Moving targets: Carbon pricing,energy markets,and social movements in Australia

Reporting on the origins and directions of social movement strategy on climate and energy issues in the last decade, the shifts in ‘climate movement’ practice are discussed using a neo-Polanyian account of the political economy of climate change combined with sociological analysis of the strategic decisions campaigners reported making. Since the mid-2000s, Australia’s climate movement has been engaged in three concurrent arenas of political contestation. The longest-standing arena of movement activity has been negotiations over climate policy. More recently, activists and communities are engaged in a struggle over the expansion of fossil fuels. A third contest has been waged over the present and future position of renewable energy technologies in Australia’s electricity market. In the wake of climate policy failure, energy campaigns have been deepened, and it seems that a broader energy justice agenda is being forged. New strategic dilemmas are visible in the field.     

过江通道建设对相对落后地区发展的影响——以江苏省南通市为例

苏通大桥及沪崇苏通道的建设将引致区域交通格局的演化,从而对相关地区经济社会发展产生深远影响。对于相对落后的南通市而言,快速过江通道建设既是促进发展的良好机遇,同时也将带来新的挑战和威胁：（1）交通可达性改善明显,南向联系趋于便捷,运输成本相应减小,要素集聚呈现加速态势,但优质要素面临流失威胁;（2）产业规模迅速扩张,但以低层次产业为主,进一步加大了产业层次提升的压力,同时建设用地的盲目扩张和散乱布局,使得空间开发无序风险加剧;（3）进入上海都市圈的紧密圈层,有望成为长江三角洲北翼重要的次中心城市,但面临的竞争压力也不断增大。为促进南通市的可持续发展,政府部门应在推进都市区建设、促进要素集聚、空间资源的合理和统筹利用等方面制定科学有效的区域政策。     

南京市经济发展与环境污染关系的实证研究

根据南京市1991～2003年经济与环境数据,分析经济发展与环境污染的相互关系,建立了南京市经济增长与环境污染水平的计量模型,进而评价了南京市的环境保护政策。研究表明：作为一个重化工业城市,南京市自20世纪90年代以来,在经济高速发展的情况下,其环境恶化程度逐步得到遏制,部分环境指标与人均GDP演替轨迹呈现显著的环境库兹涅茨曲线特征。这主要归功于南京市政府近年来有效的环境政策和巨额的环境投资。     

吉林市“白色污染”概况及防治措施建议

“白色污染”是中国城市特有的环境污染。在各种公共场所到处都能看见大量废弃的塑料制品,他们从自然界而来,由人类制造,但是这些废弃的塑料制品最终归于大自然时却不易被自然所消纳,从而严重影响了大自然的生态环境。首先介绍了“白色污染”的概念及其危害;然后对吉林市塑料方便袋的使用情况进行了调查,并以此反映吉林市“白色污染”的概况;最后针对中国当前“白色污染”治理过程中的不足提出了针对性的建议,以期达到能够有效缓解或根治“白色污染”的目的。     

Assessing London,Ontario's brownfield redevelopment effort to promote urban intensification

Intensification of existing urban areas is currently a major item on the policy agenda of the Ontario and Canadian governments. As part of the urban intensification drive, brownfield sites have become major candidates for redevelopment. Governments at all levels have initiated policies and programmes to encourage their remediation and redevelopment. This paper reports the findings of a qualitative exploration of brownfield redevelopment in London, Canada. Through in-depth interviews (n?=?17) with key stakeholders involved in brownfield redevelopment, the study explores the level of participation in brownfield redevelopment, barriers to brownfield redevelopment in the city, and perceptions about financial incentives in the city's Brownfield Community Improvement Plan. The study found that despite the availability of financial incentives, the overall private sector participation in brownfield redevelopment is low due to barriers such as competition from greenfield, risk, cost, negative public perception of brownfields, and complex remediation processes. The paper provides policy suggestions that may contribute to a more active participation in brownfield redevelopment in the city.     

人口流动规律及其政策含义

人口流动是人力资源配轩优化的根本创新路径,人口流动的一般规律是:如果流动人口为理性行为选择者,在社会制度安排许可的发展环境下,当不同区域和不同产业间形成比较收益差异,存在着流动收益大于流动成本的潜在和现实的各种获利机会时,就必定驱使人们由低收益领域向高必益领域流动,而且比较收益差异量与流动人口的流速、流量正相关,并必然导致产生收益率及人口分布走向平均化的趋势,社会发展也将获得最优化的人力资源配置结果.其相关政策含义:一是人口流动是流动人口的理性选择;二是切实保障公民的自由流动权利;三是利用比较利益差别促进人口流动;四是降低各种不必要的流动成本和流动风险;五是建构人口流动的有效率社会发展框架.     

WHO GETS CLEAN WATER? AID ALLOCATION TO SMALL WATER SYSTEMS IN PENNSYLVANIA1

ABSTRACT: Research on the condition of drinking water provision in the United States documents the inequitable financial impact of environmental regulations on small water systems (those serving 3,300 or fewer people). While a variety of federal and state financial assistance programs are available for water systems, few quantitative analyses have evaluated the success of these programs in alleviating the problems of small systems. A case study of the largest aid initiative for water supply infrastructure in Pennsylvania provides the empirical framework through which to analyze government funding opportunities for water systems. This study examines the allocation practices of the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) to water systems of varying sizes. Utilizing data from PENNVEST applications and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the distribution of PENNVEST award recipients and denied applicants by size characteristics are compared. The study indicates that very small water systems (those serving 500 or fewer) do not apply for or receive funds with the same frequency as their larger counterparts. Understanding the allocation of awards from PENNVEST offers insight into the ability of small communities to access capital for water supply infrastructure.     

National policies for biosphere greenhouse gas management: issues and opportunities

Biosphere greenhouse gas (GHG) management consists of preserving and enhancing terrestrial carbon pools and producing biomass as a fossil fuel substitute. The discussion of this topic has focused primarily on carbon-accounting and project-level issues, particularly relating to carbon sequestration as a source of emissions credits under the Kyoto Protocol. While international consensus on these matters is needed, this paper argues that an important domestic policy agenda also deserves attention. National policies for biosphere GHG management are necessary to bring about large-scale changes in land-use, forestry, and agricultural practices and can address some of the technical and policy issues that have proven to be particularly problematic from carbon-accounting and project-level perspectives. These policies should minimize land-use and resource-management conflicts, account for collateral benefits, and ensure institutional compatibility with existing resource-management regimes. Issues relating to project permanence, leakage, and transaction costs should also be addressed. A range of policy instruments should be used and biosphere GHG management should be one component of an integrated approach to environmental and resource management. Countries promoting biosphere GHG management as an important element of their climate change strategies should be developing these domestic policies to complement international negotiations and to demonstrate that carbon sequestration and biomass production can make an effective contribution to the stabilization of atmospheric GHG concentrations.     

Ecological impacts of early 21st century agricultural change in Europe – A review

The impacts of agricultural land use are far-reaching and extend to areas outside production. This paper provides an overview of the ecological status of agricultural systems across the European Union in the light of recent policy changes. It builds on the previous review of 2001 devoted to the impacts of agricultural intensification in Western Europe. The focus countries are the UK, The Netherlands, Boreal and Baltic countries, Portugal, Hungary and Romania, representing a geographical spread across Europe, but additional reference is made to other countries. Despite many adjustments to agricultural policy, intensification of production in some regions and concurrent abandonment in others remain the major threat to the ecology of agro-ecosystems impairing the state of soil, water and air and reducing biological diversity in agricultural landscapes. The impacts also extend to surrounding terrestrial and aquatic systems through water and aerial contamination and development of agricultural infrastructures (e.g. dams and irrigation channels). Improvements are also documented regionally, such as successful support of farmland species, and improved condition of watercourses and landscapes. This was attributed to agricultural policy targeted at the environment, improved environmental legislation, and new market opportunities. Research into ecosystem services associated with agriculture may provide further pressure to develop policy that is targeted at their continuous provisioning, fostering motivation of land managers to continue to protect and enhance them.     

Carnivore-Livestock Conflicts: Effects of Subsidized Predator Control and Economic Correlates on the Sheep Industry

Abstract:  Despite the importance of carnivores in terrestrial ecosystems, many nations have implemented well-coordinated, state-funded initiatives to remove predators, largely because of conflicts with humans over livestock. Although these control efforts have been successful in terms of the number of carnivores removed, their effects on the viability of the industries they seek to protect are less understood. I assessed the efficacy of long-term efforts by the U.S. government to improve the viability of the sheep industry by reducing predation losses. I used regression analysis and hierarchical partitioning of a 60-year data set to explore associations among changes in sheep numbers and factors such as predator control effort, market prices, and production costs. In addition, I compared trends in the sheep industry in the western United States, where predator control is subsidized and coyotes ( Canis latrans ) are abundant, with trends in eastern states that lack federally subsidized predator control and that were (1) colonized by coyotes before 1950 or (2) colonized by coyotes between 1950 and 1990. Although control efforts were positively correlated with fluctuations in sheep numbers, production costs and market prices explained most of the model variation, with a combined independent contribution of 77%. Trends in sheep numbers in eastern and western states were highly correlated ( r ≥ 0.942) independent of the period during which they were colonized by coyotes, indicating either that control has been ineffective at reducing predation losses or that factors other than predation account for the declines in both regions. These results suggest that government-subsidized predator control has failed to prevent the decline in the sheep industry and alternative support mechanisms need to be developed if the goal is to increase sheep production and not simply to kill carnivores.