From spatial models to spatial evaluation in the analysis of wetland restoration in the Vecht river basin

Water tables are strictly controlled throughout much of the Netherlands. Higher water tables could permit the restoration of wetland ecosystems. Deriving benefits from this requires the spatial matching of physical planning, eco-hydrological processes, and economic activities. This paper reports on a study combining spatial analysis and disciplinary integration to assess management strategies for the Vecht river basin in the Netherlands. The paper addresses two research questions. How can the information generated by spatial models be condensed into performance indicators for the evaluation of strategies? How can spatial information be retained in the evaluation, and does this lead to different rankings and/or insights? Procedures for the construction of performance indicators for three criteria – net present value, environmental quality and spatial equity – are presented. The evaluation concludes that recreation and higher water tables provide a means for restoration, recouping of costs, and stimulating regional incomes. Maintenance of spatial detail led to different insights, and in particular indicated uncertainty about this conclusion.     

开发区建设对区域经济发展的影响与机制分析——以湖南省为例

评估开发区对区域经济发展的影响,探究这种影响的空间异质性与机制,能为开发区协调发展与优化升级提供理论指导。以中部省区湖南省为例,采用固定效应模型估计法对2001～2016年110个县级行政区的面板数据进行分析,检验了开发区设立对湖南省县级水平区域经济发展的效应,揭示了这种效应的空间异质性与机制。总体上看,湖南省开发区建设提升了县级区域GDP和人均GDP水平,主要源于乘数效应机制与集聚机制。更为重要地,湖南省开发区建设对县经济发展的推动作用呈现出"边际效应递增"特征,即更高经济发展水平区域设立开发区对区域经济发展的推动作用越强,因而开发区效应的发挥依赖于区域经济发展基础。     

Identifying the determinants and spatial nexus of provincial carbon intensity in China: a dynamic spatial panel approach

Is emission intensity of carbon dioxide (CO₂) spatially correlated? What determines the CO₂ intensity at a provincial level? More importantly, what climate and economic policy decisions should the China’s central and local governments make to reduce the CO₂ intensity and prevent the environmental pollution given that China has been the largest emitter of CO₂? We aim to address these questions in this study by applying a dynamic spatial system generalized method of moment technique. Our analysis suggests that provinces are influenced by their neighbours. In addition, CO₂ intensities are relatively higher in the western and middle areas, and that the spatial agglomeration effect of the provincial CO₂ intensity is obvious. Our analysis also shows that CO₂ intensity is nonlinearly related to gross domestic product, positively associated with secondary-sector share and foreign direct investment, and negatively associated with population size. Important policy implications are drawn on reducing carbon intensity.     

省级政府环境政策制定过程的特征分析——以陕西和云南水土保持生态补偿政策为例

近年来,省级政府制定的环境政策逐渐增多。在数量繁多的各类问题中,省级政府的决策者如何能够充分认识到某个环境问题的重要性和紧迫性,将其置于优先考虑的位置,进而出台一项环境政策?与经济发展政策相比,省级政府制定环境政策的过程有何特征?本文通过研究两个案例来探讨这些问题的答案,一个案例是陕西省制定的水土保持生态补偿政策,另一个案例是云南省正在制定的类似政策。研究表明,在省级政府制定环境政策的过程中,政策倡导者往往不是省级政府决策者,而是省级政府中行政主管部门的领导。政策倡导者建立政策的途径是说服作为决策者的省级政府相关领导,进而使之批准政策出台。其说服方法是建立由相关部门和其他利益相关者组成的支持联盟,通过科学研究阐明问题的重要性、紧迫性以及和政府职能的相关性,并提出具有科学基础和立法基础的政策方案。这一过程既区别于中央政府制定环境政策的过程,又与省级政府制定经济政策的过程不同。     

Perspectives and limitations of indicators in water management

This paper addresses the issue of indicators for water management by considering why we need them, what the characteristics of a good indicator should be, how they can add value to policy and decision-making, and what are their limitations. There are a vast quantity of data available on water in Europe from which a range of basic trend indicators has been derived. Most of these indicators address "what is happening?"-type questions. Some indicators go further and address "does it matter?" questions by assessing trends against prescribed standards and targets. There have been some interesting developments in indicators which help to understand the demand side of water management and to assess the relative efficiencies of resource usage in different socio-economic sectors. More effort is needed to bring together relevant social, economic and environmental information interactively to define indicators that address questions about the sustainability of water use and the contribution of the water environment to our overall quality of life. The development of indicators to date has concentrated on making the best use of available information. However, we now need to move from a position of "best available information" towards "best needed information". This will require better communication between information users and providers. It will also require a rethinking of exactly what our priority knowledge needs are to support policy-making and environmental management. This is essential if we are to obtain the best value from limited monitoring resources by eliminating the current redundancy in reporting requirements and refocusing programmes to deliver priority information needs. Electronic Publication     

What has caused regional income inequality in China? Effects of 10 socioeconomic factors on per capita income

This study analyzes the driving factors behind regional income inequality to provide an important reference for China and other developing countries and to support the formulation of more effective regional development policies. The study used data from 625 county-level administrative units in China in 2017 and conducted a total factor analysis of China's regional income based on 10 economic dimensions using spatially explicit regression methods. The results show that commerce, population footprint, industrialization, and investment are the main factors that affected a Chinese region’s income, but different factors have different degrees of influence in different regions. The impact of economic institutions (developing an institutionally diverse market economy) on income cannot be ignored. Based on our findings, China should give local governments more autonomy, so they can formulate strategies that account for local constraints and opportunities, thereby increasing their chances of decreasing regional income inequality.

     

我国发展循环经济的政策与法律体系探讨

建立和完善循环经济政策应遵循三个原则：服务于我国循环经济概念与内涵原则。服务于循环经济实践的原则。用足用好现有政策和补充缺位政策相结合的原则。我国发展循环经济的政策与法律体系应包括四大类：基本政策、核心政策和基础性政策。技术政策可以融入这四类政策之中。基本政策是统领循环经济所有政策的根本。是资源环境与社会经济发展相融合的综合性政策。基础性政策是指为循环经济重点领域实践创造良好制度环境的政策。大致包括宏观经济政策、基本经济制度、基础性激励政策和考核政策等。核心政策是直接推动循环经济重点实践领域的政策。在核心政策中。需要切实落实和用足用好的现有对循环经济发展较有利的政策有：生态工业政策（包括产业结构调整政策、清洁生产政策）。资源综合利用和环保产业税费优惠政策。能源节约和再生能源政策。环境友好型产品标志（标识）政策；需要完善的薄弱政策有：生态工业园建设政策。废弃物回收、再利用、资源化和无害化产业政策。生态农业政策。资源开发利用政策；需要新建立的缺位政策主要涉及消费领域、环境友好型和资源能源节约型城镇基础设施和建筑领域。     

Poverty,environment and economic growth: exploring the links among three complex issues with specific focus on the Pakistan’s case

Eradicating poverty, reducing environmental degradation and achieving sustainable economic growth are some of the major macroeconomic goals of Pakistan. There are, however, serious interlinkages among these issues. The present paper investigates these linkages and the existing evidence for Pakistan and other countries. The aim of the paper is to examine and test some hypotheses and answer some questions regarding poverty-environment-nexus in Pakistan. The paper uses secondary data and information to probe into these linkages. The paper finds that poverty leads to environmental degradation is a common belief but it is not clearly supported by evidence. What is more strongly supported by evidence is the fact that environmental degradation hurts more the poor. There is a need of studies that deal with the social and environmental impacts of specific factors, and a need of a better understanding of institutional dynamics. More understanding on how levels and changes in poverty relate to changes in environmental quality is needed. There is a need to understand how the levels and rates of change vary with poverty. There is a need to know how and where the changes are taking place. More research is needed on the effects of changes in the population and the dynamics of institutional development. It has been showed that low income groups are the most affected when environmental degradation occur, but not enough information available in Pakistan on the mechanisms. There is a need of empirical studies regarding effect on poor relative to non-poor. More understanding on how poor people depend on, interact with and use their environment in rural and urban areas is needed. Ideally, in Pakistan, we would need to relate data gathered in an area with socio-economic data from the same area, answering this way to questions such as, to what extent are different income groups affected by resource degradation? And, by pollution? Finally, Pakistan should apply open minded and innovative policies in order to take advantage of the many existing opportunities. Some suggestions are eco-labeling schemes, organic practices, fair trade and so forth. Very little research has been conducted in developing countries, especially in Pakistan on the issues involving poverty, environment and development. The present study is an attempt in this regard. The results of the study are expected to assume pivotal importance for policy makers, academics and other researchers. It may help policy makers how to design policy to ensure poverty alleviation vis-à-vis environmental conservation. It may also help academicians to understand the complex poverty-environment-growth nexus. It will also open new avenues for further research in this area.     

Drivers for Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER)

There is a limited body of research into what drives some major companies to become aware of their environmental responsibility, what drives some to develop policies, and for an even smaller number of companies, what drives them to act on these policies and actually change their practices to become more environmentally responsible. This paper draws on part of the research conducted for a PhD, and looks at what a selection of senior business leaders from major Australian and international companies, as well as key academics, corporate analysts and environmentalists believe are the major drivers for corporate environmental responsibility (CER). While the key finding, namely that government legislation or the threat of legislation, is the number one driver, came as no surprise and concurs with findings of other studies (Emtairah et al.: 2002, Who Creates the Market for Green Products? An Analysis of the Role of Different Actors in Relation to Supply and Demand of Green Products, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Stockholm; Faruk: 2002, The Ashridge Journal; Husted: 2003, Environmental Science &; Policy 2, 61–74), what was a surprise was the level of support from business leaders for more government intervention in the form of policies, including legislative, to encourage or force greater CER.     

环境规制对中国区域绿色经济效率的影响机理研究——基于超效率模型和空间面板计量模型实证分析

基于2000~2015年中国各地区面板数据,在构建绿色经济效率测度指标体系的基础上,运用超效率DEA模型测算中国绿色经济效率,通过对所构建模型普通线性回归得到的残差进行Moran’I指数的计算和检验,发现其存在显著的正相关性,并在此基础上利用空间计量模型分析环境规制水平及其他相关因素对绿色经济效率的影响。结果表明：（1）2000~2015年中国东中西部绿色经济效率和环境规制水平均呈波动上升趋势,并且伴有较为明显的空间差异性特征。但随着时间的推移,各区域绿色经济效率与环境规制水平差异有所减小,呈现收敛的趋势。（2）绿色经济效率与环境规制水平基本呈现出东部地区>中部地区>西部地区的空间分异特征,并随着时间推移两者均出现空间结构不断优化、区域差异逐渐收敛等向好趋势。（3）环境规制水平对绿色经济效率的影响呈现一个先促进后抑制的倒“U”型过程,其中,东中西部地区的环境规制水平对绿色经济效率的影响分别处于不同的阶段;经济发展水平、产业结构高级化和科研水平与绿色经济效率呈现显著的正相关关系,而利用外资水平与绿色经济效率则呈现显著的负相关关系。     

江苏省乡村性的县域差异时空分析

基于城乡一体化的思想构建乡村性指数(RI),运用熵值法确定2001~2012年乡村性指数的权重,以乡村性指数为变量,运用差异系数对江苏省乡村性县域差异的演变过程与空间格局进行定量分析。结果表明:2001年以来,江苏省乡村性随着城市化水平的提高呈现不断减弱的趋势,县域乡村性在2001~2007~2012年表现为总体缩小基础上的先缩小后扩大的演变格局。县域乡村性各子系统发展不平衡,主要表现为土地利用差异,人口发展、经济发展和基础设施差异相对较小。在空间上,县域乡村性呈现由苏北苏中地区向环太湖和宁镇地区不断极化的过程。其中苏南地区以向下收敛为主;苏北地区以向上收敛为主;苏中地区以向上发散为主。     

The disappearing sustainability triangle: community level considerations

This article challenges the application of the sustainability triangle to conceptualise sustainable development by looking at how weak sustainability can be obtained via the reinforcing increase in social capital and natural capital. Sustainable development is often visualised as a triangle consisting of social, environmental, and economic aspects. Would it be possible to conceive a flattened system, with diminishing economic resources or without refilling financial resources? The possibility involves mutual reinforcement between social capital and natural capital. The consideration of the diminishing economic dimension relates to the concept of development without economic growth, such as degrowth, zero-growth, and sustainable growth, that has been revived in the face of the recent economic crisis. Several countries have imposed extreme budget cuts in development collaboration and in other government expenditures. When the economic resource is not at a satisfactory level, can we rely on the reinforcement between social and environmental aspects for sustainability? Although it is not new to acknowledge the contribution of social capital to environmental conservation, research has long ignored the reinforcing relationship between environmental and social dimensions. This article provides a prototype model to demonstrate how social capital and natural capital can reinforce each other. The prototype is studied and verified at the community level using a comparative method. This article concludes with principles and practices that may encourage sustainability with merely the reinforcement between social capital and natural capital.     

Assessing the role of consumers in sustainable product policies

A global analysis shows that considerable forces contribute nowadays to the perpetuation of the so-called “developed” model of consumption, and its extension to growing parts of the world, despite reiterated calls for “modification of production and consumption patterns”. Environmental product regulation can be situated in this general perspective. This paper returns to the framing of policies devoted to ecologically sustainable consumption, taking the example of the Integrated product policy at the European level. How are the objectives of such policies defined? What instruments are privileged? Comparing theoretical approaches with policy design, we focus on the role devoted to consumers in these contexts. Bringing in literature evidence, survey results and findings from an original study, we argue that appropriate knowledge of the diversity of consumers’ attitudes and about the limitations of their possible actions is not properly taken into account in product policies, notably when information and voluntary tools are dominant. From this point of view, environmental product regulations are well justified, but they should, as all policy instruments implicating consumers, take careful notice of their situation.     

宁夏盐池县生态保护政策对农户的影响

生态保护政策能否真正起到作用。在很大程度上取决于能否被农户在经济利益上所接受。盐池县的草原退化和沙漠化问题严重，主要是由于人类不合理经济活动造成的。近年来盐池县采取了一系列的生态保护政策，并开始实行草原禁牧的政策，以保护和恢复草原生态环境。农户调查的研究结果表明。目前的生态保护政策并不成功。90％以上的农户仍然在草原上偷牧，禁牧使农户收入减少是导致该政策失败的根本原因。虽然农户的生态意识较为理性，但是目前的生态保护政策与农户经营行为之间至少存在两大矛盾：一是，生态效益长期性与农户追求短期效益的矛盾；二是，生态环境外部性与农户小农意识之间的矛盾。     

Logic of Citizen Participation in Sustainable Development

Abstract

Sustainable development, a concept which has been built with the sustainability of economic progression as a main thrust, has been a widely preferred model to traditional developmental models. However, the real meaning of what sustainable development is and should include has been an object of debate. On the one hand, differing from traditional economic developmental models, economic progress does not necessitate the practice of ‘sustainable development’. On the other hand, current levels of science and technology are still unable to solve several problems that arise with economic development. Sustainable development has transferred the responsibility of environmental destruction to that of developing countries. Lastly, instead of utilizing the best technology and leadership into formulating excellent environmental- protection policies, it is more important to create widespread awareness to the public on the need to protect the environment and thereby engage their participation in decision-making to actually realize what is truly ‘sustainable development’.     

Analysis of Environmental and Socio-economic Determinants Affecting Population Longevity Level at County Level in China

INTRODUCTIONIn recent thirty years, due to the decreasing fertility andincreasing life expectancy, China's population is aging ata very rapid pace and the elderly population size is keepingon growing. During the dramatic aging progress, the oldestold group in China is catching our eyes. More and moreold people of China are becoming the oldest old. Theextremely old population (aged 80 and above) is increasingat 5.1% annually, while the old population above 65 isincreasing at 2.9%, and the…     

How interdisciplinary is sustainability research? Analyzing the structure of an emerging scientific field

Sustainability research is expected to incorporate concepts, methods, and data from a diverse array of academic disciplines. We investigate the extent to which sustainability research lives up to this ideal of an interdisciplinary field. Using bibliometric data, we orient our study around the “tripartite model” of sustainability, which suggests that sustainability research should draw from the three “pillars” of the environmental, economic, and social sciences. We ask three questions: (i) is sustainability research truly more interdisciplinary than research generally, (ii) to what extent does research grounded in one pillar draw on research from the other two, and (iii) if certain disciplines or pillars are more interdisciplinary than others, then what explains this variation? Our results indicate that sustainability science, while more interdisciplinary than other scientific fields, falls short of the expectations inherent in the tripartite model. The pillar with the fewest articles published on sustainability—economics—is also the most integrative, while the pillar with the most articles—environmental sciences—draws the least from outside disciplines. But interdisciplinarity comes at a cost: sustainability research in economics and the social sciences is centered around a relatively small number of interdisciplinary journals, which may be becoming less valued over time. These findings suggest that, if sustainability research is to live up to its interdisciplinary ideals, researchers must be provided with greater incentives to draw from fields other than their own.     

石林风景名胜区对乡村经济发展的影响

石林风景名胜区始建于20世纪30年代,旅游开发经历了居民游览、服务中心城市的接待观光型到区域支柱产业的转型。经济体制深刻地影响了石林旅游业,旅游产品延续了计划经济体制下形成接待观光游览型,形成以门票收入为主体的旅游经济收入格局,对不同层次的经济发展带来不同的影响。石林旅游业对县级经济收入、产业结构、财政、税收有积极影响,近5年石林旅游业占当地GDP的9%～11%,占第三产业产值的27.9% ～33%、财政收入的10.8%～0.1%,但对农业生产、农村居民就业和家庭收入的带动力弱,有明显的“距离衰减效应”。获得旅游效益的居民限于风景区旅游中心的村寨,约占风景区人口的15%,中心旅游区的第三产业就业人员比例比其它地区高7%～35%。中心区农民参与旅游业方式的调查表明,居民参与旅游业的方式被动：耕地被征用后,或被风景名胜区管理部门雇佣、或成个体工商户、或被外来企业雇佣,就业领域局限于餐饮服务、环卫和绿化、民族工艺品制作与销售、照相、旅游交通、导游等。风景区农村的基础建设、产业结构、就业领域与风景区功能和旅游业目标的协调存在距离。促进风景名胜区旅游业对所在地的“三农”发展的协调值得思考和解决。     

Balancing the health benefits and environmental risks of pharmaceuticals: Diclofenac as an example

Pharmaceuticals are designed to improve human and animal health, but even the most beneficial pharmaceuticals might raise some questions concerning the consequences of exposure to non-target organisms. To illustrate this situation and using diclofenac as a case-study, we analyze global consumption and occurrence data to identify hot spots of consumption without occurrence data, review the scientific literature on the harmful environmental effects to determine whether the observed concentrations in freshwater are of environmental concern, summarize the current pharmaceutical and environmental policies to highlight policy gaps, and suggest a series of research and policy recommendations, which can be summarized as follows: we need to improve the current knowledge on occurrence in freshwaters to properly implement environmental policies (i), diclofenac might pose a risk to non-target organisms in freshwater (ii); the harmful effects that some pharmaceuticals may have on the environment are not always addressed by environmental policies (iii).     

Econometric analysis of the impacts of climate change on the livestock production in Qinghai Province

This study aims to investigate the effect of the impact mechanism of climate change on the livestock production at small watershed level and county level with the Multi-level Model(MLM)in Qinghai Province.The result indicated that the gross livestock output value was greatly influenced by the climatic factors of the small watershed level.Higher temperature promoted also by the increase of precipitation,relative humidity and sunshine duration was found to be beneficial to the development of livestock production,except in some areas where temperature rise restrained the development of local livestock production to some degree when exceeding a certain level;besides,the impact of the socioeconomic factors on the livestock output value is obvious at the county level.The gross economic output measured with GDP has some inhibitory effects on the reinvestment of livestock production,while population growth promotes development of livestock production to some degree.The results not only provide scientific basis for the management of livestock production in Qinghai Province,but also provide reference for formulating the policies and adaptation measures targeted at climate change to promote the sustainable development of livestock production in other regions.