Incentives of land users in projects of soil and water conservation, the weight of intangibles
Many studies of soil and water conservation in third world situations show that among the farmers' incentives the commercial view on rural management is important and that at the same time intangible considerations are playing an important role. Traditional belief, local customs as well as inner conviction are also significant in the farmer's life. An example of incentives of land husbandry in the first world is given by a case of the Swiss Alp-farming. Their great attachment to this type of farming as well as the national support for mountain farmers' income play a role. In activities aimed at improvement of rural development in a third world country, the viewpoint of the expert may easily dominate any kind of plan making because of his position in the projects. However, his cultural background may limit his understanding of the rural situation in countries foreign to him. This has frequently lead to misjudging the importance of other than commercial incentives. A critical self-appraisal of motives and attitude to life by the adviser would often be needed in order to take immaterial incentives into account in development projects and in the achievement of agricultural policy. From the experience obtained in the third world and from the case study of the european alp-farming, the weight of intangibles in the land users' incentives appears as one of the crucial factors in rural management. This weight will grow with the present increasing need for sustainable agricultural productivity as well as with the need to create a sustained use of the environment in many parts of the world.
Payments for environmental services in watersheds: Insights from a comparative study of three cases in Central America
We have compared three cases of payments for water-related environmental services (PES) in Central America, in terms of socioeconomic background, opportunity costs of forest conservation and stakeholders' perceptions of the conditions of water resources and other issues. We found that, in general, the opportunity costs are larger than the amounts paid, which apparently contradicts the economic foundation of PES schemes and suggests that the role of “intangibles” is important in inducing participation. The results also show that trade-offs between different environmental and social goals are likely to emerge in PES schemes, posing some doubts as to their ability to be multipurpose instruments for environmental improvement and rural development. We also found that PES schemes may work as a conflict-resolution instrument, facilitating downstream–upstream problem solving, though at the same time they might introduce changes in social perceptions of property rights.
Thrombus formation after aortic valvular replacement using Björk-Shiley valve occluding the right coronary orifice.
We describe a patient with unstable angina due to occlusion of the orifice of the right coronary artery by thrombus formation after aortic valvular replacement using a Björk-Shiley valve. After strict anticoagulant treatment, transesophageal echocardiography demonstrated disappearance of the thrombus formation around the orifice of the right coronary artery.