Spatial distribution of PAHs in a contaminated valley in Southeast China

A survey was conducted on the accumulation and spatial distribution of PAHs in surface soils under different land use patterns in a valley in the Yangtze Delta region with an area of 10 km² containing 15 small copper- and zinc-smelting furnaces. Sixty-five topsoil (0–20 cm) samples were collected and 16 PAHs were determined. The average amount of all the 16 PAHs ranged from 0 to 530 μg kg⁻¹ (oven dry basis), with a mean concentration of 33.2 μg kg⁻¹. Benzo[a]pyrene and indeno[1, 2, 3, -cd]pyrene were the two main PAHs present at high concentrations, while pyrene and fluorene had very low concentrations. PAH concentrations were higher in uncultivated than in cultivated soils, and areas of woods and shrubbery had the␣lowest soil PAH contents. The average PAH-homologue concentrations ranked as follows: 5-rings >> 3-rings, 4-rings > 6-rings >2-rings. Much higher concentrations of PAHs were found in the southern part of the sampling area, perhaps due to deposition of airborne particles by the southeasterly winds in winter and spring. We conclude that the small smelting furnaces were the dominant source of PAHs that accumulated in the soils and the southeasterly winds led to the spatial distribution of PAHs in the topsoils. Land vegetation cover and soil utilization patterns also affected the accumulation and distribution of soil PAHs.     

Surface water pollution in three urban territories of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh

In South Asian countries such as Nepal, India, and Bangladesh, pollution of rivers is more severe and critical near urban stretches due to huge amounts of pollution load discharged by urban activities. The Bagmati River in the Kathmandu valley, the Yamuna River at Delhi, and peripheral rivers (mainly Buriganga River) of Dhaka suffer from severe pollution these days. The observed dry season average of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in all these rivers is in the range of 20–30 mg/liter and total coliform are as high as 10⁴–10⁵ MPN/100 ml. Per capita pollution load discharge of urban areas has been estimated to be about 31, 19, and 25 gBOD/capita/day in Bagmati, Yamuna, and the rivers of Dhaka, respectively. Regression analysis reveals pollution loads steadily increasing nearly in step with the trend in urbanization. The dissolved oxygen (DO) level of the Bagmati and Buriganga rivers is declining at an average annual rate of nearly 0.3 mg/liter/year. Unplanned urbanization and industrialization occurring in these cities may be largely responsible for this grave situation. Inadequate sewerage, on-site sanitation, and wastewater treatment facilities in one hand, and lack of effective pollution control measures and their strict enforcement on the other are the major causes of rampant discharge of pollutants in the aquatic systems.     

Land-Use and Land-Cover Change in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia

This paper summarizes land-cover and land-use change at eight sites in Thailand, Yunnan (China), Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos over the last 50 years. Project methodology included incorporating information collected from a combination of semiformal, key informant, and formal household interviews with the development of spatial databases based on aerial photographs, satellite images, topographic maps, and GPS data. Results suggest that land use (e.g. swidden cultivation) and land cover (e.g. secondary vegetation) have remained stable and the minor amount of land-use change that has occurred has been a change from swidden to monocultural cash crops. Results suggest that two forces will increasingly determine land-use systems in this region. First, national land tenure policies—the nationalization of forest lands and efforts to increase control over upland resources by central governments—will provide a push factor making it increasingly difficult for farmers to maintain their traditional swidden land-use practices. Second, market pressures—the commercialization of subsistence resources and the substitution of commercial crops for subsistence crops—will provide a pull factor encouraging farmers to engage in new and different forms of commercial agriculture. These results appear to be robust as they come from eight studies conducted over the last decade. But important questions remain in terms of what research protocols are needed, if any, when linking social science data with remotely sensed data for understanding human-environment interactions.     

东亚地区夏季旱涝分布与南海夏季风爆发时间关系

利用东亚地区529个代表站地面历史月降水资料和南海夏季风爆发时间的历史序列资料，对近55年（1951—2005年）南海夏季风爆发时间进行了多时间尺度变化特征分析，并依据夏季降水距平百分率确定了旱涝灾害等级标准，应用合成诊断分析方法研究了南海夏季风爆发时间偏早、偏晚和正常3种典型时态与东亚地区夏季旱涝分布的对应关系。结果表明：（1）在南海夏季风偏早爆发年份，中国长江流域、东北北部、华北局部以及韩国南部、日本南部、蒙古国东部易发生旱灾；中国的华南东部、淮河流域、环渤海北部及中朝边界、韩国北部易发生涝灾；（2）在南海夏季风偏晚爆发年份，中国江南地区、东南沿海、海南岛、东北局部以及日本的东部易发生旱灾；中国华南西部、淮河流域、华北大部、东北东部以及韩国南部、日本南部易发生涝灾；（3）在南海夏季风正常爆发年份，中国的华南南部、江淮地区、中朝边界、中蒙边界以及韩国局部、日本南部易发生旱灾；中国江南西部以及日本大部易发生涝灾。     

PRIORITIZING WATER MANAGEMENT PROJECTS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: AN EXPERIMENTAL METHODOLOGY

ABSTRACT: Southeast Asian nations with extensive water management systems have numerous candidate and ongoing programs and projects. They cannot possibly all be funded and implemented simultaneously in any serious way. Choices must be made. But how to select? What criteria can assist with the screening in an acceptable manner, particularly in the near absence of useful technical and economic information across them all. This paper suggests a methodology by which assessment criteria can be constructed which conforms to any given national information base and development needs. Criteria can be weighted one against the other in their relative importance. For each criterion a ranking scale puts the “best” (most, highest) at one end and the “worst” (least, lowest) at the other. Each candidate project is then subjected to these consistent assessment methods for a weighted “score.” Key criteria normally have surrogate measures depending on information available. Criteria are of three sorts: sheer volume, e.g., of a specific use, a benefit; ratios and relations, e.g., A as percent of B; and other more subjective criteria, e.g., regional or income distribution impacts. The basic criteria include, for example, time to full benefits (minimize), OM & R as percent of investment (minimize), and permanent rural jobs created (maximize).     

Political Incentives for Biodiversity Conservation

Abstract:  There seems to be a worldwide lack of political will for conservation that leads, inevitably, to an undermining of conservation policy. This is a standard complaint but one that has received little academic attention. In an attempt to better understand the gap between conservation policy and practice, we examined conservation policies and practice as they have played out in the Great Himalayan National Park, Himachal Pradesh, India, over the past two decades. In particular we consider the park's experience within two larger contexts: (1) Himachal's current development orientation, which seeks to transform the state into the electrical powerhouse of the country by building over 300 medium and large power projects and (2) electoral politics that result in politician's support for villagers and others denied access to national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. Each of these factors works to undermine state conservation policies. Conservationists need to build political bridges with local communities if they are to use electoral power to work for rather than against conservation. Only such electoral power can be expected to force governments to adopt more cautious policies in advancing a particular development agenda. In the absence of strategic alignments in places such as Himachal Pradesh with strong democratic traditions, one must expect continued political support for potentially destructive megaprojects and an absence of political support for the conservation of biological diversity.     

亚洲地区环境教育实践的探讨与借鉴

从环境教育的目标和任务，课程，教材，师资培训，公众参与等角度，分析了亚洲各国际环境教育发展的政策，方法，内容等方面的特色和经验，为我国的地区环境教育事业发展提供借鉴。     

China, the United States and technology cooperation on climate control

The U.S. and China are the world's largest and second largest CO₂ emitters, respectively, and to what extent the U.S. and China get involved in combating global climate change is extremely important both for lowering compliance costs of climate mitigation and adaptation and for moving international climate negotiations forward. While it is unavoidable that China will take on commitments at some specific point of time in the future, this paper has argued that the proposal for joint accession by the U.S. and China is not a way forward. For various reasons, such a proposal is in the U.S. interest, but is not in the interest of China. Given the U.S. political reality and institutional settings on the one hand and China's over-riding concern about economic growth and poverty reduction on the other, the two countries are unlikely to take on emissions caps under an international regime, at least for the time being. Therefore, we need to explore the area where cooperation between the two countries to address climate change seems best. The research, development and deployment of clean technology is the area that is in the best interests of the two countries. The U.S. has adopted a technology-oriented approach to climate issues, and has launched the four multilateral initiatives on technology cooperation and the Asia Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate (APP). China has participated in all these U.S.-led initiatives, and is a partner to the APP. Strengthened technology cooperation between the two countries through these initiatives and the APP has led some tangible benefits. However, it should be pointed out that while technology is a critical ingredient in a climate policy package, efforts such as the APP can only be part of the solution. They alone cannot ensure that best available technologies are always deployed in the marketplace, and that new technologies will roll out at the pace and on the scale that we need. In order to have such technology-oriented approach to play a full role, we do need a coordinated policy framework agreed via the Kyoto Protocol or a follow-up regime or the parent United Nations Framework Convention.     

Indonesian peat and vegetation fire emissions: Study on factors influencing large-scale smoke haze pollution using a regional atmospheric chemistry model

Numerical modelling of fire-related smoke haze episodes in Southeast Asia is important for both prediction and assessment of atmospheric impacts, especially when observational data are fragmentary, as is the case in Indonesia. This work describes the atmospheric fate of smoke particles emitted during the 1997 Indonesian fires modelled with a regional atmospheric chemistry model. We established a new fire emission inventory and calculate that 55 teragram (Tg) of particulate matter and 1098 Tg of carbon were released during this fire episode. Our emission estimate is an intermediate value compared with other studies. Utilising different scenarios, we demonstrate the variable atmospheric impacts of surface vegetation fires and peat soil fires separately and also investigate the sensitivity of smoke dispersion to the differing meteorological conditions of an El Niño and a normal year. When peat fires are included in the emission inventory, modelled ambient particle concentrations exceed the ambient air quality standard across transboundary scales. In a scenario including only surface vegetation fires, ambient air quality standards are exceeded only in areas close to the main fires. This scenario demonstrates the prominent role of fires in peat areas in causing regional air pollution episodes. In years with normal meteorological conditions, intermittent precipitation and associated wet deposition during the dry season are predicted to remove most of the particulate emissions close to the sources. Strongly reduced rainfall and generally stronger southeasterly winds during El Niño years provide favourable conditions for larger scale smoke haze pollution.     

Estimation of Southeast Asian rice paddy areas with different ecosystems from moderate-resolution satellite imagery

Multi-temporal satellite imagery from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) was used to map the different ecosystems of Southeast Asian (SEA) rice paddies. The algorithm was based on temporal profiles of vegetation strength and/or water content, using MODIS surface reflectance in visible to near-IR range. The results obtained from the analysis were compared to national statistics. Estimated SEA regional rice area was 42 × 10⁶ ha, which agrees with published values. The model performance was dependent on rice ecosystems. Good linear relationships between the model results and the national statistics were observed for rainfed rice. High linear coefficients of determination, R², were also found for irrigated rice and upland rice, but the model tended to underestimate irrigated rice and overestimate upland rice. However, these high R² values indicated that the model effectively simulated spatial distribution of these rice areas. These R² values were either of similar magnitude or larger than those reported in literature, regardless of the rice ecosystem. Poor correlation was observed for deepwater rice.