环境法视域下的生物安全风险规制

生物安全领域的环境风险包括科技风险、生态风险和环境健康风险三种类型。我国目前尚未形成健全的生物安全风险规制制度体系,科技风险规制机制不健全、生态风险规制忽视生物多样性保护、环境健康风险规制领域尚存空白等问题依然存在。为此,应确立多元化的立法目的体系,推动风险规制的类型化制度安排,有效衔接生物安全立法与环境保护法律规范,以最大限度地预防和降低生物安全风险可能带来的损害。     

环保社会组织依法参与生物多样性保护的困难检视与路径优化

环保社会组织作为政府与公民之间的桥梁成为生物多样性保护多元参与机制的重要一环,生物多样性的内在特性与时代法治特征也推动着环保社会组织的参与。但当前环保社会组织参与生物多样性保护面临着规范体系不健全、规范运行机制不稳固、参与保护效果稳定性不足的困境,主要源于公私主体意识对立、自然资源法律体制机制未完善、环保社会组织持续能力建设有待加强三个因素,其根源在于我国对于生物多样性保护与利用的认识程度以及反映到规范政策与法律运行的适应程度。应将基于自然的解决方案作为生物多样性保护指导思路,综合包容多样利益方,优化生物多样性保护整体规制运行。具体来说,通过优化整合生物多样性保护规范体制中环保社会组织规范结构、参与运行机制、持续性功能发展机制,逐步规范环保社会组织在生物多样性规范机制中的位置与路径,从而实质推进我国生物多样性保护多元参与体制的构建与完善。     

整体性治理视域下防治外来物种入侵法治研究

外来物种入侵是威胁国家生物多样性、生态安全和公众健康的重大安全问题。《生物安全法》的通过为防治外来物种入侵提供了综合性的制度规范。我国防治外来物种入侵法治实践长期以行政规制为主导,较少关注司法机关、企事业单位、社会组织和公众等法律主体在治理中的作用。行政规制治理中执法机构及其职能与管理手段的碎片化,亦无法回应高风险社会防治外来物种入侵的需要。我国防治外来物种入侵法治建设应当坚持整体性治理理念,以整体安全观为指导,坚持风险预防、防治结合,明确综合管理程序及责任法律制度和一体化协同执法机制,健全防治外来物种入侵行政规制体系;引入公众参与,形成政府、企事业单位、社会组织和公众协同治理外来物种入侵,鼓励外来物种入侵公益诉讼等,完善防治外来物种入侵的多元共治体系,共促国家生物安全治理体系。     

生物多样性下野生动物保护名录制度研究

野生动物保护名录作为覆盖我国众多野生动物类型的法律保护形式,其既是受保护物种的集合,也是一项制度规范,一份法律清单,更是一个系统性概念。以"重点保护"为原则指引,出于对生物多样性下珍贵、濒危物种保护紧迫性的现实考虑,对名录制度制定的必要性与可行性进行了考究,重点分析了名录制度的生物多样性保护意义及目前存在的问题,并从制度设计理念转变、动态调整机制设立及推动公众保护机制形成等方面给出名录制度的完善对策,以期新时代名录能发挥好保护生物多样性的积极作用。     

对生物剽窃国内法律规制的思考

<正>"生物剽窃"现象在各发展中国家以及落后国家愈演愈烈,在我国也存在着严重的生物遗传资源流失现象。我国于1992年通过了《生物多样性公约》,但是公约只是对生物多样性保护做了原则性规定,对于国内的法律规制缺少法律保障。我国有关生物遗传资源国内立法保护稀缺且分散。国内立法规制与国家所有权原则、惠益公平分享原则以及来源披露原则密切相关。本刊特邀请有关专家从物权法以及知识产权保护的角度,阐释应如何对生物遗传资源国内立法进行规制,以期实现国内立法的完善,并预防     

系统性生物多样性保护法律体系的定位与构建

随着国家政策导向提出实现生物多样性整体性、系统性保护的要求,新时期背景下的生物多样性保护除了注重实现生物多样性在自然生态系统、生物物种、遗传资源(基因)三方面的协同性整体性保护以外,还强调了实现自然生态系统平衡、维护国家安全等总体性目标。在此背景下,本文建议,生物多样性保护法律体系也应当在推动立法实践、提升国家安全治理能力、整合现有立法资源等方面发挥其应有价值。从系统性的角度出发,明确法律体系贯彻生物多样性整体性保护理念、执行国家战略部署以及平衡多元化利益的应有定位,并在此基础上从整体性目标的树立、网格联动性的体系构建、合理配置现行法律制度等方面探寻系统性法律体系的构建路径,将有效发挥我国生物多样性保护法律体系在服务社会需求、回应国家政策导向等方面的制度支撑价值。     

生物多样性保护需要整体性法律规制

正《中华人民共和国国民经济和社会发展第十四个五年规划和二〇三五年远景目标纲要》提出的"实施生物多样性保护重大工程,构筑生物多样性保护网络",明确了新时期我国生物多样性保护的工作任务。2021年4月,我国《生物安全法》的正式实施也反映出生物多样性保护在国家安全体系中的重要地位。联合国《生物多样性公约》第十五次缔约方大会今年10月也将在昆明举行,反映出我国生物多样性保护与生物安全治理工作的国际影响力与话语权的提升。当前,我国生物多样性保护除了需要以保护物种、     

各省动态

广西壮族自治区近年在一些偏远地区相继建立14个自然保护小区，既填补了自然保护区网络空缺，又最大限度保护森林和野生动植物资源。通过中国——欧盟生物多样性项目广西西南石灰岩地区生物多样性保护项目的实施，促成了广西首批自然保护小区建立。广西分别在德保、靖西、那坡等县建立自然保护小区，保护大壁虎、苏铁、猕猴等珍贵物种。     

环境规制减排效果的门槛效应分析

本文利用1996-2014年我国30个省份的面板数据,从行政、法律、经济和技术四个领域来刻画环境规制,实证检验了不同环境规制手段的减排效果是否具有门槛效应。研究发现,环境规制的强度确实因环境规制的手段不同而有所不同,其中,法律手段、技术手段未因地方政府的异质性表现出明显的门槛特征,而行政手段在政府规模较小（地方财力不足）地区的减排效果显著,经济手段在政府规模较大（地方财力雄厚）地区的减排效果显著。     

应对环境风险的反身规制研究

面对当前日益严峻的环境风险和生态危机,环境领域的两大规制模式——命令控制规制模式和激励规制模式呈现规制失灵、治理不力的困境。从反身法理论来阐释,是由于这两种规制模式忽略了法律系统与其他社会子系统自身的独特运行逻辑,法律系统具有运行的封闭性与认知的开放性,有效的规制模式必须实现不同系统之间的结构耦合。反身规制是一种对自我规制的规制,其在承认法律自身规制局限性的基础上,培育其他子系统的反思结构,为提升当前环境治理绩效提供了一个新路径。实现对环境风险的反身规制,需要从信息披露、程序设计及商谈规范方面建构相应的法律制度。     

BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ESTUARINE/COASTAL POLLUTION1

ABSTRACT: Sustained interest in and concern about the health status of the aquatic environment has resulted in extensive research focused on (1) effects of pollution on survival, growth, and reproduction of resource species at all life stages; (2) diseases of fish and shellfish, as they may be related to pollution and as they may serve as indicators of environmental stress; and (3) contaminant body burdens in fish and shellfish - their effects on the aquatic animals and their potential effects on humans. Effects, lethal and sublethal, of pollutants on life history stages of fish and shellfish have been documented, as have impacts on local stocks in badly degraded habitats, but as yet there has been no adequate quantitative demonstration of effects on entire aquatic species - probably because of the difficulty in sorting out relative effects of the many environmental factors that influence abundance. Sublethal effects, especially those that result in disease, have been examined intensively, and some diseases and disease syndromes have been associated statistically with pollution. Other pollution indicators (biochemical, physiological, genetic, behavioral, and ecological) have also received some attention, as have body burdens of contaminants in aquatic species. Research, especially that conducted during the past decade, has done much to clarify the many pathways and toxic effects of contaminants on aquatic animals, and has also helped to identify mechanisms for survival of fish and shellfish in the presence of environmental changes caused by human activities.     

Definition Procedures Have Little Effect on Performance of Environmental Classifications of Streams and Rivers

Mapped environmental classifications are defined using various procedures, but there has been little evaluation of the differences in their ability to discriminate variation in independent ecological characteristics. We tested the performance of environmental classifications of the streams and rivers of France that had been defined from the same environmental data using geographic regionalization and numerical classification of individual river valley segments. Test data comprised invertebrate assemblages, water chemistry, and hydrological indexes obtained from sites throughout France. Classification performance was measured by analysis of similarity (ANOSIM). Geometric regions defined by a regular grid and without regard to environmental variables and a posteriori classifications based on clustering the test datasets defined lower and upper bounds of performance for a given number of classes. Differences in classification performances were generally small. The ANOSIM statistics for the a posteriori classifications were around twice that of all environmental classifications, including geometrically defined regions. The hydro-ecoregions performed slightly better for the invertebrate data and the network classification performed slightly better for the chemistry and hydrological data. Our results indicate that environmental classifications that are defined using different procedures can be comparable in terms of their ability to discriminate variation of ecological characteristics and that alleged differences in performance arising from different classification procedures can be small relative to unexplained variation. We conclude that definition procedures might have little effect on the performance of large-scale environmental classifications and decisions over which procedures to use should be based primarily on pragmatic considerations.     

Journalists' views of advertiser pressures on agricultural news

All major journalism ethical codes explicitly state that journalists should protect editorial copy from undue influence by outside sources. However, much of the previous research on agricultural information has concentrated on what information various media communicate (gatekeeping studies) or communication's role in increasing innovation adoption (diffusion studies). Few studies have concentrated specifically on organizational and structural constraints that might adversely affect agricultural journalists' ethical standards; those that have, focus largely on farm magazines. A study of newspaper reporters who cover agricultural news found that the most pressing ethical concern is the effect of advertiser (agri-business) pressure on editorial copy, and that their concerns in general parallel those of farm magazine writers and editors. The majority reported being in situations in which they might be exposed to advertiser pressure, including pressures to change or withhold editorial copy. Large minorities suggested that advertising pressures affect the overall environment in which agricultural journalists work, and more than one in ten said they allow advertiser pressures to influence editorial decisions. The newspaper reporters who cover agricultural beats showed slightly more resistance to advertiser pressure than did farm magazine editors in a parallel study.     

Effect of Light on Biodegradation of Estrone, 17β‐Estradiol,and 17α‐Ethinylestradiol in Stream Sediment

Biodegradation of [A‐ring ¹⁴C] Estrone (E1), 17β‐estradiol (E2), and 17α‐ethinylestradiol (EE2) to ¹⁴CO₂ was investigated under light and dark conditions in microcosms containing epilithon or sediment collected from Boulder Creek, Colorado. Mineralization of the estrogen A‐ring was observed in all sediment treatments, but not epilithon treatments. No difference in net mineralization between light and dark treatments was observed for ¹⁴C‐E2. Net mineralization of ¹⁴C‐E1 and ¹⁴C‐EE2 was enhanced in light treatments. Extents of ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rates of mineralization were significantly greater for E2 than E1 under dark conditions, but were comparable under light conditions. These results indicate substantial differences in the uptake and metabolism of E1 and E2 in the environment and suggest biorecalcitrance of E1 relative to E2 in light‐limited environments. The extent of ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rate of mineralization for EE2 in dark treatments were less than half of that observed for E2 and generally lower than for E1, consistent with previous reports of EE2 biorecalcitrance. However, ¹⁴CO₂ accumulation and rates of mineralization were comparable for EE2, E2, and E1 under light conditions. These results indicate photoactivation and/or phototransformation/photodegradation processes can substantially enhance heterotrophic biodegradation of estrogens in sunlit environments and may play an important role in estrogen transport and attenuation.     

Bioremediation of Soils by Plant–Microbe Systems

Abstract

Sustainable ecosystems can be designed to eliminate environmental toxins and reduce pathogen loads through the direct and indirect consequences of plant and microbial activities. We present an approach to the bioremediation of disturbed environments, focusing on petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) contaminants. Treatment consists of incorporating a plant-based amendment to enhance ecosystem productivity and physiochemical degradation followed by the establishment of plants to serve as oxidizers and foundations for microbial communities. Promising amendments for widespread use are entire plants of the water fern Azolla and seed meal of Brassica napus (rapeseed). An inexpensive byproduct from the manufacture of biodiesel and lubricants, rapeseed meal is high in nitrogen (6% wt/wt), stimulates >100-fold increases in populations of resident Streptomyces species, and suppresses fungal infection of roots subsequently cultivated in the amended soil. Synergistic enzymatic and chemical activities of plant and microbial metabolism in root zones transform and degrade soil contaminants. Emphasis is given to mechanisms that enable PHC functionalization via reactive molecular species.     

Energetics and environmental costs of agriculture in a dry tropical region of India

The present article, based on a study of five village ecosystems, assesses the energy efficiency of rain-fed agriculture in a dry tropical environment and the impact of agricultural activity on the surrounding natural ecosystems. Agronomic yield is insufficient to meet the food requirement of the human population, hence 11.5%–49.7% of the required amount of food grains are imported from the market. Energy requirements of five studied agroecosystems are subsidized considerably by the surrounding forest in the form of fodder and firewood. Natural ecosystems supply about 80%–95% of fodder needs and 81%–100% of fuelwood needs. The output-input ratio of agriculture indicated that, on average, 4.1 units of energy are expended to obtain one unit of agronomic energy. Of this, 3.9 units are supplied by the natural ecosystem. In addition, 38% of the extracted firewood is marketed. The illegal felling and lopping of trees result in ever-increasing concentric circles of forest destruction around the villages and together with excessive grazing results in savannization. The forests can be conserved by encouraging fuelwood plantations (0.7 ha/ha cultivated land) and developing village pastures (1.6 ha/ha cultivated land) and reducing the livestock numbers. Agricultural production in the region can be stabilized by introducing improved dry farming techniques such as intercropping, planned rainwater management, and adequate use of fertilizers.     

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY “METROPOLITAN WATER MANAGEMENT INSTITUTIONS?”1

ABSTRACT The term “institution” and several variants are used frequently in the literature on metropolitan water management. The state-of-the art investigation on which this paper is based revealed that 1) many uses of the term do not include careful definitions; 2) many users of the term seemed unaware of the general, theoretical literature on the subject of institutions; 3) there was little consistency among uses, either in the practical literature dealing with water or in the conceptual literature dealing with theories of institutions or institutionalization; 4) some usages were without significant meaning; 5) in many cases the term was used as a kind of “black box” to account for behavioral, societal, or managerial factors; 6) the term was often used as a synonym for “organization”. This latter use is frequently found in federal reports, including National Water Commission studies, and is most unfortunate because it tends to slight significant social-psychological factors. A suggested definition is: “An institution is the structured result or outcome of a process by which values are articulated, arranged, and communicated, having continuity over time, and influencing behavior of persons who did not necessarily participate in formulating those values (norms).”     

Provincial development plans in Zimbabwe: an analysis of their content,structure and methodology

Zimbabwean provincial plans were instituted to help in the achievement of the national goal of the creation of an egalitarian, socialist and integrated society. The national goal itself was adopted as an antithesis to the dualist society characterised by spatial, economic, social, politican and technological inequalities that Zimbabwe inherited from colonialism. This meant that provincial plans had to play both a functional (or growth allocating/distribution) and a territorial (or redistribution) role.

This paper reviews their role in achieving the national goal by examining their functions, content, structure and methodology. The paper concludes that because of their nature, provincial plans are not suitable tools for the achievement of the national goal.     

Waste minimisation in practice

One of the major hindrances to waste minimisation on a construction site is the difficulty in establishing a methodology and using this methodology to benchmark future construction projects. This paper introduces SMARTWaste, a software tool that has been used to audit, reduce and target waste arisings on a construction site. This tool tries to link the construction process and the waste hierarchy. That is reducing waste on a construction site rather than landfilling it. Three applications of the SMARTWaste software will be discussed using case studies from three different types of construction. An evaluation of these case studies shows that, by implementing a waste minimisation scheme on-site, you can improve material recovery for reuse. Also, by using the waste arisings as a benchmark you can reduce your waste arisings on future sites. Application of SMARTWaste or a similar waste minimisation tool on a wider basis could reduce waste arisings and could result in a built environment that consumed less natural resources and energy, and also produced less pollution and waste. Such a built environment would be environmentally and socially more responsive and responsible.     

COMPARISON OF TRACE ELEMENT CONCENTRATIONS IN TISSUE OF COMMON CARP AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MONITORING1

Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) collected from four sites in the Red River of the North in 1994 were analyzed for arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), selenium (So), and zinc (Zn). Concentrations differed among liver, muscle, and whole body. Generally, trace element concentrations were the greatest in livers while concentrations in whole bodies were greater than those in muscle for Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn, and concentrations in muscle were similar to whole body for As and Se. Concentrations of Cr were lower in liver than either muscle or whole body. Correlations between liver and whole body concentrations were stronger than those between liver and muscle concentrations, but the strongest correlations were between muscle and whole body concentrations. Examination of tissue concentrations by collection sites suggested that, for a general survey, the whole body may be the most effective matrix to analyze.