2,237 research outputs found

    Peatland restoration and ecosystem services: an introduction

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    Setting the scene In September 1997, the airports of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur shut down for several days. Fires from drained peatlands in Indonesia, over 1000 km away, were emitting vast clouds of smoke causing haze and poor visibility across large parts of South East Asia in the extremely dry El Niño year. Schools and businesses had to close, and people were admitted to hospitals with acute breathing problems. The amount of CO2 emitted from these fires was equivalent to 13-40% of annual global emissions from fossil fuels (Page et al. 2002). Economic losses due to the 1997-1998 wildfires exceeded several billion US dollars (ADB 1999). In the hot August of 2010, people in Moscow were advised to stay at home, keep their windows closed and wear gauze masks to avoid inhaling ash particles when walking on the streets. Again the cause was fires, this time raging across nearly 2000 km2 of degraded peatlands in Russia. Carbon monoxide levels in the capital reached six times the maximum acceptable levels and death rates doubled due to heat and smog (Barriopedro et al. 2011). These fires, resulting from peatland drainage and degradation that made them vulnerable to fire, dramatically highlight the huge liability that peatlands pose once degraded, especially in a changing climate. In sharp contrast, there is now wide recognition of the importance to human well-being of ecosystem services delivered by the peatland environment, not least the wildlife that underpins those ecosystem services. While peatlands cover not even 3% of the world’s surface, they hold two times more carbon than the entire global forest biomass pool, and represent more than 30% of the total global soil carbon store (see Chapter 4). As long-term carbon sinks, they provide crucial global climate-regulating services. If not safeguarded, however, the release of this carbon could further exacerbate climate change. The range of peatland ecosystem services is far greater than simply their role in the carbon cycle. Pivotal peatland ecosystem services further include, for example, the provision of high-quality drinking water derived from peatland catchments. Peatlands also play a role in flood-water regulation, especially in lowland or coastal settings.</p

    Peatland restoration and ecosystem services: nature-based solutions for societal goals

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    ‘Peatland conservation is a prime example of a nature-based solution to climate change but we urgently need to switch from aspiration to action to secure the benefits that peatlands provide’. Julia Marton Lefèvre, former Director-General, IUCN Introduction The chapters of this book provide a compelling account of the crucial role of peatlands for human well-being and the role restoration can play in providing nature-based solutions to societal goals. Across the world, natural peatlands provide important ecosystem services, with a special role in climate regulation, water regulation, provision of cultural services, such as historical archives and recreation opportunities, and hosting important habitats for wildlife. In contrast, damaged peatlands on only 0.3% of the earth’s land surface contribute disproportionally to global GHG emissions, producing probably up to 50% of the total global land bound and 5% of the total global annual anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Degraded peatlands therefore pose a high risk and, ultimately, a high cost to society. At the heart of peatland degradation is the unsustainable exploitation of peatland resources, mainly to maximise provisioning services for agricultural and forestry produce (Chapters 2 and 9-14). There are still perverse incentives and economic drivers in place fostering short-term profits (Chapters 2, 15 and 19), while neglecting consequences for global natural capital and sustainable livelihoods. The speed of degradation is alarming, especially in the tropics. Natural peatland habitats in Indonesia have shrunk to just 32% of the original peatland area, with most of those losses occurring in the last two decades as peatlands are drained and logged and converted to oil palm or pulpwood plantations. These plantations often cannot be sustained for more than one or a few production cycles, because subsidence eventually makes drainage of the low-lying peat soils impossible (Chapter 14). In temperate Europe, the majority of the peatlands has already been degraded by land use and land-use change over the past 150 years (Chapters 2, 10, 12). In Canada, recent technological advances and a desire for energy independence have meant that tar sand extraction will destroy peatlands to a significant extent. Also in Europe some of the remaining peatlands remain under current threat from the energy industry.</p

    Adventures of a currency trader : a fable about trading, courage, and doing the right thing / Rob Booker.

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    Includes index.Book fair 2012.xv, 221 pages :Praise for ADVENTURES of a CURRENCY TRADER "A truly easy, unique, and enjoyable read! Rob has done it onceagain to teach us in the funniest way possible... how not to make themost common trading mistakes. If you are tired of reading how-tobooks, this is perfect for you. I highly recommend this book to alltraders. Everyone will learn something about themselves by readingthis book."—Kathy Lien, author, Day Trading the Currency Market,and Chief Strategist, www.dailyfx.com"Adventures of a Currency Trader is a must read foranyone who has ever traded or is thinking about trading in theForex markets. Rob Booker has a unique way of taking years ofmarket knowledge and transforming it into an educational andentertaining experience. It has quickly become a cult classic in mytrading library!"—H. Jack Bouroudjian, Principal, Brewer Investment Group"Brilliant! Rob's humor and humanity shine through in thisparable about trading and life. Filled with wisdom and wit, it's anexhilarating rollercoaster ride through the peaks and valleys ofthe learning curve, with many valuable lessons learned along theway."—Ed Ponsi, President, FXEducator.com"Rob's fable of everyman 'Harry Banes' is destined to become atrading classic. This is both the missing piece and the foundationthat comes before the strategies and methodologies. The search forthe Holy Grail begins and ends in the heart and mind. The journeyis authentic and real and if you're willing to take it with Rob,you will be rewarded in the end. Seldom has psychology and wisdombeen so entertaining!"—Raghee Horner, trader and author of Forex Trading forMaximum Profit and Days of Forex Trading"In a series of insightful and entertaining vignettes, RobBooker teaches both the novice and the experienced trader some hardwon truths about the currency market. It's a must read book writtenby a guy who survived the trenches and went on to prosper in thebiggest and most competitive financial market in the world."—Boris Schlossberg, Senior Currency Strategist, Forex CapitalMarkets LLC, and author of Technical Analysis of the CurrencyMarke

    Rob and Bert in Tokyo

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    This essay is steeped in contradiction: it is as much an attempt at mourning, coping, and letting go as it is an exercise in remembrance, rediscovery, and reconnection. One of the many areas of international legal scholarship where Rob Cryer left his mark is his oeuvre on the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE). To pay tribute to, and get re-acquainted with, Rob-the-person, I re-read his 2010 article on the ‘dignified dissenter’ in Tokyo, Dutch Judge Bert Röling. In that article, Rob uses the memoranda and the opinion of Bert-the-judge to assess his conceptual and legal contributions to the IMTFE judgment. They also serve him as a vehicle to get a better grasp of the author behind the text and the values and dilemmas that shaped Röling’s positions on the IMTFE bench. What more can we learn and understand about Rob Cryer while ‘reading Rob reading Bert’? What aspects of Röling’s legacy did he choose to foreground, and what qualities did he appreciate most? How did Rob treat his character when shedding light on the more contentious elements of Röling’s work? Even if this essay fails in its therapeutic purpose, it might still add a few mosaic pieces to the collective construction of Rob’s portrait in this volume

    Sub-Series 4: Publications : Affirmation and Affirmation News - Documents Found with Newsletters, 1994-1997

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    A paper discussing the author, Rob Casteel, and his struggle with AIDS

    An Interview with Rob Stephenson

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    Interview Rob Stephenson is an author, composer, visual artist living in Queens, NY. He has been creating texts, music, video, films, drawings, paintings, and installations for over thirty years. He has a BA in Experimental and Interdisciplinary Art from San Francisco State University and an MFA in Electronic Media from Mills College. He is the author of Passes Through (FC2/University of Alabama Press) and frequently publishes in journals and anthologies. He received an outstanding achievemen..

    Twelfth Night

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    Production of "Twelfth Night". Original music by Author 1. Nominated for 5 Matilda awards. Pensalfini, Rob (director

    Book review: Contemporary Scottish plays, edited by Trish Reid

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    Book review: Contemporary Scottish plays, edited by Trish Reid. London: Bloomsbury, 2014; ISBN: 9781472574435 (£17.99)Publisher PD
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