改变思路是湖泊治理的第一步——本刊专访中国科学院南京地理与湖泊研究所研究员秦伯强

正值得一提的是,国家湖泊立法层面的空白已经引起多方关注。全国人大代表、安徽省水利厅厅长纪冰在今年全国"两会"上建议,加强湖泊湿地管理保护立法,建立统一的湖泊湿地管理体制。"在现行体制下,湖泊和湿地由不同部门分割管理,削弱了湖泊管理和保护的整体效能,非法侵占湖体、湖面、河湖岸线时有发生。"纪冰建     

成都市制定餐饮业油烟污染防治条例的建议

随着餐饮服务业迅速发展,伴随出现的餐饮油烟扰民问题屡见不鲜,现行的法律法规已不能满足管理的需要,国内各地相继出台了关于餐饮油烟污染防治的法规制度。梳理成都市餐饮服务业现状,以及国内主要城市餐饮油烟污染防治的法律法规,针对成都市餐饮油烟污染防治地方立法工作提出相应的工作建议。     

我国湿地生态补偿制度的不足与完善

建立湿地生态补偿制度是湿地保护的长效措施。但我国湿地生态补偿制度存在在立法上仅有原则性规定、湿地概念的缺乏、行政管理体制混乱、补偿责任主体过于单一、未考虑受偿意愿等诸多问题。完善湿地生态补偿制度有利于提高湿地资源的法律保护地位与构建和谐社会。因此,进一步提出加快推进湿地生态补偿立法进程、明确湿地法律概念、理顺湿地保护行政管理体制、改变湿地生态补偿责任主体单一的状况、遵循公众参与原则的合理建议。     

新时代生态文明法律体系统筹协调与集成创新的进展和建议

在“五位一体”总体布局内,生态环保法律体系通过内外协调,进入以生态文明理念为指导的全面升级时期。绿色、循环、低碳要求的统筹协调和集成创新不断加强,明确了一些流域或区域的综合保护立法。对照生态文明体制改革要求,协同推进降碳、减污、扩绿、增长的法制建设不足,山水林田湖草沙一体化保护和系统治理的法制建设不足,一些改革措施并未写入法律法规,一些概念和部门的职责并不清晰,一些特殊区域和流域缺乏综合性保护专门立法,影响绿色、循环、低碳发展的综合绩效。建议全面开展法制梳理,提升降碳、减污、扩绿、增长类法律法规的衔接性和互助性,促进山水林田湖草沙各要素法律法规的兼容性和协同性,针对特定流域和区域的保护、重点行业的绿色、循环、低碳发展及国土空间规划、自然资源资产管理等领域开展专门立法;界定有争议的概念,区分相关监管和监测职责;加强一般立法与流域、区域保护立法的衔接。     

系统性生物多样性保护法律体系的定位与构建

随着国家政策导向提出实现生物多样性整体性、系统性保护的要求,新时期背景下的生物多样性保护除了注重实现生物多样性在自然生态系统、生物物种、遗传资源(基因)三方面的协同性整体性保护以外,还强调了实现自然生态系统平衡、维护国家安全等总体性目标。在此背景下,本文建议,生物多样性保护法律体系也应当在推动立法实践、提升国家安全治理能力、整合现有立法资源等方面发挥其应有价值。从系统性的角度出发,明确法律体系贯彻生物多样性整体性保护理念、执行国家战略部署以及平衡多元化利益的应有定位,并在此基础上从整体性目标的树立、网格联动性的体系构建、合理配置现行法律制度等方面探寻系统性法律体系的构建路径,将有效发挥我国生物多样性保护法律体系在服务社会需求、回应国家政策导向等方面的制度支撑价值。     

完善民事赔偿制度,保障食品安全救济——以侵权损害赔偿为视角

食品安全已经成为我国一个重大的社会问题。由于现行民事立法的不足,食品消费者在权利受到侵害时,往往得不到较好的法律救济,因此完善食品安全的司法救济机制成为当务之急。本文以侵权损害赔偿为视角,对现行民事赔偿制度提出四点建议,寻求保障食品安全民事救济的合理路径。     

中美湿地保护立法比较研究

本文对中美湿地保护的立法概念、立法体系、立法特色内容等进行了比较，总结了美国湿地保护立法中可供我国借鉴的经验，并为我国瘟地保护立法相关内容的构建和完善提出了建议。     

法经济学视角下构建排污权交易价格机制

通过对我国试点地区排污权交易的实践总结,指出排污权交易价格机制目前尚未真正构建,排污权交易价格在初始分配及市场交换过程中存在市场化程度低、行政管理职能界定不清晰、相关法律法规缺失等突出问题。排污权交易价格机制的特点及学科属性决定了基于法经济学视角构建其价格机制的必要性。从法经济学视角出发结合不同市场特点提出若干完善建议:一级市场中的初始价格制定遵循公平与效率原则、采用成本—收益分析法及完善行政管理职能;二级市场中通过完善排污权交易供求机制推动价格机制的形成、搭建交易平台以及健全相关法律制度促进价格机制的运行。     

市场经济与环境立法的完善

近十几年来，我国的环境立法取得了很大进展，但纵观我国所有环境法律规范，不难发现，我国现行环境立法还存在许多缺陷，不能适应市场经济体制的需要。主要表现在以下几个方面：1．立法指导思想的偏差。我国立法指导思想由于受计划经济的影响而长期遵循“成熟一条制订一条”的原则，这一原则使环境立法只注重经验性而忽视先导性，许多条款明显后滞，甚至与现实脱节，而大量市场经济带来的新情况、新问题、新措施却无法可依，如排污许可证1988年就应用于实践，但1989年的新环保法却没有对此作出规定。2·立法理论基础不够准确。现行立法基于…     

略谈生态文明保护视野下的《野生动物保护法》修改

制定于计划经济时期的《中华人民共和国野生动物保护法》已远远落后于野生动物保护和建设生态文明的现实需求,对其进行修改已是箭在弦上。此次修法,应就这部法律的规范范围进行合理界定,科学与客观地处理保护与利用的关系．通过具体明确的法律制度体现立法的目的,对各方主体的职责内容予以细化,确立周密的责任追究机制,总结执法实践填补责任漏洞。应开门立法,广纳建议,提高立法的科学性、可行性与可接受性。     

AN APPLICATION RUNOFF MODEL STRATEGY FOR UNGAGED WATERSHEDS1

ABSTRACT: Mathematical models for predicting watershed surface flow responses are available, most of which are elaborate nonlinear numerical surface and channel flow models linked with infiltration models. Such models may be used to make predictions for ungaged areas, assuming an acceptable fitting of the model to the topography and roughness of the real system. For some application purposes, these models are impractical because of their complexity and expensive computer solutions. A procedure is developed that uses a complex model of an ungaged area to derive a simpler parametric nonlinear system model for repetitious simulation with input sequences. The predicted flow outputs are obtained with the simpler model at significant savings of money and time. The procedures for constructing a complex kinematic model of a 40 acre (161,880 m²) reference watershed and deriving the simpler system model are outlined. The results of predictions from both models are compared with a selected set of measured events, all having essentially the same initial conditions. Peak discharges ranged from 3 to 118 ft³/sec (0.085 to 3.34 m³/sec), which includes the largest event of record. The inherent limitations of lumped systems models are demonstrated, including the bias caused by their inability to model infiltration losses after rainfall ceases. Computer costs and times for the models were compared. The derived simple model has a cost advantage when repeated use of a model is required. Such an applications hydrologic model has an engineering tradeoff of reduced accuracy, and lumping bias, but is more economical for certain design purposes.     

Conversion of temperate forests into heaths: Role of ecosystem disturbance and ericaceous plants

Fire and logging in nutrient-poor temperate forests with certain ericaceous understory plants may convert the forests into heaths. The process of disturbance-induced heath formation is documented by using examples ofCalluna in western Europe,Kalmia in Newfoundland, andGaultheria (salal) in coastal British Columbia. In a cool, temperate climate, rapid vegetative growth ofCalluna, Kalmia, and salal following disturbance results in increasing organic accumulation (paludification), nutrient sequestration, soil acidification, and allelochemicals. These are thought to be the main reasons to conifer regeneration failure in disturbed habitats. If continuation in forest is a land-use objective, then temperate forests with an ericaceous understory should not be logged unless effective silvicultural methods are devised to control the ericaceous plants and restore forest regeneration. Preharvest vegetation control may be considered as an option. Failure to control the understory plants may lead to a long-term vegetation shift, from forest to heathland, particularly in nutrient-poor sites. Successful methods of controllingKalmia andGaultheria, however, have yet to be developed. While theKalmia- andGaultheria- dominated heathlands are undesirable in Canada and the Pacific Northwest, a wide range ofCalluna heathlands of western Europe are being conserved as natural and seminatural vegetation.     

BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ESTUARINE/COASTAL POLLUTION1

ABSTRACT: Sustained interest in and concern about the health status of the aquatic environment has resulted in extensive research focused on (1) effects of pollution on survival, growth, and reproduction of resource species at all life stages; (2) diseases of fish and shellfish, as they may be related to pollution and as they may serve as indicators of environmental stress; and (3) contaminant body burdens in fish and shellfish - their effects on the aquatic animals and their potential effects on humans. Effects, lethal and sublethal, of pollutants on life history stages of fish and shellfish have been documented, as have impacts on local stocks in badly degraded habitats, but as yet there has been no adequate quantitative demonstration of effects on entire aquatic species - probably because of the difficulty in sorting out relative effects of the many environmental factors that influence abundance. Sublethal effects, especially those that result in disease, have been examined intensively, and some diseases and disease syndromes have been associated statistically with pollution. Other pollution indicators (biochemical, physiological, genetic, behavioral, and ecological) have also received some attention, as have body burdens of contaminants in aquatic species. Research, especially that conducted during the past decade, has done much to clarify the many pathways and toxic effects of contaminants on aquatic animals, and has also helped to identify mechanisms for survival of fish and shellfish in the presence of environmental changes caused by human activities.     

Using Paleo Reconstructions to Improve Streamflow Forecast Lead Time in the Western United States

In water stressed regions, water managers are exploring new horizons that would help in long‐range streamflow forecasts. Oceanic‐atmospheric oscillations have been shown to influence streamflow variability. In this study, long‐lead time streamflow forecasts are made using a multiclass kernel‐based data‐driven support vector machine (SVM) model. The extended streamflow records based on tree ring reconstructions were used to provide a longer time series data. Reconstructed data were used from 1658 to 1952 and the instrumental record was used from 1953 to 2007. Reconstructions for oceanic‐atmospheric oscillations included the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, and North Atlantic Oscillation. Streamflow forecasts using all four oscillations were made with one‐year to five‐year lead times for 21 gages in the western United States. This is the first study that uses both instrumental and reconstructed data of oscillations in SVM model to improve streamflow forecast lead time. SVM model was able to provide “satisfactory” to “very good” forecasts with one‐ to five‐year lead time for the selected gages. The use of all the oscillation indices helped in achieving better predictability compared to using individual oscillations. The SVM modeling results are better when compared with multiple linear regression model forecasts. The findings are statistical in nature and are expected to be useful for long‐term water resources planning and management.     

Urban ecological systems: scientific foundations and a decade of progress

Urban ecological studies, including focus on cities, suburbs, and exurbs, while having deep roots in the early to mid 20th century, have burgeoned in the last several decades. We use the state factor approach to highlight the role of important aspects of climate, substrate, organisms, relief, and time in differentiating urban from non-urban areas, and for determining heterogeneity within spatially extensive metropolitan areas. In addition to reviewing key findings relevant to each state factor, we note the emergence of tentative "urban syndromes" concerning soils, streams, wildlife and plants, and homogenization of certain ecosystem functions, such as soil organic carbon dynamics. We note the utility of the ecosystem approach, the human ecosystem framework, and watersheds as integrative tools to tie information about multiple state factors together. The organismal component of urban complexes includes the social organization of the human population, and we review key modes by which human populations within urban areas are differentiated, and how such differentiation affects environmentally relevant actions. Emerging syntheses in land change science and ecological urban design are also summarized. The multifaceted frameworks and the growing urban knowledge base do however identify some pressing research needs.     

Neighbourhood characteristics and urban gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area: staffing and voluntarism,food production,infrastructure, and sustainability practices

Urban gardens are important sources of sustenance for communities with limited access to food. Hence, this study focuses on food production in gardens in the Toledo metropolitan area in Northwest Ohio. We administered surveys to 150 garden managers from November 2014 to February 2015 in our attempt to better understand how neighbourhood racial composition and poverty levels are related to staffing and voluntarism, food production and distribution, the development of infrastructure, and the adoption of sustainability practices in urban gardens. The results from 30 gardens are presented in this paper. We used Geographic Information Systems to map the gardens and overlay the map with 2010 census data so that we could conduct demographic analyses of the neighbourhoods in which the gardens were located. Though the gardens were small – two acres or less – up to 46 varieties of food were grown in a single garden. Gardens also operated on small budgets. Food from the gardens was gifted or shared with friends, family, and neighbourhood residents. Gardens in predominantly minority neighbourhoods tended to have fewer institutional partners, less garden infrastructure, and had adopted fewer sustainable practices than gardens in predominantly White neighbourhoods. Nonetheless, residents of predominantly minority and high-poverty neighbourhoods participated in garden activities and influenced garden operations. Volunteering and staffing were racialised and gendered.     

Journalists' views of advertiser pressures on agricultural news

All major journalism ethical codes explicitly state that journalists should protect editorial copy from undue influence by outside sources. However, much of the previous research on agricultural information has concentrated on what information various media communicate (gatekeeping studies) or communication's role in increasing innovation adoption (diffusion studies). Few studies have concentrated specifically on organizational and structural constraints that might adversely affect agricultural journalists' ethical standards; those that have, focus largely on farm magazines. A study of newspaper reporters who cover agricultural news found that the most pressing ethical concern is the effect of advertiser (agri-business) pressure on editorial copy, and that their concerns in general parallel those of farm magazine writers and editors. The majority reported being in situations in which they might be exposed to advertiser pressure, including pressures to change or withhold editorial copy. Large minorities suggested that advertising pressures affect the overall environment in which agricultural journalists work, and more than one in ten said they allow advertiser pressures to influence editorial decisions. The newspaper reporters who cover agricultural beats showed slightly more resistance to advertiser pressure than did farm magazine editors in a parallel study.     

Definition Procedures Have Little Effect on Performance of Environmental Classifications of Streams and Rivers

Mapped environmental classifications are defined using various procedures, but there has been little evaluation of the differences in their ability to discriminate variation in independent ecological characteristics. We tested the performance of environmental classifications of the streams and rivers of France that had been defined from the same environmental data using geographic regionalization and numerical classification of individual river valley segments. Test data comprised invertebrate assemblages, water chemistry, and hydrological indexes obtained from sites throughout France. Classification performance was measured by analysis of similarity (ANOSIM). Geometric regions defined by a regular grid and without regard to environmental variables and a posteriori classifications based on clustering the test datasets defined lower and upper bounds of performance for a given number of classes. Differences in classification performances were generally small. The ANOSIM statistics for the a posteriori classifications were around twice that of all environmental classifications, including geometrically defined regions. The hydro-ecoregions performed slightly better for the invertebrate data and the network classification performed slightly better for the chemistry and hydrological data. Our results indicate that environmental classifications that are defined using different procedures can be comparable in terms of their ability to discriminate variation of ecological characteristics and that alleged differences in performance arising from different classification procedures can be small relative to unexplained variation. We conclude that definition procedures might have little effect on the performance of large-scale environmental classifications and decisions over which procedures to use should be based primarily on pragmatic considerations.     

Predicting deer-vehicle collisions in an urban area

Collisions with deer and other large animals are increasing, and the resulting economic costs and risks to public safety have made mitigation measures a priority for both city and wildlife managers. We created landscape models to describe and predict deer-vehicle collision (DVCs) within the City of Edmonton, Alberta. Models based on roadside characteristics revealed that DVCs occurred frequently where roadside vegetation was both denser and more diverse, and that DVCs were more likely to occur when the groomed width of roadside right-of-ways was smaller. No DVCs occurred where the width of the vegetation-free or manicured roadside buffer was greater than 40 m. Landscape-based models showed that DVCs were more likely in more heterogeneous landscapes where road densities were lower and speed limits were higher, and where non-forested vegetation such as farmland was in closer proximity to larger tracts of forest. These models can help wildlife and transportation managers to identify locations of high collision frequency for mitigation. Modifying certain landscape and roadside habitats can be an effective way to reduce deer-vehicle collisions.     

Biodiversity and biotechnology

The maintenance of biodiversity is urged from many quarters and on grounds ranging from aesthetic considerations to its usefulness, particularly for biotechnology. But regardless of the grounds for preserving biodiversity, writers are generally in agreement that it should be preserved. But, in examining the various references biodiversity, such as species diversity, genetic diversity, and habitat diversity, it is apparent that we cannot aim to preserve biodiversityas such, since there are a number of conflicts in any such undertaking. In preserving one aspect of biodiversity, we damage another aspect. Five arguments which attempt to ground our moral concern for biodiversity are reviewed and critiqued, not only for their consistency but also for their power to move us to action. The final section of the paper shows how conflicts in the values of personal and environmental health can impair ethical action and especially policy formation.An earlier version of this paper was read at the conference on Agriculture, Food, and Human Values: Tradition and Change, Orlando, Florida, October 7–9, 1987.