Community and farm forestry climate mitigation projects: case studies from Uttaranchal,India

The methodologies for forest mitigation projects still present challenges to project developers for fulfillment of criteria within the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or other such mechanisms for the purpose of earning carbon credits. This paper systematically approaches the process of establishing carbon (C) stocks for baseline (BSL) and mitigation scenario (MSL) for two case studies i.e., community and farm forestry projects in Uttaranchal, India. The analysis of various interventions shows that both projects present high carbon mitigation potential. However, the C reversibility risk is lower in long-rotation pine and mixed species plantation on community lands. The project is financially viable though not highly lucrative but the carbon mitigation potential in this ‘restoration of degraded lands’ type of project is immense provided challenges in the initial phase are adequately overcome. C revenue is an essential driver for investors in community projects. The short-rotation timber species such as Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus), Poplar (Populus) have high internal rates of return (IRR) and high carbon benefit reversibility potential due to fluctuations in market prices of commodities produced. The land holdings are small and bundling is desired for projects to achieve economies of scale. The methodological concerns such as sampling intensities, monitoring methodologies, sharing of benefits with communities and bundling arrangements for projects need further research to make these projects viable.     

Ecological Modelling by ‘Ecological Modelling'

On the basis of a statistical analysis of the papers published in Ecological Modelling from 1975 to 1996, it has been attempted to examine the development of the field of ecological modelling and systems ecology. It was found that while models of aquatic ecosystems and management issues were more in focus in the 1970s, terresterial ecosystems and ecological theory have gained attention during the 1990s. Interest in ecotoxicological models seems to have increased only slightly during the entire period. It is interesting that financial support for the area of ecological modelling and systems ecology is closely related to the number of publications, which can be seen from the number of papers published by various countries in the journal. Hopefully, this clear message can be used to show to politicians that these relationships are real.     

Financial services and disaster risk finance: Examples from the community level

Increased attention has recently been given to the possible role of financial services in the management of natural disaster risk. Local communities have been at the forefront of developing innovative disaster risk finance strategies and implementing risk-oriented incentive programs. In view of increasing risks, including the impacts of climate change, such programs will become more important. This paper examines four models and some recent experiences in using financial services at the community level. The paper offers an overview of advantages and limitations of each model to manage disaster risk in communities. Examples include a federal government initiated scheme of social protection funds, a local government risk reduction scheme, an insurance product provided by a non-governmental organization, and a micro-insurance scheme. Finally, the paper offers some directions about specific ways that the public and private sectors, in collaboration with other partners can improve finance alternatives for disaster management at the community level. It appears that a range of follow-up studies and further dialogue is needed, in order to expand the knowledge on what types of risk finance models can help manage and reduce the financial impacts of natural disasters.     

Nesting biodiversity conservation into landscape management

There is universal recognition that biological diversity (biodiversity) is being lost at an alarming rate. The costs and risks of these losses for humanity are still not fully understood, but are believed to be very significant. While much is being achieved through conservation programmes, the task of addressing the current crisis remains complex, particularly as there are significant biological, social and economic challenges to nesting conservation objectives into land-use management. This paper emphasizes the socio-economic challenges, wherein a central issue is that of equitably sharing the costs and benefits of conservation among all beneficiaries, nationally and internationally. The world's biological heritage supplies mankind with a number of ecological goods and services, which have attached direct use values, indirect use values, existence values and option values. Currently, only a few direct values are tangible and here much remains to be done to capture effectively and distribute equitably the benefits arising from the other values. The paper discusses three instances where some of these challenges are being addressed, in Belize, Pakistan and Mongolia. Finally, the paper discusses the need for additional mechanisms that will help meet the challenge of establishing and maintaining conservation arrangements in the landscapes of developing countries, where much of the most threatened biota is found.     

Tree plantations for restoration of degraded lands and greening of India: a case study of tree growers' cooperatives

India has over 100 m ha (million hectares) of village common lands. De jure, these lands are owned by the state but, de facto, they are used in common by villagers. Most of the village commons are degraded and denuded and are almost nonproductive. Several attempts have been made in the recent past to restore them through planting of trees by governmental and non-governmental organizations. Tree Growers' Co-operative Societies (TGCS), as an organisational innovation of relatively recent origin, have proved to be more cost-effective than other forms of organisations engaged in greening the village commons in India. This paper attempts to assess the financial viability of tree plantations carried out by three selected TGCS and to distil lessons of their experience useful for policy purposes. The study revealed that plantations founded by the sample TGCS were financially viable, and that the plantations had transformed the desolate village commons into 'green wealth'. The authors conclude that the TGCS have a high potential as an instrument for promoting the afforestation of India's degraded village common lands and thereby improving village economy and the quality of the environment.     

浅谈财务人员的职业道德

社会主义市场经济体制的建立,要求加强与之相适应的财会人员职业道德建设。本文从爱岗敬业、熟悉法规、依法办事、客观公正、搞好服务、保密守信等方面论述了财会人员职业道德建设的主要内容。     

环境空气质量改善导向的财政资金分配模型与实施机制

"十三五"时期改进环境空气质量是首要任务,如何充分发挥财政资金对地方环境质量改善的引导和激励功能。文章提出了基于环境空气质量导向的财政激励资金分配模型和实施机制,并以2014~2015年的城市PM监测数据2.5进行了案例分析,结果表明该分配模型和实施机制具有科学性和可操作性,可以为建立环境空气质量导向的财政机制提供管理技术支撑。     

Revealing climate change opinions through investment behavior: Evidence from Fukushima

In this study we present a novel research approach to obtaining behavior-based evidence of regional climate change attitudes, using the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant incident as a natural experiment. Our approach allows us to produce the first non-survey-based empirical evidence of a trans-Atlantic divide in public opinion on the environment and climate change that investors assign to fossil-based and renewable energy. This value is based on the perceived potential of these fuel types to substitute for nuclear generation in the aftermath of the Fukushima crisis. We carry out an event study to examine differences in abnormal returns of global coal and renewable energy companies on European and American stock exchanges. We find that investors trading on U.S. markets exhibit a significantly more favorable perception of coal stock profitability, while investors trading on European exchanges display a more favorable perception about profitability of renewable energy stocks.     

基于标准模型库的企业财务风险分析方法探析

笔者在对企业财务风险指标进行科学选取的基础上 ,利用主成分分析法和因子分析方法计算企业财务风险综合得分 ;依照所得的两种综合得分进行风险聚类 ;并以聚类结果构建企业财务风险标准模型库。该风险标准模型库形成了企业财务风险的相对静态数据参考 ,据此 ,监管部门可方便地运用模糊识别方法对企业财务数据进行风险判断和分类 ,不需对加大样本的企业数据进行重新计算 ,大大提高了工作效率。该方法综合了几种方法的优点 ,在实践中得到了较合理的分析结果。     

财务管理案例教学初探

案例教学作为一种新的教学方法,在激发学生创造性思维,提高分析、决策能力方面具有不可替代的优点。而在财务管理案例教学中真正要发挥其效果,必须精心组织,并注意师生关系等问题的协调。