Regional electricity generation and employment in UK regions. Regional Studies. A number of electricity-generation technologies reduce carbon emissions, but with different economic and employment effects, partly consequent on how far generation capacity supports regional supply chains. In devolved regions these issues are important because of the role given to renewable electricity generation in economic development strategies. This paper analyses the regional employment supported by different electricity-generation technologies, illustrating trade-offs between generation scale and employment intensity, and shows that the regional employment supported under all pathways is modest compared with the regional economic scale. The policy implications are investigated.

Over the past decades, studies have shown considerable change in mangrove and deltaic systems around the world. Arguments for the controlling processes encompass natural and anthropogenic phenomena, including sea level rise, storms, sediment supply changes and enhanced subsidence. To evaluate whether similar gross trends are apparent across several larger systems, this research employed a consistent methodology to conduct region-wide change analyses of five major mangrove deltaic systems in the Asia-Pacific region that are reported to be under varying degrees of risk ("no risk," Fly and Kikori-Purari; "in peril," Ganges-Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Mekong). With the use of a full-scale semiautomated classification, the extent of mangroves was mapped and compared for two Landsat satellite image series at least 20 years apart. Overall, we found a net contraction in mangrove area of 76 km(2), or 0.28%, but trends in mangrove change varied across the five systems. We document net contractions in the Ganges-Brahmaputra, Fly, and Kikori-Purari and a net expansion in the Irrawaddy and Mekong. The biggest relative decline in mangrove area occurred in the Fly delta, which experienced a decline of 3.9% over 36 years. The largest relative increase of 2.7% over 20 years occurred in the Irrawaddy, whereas the Mekong was relatively stable with only a modest 0.14% decline over 20 years. System-wide patterns and rates of change were variable and complex. Generally, erosion is occurring at the mouths of rivers, where exposure to ocean processes (e.g. waves) is greatest, despite the large sediment supply by these great rivers (albeit reduced in some cases). The observed losses in the Ganges-Brahmaputra are not surprising considering the known anthropogenic effects, but given that similar change trends are occurring in the Fly and Kikori-Purari delta systems despite potentially increased sediment loading (e.g. from deforestation and mining) and without other anthropogenic effects (subsurface withdrawals or river rerouting), some of this morphological change might be attributed to an enhanced eustatic sea level rise. However, change in climate, marine processes (e.g. wave conditions), effective sea level rise (e.g. a local oceanographic or tectonically controlled response), or autogenic geomorphodynamics cannot be ruled out. Alarmingly, deltas that have the greatest and most intact mangrove systems (the Fly and Kikori-Purari systems) or those parts of deltas that are still forested, such as in the western Sundarbans, are being eroded the fastest of the studied systems. A more concerted effort to monitor large-scale delta changes is recommended.

The Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak are global hotspots of forest loss and degradation due to timber and oil palm industries; however, the rates and patterns of change have remained poorly measured by conventional field or satellite approaches. Using 30 m resolution optical imagery acquired since 1990, forest cover and logging roads were mapped throughout Malaysian Borneo and Brunei using the Carnegie Landsat Analysis System. We uncovered ∼364,000 km of roads constructed through the forests of this region. We estimated that in 2009 there were at most 45,400 km2 of intact forest ecosystems in Malaysian Borneo and Brunei. Critically, we found that nearly 80% of the land surface of Sabah and Sarawak was impacted by previously undocumented, high-impact logging or clearing operations from 1990 to 2009. This contrasted strongly with neighbouring Brunei, where 54% of the land area remained covered by unlogged forest. Overall, only 8% and 3% of land area in Sabah and Sarawak, respectively, was covered by intact forests under designated protected areas. Our assessment shows that very few forest ecosystems remain intact in Sabah or Sarawak, but that Brunei, by largely excluding industrial logging from its borders, has been comparatively successful in protecting its forests.

Over the past few decades, tropical timber production in many Asia–Pacific countries has been akin to the symmetric logistic distribution curve, or 'Hubbert Curve', observed in the exploitation of many non-renewable resources—a rapid increase in production followed by a peak and then decline. There are three principal reasons why logging of native tropical forests resembles the mining of a non-renewable resource: the standard cutting cycle of 30–40 years is too brief to allow the wood volume to regenerate; tropical logging catalyses considerable deforestation; and the bulk of logging is undertaken by multinational corporations with little interest in long-term local sustainability. Unless something fundamental changes, we believe tropical forests will continue to be overharvested and cleared apace, leading to an inevitable global decline in tropical timbers of non-plantation origin. It has become common these days to speak of 'peak oil'. In the tropics, we suggest that we should also begin to discuss the implications of 'peak timber'.

The role of museums as agents of culture, education and even nationhood is widely recognised. However, the potential for museums to contribute to regeneration processes is also important. Urban development literature has demonstrated the importance of creative capital in economic development processes. Then, evaluating museums in economic terms, covering issues including visitor numbers and resulting tourism consumption, provides only a partial indication of museum 'value'. This paper reports research undertaken with Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales to establish the economic impact of museums, but which also developed a conceptual framework to assess other elements of museum contribution. In particular, the paper picks up on research challenges on the need to test critically how far culture can be at the heart of local regeneration. The paper also addresses a challenge from the literature that a wider group of stakeholders might be involved in establishing the 'value' of services emanating from museums.

One of the few initiatives to address ongoing global warming that did not completely stall at the UNFCCC climate change negotiations was the reduction emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). REDD has a focus on the forests of the tropics. Unfortunately forest mensuration in most tropical countries has been inadequate to accurately determine forest carbon stocks, much less the effects of land use and changes in land use on them (Houghton et al. 2009; Bryan et al. 2010a). Whilst tropical logging is known to be widespread, the exact areas of tropical forest subject to logging have not been accurately mapped (Asner et al. 2009) or mapped with sufficient regularity to provide adequate data on the areas subject to this activity. Biomass losses due to logging have usually been derived from limited plot data, or derived via various models from estimates of regional biomass and timber extraction volumes (Houghton et al. 2009) and thus encapsulate considerable uncertainty. For these reasons the carbon impact of tropical logging remains an open question, and one that needs to be closed before any international institutional arrangement considers promoting forms of timber extraction as a tool for controlling carbon emissions. Here, we examine the current state of forest carbon research in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to illustrate the problems that can arise by developing forest management policy prematurely from incomplete forest research. The question of the effects of logging on carbon stocks in Papua New Guinea has been addressed by Shearman et al. (2008, 2010) and Bryan et al. (2010a), who concluded that the available data were inadequate to derive accurate conclusions on the quanta involved. It has been most recently addressed by Fox et al. (2010) who are confident that their analysis of permanent sampling plots (PSPs) ‘provides a sound basis for estimating C dynamics associated with LULUCF’ (p. 7), LULUCF being land use, land use change and forestry. In the present paper, we examine the attributes of data that would provide such a sound basis, examine the data of Fox et al. (2010) in this context, and comment on the possible political implications of accepting the type of data used by Fox et al. (2010) as valid in the context of REDD. To understand the effects of changing the manner in which forests are used or managed on carbon balances, data are needed on stocks and flows. The starting point is to understand the carbon stocks in forests that have not been subject to human modification within a timeframe relevant to rates of regeneration. As Bryan et al. (2010a) and Fox et al. (2010) emphasise, confidence in this outcome requires adequate unbiased sampling of forests undisturbed by humans and extrapolation of the results of this sampling using accurate spatial data layers representing the different types of undisturbed forest.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is an extensively forested country. Recent research suggests that despite commencing a trajectory of deforestation and degradation later than many counties in the Asia-Pacific region, PNG is now undergoing comparable rates of forest change. Here we explore the bioregional distribution of changes in the forest estate over the period 1972-2002 and examine their implications for forest protection. This is undertaken through the development of a novel bioregional classification of the country based on biogeographic regions and climatic zones, and its application to existing forest cover and forest-cover change data. We found that degradation and deforestation varied considerably across the 11 defined biogeographic regions. We report that the majority of deforestation and degradation has occurred within all the lowland forests, and that it is these forests that have the greatest potential for further losses in the near term. The largest percentage of total change occurred in the east of PNG, in the islands and lowlands of the Bismarck, D'Entrecasteaux, East Papuan Islands and in the South-East Papua-Oro region. The only region with a significant highlands component to undergo deforestation at a comparable magnitude to the islands and lowland regions was the Huon Peninsula and Adelbert region. Significant changes have also occurred at higher elevations, especially at the interface of subalpine grasslands and upper montane forests. Lower montane forests have experienced proportionally less change, yet it is these forests that constitute the majority of forests enclosed within the protected area system. We find that protected areas are not convincingly protecting either representative areas of PNG's ecosystems, nor the forests within their borders. We conclude by suggesting a more expansive and integrated approach to managing the national forest estate.

This report was commissioned by Cymorth Cymru and prepared by the Welsh Economy Research Unit (WERU) at Cardiff Business School. The main aim of the research is to examine the economic significance of employment in the housing-related support (HRS) ‘sector’. Cymorth Cymru is a registered charity and membership body for organisations involved in providing HRS. It represents the ‘sector’ in Wales to government and provides services and strategic support to its membership. One of its responsibilities is to identify research gaps and to help policy makers and the public to understand better the impact of what housing-related support achieves for the people using the services, the communities in which services are located, and ultimately the benefits of a strong housing-related support sector to Wales as a whole.

Greenhouse-gas emissions resulting from logging are poorly quantified across the tropics. There is a need for robust measurement of rain forest biomass and the impacts of logging from which carbon losses can be reliably estimated at regional and global scales. We used a modified Bitterlich plotless technique to measure aboveground live biomass at six unlogged and six logged rain forest areas (coupes) across two approximately 3000-ha regions at the Makapa concession in lowland Papua New Guinea. "Reduced-impact logging" is practiced at Makapa. We found the mean unlogged aboveground biomass in the two regions to be 192.96 +/- 4.44 Mg/ha and 252.92 +/- 7.00 Mg/ha (mean +/- SE), which was reduced by logging to 146.92 +/- 4.58 Mg/ha and 158.84 +/- 4.16, respectively. Killed biomass was not a fixed proportion, but varied with unlogged biomass, with 24% killed in the lower-biomass region, and 37% in the higher-biomass region. Across the two regions logging resulted in a mean aboveground carbon loss of 35 +/- 2.8 Mg/ha. The plotless technique proved efficient at estimating mean aboveground biomass and logging damage. We conclude that substantial bias is likely to occur within biomass estimates derived from single unreplicated plots.

ABSTRACTQuantifying forest change in the tropics is important because of the role these forests play in the conservation of biodiversity and the global carbon cycle. One of the world's largest remaining areas of tropical forest is located in Papua New Guinea. Here we show that change in its extent and condition has occurred to a greater extent than previously recorded. We assessed deforestation and forest degradation in Papua New Guinea by comparing a land‐cover map from 1972 with a land‐cover map created from nationwide high‐resolution satellite imagery recorded since 2002. In 2002 there were 28,251,967 ha of tropical rain forest. Between 1972 and 2002, a net 15 percent of Papua New Guinea's tropical forests were cleared and 8.8 percent were degraded through logging. The drivers of forest change have been concentrated within the accessible forest estate where a net 36 percent were degraded or deforested through both forestry and nonforestry processes. Since 1972, 13 percent of upper montane forests have also been lost. We estimate that over the period 1990–2002, overall rates of change generally increased and varied between 0.8 and 1.8 percent/yr, while rates in commercially accessible forest have been far higher—having varied between 1.1 and 3.4 percent/yr. These rates are far higher than those reported by the FAO over the same period. We conclude that rapid and substantial forest change has occurred in Papua New Guinea, with the major drivers being logging in the lowland forests and subsistence agriculture throughout the country with comparatively minor contributions from forest fires, plantation establishment, and mining.

Reduction of carbon emissions from tropical deforestation and forest degradation is being considered a cost-effective way of mitigating the impacts of global warming. If such reductions are to be implemented, accurate and repeatable measurements of forest cover change and biomass will be required. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), which has one of the world's largest remaining areas of tropical forest, we used the best available data to estimate rainforest carbon stocks, and emissions from deforestation and degradation. We collated all available PNG field measurements which could be used to estimate carbon stocks in logged and unlogged forest. We extrapolated these plot-level estimates across the forested landscape using high-resolution forest mapping. We found the best estimate of forest carbon stocks contained in logged and unlogged forest in 2002 to be 4770Mt (±13%). Our best estimate of gross forest carbon released through deforestation and degradation between 1972 and 2002 was 1178Mt (±18%). By applying a long-term forest change model, we estimated that the carbon loss resulting from deforestation and degradation in 2001 was 53Mt (±18%), rising from 24Mt (±15%) in 1972. Forty-one percent of 2001 emissions resulted from logging, rising from 21% in 1972. Reducing emissions from logging is therefore a priority for PNG. The large uncertainty in our estimates of carbon stocks and fluxes is primarily due to the dearth of field measurements in both logged and unlogged forest, and the lack of PNG logging damage studies. Research priorities for PNG to increase the accuracy of forest carbon stock assessments are the collection of field measurements in unlogged forest and more spatially explicit logging damage studies.

This report has been prepared by the Welsh Economy Research Unit (WERU) at Cardiff Business School for Community Housing Cymru (CHC). It reports the findings of a CHC survey of new homes provided by Registered Social Landlords (RSL) in 2007/08, estimates the economic impacts of housing associations in Wales, including regeneration, and reviews some of the social and economic implications of housing association activity. The work of housing associations is often difficult to quantify, and, as was recognised in the Essex Review, is seldom fully appreciated by the public at large. Housing Associations (HAs) or Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) are not-for-profit voluntary bodies formed to provide good quality, affordable homes for those in housing need. Improved quality of housing is linked with better health, economic opportunity, access to services and general quality of life for occupiers. Housing Associations also provide modern community facilities, accommodation for students and the aged, as well as rescuing important buildings. Increasingly, they are responsible for innovative projects which go well beyond traditional formula.