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This article aims to show how communities with severe river flooding can develop sustainable flood plans that remediate environmental problems caused by previous river straightening and other structural flood controls.

The article builds on a case study of the nationally recognized Napa River Flood Protection Project (USA), which incorporates an ecological living river strategy and builds on strong community participation to restore a river and its floodplain. After discussing the drawbacks of structural flood control measures, and especially of river straightening, reviews the contents of the Napa Flood Project and the public participation process necessary for its design, approval and implementation.

The key lessons learned from Napa's flood project are that: undoing past structural works is difficult but feasible; ecological criteria can and should be used to design modern flood projects; involvement of a wide and diverse group of stakeholders is crucial to developing and implementing an environmentally sustainable flood management project; and the US Army Corps of Engineers can work with communities and depart from its typical, structural flood control approaches.

Information on straightened rivers is extremely limited. Furthermore, this study focuses on flood planning for US rivers, and may therefore be less useful elsewhere in the world where the frequency of river straightening may differ.

This case study provides a critique on river straightening, which is a poorly documented but fairly frequent approach to flood control. This article helps to fill gaps in the knowledge of how communities can, and are, addressing environmental concerns associated with flood controls and river straightening.

The concept of National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) is advocated at international, regional and national levels. The concept is thought to foster sustainability of livelihoods against impacts of climate change. This paper analyses the mainstreaming of NAPA into national development plans in Lesotho as accentuated by policies and programmes.

The analysis is broadly qualitative and reviews policies and projects on agriculture and food security, environment, forestry, water and irrigation aimed at sustaining rural livelihoods. Data from relevant government documents, commissioned studies’ reports, literature and key stakeholders are used.

Although the mainstreaming entry point for NAPA is identified in the country’s Vision 2020 and National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) 2012/13-2016/17, financial, technical, human and other resources are inadequate to ensure its effective implementation. There is little evidence of NAPA mainstreaming into development plans by the line ministries of finance and economic development other than donor-funded projects. Absence of climate change policy influence means NAPA is not well-factored into the national development agenda, as mainstreaming is difficult without appropriate policies. Most projects with effect on climate change impact abatement originate from specific sectors and are disconnected from each other.

Based on the findings, ways to leverage NAPA via mainstreaming are discussed. It is concluded that NAPA mainstreaming offers a promising avenue for initiating and promoting sustainable livelihoods in Lesotho. The study demonstrates the applicability of the presented sustainable livelihood framework.

The purpose of this paper is to prepare superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) based on acrylic acid, which is considered hygroscopic material to incorporate in rubber formulation, which results in producing moisten rubber that is used as roofing sheets.

SAPs were synthesized via free radical bulk polymerization technique using different content of cross-linker N, N'-methylenebisacrylamide and potassium persulfate. Differential scanning calorimeter, thermal gravimetric analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize SAPs and confirmed the formation of cross-linked hydrogel structure. The water absorbency and the gel fraction for sodium polyacrylate (NaPA) were investigated. Then, the influence of obtained NaPA on the swelling behavior of the prepared natural rubber (NR) compound has been discussed.

Absorption characteristics and gel fraction of NaPA were found to depend on the content of the cross-linker in the system. SAPs are used to improve the absorbance behavior and performance of the NR to produce, roofing sheets using in hot weather. The morphology of the obtained rubber compound was well-explained by using a scanning electron microscope.

The research provides a simple way to produce moisten rubber that can be used as a roofing sheet to overcome warm weather.

Moisten rubber roofing sheets provide a low-cost option in many developing countries with hot climates, and thus, help save the environment from global warming.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether or not the reputation of a region/country in the international wine market depends on a region/country’s efforts to specialize in a specific grape variety.

Data on 19,959 bottles of wine corresponding to six vintages across ten wine producing regions worldwide are used to estimate a hedonic price model that measures consumer valuations of the different wine attributes.

The results of this study show that although variety specialization has successfully underpinned the reputation of some New World regions, such as the Napa Valley (with its Cabernet Sauvignon) or Oregon (with its Pinot Noir); in others, such as Australia (with its Shiraz), this has not been successful.

Over the last ten years, the exponential growth of Australian bulk wine exports has seriously harmed the reputation of Australian wine. With respect to the Napa Valley wines, price discount received by Australian wines increases between the 1997 and 2007 vintage from 33 to 61 percent. Thus, in order to successfully build a collective reputation of an entrant (New World) country, an institutional framework that mediates differences of interest between the large and small vineyards and, above all, that regulates the free-rider problem in the wine market is required.

This paper empirically illustrates how cooperative (and non-cooperative) behavior between firms can help to build (and to destroy) collective reputation of wines that come from the same region or country.

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar si los esfuerzos de una región/país por especializarse en la producción de una misma variedad de cepa sirven o no para construir la reputación de una región/país en el mercado internacional del vino.

Se utiliza un modelo econométrico de precios hedónicos sobre la base de 19.959 mil observaciones provenientes de 6 cosechas y 10 zonas productoras de vino del mundo.

Los resultados de este estudio muestran que aunque la especialización por cepa ha impulsado la reputación de algunas regiones del Nuevo Mundo, como la del Valle de Napa (con su Cabernet Sauvignon) o la de Oregon (con su Pinot Noir); en otras, como la de Australia (con su Shiraz), no ha sido una estrategia exitosa.

En los últimos diez años, el crecimiento exponencial de las exportaciones de vino a granel australiano ha dañado seriamente la reputación del vino de dicho país. Respecto a los vinos de Napa, el castigo de precios de los vinos australianos ha crecido desde un 33% en la cosecha 1997 a un 61% en la cosecha 2007. Así, si se desea construir con éxito la reputación de un país entrante (del Nuevo Mundo) al mercado mundial del vino, se requiere de un marco institucional que medie las diferencias de interés entre las grandes y pequeñas viñas, y que, por sobre todo, regule las conductas no cooperativas (free-rider) que surgen al amparo de la reputación colectiva asociada a los vinos que provienen de una misma región o país de origen.

Este paper ilustra de manera empírica cómo las conductas cooperativas (y no cooperativas) entre productores pueden ayudar a construir (y a destruir) la reputación colectiva de los vinos que provienen de una misma región o país.

This paper aims to examine the purposive strategy behind the growth of cult wines in Napa California since the 1980s. By leveraging the growing wine reputation of the region, a small number of new owners used extensive financial resources from other ventures to make a finely crafted, high-priced wine, in small quantities and sold through restricted distribution channels. Their aim was to compete with Bordeaux first-growths and create wine that would evoke the luxury connotations of craft, heritage, reputation and exclusivity. Because they were new, they relied upon experts to rate their wine, thus creating instant legitimacy with high scores and appealing to a small group of wealthy wine enthusiasts, many of whom were insecure in their knowledge of high-quality wines.

Semi-structured in-depth interviews with a sample of 13 cult winery owners, wine makers and a CEO were utilized in addition to descriptive statistics and secondary historical information drawn from public records.

Certain Napa producers have created iconic wines through purposeful behavior and extensive resources that are rare and difficult to imitate. Their success is also a function of positive accolades by influential wine critics whose scoring sanctioned their status as a luxury good. High prices and limited availability further manufactured the scarcity element that is crucial to maintaining demand for high-status goods.

This study examines the interface between supply of a product, external validation that legitimized it and a small but significant market of wealthy individuals who created the demand for it. This mosaic behind market creation reveals how successful producers have been in realizing the multidimensionality of luxury goods.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that cooperative behavior by key actors is often crucial for collective organizational learning to occur and new markets to become established. Such cooperation is gradually replaced by competition as network interactions become formalized following the codification of knowledge and the growth of a collective identity.

Using detailed ethnographic studies from a broad sample, this paper uses key informants who played a role in creating and sustaining a viable market for a high status good.

The sharing of tacit knowledge complements technical skills for key industry actors and facilitates collective organizational learning in ways that expedite the emergence of a high status sector. Once knowledge is codified as the sector gains legitimacy, there is less need for informal structured interactions as vital conduits of knowledge sharing.

This paper shows how knowledge sharing via cooperative relationship underlies competitive market formation and provides firms with requisite quality enhancements necessary for status attainment.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of interactions amongst specialists in an embryonic and emerging network.

The approach taken was qualitative research utilising ethnographic methods of interview of key actors.

Cooperative activities in the early phase of market growth facilitated information pooling crucial to the sector's growth; following industry legitimacy, there is less incentive or need for such pooling as information becomes codified. Governance structure change as a consequence of such an evolution in organizational form.

The paper examines how tacit knowledge sharing is crucial to industry growth through informal networks, then how such knowledge is less valuable once industry legitimacy has been established. Cooperation thus becomes increasingly replaced by competition between organization and the key actors therein.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the changing competitive landscape in the wine industry, focusing upon how premium Napa valley producers are responding to such changes.

The in depth interview technique with 11 privately owned premium wine producers was used, with interviews conducted in early 2005.

Wineries identify the growing concentration and consolidation amongst distributors and domestic US producers; increased foreign competition, particularly from Australia; and the trend towards homogenised taste following the increased power of numerical wine ranking surveys as principal concerns that they face.

The findings highlight the dilemmas faced by wineries as they attempt to stress their locational advantage for reputation building but endeavour to differentiate their product from other wineries in Napa.

As a pilot project the paper indicates how even firms in high value added product markets are facing heightened competition and what they fear might emerge in the near future from foreign producers.

This chapter presents two cases in which the coupling between products and destinations generates distinct variations of possibilities for on-site consumption of mythologies of product implacement. Product–place dyads represent significant enabling potential to convey experiential authenticity in the form of enacted narratives, which are in turn based on product myths and the role of a place on the continuum of a productionscape–consumptionscape. Through the illustrative use of cases, a symbolic order of product geography is revealed. Destinations that leverage product associations are invariably engaged in a struggle to claim symbolic authority produce an authentic product–origin narrative. This chapter bridges critical tourism and international marketing literatures and proposes product geography as the mythomoteur of worldmaking.