Forest protected area governance in Bangladesh:a focus on the legal and policy framework

In the context of renewed interest in collaboration in natural resource management,the collaborative governance approach has lately been introduced to the forest Protected Areas(PAs)in Bangladesh.The adoption of this co-management approach is seen as an attempt to influence the governance process towards a transformation from the conventional custodian system to a more participatory management regime.Recognition of rights and responsibilities,effective participation,and equitable distribution of benefits amongst the key stakeholders working under a facilitative policy and legal framework are believed to address the broader goals of sustainable development Notwithstanding the resurgence of interest in governance of forest PAs through the co-management approach,academic research on the subject remains limited.This article attempts to review selected key information and milestones on the forest PAs governance with special reference to the major policies and legal documents.With a brief introductory section,this article focuses on the genesis and selected major features of the Forest PAs in the country.The discussion then dwells on the policy and legal framework and provides a critique on its relevance for promoting community participation.The existing institutional arrangements for community engagement in protected area governance are also analyzed in light of the national and international commitment and policy obligations on the part of the country.The salient observations and key findings of the study include the following:(1)despite its limitations,comanagement as concept and practice has gradually taken roots in Bangladesh;(2)the degree and level of active community participation remain low and limited,and there is also clear weakness in conscientizing and orientating the local community on the key legal and policy issues related to PA governance in the country;and(3)policy makers,practitioners,and other local stakeholders related to PA governance need to be oriented on international commitment and national de     

Environment,development and sustainability of local practices in the sacred groves and shrines in Bongo District: a bio-cultural study for environmental management in Ghana

The eminent crisis threatening biological and resource diversity is a global adversity. Global resource diversities are constantly disappearing and deteriorating at quite an alarming proportion, provoking renewed thinking regarding the effectiveness of existing environmental management approaches and practices. For the past four decades, several epochs of environmental management policies and practices disregarded the cultural imperative for safeguarding efficient environmental management outcomes, particularly at the community level. Even in the rouse of this reality, issues of spirituality and how it binds local community people to their natural environment appear to be given only a window dressing attention through the recognition of sacred natural sites. Eight sacred groves and shrines in the Bongo District were investigated based on an endogenous development framework. The data were collected using focus group discussions with stakeholders at the local and district levels and individual interviews with key local natural resource managers from four selected communities. The study revealed that the way indigenous people construct the worldviews and interactions with nature using ancestors and other spirit mediums can safeguard the environment against long periods of human interference and destruction. It also demonstrates that in certain places traditional institutions are becoming malleable and open to the use of external knowledge and resources in order to sustain places of sacred significance. It concludes that cultural imperative and the issues of spirituality are critical for the sustainable management of environmental resources. The study recommends revisiting local practice and cultural values that promote good environmental management practices within the local communities.     

On Sustainable Development of Social Forestry in Bangladesh: Experiences from Sal (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Shorea Robusta</Emphasis>) Forests

Sustainability in forestry is a complex amalgam of trade-offs among its various dimensions and there is no easy route to achieve sustainable development. It is important that policy process and implementation strategy of these policies should be based on sound information about these trade-offs. There is a growing consensus amongst key forest decision-makers in Bangladesh that traditional forestry is needed to make the transition to more sustainable forestry, which is likely to involve local people in forest management. As a result, the government has initiated a social forestry program from 1981 with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) grant and operated mainly in Sal forest areas. The most important objective of this program is to protect, manage, and develop forests in a sustainable way by involving local communities. Although several studies have focused on the management issues of social forestry, none of these studies has evaluated the indicators of sustainable social forestry. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the criteria of sustainable development of social forestry in Bangladesh. The study is based on primary cross-sectional data collected using the multistage stratified sampling technique. In total, 581 social forestry farmers were selected randomly and interviewed using a pre-tested questionnaire. The study evaluated some important components of sustainable development and identified the following conditions of social forestry in Bangladesh:(i) almost all the components of sustainable development of social forestry, although not at the aspiration level, were at good condition;(ii) participants were interested and committed to work with Forest Department in developing social forestry;(iii) they had been utilizing both hard and soft technology in practicing social forestry, although there exists ample scope of development;(iv) income of participants after involving in social forestry had increased, although not at satisfactory level; and(v) process of producing social and material goods had been under progress.However, there exist plenty of scopes for sustainable social forestry development through improving the sustainable development components more carefully.Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

21世纪初华中地区发展的资源环境基础

作为中国21世纪资源开发的重要场所,华中地区资源环境开发利用将对国家社会经济发展起到举足轻重的作用。对华中地区资源本底特征、人地关系演进状态及发展趋势进行了分析,认 为华中地区拥有较好的资源基础,特别是在水土两大资源的结合方面。但是从现状和未来国家高速工业发展看,未来华中地区自然资源承载负荷将面临较以往更为巨大和更为艰难的挑战。一方面,优越的地理位置使华中地区在国家未来经济发展与资源环境协调过程中的重要地位更为突出,另一方面,当地的人口增长和经济发展同样会对有限的资源基础造成越来越大的压力。因此,区域发展政策应当做出相应调整。     

江苏省泰州长江岸线利用演变及影响因素分析

岸线利用管理是促进岸线资源集约利用,支撑沿江开发有序、健康推进的重要保障。以泰州长江岸线利用时空变化数据库(2003~2013年)为基础,构建岸线利用类型转移矩阵,关联岸线类型与岸线条件,从规模扩张、结构变化和类型转移三方面分析岸线利用时空变化特征,结合政府部门和企业访谈以及相关研究,剖析岸线利用变化的影响因素与作用特点,为岸线利用政策调整提供依据。实证分析表明:沿江开发实施以来,泰州长江岸线利用扩张迅速,但2009年之后扩张减缓,优质岸线利用率较高,后备岸线不多。2009年以前,岸线开发以工业、仓储和港口等生产性占用为主,旅游休闲、生态保护与污染处理岸线也有较多增长。2009年之后,港口岸线扩张占主导地位,取代工业岸线成为已利用岸线调整和未利用岸线开发的主要方向。贴岸产业开发模式向港产城一体化综合开发的转变及岸线管理政策的调整共同驱动了岸线利用从工业主导向港口主导的转变,促进了岸线利用从规模扩张向结构优化转变。     

Bioeconomic modeling of farm household decisions for ex-ante impact assessment of integrated watershed development programs in semi-arid India

The increasing population and urbanization have serious implications for sustainable development in less-favoured areas of developing countries. In an attempt to sustain the long-term productivity of natural resources and to meet the food and non-food demands of growing population in the semi-arid tropics, the Indian government invests and promotes integrated watershed development programs. A comprehensive tool to assess the impacts of watershed development programs on both social well-being and sustainability of natural resource is currently lacking. In this study, we develop a watershed level bioeconomic model to assess the ex-ante impacts of key technological and policy interventions on the socioeconomic well-being of rural households and the natural resource base. These interventions are simulated using data from a watershed community in the semi-arid tropics of India. The model captures the interaction between economic decisions and biophysical processes and using a constrained optimization of household decision model. The interventions assessed are productivity-enhancing technologies of dryland crops and increased in irrigable area through water conservation technologies. The results show that productivity-enhancing technologies of dryland crops increase household incomes and also provided incentives for conserving soil moisture and fertility. The increase in irrigable area enables cultivation of high-value crops which increase the household income but also lead to an increase in soil erosion and nutrient mining. The results clearly indicate the necessity for prioritizing and sequencing technologies based on potential effects and trade-offs on household income and conservation of natural resources.     

Rice farming sustainability assessment in Bangladesh

Farming sustainability is primordial to long-term socioeconomic development. This study assesses rice farming sustainability in Bangladesh by developing a composite indicator (CI) under the four pillars of sustainability and examines the main determining factors. The assemblage of top-down and bottom-up approaches were applied to generate an essential set of indicators and data were collected through a household survey from 15 villages of three major rice growing ecosystems. The results revealed that less than half of the rice growers were sustainable in terms of economical viability, ecological benefits, and quality of life. By category, Boro rice farming was found to be the most sustainable, followed by Aman and Aus rice farming. Human capital development, increasing land productivity, use of resource conserving practices and technologies, and information availability and accessibility were the main factors promoting rice farming sustainability. The findings indicated that the construction of CI by employing several methodologies such as normalisation provide straightforward and clear-cut policy inputs. The major policy implications that emerged from the findings of the study are outlined to actualise rice farming sustainability, which contributes to sustainable development in Bangladesh.     

长三角地区城市土地开发强度特征及影响因素分析

合理控制土地开发强度是提高土地利用效率和改善环境质量的重要手段。以建设用地面积占该区域土地总面积的比例为土地开发强度的表征指标，运用GIS软件和经济计量模型，探讨了1996~2008年长三角地区城市土地开发强度的特征及其影响因素。结果表明：长三角城市土地开发强度总体上呈增长趋势，城市间土地开发强度差异明显，并且具有空间集聚特征，形成了以上海、杭州为中心的高强度地区，这与目前长三角经济增长极相吻合。同时，经济增长、城镇化、产业结构与城市土地开发强度之间显著正相关，行政区划调整与城市土地开发强度在短期内表现为负相关关系，土地管理政策的影响尚不显著。今后，只有转变经济发展方式，严格执行土地管理政策和城市规划，合理推动城镇化和城市产业布局，才能使城市土地开发强度保持在合理水平。将为长三角地区城市土地可持续利用提供参考，对控制城市建设用地规模和发展方向，也有一定的理论和现实指导意义     

浙江省粮食贸易中的虚拟水研究

贸易中的虚拟水研究使人们认识到地区的水资源危机可以通过全球性的经济贸易来缓解。虚拟水的进出口是水资源的一个来源，通过贸易的形式、利用各种外部资源来缓解内部水资源的紧缺，最终解决水资源短缺和粮食安全问题，是社会实现水资源社会化管理、生态环境安全和社会经济可持续发展的战略保障。以浙江省为研究对象，首先利用各类农作物虚拟水含量标准，核算了1997~2006年10 a间浙江省粮食贸易的虚拟水含量。然后比较浙江省全年用水量和用水结构，计算得出粮食贸易产生的年净进口虚拟水量占浙江省年总用水量7.41%左右，占到年农业灌溉用水的1717%。研究结果表明，过去10 a浙江省粮食贸易的虚拟水是浙江省水资源的一个重要的补充。〖     

Water Resource Management in Botswana: Balancing Sustainability and Economic Development*

Botswana is a rapidly developing country in southern Africa. Over the last three decades, diamond mining and tourism have provided double-digit rates of economic growth. Yet most of Botswana’s land is in the Kalahari desert where the climate is subject to sustained periods of severe drought. In this environment, water resources are the most crucial of all environmental resources. Water use directly affects economic development because water utilization impacts all the major national economic sectors. A sustainable water use resource management plan must stretch several decades into the future to assure the availability of adequate supplies of water to future generations while not compromising the ability of the current generation to reasonable rates of economic development. Yet thinking about sustainability is present in Botswana water policy mostly only in rhetoric. A series of cultural traditions and political constraints, coupled with bureaucratic managerial weaknesses, serve to maintain a system of water allocation that is unsustainable in the long run and inefficient in the short-term. Unless sustainable water use patterns are adopted, the results for the short-term, as well as the long-term, will be devastating. Drawing on data obtained through a series of interviews with government officials, leaders of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and water resource researchers, this paper explores water policy in Botswana within the larger context of sustainable natural resource management practice and the pressures of economic development. This research was partially funded under U.S. Department of State, College and University Affiliations Grant # ASCS-1095.     

可再生资源非线性收获的策略研究

本文运用非线性理论建立了可再生资源二次非线性收获的动力摸式。研究结果表明：为了保证可再生资源的可持缓利用、收获，必须把收获强度控制在一定的水平上，我们因此可以得到持续的最大产量。我们发现虽然对可再生资源的收获策略有线性和非线性之分，但是得到的可再生资源的最大持续收获量是相同的。因此，我们必须采用合理的可再生资源收获策略。避免可再生资源的过度利用和枯竭。我国可再生资源十分短缺，需正确处理好经济发展与可再生资源保护之问的关系，保护好我国珍贵的可再生资源对于我国的可持续发展具有重大的现实意义。     

流域地下水质评价的GIS与模型集成分析

流域水环境管理已经成为当今环境科学的一个重要研究对象，对流域规模的水资源可持续管理和战略环境评价，地下水质评价是其重要内容，急需方法学的支持。全面分析目前国内外GIS与模型集成的研究现状，论述GIS与综合指数模型和机理模型集成的所需条件、优势和存在的问题。强调集成中应对模型的特征、模型的输入输出要求、流域数据基础以及GIS软件的功能进行具体分析，否则将导致区域分析的误差加大甚至产生错误信息。结合地下水水质评价常用的指数模型和机理模型，提出了GIS与模型的集成框架，分析GIS在集成中的3种模式，指明GIS与模型集成的发展方向。最后基于GIS与模型集成的现存问题提出对策，得出GIS与综合指数模型和机理模型集成的最优方法及适用条件，为具体应用提供方法学指导。     

Modelling change in state of complex ecological systems in space and time: An application to sustainable grazing management

Meeting the challenge of sustainable development requires substantial advances in understanding of the interaction of natural and human systems. The emerging ecosystem management paradigm of multiple stable states, non-linear systems behaviour, discontinuous change, self-organisation and multiple development pathways has major implications for when and how change in complex systems occurs and how it can be managed. It also poses considerable challenges for modelling the structure and function of natural and human management systems, including fundamental constraints relating to: scaling mismatches, synthesis of non-homogeneous information, multiscaled system interactions, complex management systems, uncertainty in causal relationships, assessment of trade-offs, and validation. This paper examines how a decision support system (DSS) for sustainable grazing management, called Landassess DSS, attempts to deal with some of these issues through an integrated systems approach to DSS development. This approach utilises object-oriented techniques, knowledge-based systems, geographical information systems (GIS), and a state-and-transition model framework to model the critical change processes. It provides for the identification of the major driving factors and constraints to change in complex resource management systems, as well as the assessment of the likely trade-offs between resource sustainability and economic production at a scale relevant to management decision-making (i.e., paddock or property).     

流域地下水质评价的GIS与模型集成分析

流域水环境管理已经成为当今环境科学的一个重要研究对象，对流域规模的水资源可持续管理和战略环境评价，地下水质评价是其重要内容，急需方法学的支持。全面分析目前国内外GIS与模型集成的研究现状，论述GIS与综合指数模型和机理模型集成的所需条件、优势和存在的问题。强调集成中应对模型的特征、模型的输入输出要求、流域数据基础以及GIS软件的功能进行具体分析，否则将导致区域分析的误差加大甚至产生错误信息。结合地下水水质评价常用的指数模型和机理模型，提出了GIS与模型的集成框架，分析GIS在集成中的3种模式，指明GIS与模型集成的发展方向。最后基于GIS与模型集成的现存问题提出对策，得出GIS与综合指数模型和机理模型集成的最优方法及适用条件，为具体应用提供方法学指导。     

Development of a framework for sustainable uses of resources: more paper and less plastics?

Taiwan's EPA has implemented a new guideline called the "Plastic Products Restriction Policy", prohibiting some industries to use plastics as packaging materials for the sake of sustainable use of resources. The significant effect resulting from this policy is the substitution of plastic products with paper products. Is this policy beneficial to achieve future sustainability? I attempt to analyze the resource choice between renewable resources and exhaustible resources for production of final products and services in case of exhaustion of natural resources. In this paper, I develop a framework to examine the dynamic responsiveness of a socio-economical system in facing a continual depletion of natural resources provided by an environmental system. In this framework, the status of an environmental system in terms of carrying capacity is affected by the cumulative impacts caused from human activities, including environmental pollution and resource exploitation. Conversely, it also affects the growth of renewable resources. This framework can serve as a guideline to construct indicators to measure the status of the environmental system and the socio-economical system in order to support a policy planner that formulates an appropriate environmental policy. Based on this framework, I also develop a mathematical model to determine the optimal ratio of resources choice between renewable resources and exhaustible resources.     

旅游资源资本化的机制和方法

针对目前我国旅游资源开发和管理方面存在的突出问题以及旅游实践发展的需要，提出“旅游资源资本化”--一种新的以价值为导向的旅游资源开发管理的理念和方法，强调了旅游资源的价值性、所有性和收益性。在国家政策和法律允许的前提下，旅游资源的所有者将旅游资源作为一种资本形态，与货币资本、实物资本、人力资本等一起投入到旅游开发活动中，进行市场化的开发、经营、运作和管理，从而带来良好的经济效益、环境效益和社会效益，使旅游资源实现价值增值，而旅游资源的所有者也从中获得经营收益。深入探讨了旅游资源转化为旅游资本的内部机制、外部条件、实现途径、方法模式等问题，指出旅游资源资本化有利于拓宽旅游融资渠道、优化资源配置、提高旅游资源的利用效率和开发管理的水平，实现旅游产业的可持续发展.     

抓住机遇 迎接挑战 协同发展 "天人合一"

论述了中国入世对长江流域可持续发展所带来的影响、机遇和挑战，讨论了可持续发展思想的内涵及影响长江流域可持续发展的重要问题。认为可持续发展思想应包含：当代人要重视发展和持续性，不断提高人群生活质量和资源环境的承载能力，满足当代人的需求又不损害后代人的需求，满足一个地区、国家的需求又不损害别的地区、国家的需求，并努力补救上代人所留下的资源、环境创伤。我们应认识七种要素：人口、资源、环境、经济、社会、知识和文化之间的内在关系，必须协同处理。自然资源是发展的基础。中国开展环境保护工作已有20多年，特别是改革开放以来取得很多进展，目前需对严重环境问题采取更有力的措施。讨论了中国入世后面临的企业、农业、人才资源、高新技术产业、政府管理体制的创新和法制建设等问题，并着重研究了可持续发展文明观、加强绿色管理和绿色产品开发、知识经济和环保产业等关键问题。     

淮南市持续发展的生态安全评价

淮南市是一所典型的煤炭资源型城市。是建立在资源、环境、经济和社会等子系统上的复杂系统。是城市发展与资源和环境保护之间矛盾较为突出的区域。主要表现在：城市布局不合理。城市整体结构不完善；人类进行煤炭资源开发利用过程中对生态和景观产生了干扰和破坏。从而造成其生态结构、功能的破坏以及量观的破碎化。本研究从压力-状态-响应三方面构建了淮南市生态安全评价指标体系。指标体系包括目标层、系统层、要素层和指标层。并给出了计算各评价指标值之闻均衡度的模型。量后结合RS、GIS技术实施该评价模型。对淮南市为实例进行了分析和评价。评价结果与实际情况基本符合。     

Intergenerational Efficiency of Farmland Conversion and Farmland Resource Loss in China

One of the requirements of sustainable utilization of resources is the efficiency of intergenerational allocation, which is important to the long-term utilization of resources. Based on the principle of efficient intergenerational allocation of resource in resource economics, this paper builds an ex post model to measure the efficiency of intergenerational allocation of farmland resource, and points out that with the continuous testing and modifying in practice according to the model results, the allocation of farmland resource in the future can continuously converge at the efficient allocation. This paper employs this model to test the allocation of the farmland resource from 1989 to 2003, and the result shows that if the test sample is divided into 1989 to 1996 period and 1997 to 2003 period, which due to the stricter farmland resource protection policy issued after 1996, the inefficient farmland conversion of the three main regions in China in the period of 1989 to 1996 was 6.58%, 6.84%, 7.85%, respectively.     

屋顶可用太阳能资源评估研究——以2000年江苏省数据为例

传统的太阳能资源评估方法是直接评估太阳能的理论储量，极少考虑太阳能使用的具体情景。基于防范传统能源使用风险的需要，根据长期观测得到的太阳辐射数据，结合太阳辐射的地理分布特征和利用太阳能的具体情形，选用技术比较成熟且易于并网使用的屋顶光伏系统作为评价依据，借助于GIS的空间分析功能，把太阳能的自然属性和社会属性结合起来，〖JP2〗建立了屋顶可用太阳能资源评估方法模型，并以江苏省为例对当地可用的太阳能资源进行了评估验证。通过分析发现，与单纯的评估太阳能理论储量相比，用屋顶可用太阳能资源评估方法得出的结果真实可信，更加符合太阳能使用的实际情形，可以直接为当地防范传统能源风险及制定能源发展规划所用