Women and biodiversity: The long journey from users to policy-makers

Although there has been a broad acknowledgment that women's local and traditional knowledge is fundamental to guarantee food security and conserve biological diversity, few women are represented at the managerial and decision‐making level of environmental movements and organizations. The United Nations, its agencies and agreements have long promoted the full and effective participation of women in decision‐making processes. So how can commitments contained in international agreements be translated into concrete actions? By using the case of the Convention on Biological Diversity, one of the key agreements adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, this article analyses how gender‐equitable initiatives tend to assume an ad hoc character with few governments effectively involving women in their sustainable development strategies. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the United Nations or its subsidiary bodies.     

Effects of planned expansion of waste incineration in the Swedish district heating systems

Recent targets for reduced amounts of waste to landfills in Sweden will result in a large increase in waste incineration with recovery of energy, used primarily for district heating. The aim of this study is to investigate what changes in the usage of other fuels and technologies for district heat production would be caused by this increase. A questionnaire was sent out to the largest district heating companies, and simulations in an energy systems model were carried out. The analysis shows that increased waste incineration reduces the demand for other fuels, especially biomass, for district heat production. The effects include reductions in operating hours as well as the avoidance or postponement of investments in new plants for district heat production. Increased waste incineration will also lead to a greater use of district heating in Sweden.     

地球系统科学提出前我国科学界的某些思维

列举了在1988年美国提出"地球系统科学"前我国学者在该领域的某些思维:人与天地相应的观点,东亚大陆磁异常与我国人群健康关系的观点,天地生三位一体的观点,地球表层学的观点以及灾害系统的观点等.这些观点虽不如"地球系统科学"着眼于全球整体,但也包括了很大的系统,且不空洞.     

Systems thinking in a gas explosion accident – lessons learned from Taiwan

On July 31, 2014, at around 23:57, several huge explosions occurred that lasted for 2 h in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. As a result of a gas leak from a ruptured underground pipeline, the catastrophic incident destroyed more than 6 km of roads, killed 32 people, injured 321 people, and damaged 3259 buildings. Pipeline explosions have been reported as a repeatedly occurring problem, indicating that (1) complex systems are difficult to manage and control, and (2) humans are unable to effectively learn from experiences of accidents. Initial analyses results reveal that root causes of this incident were a combination of a series of complex chain reactions, which eventually led to propylene leakage and explosion. This is a systematic problem, which can hardly be investigated or analyzed by traditional research approaches. Based on the investigation reports and “systems thinking” method, this study develops causal loop diagrams for the Kaohsiung gas explosion to explore the root causes of the disaster. The research results indicate that (1) this pipeline explosion incident was the result of the chain reactions and was the output of a complex system; (2) the mental model of “production first” and “experience gap” were the root causes of the disaster; and (3) to achieve a higher safety standard, continuous education to improve the mental model of “safety first and safety over production” are essential. The findings of this study may contribute toward the improvement of the standard operating procedure for disaster management and preventing similar incidents in the future.     

A hybrid decision-making approach based on FCM and MOORA for occupational health and safety risk analysis

IntroductionWith the development of industries and increased diversity of their associated hazards, the importance of identifying these hazards and controlling the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) risks has also dramatically augmented. Currently, there is a serious need for a risk management system to identify and prioritize risks with the aim of providing corrective/preventive measures to minimize the negative consequences of OHS risks. In fact, this system can help the protection of employees’ health and reduction of organizational costs. Method: The present study proposes a hybrid decision-making approach based on the Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), Fuzzy Cognitive Map (FCM), and Multi-Objective Optimization on the basis of Ratio Analysis (MOORA) for assessing and prioritizing OHS risks. After identifying the risks and determining the values of the risk assessment criteria via the FMEA technique, the attempt is made to determine the weights of criteria based on their causal relationships through FCM and the hybrid learning algorithm. Then, the risk prioritization is carried out using the MOORA method based on the decision matrix (the output of the FMEA) and the weights of the criteria (the output of the FCM). Results: The results from the implementation of the proposed approach in a manufacturing company reveal that the score at issue can overcome some of the drawbacks of the traditional Risk Priority Number (RPN) in the conventional FMEA, including lack of assignment the different relative importance to the assessment criteria, inability to take into account other important management criteria, lack of consideration of causal relationships among criteria, and high dependence of the prioritization on the experts’ opinions, which finally provides a full and distinct risk prioritization.     

“引江济太”过程中长江-望虞河-贡湖氮、磷输入特征研究

为了解"引江济太"调水过程中长江、望虞河对贡湖营养盐输入特征,于2013年8月和2013年12月引水期间对20个采样点各形态N、P质量浓度的沿程和时间变化以及百分含量占比进行研究.结果表明,两个不同的引水期,长江-望虞河-贡湖段水体各形态N、P沿程和时间变化均表现不一:长江引水经望虞河入贡湖后,水体NO-2-N、NO-3-N、NH+4-N和TN质量浓度均较长江和望虞河段有不同程度的降低,而贡湖段DON质量浓度显著高于长江和望虞河段,但长江-望虞河段水体各形态N中NO-3-N质量浓度最高.长江和望虞河TP质量浓度总体表现平稳,而各形态P质量浓度在两个引水时期内有所变化.从时间变化来看,2013年8月水体的DON和TP质量浓度总体上高于12月;而NO-3-N和DOP质量浓度总体上低于12月.总体来说,两个引水时期内,NO-3-N和TPP是望虞河经长江引水的主要N、P形态;而贡湖经望虞河水体输入的N、P主要形态分别为NO-3-N、PO3-4-P和TPP.     

微生物全细胞传感器在重金属生物可利用度监测中的研究进展

传统的物理化学方法主要用于测定环境重金属的总量,微生物全细胞传感器可以对土壤及水体环境的重金属生物可利用度进行监测.此外,微生物全细胞传感器还具有操作简单、快速、经济的特点,适用于污染事件的应急监测.微生物全细胞传感器的生物学元件主要由MerR、ArsR、RS等家族的金属调控蛋白和gfp、lux、luc等报告基因组成.调控蛋白、报告基因与微生物全细胞传感器的灵敏度、特异性和监测特点有关.受pH、金属螯合物及检测条件等因素的影响,不同的环境条件下的重金属生物可利用度是不同的.增加重金属在微生物细胞内的累积,进行调控蛋白的分子生物学改造,优化检测条件是提高传感器灵敏度、特异性和准确性的可行方案.实现污染物的原位和在线监测是微生物全细胞传感器的主要发展方向.     

上海市工业固体废物处理处置现状分析

详细分析了上海市一般工业固体废物及工业危险废物的产生及处理处置现状,提出:一般工业固废主要以资源化利用为主,危废处置企业实行末位淘汰,实现清洁生产;加强国家提倡的"三位一体"综合处理项目建设,实现集中处理、集中监管,降低运营成本;加强工业危废产生企业申报登记及转移的网络信息化管理,杜绝监管盲区。     

排污权交易之排放跟踪数据校核研究

本文以排污权交易的核心业务排放跟踪管理为出发点,选择电厂二氧化硫指标进行排放跟踪数据过程校核体系研究,探索进一步提高排污权交易体系中排放数据准确性的机制。     

Towards a capability approach of sustainability

Despite having a strong influence on development policies, theories of sustainability have not paid much attention to the capability approach (CA) thus far. Against this backdrop, the present paper argues for the CA’s usefulness of sustainability. In order to avoid just an additional contribution to the already confusing theoretical situation as well as to rely our exploration of the CA’s aptness for a conception of sustainability on a transparent and comparable basis, we will first identify six adequacy conditions for concepts of sustainability. We will then work out a categorial framework for conceptions of sustainability. Finally we will demonstrate how the CA is a promising candidate for filling in the demands of this framework and what further research will be needed.