Sustainable Development and Health:Recent International Developments,Policies and Projects

Environment and health have been more and more jointly addressed in recent years,thanks to the efforts of several public and private institutions.In this scenario,a leading role has been played by the World Heath Organisation(WHO).A specific attention was devoted to the issue by the European Union(EU)EU institutions and the WHO Office for Europe,which lists 52 countries(including Europe,Eastern European Countries and Turkey, former Yugoslavia and part of the former Soviet Union).The objectives of the present paper are to give an overview of the main developments in this area,and to underline the progress made towards a common understanding of health and environment issues,the advantages and limits of these developments and the challenges for the future,to be tackled at a global level.     

Direct and Indirect Effects of Socioeconomic Factors on Age at First Marriage in Slum Areas,Bangladesh

This article attempts to examine the influence of some selected predictor variables on female age at first marriage in slum areas of Bangladesh. A path and multiple classification analysis （MCA） approach have been adopted. Authors thought that respondent＇s educational level and the mass media such as watching television have a significant direct impact on age at marriage, while the types of family and occupational status have an indirect effect on age at marriage.     

Seize the Opportunity and Meet the Challenge to Push China''''s Sustainable Development Strategy to a New Stage

Since China set the sustainable development strategy, positive progress has been made in implementing the strategy, and active contributions have been made to the sustainable development of mankind. Currently, profound changes are taking place in China's internal and external situation. A new era has begun in the implementation of the sustainable development strategy. We should take full advantage of this opportunity and make use of all favorable conditions and chances to further promote the implementation of the sustainable development strategy.     

Seize the Opportunity and Meet the Challenge to Push China''s Sustainable Development Strategy to a New Stage

Since China set the sustainable development strategy, positive progress has been made in implementing the strategy, and active contributions have been made to the sustainable development of mankind. Currently, profound changes are taking place in China's internal and external situation. A new era has begun in the implementation of the sustainable development strategy. We should take full advantage of this opportunity and make use of all favorable conditions and chances to further promote the implementation of the sustainable development strategy.     

On the Process of Peasant Workers’ Transformation to Urban Residents

The unique two-stage ＂Chinese path＂ of China＇s rural-urban migration, which cannot be fully explained by classical theories of economic development, makes us to give peasant workers＇ transformation to urban residents a top priority. On the basis of fully explaining peasant workers＇ transformation to urban residents, a method for measuring its process has been advanced and then confirmed with the data of March in 2005 from surveys to peasant workers in Wuhan. Finally, the suggestions of accelerating peasant workers＇ transformation to urban residents to promote the construction of a harmonious society have been drawn from the analysis.     

Global Research Trends Related to CO2 Emissions and Their Enlightenment to China

Given the growing awareness of the likely catastrophic impacts of climate change and close association of climate change with global emissions of greenhouse gases (of which carbon dioxide is more prominent) , considerable research efforts have been devoted to the analysis of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and its relationship to sustainable development. Now GHG reduction programs have been coming into effect in many developed countries that have more responsibility for historical CO2 emissions, and the studies have become mature. First, the GHG emissions accounting system is more all-inclusive and the methods are more rational with the effort of IPCC from 1995 and all other researchers related. Second, the responsibility allocation is more rational and fair. Along with the clarity of "carbon transfer" and "carbon leakage", the perspective and methodology for allocating regional CO2 emissions responsibility is turning from production base to consumption base. Third, the decomposition method has become more mature and more complex. For example, the decomposition formulas are including KAYA expression and input-output expression and the decomposition techniques are developed from index analysis to simple average divisia and then adaptive-weighting divisia. Fourth, projection models have become more integrated and long-term. The top-down model and bottom-up model are both inter-embedded and synergetic. Trends above give some advice for the research on CO2 in China, such as emissions factors database construction, deeper-going research on emissions responsibility and structure analysis, promotion of modeling technology and technology-environment database.     

Water Environmental Degradation of the Source Area of the Yellow River on Northeast Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

1 INTRODUCTION Environmental changes caused by mankind's exploitation and regional climate changes have long been a severe problem in the world, especially in the arid and semiarid areas because of their ecosystems' vulnerability (Chen & Qu, 1992; Wang & Cheng, 1999; Liu et al., 1999). During the last half-century, especially the last 30 years, drastic environmental changes have occurred owing to exploitation and development, which have invoked society's concerns. In the Qinghai-Tibet …     

Empirically Analysis of the CO2 Emissions Embodied in Exports of China

In this paper,using the input-output model,the author first calculated the CO 2 emissions embodied in exports of China in 2002 and 2007.Then,the author empirically analyzed problems existing in the composition of exported products and analyzed its possible reasons.The research results of this paper are as follows:Since China’s entry into WTO,the CO 2 emissions embodied in exports of China have been increasing rapidly;the value of exported products of high-carbon emissions industries accounts for a relatively higher proportion to China’s total exports value because China’s carbon intensive products have a certain competitive advantage.Additionally,this paper has put forward relevant suggestions based on these results.     

Investment Risks of Agricultural Listed Companies from Visual Angle of Natural Disasters

The essential feature of agriculture is the interweavement of natural reproduction and economic reproduction. In recent years, the natural disasters have become more frequent and badly affect the production management and investment benefits. This problem has been an important risk in managing agricultural listed companies and cannot be ignored. It is of great importance to evaluate and prevent the risks of the natural disasters to enhance the competitive ability and increase the profits of those listed companies, thereby keeping the sustainable development of agricultural companies.     

Population,development,and environment in India

High population growth and continued economic development have caused serious environmental damage in the Asia Pacific region.However,the recent experience is that the pace of environmental degradation is faster in developing countries than in developed countries.To this end,the study seeks to assess the impact of population pressure on India’s environment,with particular reference to the degradation of natural endowments like land and water resources and the resultant environmental pollution in the six regions of India.The rapid economic growth and expansion of infrastructure development in recent decades have not come without serious environmental consequences particularly in the southern,northern,and western regions.But in the eastern,north-eastern,and central regions of the country,environmental damage has been mainly due to rapid population growth.     

The Fuzzy Synthesizing Evaluation of City''''s Environmental Quality Based on GIOWA Operator:A Case of 13 Cities of Jiangsu Province

1 INTRODUCTION In China, cities have been undergoing a rapid development in recent years. On the one hand, the level of urbanization rises continuously and a large population gathers in a city. The number and the scale of city increase and enlarge continuously. On the other hand, large population gathering in a city brings a huge pressure to the ecological environment of the city. The environmental pollution of the city is becoming more serious. This is a terrible and heavy cost for city…     

Optimization Research of Urban Space Configuration Based on Space Syntax

1 INTRODUCTION Urban space is a widely used concept in our everyday life. Architects and planners have always been concerned with the spatial and social functions of urban space. This is because of the growing recognition that the way urban space is designed and planned may determine the functional efficiency for urban space use, including its sociability and its habitability. Efficiency is a function of urban space itself since it is concerned primarily with form and organization, that i…     

Carrying Capacity:An Overview

The concept of carrying capacity is derived from ecology, with widespread contentions of its theoretical connotations and applications in the international academic community, especially the impact of human activities on the environment. Disputes on carrying capacity have been occurring not only among biologists and ecologists, but also among mainstream economists. Based on their efforts, the author makes an attempt to describe its origin, connotations, problems, measurement, and at the same time note the latest international progress in this field.     

Local Area Quotas for Industrial Emissions along Reaches of the Pearl River in Guangdong

There is an obvious departure from the regional equilibrium of developments between the upper and lower reaches of the Pearl River in Guangdong, which resulted in ＂the effects of contra-geography-grads development＂. It is mainly because the upriver mountainous areas have been deeply stuck in industrialization delay and marginalization plights, so that nearly 40 million local people have conceived a dream to get rid of ＂the vicious circle of poverty＂ by speeding up industrial development. But the problem is that such industrialization efforts on a large scale in mountainous areas are encountering the bottleneck of environmental capacity that strictly limits industrial emissions along the upper reaches of any water system. As a solution, an institutional arrangement called ＂the Local Area Quotas for Industrial Emissions along the Pearl River＂ is put forward supposed to give corresponding compensation to the rights of industrial development yielded by some areas with lower environmental capacity through the distribution and trading of IDQs.     

Market-based solutions: An appropriate approach to resolve environmental problems

It was the first time that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC),which was founded in 1988,regarded climate change as a significant international political problem(O’Brien and Williams 2007).Over the next decades,environmentalist and policy makers have been applying many efficient ways to solve various environmental problems and have gained achievements.With the support of successful cases,this paper will focus on the market-based solutions and discuss its advantages compared with the conventional approach.     

Towards Sustainable Urban Environmental Management in Jiangyin city, East China

Dramatic economic and social changes have taken place in Jiangyin city due to rapid and uneven urbanization and industrialization. The environmental degradation has followed driven by these changes since the 1980's. With the pressures and effects of environmental deterioration, the city has implemented environmental management to hold back the trends of negative environmental changes. From the viewpoint of systems, DPSER is a good model for urban environmental changes to understand the causes, pressure, state, effect, existing responses and future action strategies. We took Jiangyin city, a developed city in South Jiangsu province, East China, as an example, and analyzed the characteristics of environmental changes and urban responses using DPSER model. Some operational strategies have been put forward to direct the city environmental management towards a sustainable road step by step.     

The Impact of Changes of Property Rights on Farmland Use： An Empirical Study of China during Transition

In China, farmland property rights characterized by the household-responsibility system （HRS） have been improved since the reform and opening-up. The rights of use, transfer and gain become more stable, authorized and complete. This paper firstly analyzes the impact on farmland productivity, which comes from the improvement of farmland property rights. Then, an economet-ric model is built to test the above analysis. It concludes that changes of property rights will affect farmland performance in China. In the end, some policy implications are explored for fur-ther reforms.     

Renewable Energy Legislation in China:Politicaland Institutional Strategy for EffectiveImplementation

Over the past decade, the Chinese government has developed several plans regulations and policy measures related to the development of renewable energy technologies and has implemented a series of pilot projects. Chinese policymakers have spent several years studying how renewable energy policy models that have been used internationally could be implemented in China. Programs are currently underway to implement pilot renewable portfolio standards, or mandatory market shares (MMS) for renewable energy, in several provinces. This paper examines the primary institutions that are involved in promoting renewable policies in China, the structure of the policies that currently are being drafted, and the status of the complementary, national-level renewable energy law being drafted to provide a legal basis for ongoing local and national-level policies. It then examines the legal requirements for promoting renewable energy legislation under the Chinese law-making system. Finally, it provides recommendations for     

Sustainability Capacity Building Based on Educational Method： A Case Study on China and Sweden Joint Program

Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development （EE＆ESD） have been widely accepted as an effective educational method to contribute to capacity development and processes of change in developing countries. This paper takes SIDA supported EE＆ESD in formal educationadvanced international training program, China as an example. By analyzing and reflecting its orientation, implementation, outcomes and evaluation, experiences and lessons learned are expected to help improve the sorts of international cooperation capacity building programs both from international and also Chinese perspectives.     

The Factor Decomposition on Carbon Emission of China——Based on LMDI Decomposition Technology

Carbon emission is the current hot issue of global concern. How to assess various contributing factors for carbon emission is of great importance to find out the key factors and promote carbon emission reduction. In this paper, the author constructs an identical equation for carbon emission, based on the economic aggregate, the economic structure, the efficiency of energy utilization, the structure of energy consumption, and the coefficient of carbon emission; by applying to LMDI decomposition technology, the author analyzes the carbon emission of China from 1995 to 2007 at industrial level and regional level. The results show that the expansion of economic aggregate is the main reason for China’ s rapidly increasing carbon emission and the increase of energy utilization efficiency is the key factor that can hold back the increase of carbon emission. In addition, the change of industrial structure or regional structure and the change of traditional energy structure have limited influence on the carbon emission, and their potentials have not yet been exploited. At the end of this paper, the author proposes the efforts that China should make to reduce carbon emission.