Building capacity with demand-driven partnerships: a case study of Partners for Water and Sanitation

Multi-stakeholder partnerships emerged from the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) as a new vehicle for progressing toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by aligning the interests of businesses, governments and civil society to leverage the impact of their interventions. The water and sanitation sector boasts the largest number of such partnerships, including the demand-driven capacity-building partnership Partners for Water and Sanitation (PAWS), a product of the WSSD and a premier UK partnership for sustainable development. Through its partnership network, PAWS has access to the entire UK water industry, which they assign to capacity-building projects in Africa on a demand-driven basis. Though the supply of partners is generally strong, the demand for their assistance is variable. This paper examines the efficacy of demand-driven capacity building partnerships at achieving the water and sanitation MDGs, presenting a case study of the PAWS partnership and using it as a framework for discussion of the supply–demand dynamics that influence the scope, scale and ultimate impact of such partnerships.     

Social participation and climate change

Social participation has been broadly analysed by comparing case studies of different types of socio-economic developments in Brazil and the United Kingdom (UK). A key objective has been to consider how effective social participation has been in incorporating society’s points of view in the decision making process. In most cases, it would appear that very little can be done by stakeholders to change big decisions on development policies that support public and private development because in reality social participation often only provides an opportunity for discussion and agreement on specific issues regarding how development will be undertaken and how stakeholders will be affected. Although Brazil and the United Kingdom have socio-economic and cultural differences, it is necessary to emphasize that education, self-organization and knowledge of civil rights are crucial for an effective social participation process. As climate change is an important topic for present and future generations and that some of the development activities analysed in this study will emit greenhouse gases, this study also attempts to investigate if climate change mitigation strategies have been integrated into the social participation process. Investigation shows that there is little evidence that climate change mitigation actions involving stakeholders have been integrated into development strategies or have been part of social participation schemes in the case studies analysed. Having said that, the study also describes positive examples of climate change mitigation actions in different parts of the world that involve local people in ‘carbon-neutral’ or ‘social-carbon’ projects and proposes the creation of a carbon-neutral committee that would be responsible for coordinating climate change mitigation measures within development proposals such as the ones analysed in this study.     

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

<正>Chinese Journal of Population Resources and Environment,Print ISSN 1004-2857,Online ISSN 2325-4262,Volume 11,2013.Chinese Journal of Population Resources and Environment(www.tandfonline.com/tpre)is a peer-reviewed journal published in March,June,September,and December by TaylorFrancis,4 Park Square,Milton Park,Abingdon,Oxon,OX14 4RN,UK.     

基于模糊评判法的陕西农村公共物品供给模式选择分析

陕西一直实行"以农补工、优先发展城市、优先发展工业"的倾斜性战略政策,使得城乡在资源分配和社会事业发展等方面存在较大的差距,农村发展处于劣势地位,尤其是农村公共物品未能得到有效供给,其供给主要是采取以政府为主导的模式。研究利用陕西农村1990-2008年的时间序列统计数据,通过构建陕西农村经济发展的9个评判指标并对其分别赋予不同的隶属度,运用模糊评判法,对陕西农村公共物品供给的经济发展阶段进行了定量评判。实证研究表明,自20世纪90年代以来,陕西农村地区整体上处于经济发展的第二个阶段,即经济发展的成长阶段。因此,陕西应主要采取以政府为主导型的农村公共物品供给模式,而私人(市场)供给只能作为农村公共物品供给的少许补充。农村公共物品供给模式应根据经济发展阶段作出选择,以期实现各个时期农村公共物品供给的最优化:考虑不同地区农民的需求意愿,改革"一刀切"的供给模式;扭转农民负担部分公共物品供给成本的局面。     

社会嵌入视角下农户保护性耕作技术采用行为研究——基于冀、皖、鄂3省668份农户调查数据

基于冀、皖、鄂3省5个市（县）22个村的668份农户调查数据，通过社会嵌入理论实证分析了影响农户保护性耕作技术采用行为的嵌入因素。结果表明:政府支持、农户认知和社会资本网络3个维度9个变量的“嵌入因素”对农户保护性耕作技术采用行为有显著影响。其中，政府政策宣传、项目扶持，农户生态、社会、经济价值认知，人际信任、制度信任、互惠规范和农户参与网络正向影响农户保护性耕作技术采用行为。对此，政府应提高对保护性耕作技术的重视程度，加大对保护性耕作技术的宣传力度，因地制宜构建有利于保护性耕作技术推广的社会嵌入环境，以有效促进农户积极采用保护性耕作技术。     

中国绿色经济发展中的诸方博弈研究

绿色经济是人类经济发展的新方向,是一种新的经济形态和经济模式。发展绿色经济的过程实质上是一个多方博弈过程。本文通过建立"子博弈精炼纳什均衡"模型、精炼贝叶斯博弈模型和一般博弈模型,分析了绿色经济体系构建中的诸方利益博弈关系。不同的博弈主体有不同的利益诉求:中央政府以公共利益长期化为核心的社会整体利益最大化诉求、地方政府政绩导向诉求、企业围绕利润最大化原则和消费者在一定观念指导下的效用最大化原则,诸方利益诉求的交集在于实现社会经济的绿色化,减少污染。研究结果表明,发展绿色经济的政策目标和责任目标与政策执行人员自身利益相挂钩的制度安排是制约污染者的有效路径,制度实施机制对制度实施程度及效率有直接的影响。因此,建议通过建立监管者的奖励机制、引导正确的社会舆论评价、提高执法者的综合素质,强化企业治理污染的约束机制和提高对消费者绿色消费的补贴机制才能妥善处理博弈各方的利益诉求,顺利实现绿色经济发展。     

Legitimate adaptive flood risk governance beyond the dikes: the cases of Hamburg,Helsinki and Rotterdam

It has recently been recommended that a shift from traditional flood prevention to more adaptive strategies is made, focusing on the reduction in and recovery from flood impacts as a means to improve resilience to climate impacts. This shift has had implications for the public–private divide in adaptive flood risk governance. In an urban context, it means that private actors such as developers and residents come into play, necessitating governance arrangements which cross the public–private divide. The division of responsibilities for water safety between the public and private sectors affects the way legitimacy is gained for these arrangements and raises new legitimacy issues. The paper offers an analysis of public and private responsibilities in adaptive flood risk governance arrangements, as well as of the legitimacy of the arrangements in the light of the public–private divide. A comparative case study is presented for three urban regeneration projects in un-embanked areas in Hamburg, Germany, Helsinki, Finland, and Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where adaptive strategies have been applied. The results show that network arrangements with joint public–private responsibilities use direct forms of participation and deliberation, but that these do not necessarily lead to more legitimate arrangements in the eyes of stakeholders as is often suggested in the literature. Both network and more public hierarchical arrangements can be perceived as quite legitimate under certain conditions.     

Organic certification for shrimp value chains in Ca Mau,Vietnam: a means for improvement or an end in itself?

Eco-certification has been used as a tool to mitigate adverse effects of aquaculture production and might thus be understood as a private approach to sustainable ecosystem management. In production forests in Ca Mau, Vietnam, where mangrove have suffered degradation despite legal protection, different projects have targeted reversing this trend by means of private certification using the ‘Naturland’ organic standard as a reference. So far the outcomes have, however, been proven unsatisfactory. With the aim to better understand the reasons for these poor outcomes, a survey of forty households was conducted in a production forest in Rach Goc commune, Ngoc Hien District. We evaluated farmers’ perceptions on mangrove management, the drivers guiding shrimp farming, and whether there was a difference between participants and non-participants in a former ‘Naturland’ organic project. To complement the survey, a range of stakeholders involved in shrimp value chains were interviewed to better understand the terms and benefits of certification. The results of this survey suggested that, when applied to shrimp–mangrove farming systems in production forests in Ca Mau, ‘eco-certification’ and associated benefits are not very satisfactory. The survey results revealed that certified farms do not show significant differences to non-certified farms in terms of social and environmental benefits. As far as the implementation process was concerned, the survey results showed that a failure to integrate local farmers as participants consequently resulted in households becoming ‘objects’ for certification and not project partners with equal weight and power. It appears that rather than being a tool for improvement, ‘Naturland’ certification for shrimp–mangrove farming systems in Ca Mau’s production forests has become an end in itself.     

A pattern for partnership between LMDH and Perhutani to enhance local community prosperity and preserve the forest: a case study at RPH Besowo,Kediri Regency,Indonesia

The deforestation in Indonesia is already alarming. One of the strategies used by the government to overcome forest deforestation is social forestry. This program is called PHBM (Pengelolaan Hutan Bersama Masyarakat/Joint Forest Management) which is basically a partnership program. This study aims at describing the partnership program between a local organization (i.e. LMDH) and a government unit (i.e. RPH of Perhutani) within the PHBM program. The objectives of this study are to (a) describe the model of partnerships between LMDH and RPH Besowo for sustainable forest management and local community empowerment; (b) determine the contribution of the forest to the national economy and rural household income; and (c) determine the obstacles commonly found in Besowo forest that have to be faced during the implementation of the partnerships. The study shows that with good partnership between these two units, the prosperity of the local community can be enhanced and the forest preservation can be maintained. The model of the partnerships in this particular area in Indonesia is expected to be applicable as well in other rural areas in Indonesia, as well as in other developing countries.     

Feeding the world sustainably: knowledge governance and sustainable agriculture in the Argentine Pampas

This article discusses the role of knowledge governance arrangements in the mainstreaming of sustainable practices, in particular, in the creation, sharing and use of integrated and contextualized knowledge. That is, knowledge which accounts for the social, economic, institutional, and ecological dimensions of potentially sustainable practices, and which considers the need to adapt generic practices to the sustainability requirements of specific places. An actor-centered approach is proposed for the study of the historical evolution of knowledge governance arrangements in order to understand their role in the adoption of sustainable practices. The approach is applied to explain the rapid adoption of no-till agriculture in the Argentine Pampas. A radical knowledge governance transformation occurring in this region during the 1990s led to increasing knowledge exchange and pushing sustainability practices to the top of key actors’ agendas. This embracing of no-till agriculture illustrates the crucial role played by farmers’ associations as boundary organizations: linking farmers with actors specialized in the generation of scientific knowledge and technology. This case reveals that sustainability transitions can be fostered through knowledge governance arenas characterized by: (a) promoting public–private collaboration through boundary organizations, (b) assigning private actors a leading role in the adoption of sustainability practices at the production unit scale, (c) fostering the public sector competence in regional and socio-ecological research, and (d) addressing the heterogeneous needs of knowledge users. However, the case also shows that the success of no-till agriculture in the Pampas is pushing the agriculturization of surrounding areas where this practice is largely unsustainable. This finding suggests that present knowledge governance arrangements fail to contextualize practices that are potentially sustainable.     

Building climate change resilience through local cooperation: a Peruvian Andes case study

Many of the problems faced by international projects intending to create adaptive social–ecological systems for climate change stem from lack of stakeholder engagement, limited understanding of local political, economic, and environmental complexities, and restricted time. Local organizations focused on conservation and development might have an advantage in creating adaptive social–ecological systems because they understand local processes and are involved with communities for extended periods of time. A local non-governmental organization, Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN), works in twenty-one communities in the Andean highlands outside of Cusco to conserve the endangered Polylepis forests. As part of the conservation project, ECOAN supports community-led development projects such as building greenhouses. Data for this project were gathered through interviews (with community members in three different communities, ECOAN staff, and donors) and participant observation. This paper shows that ECOAN’s extensive use of participation has led to community ownership of the conservation and development projects. The communities’ close connections to the Polylepis project contribute to resilience through creating networks, extending the local environmental ethic to the Polylepis trees, supporting projects that diversify and strengthen community sustenance, and contributing to the growth of economic activities. This case study provides a positive example of the potential for local organizations and people to take charge of their own resiliency efforts where international projects and protocols may otherwise prove ineffective.     

农户分化视角下农民退出宅基地集中居住后的福利水平研究

测算农户分化背景下农民退出宅基地实现集中居住后的福利水平,对保障新型城镇化进程中农户对土地福利补偿的差别化需求具有重要意义。基于2018年已完成宅基地退出的扬州市公道镇获取的242份农户调查数据,运用模糊综合评价法实证分析退出宅基地实现集中居住对不同分化特征农户福利水平产生的影响差异。结果表明:(1)农民退出宅基地集中居住后福利总模糊指数为0.584,福利状况较好;家庭经济状况和社会保障状况是影响农户福利水平的主要因素,养老保障及房屋质量是现阶段农户关注的焦点。(2)集中居住对不同分化特征农户的福利影响存在差异。职业分化特征下,农户分化程度越高,福利状况越好;经济分化特征下,农户福利水平呈"先升后降"趋势。(3)集中居住对不同分化特征农户各功能性活动的福利影响存在差异。农户职业分化及经济分化程度越高,其家庭经济状况越好;职业分化Ⅰ类及经济分化低收入农户社会保障水平较低,而高收入农户对社会保障有更高的受偿需求;集中居住对于各类型农户社会机会、居住条件及景观环境方面造成的影响差异不显著。因此,地方政府应当充分考虑不同类型农户的受偿需求,尽快建立包括养老、医疗等社会保障在内的弹性福利补偿体系,提升农户人力资本以实现可持续生计,且从构成农户福利的各功能性活动方面对各类型农民群体进行细致化补偿,结合农户分化特点促进农民非农就业,满足农户就业与收入的城镇化核心需求。     

The potential of corporate environmental responsibility of Chinese state-owned enterprises in Africa

Drawing upon empirical data collected in China and Africa, this article evaluates Chinese overseas corporate social responsibility strategies and their effectiveness in mitigating environmental impacts in parts of Africa. China’s enhanced role within the global economy has profound environmental implications for the world. In particular, China has rapidly expanded its environmental footprint in Africa, largely because of its burgeoning economic presence through trade and aid projects such as infrastructure and public works. These large-scale projects, commonly managed by state-owned enterprises (SOEs), tend to be in sectors that are environmentally sensitive such as oil and gas exploration and construction of major infrastructure. At the international level, global financial institutions along with growing pressure from civil society organizations are encouraging China to demonstrate a commitment to addressing the environmental impacts of its overseas projects. At the domestic level, growing awareness of such issues has generated an emerging trend of Chinese entities promoting and adopting corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. These moves seek to improve the environmental and social impacts of Chinese overseas investments. However, research has shown that the outcomes of Chinese overseas CSR strategies (particularly in environmental protection) vary widely due to the operating procedures of the Chinese SOEs in combination with specific local political and social structures. In general, environmental protection is weak and so there is a need for the Chinese and African governments to create a legislative and institutional framework to address Chinese investment in Africa especially in the area of natural resource extraction.     

Rearticulating Nuclear Power: Energy Activism and Contested Common Sense

This essay utilizes the perspective of articulation theory to examine how environmental advocates, public interest organizations, and citizen-consumers have challenged the nuclear industry's expansion efforts, linking strategies at local and global levels. The industry has articulated a material and discursive formation including reactor construction projects, financial and political arrangements, and an overarching narrative of nuclear necessity and inevitability. Opponents have responded by linking organizations, individuals, histories, geographies, and expertise, re-articulating the place of nuclear power in the field of energy choices. This essay examines those opposing articulations in the context of efforts to construct new nuclear power plants in the southeastern USA. There, opponents have challenged state-level regulatory approval of a corporate merger that would facilitate new nuclear construction and financing arrangements that would shift economic risks from the corporation to consumers. These local engagements have broader consequences: in challenging one corporation's nuclear ambitions, opponents also challenge the global industry narrative of nuclear necessity and inevitability.     

公产法定:国有自然资源资产分类调整的民法思考

新中国成立后,效法前苏联的中国物权立法是一种按照所有权主体分类调整的“身份型”立法,该立法模式不仅抹杀了不同类型国有财产的“个性”,而且也将自然资源的公共性和生态性消融于普通财产的财产属性和独占使用之中。鉴于“公产法定,私产推定”立法模式能够实现自然资源领域政治国家与市民社会之间的利益平衡,并且“公产法定”具有限制国家公权、保障公众对特定自然资源的平等利用权等制度功能,应以国有自然资源资产的分类管理为逻辑主线,重构自然资源国家所有权客体制度:一是明确自然资源为不动产的物权法地位,借助自然资源不动产登记单元和“复杂物”概念对具有特定生态功能的同一自然资源登记单元的不同自然资源的整合功能,将其纳入传统民法物权客体理论的调整之中。二是依据不同自然资源社会属性之强弱,将国有自然资源资产区分为公产和私产,建立分类调整的规则体系,防范公产之上的国家所有权“遁入私法”。三是物权立法应直接明确国有自然资源资产受公法和私法的双重调整,可以公法和私法相互配合的方式行使所有权。四是国家和集体所有之外的资源原则上可自由利用。     

Towards implementation and achievement of sustainable biofuel development in Africa

Although sustainable bioenergy development in Africa is critically debated, if projects are developed within a credible framework, opportunities for sustainability arguably can arise. This paper presents research on the characteristics of sustainable biofuel projects as provided in the literature and according to expert opinions obtained by way of a survey involving thirty-eight international experts. Participants were selected for their expertise in the fields of environmental, social and economic sustainability relating to biofuels in Africa. The survey results suggest that projects which display a high degree of transparency, incorporate local stakeholder involvement, and ideally include local villagers as partners are more likely to achieve sustainable biofuel production. Experts also indicated that reconciling diverse stakeholder objectives alongside the principles of sustainable development remains an ongoing challenge. A process is recommended for sustainable biofuel development, which attempts to harmonise efficiency, stakeholder interaction and the integration of diverse stakeholder perspectives. To support the process, it is recommended that an advisory/mediating body that acts according to best practice principles would be of great assistance. Such an advisory/mediating body would be conversant with local land, social, economic and environmental conditions, project sustainability and administration, and also advise on biofuel framework educational needs.     

Social business as a sustainable business model: making capitalism anti-fragile

In the last two centuries, developed nations have had an unprecedented generation of wealth showing a strong economic progress. Unfortunately, such economic development has not been witnessed in all countries and it does not represent the holistic face of the social progress. The main reason stands in the ideological limitations of capitalism itself, often ignoring local communities and environment while focusing exclusively on profit maximization, market share, dividends and bonuses. This failure it is also because of the division between two basic entities: nonprofit and for profit sectors. The segregation created between the economic values and social values, has created a system where the two different entities have failed to capture and integrate the multi-dimensional nature of the human being to satisfy social needs. Because of this increasing tension, the society needs to find a common ground solution, where the social and economic benefits of these two entities are merged together to generate an anti-fragile system. This research is an attempt to determine if the social business (SB) is capable to solve the problems arose from the free market idealogy, nonprofit philosophy, and the consequent social and economic inefficiency. Thus, the boundaries between the private, public and nonprofit sectors need to be changed. In addition, it is aimed to show that SB can solve social, economic, and environmental problems by using the entrepreneurial engine and the profit instrument, proving at the end to be by default a sustainable business model that respects the triple bottom line approach. The investigation method is based on literature review and theory development from three different fields: economics, development studies, and nonprofit management.     

耕地生态补偿相关利益群体博弈分析与解决路径

对宏观层面中央政府与地方政府、地方政府与地方政府和微观层面农民与市民之间博弈分析,找出促使均衡结果合理化方案,采用的研究方法是博弈论与条件价值法(CVM)。结果表明:①博弈结果难以达成(保护,补偿)协议,实现社会福利最大化,必须依靠中央政府作为媒介进行协商,采取管制与激励相结合的制度安排。②激励的实现通过微观层面利益主体受偿意愿与支付意愿而定,支付不够补偿,中央财政补贴,支付盈余则上缴中央财政,以湖北为例,农民每亩耕地应得到174元补偿,市民每户居民应支付246.6元,中央政府每亩耕地给予农民148.5元补偿。③宏观层面依据微观层面需求意愿与支付意愿的赤字或者盈余,确定区域之间应支付补偿或者获得补偿。研究成果能为区域内部和区域之间耕地生态补偿标准提供依据,为尽快制定耕地生态补偿机制及政策、实现利益群体福利均衡提供借鉴与参考。     

农户分化、城镇住房对农户宅基地退出意愿的影响

通过对武汉城市圈9市10个乡镇16个行政村483名农户的调查,运用描述性统计分析方法和Logistic模型分析法,深入分析农户分化、城镇住房对宅基地有偿退出意愿的影响规律.研究结果表明:(1)农户分化对宅基地退出意愿具有促进作用,且随着农户分化程度深化,其影响效果逐步加强;(2)城镇住房居住效应对农户宅基地退出意愿具有正向影响,财富效应表现为负向影响,总效应为正向促进作用;(3)城镇住房对不同分化程度农户宅基地退出意愿的影响存在显著差异,由纯农型农户向非农型农户转型过程中,城镇住房促进作用逐步加强,但在部分特征样本群中其影响效果存在"瓶颈期".鉴于此,为促进农户参与宅基地有偿退出,应继续推进农村非农经济发展,提升农户非农就业水平,同时将住房保障政策与宅基地退出制度安排长期有效匹配,在通过社会整体制度安排为农户家庭提供非农经济基础与社会保障条件的基础上,有序开展和推进宅基地退出工作.     

Opportunities and challenges for mangrove carbon sequestration in the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam

Increasing value is attributed to mangroves due to their considerable capacity to sequester carbon, known as ‘blue carbon’. Assessments of opportunities and challenges associated with estimating the significance of carbon sequestered by mangroves need to consider a range of disciplinary perspectives, including the bio-physical science mangroves, social and economic issues of land use, local and international law, and the role of public and private finance. We undertook an interdisciplinary review based on available literature and fieldwork focused on parts of the Mekong River Delta (MRD). Preliminary estimates indicate mangrove biomass may be 70–150 t ha^?1, but considerably larger storage of carbon occurs in sediments beneath mangroves. These natural stores of carbon are compromised when mangroves are removed to accommodate anthropogenic activities. Mangroves are an important resource in the MRD that supplies multiple goods and services, and conservation or re-establishment of mangroves provides many benefits. International law and within-country environmental frameworks offer increasing scope to recognize the role that mangrove forests play through carbon sequestration, in order that these might lead to funding opportunities, both in public and private sectors. Such schemes need to have positive rather than negative impacts on the livelihoods of the many people living within and adjacent to these wetlands. Nevertheless, many challenges remain and it will require further targeted and coordinated scientific research, development of economic and social incentives to protect and restore mangroves, supportive law and policy mechanisms at global and national levels, and establishment of long-term financing for such endeavours.