Power asymmetries and institutions: landscape conservation in central India

Understanding the importance of cross-sectoral implications of climate and socio-economic change in Scotland is essential for adaptation policy. This study explored the direct and indirect sectoral impacts of future change using the CLIMSAVE Integrated Assessment Platform. There is great spatial diversity in projected impacts across Scotland, and increasing uncertainty in the direction of change of impacts from the national to regional scale associated with climate uncertainty. Further uncertainty associated with socio-economic change results in 6 out of 13 indicators (artificial surfaces, biodiversity vulnerability, forest area, land-use intensity, irrigation usage and land-use diversity) with robust directions of change at the national scale and only three (artificial surfaces, forest area and irrigation usage) that are robust across all regions of Scotland. Complex interactions between socio-economic scenario assumptions (e.g. food imports, population and GDP), climatic suitability and agricultural productivity and profitability lead to significant national and regional changes in the distribution and extent of land cover types, with resultant cross-sectoral interactions with water, forestry and biodiversity. Consequently, stakeholders characterised robust adaptation policy options, within the CLIMSAVE participatory process, as those beneficial to society (and the country) in all scenarios, irrespective of the direction of change of the impacts. The integration in CLIMSAVE of a participatory scenario development process and an integrated participatory modelling framework has allowed the exploration of future uncertainty in a structured approach and better represented the importance of qualitative information and the social and institutional contexts within adaptation research.     

A multi-scale approach to mapping conservation priorities for rural China based on landscape context

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Integration of agricultural, cultural and natural conservation to address land-use change risk has become a crucial issue for rural sustainability,...     

Important elements and characteristics of hearing conservation programs and determination of their effectiveness

Results of on-site interviews with industrial personnel involved in hearing conservation programs (HCPs) show common deficiencies in personnel training and program implementation, reducing HCP effectiveness in protecting employees from occupational hearing loss. Audiometric data base analysis (ADBA) provides procedures which allow HCP ineffectiveness to be detected before many employees develop significant noise-induced hearing loss. If HCP procedures are corrected, based on ADBA results, then audiometry serves to prevent hearing loss rather than simply detecting its occurrence. The paper presents criterion ranges for ADBA procedure results as recommended by the ANSI S12.12 Working Group for Evaluation of HCPs.     

Hydropower development in the lower Mekong basin: alternative approaches to deal with uncertainty

Governments in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) face decisions that involve trade-offs between the economic benefits from hydropower generation and potentially irreversible negative impacts on the ecosystems that provide livelihoods and food security to the rural poor. As a means of comparing these trade-offs, a sensitivity analysis of the benefit-cost analysis of certain Basin Development Plan (BDP) scenarios was undertaken. By changing some key assumptions in the BDP about discount rates, the value of lost capture fisheries, future aquaculture production in the LMB, and the value of lost ecosystem services from wetlands to reflect the full range of uncertainty, at the extremes, there could be a reversal of the Net Present Value (NPV) estimates of the scenarios from a positive $33 billion to negative $274 billion. This report recommends when dealing with large-scale, complex projects: a more comprehensive, integrated human and natural systems framework and adaptive management approach to LMB planning and development that deals with the entire watershed; a more comprehensive analysis and treatment of risk and uncertainty; a more thorough assessment of the value of direct and indirect ecosystem services; a broader set of scenarios that embody alternative models of development, broader stakeholder participation; and better treatment of the effects of infrastructure construction on local cultures and the poor.     

金融节能、金融发展对碳排放变化的影响研究

本文将金融节能与金融发展同时引入传统LMDI分解模型,并融合脱钩弹性指数,分析了两者对碳排放变化的影响机理。在此基础上,本文还检验了1997—2015年中国29个省区金融节能与金融发展的碳排放效应。研究发现:首先,尽管1997—2015年中国碳排放规模的扩张趋势较为明显,短期来看,这一演变仍然大体经历了三个阶段,即碳排放增量持续扩张期、碳排放增量波动下降期以及碳排放增量平稳期。其次,不仅金融节能、金融发展以及经济增长是在短期和长期诱发中国碳排放变化的三个最主要因素,而且前两者对中国碳排放变化的影响还大于后者。再次,金融节能对中国碳排放变化的短期和长期作用方向始终与金融发展对中国碳排放变化的短期和长期作用方向相反。最后,金融节能和金融发展与中国碳排放变化之间在短期内基本维持弱脱钩或强负脱钩两种状态,而在长期呈现强负脱钩状态,通过分解这些脱钩弹性状态的诱因,不仅直接影响和交互影响的作用方向始终相反,而且两者还分别在金融节能与中国碳排放脱钩弹性变动以及金融发展与中国碳排放脱钩弹性变动中发挥截然相反的作用。     

The origin and development of nature conservation: A view from the boundary between millennia

A concise but informative “Calendar of Events in Nature Conservation” is presented in order to illustrate the complex process of Man's realization of his place in Nature.     

人口长期均衡发展及其评价监测模型的构建与应用

在借鉴已有理论的基础上,界定了人口长期均衡发展的内涵,提出人口长期均衡包含人口内部均衡和人口外部均衡两个方面,人口内部均衡包括人口数量、人口质量和人口结构三个维度,人口外部均衡包括人口与经济、人口与社会、人口与资源、人口与环境四个维度;在此基础上构建了人口长期均衡发展的指标体系和评价模型,指标体系设定为三级,第一级包括人口内部均衡和人口外部均衡两个方面,第二级由人口数量、人口质量、人口结构等七个部分构成;第三级指标包括反映内部均衡的7个指标以及反映外部均衡的13个指标.并使用层次分析法确定了指标的权重;采用2000-2007年31个省级单位的数据对人口长期均衡发展评价模型进行了验证,并对人口总体均衡水平以及影响人口均衡发展的关键要素进行了实证分析.结果表明.北京、上海和浙江分列前三,人口均衡发展程度最高.从影响均衡程度的关键因素看.人口质量和人口结构是制约人口自身均衡的主要因素,人口与社会的均衡状况对人口与外部系统均衡制约最大,其次是人口与经济的均衡状况.     

Industrial water conservation by water footprint and sustainable development goals: a review

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Application of advanced techniques to ensure the environment sustainability and freshwater ecosystem conservation is a paramount importance. Industrial...     

Biodiversity conservation: From ecosystem to the ecosystem approach

The possibility of implementing 12 principles of the ecosystem approach is considered with regard to the results of meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and recent international forums. The importance of these principles for achieving the main goals of the CBD is shown, and the role of biosphere reserves in solving urgent problems of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in adjoining territories of subjects of the Russian Federation is discussed.     

Psychological and sociological approaches to study risk perception

Technological progress and its impacts on humankind has caused an increasing awareness of risk, and objective, statistical estimations are often inadequate to alleviate the public's fright and fear. Research on risk perception using psychological and sociological approaches is trying to bridge this gap. As a first step, a distinction must be made between the technical definition of risk (probability X consequences) and the social definition, in which additional parameters (source, dimensions, timeframe, exposure) need to be included. The methodology of risk assessment, though objective by design, is limited in the interpretability of its results, if the calculation of consequences does not take public perceptions and social effects into account. The problems and advantages of risk assessment are discussed, and the key question for risk perception research are presented. Various techniques are available to study risk perception and attitudes towards risk; selection of a specific technique is determined by the objective of the research, namely sociological implications or psychological cognitions. Several empirical studies in both areas are presented and the results discussed.     

Mathematical approaches to the analysis of the spatial-age structures of tussock herb species

Some up-to-date methods of analysis of the spatial and age structures of populations, including local population density maps and Ripley’s functions, are described using 20 cenopopulations (CPs) of Adonis vernalis L. as an example. Pregenerative plants have been found to be the most contagious, irrespective of climatic and phytocenotic conditions and land use type. The spatial distribution pattern and structure of A. vernalis are mainly determined by generative plants forming a tussock, irrespective of the climate and vegetation type. This is explained by higher competitiveness of generative plants, which results in a reduced vegetation density at small distances from them (25–50 cm). Within wider areas, plant distribution may be random due to uniformity of local conditions in microhabitats. The formation of distinct plant aggregations is accounted for by insufficient water supply and the intensity and type of anthropogenic impact.     

基于DEA与ESDA的中国国家级贫困县发展效率的测度与时空演化研究

本研究从发展效率角度出发,以592个国家级贫困县为研究对象,构建了投入-产出指标体系,采用数据包络分析法,测度了2002和2012年中国国家级贫困县的发展效率,并基于GIS空间分析法对发展效率的空间差异格局进行了深入分析。研究发现:第一、国家级贫困县覆盖的面积在扩大,西南地区的贵州省和西北地区的甘肃省成为目前国家扶贫开发的重点和难点地区。第二、特色资源的利用和开发是国家级贫困县实现经济发展的关键。贫困地区往往具有得天独厚的矿产资源、自然景观资源等,利用好上述资源可以促使贫困地区真正实现经济的成长发展。2002年DEA有效的贫困县主要是自然资源、人力资源和旅游资源相对丰富的地区,这些地区通过相关资源的开发已经实现了自身经济的"内生式增长",而且这些地区基本都已经退出了国家级贫困县的范畴。贵州和甘肃等各类资源非常匮乏的地区成为DEA效率最低的国家级贫困县集中区。这两个省份地理位置闭塞,自然条件恶劣,资源禀赋贫乏,缺乏可以支撑经济内生发展的支撑。第三、DEA有效和DEA效率偏低的贫困县都表现出一定的空间相关性。根据贫困县的空间临接性,采取集中连片的扶贫开发政策符合贫困县的实际情况。第四、2002-2012年间,国家级贫困县县域经济的热、冷点格局发生了很大变化。国家级贫困县的经济发展态势出现了很大的改变。     

Successful and sustainable governance of the lower Yellow River,China: A floodplain utilization approach for balancing ecological conservation and development

Environment, Development and Sustainability - A novel model has been proposed for the methodical development and safe utilization of the lower Yellow River floodplain to provide flood control with...     

Social representations of socioenvironmental dynamics in extractive ecosystems and conservation practices with sustainable development: a bibliometric analysis

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Social representations necessarily originate from the interaction between individuals and groups in a social setting through communication and shared...