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Colombia has the greatest bird diversity of any country in the world, with approximately 20% of all bird species worldwide. Advances made by the Colombian government to end long-standing armed conflict and to promote ecotourism can help position Colombia as one of the most important bird watching destinations. This study estimates the economic benefits derived from peace in Colombia through the value that members of the US-based National Audubon Society place on a birding tour of Northern Colombia's Caribbean coast. The study analyzes preferences for a tour that includes the participation of local communities (some of whom were victims of the armed conflict), and visits to areas of importance for bird watching that would offer greater accessibility and safety for visitors after the Peace Agreement. Through the application of the contingent valuation method, results show that birding enthusiasts would be willing to pay, on average, an additional $60 per day and per person for a tour inside Colombia, as compared to a similar tour in Costa Rica. In addition to confirming demand for bird-based travel, the study provides information about potential visitors' preferences, which can help guide the development of a strategy to promote bird-based tourism to Colombia.

"Coral reefs worldwide need urgent conservation action because of their high level of degradation and susceptibility. This conservation priority is more urgent in the face of current global change events, which obscure the possibility for understanding the socio--ecological systems (SESs) complex dynamics, and limits the management effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). To improve MPAs' effectiveness in a context of climate change and crescent anthropogenic pressures, it is necessary the use of a holistic approach that facilitates the understanding of the social and ecological relationships and helps to determine current state and potential risk faced by coral reefs SESs. In the present study we formulate an integrative model based on socioecological resilience approach to assess the management effectiveness of two MPAs located in the Southern Caribbean (Colombia). By using indexes to estimate Resilience and Human--Intervention, which are made up by indicators that reflect the social and ecological status of the system, we are able to detect specific conservation strategies and action plans to improve resilience, based on the particular conditions of the MPAs. We found that both MPAs are in a risk state characterized by low resilience and high human intervention; however, the level of risk faced differs between the two MPAs . By identifying binding indicators and variables, we show that this model might be an appropriate tool for decision--makers and reserve managers as it provides insights not only about the current status of the SESs at the MPAs, but also about what elements of the SESs should be addressed for improving MPA's protection effectiveness while mitigating the vulnerability of coral reefs ecosystems and local communities"--Abstract.

Twitter is a social media expressly devoted to disseminate information and since its consolidation (about 2006), it is gaining users at an exponential rate. One of the main scholar thoughts in the literature of the Internet and politics is what Negroponte (1995) almost 20 years ago, called “the daily me”, and how the risk of specialized news consumption will favor a polarization on society (Farrell 2012, Sustein 2007, Conover et al. 2011 among others). Nevertheless, the impact of the Internet and in particular of Twitter on political difference is unclear (Brundige, Rice 2009). The main purpose of this paper is to analyze on Twitter the proximity to traditional media (newspapers, radio, TV) of political parties' that have a contrary political filiation. We expect to assess if Twitter in an electoral process favors political fragmentation and polarization or can promote accidental exposure to political information (Tewksbury et al, 2001). We analyzed the case of the last Catalan Election (25th November of 2012), that was a very polarized electoral process. We obtained a sample of 45.000 tweets of the last week of the elections, we classify the most visible Twitter's accounts according to their centrality level at the network, after that we coding the most visible accounts according to its political filiation, we analyzed the proximity of the accounts in respect to traditional media of another political filiation We observe that the majority of ties are between homophile members; however there are a few central brokers that favor accidental information exposure of parties accounts to traditional media with contrary political filiation.

New cement-based materials such as alkali-activated binders (AABs) or geopolymers allow incorporating waste or industrial sub-products into their formulation, resulting an interesting valorization technique to use them as secondary resources in a new production cycle. Therefore, it is essential to inquire about the potential environmental and health impacts in the different stages of their life cycle. In the European context, a minimum aquatic toxicity tests has been recommended for construction products, but the potential biological effects of these products on marine ecosystems has not yet been considered. In this study, three industrial by-products, PAVAL® (PV) aluminum oxide, weathered bottom ash (WBA) resulting from incinerator bottom ash and glass cullet recycling waste (CSP), were evaluated as precursors in the AAB formulation from an environmental point of view. The contaminants mobility was studied through the leaching test UNE EN-12457-2 using seawater as the leaching agent and the embryogenesis toxicity test using the model organism sea urchin P. lividus was conducted. AABs show higher EC50 values (approximately 50%) (the leachate concentration that induces negative effects on 50% of sea urchin larval development) than in raw material precursors (except for WBA, 85%), which means a minor impact on the marine environment. The results suggest that the sea urchin embryo development test is an excellent candidate as marine aquatic toxicity test to environmental impact assessment of the construction products.

The evolution of Critical Infrastructures (CIs) is enabling society to improve our quality of life, and thereby, we are increasingly relying on them. Major disruptions occurred dur-ing the lasts few years to CIs led society to have higher awareness of the need of an effi-cient protection. However, the increasing complexity and interconnectedness of CIs makes it very difficult to protect them from major disruptions. This project investigates which are the classical methods of emergency management, their limitations and how dealing with crisis can be improved by implementing resilience, particularly for unforeseen events. Moreover, the main characteristics of Resilient Organ-isations are described, and how they can prevent, absorb and recover major disruptions in Critical Infrastructures. We analyse the Farris-Sommersted incident, which major disrup-tion affected the rail freight sector considerably. To do that, we interview three key decision makers from the biggest companies affected by the disruption, Banedanmark and DB Schenker. Based on the information provided by the interviewees, we identify the main resilient features that both companies have. We observe that good communication within the company and with stakeholders, and organ-isational learning are key aspects to continuously enhance resilience in organisations. Moreover, we conclude that while private companies may need resilience to take ad-vantage from their competitors, public organisations should guarantee resilience for the good of society.