Governance, institutions and the environment-income relationship: a cross-country study

This paper examines the environment-income relationship in the context of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), and explores the possible role that factors like governance, political institutions, socioeconomic conditions, and education play in influencing this relationship. The results suggest that the EKC exists for carbon dioxide emissions for cross-country data over the period 1984–2002. However, there is nothing automatic about this relationship; policies designed to protect the environment may be responsible for this phenomenon. Two other significant findings are: one, countries with better quality of governance, stronger political institutions, better socioeconomic conditions and greater investment in education have lower emissions; and two, only around 15% of the countries in the dataset have reached income levels high enough to be associated with an unambiguous decline in emissions. The implications of these results are discussed within the context of the international environmental policy arena and the Kyoto Protocol. One of the main objectives of this paper is to bridge the gap between studies conducted on the EKC and developments in the international environmental policy arena. As a final note this paper emphasizes that one needs to connect the body of knowledge on the EKC hypothesis to the international environmental policy arena, despite the apparent difficulty of doing so. One hopes that future studies will further build on this line of thought.

Using Citizen Science Programs to Identify Host Resistance in Pest‐Invaded Forests

Abstract: Threats to native forests from non‐native insects and pathogens (pests) are generally addressed with methods such as quarantine, eradication, biological control, and development of resistant stock through hybridization and breeding. In conjunction with such efforts, it may be useful to have citizen scientists locate rare surviving trees that may be naturally pest resistant or tolerant. The degree of resistance of individual trees identified in this way can be tested under controlled conditions, and the most resistant individuals can be integrated into plant breeding programs aimed at developing pest‐resistant native stock. Involving citizen scientists in programs aimed at identifying rare trees that survive colonization by pests provides a low‐cost means of maximizing search efforts across wide geographic regions and may provide an effective supplement to existing management approaches.     

A Conceptual Analysis of the Application of Tradable Permits to Biodiversity Conservation

Abstract: Tradable permits have been applied in many areas of environmental policy and may be a response to increasing calls for flexible conservation instruments that successfully conserve biodiversity while allowing for economic development. The idea behind applying tradable permits to conservation is that developers wishing to turn land to economic purposes, thereby destroying valuable habitat, may only do so if they submit a permit to the conservation agency showing that habitat of at least the equivalent ecological value is restored elsewhere. The developer himself does not need to carry out the restoration, but may buy a permit from a third party, thus allowing a market to emerge. Nevertheless, the application of tradable permits to biodiversity conservation is a complex issue because destroyed and restored habitats are likely to differ. There may be various trade‐offs between the ecological requirements that destroyed and restored habitats be as similar as possible, and the need for a certain level of market activity to have a functioning trading system. The success of tradable permits as an instrument for reconciling the conflicts between economic development and conservation depends on the existence of certain economic, institutional, and ecological preconditions, for example, a functioning institutional framework, sufficient expert knowledge, and adequate monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.     

Historical assessment of Chinese and Japanese flood management policies and implications for managing future floods

Floods are among the world's most devastating natural disasters, causing immense damage and accounting for a large number of deaths world-wide. Good flood management policies play an extremely important role in preventing floods. It is well known that China has more than 5000 years of experience in flood management policy beginning with the reign of DaYu and Gun. Although culturally related, Japanese flood management developed differently from that of China. Under rapid development of civil engineering technology, flood management was achieved primarily through the construction of dams, levees and other structures. These structures were never adequate to stop all floods, and recent climate change driven extreme events are ever more frequently overwhelming such infrastructure. It is important to take a historical perspective of Japanese and Chinese flood management in order to better manage increasingly frequent extreme events and climate change. We present insights taken from an historical overview of Japanese and Chinese flood management policies in order to guide future flood risk management policy.     

我国铅锌矿资源开发治理模式及政策研究——以陕西省卡子镇铅锌矿资源为例

铅锌矿是我国优势矿产资源,长期以来由于我国经济发展落后,对其开发治理均处于较低层次,消耗严重。本文在综合分析我国铅锌矿资源特点、开发治理现状以及存在问题的基础上,以陕西省白河县卡子镇铅锌矿资源为例,探讨了适合我国国情的铅锌矿资源开发治理新模式,并以政策论证的方法提出了相关政策建议,以为当地乃至整个国家矿业资源的可持续发展提供借鉴。     

Design of an institutional decision-making process: the case of urban water management

Urban water infrastructure expenditures cause a major financial burden to municipalities. In the opinion of many policy-makers, public funds may alleviate this burden and facilitate environmental policies. However, practice has shown that despite ambitious policies, funding often follows traditional cost-dominated thinking. In Austria, national policy-makers were interested in new guidelines for funding that increase the transparency of the planning, ensure the adequate treatment of ecological problems, and foster stakeholder involvement, but keep the process as simple as possible, and require minimal changes of the current guidelines. An interdisciplinary project team conducted such a study. Its outcome was tested in two pilot projects. Based on these experiences, policy-makers finally implemented the recommended guidelines for the funding of communal urban water infrastructure projects. A general observation about the policy-making process was a conservative attitude of policy-makers. They prefer simple constraints (precautionary principle) and flexible negotiations (delegation) to complex assessment and decision-aid methodologies.     

Response of Bird Populations to Farmland Set-Aside Programs

Abstract:  The role of agricultural landscapes in biodiversity conservation has been largely ignored despite their potential role in conserving declining species. Within agricultural landscapes, set-aside programs may offer the most promising conservation opportunities due to the large area involved in these programs. I explored the relationship between set-aside effect size—on the basis of data from field studies of birds in cropland and set-aside fields—and population changes following establishment of these fields. Species whose abundance was most strongly influenced by the establishment of set-aside lands also tended to show positive changes in population trends following broad-scale implementation of the set-aside program. This relationship was strongest for grassland obligate birds, a group of birds experiencing broad-scale population declines throughout North America. There is now increasing evidence that set-aside lands within the United States are providing population-level benefits to grassland birds. Nevertheless, there are also increasing concerns about the stability of these set-aside lands in the face of increased demand for crops and rising commodity prices. If set-aside area within the United States is allowed to decline, additional declines of birds and perhaps other taxa within agricultural landscapes seem likely.     

环境库兹涅茨曲线的虚幻性及其对可持续发展的现实影响

生态环境质量真的能够随着经济发展而改善吗？“先污染、后治理”真的是普遍的发展规律吗？既有的理论一般认为．随着经济的发展．生态环境的质量在经过一个时期的恶化之后，将在一定的发展阶段出现好转．其变化过程呈“倒U曲线”状态．这就是环境Kuznets曲线。作者认为这是一个貌似真实的虚幻．生态环境随着经济发展而好转只可能是局部的、而不可能是整体性的．经济发展与生态维护的双赢目标也同样是难以企及的，经济发展与生态维护只能是基于各种利益关系的权衡。文章还对中国长期推行的几种宏观经济政策的生态环境影响进行了分析，并提出了经济利益与生态利益相权衡的现实主张。     

环境经济政策在中国的应用与发展

环境经济政策是宏现经济政策的重要组成部分,本文首先阐述了制定环境经济政策的必要性和环境经济政策的功能,然后分析了环境经济政策体系的组成,最后对我国的环境经济政策进行了初步探讨。