Making Capacity Building Meaningful: A Framework for Strategic Action

This paper aims to give practical meaning to ‘capacity building’ through (a) identifying a suite of practical measures, such as mentoring or best practice guidelines, that have been shown to or are considered to build human, social, institutional, and economic capital; (b) placing these measures within a broader systems framework; and (c) exploring stakeholder feedback on specific measures to inform framework implementation. The 29 measures described provide actors, whether government or nongovernment, with a suite of practical investment choices for building capacity. These measures are then clustered into eight groups according to their primary purpose and placed within a systems framework. The framework provides a tool for actors with responsibilities for or an interest in capacity building to inform more holistic and strategic targeting of effort and investment. Stakeholder feedback gathered through surveys and workshops is subsequently reported to further inform implementation of specific measures within the framework’s eight groupings. The framework presented may be built upon through the identification and inclusion of further capacity building measures. The research is conducted within the context of decentralized governance arrangements for natural resource management (NRM), with specific focus on Australia’s recently formalized 56 NRM regions and their community-based governing boards as an informative arena of learning. Application of the framework is explored in the Australian setting through the identification and comparison of measures supported and most preferred by four major stakeholder groups, namely board members, regional NRM organization staff, policy/research interests, and Indigenous interests. The research also examines stakeholder perceptions of capacity issues, and whether these issues are likely to be addressed through implementing their preferred measures.

黄孢原毛平革菌处理染料废水过程中细胞结构损伤效应研究

利用透射电子显微镜观察分析白腐真菌(黄孢原毛平革菌)在处理染料废水活性艳红X-3B过程中,染料和盐度对黄孢原毛平革菌的细胞结构产生的毒性作用.结果表明:活性艳红X-3B染料对黄孢原毛平革菌产生生物毒性作用,且随着染料浓度的增加,细胞受损伤程度不断加深.加入100 mg/L的染料活性艳红X-3B后,黄孢原毛平革菌菌丝细胞形态发生变化,出现质壁分离现象;染料浓度进一步加大,菌丝细胞超微结构受到损伤逐渐严重.染料废水中的盐度对黄孢原毛平革菌细胞也会造成损伤,且损伤程度随盐度增大而增大.NaCl浓度为3 g/L时,菌丝细胞发生质壁分离;而当NaCl加入量高于8 g/L时,细胞膜受损,线粒体、细胞核呈现空泡化,表现为受到不可逆的损伤.染料和盐双因子对黄孢原毛平革菌细胞的损伤效应表现为其损伤程度与单因子作用一致,且染料的影响作用占主导.     

SUSTAINABILITY AT THE LOCAL LEVEL: MANAGEMENT TOOLS AND MUNICIPAL TAX INCENTIVE MODEL

The implementation of sustainable development may seem a simple concept when written on paper. However to carry-out long term actions put forward by the Agenda 21 (AG21) at the local level represents one of the main challenges as municipal governments in general do not have the capacity to effectively implement the process. Regional environmental assessment (REA) has shown to be effective in supporting decision-making not only to correct environmental problems due to past unsustainable social-economic developments but also help local governments to implement sustainable actions. However this requires long-term investments of AG21 plans and projects. The allocation of regular and consistent financial resources is one of the main ingredients for the sustainable development process. But traditional plans and projects financed by national and/or international funds may not be sustainable in the long-term because they become dependent on external funding. Research demonstrate that innovative economic instruments such as ecotaxes represent a feasible alternative to sponsor local sustainability because taxes are collected permanently by the government and could be invested in continuous actions. Ecotaxes experiences have provided important reference to structure a municipal incentive model (MIM) to sponsor AG21’s environmental plans and projects on a long-term (permanent) basis. However sustainable development cannot be solely through economic investments. A comprehensive municipal environmental management scheme (MEMS) has been established to support the incentive model. The scheme seeks not only to improve local institutional framework but also incentive continuous participation of local stakeholders at all levels of society. Participatory events and the provision of incentives (educational and financial) are key to motivate society to protect the environment and support actively the sustainable development process as emphasised in the RIO-92 Conference.     

农村生活污水治理措施

介绍了适合于国内农村生活污水治理的一些技术与措施。沼气技术是当前处理农村生活污水的较佳选择。     

基于模糊层次综合法的炼铁厂评价模型及应用研究

运用模糊层次综合评价法建立炼铁厂安全评价的模型,该模型能有机地将炼铁厂的安全管理、设备设施、人员和环境等因素结合起来,依据各因素对系统安全影响的大小,决策者可对其采取相应的改进措施以有效地控制事故的发生。通过对炼铁厂安全性的分析,其评价结果和现实情况基本相符,能较为全面反映整个系统的安全性和各因素对系统安全性的影响大小,为炼铁厂的安全评价提供了一种有效的综合评价方法。     

Estimation of Land Use Specific Runoff and Pollutant Concentration for Tapi River Basin in India

Non-point source (NPS) pollution is the result of various land use practices such as agriculture, sites of construction and waste disposal, urban development and so on. The control of NPS pollution is possible by regular monitoring and assessment on watershed basis to educate people for implementing well-known structural and non-structural measures. Recent trend is to use GIS based modelling tool for assessment of rainfall-runoff and non-point loading. The approach requires generation and analysis of basin wide data on various features of land and estimates of Event Mean Concentrations (EMCs) of pollutants in the runoff. In the present paper, basin wide data in different districts of Tapi basin has been analysed for land use distribution; fertilizer application; low, medium and high-density habitation; and annual rainfall. Coefficients of runoff have been estimated considering pervious and impervious area for different land use types, and compared with the reported values for Indian conditions. The estimated mean annual runoff flow indicated that two districts Jalgaon and Dhule contribute maximum runoff to the Tapi River. Estimates of EMCs for BOD and nutrients (N and P) in the runoff from various districts are useful in GIS-based modelling study for NPS pollution assessment.     

Sustainability: a Dissent

Abstract:  Broadly conceived and considered in its many usages, sustainability has grave defects as a planning goal, particularly when used by conservationists: it confuses means and ends; it is vague about what is being sustained and who or what is doing the sustaining; it is uninspiring; it is little more than Pinchot-era conservation (and thus ignores the many lessons learned since then); it need not be linked to land, to the land's functioning, or to any ecological science; it need not include a moral component; it is consistent with the view of humans as all-powerful manipulators of the planet; and, in general, it is such a malleable term that its popularity provides only a facade of consensus. When sustainability is defined broadly to include the full range of economic and social aspirations, it poses the particular risk that ecological and biodiversity concerns will be cast aside in favor of more pressing human wants. Given these many defects, the conservation movement should discard the term in favor of a more alluring goal, attentive to nature and its ecological functioning. A sound goal would incorporate and distill the considerable ecological and moral wisdom accumulated since Pinchot's day while giving conservationists the rhetorical tools needed to defend the land against competing pressures. In our view, conservation would be well served by an updated variant of "land health," Aldo Leopold's ecologically grounded goal from the 1940s. Land health as an independent understanding should set the essential terms of how we live and enjoy the earth, providing the framework within which we pursue our many social and economic aims.     

论土地持续利用

在世界上有两种可持续发展思路，一种是西方发达国家的重保护的可持续发展思路；一种是以发展为前提，保护自然资源的可持续发展思路。土地持续利用的思想是在可持续发展的进程中不断发展的。我国要保证土地持续利用，满足未来对食粮和建设的需求，应建立起同土地持续利用相适应的土地持续利用制度和土地持续利用机制