Adopting an ecological view of metropolitan landscape: the case of “three circles" system for ecological construction and restoration in Beijing area

Ecological construction and restoration for sustainable development are now a driving paradigm. It is increasingly recognized that ecological principles, especially landscape ecology theory, are not only necessary but also essential to maintain the long-term sustainability worldwide. Key landscape ecology principles--element,structure and process, dynamics, heterogeneity, hierarchies, connectivity, place and time were reviewed, and use Beijing area as a case study to illustrate how these principles might be applied to ecological construction and restoration, to eventually achieve sustainability. An example to more effectively incorporate the ecological principles in sustainable planning in China was presented.     

The effect of low emission zones on air pollution and infant health

This paper investigates the effect of low emission zones on air quality and birth outcomes in Germany. The staggered introduction of the policy measure creates a credible natural experiment and a natural control group for births and air pollution measurements in cities that enact low emission zones. I show that the introduction of the most restrictive type of low emission zone decreases average levels of fine particulate matter by about 4 percent and by up to 8 percent at a city's highest-polluting monitor. Low emission zones also reduce the number of days per year on which legal pollution limits are exceeded by three. However, these reductions are too small to translate into substantial improvements in infant health. My results are not driven by changes in maternal or city specific characteristics, and are robust to variations in specification and to the choice of control group.     

Emotional,physical, and social needs among 0–5‐year‐old children displaced by the 2010 Chilean earthquake: associated characteristics and exposures

An 8.8‐magnitude earthquake occurred off the coast of Chile on 27 February 2010, displacing nearly 2,000 children aged less than five years to emergency housing camps. Nine months later, this study assessed the needs of 140 displaced 0–5‐year‐old children in six domains: caregiver stability and protection; health; housing; nutrition; psychosocial situation; and stimulation. Multivariate regression was applied to examine the degree to which emotional, physical, and social needs were associated with baseline characteristics and exposure to the earthquake, to stressful events, and to ongoing risks in the proximal post‐earthquake context. In each domain, 20 per cent or fewer children had unmet needs. Of all children in the sample, 20 per cent had unmet needs in multiple domains. Children's emotional, physical, and social needs were associated with ongoing exposures amenable to intervention, more than with baseline characteristics or epicentre proximity. Relief efforts should address multiple interrelated domains of child well‐being and ongoing risks in post‐disaster settings.     

The 2004 tsunami and mental health in Thailand: a longitudinal analysis of one‐and two‐year post‐disaster data

Some 280,000 people died in the Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December 2004. This cohort study examined its impact on mental health one and two years later. It did so by investigating the association between six consequent variables (personal injury, loss of home, loss of business, death of a family member, injury to a family member, or loss of a family member's business) and mental health, as measured by the 36‐item Short Form Health Survey (SF‐36), among residents in four provinces of Thailand. One year later, participants who suffered a personal injury, the loss of a business, or the loss of a family member reported poorer mental health than those who were unaffected. Two years later, participants who experienced the loss of a family member reported poorer mental health than those who were unaffected. This research shows that such a disaster may have long‐lasting ramifications for mental health, and that diverse losses may influence mental health differently.     

The discovery of ash dieback in the UK: the making of a focusing event

Why did the identification of ash dieback (Chalara Fraxinea) in 2012 in the UK catch the national media, public, and political zeitgeist, and lead to policy changes, in a way that no other contemporary tree pest or pathogen outbreak has? The identification of ash dieback in the UK is conceptualised as a successful ‘focusing event’, and the ways in which it was socially constructed by the media, stakeholders, and the government are analysed. National newspaper coverage contributed to the way that the disease was understood and was significant in driving the political response. Ash dieback’s focal power derived from the perceived scale and nature of its impact, the initial attribution of blame on government, the war-like response from the government, and Ash’s status as a threatened native tree. The ash dieback focusing event has increased the salience of plant health issues amongst policymakers, the public, and conservation organisations in the UK.     

基于水电梯级开发的河流生态健康研究

为进一步了解水电开发对河流健康的影响,本文以雅砻江下游水电梯级开发为例,构建河流健康评价指标体系,选择无人为干扰和干扰较小的河流为参照,以指标变化率衡量水电梯级开发前后河流受扰动程度,分别采用综合评价法和赋值评分法进行了定量评价。综合评价结果显示,雅砻江下游河段的综合健康指数为0.71,该研究区域在丰水期、平水期和枯水期的综合健康指数分别为0.74、0.70和0.69,均处于亚健康状态;赋值评分法结果显示建库前的河流健康指数(River health index,RHI)为19.1,等级为健康,建库后为14.3,等级为亚健康,两种方法评价结果基本一致。本文以期完善河流健康评价体系,并为生态修复提供依据。     

Complementary benefits of tourism and hunting to communal conservancies in Namibia

Tourism and hunting both generate substantial revenues for communities and private operators in Africa, but few studies have quantitatively examined the trade‐offs and synergies that may result from these two activities. We evaluated financial and in‐kind benefit streams from tourism and hunting on 77 communal conservancies in Namibia from 1998 to 2013, where community‐based wildlife conservation has been promoted as a land‐use that complements traditional subsistence agriculture. We used data collected annually for all communal conservancies to characterize whether benefits were derived from hunting or tourism. We classified these benefits into 3 broad classes and examined how benefits flowed to stakeholders within communities under the status quo and under a simulated ban on hunting. Across all conservancies, total benefits from hunting and tourism increased at roughly the same rate, although conservancies typically started generating benefits from hunting within 3 years of formation as opposed to after 6 years for tourism. Disaggregation of data revealed that the main benefits from hunting were income for conservancy management and food in the form of meat for the community at large. The majority of tourism benefits were salaried jobs at lodges. A simulated ban on trophy hunting significantly reduced the number of conservancies that could cover their operating costs, whereas eliminating income from tourism did not have as severe an effect. Given that the benefits generated from hunting and tourism typically begin at different times in a conservancy's life‐span (earlier vs. later, respectively) and flow to different segments of local communities, these 2 activities together may provide the greatest incentives for conservation on communal lands in Namibia. A singular focus on either hunting or tourism would reduce the value of wildlife as a competitive land‐use option and have grave repercussions for the viability of community‐based conservation efforts in Namibia, and possibly other parts of Africa.     

竹柳发展现状及未来趋势——基于案例

竹柳目前已在全国普遍种植,但竹柳的产业化还不够成熟,特别是在生物质能源方面.文章针对竹柳自身优势、产生的综合效益、目前在纸浆和生物质能源产业的开发现状及未来将走的两种模式进行了综述,对其进一步的发展和研究有一定参考意义.参33.     

Community perspectives on managing health of peri-urban river system: evidence from the Hawkesbury-Nepean river catchment,Australia

In this study, we examine aspects of community values and perspectives on goods and services received from the river along with issues related to sustainable management of the river. The study reveals that the contemporary values placed on rivers by communities are mostly associated with recreational and leisure activities. The distance from the river and age of the participants appeared as the most influential social demographic factors affecting participants' perspectives on river health. The study indicates that people tend to develop a strong bond with the natural resources around them and the amount of time spent at a location is directly related to the strength of this relationship. To assess the general river condition and health, a number of visual indicators (e.g., floating debris) were suggested. If properly standardised and calibrated, such indicators have the potential to develop cost-effective monitoring tools for detecting seasonal and spatial changes in river health.     

Bridging conceptual “silos”: bringing together health promotion and sustainability governance for practitioners at the landscape scale

Environmental health issues are examples of “wicked problems” that require cross-sectoral collaboration at the community level, yet health practitioners and environmental stakeholders find it challenging to see how and why they could be working together. Supportive organisations have been identified as the most vital enabler for individual professionals to participate actively in cross-sectoral initiatives. Ability to justify inter-professional cooperation makes it easier for practitioners to gain the necessary approvals within their institutional mandates. This paper introduces a new conceptual framework that bridges health promotion and sustainability governance to facilitate practical cross-sectoral collaboration that targets complex health-related environmental and social-ecological challenges. The proposed framework integrates six concrete overlapping themes linking health promotion and sustainability governance. The framework also highlights examples of areas where the fields could benefit from one another. Moreover, children's environmental health is proposed as a desirable overall outcome and an attractive venue for potential collaboration, because of its critical role in the public health and well-being of future generations. As a determinant of adult health, children's environmental health emphasises the vital interdependencies between health and the environment.