Global Daily Reference Evapotranspiration Modeling and Evaluation1

Abstract: Accurate and reliable evapotranspiration (ET) datasets are crucial in regional water and energy balance studies. Due to the complex instrumentation requirements, actual ET values are generally estimated from reference ET values by adjustment factors using coefficients for water stress and vegetation conditions, commonly referred to as crop coefficients. Until recently, the modeling of reference ET has been solely based on important weather variables collected from weather stations that are generally located in selected agro‐climatic locations. Since 2001, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) has been producing six‐hourly climate parameter datasets that are used to calculate daily reference ET for the whole globe at 1‐degree spatial resolution. The U.S. Geological Survey Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science has been producing daily reference ET (ETo) since 2001, and it has been used on a variety of operational hydrological models for drought and streamflow monitoring all over the world. With the increasing availability of local station‐based reference ET estimates, we evaluated the GDAS‐based reference ET estimates using data from the California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS). Daily CIMIS reference ET estimates from 85 stations were compared with GDAS‐based reference ET at different spatial and temporal scales using five‐year daily data from 2002 through 2006. Despite the large difference in spatial scale (point vs. ～100 km grid cell) between the two datasets, the correlations between station‐based ET and GDAS‐ET were very high, exceeding 0.97 on a daily basis to more than 0.99 on time scales of more than 10 days. Both the temporal and spatial correspondences in trend/pattern and magnitudes between the two datasets were satisfactory, suggesting the reliability of using GDAS parameter‐based reference ET for regional water and energy balance studies in many parts of the world. While the study revealed the potential of GDAS ETo for large‐scale hydrological applications, site‐specific use of GDAS ETo in complex hydro‐climatic regions such as coastal areas and rugged terrain may require the application of bias correction and/or disaggregation of the GDAS ETo using downscaling techniques.     

A TECHNIQUE FOR ESTIMATING MONTHLY GLOBAL RADIATION1

ABSTRACT: A technique is presented for estimating monthly sums of global radiation from a combination of calculations of monthly cloudless global radiation, surface meteorological observations, and empirical equations relating sunshine to global radiation. The percent deviation of calculated from observed values is not negligible but is much less than errors obtained using extraterrestrial solar radiation sums. If monthly global radiation is estimated for areas other than the one area described here, the possible errors should be redetermined. Techniques to adapt the equations for other areas are discussed.     

温室效应与全球变化（四）：通过国际谈判与合作减少全球人为二氧化碳的排放

在限制人为二氧化碳的排放以控制全球变化的问题上，发达国家与发展中国家之间存在着尖锐的利益冲突。目前，大气中人为增加的二氧化碳绝大中份是发达国家在过去１５０年内排放的。它们目前的排放量仍占全球人为排放量的四分之三。发展中国家在经济发展过程中不可避免地要增加二氧化碳的排放量，这是它们正当的发展权利。作者讨论了各种限制人为二氧化碳排放的国际协定方案，认为可交易的二氧化碳排放许可证制度是比较现实的方案。     

温室效应与全球变化（二）：应当限制哪些温室气体的排放？

自有大气层以来就有温室效应。工业革命以来，大量人为温室气体的排放使温室效应增强，全球海平面上升和气温上升。人类对这一过程的认识还有很大的不确定性。本文综述了到目前为止对这一问题进行科学研究的结论，指出在控制温室效应和全球变化的问题上，最困难也是最基本的难题是减少二氧化碳的排放。     

国际碳排放权交易模式的更替发展与协同优化路径

实现碳中和是各国应对气候变化的共同选择。碳市场作为以碳排放权交易为核心的市场机制是加速全球碳排放目标实现的重要途径之一。尽管当前全球碳市场的发展仍呈现区域性和碎片化状态,但随着能源危机的加剧,极端气候灾难的不确定性增多,未来通过碳市场领域的国际合作实现全球碳市场的协同以应对气候变化仍是大势所趋。本文试图通过对国际碳市场进行回顾和类型化总结,并就《巴黎协定》下国际碳交易模式的协同困境从技术、制度和参与程度三个维度开展分析。作者认为,如欲加快全球碳交易的协同进程,应尽快完善国际碳交易中的技术适用细节,提升碳交易相关制度的适用力度,扩大碳交易相关制度的适用范围,加强发展中国家的碳市场的基础建设,拓展发展中国家碳交易市场建设支持来源,最终建立全球碳价格统一机制。提前布局研究碳市场的跨境连接方案对于中国而言极具现实意义,本文最后对中国参与全球碳交易市场的国际合作前景作出了展望。     

联合国环境大会与全球环境治理

本文从议程设定、议题综合度、参与度及机构设置等方面对三次联合国全球环境大会的绩效进行考察,认为1992年环境与发展大会绩效最高,1972年人类环境会议次之,2002年世界可持续发展峰会最低.这也折射出"后约翰内斯堡时代"环境治理的艰巨性,主要表现在国际条约执行难、某些国家政治意愿的缺失及国际社会的"绿色疲惫"等方面.     

The Impact of BSE and FMD on Ethics and Democratic Process

The recent crises of BSE and FMD in the United Kingdom have revealed widespread concerns on the part of farmers and consumers about government regulations and handling of animal movements, animal welfare, and food safety. Both crises raised issues of government accountability and the lack of openness in public debate. The issues of democratic process and decision-making were especially strong in relation to the mass slaughter policy of the government to control FMD. This article explores public disquiet about these matters, as expressed through the reports of two public inquiries, and the perceived links between government decision-making and the needs of global agribusiness, to the detriment of family farms and animal welfare. In light of the growing evidence about the environmental and economic costs of agribusiness, the argument is made that strong programs of citizen action, such as the Devon Foot and Mouth Inquiry, that are grounded in an ethical stance on animal welfare can challenge the perspectives of central governments about concepts of cost, efficiency, and safety in agriculture.     

WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT: INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE AND OPPORTUNITIES1

The entire water resources field is not contemplated, although reference thereto will be registered. Water supply for potable and hygienic purposes will be presented as symbolic of the global issues confronting 4.8 billion people. Some two billion of these live in the so-called developing or less favored countries. They are either underserved or not served at all by utility systems of whatever grade. Targets for meeting their needs were exemplified by the international agencies in the International Water and Sanitation Decade of 1980-1990. Some successes are apparent, but, in general, hopes are not fulfilled. The pace of accomplishment is very slow. Constraints will be reviewed in some detail. Challenges for reducing these and increasing pace of installations are presented. The potential for a global public works program unprecedented in history is reviewed. Several issues will not be discussed in this paper. Their omission rests primarily upon the fact that their resolution is improbable for decades ahead, if ever. Economists have categorized water as any other economic commodity - and should always be subject to benefit-cost scrutiny. I do not share that view. People could well live without the telephone or the automobile, a destroyer. Without water, their survival is a matter of days. Cost-benefit seems unreal and singularly inappropriate under such circumstances. Secondly, the search for quantifying the health impact of safe water goes on forever. My view is that the results speak for themselves - while sturdy souls continue to seek out the exact correlation figure. Thirdly, the population explosion, although softened a bit, proceeds apace while I write. Lastly, the exposition herein is restricted to potable water and its associated sanitation aspects. Other major uses of water, obviously highly important, are not addressed.     

全球气候变化与21世纪我国能源发展战略

分析了全球气候变化特点及对我国的挑战,提出21世纪我国能源发展战略。     

临港产业的国内外经验及对江苏的启示

探讨临港产业的基本理论,借鉴发达国家和地区发展临港产业的先进经验,结合江苏沿海地区发展临港产业的优势条件,提出石油化工、汽车制造、风电装备制造、海洋工程、物流集散五大优势临港产业基地建设是临港产业发展的重点,旨在为江苏沿海地区临港产业发展提供新思路.     

How Science Contributes to Environmental Reporting in British Newspapers: A Case Study of the Reporting of Global Warming and Climate Change

This article examines the role of science in environmental reporting in a number of British newspapers. The findings indicated that in reporting about global warming and climate change, the views of scientists were used to give legitimacy to the content of articles. However, in both the tabloids and broadsheets, there was little evidence provided, in the form of data, to substantiate the claims being made. Furthermore, uncertainties about global warming were not explored effectively. Newspaper reports tended to focus on the potential consequences of global warming, but made little attempt to address the suspected causes that would inevitably involve criticism of highly consumptive lifestyles in the west.     

Deliberation and ecological democracy: from citizen to global system

ABSTRACT

Ecological democracy confronts a challenge of not only reconciling democracy and ecology, but doing so where human activities and their environmental consequences are increasingly global. Deliberative scholars dealing with these issues emphasise reflexive governance, involving the contestation of discourses, as part of the solution, mostly aimed at high-level institutions and intergovernmental cooperation. However, even at this level democracy demands responsiveness to the citizen. To this end, the paper explores citizen-level deliberation to inform possibilities for ecological democracy writ large, via a growing literature on deliberative governance and polycentrism. Different system levels are connected via ecologically reflexive capacity and the discursive conditions under which it is enhanced, including in small-scale minipublics. This understanding informs mechanisms for ‘scaling up’ deliberative quality to the wider public sphere via regulating the manipulation of public discourse. Minipublic deliberation, properly harnessed, can serve to decontaminate public debate of anti-reflexive strategic arguments and reshape public discourse. Such anti-reflexive strategies seek to shape the public will, specifically by de-emphasising ecology via intuitive arguments that short-cut public reasoning. Acting as discursive regulatory trustees, minipublics can improve reflexivity in the wider system via a nested polycentric approach that discursively connects citizens’ deliberation to the global system both horizontally and vertically.     

Leveraging the power of learning to overcome negotiation deadlocks in global climate governance and low carbon transitions

ABSTRACT

Learning among actors within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations helped transferring climate policies across countries and changed negotiation positions. Together with group pressure and leadership by key governments and non-national actors, experience, knowledge and belief-based learning types altered the UNFCCC negotiation dynamics and facilitated the Paris Agreement. Governments, the UNFCCC secretariat and NGOs created opportunities for government representatives to explore policy options and learn from each other’ successes of designing and implementing low carbon policies. These experience exchanges during and beyond the UNFCCC meetings were established to help countries share their experiences with low carbon economic development plans to address climate change while decoupling economic growth. Based on elite interviews, participant observation and document analysis, this contribution examines how learning facilitated breakthroughs in international climate negotiations. It finds that structured experience exchange of and reflection on other countries’ and non-national actors’ successful policy experiences can modify national interests as policymakers increasingly understand that climate action can support economic growth. This resulted in a higher willingness to take on more ambitious climate action commitments. Sharing experiences with climate policies can facilitate other actor’s learning how they can adapt successful policies to their specific framework conditions.     

Global Trade in GM Food and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety: Consequences for China

The UN Cartagena Protocol onBiosafety adopted in Montreal, 29 January, 2000and opened for signature in Nairobi, 15–26 May,2000 will exert a profound effect oninternational trade in genetically modifiedorganisms (GMOs) and their products. In thispaper, the potential effects of variousarticles of the Protocol on international tradein GMOs are analyzed. Based on the presentstatus of imports of GMOs and domestic researchand development of biotechnology in China,likely trends in imports of foreign GM food andrelated products after China accedes to WTO isexplored. Also, China's potentialcountermeasures to control and regulate importsof GMOs in line with implementation of theProtocol are discussed. China, in recent times,has increased its food and agricultural importssubstantially from USA and Canada. Chinaimported soybean 10.42 mill. tons in 2000 andabout 15 mill tons in 2001, of which majorityare from USA where GM soybean accounts for60%. The plantation of US Monsanto'stransgenic Bt cotton was increased to more than1 million ha in China in 2001. Though China haspaid great attention to develop biotechnology,it appears to have little scope to export GMOsand GM products. So China may consider a rangeof administrative measures to implement theCartagena Protocol and to regulate its importof GMOs and GM agricultural products.Consequently, the Regulation on Safety ofAgri-GMOs was issued on June, 2001 and followedthree detailed rules issued in Jan. of 2002,with a priority to limit foreign GMOs importingby safety certification and labeling system.These were outlined taking into accountpolicies adopted in Western countries such asgreen barriers to international trade.     

全球气候治理背景下中国气候金融发展的挑战和应对

气候金融是全球气候治理的重要基础和关键要素。国际政治局势的变动和《巴黎协定》的签订使得全球气候治理格局发生了重大转变。文章基于这一时代背景和国际气候金融发展趋势,从气候金融政策发展、气候金融机构及其产品和服务、气候金融风险管理三个角度梳理中国气候金融发展现状和内外部障碍。基于此,文章提出了气候金融发展的中国应对策略,认为应健全政策体系,加强国际合作;扩大金融供给,完善行业体系;健全法规约束,提升管理水平。     

吉东山区总辐射资源的地理空间分布特征

本文以地理纬度、经度和海拔高度为因子,采用二次趋势面函数,建立了描述吉林省东部长白山区年总辐射、5～9月总辐射和日平气温稳定通过10℃期间的总辐射资源的地理空间分布特征的数学模式。采用地理细网格场的分析方法,揭示了该山区总辐射资源的空间分布情况。     

全球城市之东京的环境战略转型的经验与借鉴

当前,北京、上海等超大城市已经提出未来要建设全球城市或世界城市,把环境作为城市核心竞争力的主要指标。本文通过研究东京第二次世界大战后环境战略的演变,寻求不同环境战略阶段中,环境目标、管理及政策与经济、人口、能源和城市规划的关系,认为东京环境战略演变历程共分为六个阶段,总结了东京环境战略的成功经验,即科技创新中心是环境领域战略转型中心先天优势、全球环境治理网络枢纽建设促进环境战略转型、能源清洁是东京环境战略转型的关键、重大活动是东京城市环境问题解决的绝佳契机、公众参与为环境战略转型提供了强大的推动力,而城市空间优化与产业转移是东京环境战略转型的核心。