Natural capital in ecology and economics: an overview

The Brundtland Commission report, Our Common Future, defined sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of futuregenerations to meet their own needs. Although the idea of sustainable development has been widely accepted, it has proveddifficult to identify and implement policies and practices thatpromote sustainable economic growth. Some economists, environmental scientists and policy analysts believe that they can transform the consensus about sustainability into manageablepractices. They propose to accomplish this feat with a set of new ideas about the relationships between the economy and theenvironment offered under the banner of 'natural capital'. An ideal account of natural capital would be one or more standard measures or models that would allow the direct comparison of environmental goods, like forests, fresh water and clean air, with economic goods, like money, capital and productivity. By bringing economic science and environmental science to an objective common ground, a natural capital model has the potentialto provide a concrete means of comparing the economic and ecological costs and benefits of particular policies and programmes. This paper offers a survey and analysis of several new contributions to the formation of the natural capital concept from economists, ecologists, policy analysts, biometricians, foresters and a philosopher. The paper concludes that existingmicroeconomic theory may be 'ungreenable', if it is not reformulated. While macroeconomic approaches to natural capitalhave been more successful, they share the limitation that ecosystems and species are valued solely in monetary terms. These problems are taken to suggest that the development of a successful natural capital model may require economic theory tobe recast to include non-monetary social preferences and values.     

Between economics and ecology: some historical and philosophical considerations for modelers of natural capital

Natural capital models attempt to remediate the relationship between economics and ecology either by conjoining models and theories from each discipline or by finding a type of phenomena that can be meaningfully measured by both fields. The developmentof a widely accepted model which integrates economics and ecologyhas eluded researchers since the early 1970s. This paper offers an historical and philosophical perspective on some of the conceptual problems or obstacles that hinder the development ofnatural capital models. In particular, the disciplinary assumptions of economic science and ecological science are examined and it is argued that these assumptions are antithetical. Hence, the development of an effective and acceptednatural capital model will require that economics and ecology reconsider their self-conceptions as sciences. For the purposesof theoretical research and practical policy, the paper cautionsagainst confusing the issue of whether or not economic models accord with ecological models with the issue of whether or not economic activities accord with ecological realities.     

A new market instrument for sustainable economic and environmental development

The regenerative capacity of ecosystems provides a regulatory basis for sustainable economic growth and development. A natural valuation of an ecosystem's services will arise in a market for developmental rights in the ecosystem using a unit of tradable 'right': E-Scrip. The amount of e-scrip needed for a development may be set by Environmental Assessment. The capacity of the ecosystem to regenerate with developmental pressure may be represented by an independent trader or Factor Proxy for the Environment who provides e-scrip to the market.     

Social goals and the valuation of natural capital

Valuation ultimately refers to the contribution of an item to meeting a specific goal or objective. Conventional economic valuation is based on the goal of allocative efficiency. But other social goals may be equally, if not more, important. For example, the goals of social fairness and ecological sustainability have been identified as being at least of the samelevel of importance as allocative efficiency. This paper looks atthe role of social goals in determining the basis for valuation ofnatural capital and ecosystem services, and sketches the characteristics of a system of valuation that would give equal weight to all three of the major social goals mentioned above. It also places these goals within a more comprehensive conceptualmodel of the economy and its relationship to the ecological lifesupport system in which it is embedded.     

Recovery assessment of a refined-oil impacted and fire ravaged mangrove ecosystem

An assessment of the diversity and abundance of macrobenthic community in a refined-oil (petrol) impacted and fire-ravaged mangrove ecosystem within the vicinity of a marine receipt terminal facility (Atlas Cove) serving as a distribution and pump station for refined products was carried out. The mangrove ecosystem was subjected to massive petrol spillage from a leaking pipeline and eventual fire outbreak. Following rehabilitation activities, a recovery assessment of the impacted ecosystem was carried out. The field surveys revealed that the petrol leakage and fire outbreak resulted in a near complete destruction of the mangrove ecosystem around the Atlas Cove depot, with macrobenthic species diversity index ranging between 0−0.4, compared to 0.78−0.87 in the control stations. The dominant early arrivals or colonizers of the impacted stations areas were Clibanarius africanus and Callinectes amnicola. Early signs of recovery of the impacted area were observed within about two and a half (2 1/2) to three (3) months, based on diversity and abundance indices respectively. The period of early signs of recovery also coincide with an observed reduction in the total hydrocarbon content (THC) levels in the sediment collected from the impacted stations by about nine folds from 3.67 mg/kg to 0.42 mg/kg within 3 months. Despite the apparent signs of recovery, the need for long-term monitoring of the impacted stations was discussed.     

建设项目环境保护管理现状、问题及对策

主要介绍近年来全国建设项目环境管理的情况和问题,对出现的问题进行分析,并提出相应的建议。     

防范外来物种入侵风险,维护生态安全

随着国际贸易和交往的日益增多,外来物种入侵的几率大大提高,其危害也呈逐步加深的态势,对我国的一些地区造成了严重的经济损失和生态破坏。外来物种入侵已经成为威胁我国生态安全的重要因素之一,加强外来物种的防范和管理已是当务之急。本文以吉林省生态环境现状调查典型案例——吉林省外来物种入侵生态调查的部分成果为基础,阐述了外来物种入侵的特征、危害及相应的防治对策。     

助催化无汞盐快速测定水中化学需氧量

在ψ（Ｈ２ＳＯ４）＝５６％硫酸介质，重铬酸钾的氧化体系中，以钼权铵，硫酸铝钾为助催化剂，可减少量化剂硫酸银的用量，消解１５ｍｉｎ即可测定水中化学需氧量，用硝酸银溶液代替硫酸汞去除水氯离子，避免了汞盐的污染，工业废水回收率在９７％～１０１％之间，有较好的准确度。     

An ecosystem report on the Panama Canal: monitoring the status of the forest communities and the watershed

In 1996, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Republic of Panama's Environmental Authority, with support fromthe United States Agency for International Development, undertook a comprehensive program to monitor the ecosystem of the Panama Canal watershed. The goals were to establish baselineindicators for the integrity of forest communities and rivers. Based on satellite image classification and ground surveys, the2790 km² watershed had 1570 km² of forest in 1997, 1080 km² of which was in national parks and nature monuments. Most of the 490 km² of forest not currently in protected areas lies along the west bank of the Canal, and its managementstatus after the year 2000 turnover of the Canal from the U.S. to Panama remains uncertain. In forest plots designed to monitorforest diversity and change, a total of 963 woody plant specieswere identified and mapped. We estimate there are a total of 850–1000 woody species in forests of the Canal corridor. Forestsof the wetter upper reaches of the watershed are distinct in species composition from the Canal corridor, and have considerably higher diversity and many unknown species. Theseremote areas are extensively forested, poorly explored, and harbor an estimated 1400–2200 woody species. Vertebrate monitoring programs were also initiated, focusing on species threatened by hunting and forest fragmentation. Large mammals are heavily hunted in most forests of Canal corridor, and therewas clear evidence that mammal density is greatly reduced in hunted areas and that this affects seed predation and dispersal. The human population of the watershed was 113 000 in 1990, and grew by nearly 4% per year from 1980 to 1990. Much of this growth was in a small region of the watershed on the outskirts of Panama City, but even rural areas, including villages near and within national parks, grew by 2% per year. There is no sewage treatment in the watershed, and many towns have no trashcollection, thus streams near large towns are heavily polluted. Analyses of sediment loads in rivers throughout the watershed did not indicate that erosion has been increasing as a result ofdeforestation, rather, erosion seems to be driven largely by total rainfall and heavy rainfall events that cause landslides.Still, models suggest that large-scale deforestation would increase landslide frequency, and failure to detect increases inerosion could be due to the gradual deforestation rate and the short time period over which data are available. A study of runoff showed deforestation increased the amount of water fromrainfall that passed directly into streams. As a result, dry season flow was reduced in a deforested catchment relative to aforested one. Currently, the Panama Canal watershed has extensive forest areasand streams relatively unaffected by humans. But impacts of hunting and pollution near towns are clear, and the burgeoningpopulation will exacerbate these impacts in the next few decades.Changes in policies regarding forest protection and pollution control are necessary.     

"三河三湖"流域重污染行业经济和污染贡献率剖析

应用"污染贡献率"这一指标,分析了"三河三湖"流域COD和氨氮排放的重污染行业以及地区分布,指出了各流域COD和氨氮排放的控制重点.同时分析了各流域重污染行业的"经济贡献率",最后结合行业的污染贡献率和经济贡献率以及行业在地区所占的比例,提出了几点重要的结论.     

青浦工业园区B区大气环境影响分析及改善对策探讨

为探讨上海青浦工业园区B区对周边大气环境的影响及可持续发展对策,选取目前入住的化工企业(主要为树脂、表面活性剂和涂料类企业)所排放的臭气浓度等特征污染因子,模拟计算其对整个区域的环境影响。结果表明,这些污染物的挥发量不是很大,但其综合效应造成监测点位臭气浓度偏高。针对工业园区开发过程中对大气环境影响的特点,提出在现有基础上调整产业结构和布局,完善园区服务,促进企业升级等措施,从源头上切实减缓工业园区经济开发对周边大气环境的不利影响,最终达到可持续发展的目的。     

Integrated Models of Fisheries Management and Policy

An overview of the structure and elements of integrated models aimed at studying fishery management policies using static and dynamic optimisation techniques is presented. Continuous and discrete time models are considered under both open-access and sole-owner settings. A variety of economic and biological processes that affect the fishery as a whole is examined. It turns out that overseeing important fish population characteristics such as metapopulation dynamics and multi-species interaction can lead to serious misrepresentation of the fishery and suboptimal controls. Adequate understanding of the economic conditions and considerations potentially affecting the fishermen is necessary to model their behaviour and address their concerns. Misrepresentation of these economic and biologic processes will have an impact on the success of management policies in attaining a sustainable fish population.     

长江流域等重污染行业经济和污染贡献率剖析

应用"污染贡献率"这一指标,分析了长江、黄河、珠江和松花江流域COD和氨氮排放的重污染行业以及地区分布,指出了各流域COD和氨氮排放的控制重点.同时分析了各流域重污染行业的经济贡献率,最后结合行业的污染贡献率和经济贡献率以及行业在地区所占的比例,提出了几点重要的结论.     

A comparison of fixed-site and non-fixed-site approaches for species protection

The efficacy of simultaneously advancing two distinct conceptual designs (referred to here as fixed-site and non-fixed-site) for species conservation and protection is addressed. In the literature, numerous models can be found that typically stem from a particular design, but rarely are comparisons made between approaches. This paper presents a more integrated optimization framework that models landowner behavior and species viabilities at a landscape scale. Regional demand for resource extraction is used as the economic driver, a variant of simulated annealing is used to solve the model under different species protection approaches, and a detailed species population simulator is utilized to measure biological responses. When directly comparing the outcomes of different species protection strategies from a case study in Oregon (USA), it was found that neither approach was universally superior in terms of financial value or degree of protection for two late seral forest dependent species.     

深圳市燃气汽车进展及其开发研究

通过对深圳市燃气汽车发展现状的表述和对目前存在的一系列问题的深入探讨 ,揭示出影响燃气汽车发展的各种因素 ,提出了有利于深圳市燃气汽车稳妥、健康发展的思路与战略。     

新疆煤炭开发环境保护问题及对策建议

针对新疆煤炭资源开发状况及新疆煤炭资源的分布特点,分析了煤炭开发过程中引发的环境问题,提出了加强煤炭资源开发区域规划环境影响评价,积极探索建立矿山生态环境恢复补偿机制,加强对煤矿开发产生的废水、矸石的处理及监管力度,加大矸石、废水的监管和排污收费征收力度等措施。     

中国流域水环境生物监测体系构成和发展

分析了国外水环境生物监测体系的构成和特点;总结了中国生物监测的发展历程、基础、存在问题和发展需求;提出了体系发展的总体发展目标,即以流域为单元,以各级支流为监测区段,发展以实现流域水环境生态完整性评价为目的的综合监测体系;同时,着重介绍了重点发展内容:建立以市级站为核心的监测网络;建立包含4个板块的核心业务监测能力;开展生物监测业务标准化建设;进一步完善水环境质量评价报告。对全国监测系统生物监测体系的构成和发展提出建议:在总体发展目标指导下,完成构建水环境生物监测技术体系、构建全国水环境生物监测网络体系、建立数据管理与评价平台及建立运行保障体系4个分目标,实现中国环境管理以"污染防治"为重点到以"生态健康"为目的的转折。     

吐鲁番地区生态环境特点及可持续发展

就吐鲁番地区生态环境特点,提出可持续发展的对策和建议。     

环境监测技术的现状及发展趋势

根据日本环境质量标准发展的需求,结合欧洲新近实施的相关环境标准,分析了环境监测技术需求和发展方向.     

浙江省水体富营养化特征及防治对策

为研究浙江省水体富营养化特征,对全省历年省控断面地表水水质、污染源和重点藻华高发河流营养盐通量等数据进行了统计分析。结果表明:全省水体营养盐水平总体仍处于高位,重点流域富营养化问题突出,省控断面富营养、重富营养占比分别为78.7%和43.0%,营养盐已持续成为地表水首要污染超标因子。通过近年来的集中整治,浙江省水体营养盐浓度下降明显。但治理过程中也出现了总氮减排滞后,部分水域总磷浓度反弹等不利现象。特别是相应的藻类生长势能尚未进入下降敏感区间,对藻华防控贡献有限。同时,全省入河营养盐城镇生活源和农业面源占比突出,总氮合计占89.27%,总磷占95.45%。重点流域地表径流对营养盐入河通量贡献明显,汛期其对河流总磷浓度的贡献明显高于固定源排放。建议在营养盐总量控制、跨部门协调机制、水资源配置、农业面源管理、城镇雨污管网建设、雨污处理以及河流生态修复等方面加强应对。