A review of conservation legislation in Nepal: Past progress and future needs

Nepal is considered a leader among developing nations with regard to conservation legislation and programs; it was among the first Asian nations to develop national conservation legislation, sign CITES, and develop a national conservation strategy. We review the history of modern conservation law in Nepal from the Rana period (early 1950s) to the present. The early legislation focused mainly on strict preservation of areas and species; this phase culminated in the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1973. Subsequent legislation has evolved more in the direction of an integrated, holistic approach to conservation and is beginning to incorporate the participation of local people; subsequent amendments to the 1973 act allowed greater rights to rural villagers, and the designation of conservation areas in addition to the more strictly defined protected areas (national parks, wildlife reserves, etc.). Our review of conservation legislation suggests that Nepal has had many successes to date; the country has a protected area system covering over 10% of its land area, and many target species are recovering in parks and reserves. There are also some causes of concern, including staff shortages, financial constraints within the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, and the fact that there is little legal infrastructure outside of protected areas to enforce conservation laws; further, some aspects of hunting regulations are in need of revision. Primary needs include a comprehensive review of these policies and a nationalized strategy to ameliorate the shortcomings.     

Status quo of e-waste management in mainland China

In China, the use and obsolescence of both electronic and electrical equipment have increased rapidly in recent years. China has also begun to take measures to cope with this problem since it began experiencing a rapid process of industrialization and urbanization in the 1990s. In this paper, the profile of the electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) problem in China is depicted from such aspects as domestic e-waste and imported e-waste, along with their recycling systems, policies, and regulations. Based on statistics of the consumption of major household appliances and personal computers, a forecast is made of the numbers of obsolete major household appliances and personal computers. The results show that currently the number of electrical and electronic products in use in China is tremendous. An investigation on household appliances and personal computers in Beijing was made to assess the use and obsolescence of these products. Also, the legal issues relating to e-waste in China are summarized, and these will be the juristic foundation for the solution of e-waste problems.     

预防外来物种入侵的立法对策

对我国目前预防外来物种入侵问题的现状进行了分析,指出了我国在预防外来物种入侵立法上没有专门的针对性法律,立法目的有偏差、法律涉及范围有限的弊病,提出了明确立法目的、制订专项立法与中长期规划、适当扩大相关法律覆盖范围、完善法律法规和顺应国际形势的立法对策.     

中国有毒化学品环境管理立法原则

在环境法律中有毒化学品概念应依据生态安全性予以界定。其立法原则应包括；全面管理，重点控制与“推定有毒”原则，全过程管理原则，风险管理原则，环境，安全，质量管理“三位一体”原则，分类管理和区域控制原理等。     

Geoconservation versus legislation and resources policy: New achievements,new questions—Comment on Cairncross (Resources Policy, 2011) The National Heritage Resource Act (1999): Can legislation protect South Africa's rare geoheritage resources?

In his recent article, Cairncross identified problems with legislation relevant to the conservation of national geological heritage. This permits us to pose some more general questions, which are not addressed in the noted contribution. The example given by Cairncross indicates some pitfalls linked with the “all-inclusive” nature of legislation in which geological heritage is mixed with cultural heritage. Are such laws really helpful? Even if they are inevitable, they should be prepared with great caution. Moreover, it appears sensible to discuss whether particular geological objects or geodiversity as a whole should be legally conserved. Cairncross also proposes the interesting idea of a special fund/agency for purchasing rare mineral specimens for museums. This raises a set of questions about selection criteria for minerals to be purchased, types of market to be dealt with, number of fund/agency staff, necessary financial resources, and the administration of such purchasing schemes. Broad multi-stakeholder debates are necessary in order to establish the proposed fund/agency and to facilitate its efficient work.     

Attitudes toward a primary seat belt law among adults in a rural state with a secondary seat belt law

Problem

Enforced primary seatbelt laws can reduce morbidity and mortality associated with motor-vehicle crashes. Constituent support is an important factor associated with legislator voting behavior toward injury prevention laws. Little is known about attitudes toward a primary seat belt law among adults in rural states without a primary seat belt law.

Methods

Data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey, a telephone survey of a representative sample of adults in Montana, were used to assess attitudes toward a primary seat belt law.

Results

Sixty-one percent of respondents supported a primary seat belt law. Using multiple logistic regression analyses, women (AOR 1.87; 95% CI 1.49-2.36), persons aged 65 years and older (1.45; 1.06-1.96), American Indians (2.71; 1.55-4.75), those with health insurance (1.51; 1.07-2.14), and those who reported always wearing their seat belt (4.05; 3.14-5.21) were more likely to support a primary seat belt law than respondents without these characteristics.

Conclusions

The majority of adults in a rural state support a primary seat belt law.     

总量控制制度立法初探

分析了我国总量控制制度实施过程中,因有关的法律法规少、效力层次低,缺乏程序性规定,可操作性差,内容不全面,配套法规不全等而产生的困难和问题。阐述了强化总量控制制度的立法,尽快制定《总量控制管理条例》,确立总量控制模式,完善指标有偿转让机制,完善配套制度和对违法行为的法律制裁等方面的需求。     

Towards a Coastal Area Management Act for the Russian Federation

Coastal area management should be considered as an element of a more general philosophy—that of natural resource management—which is in the process of replacing the purely ‘protection of the environment’ approach which was dominated most of the 20th century. Specific legislation on coastal management has been adopted by many countries, and today steps have been taken to acumulate all experience accumulated and to harmonize legal regulations on the international level. For the Russian Federation, formerly the Soviet Union, with an enormous sea-shore line to cope with, it is a new experience to develop a concept and a legal regulation specifically tackling coastal area management. The draft of a legislative act on coastal area management reflects the attempts to find ways for harmonizing various economic, environmental and social interests in this huge area, encompassing relevant Russian legislation in force as well as international conventions and treaties, and taking into considerations and treatices, and taking into consideration foregin expereience in this field.     

发达国家电子废弃物立法比较及对我国的启示

电子废弃物种类繁多、成分复杂，含有多种有毒、有害物质，已成为固体废物中最大的重金属污染源。通过发达国家电子废弃物立法的比较表明，我国电子废弃物立法处于起步阶段，尚存在若干问题急需解决。通过借鉴国外发达国家的经验，阐述了我国电子废弃物立法的关注焦点。     

Salt enrichment of municipal sewage: New prevention approaches in Israel

Wastewater irrigation is an environmentally sound wastewater disposal practice, but sewage is more saline than the supplied fresh water and the salts are recycled together with the water. Salts have negative environmental effects on crops, soils, and groundwater. There are no inexpensive ways to remove the salts once they enter sewage, and the prevention of sewage salt enrichment is the most immediately available solution. The body of initiatives presently structured by the Ministry of the Environment of Israel are herein described, with the aim to contribute to the search for a long-term solution of salinity problems in arid countries. The new initiatives are based on: (1) search for new technologies to reduce salt consumption and discharge into sewage; (2) different technologies to cope with different situations; (3) raising the awareness of the public and industry on the environmental implications of salinity pollution; and (4) an elastic legal approach expressed through new state-of-the-art regulations. The main contributor to the salinity of sewage in Israel is the watersoftening process followed by the meat koshering process. Some of the adopted technical solutions are: the discharge of the brine into the sea, the substitution of sodium by potassium salts in the ion-exchangers, the construction of centralized systems for the supply of soft water in industrial areas, the precipitation of Ca and Mg in the effluents from ion-exchangers and recycling of the NaCI solution, a reduction of the discharge of salts by the meat koshering process, and new membrane technology for salt recovery.