May 28, the moon can serve as a guide to help you find these two objects, which you might not otherwise notice.
Most stars start their lives as part of a star cluster. When a "star factory" like the Orion Nebula completes its job, the pressure of the newborn stars' light blows away the gas and dust, leaving behind a cluster of young stars. Such clusters, known as galactic clusters because of their location in the plane of the galaxy, are found all around us.
In fact our sun is a member of a loose association of stars which includes five of the Big Dipper's stars. Such clusters can have up to about a few hundred stars, and are very different from globular clusters, which are found in a halo outside the galaxy and consist of hundreds of thousands of very old stars.
Although Cancer is famous as one of the 12 constellations which make up the zodiac, it is a singularly inconspicuous constellation. In fact, it is the only constellation which contains a deep sky object brighter than any of the stars in the constellation. That is one of our targets for Thursday night, the Beehive Cluster, number 44 in Messier's catalog of deep sky objects.
Messier 44, also known as the Beehive or Praesepe (Latin for manger) Cluster, is one of the largest and brightest star clusters in the sky. It is located 600 light-years from the sun, is 16 light-years in diameter, and is 700 million years old, a youngster on the galactic time scale.
To the naked eye, it appears as a faint glow In the middle of Cancer, but is often overlooked because Cancer itself is really hard to find because of the dimness of its stars. On Thursday night we will use the moon as a way to locate both Cancer and the Beehive.
If you download this chart you can readily locate two star clusters, one on either side of the slender crescent of the moon. With binoculars, the Beehive is a spectacular sight. It actually looks better in binoculars than in a telescope, because its large size overflows the field of view of most telescopes.
The other star cluster in Cancer, Messier 67, is a more difficult target. Sometimes known as the King Cobra Cluster, M67 is fainter and smaller than M44. It is also much older: at 4 billion years of age, it is one of the oldest known open clusters. It is five times more distant, 3000 light years away. Very faint in binoculars, this cluster comes into its own in a small telescope.
So, Thursday night, get out there with your binoculars, and have a look at two of the prettiest star clusters in the sky!


text:
import 'egg';

declare module 'egg' {
  interface Application {
    redis: redis;
  }
  interface Application {
    model: model;
  }
  interface Application {
    Sequelize: Sequelize;
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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The position of Police Sergeant involves performing supervisory and technical tasks aimed at providing a safe learning environment for students, staff and parents, preservation of life, public order, and investigation of criminal acts which occur on property of the Muscogee County School District. The diversity of the student population, staff and community, the varied nature of tasks, incidents and rotating work schedules contributes to the complexity of the work. The incumbent is required to work with individuals and groups under normal and potentially adverse conditions for the purpose of providing services, receiving and providing work instructions and information, resolving problems, interviewing and interrogating individuals as necessary.


text:
Godsfood
By MARK PANNEBECKER
Buy it now at:
Also available at Amazon
Barnes & Noble, Kobo,
and iTunes.
About Godsfood
This collection of short stories is a tasty morsel that rests softly on the palate and is an important part of every meal. Sometimes the stories leave a lump in the throat and other times a smile on the lips. From the haunted past of Sylvia in The Isle of Shoals to the lovable bear living The Big City in The Adventures of Sparky the Bear, Godsfood delivers a cornucopia of diverse writing and unique characters.
The Isle of Shoals
A woman recalls a tragic past event.
Maribella of the Moors
What to expect at the afterlife buffet.
The Unhealing Wound
A story about racism in America and that apathy offers no neutral ground.
The Curman Brothers
"Never start a fight, but always finish it." A midwest family's honor is tested.
The Hip O' Cat
A father tells his precocious son a bedtime story.
My Brother's Garden
A young man finds happiness in a secluded garden.
Salmon King
A feminist fantasy folktale where mysticism meets reality in a newly formed lake in Alaska.
The Adventures of Sparky the Bear
A humorous personification tale about a unique bear named Sparky living in the big city.
Diane C. Donovan
Senior Reviewer
From the Isle of Shoals
My office overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and Sylvia would often begin and end her sessions staring out the window, staring out to sea. Then one day, while gazing out the window, she began talking about her father in a way she never talked about him before. Her entire demeanor had changed; she became… younger, even in her voice.
"He always had something for me. Always. When I'd come home from school, he would stop whatever he was doing and hug me in a full body wrap that one would expect from someone like a lover. If he was working on his car, he'd stop and hug me and I would walk into the house with grease stains on my clothes. When he'd come home from work, when he had work—no, wait, that's Mama talking—when he would come home from work or when he'd been gone for the weekend, he'd have a little present for me: candy, a new dress, sometimes he'd give me one of the flowers he brought for Mama.
"I could always feel a sort of change in the air on the day Daddy returned, I knew before Mama did, I sensed he was home before I saw his car in the driveway. He always had something for me, even if it was only a hug and a kiss. I was picked up and twirled around and his face was always smiling. He laughed a great deal, I remember. Mama would tell us to stop carrying on. She would stand there just looking at him. Not smiling… not frowning… just, watching… then walking away…. And Daddy would start singing a song. He had a beautiful voice, especially when he sang to me in Italian. He'd sing to me and Mama… on our yacht… in the water… and the music…."
Sylvia turned away from the window earlier but now she turned back, and stared at the ocean horizon. "Did you know," she began, "that the Atlantic Ocean covers 20 percent of the earth? That at its deepest, it's over 27,000 feet? And that it's considered the youngest of the world's oceans; a baby, only 100 million years old?"
"Did you spend a lot of time on the Atlantic, with your parents?"
"Oh, yes. Every summer we'd all go out on this ramshackle of a yacht Daddy had. I found out later that that was the only thing he got from his father. His father—my grandpa—he could've given Daddy half a million, his inheritance, but instead gave it to Uncle Ed. He thought my dad would waste it. He never had any faith. My dad could've made it work. He had plans, my dad. Grandpa was a selfish old man, concerned more with his petty legacy than he was with his family. My grandpa and Uncle Ed, they—"
"Sylvia," I interrupted, "tell me about one of your trips together on your father's yacht in the Atlantic."
©2017 markpannebecker.com
contact@markpannebecker.com
created by zoaDesign

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Infiltrate and set fire to the Queen
Desperados 3: Infiltrate and set fire to the Queen - mission 11, walkthrough Desperados 3 guide, walkthrough
Next Mission 12 - Dirt and Blood Map and badges Prev Mission 11 - Burn the Queen Open the cages and free Wayne
This page of the Desperados 3 guide contains the third part of the walkthrough for Mission 11 - Burn The Queen The final part of our walkthrough is devoted to the infiltration of the Queen, a huge steamer located in the swamps. Our tutorial, among others, tells you how to get onboard the Queen without being noticed, how to set the Queen on fire, and where to get to after reaching all the main objectives of the mission.
Our walkthrough for Mission 11 contains references to the map in World Atlas, which can be found on the first page of this chapter. For example, the symbol (M11,5) means that you should find the blue dot with the number 5 on the map dedicated to Mission 11.
The ship called Queen is located in the northern part of the map (M11,18) and, unfortunately, is carefully guarded by the enemy. You should be especially careful with:
2 guards to the left of the ship
the enemy on the ladder to the left of the ship
Long Coat standing on one of the upper decks of the steamer and looking south
2 guards standing at the base of the steamer (M11,16)
The presence of all these enemies makes it much more difficult to infiltrate the ship, because you can get detected easily, and it is tough to eliminate them without alerting nearby opponents. We recommend that you sneak up as Cooper or Isabelle to the ladder on the left side of the ship (M11,15). After using it, you can climb the ivy and reach one of the upper decks.
Head to the roof of the steamer (M11,18), but watch out for nearby Long Coat and a sniper standing on a small tower. The sniper can be shot (Buntline), but do it when Long Coat looks in the other direction.
One guard is patrolling the upper deck. Wait for the right moment to go after him and get rid of. This location is a great place for an area kill. You can throw down the planks marked in the image which will fall on the poncho-wearing enemies standing underneath them (M11,16). Their death (in a staged accident) will make it easier for the rest of the team to approach the steamer from the right side.
Do not rush to send your men to the right of the ship, because this area is guarded by several enemies. Make use of the fact that Isabelle and Cooper can climb ivy and use them to reach the upper decks of the steamer.
Deal with the enemy equipped with a shovel. Now, take care of two guards shown in the image above. It is best to get rid of them in a combined attack using the Showdown Mode. Once you clear the right side, all heroes (and Wayne) will be able to get to the extraction area.
Sabotaging the Queen is not easy, because the barrel is on the highest deck of the ship (M11,18) and is guarded by the aforementioned Long Coat. An attack on him will be seen by enemies from the northern camp (M11,19).
The best solution to this problem is to pull enemies from the northern camp to the area on the right. For this purpose, you can use, for example, Hector's whistle. However, you should be prepared for the fact that some enemies travel in pairs and as a result will go explore the place together. Of course, Showdown Mode will help you here - plan your approach to eliminate a group of opponents in a single action.
The last enemy from the northern camp guards two boxes of ammunition (M11, 7). You can sneak up on him using the bushes, or shoot him using McCoy from the tower used by one of the snipers which you have eliminated before. The alarm won't be raised if the moment of death isn't seen by the Long Coat.
Use Hector to reach the roof of the steamer (M11,18) to get rid of the Long Coat. As Hector, destroy the barrel so that the oil will spill all over the ship.
Select any character and pick up any of the burning torches (PC version - press CTRL and click on the torch).
Perform the torch throw action (PC version - press A) and make it land in any place where oil is spilled. The Queen will be engulfed with flames and you will reach the most important goal of the mission.
The last part of the task involves getting onboard a small steamer (M11, 21) and using it to escape the map. Check the nearby mechanism (M11,20) that allows you to push the box. Wait for the two enemies to line up at the bottom, and take care of them both through a tragic accident.
You can use the confusion to sneak up on the steamer or deal with other opponents in the area (you can utilize Isabelle's Connection or perform combined attacks in Showdown Mode)


Most pets will experience some dental problems in their lives. Unfortunately some begin at an early age and some can be of a rather severe nature. Up to 80% of dogs and cats can be affected.
Regular dental checks are advised. The annual health check appointment is an ideal time to assess these problems, together with other concerns such as parasite control, diet and general well being.
The appropriate diet, various aides and the provision of 'chews' will help considerably but active dental care such as brushing is far more effective. With a little commitment these procedures are quite possible, especially if started at an early age.
When disease (gingivitis and periodontal disease) is evident then treatment will be needed. Ultra-sonic dental scaling and polishing under anaesthetic is used to remove hardened scale and thoroughly clean the teeth. Along with other measures this will improve the health of the mouth considerably but where disease has progressed extractions may be necessary. Specialist dental procedures are now available and can sometimes be used to save teeth that would otherwise be lost.
Remember – Prevention is better than Cure!
The web sites below have a great deal of information.


text:
void generatePseudoRandomString(char *generatedStr);
void signData(const unsigned char *key, const size_t keyLen, const unsigned char *data, const size_t dataLen, char *signature);
void parseToken(const char *token, char *tokenVersion, char *sessionId, char *signature);


Keep your files synchronized and maintained using this real-time replicator.
POPcon PRO connects MS Exchange Server(tm) to POP3 and IMAP mailboxes. It acts as an e-mail collector that retrieves messages from POP3 mailboxes and delivers them to your Microsoft Exchange Server mailboxes according to the intended user found in the mails.
* Poll private POP3 and IMAP mailboxes and forward mail to a single MS Exchange(TM) mailbox or distribute mail from multi-drop POP3 mailboxes to multiple MS Exchange(TM) users according to address the mail was sent to.
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* Installs as a service - no need for a user to log in.
* Can be installed on same machine as MS Exchange Server(TM) - uses only one internet connection and one POP3 mailbox to receive mail for the whole workgroup or company.
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* Flexible scheduling for mail retrieval based on day of week.
* Monitor POPcons actions from any system in your network using "POPcon Control" included with the software.


text:
Home > Team
Dr. Munqith Dagher – CEO and Chairman
Dr. Munqith Dagher conducted Iraq's first-ever public opinion poll and since that time has been responsible for undertaking 1,500,000+ interviews for a range of agencies and topics. Munqith came up with the idea of creating IIACSS back in 2003 while he was a Professor of Public Administration/ Strategic Management at Baghdad University. He has managed more than 800 public opinion and various market research projects. He has lectured widely and published several articles and books in different countries in the world. Due to his wide experience and intense research, Munqith became one of the most cited and referenced source in public opinion in Iraq and Arab world. In 2007 he expanded his research base by completing a program on the Principles of Marketing Research, at the University of Georgia, in the US, models
On June 16th 2015, he awarded the Ginny Valentine Badge of Courage for Bravery in keeping research alive in multiple conflict zones from the Research Liberation Front. On Feb.2018 Munqith became a board member of Gallup International association, in charge of Middle East and North Africa region.
Munqith holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration from the University of Baghdad, College of Administration and Economics and a Master degree in war sciences. He was professor of public administration and strategic management in Baghdad, Basrah and National defense universities.
Dr. Abd Al Sahib Saleh – Board member
One of IIACSS Co-founders, with Professional experience in managing public opinion surveys. ever since 2004, he Specializes in managing and analyzing political researches as well as guiding the fieldwork teams throughout the entire process of conducting the surveys. Abd Al Sahib has attended the USIAD training in Baghdad back in 2004 and has participated in GALLUP's 2013 conference representing IIACSS in Canada.
kkDr Abd Al Sahib Holds a PHD in Public Administrations from the University of Baghdad College of Administration and Economics.
Dr Abdul Razzaq AL-Eethawi –Vice president
One of IIACSS Founders, Abdul Razzaq Holds a PhD of philosophy in public administration and human resources from Baghdad university, a Master degree in public administration from Baghdad university as well as a degree in businesses administration from Al Mostansirya university.
Over the years, Abdul Razaq has done many economical researches for both service and industrial projects for private and public sectors.
Revekka Halasa – CEO IMR
Revekka Strategically manages all aspects of company's operations and business development in Iraq and Jordan .,she brings vast credentials in Management, Operations, Client servicing and Business development over the span of more than 20 years experience in Market Research, Including her Job as the Country Manager in Amer /Nielsen Jordan from 1996 to 2010
Ms. Halasa is also the Founding Partner of (Infographic Market Research) in 2016 as well as the Founding Partner & Acting CEO in Independent Market Research (IMR ) in 2010. She has a Master Degree from Leningrad University and speaks four languages Greek ,Russian ,English & Arabic
Arwa Dagher – Data Processing Manager
"A strong Believer in the power of Data", Arwa is Our Data Processing Manager, her Job includes managing the data quality assurance as well as scripting complex surveys into CAPI system.
Arwa has a Master degree in computer science and software technologies from the university of Applied science Stuttgart, Germany and an undergraduate degree in computer engineering from the German Jordanian University, Jordan
Omar Al-Ethawi – Qualitative Project Manger
"As an active Jiu-Jitsu competitor, every day I learn new how to face challenges and overcome the obstacles that I may face in life and work"
A research project manager specialized in qualitative projects, Omar Joined IIACSS in 2015 after earning his master degree in Computer Science and Networking from the university of Hertfordshire, UK in 2014
Omar's interest in science and technology always motivates him to use the latest technology in the researches field in order to achieve more accurate and productive results.
Haya Awwad- Quantitative Project Manger
Haya has a Bachelor degree in Computer Science from the University of Jordan and has been working with IIACSS since 2013 as a research project manager for different types of research projects in general and quantitative research projects in specific. Haya has successfully managed more than 80 projects over the past 5 years with different clients and different research topics.
Our Expert Team
Dr. Munqith M. Dagher
CEO/ IIACSS
Revekka Halasa
CEO/ IMR
Dr. Sahib Saleh
Fieldwork Director
Dr. Abdulrazak Ali
Quality Control Director
Arwa Dagher
Data Processing Manager
Haya Awwad
Omar Ethawi
Qualitative Project Manager
Ahmed Jabir


My very first Southern art experience was with 75 artists cranking out drawings in one room at the High Museum of Art, Saturday September, 12, 2015.
Every hour for 3 hours, 25 artists draw while the DJ plays great beats. Attendants whisked away our drawings to a photographer and then to the sale area where they were sold to the first bidder for $75. Each piece was created to support the museum and artists they represent. With a purchase of a drawing you received a bag with all of the artists' names.
A very unique and extremely enjoyable experience! A huge thanks are in order to the museum staff and Curator Michael Rooks.


EWONG is a group company limited, it has two subsidiaries company.
Leguan mainly Specializes in kitchenware include Pressure cooker, rice cooker, multi cooker, Fruit dryer machine, mini heater and other innovative new product, which locate in Shunde Foshan, we own assemble lines, tool shop and injection molding plant, our annual productivity over 8,000,000pcs, to improve the company management and quality of product, Leguan strictly implements ISO 9001 Quality management system. Besides,most of our products passed UL,KC,CE,FCC,ROSH,and quality test certification, and own patent. Our product enjoy popular and good reputation in Europe & America and Southeast Asia markets.
Huapu is a leading global new energy solutions provider.
we have established a competitive edge of end-to-end solutions in solar power system area.
Ewong Leguan establish in 2003, mainly Specializes in kitchenware include Pressure cooker, rice cooker, multi cooker, Fruit dryer machine, mini heater and other innovative new product, which locate in Shunde Foshan, we own assemble lines, tool shop and injection molding plant, our annual productivity over 8,000,000pcs, to improve the company management and quality of product, Leguan strictly implements ISO 9001 Quality management system. Besides,most of our products passed UL,KC,CE,FCC,ROSH,and quality test certification, and own patent. Our product enjoy popular and good reputation in Europe & America and Southeast Asia markets.


text:
West's Economic Slump Catching Up With Asia
Asia's resistance to the West's economic troubles is slowly wearing thin.
For much of this year, the economies of the Asia-Pacific region appeared to be blissfully isolated from the turmoil in other parts of the world. Asian stock markets fell along with those in the West, but the region's economies continued to power ahead.
Within the past few weeks, however, cracks have emerged in the region's mighty economies, and analysts and policy makers have become more concerned about the painful disruption that could spill into Asia as the situation in Europe continues to deteriorate and the United States struggles to pick up speed.
"The potential risks for Asia have increased" as the European crisis has moved beyond small peripheral economies like Greece, enveloping larger countries like Italy, Spain and even France, said Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian economics at HSBC in Hong Kong. "It's a whole different ball game now."
The spreading economic troubles were underscored Wednesday when a closely watched gauge showed that Chinese manufacturing was contracting. The reading, published by HSBC, dropped from 51 in October to 48 in November, the lowest level in nearly three years and much lower than economists had expected. A reading of 50 is the dividing line between expansion and contraction.
The steep decline fanned worries about the spillover of the West's problems into Asia. But it also reinforced nervousness about the effect in the opposite direction: the West increasingly needs a strong Asia to buy its goods as consumers at home stay on the sidelines.
The concern is that things are going to get worse before they get better.
"Europe is only at the beginning of its crisis," said Pranay Gupta, chief
investment officer for the Asia-Pacific region at ING Investment Management in Hong Kong. "Europe is now where the United States was three years ago: The economic contraction is only just beginning."
So far, the economic pain in Asia has been relatively muted, and much of the region remains on course for growth rates that most Western nations can only dream of.
The Chinese economy is set to expand 9.5 percent this year, according to projections from the International Monetary Fund last month. India is expected to grow 7.8 percent, Indonesia 6.4 percent, and many other Southeast Asian nations more than 5 percent, the I.M.F. estimates.
Those figures, however, are generally below the growth rates seen in 2010, and are likely to ease off further next year, the I.M.F. and most economists say.
Exports from Asia have been softening for months as demand in Europe, in particular, has slowed. Although many countries depend less on exports than they once did, the sector remains crucial for economies like those of Taiwan and South Korea and for the small, open economies of Hong Kong and Singapore, economists say.
Reacting to the worsening global environment, Indonesia and Australia have lowered interest rates in recent weeks. Most other central banks in the region have put off rate increases that seemed likely only months ago as they have become less concerned about inflation and more worried about growth.
In Japan, the pain has been compounded by the results of the devastating earthquake and tsunami of last March and by the persistent strength of the yen. Fanned by the economic difficulties in other parts of the world, the Japanese currency's rise has made Japanese goods more expensive for shoppers abroad and has helped dent exporters' profits.
With no room to lower already-low interest rates further, the government has resorted to direct intervention in the currency markets — selling yen for U.S. dollars — four times in little more than a year in its battle to weaken the yen.
In the financial sector, meanwhile, banks like HSBC, UBS and Nomura are cutting jobs around the globe. And although many would like to grow, rather than shrink, in the Asia-Pacific region, financial centers like Hong Kong and Singapore have not escaped the hiring freezes and job cuts. International Herald Tribune
Labels: West's Economic Slump Catching Up With Asia
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text:
Items related to Discover Your Family History Online: A Step-by-Step...
Hendrickson, Nancy Discover Your Family History Online: A Step-by-Step Guide to Starting Your Genealogy Search
Discover Your Family History Online: A Step-by-Step Guide to Starting Your Genealogy Search
Hendrickson, Nancy
Publisher: Family Tree Books, 2012
Your Guide to Online Genealogy
The internet has made millions of records available to search any time, anywhere. Start finding your ancestors with just a few strokes of a keyboard using the detailed instruction in this book. Inside you'll find:
An overview of where and how to start your family history research
Detailed descriptions of the best online databases for family historians
Hundreds of helpful websites to further your research
Step-by-step search instructions to help you find exactly what you're looking for
Chapters dedicated to finding specific records, including birth, marriage and death; census; military; land; and immigration
Case studies that apply key concepts to real-life searches
Ideas for connecting with fellow researchers and distant relatives through social media, blogging and newsletters
Special resources for researching American Indian, African-American and Jewish ancestors
Plus access to bonus online video demonstrations
If you're curious about who's hanging out in your family tree, there's never been a better time to find out. Get this book, get online and get started today!
Nancy Hendrickson is an expert in Internet genealogy and has been interviewed as an expert on the subject in several national publications including the New York Times, Kiplinger's and Better Homes and Gardens. She is the author of five books and hundreds of web and magazine articles. She is a contributing editor at Family Tree Magazine and an instructor at Family Tree University.
1. Discover Your Family History Online: A Step-by-Step Guide to Starting Your Genealogy Search
Published by Family Tree Books (2012)
Book Description Family Tree Books, 2012. Paperback. Condition: New. Never used!. Seller Inventory # P111440318506
Nancy Hendrickson
Book Description Family Tree Books, 2012. Paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # DADAX1440318506
Book Description Family Tree Books, 2012. Condition: New. book. Seller Inventory # M1440318506
4. DISCOVER YOUR FAMILY HISTORY ONL


text:
Q: Not Able to Upload File on Amazon S3 using Stream I am getting the below exception while uploading file to S3 AWS using DOT net core
{"Error making request with Error Code Forbidden and Http Status Code Forbidden. No further error information was returned by the service."}

I tried all these things to debug this :

*

*Install AWS CLI and configure using aws configure

*Added permission as AmazonS3FullAccess to user.

Code :
 var clientq = new Amazon.S3.AmazonS3Client(AccessKey, SecretKey, RegionEndpoint.APSouth1);
                var doesS3BucketExist = await AmazonS3Util.DoesS3BucketExistV2Async(clientq, BucketName);

                byte[] fileByte = new Byte[file.Length];
                file.OpenReadStream().Read(fileByte, 0, Int32.Parse(file.Length.ToString()));

                if (doesS3BucketExist)
                {

                    using (var stream = new MemoryStream(fileByte))
                    {
                        var request = new PutObjectRequest
                        {
                            BucketName = BucketName,
                            Key = file.FileName,
                            InputStream = stream,
                            ContentType = file.ContentType
                        };
                        // specify no ACL, else upload will be blocked by S3!
                       var response = await clientq.PutObjectAsync(request);
                    }

                    return true;
                }

Also, i have observed when i am using InputStream = stream, then i am getting this exception.
Can anyone help me on this ?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Don't think long and hard, think fast and fun! It's time to play Bible Blurt! Find out if your brain can keep up with your mouth and if your mouth can keep up with your brain! The words are taken from the NIV Bible and the play of the game is lightning-quick. Relax and enjoy all the funny things people blurt! For 3 to 5 players, ages 8 and up.


text:
Endesa launches a pioneering environmental footprint calculation tool
Published on Wednesday, 8 April 2015
The environmental footprint allows the environmental "pressure" of a certain activity to be demonstrated, quantifying the environmental aspects generated during the life cycle of said activity and calculating the impact caused to the receiving environment (atmosphere, water, or soil, among others).
This new tool has been developed voluntarily, once again going above and beyond current environmental legislation, as previously occurred with the carbon footprint.
Faced with the lack of standards, the most significant existing international benchmarks have been used to create the tool. Notable among these are the recent guides developed by the European Union to calculate the environmental footprint of organizations and products.
Endesa now has its own pioneering tool for environmental footprint calculation, which allows the "pressure" all of its businesses have upon the environment to be demonstrated. Once again, the company has outpaced current regulations, as already occurred with the carbon footprint, and has designed its own methodology based upon European benchmarks. The 2011 footprint has been calculated using this approach, but during the first quarter, footprint evolution between 2011 and 2014 will be made available, with the aim of being able to begin to compare businesses and installations, identify points for environmental improvement, and analyse trends.
This will help with the overall management of all businesses from an environmental standpoint, quantifying the environmental aspects generated during the life cycle of said activity and calculating the impact caused to the receiving environment (atmosphere, water, or soil, among others).
The most significant existing international benchmarks have been used to create the tool. Notable among these are the recent guidelines developed by the European Union to calculate the environmental footprint of organizations and products.
The scope of Endesa's Environmental Footprint includes thermal and hydraulic power generation and electric distribution businesses, mining, port terminals and offices in the areas of Spain, Portugal and Morocco. The value of each installation or business's environmental footprint is the sum total of its sub-footprint. The sum total of the sub-footprints for all of the businesses considered gives Endesa's Environmental Footprint.
The methodological focus for the calculation of this indicator is based upon life cycle analysis. This means that, along with quantification of the direct environmental impacts generated by Endesa's activities, indirect environmental aspects are also quantified. These indirect impacts, although not generated by sources owned by or controlled by the organization, are nonetheless a consequence of its activities.
This tool seeks to integrate other environmental components into the business strategy, together with the carbon component, through the atmospheric, hydro, resource consumption, water, noise and flora and fauna sub-footprints. Endesa already holds certification from the AENOR Carbon Footprint certification agency and has begun work in the area of integral water management.
Other objectives pursued with this tool are to reflect Endesa's global condition in different environments; to optimize processes throughout the supply chain; to analyse evolution in environmental performance, detecting possible deviation and emphasizing the improvements achieved; and to compare businesses, technologies and installations with varying conditions under the same, unified criteria, with the aim of being able to evaluate all environmental risks and make decisions.


Sree Narayana Mission Nursing Home in Yishun is the first nursing home in Singapore to become a Dementia Go-To Point. With the nursing home, there are now 13 Go-To Points in that area that serve as safe return centres including community centres for seniors with dementia who are unable to find their way home. Unlike the other Go-To Points, the home is able to help any seniors who drop by 24/7.
He added that Sree Narayana Mission Nursing Home is able to take care of the seniors' needs and even if need be, provide a bed overnight until they are united with their families. "If the family member is not capable of caring for the elderly, we will work with community providers or resources along with our social workers to see how they can be reintegrated back into the community. We want to make a difference, other than just settling the case and sending them back home." All Go-To Point partners are trained to offer general assistance and link persons with dementia and their caregivers with the appropriate dementia-related services and resources.
Sree Narayana Mission is all too familiar with dementia as it has a dementia day care centre in its other location in Woodlands and is looking into a space in Yishun to have another centre. The day care centre provides a structured programme for those with dementia including activities and has intergenerational programmes with schools whereby the children play games and do exercises with the seniors.
To find out Go-To Points in your own area, go to AIC's Silver Pages site at: http://tiny.cc/dementiafriendly.