Ecological approach to resource survey and planning for environmentally significant Areas: The ABC method

A resource survey and planning method for parks, reserves, and other environmentally significant areas (ESAs) is presented in the context of a holistic balanced approach to land use and environmental management. This method provides a framework for the acquisition, analysis, presentation, and application of diverse ecological data pertinent to land use planning and resource management within ESAs. Through the independent analysis and subsequent integration of abiotic, biotic, and cultural or ABC information, land areas within an ESA are identified in terms of their relative environmental significance and environmental constraints. The former term encompasses wildlife, historic, and other resource values, while the latter term reflects biophysical hazards and sensitivities, and land use conflicts. The method thus calls for a matching of an ESA's distinctive attributes with appropriate land use and institutional arrancements through an analysis of available acts, regulations, agencies, and other conservation and land use management mechanisms. The method culminates with a management proposal showing proposed park or reserve allocations, buffer areas, or other land use controls aimed at preserving an ESA's special ecological qualities, while providing for resource development. The authors suggest that all resource management decisions affecting ESA's should be governed by a philosophical stance that recognizes a spectrum of broad land use types, ranging from preservation to extractive use and rehabilitation.     

A watershed management framework for mountain areas: Lessons from 25 years of watershed conservationin Nepal

A watershed management framework for mountain areas is based on lessons learned from watershed management experience, social and institutional learning, and the use of a watershed management program evaluation in Nepal. The lessons led to the adoption of a subwatershed-based ecosystem approach based on local participation at the subwatershed level. An integrated watershed management framework (IWMF) consisting of eight steps with three checklists was developed focusing on improvement-oriented adaptive management. The eight steps lead to the preparation of a watershed management plan. In the process three checklists are used. While the first checklist has general questions pertaining to watershed analysis, the second allows participation analysis of stakeholders in terms of their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and opens up new prospects for further reinforcing or building new user group institutions based on consensus. The final checklist consists of hierarchical watershed management objectives, including goals, results and activities leading to a program planning matrix. The framework was applied to watershed planning in the Chure Region to compare the framework-based planning with conventional planning procedures. A significant difference in quality and substance of the output, with and without the use of the framework, suggests that an integrated framework is a useful tool for an ecosystem-based approach to natural resource management and socio-technical conservation.     

Role of Adaptive Management for Watershed Councils

Recent findings in the Umpqua River Basin in southwestern Oregon illustrate a tension in the rise of both community-based and watershed-based approaches to aquatic resource management. While community-based institutions such as watershed councils offer relief from the government control landowners dislike, community-based approaches impinge on landowners' strong belief in independence and private property rights. Watershed councils do offer the local control landowners advocate; however, institutional success hinges on watershed councils' ability to reduce bureaucracy, foster productive discussion and understanding among stakeholders, and provide financial, technical, and coordination support. Yet, to accomplish these tasks current watershed councils rely on the fiscal and technical capital of the very governmental entities that landowners distrust. Adaptive management provides a basis for addressing the apparent tension by incorporating landowners' belief in environmental resilience and acceptance of experimentation that rejects “one size fits all solutions.” Therefore community-based adaptive watershed management provides watershed councils a framework that balances landowners' independence and fear of government intrusion, acknowledges the benefits of community cooperation through watershed councils, and enables ecological assessment of landowner-preferred practices. Community-based adaptive management integrates social and ecological suitability to achieve conservation outcomes by providing landowners the flexibility to use a diverse set of conservation practices to achieve desired ecological outcomes, instead of imposing regulations or specific practices.     

公众参与市容环境规划与管理的方法设计--以南京市的实践为例

市容环境是与公众生活联系最为紧密的领域,也是公众参与最容易进行的领域。南京的城市建设要实现“经济发达、环境优美、融古都特色和现代文明于一体的现代化江滨城市”的目标,公众参与市容环境的规划与管理是关键内容之一。论文以“南京市市容环境卫生发展规划”项目工作为基础,分析和阐述公众参与的内涵,提出公众参与市容环境的五大步骤,并针对南京市容环境方面的具体案例,设计出符合南京特色的公众参与市容环境规划与管理的方法框架模型,包括决策模式、制度框架的共管体系。     

Ecological planning: A review

Beginning with the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act in 1969, the federal government of the United States has enacted numerous pieces of legislation intended to protect or conserve the environment. Other national governments have also enacted environmental legislation during the past two decades. State and local governments have also adopted policies concerned with environmental planning and management. Multiple laws and overlapping governmental agency responsibilities have confused development and resource management efforts. A comprehensive methodology that integrates the legal mandates and the agency missions into a common and unified framework is needed. Ecological planning offers such a method. Application of the method allows planners and resource managers to better understand the nature and character of the land and/or resource and therefore make better decisions about its appropriate use or management. The steps taken in an ecological planning process—1) goal setting, 2) inventory and analysis of data, 3) suitability analysis, 4) developing alternatives, 5) implementation, 6) administration, and 7) evaluation—are outlined and explained. Hand-drawn overlays and computer programs as techniques for handling ecological planning information are compared. Observations and suggestions for further research are offered.     

我国地方生态环境规划院（所）建设情况与发展展望

环境规划队伍是环保铁军的重要一员,随着生态文明建设和生态环境保护工作不断深入,我国环境规划院（所）建设逐步从无到有,人才队伍逐步发展壮大,支撑生态环境保护综合决策能力日益提高。本研究面向各省（区、市）及部分副省级城市环境规划院（所）开展了问卷调查,分析我国环境规划研究队伍和机构建设现状,围绕管理制度、市场发展、人才培养、交流合作等方面对未来发展进行展望。     

SUBSTATE INSTITUTIONAL INNOVATION FOR MANAGING LAKES AND WATERSHEDS: A WISCONSIN CASE STUDY1

ABSTRACT: Since the 1970s, there has been extensive experimentation with new approaches to water and land resources management at the state and local levels. There is a critical need to document, assess, and synthesize lessons learned from the nation's recent experience with subnational institutional changes in environmental management. This paper examines institutional changes aimed at more integrated water and related resources management at the substate level of government. We describe innovative institutional changes in a case study of Dane County, Wisconsin, and assess the implementation and preliminary consequences of these changes. Dissatisfaction with watershed and lake management results and perceptions of institutional inadequacy led to significant changes in the structure and rules for county resources management. A new entity was created to focus watershed management responsibilities. The scope of authority and powers were expanded. However, these changes all occurred within the framework of a general purpose unit of government. The new institutional arrangements have achieved a number of milestones, although it is premature to fully assess resource outcomes. The substantive changes, implementation tactics, and overall experience in Dane County's reforms - especially with regard to addressing intergovernmental tensions and decentralized management, limited authorities and funding, and public and constituency support - have useful implications for other substate efforts at more comprehensive and integrated water resources management.     

生态环境重大工程项目全过程管理体系评价与对策

生态环境重大工程是实施国家中长期规划、具有中国特色的一项制度安排。本研究通过梳理我国重大生态环境工程项目管理现状,包括制度建设、工程标准体系建设、绩效管理体系建设等,结合“十四五”生态环境保护形势和任务要求,分析当前我国在生态环境工程项目管理体系建设上存在的主要问题。在此基础上,构建出我国重大生态环境项目组织管理的框架和路线图,提出“十四五”加强和提升我国重大生态环境保护项目全过程管理的对策与建议。     

SELECTION AND SUSTAINABILITY OF LAND AND WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS1

ABSTRACT: Most spatial decision support systems for natural resource planning and management are limited by their scenario-based (non-behavioral), deterministic (non-stochastic) structure. A spatial decision support system is developed that uses a multiple attribute decision-making model to explain how a property manager selects a land and water resource management system (LWRMS) based on its multiple, stochastic economic and environmental attributes. The decision support system assesses sustainable resource management at the property and watershed scales and identifies the most cost-effective policy for enhancing sustainable resource management. Economic attributes are determined with an economic model and environmental attributes are simulated with an environmental model. Input parameters for both models are generated with a geographic information system. The decision support system is used to rank five LWRMS for a sample of 20 farmers in Missouri's Goodwater Creek watershed and for two hypothetical watershed alliance groups. Results indicate that the average farmer and the two alliance groups would rank the five LWRMS in the same manner. From the viewpoint of the watershed alliance, the most preferred LWRMS for the average farmer in the watershed is sustainable.     

长江流域生态补偿机制建设：框架与重点

建立流域生态补偿机制是解决长江流域生态环境问题、促进流域水生态环境资源资产增值、实施流域综合治理的长效政策手段。在借鉴全国跨界流域生态补偿机制实践经验的基础上,加快推进建立长江流域生态补偿机制是长江经济带实施生态优先战略的重要途径。本文分析了长江流域生态补偿机制建设面临的主要问题与挑战,提出了长江流域生态补偿机制建设的总体思路和框架,建议长江流域生态补偿机制建设重点处理好八大关系,本文可为长江流域可持续管理提供技术支撑。     

中国改革开放40年生态环境保护的历史变革——从“三废”治理走向生态文明建设

中国改革开放的40年也是生态环境保护管理体制不断改革和飞跃的40年。自1972年开展生态环境保护工作起,围绕着解决不同发展阶段突出环境问题的需要,每10年左右实现一次环境管理体制改革"大跨跃",不断改革、创新和发展了具有中国特色的生态环境保护治理体系与模式。坚持在发展中解决环境问题,以改善生态环境质量为核心,逐步构建了符合不同发展阶段特征的生态环境保护管理体系,包括完备的生态环境规划政策体系、完善的生态环境治理体系、完整的生态环境保护法律体系。在新时代中国特色社会主义建设过程中,应瞄准建设美丽中国的战略目标,立足中国、放眼世界,坚持绿色发展,做好顶层设计,构建生态环境管理体系新格局,共建清洁美丽世界。     

Approaches to integrated water resource development and management

In southern Africa institutional capacity in the water sector is severely limited by diminishing regular budget and external assistance allocations. The result has been an overall decline in operational water resource management. This is ironic given the international community's current concern with 'integrated' or 'comprehensive' water resources management. Often, so-called integrated attempts at river basin planning and development have been conceived within the framework of a river basin authority or regional master plans. Such large-scale attempts have not necessarily been compatible either with the national capacity in water resources management or the existing institutional and legislative frameworks. In many cases the actual integration of a basin's physical resources and social, economic and environmental demands is poorly executed. To examine a way forward in resolving what is clearly an unsustainable state of affairs, a diagnostic study of the Kafue Basin, Zambia, was carried out in order to identify a set of water resource management options for a basin currently under stress. A physical framework for the Kafue Basin was established and principal subcatchments and hydro-geological subsystems identified. Current water resource issues in the basin are discussed and a multiobjective approach is proposed to allow intersectoral competition for the basin's limited water resources to be reconciled.     

An Optimization Method Based on Scenario Analysis for Watershed Management Under Uncertainty

In conjunction with socioeconomic development in watersheds, increasingly challenging problems, such as scarcity of water resources and environmental deterioration, have arisen. Watershed management is a useful tool for dealing with these issues and maintaining sustainable development at the watershed scale. The complex and uncertain characteristics of watershed systems have a great impact on decisions about countermeasures and other techniques that will be applied in the future. An optimization method based on scenario analysis is proposed in this paper as a means of handling watershed management under uncertainty. This method integrates system analysis, forecast methods, and scenario analysis, as well as the contributions of stakeholders and experts, into a comprehensive framework. The proposed method comprises four steps: system analyses, a listing of potential engineering techniques and countermeasures, scenario analyses, and the optimal selection of countermeasures and engineering techniques. The proposed method was applied to the case of the Lake Qionghai watershed in southwestern China, and the results are reported in this paper. This case study demonstrates that the proposed method can be used to deal efficiently with uncertainties at the watershed level. Moreover, this method takes into consideration the interests of different groups, which is crucial for successful watershed management. In particular, social, economic, environmental, and resource systems are all considered in order to improve the applicability of the method. In short, the optimization method based on scenario analysis proposed here is a valuable tool for watershed management.     

最小生态安全距离在“多规合一”中的地位与作用

"多规合一"是未来规划编制与管理城市的必然发展趋势。最小生态安全距离不仅是探索"多规合一"的重要技术工具,也是"多规合一"中空间管控的重要内容。最小生态安全距离以资源环境承载力为基础核心,是城市开发不能逾越的距离。划定最小生态安全距离是为了满足城市生态系统良性循环、生态系统服务功能正常运转以及环境容量不超载,城市间或城市功能单元间经济社会活动空间间隔的最小距离。利用最小生态安全距离划定出的基本规避空间,可以让环规、城规和土规实现统一的空间管控的最终目标。依靠最小生态安全距离,能够科学地划定城市布局,提升城镇化发展质量和空间管控质量,更好地实现城市规划的编制与管理。     

省级层面生态文明管理体系及协调机制改革研究

本研究基于生态文明体制改革的迫切需求,立足我国不同区域现实状况的差异,以我国东部某省为研究对象,基于充分的文献研究、专家咨询和实地调研,以自然资源保护及污染综合防治为核心,深入分析省级层面生态文明管理体制现状,识别当前存在的主要问题,结合国家生态文明体制改革思路和该省实际情况,制订生态文明管理体系及协调机制改革的总体框架,提出重组机构职能配置、优化自然资源管理、理顺污染防治体系、健全有效督政机制、发展绿色化决策等五个针对性的改革建议,为我国省级层面生态文明体制改革提供参考借鉴。     

Watershed management and the Web

Watershed analysis and watershed management are developing as tools of integrated ecological and economic study. They also assist decision-making at the regional scale. The new technology and thinking offered by the advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web is highly complementary to some of the goals of watershed analysis. Services delivered by the Web are open, interactive, fast, spatially distributed, hierarchical and flexible. The Web offers the ability to display information creatively, to interact with that information and to change and modify it remotely. In this way the Internet provides a much-needed opportunity to deliver scientific findings and information to stakeholders and to link stakeholders together providing for collective decision-making. The benefits fall into two major categories: methodological and educational. Methodologically the approach furthers the watershed management concept, offering an avenue for practical implementation of watershed management principles. For educational purposes the Web is a source of data and insight serving a variety of needs at all levels. We use the Patuxent River case study to illustrate the web-based approach to watershed management. A watershed scale simulation model is built for the Patuxent area and it serves as a core for watershed management design based on web applications. It integrates the knowledge available for the Patuxent area in a comprehensive and systematic format, and provides a conceptual basis for understanding the performance of the watershed as a system. Moreover, the extensive data collection and conceptualisation required within the framework of the modeling effort stimulates close contact with the environmental management community. This is further enhanced by offering access to the modeling results and the data sets over the Web. Additional web applications and links are provided to increase awareness and involvement of stakeholders in the watershed management process. We argue that it is not the amount and quality of information that is crucial for the success of watershed management, but how well the information is disseminated, shared and used by the stakeholders. In this respect the Web offers a wealth of opportunities for the decision-making process, but still to be answered are the questions at what scale and how widely will the Web be accepted as a management tool, and how can watershed management benefit from web applications.     

A Framework for Assessing Climate Change Impacts on Water and Watershed Systems

In this article we present a framework for assessing climate change impacts on water and watershed systems to support management decision-making. The framework addresses three issues complicating assessments of climate change impacts—linkages across spatial scales, linkages across temporal scales, and linkages across scientific and management disciplines. A major theme underlying the framework is that, due to current limitations in modeling capabilities, assessing and responding to climate change should be approached from the perspective of risk assessment and management rather than as a prediction problem. The framework is based generally on ecological risk assessment and similar approaches. A second theme underlying the framework is the need for close collaboration among climate scientists, scientists interested in assessing impacts, and resource managers and decision makers. A case study illustrating an application of the framework is also presented that provides a specific, practical example of how the framework was used to assess the impacts of climate change on water quality in a mid-Atlantic, U.S., watershed.     

Natural resource degradation in a small watershed in Nepal

Amid growing concern about the conservation of renewable natural resources, the process, extent and symptoms of their degradation are examined with specific reference to the Upper Pokhara Valley. Based on a household survey, field observations, informal deliberations and land use analysis, the results of this study reveal that forests and grazing land have been subject to increasing degradation caused by demographic, socioeconomic and institutional factors. The intensity of degradation varies by watershed. In particular, rainfed pakho land on steep slopes is under the severe threat of accelerating soil erosion, despite the construction of terraces. This calls for the formulation of a comprehensive natural resource conservation strategy which should be based on a framework comprising an integrated population control programme, planned land use changes and institutional reforms .     

Livelihood change and livelihood sustainability in the uplands of Lembang subwatershed, West Sumatra, Indonesia, in a changing natural resource management context

This paper analyzes livelihood change and livelihood sustainability of households in the upland part of the Lembang subwatershed, West Sumatra, in response to changes in the natural resource management context during the last decade. Using the sustainable livelihood framework (SLF), we measured livelihood changes at two separate points in time, 1996 and 2006, and assessed their environmental, economic, social, and institutional sustainability. We found that people with a low income had less access to capital assets than people from middle- and high-income groups. Our analysis revealed, however, that access to capital assets increased over time, and that poor households experienced economic improvement, indicating an overall increase in economic sustainability. Environmental sustainability, however, is threatened by intensive agricultural practices such as high agrochemical input and intensive soil tillage on steep slopes, leading to pollution and soil erosion. Social sustainability is also a matter of concern: while social exclusion has been reduced, income inequity has increased. Institutional sustainability is likely to remain uncertain, as local institutions for natural resource management are still weak, despite the fact that decentralization has been implemented during the last 8 years. External facilitation is needed to improve the livelihood of upland people while, at the same time, enhancing the sustainability of watershed management. Strengthening local institutions, conserving natural resources, and promoting environmentally sound agricultural practices are the three most important policies to be promoted within the watershed.