Case study evidence that direct regulation remains the main driver of industrial pollution avoidance and may benefit operational efficiency

Environmental regulation is required to reduce industrial pollution to levels that are socially acceptable and economically efficient, but there is debate over the most efficient form of such regulation. Typically, a limited range of environmental and economic parameters are accounted for in the econometric studies that inform that debate. This paper integrates evidence from two separate studies to assess a broad range of parameters related to the efficiency of industrial environmental regulation. Questionnaire responses from 25 Italian manufacturers of building-chemicals and 28 Irish pharmaceutical manufacturers provided evidence on the environmental effectiveness and operational impacts of different regulatory instruments. Combined with extensive emissions data from Irish pharmaceutical manufacturers, survey results enabled a quantitative estimation of pollution avoidance specifically attributable to direct regulation. The monetised social benefit of avoided pollution was found to be equal to direct compliance costs. Chemical manufacturers in Italy and Ireland stated that direct regulation is a more important driver of industrial environmental performance than economic or voluntary regulation, and their responses indicated that direct compliance costs may be countered somewhat by stimulated operational improvements. It was concluded that direct regulation is an effective approach for multi-pollutant control in an industrial context, and that the efficiency of such regulation may be underestimated in studies that do not consider the full range of pollutants and operational effects.     

Efficiency gains within firms under voluntary environmental initiatives

This paper focuses on efficiency gains that voluntary environmental initiatives may achieve within the firm. Current debate concerning the extent and significance of inefficiencies within firms is critically important to the progress of energy and environmental policies.Several recent lines of inquiry in microeconomics help explain the persistence of inefficiencies within firms. In addition, two of the most prominent new approaches in the field of business strategy — resource-based strategy and the “capabilities perspective” — focus on the heterogeneity among firms and the resulting pockets of inefficiency within firms. They suggest at least three generic strategies for voluntary environmental initiatives — challenging outdated organizational routines, creating opportunities for differentiation, or complementing firms' resource investment trajectories. These generic approaches suggest that there is considerable scope for further experimentation with voluntary environmental initiatives.     

Stakeholders and environmental management systems: a synergistic influence on environmental imbalance

This article analyzes the combined effects of stakeholder pressure and the implementation of environmental management systems on organizations’ environmental behaviors. Beyond their individual effects, the implementation of an environmental management system should enhance the effect of stakeholder pressure on environmental imbalance, defined as the divergence between what the organization does and what it should do. Information collected from 3748 industrial plants in seven countries provides empirical evidence that supports the study propositions. Therefore, this study contributes to both the debate about the effectiveness of environmental management systems and the effort to explain the complex relationship between organizations and their stakeholders in environmental matters.     

论环境行政诉讼中的几个法律问题

讨论了在环境行政诉讼中出现的受案范围、跨区域案件的管辖权,行政补偿的界限,及诉讼举证等法律问题,并对如何解决这些问题,提出了相应的建议。     

Environmental governance for biodiversity

Effective environmental governance is hampered by the continuing presumption of the state as central actor in the domestic and international political contexts. Over the last 20 years, the traditional ‘Westphalian’ conception of the sovereign state has come under increasing pressure not only in theory, but also in practice, as evidenced by the increasing importance attributed to the participation of quasi-government and non-government actors in decision-making in domestic and international political issues. This paper is a contribution to the on-going debate about the meaning of effective environmental governance by mapping out a post-Westphalian conception of governance. In particular, it defines governance in relation to the protection of biodiversity; highlights obstacles to effective governance in this area, and discusses forming environmental management plans and environmental governance regimes to implement them. The final section of the paper suggests seven directions for ensuring the realisation of effective environmental governance.     

中美高等环境类专业设置比较研究

对美国高等环境类专业设置现状进行了初步调查和统计分析，并与我国高等环境类专业设置状况进行比较研究．研究表明，高等环境类专业设置存在一定的差异性，而且显示出美国高等环境类专业设置具有某些明显特点，主要表现在：专业设置种类数量多、面广且多元化；人文社会科学型专业的比例较大；设置了培养环境教育师资人才的专业；环境健康领域在专业设置中得到了高度重视；“综合型”人才培养目标在专业设置中更为突出．这些特点可以为我国高等环境类专业设置的改革和调整以及高等环境教育发展决策提供参考依据．     

我国环境影响评价的回顾与发展

环境影响评价的普遍经验作为一种预见性的环境管理工具,对它所实现其目的的程度已经产生了颇为激烈的争论,这一直是衡量环境影响评价的有效性条款,特别是讨论已经从程序上的执行问题转向到环境影响评价的更实质性目标和其置于更广泛的决策背景。文章首先描述了环境影响评价的起源,并介绍了我国环境影响评价的发展史,进一步探讨环境影响评价程序执行过程中出现的问题,最后,提出可行的办法使其更好地服务于我国的可持续发展战略。     

Relationships between human resource dimensions and environmental management in companies: proposal of a model

This work deals with the main contributions of human resource dimensions for the environmental management in a company. While the specialized literature concerning the technical aspects of environmental management expands, there is a gap in the bibliography: integrated approaches between human resource dimensions and environmental management. An extensive bibliographical review was undertaken in order to systematize the human resource dimensions and their contributions concerning the effectiveness of the environmental management system. A model that analyses the relationships between these dimensions and the typical phases of an environmental management system is presented, within a perspective of application for academicians and managers.     

Introduction and overview: environmental knowledge,rights, and ethics: co-managing with communities

This special issue of Environmental Science & Policy presents various approaches for assessing local environmental knowledge and perceptions. Many environmental management problems are caused by a mismatch between environmental decision-makers and locally affected communities. Our objective with this special issue is to present a range of environmental decision-making approaches to be matched with a range of community types. On one end of this range are traditional, indigenous communities where careful co-management is needed. On the other end are mixed residential/transient communities, where a regional survey of awareness of an environmental issue can provide adequate information for a practitioner to design an appropriate solution from the office. We may also have a wide range of environmental knowledge from the traditional community's elders to the transients. It may be encoded in folkloric symbols or verbal references to Internet WebPages, or a combination of these and other codes, signifying membership in social groups. Such diversity requires skill in assessing levels of environmental knowledge and appropriate strategies for engaging local knowledge as a basis for building culturally and environmentally appropriate projects.     

The role of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific,Technical and Technological Advice to the Convention on Biological Diversity as science–policy interface

The Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has become the centre of heated debates concerning its function as the science–policy interface of the Convention. Based on explorations of the role, nature, and organisation of scientific advice mechanisms for multilateral environmental agreements in general, we give reasons for SBSTTA's inherently political role in the current governance process of the CBD, and then explore ways to enhance SBSTTA's effectiveness as a science–policy interface, going beyond the usual view that it should merely be “more scientific”. As the quality of SBSTTA's work depends primarily on the processes that guide the discussions during its meetings and on the material on which these discussions are based, we suggest that SBSTTA (a) improves its scientific foundation by systematically strengthening its relations to more scientific institutions outside the formal CBD regime, and (b) focuses on providing for a more substantive political debate to resolve alternative policy choices during its meetings. For this approach to succeed there is a need for a mechanism that provides SBSTTA with timely, salient, legitimate, and credible advice—a role that an International Mechanism of Scientific Expertise on Biodiversity (IMoSEB) could well provide.     

环境会计探析

环境会计是人们对经济发展与环境资源关系认识深的产物。它在重新确定有关环境的，成本，产值的基础上，以自然资源的耗费和补偿为中心，通过有效的价值管理，达到消除外部不经济，协调经济和环境的目的，可以借鉴发达国家和国际组织的有益探讨，逐步建立我国的环境会计理论和实务体系。     

Environmental practices and firm performance: an empirical analysis in the Spanish hotel industry

The impact of environmental practices on firm performance raises an ongoing debate in which the review of the existing literature yields no conclusive results. Different methods have been used to study this relationship and most of the analyses have focused on manufacturing companies. This paper examines the link between environmental practices and firm performance in the Spanish hotel industry using two methods: a cluster analysis and a regression analysis. First, three groups were defined according to their environmental proactivity, and hotels showing a stronger commitment to environmental practices proved to reach higher performance levels. Second, through the regression analysis, findings showed that environmental practices impact significantly on several performance variables.     

基于环境心理学的社会个体环境保护行为探析

当前严峻的环境形势迫使人们必须立即改变其污染环境、破坏生态等多种危害环境的行为模式。因此,对处于社会不同角色的环境行为个体,探讨影响群体中个人环境行为的各方面因素,从而更有针对性地通过各种行之有效的技术和策略来影响人们的环境行为是很有意义的。本文不仅在宏观的层面上分析了我国环境管理中政府、企业、公众三大主体的行动现状与不足,还结合了心理学的相关知识,在微观的层面上探讨了个人参与环境保护行为的影响因素（如：环保意识、从众心理、习惯）及干预方法（如：环境教育、提示、强化技术、强制手段）,在一定程度上可以补充国内环境心理学对于环境保护行为研究的不足,更好地促进人们行为的改变,确保环境问题从根本上的解决,继而实现社会的可持续发展。     

Impact of environmental factors on gastric cancer: A review of the scientific evidence, human prevention and adaptation

Globally, gastric cancer (GC) ranks fifth in prevalence and third in fatalities, and shows a distinct geographical distribution in morbidity and mortality. Such a spatial pattern indicates that environmental factors could be an important contributor to GC. We reviewed a total of 135 relevant peer-reviewed articles and other literature published 1936–2019 to investigate the scientific evidence concerning the effects of environmental factors on GC worldwide. Environmental factors affect GC from the aspects of water, soil, air, radiation, and geology. Risk factors identified include water type, water pollution, water hardness, soil type, soil pollution, soil element content, climate change, air pollution, radiation, altitude, latitude, topography, and lithology; and most of them have an adverse impact on GC. Furthermore, we found that their effects followed five common rules: (1) the leading environmental factors that affect GC incidence and mortality vary by region, (2) the same environmental factors may have different effects on GC in different regions, (3) some different environmental factors have similar effects on GC in essence, (4) different environmental factors often interact to have combined or synergistic effects on GC, and (5) environmental factors can affect human factors to have an impact on GC. Environmental factors have a great impact on GC. Human beings may prevent GC by controlling carcinogenic factors, screening high-risk populations and providing symptomatic and rehabilitative treatments. Furthermore, adaptation measures are recommended to reduce GC risk on private and public levels. Future studies should transcend existing empirical studies to develop causal relationship models and focus on vulnerable population analysis.     

Current controversies in prenatal diagnosis: Expanded NIPT that includes conditions other than trisomies 13, 18, and 21 should be offered

Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) based on analysis of cell free DNA circulating in the maternal plasma has been available clinically to screen for chromosomal abnormalities since 2011. There is significant evidence to suggest that NIPT has revolutionised prenatal screening for the common trisomies 13, 18, and 21. However, the evidence in favour of its extended use to screen for conditions other than these trisomies remains a topic of debate with no national or international organisation supporting clinical implementation for these indications. In the debate presented here – "Expanded NIPT that includes conditions other than trisomies 13, 18, and 21 should be offered" – we will see the pros and cons of screening for a wider range of chromosomal problems. The discussion presented swung the vote from 65% in favour and 35% against before the arguments were voiced to 41% in favour and 59% against. This significant swing in the vote indicates that the majority of our community feel more evidence is required before clinical implementation of extended NIPT.     

WTO环境议题对全球贸易的影响

贸易与环境问题已成为世界日益重要的问题，产业层次的提升与环保贸易措施的运用已逐渐成为国际间评估竞争力的关键要素。未来世界贸易组织的多边贸易谈判中，环境议题将成为一重要的议题，绿色贸易壁垒作为贸易中非关税贸易壁垒重要的组成成分在国际贸易中将发挥越来越重要的作用。     

Environmental performance evaluation of agro-industrial innovations – part 1: Ambitec-Life Cycle,a methodological approach for considering life cycle thinking

As sustainability considerations increasingly dominate the technology development debate worldwide, practical approaches to assess environmental performance of innovations have been warranted. The present study (Part 1) introduces Ambitec-Life Cycle, a method derived from Ambitec-Agro for considering life cycle thinking in the environmental performance evaluation (EPE) of agro-industrial innovations. An agro-industrial innovation case study related to residue recycling is presented, revealing steps in the product life cycle where opportunities are best for technological improvements. In Part 2 (this issue) of this study, a methodological approach for considering the environmental vulnerability of watersheds and to integrate this analysis in EPE methods is presented. This approach is applied to Ambitec-Life Cycle and to the same residue case study, allowing the identification of performance indicators with greater potential to cause impacts at the studied watersheds.     

Advancing indigenous self-determination through endangered species protection: Idaho gray wolf recovery

As part of the right of indigenous cultures to self-determination, several international bodies have recognized and addressed the role of indigenous communities in natural resources management, including the conservation of biodiversity. In the United States, disagreements regarding the application of the federal Endangered Species Act to Native American tribes have hindered the relationship between the federal and tribal governments on endangered species recovery. Our research examines the efforts of one Native American tribe, the Nez Perce, and the United States federal government to collaborate on federal gray wolf recovery in central Idaho. We interviewed members of the Nez Perce Tribe and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to characterize their relationship and explore the context in which the recovery program was implemented. Respondents attributed the success of the biological aspects of wolf recovery to the robustness of the wolf as a species and to close interagency coordination at the operational level. However, differences of opinion existed between the Tribe and Service concerning program funding, policy planning, and the rights and role of the Tribe in wolf management via co-management and cooperative management regimes. Respondents from both governments noted a clear hierarchical relationship at the strategic level, where policy planning and decision-making rested with the federal government. Lessons drawn from this case study can be applied across the international spectrum to improving partnerships, particularly at the strategic level, between indigenous and non-indigenous governance structures for protecting endangered species.     

‘Polishing the Kaswentha’: a Haudenosaunee view of environmental cooperation

Increasingly, Native American and non-Native governments, institutions and individuals are searching for cooperative ways to address environmental problems. While such approaches can offer substantial benefits over top-down or unilateral efforts, there are also potential pitfalls, especially when considering the needs and interests of the Native parties. Among these are threats to their status as sovereign nations, and to their political, economic and cultural autonomy. Given such concerns, many Indian Nations are seeking models for collaboration which protect their unique status based on indigenous and treaty rights, while respecting their cultural identity, values, and indigenous knowledge. In this paper we explore how one Native group in particular, a coalition of Haudenosaunee Nations in the US and Canada, has dealt with these complex issues. We show how positive relationships with outside agencies and researchers have been made possible through the use of mechanisms and processes based on traditional Haudenosaunee concepts and values. Finally, we explore how one item in particular, a 17th century treaty belt called the Kaswentha, offers a powerful symbol for forming relationships which respect Haudenosaunee autonomy while allowing collaborative partnerships to address critical environmental concerns.     

Environmental consideration in procurement of construction contracts: current practice,problems and opportunities in green procurement in the Swedish construction industry

Research and initiatives concerning green procurement have to a great extent focused on products. This article, however, explores the current practice, problems and opportunities of green procurement of construction contracts. In particular, the application of environmental criteria for contract awarding is targeted. The findings of the study indicate that both public and private clients in the Swedish construction industry take environmental issues into consideration in their procurements. The environmental preferences are often formulated as environmental requirements. However, environmental criteria in tender evaluation are less common and seldom affect the award decisions. The environmental evaluation criteria that do occur often relate to the contractors' capabilities of managing the environmental work in the project.