Are Environmental Water Advisory Groups an effective form of localism?

A reduction in the legitimacy of top-down governance approaches has resulted in many government agencies using decentralised governance approaches, including localism. However, the effective implementation of localism is challenging. Localism aims to encourage innovative context-based solutions; however unanticipated implementation problems often constrain localism outcomes. There is a significant gap in our understanding of localism in practice, with a better understanding essential to improve localism design and implementation. This paper contributes to addressing this gap through an empirical examination of localism in action. Using the CLEAR framework, we evaluate the decentralised governance of environmental water in the Australian state of New South Wales, a contentious, uncertain and multi-level governance environment. Qualitative interviews with 58 Environmental Water Advisory Group members identified barriers to an effective localism approach, including issues of access and capacity development, transparency of decision-making outcomes and power inequities. This understanding enables the development of strategies for improved localism practice.     

环境容量与排污权的理论基础及制度框架分析

排污权制度是解决环境容量资源配置低效率的重要手段,可以实现环境容量资源的优化配置,已在一些国家运用,并取得一定成效,但在中国其仍处于试点的阶段,亟待理论研究的支撑。研究认为,物质平衡、外部性和产权构成了排污权制度的理论基础;排污权制度的构建和完善应着眼于制度构成的基本要素、制度特征和运行条件3个方面。     

战略环评确定排污总量方法的探讨

针对战略环评中结构和布局具有不确定性的特点,允许排污总量量化的确定比较困难的现实,结合案例分析了允许排污总量与环境容量平衡的评价方法,充分考虑环境容纳能力,通过对容量进行调度,产生对产业结构和工业布局的影响,实现经济、社会和环境协调发展。     

闽江流域突发性水污染事故预警应急系统构架初探

在介绍突发性水污染事故的概念、类型、特点和危害以及突发性水污染事故预警应急系统的结构和功能的基础上,结合闽江特点,对闽江流域突发性水污染事故预警应急系统的基本构架进行初步探索。     

Investment and the Policy Process in Conservation Monitoring

Despite decades of discussion and implementation, conservation monitoring remains a challenge. Many current solutions in the literature focus on improving the science or making more structured decisions. These insights are important but incomplete in accounting for the politics and economics of the conservation decisions informed by monitoring. Our novel depiction of the monitoring enterprise unifies insights from multiple disciplines (conservation, operations research, economics, and policy) and highlights many underappreciated factors that affect the expected benefits of monitoring. For example, there must be a strong link between the specific needs of decision makers and information gathering. Furthermore, the involvement of stakeholders other than scientists and research managers means that new information may not be interpreted and acted upon as expected. While answering calls for sharply delineated objectives will clearly add focus to monitoring efforts, for practical reasons, high‐level goals may purposefully be left vague, to facilitate other necessary steps in the policy process. We use the expanded depiction of the monitoring process to highlight problems of cooperation and conflict. We critique calls to invest in monitoring for the greater good by arguing that incentives are typically lacking. Although the benefits of learning accrued within a project (e.g., improving management) provide incentives for investing in some monitoring, it is unrealistic, in general, to expect managers to add potentially costly measures to generate shared benefits. In the traditional linear model of the role of science in policy decisions, monitoring reduces uncertainty and decision makers are rational, unbiased consumers of the science. However, conservation actions increasingly involve social conflict. Drawing insights from political science, we argue that in high‐conflict situations, it is necessary to address the conflict prior to monitoring. Las Inversiones y el Proceso de Políticas en el Monitoreo de la Conservación Sanchirico et al.     

环境公平问题既有研究述评及研究框架思考

环境不公平问题,日益成为经济发展现实中的一个重要问题,也日益成为环境经济学的一个着重关注领域,但既有的研究尚缺乏系统性和理论基础。本文系统梳理了国内外关于环境公平定义的代表性观点,在此基础上提出了作者对环境公平的认识。然后笔者在各种形式的环境不公平研究(包括不同群体间的环境不公平问题的研究和不同区域间的环境不公平问题的研究)、环境公平问题的研究方法(主要指基于地理信息系统获取相应的变量数据进而用计量模型的方法和借鉴收入差距的分析方法)等既有研究进行梳理和简要评述的基础上,提出:环境不公平问题的实质是经济利益不公平问题的转化与延伸,应在这一认识前提下来探讨环境公平问题、来建立环境公平问题的研究框架。进而提出:以经济学方法讨论利益主体之间如何实现公平享有环境利益、公平分配使用环境容量、公平承受环境破坏后果、公平分担环境维护责任、公平分担环境治理成本,是环境公平问题研究的主要方向。     

中国环保行政体制结构初探

环保行政体制结构是环保行政组织系统的基本框架,是实现环保行政管理职能的组织方式。我国长期以来的环保行政体制改革较为关注机构地位提升与管理职能强化,环保行政体制的结构较少得到关注。对环保行政体制结构的分析揭示了在机构地位提升与管理职能得到强化的前提下我国环保行政管理依然面临执法监督难、部门协调难等问难题的深层体制原因。本文首先根据组织行为学的基本原理,提出我国环保行政体制的矩阵结构模式,这一矩阵结构在纵向上存在双权威系统,横向上协调关系较为薄弱,从而造成环保监管权威弱化。其次,基于对我国地方环保行政体制改革效果的调查,指出我国环保行政体制结构出的了若干变化。最后,结合我国"十二五"时期落实国家环保意志的基本要求,提出改善我国环保行政体制结构的若干政策建议,即在基层改善体制结构中的双权威系统,并以流域水环境管理体制创新为大部门体制改革突破点,探索环境管理职能组织方式的优化途径。     

Environmental Effects on Rural-to-Urban Migration in China

Abstract: Migration process has become increasingly important in recent research on population and the environment. A majority of the existing migration and environment literature has focused on the en...     

基于ILBM的太湖饮用水源地管理研究——以苏州市为例

饮用水源地管理是全球关注的热点,安全的饮用水源供给依赖于不断完善的管理机制,湖泊流域综合管理(ILBM)可以为水源地管理的完善提供很好的框架。湖泊流域综合管理框架由管理组织、政策、公众参与、信息、科学技术和资金六要素构成。基于该框架,文章对苏州太湖水源地管理现状进行了分析和诊断。研究发现,苏州市太湖水源地管理存在缺乏有效的管理组织协调机制、缺乏经济激励型和教育与公众参与政策、公众参与水平低、信息可信赖度差、科学技术与地方需求结合不紧密、资金投入不稳定等问题。基于ILBM管理框架,提出了水源地管理优化的政策建议。