Invisible territory: mapping land-use change and power in the Peruvian Amazon

ABSTRACT

This paper follows the evolution of the discourse of agricultural productivity, from its inception in colonial land-use mapping to current land-use changes, using a case study of the expansion of an oil palm company onto the territory of an indigenous community in the Peruvian Amazon that caused large-scale deforestation. Drawing on analytical tools of political ecology and insights from historical geographythis paper shows how current soil and land classification, forest usufruct rules, and forest designations under the 2011 Forest and Wildlife law stem from a colonial discourse of agricultural productivity. This discourse excludes other forms of land-use, such as indigenous forest management, and the identities and relationships bound up in those. This research contributes to an understanding of how the processes that seek to quantify and determine land-use change are historically embedded in western ideas of agricultural productivity.     

国内外建筑垃圾处理相关政策法规对比分析

综述了欧美、日本等发达国家和地区在建筑垃圾的处理、规范管理和再利用等方面的管理模式和政策法规。结合我国的国情和现行的法规政策进行了对比和分析,旨在为我国建筑垃圾的资源再利用提供参考。     

Management of Water Shortage in the Colorado River Basin: Evaluating Current Policy and the Viability of Interstate Water Trading1

Wildman, Richard A., Jr. and Noelani A. Forde, 2012. Management of Water Shortage in the Colorado River Basin: Evaluating Current Policy and the Viability of Interstate Water Trading. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(3): 411-422. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2012.00665.x Abstract: The water of the Colorado River of the southwestern United States (U.S.) is presently used beyond its reliable supply, and the flow of this river is forecast to decrease significantly due to climate change. A recent interim report of the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study is the first acknowledgment of these facts by U.S. federal water managers. In light of this new stance, we evaluate the current policy of adaptation to water shortages in the Colorado River Basin. We find that initial shortages will be borne only by the cities of Arizona and Nevada and farms in Arizona whereas the other Basin states have no incentive to reduce consumptive use. Furthermore, the development of a long-term plan is deferred until greater water scarcity exists. As a potential response to long-term water scarcity, we evaluate the viability of an interstate water market in the Colorado River Basin. We inform our analysis with newly available data from the Murray-Darling Basin of Australia, which has used interstate water trading to create vital flexibility during extreme aridity during recent years. We find that, despite substantial obstacles, an interstate water market is a compelling reform that could be used not only to adapt to increased water scarcity but also to preserve core elements of Colorado River Basin law.     

中国区域低碳发展的情景分析——以江苏省为例

本文以江苏省为例,旨在对我国地方层面的低碳经济发展(目标年为2020年)进行探讨,并通过设定基准情景(BAU),低碳经济政策情景(LES),以及进一步推进低碳发展的国际合作与技术转移情景(ICS)三种政策情景对江苏省未来中长期能源需求与二氧化碳排放强度进行分析,提出我国地方层面实现2020年二氧化碳减排目标所需要的发展路径与对策.研究表明,在地方和区域层面上实现2020年二氧化碳排放强度在2005年的基础上降低40%-45%的目标是有可能的,通过采取发展低碳经济的相关措施,到2020年,江苏省的能源需求将比基准情景减少28%,二氧化碳排放强度将在2007年的基础上削减50%,而通过积极参与国际合作和国际间的技术转移,将有可能将二氧化碳排放强度在2007年的基础上削减52%左右.     

Public receptiveness to policies promoting plant-based diets: framing effects and social psychological and structural influences

Governmental and non-governmental organizations, social movements, and academics have called for reductions in meat consumption due to the environmental, animal welfare, and public health consequences of industrial animal agribusiness. An impactful move toward plant-based diets would require changes in public policy. First, we assess if there are different social and structural factors that influence support for policies that promote plant-based diets. We look at four categories of policies (action frames) that will likely reduce meat consumption: environmental, animal welfare, public health, and direct meat reduction. Second, we use a manipulation rhetorical frame to see if support can be altered by providing individuals with information about meat reduction, framing the issue in terms of environmental protection, animal welfare, or public health. Different social and structural factors predict support for different policy groupings, meaning that it matters how policies are enclosed in action frames. However, providing information to individuals about a particular impact (rhetorical frame) has limited influence on policy support.     

Economic and policy instrument analyses in support of the scrap tire recycling program in Taiwan

Understanding the cost-effectiveness and the role of economic and policy instruments, such as the combined product tax-recycling subsidy scheme or a tradable permit, for scrap tire recycling has been of crucial importance in a market-oriented environmental management system. Promoting product (tire) stewardship on one hand and improving incentive-based recycling policy on the other hand requires a comprehensive analysis of the interfaces and interactions in the nexus of economic impacts, environmental management, environmental valuation, and cost-benefit analysis. This paper presents an assessment of the interfaces and interactions between the implementation of policy instruments and its associated economic evaluation for sustaining a scrap tire recycling program in Taiwan during the era of the strong economic growth of the late 1990s. It begins with an introduction of the management of the co-evolution between technology metrics of scrap tire recycling and organizational changes for meeting the managerial goals island-wide during the 1990s. The database collected and used for such analysis covers 17 major tire recycling firms and 10 major tire manufacturers at that time. With estimates of scrap tire generation and possible scale of subsidy with respect to differing tire recycling technologies applied, economic analysis eventually leads to identify the associated levels of product tax with respect to various sizes of new tires. It particularly demonstrates a broad perspective of how an integrated econometric and engineering economic analysis can be conducted to assist in implementing policy instruments for scrap tire management. Research findings indicate that different subsidy settings for collection, processing, and end use of scrap tires should be configured to ameliorate the overall managerial effectiveness. Removing the existing boundaries between designated service districts could strengthen the competitiveness of scrap tires recycling industry, helping to reduce the required levels of product tax and subsidy. With such initial breakthroughs at hand to handle the complexity of scrap tire recycling technologies, there remains unique management and policy avenues left to explore if a multi-dimensional solution is to be successful in the long run.     

Devising Appropriate Policies and Instruments in Support of Private Conservation Areas: Lessons Learned from the Klein Karoo,South Africa

Abstract: The amount of privately conserved land is increasing worldwide. The potential of these areas to contribute to the global conservation of biodiversity is significant, given that statutory protected areas alone will not suffice. Nevertheless, there is still inadequate support for private conservation areas, and further research on appropriate, flexible, and generally applicable incentive measures is necessary. We conducted 25 semistructured interviews with the owners of private conservation areas in the Little Karoo, South Africa, to examine landowner opinions of existing conservation policies and their relationships with the local conservation authority. We also assessed landowner preferences regarding conservation incentive measures. Landowners doubted the conservation authority's capacity to implement its stewardship program and were also discouraged by the bureaucracy of the program. The conservation authority was often viewed negatively, except where landowners had experienced personal contact from conservation staff or where strong social capital had formed among landowners. Landowners did not desire financial rewards for their conservation efforts, but sought recognition of their stewardship role and greater involvement from the conservation authority through personal contact. We conclude that conservation policies for private lands could benefit from the provision of extension services to landowners, promotion of formation of groups of landowners and other stakeholders, and public acknowledgment of the contributions private conservation areas make.     

Inventories and maps: cognitive ways of framing the nature policies in Europe

Since the Earth Summit in Rio, declining biodiversity has become a subject of general concern for many countries. To counter these negative trends, government nature policies in Europe at least are now thought out primarily in terms of networks. They concern new areas outside nature reserves, new players and new management strategies. Consequently, these policies should themselves become the subject of new public debate. Our study concerns the analysis of the forms used to collect the data required to set up the European Union's Natura 2000 network and maps drawn as part of the Council of Europe's Pan-European Ecological Network strategy. The aim of this article, which takes the perspective developed by the sociology of science, will be to show how the forms and maps used in these new nature policies produce knowledge that precedes policy discussions to search for the best possible socio-political compromises. In other words, the knowledge that is collected in and by means of these documents, forms and maps offers a cognitive way of ‘framing’ the subsequent public debates. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于外部性内化的农地城市流转调控政策工具研究进展评述

本研究采用文献回顾法、归纳法,从农地城市流转外部性的分析与测度及政策工具在农地城市流转调控中的运用两个方面,对国内外相关研究进行了归纳与总结。结果表明,现有研究从内容和方法上都有待进一步的丰富和深入:在农地城市流转外部性的理论分析和定量测算方面,其外部性的内涵、分类与边界等尚未得到严格的界定与划分,评估技术的选择和应用尚存亟待回答的问题;在基于外部性内化的农地政策流转调控政策工具的运用方面,尚需在分析思路、政策工具的系统化和细节设计方面有所深入;在实证研究方面,亟需结合我国国情结合具体事例探讨政策工具运用的预期效果及不同政策工具可能的交互作用;此外,应考虑不确定与信息不对称对调控政策工具运行效率的影响。因此,我国学者应借鉴国内外已有的研究成果和经验,从外部性内化的角度设计适于我国国情的政策工具,从而为农地城市流转调控提供可靠的理论依据,以达到合理规制农地转用秩序的目的。