Environmental cost of using poor decision metrics to prioritize environmental projects

Conservation decision makers commonly use project‐scoring metrics that are inconsistent with theory on optimal ranking of projects. As a result, there may often be a loss of environmental benefits. We estimated the magnitudes of these losses for various metrics that deviate from theory in ways that are common in practice. These metrics included cases where relevant variables were omitted from the benefits metric, project costs were omitted, and benefits were calculated using a faulty functional form. We estimated distributions of parameters from 129 environmental projects from Australia, New Zealand, and Italy for which detailed analyses had been completed previously. The cost of using poor prioritization metrics (in terms of lost environmental values) was often high—up to 80% in the scenarios we examined. The cost in percentage terms was greater when the budget was smaller. The most costly errors were omitting information about environmental values (up to 31% loss of environmental values), omitting project costs (up to 35% loss), omitting the effectiveness of management actions (up to 9% loss), and using a weighted‐additive decision metric for variables that should be multiplied (up to 23% loss). The latter 3 are errors that occur commonly in real‐world decision metrics, in combination often reducing potential benefits from conservation investments by 30–50%. Uncertainty about parameter values also reduced the benefits from investments in conservation projects but often not by as much as faulty prioritization metrics.     

Hannah Arendt’s turn to the self and environmental responses to climate change paralysis

Environmentalists have struggled with how to mobilize people to act in the face of widespread and now inevitable consequences of climate change. Significant responses to this challenge, such as incentivizing individual Green choices in the market and avoiding the rhetoric of catastrophe, continue the philosophical and political trends, identified by Hannah Arendt, that contribute to world alienation and the decline of politics. Environmental thinkers are invited to use Arendt’s theories of the turn to the self and political action to think critically about contemporary strategies to address climate change.     

Computing sustainable manufacturing index with fuzzy analytic hierarchy process

The growing industrial interest in adopting sustainability programmes has ushered in studies regarding sustainability indicators which have continually flourished in current literature. However, limited attention is given to the development of priority ranking, which is an important input for any adopting firm. This paper presents a hybrid multi-criteria approach in determining priority areas in sustainable manufacturing (SM). Using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to address uncertainty in hierarchical decision-making, this paper determines SM priority strategies and eventually identifies even lower level strategies. The computed sustainable manufacturing index is presented at both the organizational and operational levels for a real case study of an industrial plastic manufacturing firm. This work provides a detailed and transparent hierarchical decision-making approach based on SM framework, the use of which could be valuable to practicing managers across industries in their pursuit of greater sustainability.     

Credibility and advocacy in conservation science

Conservation policy sits at the nexus of natural science and politics. On the one hand, conservation scientists strive to maintain scientific credibility by emphasizing that their research findings are the result of disinterested observations of reality. On the other hand, conservation scientists are committed to conservation even if they do not advocate a particular policy. The professional conservation literature offers guidance on negotiating the relationship between scientific objectivity and political advocacy without damaging conservation science's credibility. The value of this guidance, however, may be restricted by limited recognition of credibility's multidimensionality and emergent nature: it emerges through perceptions of expertise, goodwill, and trustworthiness. We used content analysis of the literature to determine how credibility is framed in conservation science as it relates to apparent contradictions between science and advocacy. Credibility typically was framed as a static entity lacking dimensionality. Authors identified expertise or trustworthiness as important, but rarely mentioned goodwill. They usually did not identify expertise, goodwill, or trustworthiness as dimensions of credibility or recognize interactions among these 3 dimensions of credibility. This oversimplification may limit the ability of conservation scientists to contribute to biodiversity conservation. Accounting for the emergent quality and multidimensionality of credibility should enable conservation scientists to advance biodiversity conservation more effectively.     

推拉理论视角下的农村宅基地退出机制研究——基于南京市栖霞区农户意愿调查

以推拉理论为视角,分别从农村宅基地作为资源和资产属性以及拥有农村宅基地使用权的农民迁移到城市这两个角度,重新梳理影响农户宅基地退出意愿的因素,建立了农村宅基地退出影响因素的推拉分析框架。在理论分析的基础上,利用在南京市栖霞区农村实地调查得到的数据,建立二元Logistic模型归纳主要影响农户退出意愿的推力和拉力因素。研究发现,受教育水平、农户年总收入、家庭居住人口数和农户是否参加农村养老保险是宅基地退出的主要推动因素;而非农业收入占比、外出务工人口数、是否参加城镇养老保险、是否拥有城镇住所、是否有宅基地产权证书以及宅基地抵押权认知情况是影响宅基地退出的主要拉力因素。基于以上的影响因素分析,提出完善农村宅基地退出机制的政策建议。     

Some happy,others sad: exploring environmental justice in solid waste management in Kinshasa,The Democratic Republic of Congo

This paper explores the concept of environmental justice (EJ) in solid waste management (SWM) in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It evaluates the extent to which EJ occurs in SWM and discusses the factors accounting for this state of affairs. The paper examines the relevant theoretical framework(s) and mechanisms that would facilitate the attainment of EJ in Kinshasa. It is argued that solid waste (SW) often ends up in the poorest and least powerful communities in the cities of the DRC. A qualitative research methodology, which includes exhaustive critical review of the literature, system analysis, reflections from best practices through case studies and discussion with stakeholders, was used for this study. Findings revealed that SWM in Kinshasa is a duty entrusted to publicly-funded municipal authorities. There are evidences of a clear divide between the rich and poor neighbourhoods in the manner SW is managed. This is an inequality that has only recently begun to be recognised as injustice practices in SWM. It is argued that a politico-cultural mechanism on remedying SWM inequities could enable changes that will address EJ in Kinshasa. Such a solution will go directly against the prevailing notion “some happy, others sad”.     

Applying network theory to prioritize multispecies habitat networks that are robust to climate and land‐use change

Designing connected landscapes is among the most widespread strategies for achieving biodiversity conservation targets. The challenge lies in simultaneously satisfying the connectivity needs of multiple species at multiple spatial scales under uncertain climate and land‐use change. To evaluate the contribution of remnant habitat fragments to the connectivity of regional habitat networks, we developed a method to integrate uncertainty in climate and land‐use change projections with the latest developments in network‐connectivity research and spatial, multipurpose conservation prioritization. We used land‐use change simulations to explore robustness of species’ habitat networks to alternative development scenarios. We applied our method to 14 vertebrate focal species of periurban Montreal, Canada. Accounting for connectivity in spatial prioritization strongly modified conservation priorities and the modified priorities were robust to uncertain climate change. Setting conservation priorities based on habitat quality and connectivity maintained a large proportion of the region's connectivity, despite anticipated habitat loss due to climate and land‐use change. The application of connectivity criteria alongside habitat‐quality criteria for protected‐area design was efficient with respect to the amount of area that needs protection and did not necessarily amplify trade‐offs among conservation criteria. Our approach and results are being applied in and around Montreal and are well suited to the design of ecological networks and green infrastructure for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services in other regions, in particular regions around large cities, where connectivity is critically low.     

三峡库区移民贫困致因的精准识别与减贫路径的实证研究

随着我国经济发展和扶贫成效的显现,老区、山区、民族地区和移民库区等集中连片的特殊贫困区已经成为我国当前精准扶贫的主战场。由于面临生产资料匮乏、生态环境恶化和地质灾害频发等恶劣环境,库区移民贫困问题已成为新时期扶贫攻坚最难啃的"硬骨头"。因此,开展库区移民贫困致因的精准识别与减贫路径研究具有重要的现实意义。基于对库区移民贫困现状的扎根理论分析,本文提出了分析农户生计的新框架。在此基础上,本文以三峡库区26个县(区)为研究对象,随机抽取4县(区)796户移民作为样本,首先,采用灰色关联分析法和熵权法对库区移民主要致贫因子进行挖掘;接着,采用PLS-SEM模型分析影响库区移民生计状况的关键因子和关键路径。研究表明:(1)三峡库区移民贫困现象仍很严重,患病、劳动能力弱和失地是移民致贫的三大主因。三峡库区仍有175.94万人生活在贫困线以下,三大致贫原因依次是:因病致贫26.49%、因劳动能力弱致贫22.10%和失地致贫21.65%。(2)心理资本可有效促进移民其他资本效能的发挥,对生计状况存在着显著的直接效应和间接效应。(3)在影响生计状况的四类资本中,人力资本对库区移民生计状况影响最大。基于以上发现,本文提出了实现库区移民精准脱贫的政策建议:(1)国家应高度重视三峡库区移民贫困问题,大力开展精准扶贫;(2)增加心理干预措施以提高移民心理资本存量,帮助移民摆脱心理贫困;(3)开展劳动力技能培训,提高库区移民人力资本水平。     

基于博弈论的非点源污染控制模型探讨

随着对工业和城市生活污水等点源污染治理能力的不断增强,农业非点源污染对水质环境的影响日益凸现.相对于点源污染,非点源污染发生的不确定时间、不确定途径、不确定量等特点给治理政策的制定带来很大难度.本文从著名的公地悲剧现象出发,着力从市场博弈及政府监督博弈两个模型分析非点源污染制造者之间的博弈格局,并提出以“集体表现”的形式对非点源污染进行管理和控制.市场博弈模型中以一定的排污削减目标为前提,确定以成本最优的原则进行点源-非点源排污权交易是可行且有效率的；而政府监督博弈模型的结果显示:合理的环境补贴和惩罚机制、政府对自身声誉及公众形象的重视及维护对非点源污染治理起正向促进作用.     

正常污泥和膨胀污泥中EPS膜污染特性及其与膜表面作用能分析

胞外聚合物(Extracellular polymeric substance,EPS)是导致膜污染的重要物质,且不同形态污泥的EPS具有不同的性质,研究正常污泥和膨胀污泥的EPS膜污染特性具有重要意义.因此,实验考察了正常污泥和膨胀污泥的膜污染速率.结果表明,膨胀污泥膜污染速率远高于正常污泥,膨胀污泥EPS(Bulking sludge-EPS,BS-EPS)浓度((172.9±10.4) mg·g-1)明显高于正常污泥EPS(Normal sludge-EPS,NS-EPS)浓度((95.9±6 6) mg·g-1),且膨胀污泥的蛋白质/多糖(Protein/Carbohydrate,P/C)值(2.26)高于正常污泥的P/C值(1 97)此外,通过序批式吸附实验研究了正常污泥和膨胀污泥的EPS膜污染差异,并基于Derjaguine-Landaue-Verweye-Overbeek (XDLVO)理论计算了EPS与PVDF膜表面之间的作用能结果表明,EPS-膜系统的总界面能为负值,即EPS-膜系统之间会发生自吸附行为,而膜与BS-EPS的总界面能(-63.943mJ.m2)较膜与NS-EPS(-56.366 mJ·m2)具有较高的能量,因此,BS-EPS与膜的吸附力较强;NS-EPS和BS-EPS主要能量壁垒分别为8.89 kT和7.51 kT,表明NS-EPS与膜之间的排斥力更强,因而BS-EPS更容易造成膜污染