Theoretical orientations in environmental planning: An inquiry into alternative approaches

In the process of devising courses of action to resolve problems arising at the society-environment interface, a variety of planning approaches are followed, whose adoption is influenced by—among other things—the characteristics of environmental problems, the nature of the decision-making context, and the intellectual traditions of the disciplines contributing to the study of these problems. This article provides a systematic analysis of six alternative environmental planning approaches—comprehensive/rational, incremental, adaptive, contingency, advocacy, and participatory/consensual. The relative influence of the abovementioned factors is examined, the occurrence of these approaches in real-world situations is noted, and their environmental soundness and political realism is evaluated. Because of the disparity between plan formulation and implementation and between theoretical form and empirical reality, a synthetic view of environmental planning approaches is taken and approachesin action are identified, which characterize the totality of the planning process from problem definition to plan implementation, as well as approachesin the becoming, which may be on the horizon of environmental planning of tomorrow. The suggested future research directions include case studies to verify and detail the presence of the approaches discussed, developing measures of success of a given approach in a given decision setting, and an intertemporal analysis of environmental planning approaches.     

PAST AND FUTURE OF ANALYSIS OF WATER RESOURCES TIME SERIES1

ABSTRACT: water resources supply and demand time series consist of several or all of the four basic characteristics: tendency, intermittency, periodicity and stochasticity. Their importance changes from one type of variables to another. Historic developments of analysis of time series in hydrology have varied significantly over the past, from the stress on search for periodicities and persistence in annual series to the emphasis on the series stochastic properties. Supply and demand series are often highly interrelated, which fact is most often neglected in planning water resources systems in general, and water storage capacities in particular. The future of series analysis in water resources will likely be by a joint use of physically-based structural analysis and the use of advanced methods of treating data by stochastic processes, statistical estimation and inference techniques. The most intriguing challenge of the future of this analysis may be the treatment of nonnormal, nonlinear and in general nonstationary hydrologic and water use time series. The proper treatment of complex multivariate processes will also challenge the specialists, especially for the purposes of transfer of information between data on variables at given points, or between data at several points of a given variable, or both.     

A review of WTO and environmental issues

Multiple negotiating rounds of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and World Trade Organization (WTO) since 1947 have conferred economic benefits through liberalized international trade. A growing body of evidence also points to linkages between liberalized trade and damage to the global environment, ecology, and natural resource base. Ironically, the increased economic well-being conferred by trade liberalization ultimately provides the basis for improved environmental protection. It is the interim environmental damage due to trade liberalization that is controversial and needing amelioration. The proposition here is to promote further trade liberalization, but only as long as environmental ethics and sustainability issues are satisfactorily addressed. Trade liberalization should not be permitted at the expense of adequate environmental protection and sustainability. Future WTO rounds need to address both development benefits and environmental ethics issues in a net social welfare maximization setting.     

对沙漠化成因机制和治理途径的思考

我国土地沙漠化经过近半个世纪的研究与治理,目前沙漠化土面积仍然在以每年２４６０ｋｍ＾２的速度扩展,而且还有加速扩大的趋势。这就要求我们对以往沙漠化的研究治理进行反思,寻找它的症结所在。现代沙漠化主要是由于人的过度经济活动对资源的破坏造成的。其根本原因是由于人口压力过大。本文通过对沙漠成化因机制和当前沙漠化治理症结的分析,提出了沙漠化治理的新思路。     

A Review of WTO and Environmental Issues

Multiple negotiating rounds of the GeneralAgreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and World TradeOrganization (WTO) since 1947 have conferred economicbenefits through liberalized international trade. Agrowing body of evidence also points to linkagesbetween liberalized trade and damage to the globalenvironment, ecology, and natural resource base.Ironically, the increased economic well-beingconferred by trade liberalization ultimately providesthe basis for improved environmental protection. It isthe interim environmental damage due to tradeliberalization that is controversial and needingamelioration. The proposition here is to promotefurther trade liberalization, but only as long asenvironmental ethics and sustainability issues aresatisfactorily addressed. Trade liberalization shouldnot be permitted at the expense of adequateenvironmental protection and sustainability. FutureWTO rounds need to address both development benefitsand environmental ethics issues in a net socialwelfare maximization setting.     

People and biodiversity in the 21st century: This article belongs to Ambio’s 50th Anniversary Collection. Theme: Biodiversity conservation

Fifty years have elapsed since the first publication of Ambio. Throughout this period, fundamental changes have occurred in societal attitudes to biodiversity conservation. Ambio has published numerous papers that have aligned with these new approaches. High citations numbers suggest that Ambio papers have had a significant impact on conservation strategies. We review these publications and find that they align well with changed societal perspectives on biodiversity. Ambio papers have called for greater contributions of local and indigenous peoples and for conservation in multi-functional landscapes. The 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity built on these principles. Negotiations are now underway for a post-2020 framework for biodiversity. Ambio papers have argued for a stronger scientific basis for conservation and for the need to adapt to changing conditions and to the rich diversity of societal preferences for conservation. International processes favor simple, generalizable approaches to conservation but we call for recognition of the diversity of ecological and human conditions in which conservation occurs. There is a need to build capacity to support a diversity of conservation approaches that are adapted to changing local conditions and to the priorities of diverse human societies.     

Micropollutant removal and disinfection byproduct control by sequential peroxymonosulfate-UV treatment in water: A case study with sulfamethoxazole

UV/peroxymonosulfate (UV/PMS) advanced oxidation process has attracted significant attention for removal of micropollutants in water. However, during practical water treatment applications, the PMS treatment must be performed before the UV treatment to achieve full contact. In this study, sulfamethoxazole (SMX) was selected as the target micropollutant. Four different operational approaches, including UV alone, PMS alone, simultaneous UV/PMS and sequential PMS-UV, were compared for their differences in SMX removal and disinfection by-product (DBP) formation potentials during chlorine-driven disinfection. Among the four approaches, UV/PMS and PMS-UV achieved over 90% removal efficiencies for SMX without substantial differences. For raw water, the trichloronitromethane (TCNM) formation potential after treatment with PMS-UV was lower than that after UV/PMS treatment. The time interval over which the PMS-UV process was conducted had little effect on the final removal efficiency for SMX. However, a brief (5 min) pre-PMS treatment significantly reduced the TCNM formation potential and the genotoxicity from DBPs. The formation risk for TCNM during chlorination increased markedly with increasing PMS dosages, and the appropriate dosage under these experimental conditions was suggested to be 0.5–1.0 mmol/L. Under alkaline conditions, PMS-UV treatment can enhance SMX degradation as well as dramatically reduced the formation potentials for haloketones, haloacetonitriles and halonitromethanes. This study suggests that proper optimization of UV/PMS processes can remove SMX and reduce its DBP formation.     

高校图书馆社会化服务的分析

通过阐述国内外高校图书馆的社会化服务现状和主要方式,指出了高校图书馆社会化服务存在着政策法规、思想观念、资源共享和管理体制方面的障碍。在此基础上,提出了高校图书馆开展社会化服务的创新方式：开拓创新,与企事业单位合作;突破思想障碍,争取政策扶持;增强宣传力度,提高知晓度;资源共享,与公共图书馆合作。     

城市生活垃圾的生物工程堆肥化利用

在建立节约型社会、发展循环经济时代,通过对城市生活垃圾3种处理方法的比较得出,以堆肥方式通过生物工程技术对城市生活垃圾进行科学合理处置,是达到城市生活垃圾无害化、资源化、减量化、规模化处理的最佳选择。     

Understanding why consumers in China switch between wild,farmed, and synthetic bear bile products

An important rationale for legally farmed and synthetic wildlife products is that they reduce illegal, wild-sourced trade by supplying markets with sustainable alternatives. For this to work, more established illegal-product consumers must switch to legal alternatives than new legal-product consumers switch to illegal wild products. Despite the widespread debate on the magnitude and direction of switching, studies among actual consumers are lacking. We used an anonymous online survey of 1421 traditional Chinese medicine consumers in China to investigate switching among legal farmed, synthetic, and illegal wild bear bile. We examined the past consumption behavior, applied a discrete choice experiment framed within worsening hypothetical disease scenarios, and used latent class models to investigate groups with shared preferences. Bear bile consumers (86% respondents) were wealthier, more likely to have family who consumed bile, and less knowledgeable about bile treatments than nonconsumers. Consumer preferences were heterogenous, but most consumer preferences switched between bile types as disease worsened. We identified five distinct latent classes within our sample: law-abiding consumers (34% respondents), who prefer legal products and were unlikely to switch; two all-natural consumer groups (53%), who dislike synthetics but may switch between farmed and wild; and two nonconsumer groups (12%), who prefer not to buy bile. People with past experience of bile consumption had different preferences than those without. Willingness to switch to wild products was related to believing they were legal, although the likelihood of switching was mediated by preferences for cheaper products sold in legal, familiar places. We found that consumers of wild bile may switch to legal alternatives, given the availability of a range of products, whereas legal-product consumers may switch to illegal products if the barriers to doing so are small. Understanding preferences that promote or impede switching should be a key consideration when attempting to predict consumer behavior in complex wildlife markets.