Economic aspects of global change impacts and response strategies in the coastal zone of The Netherlands

Economic aspects of possible land use strategies and protection measures in coastal zones as a response to global environmental change are examined. First, some key elements are mentioned that are of critical importance for water and land management in coastal zones. Next, various socio-economic repercussions are discussed. In this context, research needs will be addressed. Subsequently, these issues are considered for the case of The Netherlands. It is concluded that integrated modelling and analysis is just starting and needs to receive more attention in order to study long run economic costs, benefits and changes in coastal zones.     

Urban Fluid Mechanics: Air Circulation and Contaminant Dispersion in Cities

Recently, many urban areas of the world have experienced rapid growth of population and industrial activity raising concerns of environmental deterioration. To meet challenges associated with such rapid urbanization, it has become necessary to implement wise strategies for environmental management and planning, addressing the exclusive demands of urban zones for maintaining environmental sustainability and functioning with minimum disruption. These strategies and related public policy must be based on state-of-the-science tools for environmental forecasting, in particular, on mathematical models that accurately incorporate physical, biological, chemical and geological processes at work on urban scales. Central to such models are the mechanics of environmental fluids (air and water) and their transport and transformation characteristics. Although much progress has been made on understanding environmental flow phenomena, a myriad of issues akin to urban flow, the transport phenomena, air and water quality and health issues (epidemiology) remain to be understood and quantified. We propose to initiate a new focus area – Urban Fluid Mechanics (UFM) – tailored to research on such issues. For optimal societal impact, UFM must delve into fundamental and applied fluid flow problems of immediate utility for the development of urban public policy and environmental regulations. Such efforts often entail the use of `whole' systems approach to environmental studies, requiring careful synthesis between crosscutting areas.In this paper, a few topics in the realm of UFM are presented, the theme being the flow and air quality in urban areas. Topics such as the scales of flow, the atmospheric boundary layer, pollutants and their transport and modeling of flow and air quality are briefly reviewed, discussed and exemplified using case studies. Identification of important flow-related issues, rigorous multidisciplinary approaches to address them and articulation of results in the context of socio-political cause calebre will be the challenges faced by UFM.     

Combining Power Analysis and Population Viability Analysis to Compare Traditional and Precautionary Approaches to Conservation of Coastal Cetaceans

Abstract: Traditionally, marine resources have been managed such that controls on new developments are implemented only when harmful effects on other environmental or economic interests can be demonstrated. This approach poses particular problems for the conservation of coastal cetaceans because potential threats to their populations are diverse and likely to interact, individual threats may result from multiple sources, and the problems inherent in studying cetaceans result in considerable scientific uncertainty and low statistical power to detect any effects. Consequently, many countries are adopting integrated coastal management programs and precautionary management principles. In practice, however, issues continue to be dealt with within traditional frameworks that require demonstration of harm. Because cetaceans are long-lived, they demand long-term studies, and populations could decline to dangerously low levels before management action is taken. We illustrate these problems using a case study from the Moray Firth, Scotland. This inshore area will soon be designated and managed as a "special area of conservation" to protect bottlenose dolphins (   Tursiops truncatus ) under the European Community's Habitats Directive. The population is small and isolated, and it faces a wide range of potential threats, but there remains considerable uncertainty over the magnitude of each threat. We combined power analysis and population viability analysis to explore the relative consequences of adopting either traditional or precautionary approaches to management. In this case, our results reaffirm the need for precautionary management. More generally, we illustrate how this approach can be used to provide a more scientific basis for determining the level of precaution required to address particular management issues in this and other marine systems.     

略论绿色营销

当今全球环保思潮的冲击和绿色消费的方兴未艾，企业如果沿袭传统的营销方式，必将被淘汰．企业要想生存发展，并在竞争中立于不败之地，必须适应新的形势，改弦易辙，实施绿色营销，以满足人们的无污染、无公害、延年益寿的需求．本文讨论了绿色营销的现状及其对企业发展的影响，并提出了实施绿色营销的战略对策．     

Problems of the coasts erosion in the North–Eastern Black Sea Region

The seacoasts protection does not stand standard solutions. Every part of a shore needs to be creatively approached and its hydrodynamic, lithodynamic, geological, geomorphological and other peculiarities must be thoroughly studied for each particular situation. It takes a complex scientific approach considering not only local features, but also the reaction of the whole lithodynamic system in limits of which the coast protective activity is planned with consideration of calculated hydrodynamic parameters (waves, sea level, etc.).     

The Role of Prices in Conserving Critical Natural Capital

Abstract: Until recent decades, economic decision makers have largely ignored the nonmarket benefits provided by nature, resulting in unprecedented threats to ecological life‐support functions. The economic challenge today is to decide how much ecosystem structure can be converted to economic production and how much must be conserved to provide essential ecosystem services. Many economists and a growing number of life scientists hope to address this challenge by estimating the marginal value of environmental benefits and then using this information to make economic decisions. I assessed this approach first by examining the role and effectiveness of the price mechanism in a well‐functioning market economy, second by identifying the issues that prevent markets from pricing many ecological benefits, and third by focusing on problems inherent to valuing services generated by complex and poorly understood ecosystems subject to irreversible change. I then focus on critical natural capital (CNC), which generates benefits that are essential to human welfare and have few if any substitutes. When imminent ecological thresholds threaten CNC, conservation is essential and marginal valuation becomes inappropriate. Once conservation needs have been met, remaining ecosystem structure is potentially available for economic production. Demand for this available supply will determine prices. In other words, conservation needs should be price determining, not price determined. Conservation science must help identify CNC and the quantity and quality of ecosystem structure required to ensure its sustained provision.     

Pollution prevention for sustainable development: the land-use question

The central argument of the paper is that effective pollution prevention can be achieved only by integrated land-use planning which offers the broad framework for co-ordinating technological and non-technological means to achieve sustainable development. The paper first reviews the role of land-use in preventing or contributing to pollution over time, focusing especially on contemporary efforts to promote environmental protection through land-use planning and management. The relationship between land-use, pollution and sustainable development is analysed by examining the most important types of land-use-related problems, discussing their causes and identifying a number of land-use-related constraints to sustainable development. Finally, a land-use planning and policy framework approach to pollution prevention for sustainable development is outlined which emphasizes the need for integrated analysis of pollution problems and adoption of comprehensive approaches to their solution. Scientific, spatial, temporal and policy issues are addressed in the context of the proposed approach.     

Public perception of environmental issues across socioeconomic characteristics: A survey study inWujin,China

In developing countries, there is controversy over the correct perception regarding environmental and developmental issues. Few studies have examined the perception of low-income nationals in regards to social and environmental issues. This paper looks at the relationship between socio-demographic factors and the groups’ perceived priority regarding environmental and social issues in Wujin County. The results indicated that most residents, specifically the young, government employed and the urban community consider environmental issues to be serious, especially in relation to air pollution and water pollution. Furthermore, many residents feel it is important to rank environmental problems that are related to other social and economic issues, and that environmental protection must be set as a priority in Wujin County. Compared to social issues, environmental concern was greater among the young, government employed, and the urban community, because of their higher education and affluence. In addition, 66.2% of residents consider environmental protection to be more important than economic development. Thus, environmental protection must be set as a high priority in Wujin County, in order to face the many social and environmental challenges inherent in development.     

东北地区生态环境态势及其可持续发展对策

阐述了东北地区存在的主要生态环境问题,分析了未来发展趋势,并从可持续发展视角提出了相关对策。研究表明,东北地区可采森林资源枯竭,荒漠化严重,黑土质量退化,湿地萎缩,城市河段水质污染严重,大城市大气污染严重,部分地区酸雨问题突出,资源型城市矿山环境问题严重;而受全球环境变化影响、振兴东北政策驱动以及某些新的污染问题的凸显,未来东北地区生态环境仍存在恶化趋势。今后须结合东北地区实际,完善生态环境监测体系,加强科学系统研究;加大技术创新力度,大力发展循环经济;转变经济增长方式,推进产业结构优化升级;营造绿色文化,加强基础制度建设;实施重大工程措施,加大生态环境保护与恢复力度。从总体上促进生态环境可持续发展,保障老工业基地全面振兴。     

Demonstration as a Means to Translate Conservation Science into Practice

Abstract:  To be relevant to societal interests and needs, conservation science must explicitly lend itself to solving real-world problems. Failure to evaluate under field conditions how a new technology or method performs or the cost of its implementation can prevent its acceptance by end users. Demonstration, defined here as the translation of scientific understanding into metrics of performance and cost of implementation under real-world conditions, is a logical step in the challenging progression from fundamental research to application. Demonstration reduces scientific uncertainty and validates the hypothesis that a management approach is both effective and financially sustainable. Much like adaptive management, demonstration enables researchers and resource managers to avoid trial-and-error approaches and instead conduct unbiased assessment of management interventions. The participation of end users and regulators in the development and execution of demonstration projects ensures that performance measures are credible and increases the probability that successful innovations will be adopted. Four actions might better connect science to the needs of resource managers via demonstration. First, we recommend that demonstration be conducted as a formal process that documents successes and failures. Second, demonstration should be budgeted as an integral component of government agencies' science programs and executed as a partnership between researchers and managers. Third, public and private funders should increase the opportunities and incentives for academics to engage in demonstration. Fourth, social influences on adoption of new technologies and methods should be further explored. When end users can evaluate explicitly whether a new approach is likely to achieve management objectives, save money, and reduce risk under uncertainty, the professional community successfully has bridged a chasm between research and application .     

How Research‐Prioritization Exercises Affect Conservation Policy

Abstract: Conservation scientists are concerned about the apparent lack of impact their research is having on policy. By better aligning research with policy needs, conservation science might become more relevant to policy and increase its real‐world salience in the conservation of biological diversity. Consequently, some conservation scientists have embarked on a variety of exercises to identify research questions that, if answered, would provide the evidence base with which to develop and implement effective conservation policies. I synthesized two existing approaches to conceptualizing research impacts. One widely used approach classifies the impacts of research as conceptual, instrumental, and symbolic. Conceptual impacts occur when policy makers are sensitized to new issues and change their beliefs or thinking. Instrumental impacts arise when scientific research has a direct effect on policy decisions. The use of scientific research results to support established policy positions are symbolic impacts. The second approach classifies research issues according to whether scientific knowledge is developed fully and whether the policy issue has been articulated clearly. I believe exercises to identify important research questions have objectives of increasing the clarity of policy issues while strengthening science–policy interactions. This may facilitate the transmission of scientific knowledge to policy makers and, potentially, accelerate the development and implementation of effective conservation policy. Other, similar types of exercises might also be useful. For example, identification of visionary science questions independent of current policy needs, prioritization of best practices for transferring scientific knowledge to policy makers, and identification of questions about human values and their role in political processes could all help advance real‐world conservation science. It is crucial for conservation scientists to understand the wide variety of ways in which their research can affect policy and be improved systematically.     

江苏沿海化工快速发展下区域生态风险评价模型研究

区域生态风险评价是区域建立生态风险预警机制,实现有效生态风险管理的基础,而其中区域生态风险评价模型的构建是关键。本研究在分析江苏沿海化工风险源及危害性、风险受体以及风险相应能力的基础上,根据科学性、可操作性、动态性与静态性相结合、定性与定量相结合以及因地制宜的原则,选取代表性强、表征明显、简明且易于统计量化的要素和因子,在传统数学模式的基础上,运用系统动力学、景观生态学以及GIS分析、引入区域化工风险压力、化工园区风险度、区域环境敏感指数等指数,采用Delphi、AHP法构建了包括化工风险压力指数、区域环境状态指数、区域生态风险管理指数的区域化工生态风险的多指标综合评价模型。建立的评价模型为研究区域尺度政策实施的生态风险状态及发展趋势提供了一种思路。     

Applying science to pressing conservation needs for penguins

More than half of the world's 18 penguin species are declining. We, the Steering Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission Penguin Specialist Group, determined that the penguin species in most critical need of conservation action are African penguin (Spheniscus demersus), Galápagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus), and Yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes). Due to small or rapidly declining populations, these species require immediate scientific collaboration and policy intervention. We also used a pairwise-ranking approach to prioritize research and conservation needs for all penguins. Among the 12 cross-taxa research areas we identified, we ranked quantifying population trends, estimating demographic rates, forecasting environmental patterns of change, and improving the knowledge of fisheries interactions as the highest priorities. The highest ranked conservation needs were to enhance marine spatial planning, improve stakeholder engagement, and develop disaster-management and species-specific action plans. We concurred that, to improve the translation of science into effective conservation for penguins, the scientific community and funding bodies must recognize the importance of and support long-term research; research on and conservation of penguins must expand its focus to include the nonbreeding season and juvenile stage; marine reserves must be designed at ecologically appropriate spatial and temporal scales; and communication between scientists and decision makers must be improved with the help of individual scientists and interdisciplinary working groups.     

敦煌地区生态问题的地质学探析

敦煌地区严重的生态环境退化问题,其根源在于对其产生的原因及其演变过程没有科学、统一的认识.尽管近年来政府及有关部门投入了大量的人力物力,采取了一些措施,做了一些研究,但效果并不明显,甚至有人提出将之与古楼兰衰退相提并论.该文认为,敦煌地区生态退化及其演变,无论是地下水位的下降、绿洲与湿地的萎缩等,都是地质科学领域的问题,需要运用地质学思维分析探讨.研究改善敦煌的生态环境退化和治理措施,必须从环境地质、生态地质学的理论和方法去解决.图1,参13.     

The Scientific Basis of Marine Pollution Prevention Strategies

Prevention of marine pollution, particularly in semi-enclosed seas, embayments and areas with limited exchange of water, requires a well conceived and harmonized legal system, specified standards, a monitoring programme, and effective control and enforcement capabilities. This comprehensive approach is often called a strategy. Three generations of strategies have been devised and applied historically in Europe and North America, each a step further in integrating environmental protection, technical advancement and economic capabilities. the overpowering socio-economic problems of transition from a centrally planned to a market economy, a task facing a dozen central and eastern European coastal states, compound the problem of application of an integrated approach.

No management strategy can achieve its set goals unless based on scientific evidence. the data base has to offer information on two basic questions, one specific and one of a general nature.

The specific question is: Has the area under consideration some features, an activity, or one or more living species, which must be protected at any cost? the answer to this question will invoke the precautionary principle into strategic considerations, and leads to the general question: What is the carrying (= assimilative or environmental) capacity for each activity and for the discharge of each contaminant into the impacted area? Answers to these questions lead to the choice of the strategy for environmental management.     

An overview of systems analysis methods in delineating environmental quality indices

Environmental quality indices (EQIs) have been developed for a variety of purposes ranging from enforcement of environmental standards, to analysis of trends of environmental degradation or improvement, to scientific research. EQIs currently in use are not organized within an integrated framework and thus it has been difficult to analyze adequately complex, multidisciplinary, large-scale, global phenomena. In this paper we compare four different approaches to developing EQIs within a systems perspective. Our analysis suggests that: (1) non-linear regression models that represent an ecosystem's response to different impacts within a stress-response framework (method of response functions) are useful tools for analysis of environmental data; (2) non-equilibrium thermodynamics models based on the concept of exergy, which represents the free energy a system possesses in relation to its environment, provide a common basis for representing many aspects of ecosystem development and response to environmental impacts as a single measure; (3) diagram models based on the concept of emergy, which represents both environmental values and economic values with a single measure, provide a common basis for integrating economic development and environmental protection values into one index; and (4) complex systems simulation models based on general systems theory, which use the methodologies of systems analysis and simulation to identify, quantify, and interrelate EQIs within a dynamic systems context, provide explicit linkages between causes and effects (vertical integration) and identify cross-linkages among different environmental issues (horizontal integration).     

From Adaptive Management to Adjustive Management: A Pragmatic Account of Biodiversity Values

Abstract: The conservation of biodiversity poses an exceptionally difficult problem in that it needs to be effective in a context of double uncertainty: scientific (i.e., how to conserve biodiversity) and normative (i.e., which biodiversity to conserve and why). Although adaptive management offers a promising approach to overcome scientific uncertainty, normative uncertainty is seldom tackled by conservation science. We expanded on the approach proposed by adaptive‐management theorists by devising an integrative and iterative approach to conservation that encompasses both types of uncertainty. Inspired by environmental pragmatism, we suggest that moral values at stake in biodiversity conservation are plastic and that a plurality of individual normative positions can coexist and evolve. Moral values should thus be explored through an experimental process as additional parameters to be incorporated in the traditional adaptive‐management approach. As such, moral values should also be monitored by environmental ethicists working side by side with scientists and managers on conservation projects. Acknowledging the diversity of moral values and integrating them in a process of collective deliberation will help overcome the normative uncertainty. We used Dewey's distinction between adaptation and adjustment to offer a new paradigm built around what we call adjustive management, which reflects both the uncertainty and the likely evolution of the moral values humans attribute to biodiversity. We illustrate how this paradigm relates to practical conservation decisions by exploring the case of the Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus), an alien species in France that is the target of an eradication plan undertaken with little regard for moral issues. We propose that a more satisfying result of efforts to control Sacred Ibis could have been reached by rerouting the traditional feedback loop of adaptive management to include a normative inquiry. This adjustive management approach now needs to be tested in real‐case conservation programs.     

Book reviews and notices

The aim of sustainable development is to balance social, economic, and environmental needs. In order to justify the decisions they make, stakeholders must quantify the different impacts found in the operations and developments of companies and/or projects throughout their life cycle. However, as some areas are subjective in nature, the quantification process of the different impacts and the assessment of sustainable development performance become arduous tasks of development, validation, and application of scientific and empirical methods with the intrinsic objective of finding an agreement among the involved parties (i.e., stakeholders). Several environmental and sustainability assessment tools, instruments, processes, and methodologies have been developed; rating systems stand out and have gained attention and credibility, as demonstrated by the vast number of certified projects around the world and the widely-known usefulness and advantages of their application. The Wa-Pa-Su project sustainability rating system presents an integrated approach to sustainability assessment by integrating three distinctive areas of knowledge: (1) sustainable development theory and fundamentals supports the ultimate goal of the rating system, which is to contribute to sustainability, with the aim of finding a path to balance social, economic, and environmental needs; (2) continual performance improvement becomes essential due to the duration of the projects, as it is critical to allow organizations or projects to improve performance over time; and (3) multi-criteria decision analysis assists with the assessment process through stakeholder engagement and participation, and the design and implementation of a criteria weighting system.     

A decision-support system in ICZM for protecting the ecosystems: integration with the habitat directive

This paper describes a decision-support system based on landscape ecology and focused on the study of ecosystems’ health. System capabilities are illustrated with three cases of integrated coastal zone management (ICZM), in the Adriatic Sea (Italy): the lagoon of Venice and the Rimini and Ancona coastal areas. Indicators and indices are developed with a focus on sub-regional and local problems in coastal management, with a multi-scale approach based on landscape and seascape ecology. Land-use changes of the coastal areas were detected by analyzing two sets of satellite images. Indices combining satellite imagery, socio-economic and environmental indicators, and landscape and seascape maps were created, showing ecological changes, habitat loss and gaps in conservation policy. The approach used provides means for the identification of conflicts and for the assessment of sustainability. Results show that the lagoon of Venice plays an important role in mitigating and compensating the impacts of human activities, and needs to be protected and restored. The Rimini area shows high ecological footprint and development-intensity and low biocapacity. The Ancona area needs the protection of its natural coastal space from potential sources of anthropogenic impacts to maintain its sustainability. A model of environment changes is critical for formulating effective environmental policies and management strategies. The developed decision-support system provides a suitability map per each area analyzed, which can be used in order to maximize different policy objectives and reduce coastal conflicts.