Human Driving Forces:Analysis of Rocky Desertification in Karst Region in Guanling County,Guizhou Province

Karst rocky desertification is one of the major ecological and environmental problems that threaten the sustainable development of southwestern China. It is caused by irrational and intensive land-use patterns in karst geo-ecological environment. Therefore, it is vital to identify how human forces work on this degraded environment. Based on the soil erosion information in 2000 and remote sensing images of Guanling County collected in 2000 and 2007, four grades of karst rocky desertification data in 14 villages of Guanling County were extracted. Impacts of population, affluence, and other human forces on karst rocky desertification were analyzed using STIRPAT model. The results show that:1) Factors of population and affluence had strong influence on karst rocky desertification. In the STIRPAT model analysis, the population and affluence coefficients were positive, indicating that the increase in population and affluence would lead to more serious desertification. 2) Factors of farmer correlated with karst rocky desertification negatively, especially the way of viewing the relationship between people and nature, and the level of knowledge about rocky desertification. Government behavior was not a significant factor in this analysis. 3) The findings provide evidence that STIRPAT model can be used to analyze the relationship between human driving forces and rocky desertification.

Impacts of Human Activity on Biodiversity——An Approach to Driving Force Indicators

The impact of human activity on biodiversity is very complicated, making it difficult to design practical indicators for assessment.Currently,state and response indicators are listed within Chapter15 of Agenda21,but no mention is made of driving force indicators and how they relate to biodiversity protection. This paper repre- sents an effort to identify and then operationalize the idea of driving force indicators at national level.Five human induced factors affecting biodiversity were discussed: (a) habitat loss and fragmentation; (b) overexploitation of resources;(c)species introduction;(d)pollution;and (e) climate change. From these five factors, a subsetwas selected to serve as possible driving force indicators:(1)habitat loss, (2)the ratio of exotic species to indigenous ones, and (3)the change in pollution status. Although the three indicators are relatively simple,they coverthe most important human impacts on biodiversity and offer the potential for further redefinition and ultimate use within the spirit of biodiversity protection.

Energy storage and conversion:Driving human development

Energy scarcity and environmental pollution are worldwide issues which plague human development.According to projections for economic development and population growth,global energy demand is anticipated to double by 2050 and triple by2100.Better energy storage and conversion are glorious but arduous missions in the 21st century.Although the fossil

Driving Force to Socialize the International Norms of Human Rights

Human rights, as a great term and lofty goal, have unquestionably become a topic of mainstream talk in the present-day world.2 Such mainstream talk has been internal- ized into part of the social structure. The current international society is experiencing a profound reorganization and transition in values. All kinds of new interactions under the context of globalization have resulted in the development of the current norms of international human rights, which are constructed on the basis of law and ethics. Therefore, analyzing the dynamic factors of socialization that support the operation of human rights norms in international society has become increasingly important in today＇s mutually dependent society.

Responses of soil nutrient to driving mechanism in Taihu Lake basin in last 20 years

The objectives of this study is to understand the changing law of soil nutrient quality in Taihu Lake basin, Yangtze Delta in last 20 years, and reveal the relationship between soil nutrient changes and human driving forces in regional level over long period of time. Experiment on long-term collecting samples was conducted to study changes of soil organic matter, total N, available N, available P and available K in Dongting town, Wuxi city during the last 20 years. The paper analyses the co-relationship of the fluctuation of soil nutrient and state policy, cultivating practice, agricultural input, and per hectare agricultural net income. The results showed that at first the content of soil organic matter increased, then decreased, and increased again. The content of total N and available N steadily increased. The content of available K and available P steadily decreased. The authors found that the influence of state policy and cultivating practice on soil nutrient quality index (SNQI) is obvious, agricultural input and SNQI are positively correlated, and per hectare agricultural net income and SNQI are negatively correlated.