Située au cœur de la RDC, la province du Sankuru est parmi les espaces les plus marqués par la recrudescence des conflits intercommunautaires dont le plus marquant est celui dit « Ekonda-Eswe » (gens ...de la forêt contre gens de la savane) avec la bataille rangée de mai 1963 au cours de laquelle plus d’une centaine de personnes périrent de part et d’autre. Au-delà des dégâts matériels et humains causés par ces querelles fratricides, cette situation a entraîné une césure dans le tissu sociologique constitué par les descendants de l’ancêtre Onkutshu-Membele, disséminés à travers les six territoires de l’actuelle province du Sankuru. Aujourd’hui, 59 ans après cet affrontement, les mêmes maux (culte de la préséance, auto-valorisation agressive, indifférence-mépris, etc.) persistent parmi les élites sankuroises dont quelques membres professent la théorie de la division, de la haine et de l’injustice dans leur vie quotidienne.
Ignimbritic eruptions represent catastrophic events due to the magma volume involved and the related consequences on Earth's environment in relation with the released gases and the tephra dispersal. ...Dominica has been recognized as hosting one of the major ignimbritic eruptions of the last 200ky in the Lesser Antilles arc, called the Roseau Tuff. But more recent works have evidenced several pumiceous events instead of a single large one. Here we propose a revised chronostratigraphy of the explosive activity that occurred in the last tens of thousands years based on three field trips, new 14C ages, detailed lithological and geochemical investigations, in particular a precise characterization of trace element glass chemistry. This eruptive history reconstruction is mainly based on outcrops along the coast and in the valley, since the luxury vegetation in the center of the island mostly precludes sections close to the central volcanic centers. We thus confirm that the Roseau event has been overestimated and that we may recognize five main ignimbritic events: Grande Savane, Layou (~51ka), Grand Bay, Roseau (~33ka), Grand Fond (~24ka). We discuss the possible volcanic center at their origin, in addition to correlations with some Plinian events of lower magnitude that were identified in the Roseau valley and in the southern part of Dominica. This study may help to better constrain the eruptive history of the most active volcanic island of the Lesser Antilles arc, which has important implications on hazard mitigation.
•We have precised the stratigraphy relative to the explosive activity in Dominica in the last tens of thousands years.•Repetitive Plinian eruptions occurs in addition to large ignimbritic eruptions.•We emphasize the importance of using glass geochemistry.•We precise the eruptive center.
This article examines the past century of fire management of the coastal pine savanna in Belize, drawing on archival evidence,interviews, and ethnographic enquiry into an international development ...project in Belize. It considers contemporary approaches that seek to use prescribed fire with the participation of local communities in relation to past practices. The Belizean savanna has long been shaped by human fire use. Its flora is ecologically adapted to fire. Yet fire has been repeatedly cast as a problem, from c. 1920, by British colonial and, later, USA foresters, and, most recently, by international and local non-governmental nature conservation organizations. Informed by different schools of thought, each of these organizations has designed programs of fire management aiming to reduce wildfire frequency. Yet little has changed; Belize's diverse and growing rural population has continued to use fire, and the savannas burn, year upon year. While the planned aims and methods differed, each program of fire management has, in practice, been similarly structured and constrained by its genesis within colonial or international development. Funding and leadership for fire management has been inconsistent. Each program has been shaped by a specifically Belizean ecology and politics, in excess of its definition of the fire 'problem' and 'solutions' to it. Powerful political elites and fire users in Belize have not seen clear incentives for the fire management supported by official policy. This analysis highlights that contemporary efforts to build more ecologically and environmentally just forms of fire management must be understood in the context of broader political struggles over land and resources.
The annual water balance for 39 grid cells covering the savannah woodland region of Sudan (10-16°N; 21-36°E) was determined and regional maps produced. Long-term (1961-1990) mean monthly climate ...data, National Forest Inventory data and Harmonized World Soil Database data for arenosols and vertisols, the two dominant soil types in the region, were used. Model validation was performed using daily data from a site in one of the grid cells and inter-annual (1961-1990) variation examined for another grid cell. Rainfall varied from 147 to 732 mm and only exceeded evapotranspiration for 18 of the grid cells, resulting in a small increase in soil moisture and runoff. Evapotranspiration accounted for, on average, 96% of rainfall and there was little difference between soil types. Drainage only occurred from AR soils and for four of the grid cells. Runoff varied from 0 to 89 mm for arenosols and from 0 to 109 mm for vertisols. The study provided useful insights into the spatial variability in water balance components across the region.
Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor D. Gerten
Phenology and associated canopy development exert a strong control over seasonal energy and mass exchanges between the earth's surface and the atmosphere. Satellite measurements are used to assess ...main phenological stages of the vegetation at the global scale. The authors propose a method to derive the start, the maximum, the end, and the length of the vegetation cycle, based on the analysis of temporal series of weekly vegetation index, at a resolution of l degree lat X l degree long for year 1986. Global maps of these characteristics of the vegetation are presented, and their zonal distribution is discussed. The start of the vegetation cycle has been related to temperature sums in the case of temperate deciduous forest and to precipitation in the case of savannahs. It is concluded that satellite measurements offer interesting perspectives for global-scale quantitative phenology modeling
Pendant les travaux agricoles qui leur étaient confiés à une période bien précise de l’année, les enfants bwaba s’amusaient à tresser des bracelets avec deux espèces d’herbes. Le système agraire et ...les conditions sociales ayant changé, cette occupation a été abandonnée vers les années 1960. Ces objets servaient de support à de riches relations amicales et amoureuses prénuptiales et le passe-temps apparaît comme associé à un espace de liberté particulier aux enfants. Le contexte (espaces, saisons et types de tâches) et les principaux aspects techniques de l’activité (matériaux, objets produits), ainsi que les relations entre enfants sont présentés. Les idées associées aux deux herbes qui servent de matériaux et à une troisième, utilisée dans un contexte d’initiation et qui leur est opposée, sont discutées : répartition des tâches en fonction du sexe, préparation et anticipation, passage et caractère éphémère.
Grass weaving and juvenile attachments among the Bwaba of Burkina Faso. During agricultural and herding tasks entrusted to them at a specific time of the year, Bwaba children used to entertain themselves braiding bracelets with two species of grasses. The agrarian system and social conditions having changed, this occupation has been abandoned by the 1960s. These objects served as support for rich friendly and premarital love relations and the pastime appears to be associated with an area of freedom peculiar to children. The paper describes the context (places, seasons, and types of tasks) and the main technical aspects of activity (materials, produced objects), as well as relations between children. The ideas associated with the two grasses used as material and a third one used in context of initiation and opposed to them are discussed: division of labour on the basis of sex, preparation and anticipation, transition and transience.
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