Progress and challenges in consolidating the management of Amazonian protected areas and indigenous territories

Effective management refers to the ability of a protected area or indigenous territory to meet its objectives, particularly as they relate to the protection of biodiversity and forest cover. Effective management is achieved through a process of consolidation, which among other things requires legally protecting sites, integrating sites into land‐use planning, developing and implementing management and resource‐use plans, and securing long‐term funding to pay for recurrent costs. Effectively managing all protected areas and indigenous territories in the Amazon may be needed to avoid a deforestation tipping point beyond which regional climatic feedbacks and global climate change interact to catalyze irreversible drying and savannization of large areas. At present, protected areas and indigenous territories cover 45.5% (3.55 million km²) of the Amazon, most of the 60–70% forest cover required to maintain hydrologic and climatic function. Three independent evaluations of a long‐term large‐scale philanthropic initiative in the Amazon yielded insights into the challenges and advances toward achieving effective management of protected areas and indigenous territories. Over the life of the initiative, management of sites has improved considerably, particularly with respect to management planning and capacity building, but few sites are effectively managed and many lack sufficient long‐term financing, adequate governance, support of nongovernmental organizations, and the means to withstand economic pressures. The time and money required to complete consolidation is still poorly understood, but it is clear that philanthropic funding is critical so long as essential funding needs are not met by governments and other sources, which could be on the order of decades. Despite challenges, it is encouraging that legal protection has expanded greatly and management of sites is improving steadily. Management of protected areas in other developing countries could be informed by improvements that have occurred in Amazonian countries.     

现行财税体制下我国耕地资源数量变化的实证研究

耕地资源数量变化受到人口、经济等诸多因素的影响，而财税体制是影响耕地资源数量变化的更深屡次原因。通过数量关系的初步观察和作用机理分析说明我国现行财税体制对耕地资源数量变化存在正反两方面作用，总体来看，对耕地资源保护不利。计量结果进一步证实了我国现行财税体制对耕地资源数量变化存在显著影响。揭示了其影响的方向和大小。根据研究结果，文章有针对性地提出了增加地方财政预算收入，合理分配土地出让金比例和科学使用土地出让金等相关政策建议。     

中国银行业环境风险控制体系构建现状分析

银行投资行为导致的环境破坏问题可能给银行带来环境风险。环境风险控制是实现我国金融可持续发展的必然选择。我国银行业环境风险控制体系由四部分组成,其中环境信息收集和传递是环境风险控制的基础,环境风险管理部门建设是环境风险控制业务的保障,环境风险动态评估和管理是环境风险控制的关键,借鉴国际经验和加入国际准则是提升环境风险控制水平的有效途径。本文通过对我国全国性商业银行在环境风险控制领域的举措进行分析,总结我国银行业环境风险控制体系构建的现状和问题。     

CHARGES FOR URBAN RUNOFF: ISSUES IN IMPLEMENTATION1

ABSTRACT: Maryland officials have identified stormwater utilities as a potential method of financing programs to control nutrients in urban stormwater runoff that are proposed in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay Nutrient Reduction Plan. This paper reviews a number of issues related to the equity, efficiency and acceptability of user charge schemes. Overall, charges are found to be preferable to property taxes from both equity and efficiency perspectives. In addition, evidence suggests that elected officials will support creation of utilities. Obstacles to the implementation of utilities are identified.     

The specification of sustainable urban transport strategies

Transport strategies have been developed for nine European cities to achieve optimum performance in terms of a range of objective functions. The functions selected represent economic efficiency, sustainability and a combination of these. The strategies have been based on combinations of a standard set of policy instruments, including public transport infrastructure, frequency and fares, road capacity increases, low cost road pricing and parking charges. The optimisation method is described, and results presented. The reactions of city authorities to the proposed strategies are discussed and implications for transport policy outlined.     

Sovereign financial disaster risk management: The case of Mexico

In 2006, Mexico became the first transition country to transfer part of its public-sector natural catastrophe risk to the international reinsurance and capital markets. The Mexican case is of considerable interest to highly exposed transition and developing countries, many of which are considering similar transactions. Risk financing instruments can assure governments of sufficient post-disaster capital to provide emergency response, disaster relief to the affected population and repair public infrastructure. The costs of financial instruments, however, can greatly exceed expected losses, and for this reason it is important to closely examine their benefits and alternatives. This paper analyzes the Mexican case from the perspective of the risk cedent (the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit), which was informed by analyses provided by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). The rationale for a government to insure its contingent liabilities is presented along with the fiscal, legal and institutional context of the Mexican transaction. Using publicly available data, the paper scrutinizes the choice the authorities faced between two different risk-transfer instruments: reinsurance and a catastrophe bond. Making use of IIASA's catastrophe simulation model (CATSIM), this financial risk management decision is analyzed within the context of a public investment decision.     

What are the barriers to successful community-based climate change adaptation? A review of grey literature

ABSTRACT

Across the Global South, community-based adaptation (CBA) projects are increasingly being implemented in an effort to respond effectively and sustainably to the impacts of climate change, with a particular focus on people’s livelihoods. Despite an increase in the number of CBA projects being implemented, detailed analysis and evaluation of their efficacy and the barriers faced in achieving successful outcomes is lacking. This study draws on an analysis of grey literature (i.e. project and donor reports) to explore the barriers faced in achieving effective CBA. An extensive global search of online project evaluations yielded 25 documents comprising 69 projects from which this analysis is based. This paper first presents an overview of the 69 projects and highlights any trends. Second, this paper describes the barriers to CBA according to three broad themes: socio-political, resource, and physical systems and processes. Following this is a discussion of the most prevalent barriers: cognitive and behavioural, financial, and human resources. Third, this paper discusses the key findings elucidated from this review. This includes the need for greater sharing of project reports and findings so lessons can be learned across spatial and temporal scales, and the disparity between critical academic literature on CBA and what is implemented in practice.     

中国土地财政地域差异与转型研究

土地财政是当前政府管理中的热点问题,分地域研究土地财政差异情况,对于提出科学合理的转型对策具有重要的理论与现实意义.总结土地财政各项收入来源发展概况,考虑土地储备抵押融资为借债收入,故只以土地出让金与土地、房产税收计算1999-2010年全国31个省(市)土地财政收入总规模,同时考虑各省(市)年均土地财政收入规模占地方财政总收入的比重(贡献率),找出土地财政情况地域差异的基本规律.进一步采用SPSS19.0层次聚类分析方法,将全国31个省(市)土地财政情况划分为5种集群类型:土地财政发展期、较旺盛期、旺盛期、中期、后期.从土地财政收入规模与增长趋势及对地方财政总收入的贡献程度,分析各集群土地财政情况存在差异的原因.在此基础上,考虑土地财政不可持续性及存在的诸多弊端,针对不同集群地域从国家层面制度改革、征收物业税、改变土地财政为动力源泉的城市化、发挥闲散土地的财政作用等4方面,提出土地财政转型的政策建议.     

Environmental Capital,Negative Externality and Carbon Finance Innovation

Abstract

In the context of global climate change, the internalization of negative externality, which is brought about by the traditional mode of economic growth, has become an inevitable choice. In order to achieve the internalization, it is necessary to make innovations on the market mechanism and system, find the value of environmental capital, establish a new mode of economic growth based on environmental capital, and then transform the environmental capital, an exogenous factor of economic growth, into an endogenous factor. Of this, the key of market mechanism and system innovation is the financial innovation that is based on environmental capital and negative externality; the government defines the initial property right of environmental resources and establishes environment energy trading market, so as to guide enterprises to trade environmental resources (represented by carbon emission permit trading) based on the Clean Development Mechanism, and to vigorously develop environmental finance and carbon finance.     

中国城市绿色金融及其影响因素——以绿色债券为例

绿色金融是金融创新的重点,旨在调控资本供给,实现环境向好发展。以绿色债券为例,基于2016—2019年中国142个地级以上城市,使用面板数据模型和空间杜宾模型探讨政策激励、金融基础、环境污染对绿色金融的影响。结果显示：（1）中西部地区引入绿色金融的城市数目较多,东部地区是绿色金融规模增长的承载区域。（2）政策激励和金融基础显著提升绿色金融规模,而环境污染起到抑制作用。（3）不同区域的政策措施都能与金融基础协同,促成绿色金融发展。仅在东部地区,政策激励能够缓和环境污染的负面影响。研究表明,绿色金融的发展模式存在区域差异,东部地区是在政策激励和金融基础推动下的顺势转型,中西部地区则需应对环境污染造成的阻力。