Mountain Commons: Changing Space and Status at Community Levels in the Himalayas

This paper deals with the imperatives of nature-society interaction in the Himalayas as seen through CPR (Common Property Resources). It specifically looks at the process and factors that characterize the dynamics of the above interactions, with particular reference to the changing status and governance of CPRs at community levels. The paper puts together the synthesis of observations and inferences of different studies by ICIMOD and others in mountain regions, particularly in different parts of Nepal, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, China and Pakistan. Rural CPRs (providing sustenance supplies and services) as an important component of a community’s natural resource base, manifest the institutional arrangements evolved by the communities to facilitate their adaptations to nature. The above process can be more clearly illustrated with reference to specific characteristics of mountain areas, called mountain specificities. However, over time, the situation of CPRs in terms of their extent and status, governance and management as well as contributions to community sustenance, has changed. The paper attempts toindicate potential lead lines for searching options for rehabilitation of CPRs, based on a closer under- standing of the factors contributing to their decline.

Community Based Natural Resource Management, Tourism and Poverty Alleviation in Southern Africa： What Works and What Doesn＇t Work

Community based natural resource management （CBNRM） is perhaps the most important tool for driving community and rural development in southern Africa. The paper therefore analyses the CBNRM framework as a strategy for implementing sustainable tourism and poverty alleviation initiatives in Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia. The article specifically underscores the importance of local-level participatory management and utilisation of natural resources in the region. Paying special attention to the previous researches that have been conducted in Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia, the methodological approach employed in the paper centres on critical discourse analysis and review of literatures to highlight the interface existing between CBNRM and rural （tourism） development. The analytical framework of the paper is thus rooted in the Common Property Resource （CPR） theory Overall, the authors argue that tourism, poverty alleviation, rural development, and sustainable natural resource use are linked and interrelated in the process of enhancing community well-being. Findings indicate that CBNRM initiatives have had a significant and positive impact in achieving sustainable tourism, rural development, poverty alleviation, and natural resource management. Specifically, findings show that the CBNRM has contributed to the reduction in wildlife poaching. While other pertinent issues remain, national governments in the three southern African economies need to fully appropriate the benefits that CBNRM offers and improve on them for better implementation of developmental programs.

Common Properties of the Operator Products in Local Spectral Theory

Let X,Y be Banach spaces, A,D ： X - Y and B,C ： Y - X be the bounded linear operators satisfying operator equation set ACD=DBD DBA=ACAIn this paper, we show that AC and BD share some basic operator properties such as the injectivity and the invertibility. Moreover, we show that AG＇ and BD share many common local spectral properties including SVEP, Bishop property （β） and Dunford property （C）.

A survey of density based clustering algorithms

Density based clustering algorithms(DBCLAs)rely on the notion of density to identify clusters of arbitrary shapes,sizes with varying densities.Existing surveys on DB-CLAs cover only a selected set of algorithms.These surveys fail to provide an extensive information about a variety of DBCLAs proposed till date including a taxonomy of the algorithms.In this paper we present a comprehensive survey of various DB-CLAS over last two decades along with their classification.We group the DBCLAs in each of the four categories:density definition,parameter sensitivity,execution mode and nature of*data and further divide them into various classes under each of these categories.In addition,we compare the DBCLAs through their common features and variations in citation and conceptual dependencies.We identify various application areas of DBCLAS in domains such as astronomy,earth sciences,molecular biology,geography,multimedia.Our survey also identifies probable future directions of DBCLAs where involvement of density based methods may lead to favorable results.