40 years of global environmental assessments: A retrospective analysis

This paper provides a retrospective analysis of global environmental assessment (GEA) processes and their changing character, focus and political context over the past 40 years. We examine how and why elements of organizational design, objectives, and the evolving political landscape have interacted and changed, with a view of informing the design and conduct of future processes. We find that the historical genesis of GEAs is closely connected to the emergence of environmental multilateralism. However, the prevailing conditions and assumptions which originally gave rise to the GEA concept have changed significantly over time, giving rise to an increasing demand for a focus on response options and policies. We also find that the epistemic and process complexity of GEAs has increased substantially, without a corresponding expansion in the magnitude and composition of GEA management teams. We suggest that developing analytical capacities for policy assessment as well as ensuring sufficient resources and tools to manage increasingly complex GEAs is essential to ensure their future relevance and success. This article is part of a special issue on solution-oriented GEAs.     

Solution-oriented global environmental assessments: Opportunities and challenges

This article provides an introduction to the Special Issue dedicated to “Solution-oriented Global Environmental Assessments: Opportunities and Challenges”. In the follow-up to the Paris climate agreement and the adoption and early implementation of the global Sustainable Development Goals involving many synergies and trade-offs, the need to shift the focus from environmental problem analysis towards the exploration of specific solution options can be observed in international environmental governance debates. To remain policy-relevant, credible and legitimate, global environmental assessments (GEAs) must carefully adapt to a rapidly evolving governance landscape. This Special Issue sheds light on the potential utility and implications of increased solution-orientation of GEAs. It builds on the research project “The Future of Global Environmental Assessment Making” that was jointly initiated in 2013 by UN Environment and the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change. The article collection includes research on the coevolution of GEAs and the increasingly solution-oriented governance context; conditions of success for contemporary GEAs; the treatment of divergent viewpoints, stakes and stakeholders in solution-oriented GEAs; knowledge aggregation; and the enhanced measurement of GEA effectiveness in the emerging governance landscape.     

Evaluating the impacts of global environmental assessments

There are currently no widely accepted procedures for comparing the performance of global environmental assessments (GEAs) and this may be a barrier to improving their methodology. To encourage greater self-reflection within the GEA community, it is proposed to introduce consistent evaluation approaches. Two elements from current evaluation practice are reviewed here that could be particularly useful for evaluating GEAs. The first are logic models which provide a transparent visual mapping of how activities in a GEA are intended to have impacts on policies. The second are performance metrics. It is proposed that GEAs adopt two kinds of metrics: (i) A common generic set for use in all GEAs to provide a basis for comparing the performance of GEAs, and (ii) a specific set of measureable metrics for each particular GEA derived from/linked to the generic set. Although many issues arise in applying these and other elements from evaluation theory and practice to GEAs, the potential benefits are greater comparability of GEA performance and new knowledge about how to improve them. This Short Communication is part of a Special Issue on solution-oriented GEAs.     

Global environmental assessments: Impact mechanisms

Many impacts of Global Environmental Assessment (GEA) processes on policy processes, and the mechanisms underlying these impacts, remain underappreciated. In this research, we focus on the 5th Global Environment Outlook and the Working Group III contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Based on the perception of GEA process participants, we describe the mechanisms through which assessments create or alter interpersonal interactions which can affect the dissemination of ideas. In particular, we find that GEAs can contribute to framing international coordinative discourses in intergovernmental negotiations. This can be achieved by widening, improving and/or maintaining the active participation of policy actors in the discussions of global environmental risks and by creating the scientific foundations for intergovernmental negotiations. GEAs can also contribute to national coordinative discourses by facilitating reflexive learning amongst participants, empowering them to diffuse and translate global information, and by providing methodological guidance. They can contribute to national communicative discourses by reviving interest and awareness of the urgency to address environmental problems. In this way they provide powerful arguments for governmental societal actors to challenge or strengthen existing national coordinative discourses. Finally, GEAs can improve scientific discourses worldwide by enhancing the capacity of individual researchers to produce and communicate relevant research insights. This is achieved by participating in a learning exercise with an extended community of peers and policy actors. This article is part of a special issue on solution-oriented global environmental assessments.     

国内环境民间组织合法性初探

环境保护领域的"政府失灵"和"市场失灵"要求社会调整机制的引入.社会调整机制以市民社会理论和实践为基础,市民社会主要由保护公民权利和公民政治参与的民间组织构成.环境民间组织作为一类组织生存下去的首要问题是其合法性.本文从政治和法律两个方面,论述了国内环境民间组织的合法性及其不足,并对克服其合法性危机进行了有益思考,以期国内环境民间组织健康发展,弥补市场调整机制与政府调整机制在环境保护方面的不足.     

浅谈授权签字人对环境监测报告的审核

环境监测报告是环境监测机构质量管理和技术水平的综合体现,是环境管理的技术支撑,来不得丝毫的差错。文章通过授权签字人对报告的合法性、全面性、完整性;法律法规技术规范的符合性;质量保证和质量控制的程序性;结论的正确性等方面进行审核把关,从而保证监测报告高质量地出笼。从审核分析常见关联数据的相关性("三氧"、"三氮"),引申出对错误监测操作行为的矫正,对规范监测工作行为有一定的指导意义。     

特高压输变电工程环境影响评价公众参与工作程序细化研究

公众参与工作程序的合法性和有效性,直接影响特高压输变电工程环境影响评价工作质量,不仅关系到公众对环境保护的参与权、知情权和监督权,还关系到项目能否顺利取得环境行政许可.结合特高压输变电工程环境影响评价公众参与工作实际,细化环境影响评价信息第一次公告、报告书简本公示、第二次公告、征求公众意见、报告书受理公示及审批公示完成时序,规范公众参与一般工作程序及变更工作程序.     

环评工作中常见噪声源的噪声控制措施

在环评工作中,会遇到各种各样的噪声源,即使同一种噪声源,在不同的项目中工况和环境条件也不尽相同。因此,在确定噪声控制对策时需要具体问题具体分析。本文分析了风机、空压机、水泵、粉碎机械、冷却塔等通用机械的噪声特性并提出了噪声控制的一般方法;说明了高等级公路交通噪声控制的措施,还对环境影响报告书中常见噪声控制对策进行了评述。     

公路环评中若干问题的探讨

通过对公路穿越生活饮用水源地一、二级保护区、自然保护区的核心区和缓冲区、风景名胜区核心景区等敏感区的合理合法性探讨,提出符合实际的规避措施;同时分析道路项目地下水环境评价的几种情景.论述了当前公路项目的水、气、声环境影响评价中存在的技术问题和解决方法;通过模型比选、预测和实测对比分析,提出适用不同公路的气、声环境评价预测模式和源强估算方法,完善公路评价有关内容.     

Lessons from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on inclusiveness across geographies and stakeholders

There have been many calls in policy and academia for more inclusiveness in science-policy interfaces, but there is as yet insufficient clarity as to what such inclusiveness means and how to achieve it in the context of international organisations. This paper analyses how inclusive the IPCC is across geographies and stakeholders. Building on the distinction between access and active participation, it examines the involvement of developing countries and NGOs in the Panel’s assessment process.The analysis shows that more inclusive institutional set-ups in international science-policy organisations do not automatically lead to greater credibility, salience and legitimacy of knowledge production processes (Mitchell et al., 2006). For instance, inclusive access does not per se guarantee active participation as the latter depends on a variety of factors including resources and the capacity of actors to engage. Furthermore, in institutional contexts the idea of inclusiveness is necessarily subject to operational interpretations. How these interpretations relate to the representativeness of those who participate in the process affects the relevance of knowledge to its users’ needs. Finally, there are political elements to inclusiveness as more powerful actors may be unwilling to renegotiate the balance of power to expand access to stakeholders.The paper concludes that these nuances should be taken into account in the IPCC and other international science-policy institutions. It also urges the Panel to address the developing country participation gap and explore institutional avenues for expanding access to non-state stakeholders in order to increase the credibility, salience and legitimacy of its processes and shift to solutions-oriented assessments.     

Learning about climate change solutions in the IPCC and beyond

There has been much debate about the assessment process of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Yet two of the most fundamental challenges that directly threaten the ability of the IPCC to fulfill its mandate have been largely neglected so far. Firstly, the magnitude and rapid expansion of the climate change literature makes it increasingly impossible for the IPCC to conduct comprehensive and transparent assessments without major innovations in assessment practices and tools. Secondly, the structure, organization and scientific practices across the social sciences and humanities prohibit systematic learning on climate change solutions and increasingly limit the policy-relevance of IPCC assessments. We highlight the need for responses along three avenues to prepare the IPCC for continued success in the future: 1) IPCC assessments must make better use of big-data methods and available computational power to assess the growing body of literature and ensure comprehensiveness; 2) systematic review practices need to be enshrined into IPCC procedures to ensure adequate focus and transparency in its assessments; 3) a synthetic research culture needs to be established in the social sciences and humanities in order to foster knowledge accumulation and learning on climate solutions in the future. As policymakers become more interested in understanding solutions, the future prospects of global environmental assessment enterprises will depend heavily on a successful transformation within the social sciences and humanities towards systematic knowledge generation. This article is part of a special issue on solution-oriented Global Environmental Assessments.     

“排污权”权利主体论

在环境法的权利义务体系中,环境容量的所有权属于全体人民,公民享有环境权。政府受托管理环境容量等资源,实现环境保护和经济发展的协调,保障全体公民的环境权。企业等生产经营单位和个人承担合法排污、清洁生产等环境义务,保证公民的环境权得以实现,同时基于“排污权交易”的制度设计,在超量减排时可享有一定的经济补偿的权利一排污权。排污权的法定权利主体只能是企业等生产经营单位和个人,环境保护信用不良企业不应是排污权的现实权利主体,只有符合区域产业结构调整政策、对环境容量资源利用效率高的企业等生产经营单位和个人才能成为真正拥有排污权的现实权利主体。     

气溶胶水相反应生成二次有机气溶胶研究进展

液态水(云滴、雾滴和气溶胶水)在大气中无处不在,为大气水相化学反应提供了重要的场所.气态前体物(主要是VOCs)或它的气相初级氧化产物(包括中/半挥发性有机物,I/SVOCs)在大气凝聚相(水相)中发生反应,形成低挥发性高氧化性有机物(如有机硫和有机氮等),水分蒸发后留在颗粒相,即为水相二次有机气溶胶(aqueous-phase secondary organic aerosol,aq SOA).因其对OA具有重要的贡献和显著的环境、气候和人体健康影响,近年来成为大气化学研究的热点.尽管aq SOA的研究已取得了一些进展,但由于aq SOA形成机制复杂,对aq SOA的认知还比较匮乏.本文重点关注气溶胶水中反应生成的二次有机气溶胶(aqueous aerosol SOA,aa SOA)相关的研究进展,包括气态前体物、形成机制、实验室模拟、外场观测及有关aa SOA产率及贡献的相关研究成果.同时,对aa SOA的来源、生成机制等研究的发展方向进行了展望,包括:未知aa SOA前体物及示踪物鉴别、有机光敏剂诱发的自由基化学、有机硫和有机氮的形成机制、实际气溶胶水溶性组分和外场观测研究、模式模型研究等.     

Preparing for the European Thematic Strategy on air pollution: at the interface between science and policy

In 2005 the European Commission launched a Thematic Strategy on air pollution for the European Union. We use an analytical framework that relates credibility, legitimacy and relevance of assessments to “boundary work” between science and policy to address the following questions: (1) how did experts, stakeholders and policy makers in the process distribute roles and tasks between them and how did they work together and (2) to what extent and in what way did this constitute credibility, legitimacy and relevance of the assessment? We conclude that the European Commission took great effort to organise a transparent assessment process based on scientific knowledge and with extensive involvement of stakeholders and Member States. Bilateral consultations, review of integrated assessment models, and transparency and documentation of integrated assessment work played an important role in enhancing credibility, legitimacy and relevance for the Member States. On the other hand, some industry groups were not satisfied with their role as stakeholders instead of experts. However the assessment established a sufficient degree of credibility, legitimacy and relevance with the majority of the actors involved to have an impact on the actual policy process.     

时间困境与社会舆论权威——环境管理的权威结构制衡研究

环境资源的稀缺性已经使环境资源配置日益成为引发社会问题的主要变量之一.具有(准)公共物品属性的环境资源配置不合理引发的"公地悲剧"表现在时间轴上即为"时间困境".因为激励机制不足和成本过高等,靠市场机制的产权明晰和政府的强制管理并不能有效的解决环境资源配置的"时间困境".相反,在经济高速发展态势下,目标趋同的政府和企业会在某种程度上形成联合,造成现行环境管理权威结构的失衡.由公众自发形成的社会舆论在合法性前提下,有着解除"时间困境"的内在动因和成本优势,可以发展成为环境资源配置过程的有力的监督要素.要实现环境管理权威结构的内在制衡,还需要从公众内在自觉、外在制度,以及知识协助等三方面对内外环境进行创设.     

The authority of science in sustainability governance: A structured comparison of six science institutions engaged with the Sustainable Development Goals

Over the past decades, numerous science institutions have evolved around issues of global sustainability, aiming to inform and shape societal transformations towards sustainability. While these science-based initiatives seem to take on an ever growing active role in governance for sustainable development, the question arises how they can claim any political authority in the first place. We present here a structured comparison of six international science-based initiatives, all engaged in governance processes related to the recently established Sustainable Development Goals. We focus on the material and rhetorical strategies employed by these science institutions to acquire authority by fostering perceptions of salience, credibility and legitimacy among governance actors. We distinguish three modes of scientific authority: an assessment-oriented mode that combines a strategy of salience through integration, with credibility by formal mechanisms of review, and legitimacy through representation; an advice-oriented mode, which appeals to salience through the promise of independent and timely science advice, to credibility through the credentials of the scientists involved, and to legitimacy through formal recognition by governance actors; and a solution-oriented mode, with science institutions claiming relevance based on the promise to contribute to solutions for global sustainability, while credibility is sought by invoking support of the scientific community, and legitimacy through a strategy of participation. Based on this analysis, we provide a framework for reflection on the claims and strategies of science-based initiatives, and their role and responsibility in governance for sustainable development.This article is part of a special issue on solution-oriented GEAs.     

Legitimacy of local REDD+ processes. A comparative analysis of pilot projects in Brazil and Tanzania

This paper compares the legitimacy of pilot projects in Kilosa and Kondoa districts of Tanzania and the Amazon region in Brazil. The analysis is both normative – i.e., based on external criteria – and sociological – i.e., based on local people’s perceptions. Results show that the quality of decision-making in terms of local participation, balanced representation, openness and sufficient information increases local acceptability of REDD+. The research also suggests that power asymmetries may undermine legitimacy if not dealt with. Finally, the paper reveals that legitimacy outcomes differ under various contexts, which calls for REDD+ processes to be flexible.     

兰州市大气PM10中重金属和多环芳烃的健康风险评价

以现场采样监测和问卷调查方式,结合美国环保局推荐的健康风险评价模型,对兰州市大气PM₁₀中重金属、PAHs及其健康风险进行了研究.结果表明:兰州市大气PM₁₀中重金属和PAHs具有明显的季节特征,冬季高于夏季;人群对重金属和PAHs的日均暴露剂量在9.60×10^-5~1.06×10^-3 mg·kg^-1·d^-1之间,儿童的日均暴露剂量高于成人,男性高于女性;Zn和4环及4环以上的PAHs对总暴露剂量的贡献率较高.无论致癌风险还是非致癌风险,研究区均高于对照区,男性高于女性,其中,男性儿童致癌风险最高,预期寿命损失为2.17 d.冬季研究区和对照区的致癌风险均高于美国EPA推荐的可接受风险水平.     

Ecotoxicological assessment of diffuse pollution using biomonitoring tool for sustainable land use in Thailand

As a developing country, Thailand has a significant issue with diffuse pollution of the soil ecosystem due to an indiscriminate use of agrichemicals and poorly regulated disposal of a wide variety of hazardous wastes. Practical risk assessment tools based on locally-occurring species are needed to assess the effects of diffuse pollutants on the soil ecosystem in Thailand because reliance on soil criteria developed for overseas conditions may provide inadequate protection. Native soil organisms in Thailand may be more or less sensitive to contaminants compared to overseas test species. This article described a biological indicator approach for ecological risk assessment of diffuse pollution in the soil ecosystem of Thailand from pesticide application with the aim of developing standardized protocols using native species and locally generated data to better evaluate the ecological risks of non-point source soil pollution. It was found that ecotoxicological assessment provided a better understanding of the ecological impacts that diffuse pollution induced on Thai environmental conditions. Thai soil biota species were more sensitive to soil contaminants than similar species overseas. Soil series also had an influence on the ecotoxicology of contaminants to soil biota. Collembolan, Cyphoderus sp., was demonstrated as a useful alternative test species to Folsomia Candida (international test species) for terrestrial ecotoxicological testing of Thai soils. In addition, the soil biota activities such as soil respiration and earthworm avoidance including soil biodiversity and the litter bag decomposition technique are also good tools to assess the effects of diffuse pollution by pesticides on the soil ecosystem of Thailand.     

水污染源在线监测系统比对监测过程中的质量保证和质量控制

对水污染源在线监测系统比对监测过程中的监测条件、样品采集、实验室分析及数据质量和有效性等全过程的质量保证和控制措施进行探讨,以保证其监测数据的科学性、准确性、可靠性和合法性。