Transaction costs and community-based natural resource management in Nepal

Transaction costs in community-based resource management are incurred by households attempting to enforce property right rules over common resources similar to those inherent in private property rights. Despite their importance, transaction costs of community-based management of common pool resources (CPRs) are often not incorporated into the economic analysis of participatory resource management. This paper examines the transaction costs incurred by forest users in community forestry (CF) based on a survey of 309 households belonging to eight different forest user groups (FUGs) in the mid hills of Nepal. The analysis reveals that the average 'poor' household incurred Nepalese rupees (NRS) 1265 in transaction costs annually, while wealthier 'rich' households incurred an average of NRS 2312 per year. Although richer households bear higher proportions of such costs, transaction costs for CF management as a percentage of resource appropriation costs are higher for poorer households (26%) than those of middle-wealth (24%) or rich households (14%). There are also village differences in the level of transaction costs. The results show that transaction costs are a major component of resource management costs and vary according to socio-economic status of resource users and characteristics of the community.     

浅论国家环境权

随着全球环境的日益恶化和公民环保意识的不断增强，环境权理论迅速发展。国家环境权作为一项重要的环境权。在环境法理论逐步变革和权利内涵不断演进的趋势下，已成为法学界研究探讨的重要课题。通过分析国家环境权的国内、国际法律基础。论证了国家环境权的确立。利用类比的方法。阐述了国家环境权与其他宪法权利的不同之处。从权利义务的对等统一和国内国际两个层面。重新归纳了国家环境权的内容。初步构建了国家环境权的基本理论框架。     

微生物絮凝剂PF-2的成分分析及絮凝机制研究

筛选得到的荧光假单胞菌(Pseudomonas fluorescens)产生的絮凝剂——PF-2在处理高岭土悬浊液时,具有用量少、絮凝效果好等优点,对高岭土悬浊液的絮凝率可达96.5%.呈色反应和紫外扫描的测定结果表明,PF-2大部分为胞外分泌的多糖,含有少量的核酸,提取后每升发酵液可制得絮凝剂粗品2.3 g;ζ电位测定及氢键和离子键检验结果表明,PF-2与高岭土颗粒之间的作用力为离子键;红外光谱扫描分析PF-2中含有O-H、C-H、C＝C和C-O-C等多糖的特征吸收峰;利用扫描电镜观察絮体形态表明,絮体结构密实,其絮凝机制为PF-2和高岭土以离子键的形式结合,之后通过架桥作用絮凝沉淀.     

最优环境税:庇古法则与税制协调

从经济学的角度对国外关于最优环境税的经典理论——庇古法则及近十年来研究的前沿内容——一般均衡模型等作出阐释，并在外部性理论的基础上通过一个一般均衡模型考察环境税的效率特性和在次优情形下最优环境税的决定因素。随后是对我国开征环境税的几点思考：环境税的课征范围应暂定为排放各种废水、废气（烟尘）和固体废弃物的行为。环境税税率的确定可以采用“反复迭代”的方法，即“环境效益优先，兼顾税收协调和收入分配等效应。”其他相关问题的处理，如环境税和其它政策手段的配合使用，环境税税收的使用等。     

GHS化学品危险性分类及其公示要素(上)

概述了全球化学品统一分类和标签制度（GHS）的产生背景、推行GHS的重要意义，介绍了GHS关于化学品危险性分类和公示要素的主要内容，评估了我国现行化学品危险性分类与GHS分类的差异点，并对我国全面实施GHS提出了若干对策建议。     

用海泡石处理采油废水

用海泡石吸附法处理采油废水，考察了处理时间、海泡石加入量和采油废水pH对采油废水COD去除率的影响，并通过正交实验优化了采油废水处理工艺条件。通过正交实验得到的采油废水处理最佳工艺条件为：处理时间6h，粒径为150μm的海泡石加入量200g／L，采油废水pH9。在该条件下处理采油废水，COD去除率达到91％，处理后出水的COD为34．71mg／L，小于GB8978-1996（（污水综合排放标准》中的一级标准（60mg／L）。     

Conjoint analysis for environmental evaluation

BACKGROUND, AIM AND SCOPE: Conjoint analysis and the related choice-modelling methods have been used for many years in marketing research to evaluate consumer behaviour and preferences for different kinds of product attributes. Recently, the number of applications in environmental science and management has started to grow. Conjoint analysis is found in many different forms, and the environmental studies evaluated in this review display the same range of methods as in other fields. The key characteristic of all these methods is that trade-offs are evaluated by jointly considering a number of important attributes. MAIN FEATURES: This paper is a review of the literature on environmental applications of conjoint analysis and assesses in which environmental area conjoint analysis has been most successful. The method and the design of the studies are reviewed as well. RESULTS: A total of 84 studies were found, dealing with environmental issues that were evaluated by conjoint analysis. The studies concern agriculture, ecosystem management, energy, environmental evaluation, forestry, land management, pollution, products, recreation, environmental risk analysis and waste management. DISCUSSION: Choice experiments seem to have a comparatively stronger position in environmental studies than elsewhere. Most of the environmental applications are related to natural resource management. This is somewhat surprising, but a number of reports have appeared also on product evaluation, which could be a key application area in the future. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to marketing and transportation, the number of environmental conjoint studies is rather small but increasing, and the method has proven to work effectively in eliciting preferences on environmental issues. In environmental issues, experimenters often use choice experiments, especially concerning ecosystem management and environmental evaluations. When it comes to evaluating preferences concerning agriculture, forestry, energy and products, a more traditional approach of conjoint analysis is favoured. RECOMMENDATIONS AND PERSPECTIVES: Two new areas of application are identified in this review--environmental communication and expert elicitation. Conjoint analysis can thus be developed into a useful instrument for environmental risk analysis and communication, both of which are necessary for an efficient approach to risk governance.     

试论生态文明建设中的环境保护

随着经济的发展，人们越来越清醒地认识到，以污染环境和破坏生态来换取一时经济繁荣的危害日益突出。正是这种清醒，推动人类文明进行着一场深刻的反思和变革，把追求人与自然的和谐相处，推上当今社会发展主旋律的位置，它预示着人类进入一个生态文明的新时代。生态文明是协调发展物质文明的保障者，是与时俱进的精神文明的塑造者，是日益完善的政治文明的体现者。因此，建设生态文明既是实现全面建设小康社会奋斗目标的内在需要，又是深入贯彻落实科学发展观的重要内容；建设生态文明，必须强化政策支撑，增加生态文明建设的内生动力；必须强化执法监督，增加生态文明建设的环保执行力；必须强化生态补偿能力，构建最具活力的绿色发展模式。     

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.     

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.