Domestic or imported? An assessment of carbon footprints and sustainability of seafood consumed in Australia

The distance between where food is produced and consumed is increasing, and is often taken as evidence of an unsustainable global food system. Seafood is a highly traded commodity yet seafood sustainability assessments do not typically consider the impacts of the movement of products beyond the fishery or farm. Here we use life cycle assessment to examine the carbon footprint of the production and distribution of select seafood products that are consumed in Australia and determine differences in the sustainability of imports and their domestically produced counterparts. We found that the distance food is transported is not the main determinant of food sustainability. Despite the increased distance between production and consumption, carbon footprints of meals from imported seafood are similar to meals consisting of domestically produced seafood, and sometimes lower, depending on the seafood consumed. In combining LCA with existing seafood sustainability criteria the trade-offs between sustainability targets become more apparent. Carbon ‘footprinting’ is one metric that can be incorporated in assessments of sustainability, thereby demonstrating a broader perspective of the environmental cost of food production and consumption.     

贸易开放、劳动力转移和就业

长久以来主流国际贸易模型中充分就业的假设使经济学界忽略了对贸易开放如何影响就业的分析,而哈里斯-托达罗模型则为此提供了一个可供扩展的框架.将哈里斯-托达罗模型扩展到存在贸易开放的情况后,本文发现如果一国的比较优势为制造品,贸易开放将会减少就业,这是因为制造品价格的提高会吸引更多的劳动力从农业向制造业转移,而制造业部门劳动力市场刚性的存在则阻碍了劳动需求的增加.为了研究我国改革开放以来贸易开放对就业的影响机制,并且考虑到就业的持续性,本文利用我国省际面板动态数据进行实证研究,并使用国有企业和政府部门劳动力占比度量我国劳动力市场刚性程度.实证研究结果发现当不考虑劳动市场刚性时,由于我国的比较优势是劳动密集型产品,贸易开放能增加就业;而当劳动力市场刚性较大时,劳动力转移过程反而促使贸易开放减少我国的就业,恰好验证了本文的理论分析结果.该文的政策含义则意味着政府应努力降低劳动力市场刚性以促使贸易开放增加就业.     

饮食业污水排污费征收办法的研究

在分析了当前饮食业排污收费现状和存在问题的基础上，提出了一种较易操作的排污费征收办法，并认为这种征收办法在实践上是可行的。     

北京市虚拟水消费与贸易

北京市作为水资源极度紧缺的城市,亟需提高水资源的利用效率。本文基于多尺度投入产出分析模型,对2012年北京市虚拟水消费及贸易情况进行了核算与分析,并与2007年的结果进行了比较。计算结果表明：2012年北京市消费引发的虚拟水用量高达139.5亿m³,是基于生产的直接实体用水量（35.9亿m³）的3.89倍;对比2007年,虚拟水消费增长（23.7%）远比直接用水增长（11.8%）快。北京市使用的全部水资源中仅有5%由北京本地供应,有超过3/5从国内其他省市调入,约35%从世界其他国家进口。与此相对应,这些水资源有1/5被北京本地消费使用,约3/4被调出到国内其他省市,6%被出口至其他国家。与2007年相比,2012年北京市国内虚拟水贸易由净调入转为净调出,净调出量为2007年净调入量的1.1倍;而国际虚拟水贸易由净出口转为净进口,净进口量为2007年净出口量的837.2倍。北京市2012年净输入虚拟水资源103.6亿m³（全部来源于国际贸易）,有效地避免了对本地水资源的过度开采。与此同时,北京市通过转口贸易的形式将大量进口的虚拟水调出到了中国其他省市,为缓解国内水资源紧张局面作出了贡献。未来北京市应当在考虑能源矿产供应安全及消化国内过剩产能的前提下有策略性地增加矿产、能源、建筑和交通运输设备等部门部分产品的进口,以达到节约我国水资源及全球范围内水资源高效利用的目的。     

Analysis of China''s Water Security and Virtual Water Trade

Producing goods and services all needs water consumption. The water used in the process of an agricultural or industrial product is called the "Virtual Water" contained in this product.Through international trade, water-scarce countries and regions could purchase water-intensive products--especially foods, from water-rich countries to balance their water deficits and achieve water safety. China is one of the 13 most water-deficit countries whose water safety have been severely challenged. This paper generalized the recent global research development and made a brief introduction about the methods calculating virtual water content in specific products. As a case study, we qualified China's annual virtual water flows from year 2000 to 2002 with trade in crops, and ended with some policy advice for application and practice of virtual water strategy.     

农业贸易政策环境影响评价的案例研究

随着国际贸易自由化程度的提高,贸易与环境问题越来越引起人们的重视。对贸易政策进行环境影响评价。指导贸易政策的制定。是解决贸易所带来的环境问题的重要途径。了解中国入世后一系列的农业政策调整会在多大程度上影响环境。对于新的政策决策具有指导意义。本文在总结贸易政策环境影响评价研究步骤和方法的基础上。对农业贸易政策环境影响评价的特点进行讨论,并以河北省迁安市小麦种植业为例,进行农业贸易政策环境影响评价的案例研究。由于农业贸易政策直接作用于农业生产经营活动。再通过农业生产经营等活动间接地影响环境质量状况。本文借助转移矩阵方法进行分析评价。     

Economic growth,international trade,and the depletion or conservation of renewable natural resources

Conservation of renewable natural resources and promotion of economic growth are both sustainable development goals. Here, we study the interdependency between economic growth, international trade, and the use of renewable natural resources—under alternative institutional settings of either open access or full property rights—in an endogenous growth model. We find that if the resource is depleted over time, consumption growth is reduced. Economic growth and international trade only impact resource use when the resource is harvested under full property rights. Then, widening international trade can lead countries to shift from conservation to depletion. Changes in the institutional setting of resource use in one country may have repercussions on trading partners. Our results indicate potential trade-offs between the sustainable development goals and imply that policies focusing on resource use or trade (e.g., international trade bans or certified trade) are not sufficient to prevent resource depletion.     

Realities of offering advice to governments on CITES

What happens when those who provide conservation advice are required to take policy and management action based on that advice? Conservation advocates and scientists often try to prompt regulatory change that has significant implications for government without facing the challenge of managing such change. Through a case study, we placed ourselves in the role of the government of Thailand, facing obligations to seahorses (Hippocampus spp.) under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). These obligations include ensuring that its exports of seahorses do not damage wild populations. We applied a CITES-approved framework (which we developed) to evaluate the risks of such exports to 2 seahorse species. We used the framework to evaluate the pressures that put wild populations of the species at risk; whether current management mitigates the risk or offsets these pressures; and whether the species is responding as hoped to management policy. We based our analysis on information in published and grey literature, local knowledge, citizen science data, results of government research, and expert opinion. To meet CITES obligations, exports of both species would need to be prohibited until more precautionary adaptive management emerged. The risk of any exports of Hippocampus trimaculatus was above a tolerable level because of a lack of appropriate management to mitigate risks. In contrast, the risk of any exports of Hippocampus kuda could become tolerable if monitoring were put in place to assess the species’ response to management. The process we developed for Authorities to determine risk in response to CITES guidelines was challenging to implement even without the need for government to consider social implications of conservation action. Despite the imperfections of our risk evaluation, however, it still served to support adaptive management. Conservationists need to keep implementation in mind when offering advice.     

Carbon trading thickness and market efficiency in a socialist market economy

Unlike the European Union emission trade system (EU ETS), China’s pilot ETSs implemented diversified policy designs instead of using a uniform framework. Variance ratio test is used to evaluate the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) in China’s carbon trading markets. The results of two versions of variance ratio tests indicate that the carbon trading market in Hubei is considered weak form efficient, and the socialist market economy does not necessarily lead to market inefficiency in carbon trading markets. Thin trading activities generate market frictions and bias the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) tests.     

Urban wild meat consumption and trade in central Amazonia

The switch from hunting wild meat for home consumption to supplying more lucrative city markets in Amazonia can adversely affect some game species. Despite this, information on the amounts of wild meat eaten in Amazonian cities is still limited. We estimated wild meat consumption rates in 5 cities in the State of Amazonas in Brazil through 1046 door-to-door household interviews conducted from 2004 to 2012. With these data, we modeled the relationship between wild meat use and a selection of socioeconomic indices. We then scaled up our model to determine the amounts of wild meat likely to be consumed annually in the 62 urban centers in central Amazonia. A total of 80.3% of all interviewees reported consuming wild meat during an average of 29.3 (CI 11.6) days per year. Most wild meat was reported as bought in local markets (80.1%) or hunted by a family member (14.9%). Twenty-one taxa were cited as consumed, mostly mammals (71.6%), followed by reptiles (23.2%) and then birds (5.2%). The declared frequency of wild meat consumption was positively correlated with the proportion of rural population as well as with the per capita gross domestic product of the municipality (administrative divisions) where the cities were seated. We estimated that as much as 10,691 t of wild meat might be consumed annually in the 62 urban centers within central Amazonia, the equivalent of 6.49 kg per person per year. In monetary terms, this amounts to US$21.72 per person per year or US$35.1 million overall, the latter figure is comparable to fish and timber production in the region. Given this magnitude of wild meat trade in central Amazonia, it is fundamental to integrate this activity into the formal economy and actively develop policies that allow the trade of more resilient taxa and restrict trade in species sensitive to hunting.