《21世纪议程》:行动与展望

1992年,联合国环境与发展大会通过了《关于环境与发展的里约热内卢宣言》、《21世纪议程》和《关于森林问题的原则声明》3项重要文件。之后,国际社会为推动"里约精神"的落实做出了积极努力:联合国可持续发展委员会每年举行会议,审议《21世纪议程》的执行情况;许多国家制定了国家和地方层面的《21世纪议程》或可持续发展战略;相关国际组织以可持续发展能力建设为主的活动也十分活跃。人类把发展与环境相协调作为行动准则,各国依据国情制定了促进环境与发展相协调的优先事项,使人类在实现可持续发展的进程中取得了积极进展:全球经济实现了大幅增长,发展中国家在全球经济格局中的地位不断上升;在消除贫困等社会发展方面取得显著效果,全球开始进入城市化时代;全球能源资源供应呈现多元化,资源节约集约利用成效显著。中国在经济发展滞后、贫困现象较严重背景下,承担了全球实施《21世纪议程》的旗舰角色;并依据本国的具体国情,选择性地学习与借鉴,摸索创造出具有自身特色的发展模式和道路,增加了世界可持续发展方式选择的多样性。20年来,尽管各个国家在可持续发展方面采取了积极行动,但是"里约精神"尚未全面转化为行动,在相关国际承诺与公约的履行方面还需付出巨大努力,仍然面临着重大挑战。如:以气候变化为代表的重大全球性环境问题对人类生存构成的直接威胁加大;生态超载背景下的发展空间争夺更趋激烈;全球性民生问题凸显,可持续发展面临的社会风险加大,等等。我们期待:通过"里约+20"大会,使得相关国际制度安排不断形成和完善,可持续发展进一步向全球行动转化;科技创新步伐加快,进一步推动全球向绿色发展转型;加快全球治理体系调整,新兴发展中国家成为全球可持续发展的重要推动力;全球共同努力解决重大资源环境问题,可持续发展领域的国际关系呈现竞争性合作。     

Storm surges: perspectives and options

This review paper attempts to summarize the scattered and fragmented knowledge about past and possible future changing storm-surge statistics using the particularly well-studied case of the North Sea as an example. For this region, a complete and robust analysis methodology has been developed in recent years. This methodology is based on dynamical and statistical models. Using the concept of dynamical downscaling, development during recent decades, when sufficiently good and homogeneous weather data exist, has been “reconstructed,” and scenarios of possible future change are described. “Localization” allows estimation of changes at specific sites, e.g., harbors. As local water-level statistics depend not only on climate variations but also on local modifications of the local bathymetry, new options for adaptation emerge. For the case of Hamburg, an option for such future adaptations is discussed.     

Climate Communications: Conflicts and Opportunities

The occasion for this forum was sparked by a front-page story in the New York Times by John M. Broder entitled, “Seeking to Save the Planet, with a Thesaurus” (May 1, 2009, p. A11). The article focused on the non-profit EcoAmerica's report, “Climate and Energy Truths: Our Common Future,” which shares research on communication approaches to engaging climate change and energy issues. The Broder article included commentary from Robert J. Brulle, Professor of Sociology and Environmental Science at Drexel University. In response, George P. Lakoff, Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at UC-Berkeley, published an essay in The Huffington Post, “Why Environmental Understanding, or ‘Framing,’ Matters: An Evaluation of the EcoAmerica Summary Report” (May 19, 2009). The discussion about this report and differing approaches to environmental communication continued on blogs, in emails, and through various other forums. The editorial leadership team of this journal thought such prominent attention to environmental communication in the nexus of so many disciplines and professional investments was exciting. We are pleased the following scholars and practitioners are willing to elaborate on the stakes of this discussion in this forum.     

Ontogeny and Population: Developmental Stability and Population Variation

By definition, the ontogenetic and population organization levels are fundamentally different. Studies at these levels are traditionally independent. However, it becomes increasingly evident that special analysis of individuals in terms of ontogeny is necessary for correct estimation of populations and their spatiotemporal dynamics, as well as for understanding the mechanisms of population processes.     

US Energy Conservation and Efficiency: Benefits and Costs

With increased energy conservation plus the adoption of diverse energy efficient technologies, the US economy could save about 32 quads or about 33% of its current energy consumption, if sound conservation energy use policies were implemented over approximately 10 years. This potential of 32 quads is slightly greater than the current US oil imports. The systems that have the greatest potential to provide major energy savings are transportation, residential energy use, and the food system. Not only saving energy has merit in itself, but it would save US citizens approximately $438 billion per year, helping support the US economy, a high standard of living, and energy security. In addition, this analysis suggests that reducing the $40 billion in taxpayer money spent on subsidies of the energy industries would further increase conservation.     

Windscale and Kyshtym: a double anniversary

The autumn of 2007 has seen the fiftieth anniversary of two separate events that were of great importance both for the worldwide nuclear industry and for the science of radioecology. This short article marks this anniversary by briefly reviewing the causes, releases, impacts and legacies of both the Kyshtym accident of September 1957 and the Windscale accident of October 1957.     

Imagining Postscience: Heidegger and Development Communication

Modernization, the dominant contemporary model of development, has technoscientific rationality as its base. Alternatively, development can be understood as the ascent of individuals and communities toward their own conceptions of the good life. Such an understanding of development, it is argued, cannot be communicated under technoscientific assumptions. Instead, under the light of Heidegger's critique of technoscience and his philosophy of communication, a postscientific perspective is invoked for communicating development as good life, less violent to human communities and the environment, and less monolithic in design. Postscience evokes the multiplicity of ways in which we seek credibility for our projects in opposition to the monistic conception of truth and meaning in the technoscientific paradigm. Exploiting Heidegger's understanding of the world-disclosive power of language, development communication is understood as disclosing the genuine possibilities for the good life, concealed in a people's world, in an authentic act of engagement between the people and the communicator of development.     

Environmental radioactivity and thermoluminescence: A review

A close link exists between environmental radioactivity and thermoluminescence (TL) and this connection can be gainfully employed in (i) environmental radiation surveillance, (ii) radioactive prospecting and (iii) dating. The science of thermoluminescence dosimetry (TLD) is very well established for use in routine radiation monitoring. With the increased public awareness of health effects due to radioactivity releases from nuclear operations. TLDs have become indispensible ‘watchdogs’ in environmental surveillance; in high natural background areas such as the monazite regions, TLDs have yielded invaluable dosimetric data. Over large areas where the cosmic background can be assumed constant, the TLD-recorded radiation profiles can reflected the terrestrial gamma radioactivity distribution pattern and even seasonal variations in the radiation levels above ground may be delineated. A variety of natural materials like minerals, rocks, soils, sands, sediments, fossils, etc., as well as ancient artefacts like potteries and ceramic wares, yield TL even without any irradiation in the laboratory: the natural radioactivity in these materials, together with the radiation incident on them from the environment, causes a TL build-up during antiquity. It is possible to measure this natural TL and relate it to the natural radioactivity of the sample and hence to its age. In contrast, observations of a kind of anticorrelation between TL and a sample's radioactivity have also been made in recent times and the effect is mostly ascribable to alpha-radioactivity-induced damage effects.Typical results from recent investigations of the various aspects mentioned above are presented in this review, with particular emphasis on applications in India.     

Overview and definition of risk: Its assessment and management

Risk assessment includes both risk estimation (identifying hazards and estimating their outcomes and probabilities) and risk evaluation (determining the significance or value of risks to those concerned with or affected by the decision). Risk estimation is about situations, and risk evaluation about the effect on people. Few situations are absolutely safe. Risks need to be estimated, and for many kinds of risk (e.g., exposures to potentially toxic substances or to potentially catastrophic situations) an expert view has to be formed, which must take account of associated uncertainties. Different sections of the public perceive risk in different ways, and regard some risks more seriously than the expert estimates. Thus studies of risk perception form a further input into the decision-making process. Another input is the benefit of the activity. A regulatory framework consistent with the reality of risk estimation has been proposed. Since risks and benefits fall on different parts of the community, the decision process is essentially political, though it must be informed scientifically. How the decision is taken will depend on national governmental practices.     

Natural outdoor environments and mental and physical health: Relationships and mechanisms

BackgroundEvidence is growing for the beneficial impacts of natural outdoor environments on health. However, most of the evidence has focused on green spaces and little evidence is available on health benefits of blue spaces and about possible mediators and modifiers of such impacts. We investigated the association between natural outdoor environments (separately for green and blue spaces) and health (general and mental) and its possible mediators and modifiers.MethodsCross-sectional data from adults interviewed in Catalonia (Spain) between 2010 and 2012 as part of the Catalonia Health Survey were used. The collected data included sociodemographic characteristics, self-perceived general health, mental health, physical activity and social support. Indicators of surrounding greenness and access to natural outdoor environments within 300 m of the residence and degree of urbanization were derived for residential addresses. Associations were estimated using logistic regression and negative binominal models.ResultsGreen spaces were associated with better self-perceived general health and better mental health, independent of degree of urbanization. The associations were more consistent for surrounding greenness than for access to green spaces. The results were consistent for different buffers, and when stratifying for socioeconomic status. Slightly stronger associations were found for women and residents of non-densely populated areas. No association was found between green spaces and social contacts and physical activity. The results for blue spaces were not conclusive.ConclusionGreen spaces are associated with better general and mental health across strata of urbanization, socioeconomic status, and genders. Mechanisms other than physical activity or social support may explain these associations.