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.
The concept of love is one of the most important concepts that are emphasized in Islamic mysticism, especially in the current of romantic mysticism. This current that is one of the most important ...approaches in Islamic mysticism, there was also before but Ghazali was the one who gave it individuation and recognition. After studying the works of Ahmad Ghazali, especially the first independent Persian book on the subject of love, Savane ol-oshagh, we will know that the romantic mysticism has the principles and characteristics that is considered less both theoretical and practical dimensions. This study is paid to eleven of these theoretical principles derived from the votes Khwaja Ahmad. After identifying these principles and characteristics in the works of Ahmad Ghazali and specific approaches that have been this current, can see how he has managed promote it as an independent and prosperous current and realm. Recognizing the theoretical foundations of romantic mysticism can also help to drawing intellectual and theoretical system and completely different for the official Sufi in traditional systems, against the theoretical Sufism of Ibn Arabi and his exponents.
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.
Herbivores can often control plant dynamics by mediating positive feedbacks in plant species' influence on nutrient cycling. In a 7-yr field experiment in a nitrogen-limited Minnesota oak savanna, we ...tested whether herbivores accelerated or decelerated nitrogen (N) cycling through their effects on plants. We measured effects of excluding insect (primarily Orthoptera and Homoptera) and mammalian herbivores (primarily white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus) on above- and belowground plant biomass, plant species composition, plant tissue nitrogen concentration, available soil N and light, and total N and carbon (C) in different pools (soil, roots, litter, etc.). Herbivore exclusion strongly increased cover and biomass of the legume Lathyrus venosus and a few species of woody plants. These effects were associated with greater aboveground standing crop, reduced belowground standing crop, and reduced light penetration to the ground surface. Herbivore exclusion also modified N cycling through greater N content of live, aboveground plant tissue early in the growing season and of litter and belowground tissue late in the growing season. Herbivore exclusion also increased soil nitrate and total available N concentrations but did not alter total soil or plant N. Our results support the hypothesis that herbivores indirectly decelerate N cycling by decreasing the abundance of plant species with nitrogen-rich tissues. However, other factors, such as disturbance from fire, may mediate herbivore effects on long-term changes in N and C pools. Herbivores may therefore indirectly control productivity, N cycling, and succession by consuming nitrogen-fixing and woody plants that have strong effects on plant resources (e.g., nitrogen and light).
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
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