Recycling – the importance of understanding the complexity of the issue

Natural resources and raw materials such as metals and minerals are often taken for granted in today’s society. Without them, the offerings of an enormous variety of modern conveniences, including computers and mobile phones, would not be possible. The production of these everyday items depends on a secure, sustainable, and reliable supply of critical raw materials. In addition, product development also requires new hybrid materials when targeting lightweight structures, etc. However, the mandatory recyclability of new products or materials is not obligatory or even prevailing practice in present manufacturing business. Therefore, the main research question in this article is: “how to solve the challenge of recycling in industrial system?” In this article, a comprehensive approach to recycling based on the findings of research projects is presented. Simplified, this involves moving the challenge from the end of the product’s life cycle to the beginning, to the design or even to material development phases. Life cycle and system thinking and material know-how in the design phase are found to be essential elements of a new approach to recycling. This approach stems from the material development and market economy perspectives. Furthermore, the vulnerability of the industrial system to create uncertainty to recycling is also demonstrated.     

中国建立落实2030年可持续发展议程创新示范区的战略思考

2016年12月,国务院发布《中国落实2030年可持续发展议程创新示范区建设方案》,引起了国内外的广泛关注,成为当前中国推进可持续发展的标志性事件.本文介绍了该方案的制定过程及其重要意义,对方案的主要内容进行了解析,并提出了近期应围绕创新示范区建设开展的几项重点工作.文章认为,建立落实2030年可持续发展议程创新示范区是中国顺应全球可持续发展趋势的必然选择,是解决国内可持续发展主要问题的迫切需要,是回应国际社会期待的客观要求.文章提出,在建设落实2030年可持续发展议程创新示范区时关键要把握好四个原则:①勇于突破GDP导向的传统发展思维,真正以可持续发展的理念推动地方发展;②从制约地方可持续发展的瓶颈问题入手,通过制度、科技等各方面的改革和创新,形成成熟有效的系统性解决方案;③调动社会各界的积极性,形成政府引导、市场配置资源、各利益攸关方共同参与的机制;④主动分享系统性解决方案和实践经验,为全球可持续发展做出中国贡献.文章最后提出,面向未来,建设中国落实2030年可持续发展议程创新示范区要做好四个衔接:①加强与国家可持续发展实验区工作的衔接,形成互为支撑的布局体系;②加强与"绿色技术银行"工作的衔接,促进先进适用技术落地生根;③加强与国家科技计划的衔接,促进创新能力的提升;④加强与各领域改革工作的衔接,形成综合创新示范的局面.     

Overview of the Belgian programme for the surveillance of the territory and the implications of the international recommendations or directives on the monitoring programme

The Royal Decree of 20th July has entrusted the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC) with the task of controlling the territorial radioactivity and the doses received by the population. Within this agenda, a monitoring programme has been developed over many years, in order to follow the main potential exposure pathways of the population. In practice, several potential vectors of contamination are controlled: air (and rain), surface water (including sediments and biota), soils around nuclear installations, food chain, drinking water etc. To carry out such work, the FANC has collaborated with public or private reputable organisations: The Centre of Nuclear Energy Studies of Mol, The National Institute of Radionuclides of Fleurus, and The Louis Pasteur Public Health Institute of Brussels. A synthesis of this monitoring programme will be presented and the most important deductions will be pointed out. For many years, the tendency has been for tighter control of artificial and natural radioactivity in the environment. This has been achieved by increasingly stringent regulations, regarding environmental monitoring efforts, from international organisations (EC, OSPAR, IAEA). In this context, the FANC in Belgium, is involved in a process that will lead to the adaptation of the Belgian monitoring programme. Different aspects of these adaptations and of their consequences will be presented for illustrative purposes.     

长江中游城市群城市土地利用效率空间溢出效应研究

城市群城市土地利用效率是城市群城市土地要素有效配置、合理利用以及城市经营管理水平的综合体现。在使用DEA方法得到2003～2015年长江中游城市群28个城市土地利用效率并且分析其变化趋势以及空间关联性的基础上，构建SDM模型对长江中游城市群的城市土地利用效率空间溢出效应进行分析。研究结果表明：（1）2003～2015年长江中游城市群城市土地利用效率总体呈波动变化趋势。长江中游城市群城市土地利用效率存在空间负相关关系，城市土地利用效率具有空间异质性；（2）通过构建SDM模型分析表明，外商直接投资额以及人均地区生产总值是长江中游城市群城市土地利用效率的主要驱动因素；（3）长江中游城市群城市土地利用效率的空间溢出效应较弱，在一定程度上反映了长江中游城市群城市之间的空间相互作用较弱，经济联系还不够紧密。因此，长江中游城市群需要进一步构建城市合作机制，提高城市土地利用系统的整体性和联动性，推进区域经济协同发展。     

Assessing the impacts of sustainable development projects in the Amazon: the DURAMAZ experiment

Since 1992, a boom of “sustainable development projects” has been registered in the Brazilian Amazon, turning it into a kind of open-air laboratory for sustainability. But their real impacts remain unclear, especially because of inadequate evaluation tools. A new device is therefore needed to unveil the inner mechanisms of development aid despite the difficulties linked with the diversity of contexts or the heterogeneity in the relevant parameters. Those are the challenges we met when we engaged in comparing the impacts of sustainable development programs in 13 sites throughout the Brazilian Amazon in order to identify determining factors of sustainability. To achieve our objective, we conceived an indicator system based on the results of intensive fieldwork, including social, economic, environmental, and biographical issues. Our results show that the most prominent problem of sustainability—evaluation of effectiveness—has not been tackled; life conditions and environmental preservation continue to appear antagonistic. At the same time, variability appears among outwardly coherent social groups, showing that a case-to-case approach is definitely indispensable and confirming the need to go “beyond panaceas” to find resolutions. This article successively addresses three points. First, we present the starting point of our research, or how the Amazon region was turned into a laboratory for sustainability and how our research project aimed at analyzing the consequences of this trend. Second, we discuss how available indicator systems fail to respond to the need for a multidimensional evaluation at the local level and, therefore, how we constituted our own analytical tool. Third, we focus on some results that can be derived from our system, especially in terms of identifying key factors needed to achieve sustainability in the Amazon.     

环境资源配置低效率及自然资本"富聚"现象剖析

根据技术效率、经济效率、自然效率、社会效率之间的关系，探讨了四个效率背离所导致的资源配置效率丧失以及由此引发的社会福利损失问题。在分析价格信号在资源配置过程中的作用的基础上，探讨了市场失效和价格背离现象。进一步指出了中国经济转型时期存在着自然资本富聚现象，并进一步分析其根源。包括：政府有效干预不足、现行经济增长方式和经济效率实现以对自然资本的低成本占用、机会导向型的资源配置方式、资本的价值取向、对经济财富以及单一行为人的效率追逐、产权缺位等。强调需要强化环境管理的公共管理属性，并对环境资源的权益主体的权利、责任和利益进行有效的界定和实施，通过制度和政策变革，干预和规范市场运作，促进资源的高效和公平配置。     

Petroleum residues in the waters of the Shatt al-Arab River and the northwest region of the Arabian Gulf

During April 1980, water samples were collected from 12 sites in the Shatt al-Arab River and its estuary in the northwest region of the Arabian Gulf. The samples were extracted and the concentration of petroleum hydrocarbons were determined spectrofluorometrically, in order to provide information on the background values of oil generally present in these waters. Total hydrocarbon concentrations of these samples ranged from 2.7 to 86.7 μgL^?1 expressed in terms of Kuwait crude oil equivalents. The highest concentrations were found at sites in the Shatt al-Arab River that are near port areas.     

Study of the Optimization and Adjustment ofthe IndustrialStructure Subjected to Water Resource in the Drainage Area of the Yellow River

Since the 1990s, the Yellow River stream has been temporarily interrupted for several years, which affects the development of society, the economy and human life, limits the economic potential of the drainage areas, and especially causes great harm to regions on the lower reaches. Based on the analysis of the relationship between the development of society and economy and water scarcity, the author thinks it is necessary to optimize and adjust the industrial structure that has extravagantly consumed enormous amounts of water, and to develop ecological agriculture, industry and tourism which are balanced with the ecological environment. Finally, the author puts forward several pieces of advice and countermeasures about how to build the economic systems by which water can be used economically.     

Sustainable Development and the Role of the Financial World

The incapacity to finance sustainable development through philanthropic official assistance turned the Johannesburg Summit to business world and the financial industry. Pioneering financial institutions – including development banks and private banks – have developed a wide range of innovations that can support sustainable development. This article highlights a few innovative products and markets and focuses on the progress made by financial players on the level of standards, metrics and guidelines to improve sustainability management systems, reporting and accounting practices and the multi-stakeholder dynamic. The role of the socially responsible investing (SRI) community has been underexposed by the Summit. Through its voice and market success, SRI has moved from a green market niche to the mainstream, however not becoming mainstream. The invaluable levering effect of SRI has just been discovered by authorities and market regulators and is becoming instrumental. In order to show the business case of Corporate Social Responsibility and to prove the financial viability of the People, Planet, Prosperity investing approach, the SRI community should critically reflect on its own quality assurance systems, sound disclosure and verification practices.     

The impact of the change in vegetation structure on the ecological functions of salt marshes: the example of the Yangtze estuary

Salt marshes worldwide are faced with threats from rising sea levels and coastal development. We measured changes in salt marsh vegetation structure using remote sensing and its consequences for carbon sequestration, wave attenuation, and sediment trapping ability using remotely sensed imaging, field measurement data, and the published literature data pertaining to the Yangtze Estuary, a rapidly urbanizing area in Eastern China. From 1980 to 2010, the total area of vegetated salt marsh decreased by 17 %, but the vegetation structure changed more dramatically, with the ratio of Phragmites/Spartina/Scirpus changing from 24:0:76, to 77:0:23, 44:13:43, and 33:39:28 in 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010, respectively. Carbon sequestration increased slightly from 1980 to 2010, with the dramatic shifts in plant species composition. The total length of seawall inadequately protected by salt marsh vegetation increased from 44 km in 1980 to 300 km in 2010. Sediment accretion increased (from 8 to 14 million m³/year) due to the spread of Spartina, which to some extent compensated the loss of total vegetated area in the salt marsh. Changes in the delivery of functions were not linearly related to the change in the area of vegetated salt marsh, but more from the combined effect of changing vegetation structure, sediment input, and land reclamation. Under threat of sea-level rise, protection and maintenance of vegetation structure outside the seawall are of great importance for the safe economic development inside the seawall.     

Modelling the environmental fate of the polybrominated diphenyl ethers

In response to growing alarm over the occurrence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in remote regions, this study considers their physical chemistry, environmental partitioning and considerations regarding potential for long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT). Internally consistent physical-chemical property data are presented for five representative congeners (PBDE-15, -28, -47, -99, -153) and used in a multimedia modelling approach. Results of the Level II model indicate that PBDEs will largely partition to organic carbon in soil and sediment and that their persistence will be strongly influenced by degradation rates in these media that are not well known. TaPL3 model estimates of their characteristic travel distance (CTD) suggest limited LRAT potential. The LRAT is also evaluated qualitatively, in terms of surface-air exchange behaviour. PBDEs are shown to be sensitive to seasonally and diurnally fluctuating temperatures. When vegetation is included in the model, 50% of the total mass of PBDE-47 deposited to vegetation returns to the atmosphere, suggesting that it may migrate through a series of deposition/volatilisation hops. Key data that needs to be identified in this evaluation include a better understanding of air-surface exchange, particularly to foliage, and measurements of degradation rates in soil, sediment and vegetation.     

Discerning the factors explaining the change in energy efficiency

Due to the high rates of energy consumption and its impact on environment over the last decades, policy decision-makers are increasingly recognising the need to take actions that allow to address problems associated with the deployment of non-renewable resources and climate changes. One field of action has been the promotion of measures that contribute to improve energy efficiency of countries. The purpose of this study is to identify the main factors explaining changes in energy efficiency applying the multiplicative Log Mean Divisia Index decomposition method for a set of countries (Portugal, UK, Brazil and China) with different socio-economic background and energy mix. The results show that overall energy efficiency trends display different patterns between countries and the same happens within each country from a sectoral perspective. Major drivers of improvements of overall energy efficiency were the intensity effect and the affluence effect, whereas the driver that hampered those improvements was the energy consumption per capita. Some policy implications derived from the results achieved are: policy decision-makers should support measures that promote the adoption of energy-saving technologies resulting from new technological developments; policy measures should be directed to raise awareness of end-users regarding energy efficiency and energy conservation efforts; policy measures promoting economic growth through the development (or expansion) of sectors of activity that consume less energy can also be implemented; finally, policy instruments may also be used to reduce the costs of implementing energy efficiency and energy-saving measures to households and firms.     

曹妃甸工业区水资源承载能力研究

根据曹妃甸地区地表水和地下水资源异常紧缺、降水量不足、主要依靠跨区域调水的特点,综合考虑环境、人口、社会、经济等各方面要素,选取水资源子系统、生态环境子系统和社会经济发展子系统,并运用区域水资源规划管理理论,采用多目标规划技术建立了水资源承载力的多目标评价模型;结合按照各种发展模式设定的A,B,C,D四种情景,采用隶属度的方法分析计算了曹妃甸工业区2010,2020,2030年在A,B,C,D四种不同发展情景下的水资源承载力,得出A,B发展模式下曹妃甸工业区水资源准不可承载,C,D发展模式下可承载的模型预测结果;并针对评价结果,结合工业区实际情况,提出曹妃甸工业区提高水资源承载力的对策.     

Analysis on the Evolution of Regional Economic Disparity in the West Coast of the Strait

With the implementation of reform and opening-up, the overall economy of China has made brilliant achievements; meanwhile, however, the economic disparity has been enlarging among some regions, and between the city and the countryside. The existence and evolution of this kind of economic disparity is concerned with social stability, sustainable development and the construction of harmonious society, which has gradually become the hotspot in social economic development. The West Coast of the Strait （WCS） located in southeast littoral areas is adjacent to the Pearl and Yangtze River Delta in the south and north and faces Taiwan Province in the east. The stability and development of this region has vital political and economic meaning in the social economic development of our country. It has important theoretical meaning and practical value to research the form, characteristics and evolution of regional economic disparity in the WCS. Based on insightful analysis on existing study results on the WCS, the paper defines the connotation and extension. By a series of absolute and comparative relative evaluation indexes and taking the WCS since 1992 as the study object, the paper makes analysis on different scales including three regions, four regions, 20 cities and 152 counties, quantitatively evaluates the level, characteristics and evolution of the regional economic disparity and compares the regional economic disparity on different scales. The main conclusions are as follows： the variation trend of the absolute disparity of the whole region is obvious and stable, which has presented an inflating trend; the comparative variation trend on a large scale has waved, The comparative disparity of the three regions increased annually from 1992 to around 2000, which had a decreasing trend from around 2000 to 2005; the comparative variation trend on a small scale was not stable, which showed an annual increase of four regions, 20 cities and 152 counties from 1992 to around 2003 and a decrease from around 2003 to 2005; the     

Study of the Optimization and Adjustment of the Industrial Structure Subjected to Water Resource in the Drainage Area of the Yellow River

Abstract

Since the 1990s, the Yellow River stream has been temporarily interrupted for several years, which affects the development of society, the economy and human life, limits the economic potential of the drainage areas, and especially causes great harm to regions on the lower reaches. Based on the analysis of the relationship between the development of society and economy and water scarcity, the author thinks it is necessary to optimize and adjust the industrial structure that has extravagantly consumed enormous amounts of water, and to develop ecological agriculture, industry and tourism which are balanced with the ecological environment. Finally, the author puts forward several pieces of advice and countermeasures about how to build the economic systems by which water can be used economically.     

Patterns of the formation of bird population in the lake-river system of the Asian Subarctic mountains based on the example of the Putorana Plateau

This paper analyzes the patterns of the formation of the aquatic and semiaquatic bird species population under the conditions of the altitudinal zonality of the Putorana Plateau. The population density and abundance of a number of background species was ascertained to decrease from the subalpine belt towards the forest and alpine belt. The bird population density in all the considered aquatic and semiaquatic habitats was revealed to change in a rather narrow range of values: the maximal population density indicator in aquatic and semiaquatic habitats is only 1.9 times higher than the minimal indicator. In the mountainous Subarctic region with a radial macrosymmetry, the spatial dynamics of abundance has a concentrically centrifugal nature in many aquatic and semiaquatic bird species.     

Modelling the spatio-temporal evolution of 3H in the waters of the River Tagus

Measurements of tritium specific activity levels and of temperatures in waters of the Torrejón-Tagus reservoir (Spain) showed that their radioactive characteristics were basically influenced by the radioactive liquid effluent from the Almaraz Nuclear Power Plant. This enters the Torrejón-Tagus reservoir via the Arrocampo cooling reservoir, which exchanges water with the first. We studied the temporal and spatial (in two dimensions) evolution of the mentioned parameters for years 1997 and 1998. The tritium levels were found to be significantly correlated with temperature. Two numerical models were constructed for a quantitative study of the tritium levels along Torrejón reservoir: a 1D model was used for the dispersion of tritium along the whole length of the reservoir, and a 2D depth-averaged model was used for a detailed study of the area where tritium is released into the reservoir. Both models solve the hydrodynamic equations, to obtain the currents induced by the exchanges of water between the reservoirs in the River Tagus and Arrocampo, and the advection/diffusion equation to calculate the dispersion of tritium. In general, the model results were in agreement with the experimental observations.     

Uncertainty analysis of the external gamma-dose rate due to the variability of the vertical distribution of 137Cs in the soil

The external gamma-dose rate at 1 m height above a flat area due to the presence of fallout radiocesium in the soil is frequently calculated from the observed depth profile of the 137Cs activity as well as the soil mass per unit area. At a given site, these depth profiles may, however, vary considerably, thus introducing an uncertainty to the external gamma-dose calculated in this way. To assess this source of uncertainty for a typical grassland site, the activity of Chernobyl-derived 137Cs and the wet bulk density in the three upper soil layers at 100 plots in a 100 m x 100 m pasture were determined. Analysis of these data shows that the frequency distribution of the dose rates calculated from the corresponding depth profiles of all plots is similar to a log-normal distribution (mean 25 nGy h-1, median 22 nGy h-1, standard deviation 11 nGy h-1; range 1.6-56 nGy h-1). The various sources which contribute to the uncertainty of the dose rate are quantified. The semi-variogram indicates that any spatial dependence of the dose rates occurs on this pasture only over distances that are smaller than the shortest sampling interval (here about 10 m). It is estimated which errors have to be expected for the median dose rate when the depth profiles of 137Cs and of the wet bulk density are determined only for a small number of plots. It is preferable to calculate the mean dose rate as a mean from the n individual dose rates rather than from an averaged 137Cs depth profile of the n plots.     

新生代农民工市民化进程与空间分异研究

农民工市民化问题是当今城市地理学研究的一个重大课题.基于大连市300名新生代农民工的问卷调查,从外部环境和新生代农民工自身情况两方面,构建了市民化指标体系,修正了基于C-D函数的市民化进程模型,采用SPSS软件对问卷结果进行统计分析,定量分析了大连市新生代农民工市民化进程的特点,运用Maplnfo作出空间分异图,得出大连市新生代农民工市民化进程的空间分异特征:①市内四个主城区的市民化水平低于副城区;②市中心及其辐射地带市民化水平较低,城乡结合部市民化水平较高;③市民化指标与市民化水平空间分异不匹配.目前新生代农民工市民化的相关制度环境处于阻碍阶段,城市居民对新生代农民工的社会认同和接纳程度较好,新生代农民工自身已经具备市民化的能力,城乡结合部和副城区(郊区)是其定居城市的最佳区域,农民工市民化进程是一个任重而道远的任务,国家、社会应为新生代农民工提供一个平台,加快农民工到市民的转化进程.     

旅游地的类生命特征研究

把旅游地视为一个特殊生命体和特殊的生态系统．旅游地与生物体存在非常类似的机理。具有旅游地生命周期、旅游地生态系统、旅游地之间存在诸如共生、竞争、寄生、捕食生态空间关系等明显的类生命特征。研究旅游地的类生命特征．为运用生态学理论研究旅游发展问题提供了可靠依据和切实可行性，为更好地解释和透视旅游发展问题实质提供了崭新的途径与思路，生态学理论在旅游中的应用和解决旅游问题具有现实的可能性和潜在的应用价值，在丰富旅游学与生态学理论的同时，指导并促进旅游业的可持续发展。