Fine‐resolution conservation planning with limited climate‐change information

Climate‐change induced uncertainties in future spatial patterns of conservation‐related outcomes make it difficult to implement standard conservation‐planning paradigms. A recent study translates Markowitz's risk‐diversification strategy from finance to conservation settings, enabling conservation agents to use this diversification strategy for allocating conservation and restoration investments across space to minimize the risk associated with such uncertainty. However, this method is information intensive and requires a large number of forecasts of ecological outcomes associated with possible climate‐change scenarios for carrying out fine‐resolution conservation planning. We developed a technique for iterative, spatial portfolio analysis that can be used to allocate scarce conservation resources across a desired level of subregions in a planning landscape in the absence of a sufficient number of ecological forecasts. We applied our technique to the Prairie Pothole Region in central North America. A lack of sufficient future climate information prevented attainment of the most efficient risk‐return conservation outcomes in the Prairie Pothole Region. The difference in expected conservation returns between conservation planning with limited climate‐change information and full climate‐change information was as large as 30% for the Prairie Pothole Region even when the most efficient iterative approach was used. However, our iterative approach allowed finer resolution portfolio allocation with limited climate‐change forecasts such that the best possible risk‐return combinations were obtained. With our most efficient iterative approach, the expected loss in conservation outcomes owing to limited climate‐change information could be reduced by 17% relative to other iterative approaches.     

Dynamics of local governance in natural resource conservation in the Okavango Delta,Botswana

There has been a shift in natural resource management worldwide. This paper describes how modern institutions and policies influence management and shape access to and utilization of resources by rural communities in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. It is rooted in the framework of adaptive co‐governance within social‐ecological systems, and employs a critical literature review to analyse access to and use of natural resources in rural Botswana. Prior to the establishment of community‐based natural resource management (CBNRM) in Botswana in 1989, resource governance was dominated by strong traditional institutions that were responsible for natural resource management and decision‐making. Contemporary natural resource governance is characterized by a bureaucratic system that invariably undermines the role of traditional institutions in natural resource governance. Findings indicate that policies and regulatory instruments deny rural communities adequate access to and utilization of resources available within their immediate environment. In spite of an orientation towards an anthropocentric approach to natural resource management (as in the case of CBNRM), the current governance system continues to undermine the inclusion of local resource users as legitimate stakeholders in the decision‐making process.     

黑水河下游鱼类资源现状及其保护措施

为了解白鹤滩蓄水运行前黑水河下游鱼类资源的现状、受到的主要威胁及其保护措施,于2014年1~12月在黑水河下游干支流江段采用电捕法进行了渔获物调查。结果显示:12个月共调查发现鱼类28种,隶属于3目8科23属,其中喜流水生境、产粘沉性卵、以着生藻类或/和底栖动物为食物的鱼类种类较多;调查区域鱼类个体规格普遍较小,其中齐口裂腹鱼Schizothorax prenanti、短体副鳅Paracobitis potanini、红尾副鳅Paracobitis varigatus、短须裂腹鱼Schizothorax wangchiachii、前鳍高原鳅Triplophysa anterodorsalis、中华纹胸鮡Glyptothorax sinense和凹尾拟鲿Pseudobagrus emarginatus为调查区域的主要经济鱼类;上半年和下半年的渔获物结构在统计学上差异显著(R=0.81,p=0.1%0.05),鱼类在金沙江干流和黑水河下游之间的相互迁徙比较明显;CPUE呈现先波动下降然后逐月上升的趋势,其中10月份的CPUE最低;丰度生物量比较曲线显示2014年各月的渔获物结构均处于严重干扰状态。黑水河下游河道采砂以及过度捕捞是白鹤滩蓄水前影响黑水河下游鱼类资源的主要因素,建议通过控制采砂的江段、采砂的时间以及全面禁捕保护该区域的鱼类资源。     

自然资源资产及其负债表编制与审计

自然资源资产仍然是一个新概念,还需要在理论和方法层面进行系统的研究。就当今及今后一个时期看,自然资源资产负债表的编制和自然资源资产审计,是亟需研究的理论和现实问题。在此,重点对自然资源资产的概念、属性、分类进行探讨,并就自然资源资产负债表及编制的重点与基础,自然资源资产审计及其重点与方式等,进行系统讨论。     

深化水资源水环境政策改革,积极推动环境社会治理——PACE20周年纪念大会会议综述

中国工程院国际工程科技高端论坛暨PACE 20周年纪念大会于2017年8月28~29日在北京举行。PACE 20周年大会就"水资源水环境政策"和"环境社会治理"两个主题进行了深入研讨,并达成以下共识:政府治理是中国水资源水环境治理的主导模式,但目前我国水资源水环境政府治理仍面临政策不规范、立法不完善、监管不到位等实质性的问题,要积极促进政策的制定与执行;环境社会治理是我国环境治理的短板,环境治理不仅需要政府的主导,更需要社会上的利益相关方参与政策制定、监督与执行过程,更需要社会各行为主体的自觉自主行动,促进环境行为改善,化解由环境引起的社会矛盾。     

Long-term evaluation of coal fly ash and mine tailings co-placement: A site-specific study

This study presents the results of a laboratory investigation conducted to evaluate the efficiency of coal fly ash to control the formation of acid mine drainage (AMD) from mine waste. Site-specific materials, coal fly ash from Atikokan Thermal Generating Station and mine tailings from Musselwhite mine, were mixed at different proportions for the investigation of the drainage chemistry and the optimal mix using static testing (acid–base accounting) and kinetic (column) testing. The acid–base accounting (ABA) results indicated that the fly ash possessed strong alkaline (neutralization) potential (NP) and could be used in the management of reactive mine tailings, thus ensuring prevention of AMD in the long-term. Column tests conducted in the laboratory to further investigate long-term performance of fly ash in the neutralization and prevention of acid mine drainage from tailings similarly showed that mixing fly ash with mine tailings reduces dissolution of many heavy metals from tailings by providing alkalinity to the system. It was found that a fly ash to tailings mass ratio equal to or greater than 15% can effectively prevent AMD generation from Musselwhite mine tailings in the co-placement approach.     

Review of Agri-Environment Indexes and Stewardship Payments

Agri-environment programs aim to secure environmental and social stewardship services through payments to farmers. A critical component of many agri-environment programs is an agri-environment index (AEI) used to quantify benefits and target investments. An AEI will typically comprise multiple indicators, which are weighted and combined using a utility function, to measure the benefit of investment options (e.g., projects, farms, regions). This article presents a review of AEIs with 11 case studies from agri-environment programs in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. We identify a generic procedure used to define AEIs and explore the implications of alternative methodological approaches. We conclude that AEIs have become an extremely important policy instrument and make suggestions for their improvement.     

香港典型地质遗迹资源与地质公园建设

香港素以金融、商业贸易中心闻名于世界,但香港境内所发育的曲折有致的岩石海岸、幽远宁静的海滩、巍峨多姿的群山、造型奇异的岛礁,弥足珍贵的自然生态和地质遗迹资源却鲜为人知。本文在对香港地质概况进行简单介绍的基础上,对香港地质遗迹资源进行系统分类和对比分析,指出西贡万宜水库至果洲群岛方圆近150 km2范围内发育的十分典型、极具规模的六方柱状节理构造景观是世界上同类岩石中罕见的地质现象,其分布面积大,露头完整,具有稀缺性、独特性和典型性,最后对香港国家地质公园一个公园,两个园区,八个景区的空间结构及每个园区的主要地质遗迹资源进行了系统归纳总结。香港国家地质公园的建立很好的起到了保育地质多样性的首要目标,同时很好地推动了香港的地质教育和科普发展。     

Can we take the pulse of environmental governance the way we take the pulse of nature? Applying the Freshwater Health Index in Latin America

Quantitative assessments have long been used to evaluate the condition of the natural environment, providing information for standard setting, adaptive management, and monitoring. Similar approaches have been developed to measure environmental governance, however, the end result (e.g., numeric indicators) belies the subjective and normative judgments that are involved in evaluating governance. We demonstrate a framework that makes this information transparent, through an application of the Freshwater Health Index in three different river basins in Latin America. Water Governance is measured on a 0–100 scale, using data derived from perception-based surveys administered to stakeholders. Results suggest that water governance is a primary area of concern in all three places, with low overall scores (Guandu-26, Alto Mayo-38, Bogotá-43). We conclude that this approach to measuring governance at the river basin scale provides valuable information to support monitoring and decision making, and we offer suggestions on how it can be improved.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01407-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

碱活化过一硫酸盐降解水中环丙沙星

采用碱活化过一硫酸盐(peroxymonosulfate,PMS)对环丙沙星(ciprofloxacin,CIP)的去除进行了系统地研究.结果表明,碱活化PMS体系能够高效地去除CIP.通过自由基捕获实验确定了单线态氧(~1O_2)和超氧自由基(O_2~-·)是反应体系中的主要活性物种.NaOH浓度、PMS浓度、反应温度和共存阴离子等对CIP在碱活化PMS体系中的去除均有一定影响.随着NaOH和PMS浓度的增加,CIP的降解均呈现出先增加后降低的趋势.提高反应温度能够加大CIP的反应速率,经过阿伦尼乌斯方程拟合得到的反应活化能为5.09 k J·mol~(-1).不同的阴离子对CIP的去除呈现不同的影响:Cl~-、SO_4~(2-)和NO_3~-对CIP的降解没有呈现明显的作用,H_2PO_4~(2-)能够有效地抑制环丙沙星的去除,而CO_3~(2-)极大地促进了反应进程.通过UPLC-MS/MS可检测到10种降解产物,CIP分子结构中的哌嗪环易于受到活性物种的攻击.