Justice in development? An analysis of water interventions in the rural South

This paper explores a fruitful convergence between the distributive and procedural dimensions of environmental justice theory and current debates in the field of development studies over capitals and capabilities, institutions, and discourse formation to shed new light on natural resource management projects in the developing world. Specifically, we document the planning and implementation of two types of water interventions in two contrasting regions: watershed development programmes in northeast India and small reservoirs in sub‐Saharan West Africa. We find that there is a contradiction between the inherently political nature of water interventions and the fact that such projects remain grounded in apolitical, technical and managerial narratives. In contrast to the new semantic of development, this depoliticization results in the near absence of attention paid to procedural (participation and empowerment) and distributive (equity) justice concerns and in local actors having to revert to covert ways to achieve their ends. A constructive dialogue between development studies and environmental justice scholars can offer a fresh look on the society‐environment nexus in the developing world.     

Internet Memes,Media Frames,and the Conflicting Logics of Climate Change Discourse

ABSTRACT

Media frames have been applied to news information for decades to influence the manner in which news is both delivered and interpreted. However, media frames have tended to focus on traditional news media channels, but the emergence of new media platforms now necessitates a recalibration of how media framing is understood in relation to media and communication studies. With a focus on the issue of climate change, this study explores how framing is employed by the phenomenon of Internet memes in the new media landscape. Specifically, memes presented demonstrate the representation of five common media frames from the perspectives of both the “convinced” and “skeptical” logics. It is argued that through the use of common meme templates combined with the typical humorous or ironic message they convey, Internet memes represent a potentially powerful form of socio-political participation in the online community.     

噪声对学生学习能力的影响调查

用剂量作业试验和短时记忆法2个指标对处在不同声环境条件下的两所中学的学生之学习能力进行调查，结果表明高噪声会导致中学生学习能力的下降，但并不存在显著差异。     

面向生态文明的中国环境管理学:历史使命与学术话语

中国环境管理面临实践困境和学科认同危机的双重考验。本文在回溯其环境学和公共管理的学科渊源基础上,分析了当下中国环境管理学的基本概念、学科归属、功能与定位,认为新时期应基于生态文明思想,重构中国环境管理学的规范价值、知识体系、政策工具与制度机制,提出了重构中国环境管理学的5项建议,包括须注意环境管理的回应性与前瞻性,学科专业性与跨学科协作并重,创新环境管理学的知识生产方式,搭建环境管理学同政治与大众对话的平台和机制,以及形成环境管理的理论、制度与实践相互转化的研究能力等。最后,提出以生态文明思想为引领,树立中国环境治理的道路自信、理论自信、制度自信、文化自信。     

Diffusion of Policy Discourse into Rural Spheres Through Co-Management of State Forestlands: Two Cases from West Java,Indonesia

In the context of state forestland management in tropical regions, the implementation of a co-management approach has been widely advocated in order to include the voices of local people and accommodate their interests in management decision-making. Most co-management literatures, however, underestimate the significance of statutory authority held by state to control forestlands and resources. By clarifying the implications of state ownership of forestland, this article aims to critically examine co-management processes with reference to Foucault's notion of power and subject. Case studies were conducted at two co-management pilot sites in Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park, West Java, Indonesia. Findings demonstrate that co-management processes actually materialize shared decision-making arrangements between state forest bureaucracy and rural people through the application of equity approaches, such as deliberation, negotiation, and experimentation. At the same time, these processes can also function to diffuse state policy discourse in rural spheres, which makes rural subjects who accept and practice the policy discourse. The research also reveals that the diffusion process is complex and does not necessarily make a durable subject unless they are pertinently organized. The results of this research indicate that co-management of state forestlands is a double-edged process for local people who risk becoming a proxy of state bureaucracy in the implementation of state policy. Proponents of co-management should, therefore, critically examine whether new institutional arrangements, which are developed through co-management, truly reflect values and needs of local people and assist them to develop a pertinent subject to deal with it.     

Putting Precaution to Debate – about the Precautionary Principle and Participatory Technology Assessment

Technology assessment (TA) as aninstitution was introduced nearly thirty yearsago as an instrument to render possible themaking of responsible decisions concerning newtechnological options. Another recentdevelopment however has been the introductionof participatory technology assessment (pTA),mainly connected to the growing insight thatthe evaluation of technological options withrespect to their risks and benefits, is not –only – a scientific question. This paper willfocus on the questions, to what degree theideas of technology assessment and thePrecautionary Principle are connected and how.Without naming it explicitly, the PrecautionaryPrinciple is put to debate in the``TA-arrangement on the cultivation oftransgenic herbicide resistant crops,'organized by the Science Centre, Berlin. Fromthe perspective of ethical clarification, someunique features concerning theconceptualization of the discoursive procedureand reconstruction of the argumentation processin order to come to results have to beanalyzed. Finally the performance and resultsof the pTA-arrangement are reflected in thelight of the Precautionary Principle andconclusions are drawn.     

Sustainable cooperation as the challenge for a new coastal management paradigm

Coastal management is a collective action. As such, it depends for its effective implementation on the cooperation of a multitude of stakeholders, i.e. civic organizations, economic interest groups, environmental groups, governmental agencies, scientists and other individuals. Where ‘effective implementation’ implies the achievement of targeted objectives within targeted time horizons and ‘cooperation’ connotes that stakeholders elect to pursue cooperative strategies that may yield higher gains for all stakeholders instead of competitive strategies that may maximize individual benefits. Thus, the fundamental challenge of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) is to maximize the effectiveness of this management by maximizing and sustaining stakeholder cooperation. I submit that sustainable cooperation can be maximized and nurtured for its voluntariness only by a process-oriented, cooperative CZM. The alternative, outcome-oriented, normative CZM can force, directly or indirectly, cooperation but it cannot sustain it. My purpose in this paper, is to highlight arguments supporting this view as well as the analytical challenges of cooperative ICZM. Certain points are also viewed in the light of preliminary findings of a research project designed to probe these challenges.     

A transition in the Dutch wastewater system? The struggle between discourses and with lock-ins

ABSTRACT

Recently, calls have increased for a paradigm shift or transition towards resource recovery and a circular economy in the Dutch wastewater system. However, we have observed diverging interpretations on the nature of the transition. This reflects the political environment of sustainability transitions: political struggle emerges over the definition of problems, futures and strategies to be used. In order to help clarify the emerging debate and identify political choices, we conducted a discourse analysis. We identified three discourses that reveal some of the political choices to be made. One discourse is becoming dominant and focusses on optimising the large-scale infrastructure, market development and legislative changes. The discourse draws on the existing infrastructure and current political-economic institutions, which gives it an advantage in becoming dominant. Our findings also suggest that this discourse shapes a transition pathway that is characterised by lock-in effects and, at most, incremental changes instead of a fundamental shift in the established Dutch wastewater system.     

全球化视阈下的生态伦理学研究述论

作为人类文化的重要创新,生态伦理学研究推动了将道德延伸到自然界,通过协调各方利益,规范人类的环境态度和行为,重建人与自然的和谐关系,从而保证人类整体事业的繁荣。生态学所描述的仅仅自然界的自然生态,虽然其基本原理为生态伦理学所吸纳,但后者并非生态加伦理如此简单而已,它的研究对象更为广阔,也更为复杂。人始终是伦理学关怀的主体,其出发点是人,最终的对象也必然是包含人在内的整个自然。在伦理学层面上,人首先是社会性的,其次才是生物性的,在这一方面中国自古以来便形成了良好的生态文化传统。生态伦理的思想若要深深扎根当前所有人的心中,必须首先在全社会形成浓厚的生态文化,使环境保护的理念真正落到实处。以生态伦理为核心的生态文化必将成为人类社会生态文明建设的指南。21世纪继往开来的中国的生态伦理学应该具有清晰的价值定位,不仅需要超越生态学的全自然视角,突出人的社会性,而且需要体现社会主义的制度特征,构建自己的生态伦理话语体系。     

中国土地资源研究与学术交流新进展

中国自然资源学会土地资源研究专业委员会成立于1986年6月,石玉林院士担任土地资源研究专业委员会首届主任,肖笃宁研究员担任第二届主任,倪绍祥教授担任第三届主任,刘彦随研究员担任第四届主任至今。在创始人石玉林院士的带领和指导下,在各届专业委员会的精诚团结与共同努力下,中国土地资源研究及其学术交流活动卓有成效,对推进我国土地资源科学研究、学科发展、规划管理和决策实践,发挥了重要的作用。正值中国自然资源学会30周年庆典之际,论文侧重梳理近10多年来,在土地资源研究专业委员会的组织与协调下,中国土地资源研究的主要特点及组织开展学术交流的进展情况,浅谈推进土地资源研究与学术交流的认识和主要体会,简要分析土地资源学科发展前景和亟需深入研究的前沿领域。