SUSTAINABILITY AT THE LOCAL LEVEL: MANAGEMENT TOOLS AND MUNICIPAL TAX INCENTIVE MODEL

The implementation of sustainable development may seem a simple concept when written on paper. However to carry-out long term actions put forward by the Agenda 21 (AG21) at the local level represents one of the main challenges as municipal governments in general do not have the capacity to effectively implement the process. Regional environmental assessment (REA) has shown to be effective in supporting decision-making not only to correct environmental problems due to past unsustainable social-economic developments but also help local governments to implement sustainable actions. However this requires long-term investments of AG21 plans and projects. The allocation of regular and consistent financial resources is one of the main ingredients for the sustainable development process. But traditional plans and projects financed by national and/or international funds may not be sustainable in the long-term because they become dependent on external funding. Research demonstrate that innovative economic instruments such as ecotaxes represent a feasible alternative to sponsor local sustainability because taxes are collected permanently by the government and could be invested in continuous actions. Ecotaxes experiences have provided important reference to structure a municipal incentive model (MIM) to sponsor AG21’s environmental plans and projects on a long-term (permanent) basis. However sustainable development cannot be solely through economic investments. A comprehensive municipal environmental management scheme (MEMS) has been established to support the incentive model. The scheme seeks not only to improve local institutional framework but also incentive continuous participation of local stakeholders at all levels of society. Participatory events and the provision of incentives (educational and financial) are key to motivate society to protect the environment and support actively the sustainable development process as emphasised in the RIO-92 Conference.     

重庆市骨架公路网规划生态环境影响评价

战略环境评价作为一种促进可持续发展的重要工具,已经得到了广泛的关注。以重庆市骨架公路网规划生态环境影响评价为例,探讨一种基于规划路网与生态要素空间关系的评价方法。将评价要素分为两类,运用地理信息技术识别出规划路网对4种生态组分影响较大的地区和直接受规划路网影响的自然保护区,做出了空间分布图,并针对存在的问题给出了建议和对策,为合理设计和布设路网提供了依据。提出的基于空间位置关系的评价方法将会促进路网规划环境影响评价的开展。     

State-of-the-art sustainability analysis methodologies for efficient decision support in green production operations

Over the last three decades, new concepts, strategies, frameworks and systems have been developed to tackle the sustainable development issue. This paper reviews the challenges, perspectives and recent advances in support of sustainable production operations decision-making. The aim of this review is to provide a holistic understanding of advanced scientific analysis methodologies for the evaluation of sustainability, to provide efficient decision support. Over 100 publications have been analysed, and a characterisation of state-of-the-art sustainability analysis methodologies has been produced, which includes life cycle assessment and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), along with their applications to three key areas of production operations: sustainable design, sustainable manufacture and sustainable supply chain management. Distribution of existing work is discussed and future research directions are elicited from the literature. The paper finds three trends in supporting sustainable production operations decisions: (a) sustainability analysis has moved to whole life cycle assessment from single-stage assessment, (b) sustainability analysis has shifted away from single criterion to MCDA and (c) sustainability analysis has evolved from stand-alone approaches to integrated systematic methodologies. The paper concludes that integrated sustainability analysis can provide more efficient and effective support to complex decision-making in sustainable production operations.     

Strategic Environmental Assessment： A New Tool for Ecological Urbanization of Coastal Cities in China

Recently, there has been growing concerns about environmental issues related to urbanization in China. The intense natural resources utilization and increasing population has brought great pressure, especially in coastal areas, consequently affecting the sustainable development of coastal cities. In 2002, Environmental Impact Assessment Act （EIA Act） was enacted in China. Environmental impact assessment targeted at planning, one level of strategic environmental assessment （SEA）, thus became a legislative requirement. This paper considers SEA to be one of the important approaches not only to control coastal pollution, but also to conserve coastal ecosystems and finally to achieve sustainable development during urbanization, thus it will be a set an example for other areas of China. The experience of SEA in Xiamen, a coastal city in southeast China, illustrates the potentials of SEA. This paper first briefly introduces the concept and potentials of SEA, then compares two SEA cases and a project EIA case in Xiamen, and finally identifies the key characteristics of SEA.     

中国不同发展阶段地区环境可持续性状态与趋势研究

中国不同地区发展水平存在较大的差异．面临的环境问题和可持续发展的优先领域也不同。因此．可持续发展评价与政策制定需要与区域发晨实际相结合。选取上海、德州和固原三个地区作为中国发达、发展中和欠发达地区的代表．选择可操作和可比性强的指标．基子压力-状态-响应模型．构建了环境可持续性趋势系数．对比不同发展水平地区环境发展的状态、趋势和存在的主要问题。得出以下结论：近20年来．虽然中国总体环境保护能力有了一定的提高．但污染物排放压力持续增长．环境质量普遍恶化的趋势没有得到根本改变;上海、德州和固原环境可持续性趋势系数分别为0．82、0．55和0．45．发达地区环境可持续性最强．发展中地区一般．欠发达地区量差;目前我国环境政策领域往往注重经济发展的“两极”：高度发达地区和欠发达地区,本文的研究结果表明。面积占全国67％、人口占全国40％的发展中地区环境问题最为突出。     

Strategic environmental assessment application for sustainable transport-related air quality policies: a case study in Hanoi City,Vietnam

Recognition has grown among policy-makers that early in the decision-making process, there is a need for an environmental assessment of the effects of the policy, plan, and program (PPP) and their alternatives. Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is widely recognized as a supporting tool that systematically integrates environmental aspects into strategic decision-making processes, thereby contributing to sustainable development. In this study, SEA was applied for an integrated assessment of environmental, social, and economic impacts of a wide range of scenarios for transport-related air quality policies to help decision-makers in identifying the most sustainable scenario with the purpose of reducing carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations from transport emissions in Hanoi City, Vietnam. In conducting SEA process, the urban air dispersion model MUAIR was used as a quantitative tool in prediction of CO concentrations. To evaluate the predicted impacts of scenarios, the SEA objectives concerning sustainability and the corresponding sustainable indicators were identified. Based on the likely significant predicted impacts on landscape, biodiversity, and health benefits, mitigation measures were proposed. These included planning in infrastructure development and implementation of public education campaign. The results of predicted and evaluated impacts of scenarios as well as proposed mitigation measures were taken into account for supporting sound decision-making that is consistent with the principles of sustainable development. Considering sustainable impacts of the scenarios, the SEA result clearly indicates that a combination of policy for public transport development and policy for installation of oxidation catalytic converter for motorcycles is the most sustainable scenario for reducing CO concentrations from transport emissions.     

Australia and Russia: How do their environmental policy processes differ?

This paper focuses on comparative review and analysis of the systems of environmental protection, national environmental strategies and fundamentals of environmental legislation in Australia and the Russian Federation. These countries have many socioeconomic similarities, such as low population densities and richness in natural resources which are largely exported. The main disparity between Australia and Russia is in the types of economy. This paper ‘continues’ the sequence of recent scholarly publications on comparison of various features of environmental policies in the countries from all over the world. Comparative analysis in this research has been based on examination of scholarly publications, legislation, government documents, mass media sources and NGO responses. The analysis has revealed a number of differences including top-down implementation of policies in Russia whereas in Australia, each State (Territory) implements policies with significant independence from the Commonwealth Government. At the same time, similarities between the countries have been identified: for example, in deficits in the budget of local environmental authorities and in the presence of contradictions in legislation at national and regional levels of government. Suggestions resulting from this analysis include further integration of sustainable development strategies at all levels of Australian government to encourage further protection of the environment and, for Russia, creating a separate Ministry of Environmental Protection. These approaches should assist facilitation of sustainable development for both nations. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Research on Public Participation and Information Publicity in Strategic Environmental Assessment

Abstract

It has been generally recognized that strategic environmental assessment integrates environment and development into decision-making and becomes an important decision-making tool for implementing sustainable development. This paper firstly introduces the relationships of SEA, public participation(PP)and information publicity(IP), then discusses the key parts in enforcing the effective process of PP: They are the methods for how to make sufficient information open (What), when to implement PP (When), who will determinate the public (Who), and how to make the models of PP (How). Six cases are compared and analyzed. At last, ways to improve the effectiveness of PP in China is also presented.     

《21世纪议程》:行动与展望

1992年,联合国环境与发展大会通过了《关于环境与发展的里约热内卢宣言》、《21世纪议程》和《关于森林问题的原则声明》3项重要文件。之后,国际社会为推动"里约精神"的落实做出了积极努力:联合国可持续发展委员会每年举行会议,审议《21世纪议程》的执行情况;许多国家制定了国家和地方层面的《21世纪议程》或可持续发展战略;相关国际组织以可持续发展能力建设为主的活动也十分活跃。人类把发展与环境相协调作为行动准则,各国依据国情制定了促进环境与发展相协调的优先事项,使人类在实现可持续发展的进程中取得了积极进展:全球经济实现了大幅增长,发展中国家在全球经济格局中的地位不断上升;在消除贫困等社会发展方面取得显著效果,全球开始进入城市化时代;全球能源资源供应呈现多元化,资源节约集约利用成效显著。中国在经济发展滞后、贫困现象较严重背景下,承担了全球实施《21世纪议程》的旗舰角色;并依据本国的具体国情,选择性地学习与借鉴,摸索创造出具有自身特色的发展模式和道路,增加了世界可持续发展方式选择的多样性。20年来,尽管各个国家在可持续发展方面采取了积极行动,但是"里约精神"尚未全面转化为行动,在相关国际承诺与公约的履行方面还需付出巨大努力,仍然面临着重大挑战。如:以气候变化为代表的重大全球性环境问题对人类生存构成的直接威胁加大;生态超载背景下的发展空间争夺更趋激烈;全球性民生问题凸显,可持续发展面临的社会风险加大,等等。我们期待:通过"里约+20"大会,使得相关国际制度安排不断形成和完善,可持续发展进一步向全球行动转化;科技创新步伐加快,进一步推动全球向绿色发展转型;加快全球治理体系调整,新兴发展中国家成为全球可持续发展的重要推动力;全球共同努力解决重大资源环境问题,可持续发展领域的国际关系呈现竞争性合作。     

项目可持续发展影响评价初探

本文从可持续发展的视角。介绍了项目可持续发展影响评价体系．对可持续发展影响评价的定义及内涵和原则及内容、评价指标体系进行阐述．建议改进现行的环境评价、经济评价和社会评价，使它们综合为可持续发展影响评价。     

Framing environmental indicators: moving from causal chains to causal networks

In recent years, there has been a boom in environmental assessment reports utilizing environmental indicators. Most of these publications are based on the casual chain frameworks (e.g., Pressure–State–Response (PSR), Driving force–State–Response (DSR), and Driving force–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR)). These frameworks have made an important contribution by emphasising the importance of causality. However, the reliance on simple uni-directional chains is at the same time not very conducive to a good understanding of the complexity of the processes behind environmental indicators. This limits the usefulness of these frameworks for environmental (impact) assessments. In this paper we propose an enhanced DPSIR (eDPSIR) framework for environmental indicators that takes inter-relations of indicators into account by relying on the use of causal networks rather than causal chains. It will be shown how the concept of causal networks can increase insight into the inter-relation of environmental issues and associated indicators, can facilitate the identification of key indicators for particular kinds of questions, and can provide a useful first step to the establishment of dose–response functions. Working with causal networks can contribute to more appropriate environmental policies and better management decisions.     

Research on Public Participation and Information Publicity in Strategic Environmental Assessment

1 INTRODUCTIONStrategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is the application of EIA(Environment Impact Assessment) to strategic actions such as policies, plans or programs (PPPs). More specially, SEA is: 'The formalized, systematic and comprehensive process of evaluating the environmental impacts of a policy, plan or program and its alternatives, including the preparation of a written report on the findings of that evaluation, and using the findings in publicly accountable decision-ma…     

International experience of green development in Western China: an overall review of policy and practice

Green development emphasizes co-development between economic and environmental dimensions, and is a people-centered sustainable development approach. Western China demands green development, and international experience could provide necessary, unique and important help and support for Western China to achieve its green development goals. This paper has made a comprehensive overall review and analysis of international experience in green development policy and its implementation, in particular, OECD countries’ (mostly Australia and Canada) experience have been analyzed following the major policy foci defined by the Task Force on Strategy and Policies on Environment and Development in Western China initiated by China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED). Data and information were gathered from the field surveys and investigations, expert meetings, as well as literature review. The main sessions include policy framework and road map establishment, implementation and performance assessment, co-development between economic development and environmental protection, as well as green employment and poverty alleviation. The paper has addressed five policy considerations for the future promotion of green development in Western China.     

Strategic environmental assessment in Hong Kong

This review examines the development and application of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process in the planning framework of Hong Kong. Two strategic planning case studies are evaluated within the context of SEA, namely the Territorial Development Strategy Review (TDS Review) and the Third Comprehensive Transport Study (CTS-3). Rapid population growth and urbanisation in Hong Kong, coupled with a historic lack of planning controls and inherent conflicts between government departments have been major obstacles to achieving sustainable development in the territory. Despite these challenges, Hong Kong was one of the first Asian countries to apply SEA to major development plans, where the implementation of the 'SUSDEV 21' study on sustainable development has demonstrated the government's commitment towards integrated environmental protection. The application of SEA has provided decision-makers with key information on potential environment impacts arising from proposed developments, resulting in greater accountability and transparency in the decision-making process. SEA in Hong Kong has also prompted an increased level of environmental awareness and co-operation between government departments and agencies responsible for the management of Hong Kong's natural and urban environments. However, the application of SEA in Hong Kong continues to have notable limitations. SEA needs to evolve beyond its current sectoral application to examine ways in which development decisions can not only pre-empt and prevent environmental damage, but also positively enhance and restore existing natural resources. Current land use plans and transportation strategies still largely determine the pattern of development in the near future without adequate longer-term environmental cost-benefit analysis. Sustainable development includes environmental, social and economic considerations, and these inter-related elements need be suitably balanced. SEA is not a means to obstruct development in Hong Kong, but should be recognised for its inherent socio-economic and ecological value, and fully integrated with the decision-making process. Whilst it is admirable that Hong Kong has taken positive steps in this direction, it is now an opportune moment for the government to have the foresight and tenacity to create a sustainable development framework for Hong Kong into the future.     

公众可持续发展基本意识评价与分析--以地方21世纪议程南阳试点为例

具备可持续发展基本意识是公众参与可持续发展的前提和基础。采用问卷调查方法和GLM模型。以地方21世纪议程南阳试点为例，基于7765份调查问卷，论述了公众可持续发展基本意识的特点和人群差异。研究发现，公众可持续发展基本意识在年龄、职业、县（市、区）、城乡、收入等方面差异显著，但是在性别、地形方面差异不显著。在不增加消费成本的情况下，公众可持续发展基本意识与公众可持续发展行为取向显著正相关，但是在增加消费成本的情况下，则行为取向滞后。公众可持续发展基本意识评估值整体上较高。但仍有少部分人缺乏最基本的可持续发展知识和观念。     

英国环境管理的公众参与及其对中国的启示

鼓励公众参与环境管理是当今国际社会重要的政策导向之一。本文从法律赋予公民环境权、环保团体在环境保护中发挥重要。作用、环境影响评价中强调公众参与三方面来介绍英国公众参与环境管理的一些做法，探讨其对中国环境管理中公众参与的启示。     

区域持续发展与地理信息系统的协调作用

环境与发展是当今人类社会所面临的两大主题,已引起各国政府和国际社会的广泛关注。持续发展代表了一种新的发展战略和我们从事经济活动的新方法。地理信息系统技术具有综合各种社会、经济和环境因素的能力,为科学决策和实现区域持续发展提供了一种强有力的工具。同时,地理信息系统为在区域持续发展中利用生态学方法、时序分析和科学决策提供了强有力的技术支持。在我国,区域持续发展已引起了越来越多的研究机构与政府部门的重视。应该注意到,实现这一目标离不开地理信息系统技术的支持。本文主要讨论地理信息系统对区域持续发展的作用和探讨建立区域持续发展的地理信息系统的理论模式。     

Evaluation of sustainability using an integrated approach at process and product level: a case study

The present world is facing problems like rapid depletion of natural resources and undesired environmental changes on a global scale. Manufacturing organisations are realising the importance of mitigating the present crisis and are adopting sustainable manufacturing principles. Since it is important to achieve sustainable manufacturing, sustainability assessment models were developed. Sustainability assessment models have their own drawbacks and may not provide clear scope for complete sustainable development. A system approach has been developed to overcome this shortcoming by integrating various sustainability assessment models that are already in practice. This article reports the advantages of collecting the advantages of individual sustainability assessment models and how the implementation of the integrated approach has helped to identify the current sustainability level and the scope for future developments in an automotive industry.     

On Sustainable Development of Social Forestry in Bangladesh: Experiences from Sal (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Shorea Robusta</Emphasis>) Forests

Sustainability in forestry is a complex amalgam of trade-offs among its various dimensions and there is no easy route to achieve sustainable development. It is important that policy process and implementation strategy of these policies should be based on sound information about these trade-offs. There is a growing consensus amongst key forest decision-makers in Bangladesh that traditional forestry is needed to make the transition to more sustainable forestry, which is likely to involve local people in forest management. As a result, the government has initiated a social forestry program from 1981 with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) grant and operated mainly in Sal forest areas. The most important objective of this program is to protect, manage, and develop forests in a sustainable way by involving local communities. Although several studies have focused on the management issues of social forestry, none of these studies has evaluated the indicators of sustainable social forestry. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the criteria of sustainable development of social forestry in Bangladesh. The study is based on primary cross-sectional data collected using the multistage stratified sampling technique. In total, 581 social forestry farmers were selected randomly and interviewed using a pre-tested questionnaire. The study evaluated some important components of sustainable development and identified the following conditions of social forestry in Bangladesh:(i) almost all the components of sustainable development of social forestry, although not at the aspiration level, were at good condition;(ii) participants were interested and committed to work with Forest Department in developing social forestry;(iii) they had been utilizing both hard and soft technology in practicing social forestry, although there exists ample scope of development;(iv) income of participants after involving in social forestry had increased, although not at satisfactory level; and(v) process of producing social and material goods had been under progress.However, there exist plenty of scopes for sustainable social forestry development through improving the sustainable development components more carefully.Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

《中国21世纪议程》:迎接挑战的战略抉择与实践探索

制定《中国21世纪议程》是中国发展必然的战略选择,是中国履行环发大会精神的重要举措。近20年来,我国立足基本国情,积极推进《中国21世纪议程》的实施,探索实践中国特色的可持续发展道路,做出了巨大努力,在发展经济、消除贫困、节约资源、保护环境等领域取得了举世瞩目的成就,对全球可持续发展做出了重要贡献。随着世情国情的深刻变化,我国进一步实施可持续发展战略面临着新的挑战,发展中不平衡、不协调、不可持续的问题依然严峻,发展的任务仍然十分艰巨。我们应该坚持以科学发展观为统领,坚定不移地走中国特色的可持续发展之路,充分把握全球绿色技术创新迸发的历史机遇,切实加快经济发展方式的转变;坚持共同但有区别责任的原则和合作共赢的理念,积极参与全球可持续发展治理,促进世界的可持续发展、和谐发展。