Mekong River Fish Conservation Zones in Southern Laos: Assessing Effectiveness Using Local Ecological Knowledge

Small-scale fisheries are important in Laos, where rural people heavily depend upon Mekong River and tributary fish stocks for their livelihoods. Increasing pressures from human exploitation and habitat disturbance, however, have raised serious concerns about the potential depletion of various species. This has led to the establishment of large numbers of Fish Conservation Zones (FCZs) or “no-take” fish sanctuaries in southern Laos based on a “community-based fisheries co-management” framework. This study uses the local ecological knowledge (LEK) of fishers to assess the effectiveness of village-managed FCZs in enhancing fish stocks in the mainstream Mekong River in Khong District, Champasak Province. Focus group interviews about species that are believed to have benefited from different FCZs are compared with parameters such as FCZ area, age, depth, localized gradient, water velocity, and the presence of wetland forests nearby. The results suggest that no one aspect is likely to account for variations in fish stocks; rather, it is the interaction between numerous factors that has the largest impact. Secondly, the results indicate that microhabitat diversity and protection are critical for maintaining and enhancing Mekong fisheries. Deep-water pools are particularly important as dry season refuges for many fish species, and FCZ depth may be the single most important environmental factor affecting the success of FCZs in the Mekong River. FCZs have the most potential to benefit relatively sedentary species, but may also benefit highly migratory species, given the right conditions. This study shows that integrated approaches to stock assessment that employ LEK and scientific fisheries management have considerable potential for improving Mekong capture-fisheries management.     

Towards a systematic approach of effect prediction: A handbook as guide and aid for environmental prediction. A review

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is based on the results of effect prediction. In general, there is much diversity in the expertise in the field of environmental prediction between the different categories of actors involved in EIA. In practice it became obvious in The Netherlands that the accessibility and comprehensibility of existing relevant information was insufficient. For improvement, a series of systematic handbooks on effect prediction, useful for all categories of actors, has been developed in The Netherlands. In this way, the selection of effect prediction methods to be used in concrete circumstances is improved and speeded up for all parties involved in environmental prediction. After a discussion of the purpose of the handbook, the realization and structure of the series are presented. Finally, the use and (potential) benefits of the handbooks for environmental management are indicated.     

Environmental Impact Assessment Under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty

US government actions undertaken in Antarctica are subject to the requirements of both the Protocol and the US National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). There are differences in the scope and intent of the Protocol and NEPA; however, both require environmental impact assessment (EIA) as part of the planning process for proposed actions that have the potential for environmental impacts. In this paper we describe the two instruments and highlight key similarities and differences with particular attention to EIA. Through this comparison of the EIA requirements of NEPA and the Protocol, we show how the requirements of each can be used in concert to provide enhanced environmental protection for the antarctic environment. NEPA applies only to actions of the US government; therefore, because NEPA includes certain desirable attributes that have been refined and clarified through numerous court cases, and because the Protocol is just entering implementation internationally, some recommendations are made for strengthening the procedural requirements of the Protocol for activities undertaken by all Parties in Antarctica. The Protocol gives clear and strong guidance for protection of specific, valued antarctic environmental resources including intrinsic wilderness and aesthetic values, and the value of Antarctica as an area for scientific research. That guidance requires a higher standard of environmental protection for Antarctica than is required in other parts of the world. This paper shows that taken together NEPA and the Protocol call for closer examination of proposed actions and a more rigorous consideration of environmental impacts than either would alone. Three areas are identified where the EIA provisions of the Protocol could be strengthened to improve its effectiveness. First, the thresholds defined by the Protocol need to be clarified. Specifically, the meanings of the terms “minor” and “transitory” are not clear in the context of the Protocol. The use of “or” in the phrase “minor or transitory” further confuses the meaning. Second, cumulative impact assessment is called for by the Protocol but is not defined. A clear definition could reduce the chance that cumulative impacts would be given inadequate consideration. Finally, the public has limited opportunities to comment on or influence the preparation of initial or comprehensive environmental evaluations. Experience has shown that public input to environmental documents has a considerable influence on agency decision making and the quality of EIA that agencies perform.     

提高环境影响评价质量的几点看法

本文对如何提高环境评价质量提出了一些看法。作者指出,应使环境评价工作具有针对性、实用性和科学性,并强调做好工程分析和事故评价的重要意义。     

Evolution of co-management: Role of knowledge generation,bridging organizations and social learning

Over a period of some 20 years, different aspects of co-management (the sharing of power and responsibility between the government and local resource users) have come to the forefront. The paper focuses on a selection of these: knowledge generation, bridging organizations, social learning, and the emergence of adaptive co-management. Co-management can be considered a knowledge partnership. Different levels of organization, from local to international, have comparative advantages in the generation and mobilization of knowledge acquired at different scales. Bridging organizations provide a forum for the interaction of these different kinds of knowledge, and the coordination of other tasks that enable co-operation: accessing resources, bringing together different actors, building trust, resolving conflict, and networking. Social learning is one of these tasks, essential both for the co-operation of partners and an outcome of the co-operation of partners. It occurs most efficiently through joint problem solving and reflection within learning networks. Through successive rounds of learning and problem solving, learning networks can incorporate new knowledge to deal with problems at increasingly larger scales, with the result that maturing co-management arrangements become adaptive co-management in time.     

The common property resource problem and the fisheries of Barbados and Jamaica

Common property resources (CPR) tend to be particularly susceptible to depletion and degredation. This creates problems for sustainable development and for resource stewardship in general since many of the key global resources are common property. The article explores the different definitions of CPR and the traps associated with the harvesting of CPR without understanding the social, economic, and environmental costs related to their exploitation. The commons problem may be approached in terms of a private property solution, the allocation of individual quotas to fishermen, or a communal property solution in which communities of fishermen basically manage their own fisheries. The offshore fishery of Barbados lends itself to the private property solution, and the inshore fishery of Jamaica, to the communal property solution.Drawing from case studies of Jamaica and Barbados fisheries, four principles of CPR use are proposed: (a) the solution of the CPR problem starts with the control of access to the resource, (b) increasing production from a CPR depends on the conservation of the resource base, (c) the sustainable utilization of a CPR is closely connected to the use of technology appropriate for the harvest, and (d) local-level management improves prospects for the sustainable use of a CPR. The case studies illustrate that there may be local, national, and international levels of interest over the resource. Hence, the successful management of such resources as Barbados and Jamaica fisheries requires that conflicting demands for the resources be taken into account, perhaps using a cooperative management approach.     

对提高环境影响评价质量的几点意见

本文从法制与技术两个方面的观点提出如何提高环境影响评价质量的几点意见。     

浅谈民航空管工程电磁辐射影响及环境管理问题与对策

当前我国民航事业处于快速发展的关键时期,对空管系统建设提出了更高的要求,进一步加强空管工程前期工作和建设管理,提高空管综合保障能力迫在眉睫。文章以北京新机场为例,介绍了空管工程典型辐射源的电磁环境影响,对其电磁辐射环境管理存在的问题进行了探讨并提出了对策。     

对南京市环境与发展综合决策制度的思考

环境与发展综合决策是实现可持续发展战略的重要举措。本文在总结城市环境管理实践的基础上,探讨了建立和实施环境与发展综合决策制度的必要性和完善该项制度应当强化的一些相关制度,以及在城市环境管理过程中围绕该项制度实施各相关部门的具体职责的一般程序。     

我国现行环境影响评价制度面临的问题与对策

环境影响评价制度在我国经过近30年的发展与完善,在有效加强环境管理,从源头上防止环境污染和生态环境破坏方面起到了重要作用。但从现实看,其并未能从根本上遏制我国生态环境的恶化,各级政府的发展观、环境职能部门的独立性和公正性、评价机构的中立性、环境报告编制的技术性缺失和环境影响评价制度的缺憾等问题都严重制约着环境影响评价的作用发挥,只有解决这些问题,通过完善制度、科学评价,公正审批和有效监督才能让环境影响评价真正成为环境的守护神,实现经济社会发展与自然的和谐。     

Environment and development in the Republic of the Marshall Islands: Linking climate change with sustainable fisheries development

The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) is a major custodian of one of the ocean's major natural resources: tuna. The commercial tuna fisheries sector is the most important economic sector in the RMI and is thus a substantial contributor to this tiny island nation's GDP. Tuna catch and its associated revenues has fluctuated in line with climatic events such as the El Niño/La Niña Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and, in the last decade, national fisheries development policies have begun to capitalize on the positive effects that ENSO warm events have had on the tuna populations. However, global warming is expected to have a significant impact on ENSO, and not necessarily in positive ways. This paper will focus on the relationship between environment and economic development in the RMI fisheries sector. In particular, the linkages between global warming and its effects on the tuna fisheries sector must be better understood and uncertainties accounted for so that impacts are appropriately addressed and integrated into sustainable fisheries development policies. Conclusions reached are that new fisheries development strategies that emphasize environmental‐based planning are required. The emerging ecosystem‐based approach to fisheries management is a start, as are the various international initiatives in furthering our understanding of the linkages between climate and ocean systems currently underway.     

Assessing Fisheries – Using an Ethical Matrix in a Participatory Process

The Norwegian National Committee for Research Ethics inScience and Technology (NENT), collaborating with The NorwegianFisherman's Association and The Research Council of Norway,started in 1999 a project aiming at an ethical assessment of Norwegian fisheries for the year 2020. The project was to preparethe ground for ethical debate in and of the fishery sector inview of pending important decisions on long term strategies. Thispaper has its focus on the method used for achieving these aims,rather than the substantive results concerning the fisheries. Amethod was developed for this purpose, called the ethicalscenario process. This included the construction of scenarios forthe future of Norwegian fisheries, using an ethical matrix for evaluating strategies, and organizing a ``value workshop' whereparticipants from different stakeholder groups came together todo ethical evaluations. The positive achievements and theshortcomings of this method are discussed in this paper. The useof an ethical matrix was meant to combine a participatory approachwith insights from theoretical ethics. The project revealedinherent tensions between these two objectives. Possible ways ofdealing with this tension are indicated, but in general a goodgrasp of the socio-political context might be the best guardianagainst the possible pitfalls involved in such an approach.     

An operational method for the evaluation of resource use and environmental impacts of dairy farms by life cycle assessment

This paper describes and applies EDEN-E, an operational method for the environmental evaluation of dairy farms based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) conceptual framework. EDEN-E requires a modest amount of data readily available on-farm, and thus can be used to assess a large number of farms at a reasonable cost. EDEN-E estimates farm resource use and pollutant emissions mostly at the farm scale, based on-farm-gate balances, amongst others. Resource use and emissions are interpreted in terms of potential impacts: eutrophication, acidification, climate change, terrestrial toxicity, non-renewable energy use and land occupation. The method distinguishes for each total impact a direct component (impacts on the farm site) and an indirect component (impacts associated with production and supply of inputs used). A group of 47 dairy farms (41 conventional and six organic) was evaluated. Expressed per 1000 kg of fat-and-protein-corrected milk, total land occupation was significantly larger for organic than for conventional farms, while total impacts for eutrophication, acidification, climate change, terrestrial toxicity, and non-renewable energy use were not significantly different for the two production modes. When expressed per ha of land occupied all total impacts were significantly larger for conventional than organic farms. This study largely confirms previously published findings concerning the effect of production mode on impacts of dairy farms. However, it strikingly reveals that, for the set of farms examined, the contribution of production mode to overall inter-farm variability of impacts was minor relative to inter-farm variability within each of the two production modes examined. The mapping of impact variability through EDEN-E opens promising perspectives to move towards sustainable farming systems by identifying the structural and management characteristics of the farms presenting the lowest impacts.     

Social Capital and Fisheries Management: The Case of Chilika Lake in India

This article shows how social capital impacts fisheries management at the local level in Chilika Lake, located in the state of Orissa in India. In Chilika, the different fishing groups established norms and “rules of the game” including, but not limited to, spatial limits that determine who can fish and in what areas, temporal restrictions about when and for how long people may fish, gear constraints about what harvesting gear may be used by each group, and physical controls on size and other characteristics of fish that may be harvested. A survey of the members of fishing groups has shown that the bonding social capital is strong within the Chilika fishing groups. Bonding and bridging social capital keeps the fishers together in times of resource scarcity, checks violations of community rules and sanctions, and strengthens the community fisheries management. In contrast, linking social capital in Chilika appears to be weak, as is evident from the lack of trust in external agencies, seeking the help of formal institutions for legal support, and increasing conflicts. Trust and cooperation among fishers is crucial in helping to build the social capital. A social capital perspective on fisheries governance suggests that there should be a rethinking of priorities and funding mechanisms, from “top-down” fisheries management towards “co-management” with a focus on engendering rights and responsibilities for fishers and their communities.     

Guild management: an evaluation of avian guilds as a predictive tool

The use and applicability of the guild concept to management is evaluated and questioned. Ecological problems are never as simple as implied in using one or two guild axes. A close examination of bird communities in a ponderosa pine forest reveals little relationship between guilds or guild blocks and the responses exhibited by individual bird species or bird species groups. Response guilds changed from year to year without any obvious changes in vegetation. A three-year composite analysis shows a clearer picture of the responses of ponderosa pine forest birds to the overall interactions between structure, weather, competition, and so on. The six response groups in the composite analysis are species that (1) were absent in 1973 on most or all study plots and showed no preference for any forested site; (2) had their highest densities on the medium cut and light cut plots; (3) were absent in 1973 on most or all study plots and had their highest densities on the medium cut and light cut plots; (4) had their highest densities on the untreated, light cut, and medium cut plots; (5) had their highest densities on the untreated and light cut plots and were either absent or had greatly reduced densities on all other plots; and (6) were present only on the clearcut, except for the Rock Wren which was also on the medium cut and heavy cut plots. The overall correlation between species density and guild density was significantly higher for response guilds ( <0.05) than for any of the structural or functional guilds. The whole concept of guild management needs much more research and development before it can be recommended as a management tool.     

Who should manage protected areas in the Swedish mountain region? A survey approach to co-management

This article investigates attitudes towards co-management of protected areas in Sweden, at the national, county and local level. In Sweden, protected areas are still primarily designated and managed hierarchically-a practice increasingly contested by people living close to them, including indigenous Sámi reindeer herders whose economic activities are located within protected areas. The general view could, on the contrary, be anticipated to be pro-state since protected areas are considered to be of national interest. For democratic reasons, however, the opinions of the whole population should be considered. In order to measure both local and general views, this study is based on a two-sample survey of 8868 respondents. The objectives are to map and explain attitudes regarding who should manage protected areas in Sweden, and to test the usefulness of a multi-level quantitative method. Such an approach is unusual in co-management literature that is empirically mainly based on local case studies. The explanatory ambition sets out to test three hypotheses drawn from common-pool resource theory; resource dependency, common understanding, and trust. Perhaps surprisingly, the results show that a considerable majority of the respondents (at all levels) wish to see self- or co-management. All three hypotheses are important to understand attitudes toward the management of protected areas, but not always in the way that the theory anticipates.     

Tundra disturbance and ecosystem production: Implications for impact assessment

Environmental regulations governing industrial activities in tundra environments stem largely from the expected ecological effects of the activities. One of the major ecological effects of industrial activities is the surface subsidence associated with thermokarst, which can result in changes in primary and secondary production. The primary production changes associated with thermokarst are strongly governed by three ecosystem properties—soil temperature, water regime, and nutrient availability. Most disturbances set in motion a more-or-less predictable sequence of landscape change related to these properties: soil warming, thermokarst, surface flooding, accelerated organic matter decomposition, and increased nutrient availability. The warmed soil and the enhanced nutrient availability typically lead to increased annual primary production, increased dominance by graminoids, and reduced plant species diversity. These vegetational changes may in turn potentially enhance secondary production, but in general these second-level responses have yet to be quantified. More information is needed about the food-chain effects of tundra landscape disturbances before regulators can make well-informed predictions of impacts or plan useful habitat rehabilitation.     

房地产开发建设项目环境影响评价要点评述

近年来随着房地产行业的蓬勃发展以及公众环保意识的不断增强,房地产开发建设项目环境影响评价水平不断被推向新的深度。本文将根据房地产开发建设项目自身的特点,综合论述此类项目环境影响评价中应关注的主要环境问题。