Inserting socio-environmental variables in the power sector expansion planning

Energy models consider technical and economic criteria to define the optimal energy mix to produce electricity. However, the results are sub-optimal from the social point of view, since they do not include socio-environmental factors. The purpose of this study is to access the sustainability of power plants considering technical-economic, socio-environmental and institutional aspects so that to improve the expansion planning. Thus, the efficiencies calculated by slacks based measure approach of Data Envelopment Analysis methodology can be implemented as constraints in the models, signalizing that the socio-environmental impact cannot exceed a limit, which can be calculated by the energy model itself. The results show that renewable power plants contribute more to allocative efficiency than fossil fuel ones, both in terms of social and environmental aspects, which are of utmost importance in ranking power plants to model power capacity expansion. Considering just technical and economic factors has proved to be insufficient to optimize the system in terms of allocative efficiency.     

太湖流域水生态环境功能分区管理指标达成效率评估和预警研究

太湖流域严峻的水生态环境形势备受关注,而水生态环境功能分区管理体系实施现状和效果无法被准确把握。以太湖流域水生态环境功能分区为研究对象,基于四象限法则和二维向量结构指标体系等方法论,综合障碍因子分析与目标可达性分析,对太湖流域水生态环境功能分区管理绩效评估目标达成效率进行评估和预警,为水生态环境功能分区管控提供技术指导。结果表明,江苏省太湖流域目标达成效率情况较好,"高效"、"一般"、"低效"的比例依次下降,高预警级别的区域较少;环境效率指标中单位面积污染物减排管控效率较高,环境质量指标整体表现良好,须谨防向"低效"转变。     

Impact of urbanization on natural ecosystem service values: a comparative study

With rapid population growth and rural to-urban migration in many Chinese cities, a large amount of natural lands have been converted to urban and agricultural lands recently. During this process of land conversion, economic development and quality of life improvement are considered as major goals, and their influences on ecological systems have often been neglected. The degradation of natural ecological systems due to land use change, however, has become severe,and may require immediate attentions from urban planners and local governments. Taking HaDaQi industrial corridor, Heilongjiang Province, China,as a case study area, this paper examined the trend of land use changes during 1990–2005, and quantified their influences on natural eco system service values. In particular, this study applied two major valuation methods, and examined whether different valuation methods generate significantly different results. Analysis of results suggests that human dominated land uses (e.g., urban and agriculture)have expanded rapidly at the cost of natural lands (e.g., wetlands and forest). Due to these land use changes, the total ecosystem service value decreased 29% (2.26% annually) from 1990 to 2005 when the first method was applied, and this rate is estimated to be 15.7% (1.13% annually)with the second approach. Moreover, the annual rate of ecosystem service value decline during 2000–2005 is about four times higher than that in 1990–2000 with both methods, suggesting much more severe ecosystem degradation during 2000–2005.     

Urban gray vs. urban green vs. soil protection — Development of a systemic solution to soil sealing management on the example of Germany

Managing urban soil sealing is a difficult venture due to its spatial heterogeneity and embedding in a socio-ecological system. A systemic solution is needed to tackle its spatial, ecological and social sub-systems. This study develops a guideline for urban actors to find a systemic solution to soil sealing management based on two case studies in Germany: Munich and Leipzig. Legal-planning, informal-planning, economic-fiscal, co-operative and informational responses were evaluated by indicators to proof which strategy considers the spatial complexity of urban soil sealing (systemic spatial efficiency) and, while considering spatial complexity, to assess what the key management areas for action are to reduce the ecological impacts by urban soil sealing (ecological impact efficiency) and to support an efficient implementation by urban actors (social implementation efficiency). Results suggest framing the systemic solution to soil sealing management through a cross-scale, legal-planning development strategy embedded in higher European policies. Within the socio-ecological system, the key management area for action should focus on the protection of green infrastructure being of high value for actors from the European to local scales. Further efforts are necessary to establish a systemic monitoring concept to optimize socio-ecological benefits and avoid trade-offs such as between urban infill development and urban green protection. This place-based study can be regarded as a stepping stone on how to develop systemic strategies by considering different spatial sub-targets and socio-ecological systems.     

Combinatorial optimization of elk habitat effectiveness and timber harvest volume

Forest resource planning processes in the western United States have been placing an increasing emphasis on wildlife and fish habitat goals. With this in mind, we developed a method that incorporates a Habitat Effectiveness Index (HEI) for Roosevelt elk (Cervus elaphus roosevelti) into the objective function of a mathematical forest planning model. In addition, a commodity production goal is proposed (maximum timber production), and the habitat and commodity production goals are allowed to act as goals in a multi-objective goal programming planning problem. A heuristic programming technique (tabu search) is used to develop feasible solutions to the resulting non-linear, integer programming problem. Using a hypothetical example, we illustrate results of five scenarios, where the emphasis of the achievement of one or both goals is altered. The main contribution of this approach is the ability to measure and evaluate the trade-offs among achieving a certain level of a complex wildlife goal and achieving commodity production goals. These trade-offs are measured using a flexible model, allowing planners to formulate non-linear spatial goals as objectives of a problem, rather than forcing them to rely on posterior evaluations of the suitability of management plans to goals such as elk HEI.     

中国生态监测存在问题及发展趋势

在生态学的基本理论基础上,探讨了生态监测的科学内涵,明确了生态监测对象就是生态系统,目标是认识反映生态系统的状态和演变趋势,为管理和决策提供科学依据。深入分析了中国生态监测存在的5个问题:生态监测缺乏统一管理,部门间任务存在交叉和重复;生态监测技术不够规范,信息整合与利用困难;生态监测网络松散,国家级生态监测网络建立缓慢;环境监测法律依据不足,法制保障力度亟待加强;生态监测能力水平普遍较低,亟待建设。最后,从国家现实需求、生态监测现状以及监测技术发展的历史规律,探讨了未来中国生态监测的总体发展趋势。     

新疆土地生态环境问题与对策

土地生态环境是人类生存发展的基本条件,是经济、社会发展的基础.在当前的经济形势下,包括水土流失、土壤盐碱化、植被破坏等一系列土地荒漠化问题以及由于荒漠化而造成的生物多样性受损引起人们的广泛关注.为了实现经济的可持续发展目标,加强新疆的综合竞争能力,在区域开发过程中要注重土地生态环境建设.本文对新疆土地生态环境现状与存在的问题进行分析,阐明了土地生态环境恶化的原因,提出土地生态环境建设的对策.     

土壤重金属污染生态风险评价方法综述

生态风险评价是风险论与生态学、环境科学、地学等多种学科相互交叉的边缘学科.以土壤生态系统为对象,介绍了目前已有的几类重金属污染生态风险评价方法,包括概念模型法、数学模型法、指数法、形态分析法、植物培养法等.指出根据研究目的与污染特性选择适当的评价方法,可以为土壤生态风险管理提供科学信息.     

An Indicator for the Economic Performance and Ecological Sustainability of Nations

This document proposes a new indicator to assess countries’ sustainability. The indicator synthetises measures of economic and ecological efficiency. In other words, we assess the ability of countries to use resources to produce the maximum possible amounts of goods and services while keeping production activities’ impact on the environment as low as possible. The measure of ecological efficiency is the ecological reserve/deficit (ERD), which is based on the concept of ecological footprint. The new indicator is computed using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model, a well-known non-parametric technique that delivers measures of productive efficiency by comparing outputs to inputs used in production. We modify the standard DEA model in two ways. Firstly, we allow for negative input and output data. Secondly, to increase DEA discriminating power of countries, we compute anti-efficiency measures. This allows us to obtain a ranking of countries based on the best and worst performances. Results show that the new efficiency indicator is valid and that high ERD positively influences the ranking of countries. Introducing anti-efficiency provides more plausible results and a more accurate ranking, for example high-polluting countries like China previously economically efficient are now ranked as low efficient when sustainability is taken into account.

     

基于农业面源污染风险区的生态保护红线优化方法分析

将农业面源污染风险区划入生态保护红线中，防范由此导致的饮用水水源富营养化现象，是值得深入探讨的科学问题。以南水北调中线重要水源地丹江口水库流域十堰段为例，基于农业面源污染风险区的识别，通过情景分析探讨生态保护红线优化方法，改善区域生态环境，推动绿色发展。结果表明：将农业面源污染极高风险区划入生态保护红线，区域氮、磷流失削减率可分别达35.9%和26.33%,在一定程度上增强了生态系统连通性，且人口生态压力指数较小(0.23),可统筹生态效益和经济效益的发展。研究结果有望为存在农业面源污染风险的丘陵山区提供一种红线优化新思路。     

中国流域水环境生物监测体系构成和发展

分析了国外水环境生物监测体系的构成和特点;总结了中国生物监测的发展历程、基础、存在问题和发展需求;提出了体系发展的总体发展目标,即以流域为单元,以各级支流为监测区段,发展以实现流域水环境生态完整性评价为目的的综合监测体系;同时,着重介绍了重点发展内容:建立以市级站为核心的监测网络;建立包含4个板块的核心业务监测能力;开展生物监测业务标准化建设;进一步完善水环境质量评价报告。对全国监测系统生物监测体系的构成和发展提出建议:在总体发展目标指导下,完成构建水环境生物监测技术体系、构建全国水环境生物监测网络体系、建立数据管理与评价平台及建立运行保障体系4个分目标,实现中国环境管理以"污染防治"为重点到以"生态健康"为目的的转折。     

江苏省环境监测现代化建设方案

阐述了江苏省环境监测现代化建设的指导思想、基本原则和主要目标。指出环境监测现代化建设的任务是建立符合现代化要求的管理体制和运行机制，强化政府职能，建立全省环境监测统一监督管理体制，引导培育监测市场，优化配置监测力量，建立以政府为主导的多元化环境监测投入机制；建立保障生态省建设的监测体系，包括全省环境自动监测(控)系统、遥测遥感系统、人居环境监测技术体系和现代化监测信息系统，实现实验室技术装备现代化和监测科研现代化；建立一支符合现代化要求的环境监测骨干队伍，建立现代人力资源组织方式、增值机制和考核激励机制，加强行业文明建设和行业文化建设；建立符合现代化要求的法制保障体系。提出了实施环境监测现代化建设的主要保障措施。     

Emergy-based evaluation of system sustainability and ecosystem value of a large-scale constructed wetland in North China

Constructed wetland has been widely adopted to deal with degraded natural wetlands and water bodies; thus, more attention should be focused on ecological–economic sustainability and ecological efficiency of these projects for long-term success. Emergy accounting was conducted to investigate the energy and resource flows in constructed wetlands during the restoration process. Emergy-based indexes were adopted to evaluate the sustainability of a pilot large-scale constructed wetland in a large wetland restoration project in North China, carried out to enhance the river water quality and offset the degradation of natural wetland. Emergy and emdollar values for ecosystem services and natural capital were also calculated. The results showed that when outflow was considered as the product, the studied large-scale constructed wetland was more self-supporting and could be operated with lesser financial investment, although the waste treatment efficiency and the sustainability index were lower than conventional small-scale treatment constructed wetlands. Compared with natural wetlands, more visits from tourists and lesser financial investment coming in as feedback into the wetland would reduce system environment loading and promote system self-support ability, ultimately generating sustainability. In addition, the studied large-scale constructed wetland can effectively simulate energy and resource flows of natural wetland ecosystem and contribute a roughly equal value of ecosystem services in term of gross primary production. The studied large-scale constructed wetland can successfully achieve ecosystem functions as replacement for natural wetland and hasten the restoration process, although the restoration effectiveness of ecosystem structures in terms of living biomass and water using emergy-value accounting is still inconclusive.     

饮用水源水质安全预警监控体系构建框架研究

根据安全预警体系的一般原理,从水质安全角度出发,基于基础信息层、预警分析层和决策应用层构建饮用水源水质安全预警监控体系框架;提出建立既考虑区位条件、社会经济、污染负荷、生态破坏力等驱动力、压力影响,又考虑了生态健康、服务功能、环境监管和环境风险等状态和响应的指标体系,为饮用水源水质安全预警监控研究提供一定思路。     

Comparative analysis of methods for integrating various environmental impacts as a single index in life cycle assessment

Previous studies have proposed several methods for integrating characterized environmental impacts as a single index in life cycle assessment. Each of them, however, may lead to different results. This study presents internal and external normalization methods, weighting factors proposed by panel methods, and a monetary valuation based on an endpoint life cycle impact assessment method as the integration methods. Furthermore, this study investigates the differences among the integration methods and identifies the causes of the differences through a case study in which five elementary school buildings were used. As a result, when using internal normalization with weighting factors, the weighting factors had a significant influence on the total environmental impacts whereas the normalization had little influence on the total environmental impacts. When using external normalization with weighting factors, the normalization had more significant influence on the total environmental impacts than weighing factors. Due to such differences, the ranking of the five buildings varied depending on the integration methods. The ranking calculated by the monetary valuation method was significantly different from that calculated by the normalization and weighting process. The results aid decision makers in understanding the differences among these integration methods, and, finally, help them select the method most appropriate for the goal at hand.     

基于“多规融合”的城市环境空间管控技术体系研究

介绍了“多规融合”的发展历程,围绕实现生态环境空间管控的核心目标,提出了基于“多规融合”的城市尺度环境空间管控技术体系。该体系主要包括环境空间管控技术方法和空间落地技术方法两部分内容,其中,环境空间管控技术方法主要是生态保护红线划定等涉及空间的生态环境保护主要工作转化为环境空间管控数据的过程,空间落地技术方法是将环境空间管控数据在空间上落地,形成数据“一个库”、分布“一张图”。     

新发展阶段生态环境监测面临的若干问题和解决思路

“十四五”时期是我国全面建成小康社会、实现第一个百年奋斗目标之后,乘势而上开启全面建设社会主义现代化国家新征程、向第二个百年奋斗目标进军的第一个五年,我国将进入新发展阶段。通过研究新发展阶段需求,分析生态环境监测存在的问题和短板,指出在职能转变、“减污降碳”、“真、准、全”等方面距离深入治污攻坚要求存在的差距,并以新发展理念为指导,研究提出生态环境监测体系与监测能力现代化建设的内涵实质、重要基础以及关键突破口,为加快构建生态环境监测新发展格局提供参考。     

The design of integrated monitoring systems to provide early indications of environmental/ecological changes

One of the important goals of the next several decades is to achieve and maintain ecologically sustainable development of the biosphere. However, the management of ecological systems is rather difficult, largely because of uncertainties in long-term predictions of environmental and ecological behaviour. Thus, one of the objectives for integrated monitoring should be to provide early indications of impending changes so that mitigative actions can be taken.This paper includes a discussion of the factors to be considered in the design of early-warning monitoring systems, and gives some examples. One approach that appears to be particularly promising is that of identifying, quantifying and monitoring the stresses, feedbacks and component lags in the environmental-ecological system being studied.     

Adaptive Management, Monitoring, and the Ecological Sustainability of a Thermal-Polluted Water Ecosystem: A Case in Sw Spain

The construction of the Almaraz nuclear power plant in Spain in the 1970s posed interesting environmental problems concerning the construction of a cooling reservoir (Arrocampo reservoir) to cool the steam condensers and the consequent heating of the reservoirs water. The socio-political context forced decision makers to set up a project for the monitoring and management of the environmental impacts derived from the construction and operation of the power plant. Numerous scientific and technical specialists collaborated with the representatives of social groups towards two goals: the improvement of the biodiversity and of the efficiency of the cooling system. These goals involved the monitoring and managing of the system with respect to different biological aspects, mainly limnology, ichthyology, avian fauna and vegetation. The management plan yielded numerous results. The control of the water eutrophy is one of the most important due to its repercussion on the rest of the ecosystem, especially the fish fauna. The development of the shore vegetation slowly increased the patchwork nature of the reservoir, leading to a greater diversity of the avian species. This paper describes the monitoring and management of the Arrocampo ecosystem, the condition before and after the construction of the reservoir and the results obtained concerning some biological communities.     

面向生态监管的国家生态质量监测网络构建框架

从生态监管对生态质量评价的需求角度梳理了我国生态监测的现状及存在问题，分析了我国构建生态质量监测网络的必要性，并从网络建设目的、原则、空间布局、监测内容和工作机制等5个方面提出了国家生态质量监测网络的构建思路，最后指出"十四五"期间国家生态质量监测网络的重点任务，即开展生态质量综合观测站建设并进行生态功能相关监测和评估研究，开展生态质量监测样地系统建设并进行生态系统结构组成监测，从引导生态保护修复的科学性和提高自然生态用地利用效率出发开展生态质量监测和评价的尝试，建成天-空-地一体化的生态质量监测与预警体系。