The potential for combining indigenous and western knowledge in reducing vulnerability to environmental hazards in small island developing states

The benefits of indigenous knowledge within disaster risk reduction are gradually being acknowledged and identified. However, despite this acknowledgement there continues to be a gap in reaching the right people with the correct strategies for disaster risk reduction.This paper identifies the need for a specific framework identifying how indigenous and western knowledge may be combined to mitigate against the intrinsic effects of environmental processes and therefore reduce the vulnerability of rural indigenous communities in small island developing states (SIDS) to environmental hazards. This involves a review of the impacts of environmental processes and their intrinsic effects upon rural indigenous communities in SIDS and how indigenous knowledge has contributed to their coping capacity. The paper concludes that the vulnerability of indigenous communities in SIDS to environmental hazards can only be addressed through the utilisation of both indigenous and Western knowledge in a culturally compatible and sustainable manner.     

可拓法评估煤矿瓦斯爆炸易发性

为了量化煤矿瓦斯爆炸的可能性,并为防治瓦斯爆炸提供量化指标,借鉴可拓学原理,对煤矿瓦斯爆炸易发性进行预评估。首先,详细阐述可拓学评估原理;接着,为了验证煤矿瓦斯爆炸易发性可拓评估的可行性,结合某一煤矿实例,比选煤矿瓦斯爆炸易发性的评价指标,并确定煤矿瓦斯爆炸易发性的分类标准,构建煤矿瓦斯爆炸易发性评估的经典域、节域和物元;然后,为了避免确定指标权重的人为主观因素的影响,提出用简单关联函数确定指标权重;最后,计算煤矿瓦斯爆炸易发性的关联函数值和关联度,确定瓦斯爆炸易发性的等级及其变量特征值。经计算,煤矿爆炸易发性的可拓评估结果为"很小"等级。同时,为了验证可拓评估结果的合理性,将其与模糊评估进行比较,两者所得评估结果相一致。从而表明:将可拓学应用于煤矿瓦斯爆炸易发性评估是合理可行的。     

The Impact of Uncertainty on Banking Behavior: Evidence from the US Sulfur Dioxide Emissions Allowance Trading Program

In this paper, we study empirically whether uncertainty has an influence on trade in the US sulfur dioxide allowances market. In particular, we investigate the role of uncertainty on banking behavior. To do this, we introduce a tractable, structural model of trading permits under uncertainty. The model establishes a relation between banking behavior and risk preferences, especially prudence in the Kimball (1990) sense. We then test this model using data on allowances, for utilities submitted to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Acid Rain Program, carried over from one year to the next. Evidence is found of imprudence, namely, utilities bank permits in order to favor higher profits. Another finding is that larger utilities do not adopt behavior significantly different from that of smaller ones. This paper was presented at the “International Workshop on Uncertainty in Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Verification, Compliance & Trading” in Warsaw, Poland, September 2004, under the title “Portfolio Management of Emissions Permits and Prudence Behavior.”     

Compliance and Emissions Trading under the Kyoto Protocol: Rules for Uncertain Inventories

A solution is proposed for proving compliance with emission targets and for emissions trading in the event of uncertainties in reported emission inventories. The solution is based on the undershooting concept, from which the mathematical conditions for both proving compliance with a risk α and calculating effective emissions for trading are derived. Based on the reported emission units, the number of permits granted is reduced in proportion to the uncertainty in the inventory. A country whose inventory has higher uncertainty is thereby allotted fewer permits than a country with the same inventory but smaller uncertainty.     

新民市柳河水源地水环境健康风险评价

为了评价新民柳河水源地的供水安全,简要介绍水环境健康风险评价基本方法的基础上,建立了水环境健康风险评价模式.研究结果表明:①柳河水源地地面水基因毒物质为优先控制污染物;而地下水应着力控制躯体毒物质.②对于基因毒物质,监测断面优先控制污染物为As和Cr;而对于躯体毒物质,所有监测断面的优先控制污染物均为氨.③在所有监测断面中,柳河上断面等6处有毒污染物所致健康危害的个人年总风险数量级为10-5-10-4.在日后的管理过程中,应对这6处加大治理力度.④目前环境健康风险评价还没有包括在常规环境评价工作中,建议在今后的评价工作中应该逐步开展这方面的工作,以提高供水安全.     

模糊聚类法在大气环境质量评价中的应用

通过对2004年甘肃省5个有代表性城市的大气质量监测数据进行分析,较为详细地介绍了将模糊聚类法应用于大气环境质量综合评价的过程,从而展示了模糊聚类在环境评价和管理中的积极作用和重要意义.     

区域开发战略环境影响评价总体思路与技术要点

以内蒙古"十一五"规划战略环境影响评价为例,分析了战略环境影响评价与建设项目环境影响评价的差异,提出了战略环境影响评价是从"决策-源头-过程-末端"的全过程评价;其技术要点是突出区域环境和经济社会协调发展为核心的总体思路,重点把握战略环境影响评价6大特性即整体性、区域性、特色性、科学性、前瞻性和可操作性;其技术方法主要包括战略决策失灵分析法、战略决策灰色分析法、环境影响矩阵识别法、产业关联和物流分析等定性方法,以及GIS技术平台的图层叠置法、承载压力度分析、情景分析和模拟分析等定量方法.     

汉江蜀河水电站库水位对岸坡稳定性的影响分析

汉江蜀河水电站属于Ⅱ等大(2)型水电站,水库的建成、运行可能对岸坡的稳定性造成一定的影响,尤其是水库蓄水后的库水位变化及与库水位变化相关的参数,对岸坡的稳定影响极大,因此弄清楚库水位变化与其相关的参数对岸坡稳定性的影响,是汉江蜀河水电站成功运营必须解决的问题之一。以地质背景为基础,结合具体坡段的岩性、结构特征等,从水库水位公式的建立,到在不同库水位的条件下,运用数值模拟对岸坡稳定性系数和相关参数的变化进行了分析评价。     

泥石流体的流变和冲淤特征及其与危险度的关系

从泥石流体流变特性的分析入手,深入地探讨了蒋家沟泥石流阵性流的淤积和冲刷特征。其冲淤变化特征与泥石流体的浓度特性和规模大小的发展过程有很大的关系。根据这些分析,可以将泥石流的危害划分为侵蚀和堆积两大类,并可能进一步完善泥石流危险度的评估。     

深水平台施工过程自然风险定量评估

在分析现有风险理论的基础上,结合海洋施工实际,提出了一种对海洋施工自然风险进行定量评估的模型。根据目标系统各风险事件与影响因素之间存在高度非线性复杂映射的特点,提出了利用BP神经网络拟合方法,对主要风险事件发生概率进行量化的模型。针对传统的梯度下降优化算法收敛速度慢的特点,采用可避免计算Hesse矩阵的Levenberg-Marquardt算法来训练神经网络。这一模型可以模拟专家评价,并准确地按照专家的评定法则进行估算,具有一定的通用性。