The Sanjiang Plain, formed with confluence of the Amur River, Ussuri River and Songhua River, is one of the three major stretches of wetland in the world. The large-scale agricultural development on the Sanjiang Plain...The Sanjiang Plain, formed with confluence of the Amur River, Ussuri River and Songhua River, is one of the three major stretches of wetland in the world. The large-scale agricultural development on the Sanjiang Plain started at the end of the 40s of the 20th century. The low-lying terrain and frequent floods caused a lot of difficulties to the agricultural development in the area. Water conservancy program has always been the kernel in agricultural development on the Sanjiang Plain in its history. The entities involved in its development project from different levels, including the state, state farms and farmers. Thus far, we have used the findings of their analysis of the paddy field development process at one state farm to take a microscopic approach to shed light on the development of paddy fields by farms and farmers and their roles in subsequent rice production. Because paddy field management on the Sanjiang Plain is very broad, but its rice producing techniques and economic structure have a certain definite form, the microscopic approach to understanding the paddy field development process and rice fanning management structure on the level of farmers could be considered a success. This paper is intended to elucidate from a macroscopic perspective the characteristics of the rapid development of irrigation and drainage systems and paddy fields on the Sanjiang Plain. Sanjiang Plain is a flood plain, and so major infrastructure development was required, thereby necessitating this national project for flood control. As politics and an economic integrated body, state farms also contributed to the promotion of agricultural development. As principals for the development, the state and state farms are taken by this paper as the main objects of our analysis.展开更多
There has been an increasing global and local interest in developing renewable, clean, and cheap energy towards achieving Goal number 7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). However, decisions involving suitable...There has been an increasing global and local interest in developing renewable, clean, and cheap energy towards achieving Goal number 7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). However, decisions involving suitable and sustainable locations for renewable energy projects remain an important task. This study employed Geographic Information System (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) to spatially analyze and model wind farm site suitability in Nasarawa State. The aim is to integrate the environmental, social, and economic aspects of decision-making for identifying sustainable wind farm sites. The study distinguished between two sets of decision criteria: decision constraints and decision factors. The former defined the exclusion zones while the latter were standardized based on fuzzy logic to depict varying degrees of suitability across the State. The MCDA applied the weighted linear combination method, with relative weights generated through pairwise comparisons of the analytic hierarchy process to analyze three policy scenarios: equal weights, environmental/social priority, and economic priority scenario. A combination of resulting composite maps from the constraints and the factors gave the final suitability maps. The resulting suitability index (SI) for the respective policy scenario describes the degrees of suitability: Ideal locations were denoted by one (1) and the not suitable locations by zero (0), with values in-between depicting varying degrees of wind farm site suitability. Based on the SI, priority locations indicating areas with good prospects, in addition to the most suitable parcels of land, were identified and delineated. The composite decision constraint revealed that wind farm projects would not be viable in more than half (57.58%) of the State. Wind speed was the major constraint and accounted for the exclusion of 46.25%, with a mean fuzzy membership value of 0.2008 indicating low suitability across the State. Also, the average acceptable wind farm location for the three-policy scenario was 33.33% of the entire study area. Lafia, Obi, Keana, Awe, Nasarawa-Eggon, Wamba and Kokona LGAs were the identified priority Local Government Areas (LGAs). However, only Lafia, Obi, and Nasarawa-Eggon were consistent with changes in the policy objectives. All the priority LGAs have one or more of the most suitable parcels within their administrative boundaries except for Wamba. Despite the severe limitations of wind speed, substantial parts of Nasarawa State still provide great development potentials for wind energy. The “most suitable” locations in Lafia, Nasarawa-Eggon, and Obi LGAs should have first consideration for the development of wind energy in the State.展开更多
文摘The Sanjiang Plain, formed with confluence of the Amur River, Ussuri River and Songhua River, is one of the three major stretches of wetland in the world. The large-scale agricultural development on the Sanjiang Plain started at the end of the 40s of the 20th century. The low-lying terrain and frequent floods caused a lot of difficulties to the agricultural development in the area. Water conservancy program has always been the kernel in agricultural development on the Sanjiang Plain in its history. The entities involved in its development project from different levels, including the state, state farms and farmers. Thus far, we have used the findings of their analysis of the paddy field development process at one state farm to take a microscopic approach to shed light on the development of paddy fields by farms and farmers and their roles in subsequent rice production. Because paddy field management on the Sanjiang Plain is very broad, but its rice producing techniques and economic structure have a certain definite form, the microscopic approach to understanding the paddy field development process and rice fanning management structure on the level of farmers could be considered a success. This paper is intended to elucidate from a macroscopic perspective the characteristics of the rapid development of irrigation and drainage systems and paddy fields on the Sanjiang Plain. Sanjiang Plain is a flood plain, and so major infrastructure development was required, thereby necessitating this national project for flood control. As politics and an economic integrated body, state farms also contributed to the promotion of agricultural development. As principals for the development, the state and state farms are taken by this paper as the main objects of our analysis.
文摘There has been an increasing global and local interest in developing renewable, clean, and cheap energy towards achieving Goal number 7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). However, decisions involving suitable and sustainable locations for renewable energy projects remain an important task. This study employed Geographic Information System (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) to spatially analyze and model wind farm site suitability in Nasarawa State. The aim is to integrate the environmental, social, and economic aspects of decision-making for identifying sustainable wind farm sites. The study distinguished between two sets of decision criteria: decision constraints and decision factors. The former defined the exclusion zones while the latter were standardized based on fuzzy logic to depict varying degrees of suitability across the State. The MCDA applied the weighted linear combination method, with relative weights generated through pairwise comparisons of the analytic hierarchy process to analyze three policy scenarios: equal weights, environmental/social priority, and economic priority scenario. A combination of resulting composite maps from the constraints and the factors gave the final suitability maps. The resulting suitability index (SI) for the respective policy scenario describes the degrees of suitability: Ideal locations were denoted by one (1) and the not suitable locations by zero (0), with values in-between depicting varying degrees of wind farm site suitability. Based on the SI, priority locations indicating areas with good prospects, in addition to the most suitable parcels of land, were identified and delineated. The composite decision constraint revealed that wind farm projects would not be viable in more than half (57.58%) of the State. Wind speed was the major constraint and accounted for the exclusion of 46.25%, with a mean fuzzy membership value of 0.2008 indicating low suitability across the State. Also, the average acceptable wind farm location for the three-policy scenario was 33.33% of the entire study area. Lafia, Obi, Keana, Awe, Nasarawa-Eggon, Wamba and Kokona LGAs were the identified priority Local Government Areas (LGAs). However, only Lafia, Obi, and Nasarawa-Eggon were consistent with changes in the policy objectives. All the priority LGAs have one or more of the most suitable parcels within their administrative boundaries except for Wamba. Despite the severe limitations of wind speed, substantial parts of Nasarawa State still provide great development potentials for wind energy. The “most suitable” locations in Lafia, Nasarawa-Eggon, and Obi LGAs should have first consideration for the development of wind energy in the State.
