Responsibility,capacity, greenness or vulnerability? What explains the levels of climate aid provided by bilateral donors?

At the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit, donors pledged to ‘jointly mobilize’ $100 billion/year for climate finance by 2020. The Copenhagen Accord and other agreements do not specify who should provide how much of this collective target beyond the general principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR&RC), according to which the more responsible a country is for climate change and/or the more capable of paying, the more climate finance it should provide. Two additional burden-sharing mechanisms may explain how much climate finance donors provide: willingness to pay or ‘greenness’ and self-interest. These mechanisms are tested to determine which best explains current patterns in climate finance commitments by analysing bilateral climate aid. There is evidence for capability—richer countries provide more climate aid. In contrast, responsibility, greenness or self-interest do not induce more climate aid commitments. Better understanding the drivers of climate aid helps to mobilize more climate finance, and advances understanding of (sectoral) aid allocation.     

Culture,local capacity,and outside aid: a community perspective on disaster response after the 2009 tsunami in American Sāmoa

Research on diverse cultural contexts has indicated that aid organisations often fail to leverage local, culturally‐grounded resources and capacities in disaster‐affected communities. Case‐study methodology was employed to explore the relationship between local and external disaster response efforts in American Sāmoa following the earthquake and tsunami on 29 September 2009 in the southern Pacific Ocean, with a specific focus on the role of culture in defining that relationship. Interview and focus group data from 37 participants, along with observational data, suggested that the local response to the event was swift and grounded in Samoan cultural systems and norms. External aid was viewed as helpful in some respects, although, on the whole, it was seen as a disruption to village hierarchies, social networks, and local response efforts. The study discusses the implications for the role of outside aid in diverse cultural contexts, and makes suggestions for improving the ecological fit of post‐disaster interventions.     

A tale of two cities: restoring water services in Kabul and Monrovia

Kabul and Monrovia, the respective capitals of Afghanistan and Liberia, have recently emerged from long-lasting armed conflicts. In both cities, a large number of organisations took part in emergency water supply provision and later in the rehabilitation of water systems. Based on field research, this paper establishes a parallel between the operations carried out in the two settings, highlighting similarities and analysing the two most common strategies. The first strategy involves international financial institutions, which fund large-scale projects focusing on infrastructural rehabilitation and on the institutional development of the water utility, sometimes envisaging private-sector participation. The second strategy involves humanitarian agencies, which run community-based projects, in most cases independently of the water utilities, and targeting low-income areas. Neither of these approaches manages to combine sustainability and universal service. The paper assesses their respective strengths and weaknesses and suggests ways of improving the quality of assistance provided.     

珠江三角洲大暴雨的多普勒特征及形成机制

利用广州CINRAD-SA新一代多普勒天气雷达资料,结合天气形势分析,研究了华南地区夏季短时大暴雨的发生、发展过程,特别是中小尺度系统引发短时大暴雨不同发展阶段的多普勒特征以及辐合强度与短时大暴雨的关系,并对短时大暴雨的发展机制进行了初步探讨.通过分析发现,短时大暴雨产生于低空强盛西南气流等有利条件下,近地层雨区附近的气旋式扰动有利于激发对流,抽吸作用、局地锋生对对流的维持和加强起到了十分重要的作用.在短时大暴雨发生初期及发展旺盛期,大多数都伴有逆风区、辐合带等多普勒特征,中气旋更是与高强度降水、地面强风等剧烈天气密切相关.     

纳米SiO2对微污染物HA、SDS及NH3-N的助凝特性研究

以聚合氯化铝PAC为混凝剂,纳米SiO₂为助凝剂,对含有下列微污染物：十二烷基硫酸钠（SDS）、氨氮（NH₃-N）或腐植酸（HA）的高岭土悬浊液进行混凝沉降实验。借助形态学理论、电镜观察与图像分析技术,研究纳米SiO₂对微污染物的助凝作用效果、吸附特性与絮体结构的形态学特征。结果表明：（1）在含有HA、SDS、NH₃-N的模拟原水中,污染物去除率与浊度去除率的相关性随污染物分子量的增大而增强;（2）纳米SiO     

Understanding the security management practices of humanitarian organizations

Humanitarian organisations operate in increasingly hostile environments. Although authoritative statistics are scarce, anecdotal evidence suggests that aid workers face life-threatening risks that are exacerbated by the growing number of humanitarian organisations operating in the field, the diversity of their mandates, the lack of common professional security standards, and limited success in inter-agency security coordination. Despite broad acceptance of the need for better security management and coordination, many humanitarian organisations remain ambivalent about devoting increased resources to security management and security coordination. A critical lack of basic empirical knowledge of the field security environment hampers efforts to enhance security management practices. The absence of a systematic means of sharing incident data undermines the capacity of the humanitarian community to address proactively security threats. In discussions about humanitarian staff safety and security, the least common denominator remains cumulative anecdotal evidence provided by the many security personnel working for humanitarian organisations in the feld.     

对我国环境自动监测发展的思考

阐述了我国环境自动监测的现状,指出环境自动监测的发展势头迅猛异常,国产自动监测仪器设备的发展前景广阔,而仪器设备标准化和监测系统规范化问题比较突出,建议自动监测系统的建设发展速度适度控制,重视自动监测信息建设与数据共享问题,加强监控管理,理顺管理体制和运行机制.     

火电厂烟气自动化监测系统的比对监测

介绍了火电厂烟气自动化在线监控系统按照《固定污染源烟气连续监测系统技术要求及检测方法》(HJ/T 76-2001),以及《固定污染源排气中颗粒物测定与气态污染物采样方法》(GB/T 16157-1996)和《固定污染源排气中二氧化硫的测定定电位电解法》(HJ/T 57-2000)对大气污染物中颗粒物、二氧化硫和流速进行了比对监测,结果表明,颗粒物、二氧化硫和流速的测定结果均符合规定要求.