Policy implementation of the Republic Act (RA) No. 9003 in the Philippines: A case study of Cebu city

Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) is considered to be one of the most serious environmental issues in the Philippines. The annual waste generation was estimated at 10.6 million tonnes in 2012 and this is expected to double in 2025. The Republic Act (RA) No. 9003, widely known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, provides the required policy framework, institutional mechanisms and mandate to the Local Government Units (LGUs) to achieve 25% waste reduction target through establishing an integrated solid waste management plan based on the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycling). Although the initial impact of the LGUs is still very limited in implementing the national mandate, this article highlights the successful experiences of Cebu, the second largest city in the Philippines, in reducing its MSW generation by more than 30% in the past three years. This study also explores the implementation process, innovative actions taken by the Cebu City Government in implementing the national mandate at local level and identifies the factors that influence the policy implementation. The findings suggest that the impacts of the national mandate can be achieved if the LGUs have the high degree of political commitment, planning and development of effective local strategies in a collaborative manner to meet with local conditions, partnership building with other stakeholders, capacity development, adequate financing and incentives, and in the close monitoring and evaluation of performance.     

Defining Historical Baselines for Conservation: Ecological Changes Since European Settlement on Vancouver Island,Canada

Abstract: Conservation and restoration goals are often defined by historical baseline conditions that occurred prior to a particular period of human disturbance, such as European settlement in North America. Nevertheless, if ecosystems were heavily influenced by native peoples prior to European settlement, conservation efforts may require active management rather than simple removal of or reductions in recent forms of disturbance. We used pre‐European settlement land survey records (1859–1874) and contemporary vegetation surveys to assess changes over the past 150 years in tree species and habitat composition, forest density, and tree size structure on southern Vancouver Island and Saltspring Island, British Columbia, Canada. Several lines of evidence support the hypothesis that frequent historical burning by native peoples, and subsequent fire suppression, have played dominant roles in shaping this landscape. First, the relative frequency of fire‐sensitive species (e.g., cedar [Thuja plicata]) has increased, whereas fire‐tolerant species (e.g., Douglas‐fir [Pseudotsuga menziesii]) have decreased. Tree density has increased 2‐fold, and the proportion of the landscape in forest has greatly increased at the expense of open habitats (plains, savannas), which today contain most of the region's threatened species. Finally, the frequency distribution of tree size has shifted from unimodal to monotonically decreasing, which suggests removal of an important barrier to tree recruitment. In addition, although most of the open habitats are associated with Garry oak (Quercus garryana) at present, most of the open habitats prior to European settlement were associated with Douglas‐fir, which suggests that the current focus on Garry oak as a flagship for the many rare species in savannas may be misguided. Overall, our results indicate that the maintenance and restoration of open habitats will require active management and that historical records can provide critical guidance to such efforts.     

中国耕地非农化压力时空格局的演变分析

社会经济和资源禀赋的区域差异导致耕地非农化压力表现出明显的空间异质性。开展耕地非农化压力测算并揭示其时空格局演变,是实现土地资源优化配置的基础。从经济因素、社会因素、产业结构和资源禀赋4个方面构建耕地非农化压力指数评价指标体系,采用熵值法计算各指标权重,继而计算1990~2014年中国31省的耕地非农化压力指数,并在此基础上开展了耕地非农化压力的时空格局分析。结果表明:(1)从空间格局分布来看,中国耕地非农化压力空间分布呈现明显的地理梯度,总体上呈现从东到西依次递减的态势。(2)从时间变化趋势来看,不同地区各省份之间的耕地非农化压力指数变化呈现多元化趋势。东部沿海地区,山东、浙江、江苏的耕地非农化压力指数处于上升阶段,上海、福建的压力指数变化趋势逐渐趋稳,广东的压力指数呈现下降趋势。中部地区,河南、河北、山西、江西的耕地非农化压力指数趋稳,陕西、湖北以及四川、重庆等西南地区省份的压力指数呈上升趋势。西部沿边3省(云南、西藏、新疆)的耕地非农化压力呈现了一致的下降趋势。(3)从时空格局结合来看,耕地非农化压力不同的省份其变化趋势呈现出截然不同的走向。在耕地非农化压力较大的地区,耕地非农化经历了从制度驱动向发展推动的阶段,经济增长的倒"U"型轨迹明显,经济增长与耕地非农化之间的关系逐渐脱钩。在耕地非农化压力居中或较小的地区,产业发展滞后,土地比较收益较低,耕地的社会保障作用、生态作用对耕地非农化的影响较大,从而增加了部分省份的耕地非农化压力。     

恐惧诉求对职业驾驶员安全驾驶态度和行为意向的影响

研究以EPPM模型作为理论框架,探讨恐惧诉求对危险驾驶行为(超速和不系安全带)态度和行为意向的作用。54名职业驾驶员在观看交通安全恐惧诉求录像后,完成安全驾驶行为问卷。回归分析表明恐惧诉求的交通事故录像能够改变驾驶员对超速及不系安全带驾驶的态度和行为意向,但作用不完全一致。恐惧情绪唤起通过恐惧情感所引发的威胁评估过程中介对不超速行为意向的影响。最后,对研究的局限和未来的研究进行讨论。     

Penicillin fermentation residue biochar as a high-performance electrode for membrane capacitive deionization

● We have provided an activated method to remove the toxicity of antibiotic residue. ● PFRB can greatly improve the salt adsorption capacity of MCDI. ● The hierarchical porous and abundant O/N-doped played the key role for the high-capacity desalination. ● A new field of reuse of penicillin fermentation residue has been developed. Membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) is an efficient desalination technology for brine. Penicillin fermentation residue biochar (PFRB) possesses a hierarchical porous and O/N-doped structure which could serve as a high-capacity desalination electrode in the MCDI system. Under optimal conditions (electrode weight, voltage, and concentration) and a carbonization temperature of 700 °C, the maximum salt adsorption capacity of the electrode can reach 26.4 mg/g, which is higher than that of most carbon electrodes. Furthermore, the electrochemical properties of the PFRB electrode were characterized through cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) with a maximum specific capacitance of 212.18 F/g. Finally, biotoxicity tests have showed that PFRB was non-biotoxin against luminescent bacteria and the MCDI system with the PFRB electrode remained stable even after 27 adsorption–desorption cycles. This study provides a novel way to recycle penicillin residue and an electrode that can achieve excellent desalination.     

天津市工业行业全要素能源效率变动的影响因素分析

天津市作为一个典型的工业城市,工业行业能源效率水平决定了其能否完成"十二五"期间单位生产总值能耗比"十一五"末下降18%的国家节能降耗考核目标。正确把握影响工业行业能源效率变动的因素是天津市寻求节能降耗途径的关键。本文以1998-2008年天津市工业行业的能源消耗面板数据为样本,通过引入非参数Malmquist生产率指数,从技术进步、纯技术效率和规模效率指数角度分析天津市工业行业全要素能源效率变化情况,并运用Tobit模型估计工业化水平、工业内部结构、技术进步、产权结构、政府影响力、进出口贸易和能源消费结构等要素对工业行业全要素能源效率变化的影响程度。研究表明:1998-2008年期间,天津市工业行业间的能源效率差异显著,整体全要素能源效率不断提高,技术进步是其提高的主要原因,但技术效率表现为负增长;工业化水平、技术进步、进出口贸易和能源消费结构的调整对工业行业能源效率的提升具有不同程度的促进作用,但重工业和国有经济比重的增加及政府对能源市场的干预对能源效率的提升起负向作用。因此,天津市工业行业能源效率的进一步提高,需要大力开发、推广和使用先进技术及设备,加强对外开放力度,降低重工业和国有经济比重,充分发挥市场调节能源配置的优势。     

石羊河流域生态脆弱性评价研究

综合分析自然条件和人类活动对区域生态系统的两方面影响，建立了生态脆弱性评价指标体系，运用层次分析法和综合指数法计算了石羊河流域9县（区）的生态脆弱度分值。根据计算结果，将石羊河流域划分为4级生态脆弱区，分别为极强度脆弱区、强度脆弱区、中度脆弱区和轻度脆弱区。在此基础上，对各脆弱区提出生态治理对策，为今后流域开展生态经济功能区划提供依据。     

Inorganic iodine incorporation into soil organic matter: evidence from iodine K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure

The transformation of inorganic iodine (I⁻ and IO₃⁻) incubated in soils with varying amounts of organic matter (Andosols from the surface layer of an upland field and forest, as well as Acrisols from surface and subsurface layers of an upland field) was investigated by using the iodine K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES). After 60 d of reaction, both I⁻ and IO₃⁻ were transformed into organoiodine in surface soils containing sufficient amounts of organic matter, whereas IO₃⁻ remained unchanged in the subsurface soil of Acrisols with low organic matter contents. Transformation of IO₃⁻ into organoiodine was not retarded when the microbial activity in soil was reduced by γ-ray irradiation, suggesting that microbial activity was not essential for the transformation of inorganic iodine into organoiodine. Soil organic matter has the ability to transform inorganic iodine into organoiodine.     

旋流分离器油水分离效率的模拟研究

采用计算流体力学的方法,探讨了操作条件和物料特性对旋流分离器分离油水效率的影响。旋流器为单锥双入口,其主直径为50 mm,锥角为5.5°。模拟过程中,采用商业用软件‘Fluent 6.3’中的雷诺应力模型和欧拉多相流模型来模拟不同条件下油水旋流分离器的分离性能。模拟结果表明,对于本研究的油水旋流分离器,最佳的分流比是10%,最佳的油滴浓度是0.5%(V/V)。在最佳的分流比和油滴浓度下,当进口流速为10.46 m/s时,油水旋流分离器可将15μm的油滴去除80%以上,油滴的分离界限粒径d50(50%的分离效率)为9.2μm。在模拟的基础上,用统计软件STATISTICA6.0对分离效率与操作条件和物料特性之间的关系进行拟合。通过拟合式预测的分离效率与实测值相吻合,误差小于15%。     

房地产用地土壤污染环境风险评价——以江苏某搬迁企业原址用地为例

许多房地产项目都是在工业企业原址上进行开发建设,可能存在不同程度的土壤污染。土壤污染的评估和修复方案已成为房地产开发项目环评的重点,文中采用单因子指数法、内梅罗指数法和土壤背景值对照法对江苏某房地产用地土壤进行了环境风险评价,结果表明该地块不需要进行土壤修复和处置。