Reconciling the supply of and demand for carbon cycle science in the U.S. agricultural sector

When asking the question, “How can institutions design science policies for the benefit of decision makers?” Sarewitz and Pielke [Sarewitz, D., Pielke Jr., R.A., this issue. The neglected heart of science policy: reconciling supply of and demand for science. Environ. Sci. Policy 10] posit the idea of “reconciling supply and demand of science” as a conceptual tool for assessment of science programs. We apply the concept to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) carbon cycle science program. By evaluating the information needs of decision makers, or the “demand”, along with the supply of information by the USDA, we can ascertain where matches between supply and demand exist, and where science policies might miss opportunities. We report the results of contextual mapping and of interviews with scientists at the USDA to evaluate the production and use of current agricultural global change research, which has the stated goal of providing “optimal benefit” to decision makers on all levels. We conclude that the USDA possesses formal and informal mechanisms by which scientists evaluate the needs of users, ranging from individual producers to Congress and the President. National-level demands for carbon cycle science evolve as national and international policies are explored. Current carbon cycle science is largely derived from those discussions and thus anticipates the information needs of producers. However, without firm agricultural carbon policies, such information is currently unimportant to producers.     

The Norwegian Red List between science and policy

This article explores how science and policy interact using the Norwegian Red List 2006 as a case example. The paper draws on concepts from the sociology of science, interviews with key informants, as well as analysis of a Norwegian newspaper debate about a controversial conservation issue.The paper highlights how the relationship between science and policy can best be described as an interaction rather than simply a transmission of knowledge from one to the other. In addition, the study focuses on the active construction and communication of the science–policy relationship. Regulators, scientists and NGOs, it is argued, strategically define the relationship between science and policy as more straightforward than it really is.The paper suggests that the shaping, simplification and communication of scientific knowledge is best understood as a social process that occurs in three stages, which may overlap to varying degrees. The shaping of scientific knowledge for policy occurs first within the scientific domain. The shaping, we suggest, is the result of both the broader institutional context and a more specific micro-level social context, but it is also the outcome of requirements inherent in the genre of science communication. In the second stage, regulators and actors in the public debate redefine and simplify scientific knowledge to make it better suited to the policy arena. In the final stage, scientists, regulators and NGOs actively seek to define science as objectively true, and independent of the policy arena. By doing so, they are able to strengthen their arguments, regardless of their position on particular issues. But they also contribute to shrouding the social nature of scientific production.     

The science and politics of co-benefits in climate policy

The co-benefits concept implies a ‘win–win’ strategy to address two or more goals with a single policy measure. There is much scholarly and policy attention paid to this concept as a way to avoid making trade-offs between developmental and environmental issues. However, there is no review paper that reviews the nature, evolution, strengths and limits of the co-benefits concept in relation to climate change. Hence, this review article addresses the question: What does the literature tell us about the definition, application and use of the co-benefits concept? Using a literature review approach, this article explains the evolution of the co-benefits concept and its strengths and weaknesses. We conclude that while the concept has tremendous advocacy potential in dealing with the problem that the costs and benefits of climate policy are temporally and spatially not aligned, its de facto potential is limited as mostly economists have engaged with this concept, and there is little trans-disciplinary work undertaken that also looks at the politics and institutional aspects of co-benefits. The article thus provides an impetus to rethink current approaches to studying co-benefits and points to the need for inter- and trans-disciplinary research drawing on economic, political and social sciences.     

Public ecology: an environmental science and policy for global society

Public ecology exists at the interface of science and policy. Public ecology is an approach to environmental inquiry and decision making that does not expect scientific knowledge to be perfect or complete. Rather, public ecology requires that science be produced in collaboration with a wide variety of stakeholders in order to construct a body of knowledge that will reflect the pluralist and pragmatic context of its use (decision context), while continuing to maintain the rigor and accountability that earns scientific knowledge its privileged status in contemporary society. As such, public ecology entails both process and content. The process is that of a post-modern scientific method: a process that values the participation of extended peer communities composed of a diversity of research specialists, professional policy-makers, concerned citizens and a variety of other stakeholders. The content of public ecology is a biocultural knowledge of dynamic human ecosystems that directly relates to and results from the participatory, democratic processes that distinguish public ecology as a citizen science. The primary goal of public ecology is to build common ground among competing beliefs and values for the environment. The purpose of this paper is to help unify and establish public ecology as a distinctive approach to environmental science and policy in global society.     

Citizen science for policy development: The case of koala management in South Australia

Citizen science involves the engagement of non-scientists in scientific research. Citizen science projects have been reported to be useful in policy development but there is little detail of how projects have contributed. The citizen science project, the Great Koala Count (GKC) collected ecological data about koalas and social data that have been used in the initial stages of the development of a South Australian Government koala management and conservation policy. After the GKC, we conducted an online survey of people who participated in the project and a control group. The survey focussed on opinions towards possible management options for koalas in South Australia. GKC participants were also asked about project-related changes in knowledge and opinions. We received 970 valid surveys and found some differences in opinions between GKC participants and the control group. Therefore, the GKC did not provide a representative sample of the entire South Australian population. However, we contend that the data from the citizen scientists are still valuable for policy development as it has been provided by people who are highly engaged in the topic (koala management in this case). It can be difficult to engage the public in the policy development process, and the citizen science project enabled the collection of a wide range of opinions, helping to discover and define relevant issues. Additionally, many people learnt about koalas and koala-related management issues, and some changed their opinions regarding koala management, also useful outcomes from the project in the policy development context. Our findings suggest that citizen science is useful for policy makers because projects provide the opportunity for dialogue with the people most interested in the topic of the project.     

短缺资源类型与供需趋势分析

短缺资源是指在一定时空范围和一定技术经济条件下,因需求量大于供给量而产生明显缺口的资源。按照短缺资源的分类,中国战略性短缺资源主要有石油、耕地和淡水,三者对国家安全和社会经济发展具有全局性和长远性影响。中国非战略性短缺资源主要有森林、富铁矿、铬铁矿、铜矿和钾盐等。随着经济的发展,人口的继续增长,从本世纪初到本世纪中叶,上述各种短缺资源的短缺数量增加,短缺程度趋于加剧。解决中国短缺资源的供需矛盾,需要从多种途径综合考虑:①多元化利用国外资源,弥补国内资源短缺;②建立战略资源储备体系,应付突发危机;③节约、替代和综合利用降低资源消耗;④强化资源保护,提高资源再生能力;⑤依靠科技进步,寻求解决短缺资源的新途径。     

Panarchy and community resilience: Sustainability science and policy implications

How does the resilience concept of nested relationships (panarchy) contribute to sustainability science and policy? Resilience at a particular level of organization, the community level in our case, is influenced by internal processes at that level. But it is also impacted by actions at lower levels of organization (individuals, households), and by drivers of change originating at higher levels (national level policies, globalized market forces). We focus on community level social-ecological systems, looking upwards and downwards from there. Our objective is to explore the connections of the community to other levels, the ways in which community resilience is impacted, and the implications of this for sustainability. Conventional disciplines specialize at different levels, a barrier to investigating multi-level interactions. Use of the panarchy concept helps contribute to the interdisciplinary understanding of resilience at the community (and other levels) by drawing attention to cross-scale relationships. From the effect of individual leadership to the implication of pandemics that move swiftly across levels, examples illustrate a diversity of ways in which community resilience is shaped in a multi-level world.     

Pure science or policy involvement? Ambiguous boundary-work for Swedish carbon cycle science

In theory, the interaction between the worlds of environmental science and policy may seem straightforward. From a realm outside politics and power, scientists provide relevant knowledge about nature upon which informed policy decisions could be based. However, in reality this linear model tends to be replaced by a much more complex relationship where the distinction between facts and values, knowledge and interests is less clear cut. In this paper, I explore links between science, policy and power through an interview study conducted with Swedish carbon cycle scientists and government negotiators to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Drawing on a co-production model of science–policy interplay this paper addresses the implications of a mutually constitutive relationship between carbon cycle science and climate policy.     

Towards science in support of decision making: characterizing the supply of carbon cycle science

As concern about climate change grows, so does interest in deliberately managing the carbon cycle to reduce atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide. Given the scientific and technical nature of knowledge of the carbon cycle, one would expect that carbon science would be directly of use to society in considering this objective. However, carbon science is not currently organized or conducted in such a way that it can be usable to the wide diversity of decision makers who might potentially be involved in managing the carbon cycle. This paper reviews the science policies and actors governing the production or “supply” of carbon cycle science, and suggests alternatives for enabling the supply to better meet demand.     

Salmon policy: science,society, restoration,and reality

Salmon policy in the Pacific Northwest illustrates a class of contentious, socially wrenching issues that are becoming increasingly common in the western United States as demands increase for limited ecological resources. Many Pacific salmon “stocks” (a term used in fisheries management for a group of interbreeding individuals that is roughly equivalent to “population”) have declined and some have been extirpated. The salmon “problem” is one of the most vexing public policy challenges in natural resource management. Even with complete scientific knowledge — and scientific knowledge is far from complete or certain — it would be a challenging policy problem. The salmon decline issue is often defined simplistically as a watershed management problem, in part because changes in watersheds are highly visible and often occur on public or corporate lands where individuals and organizations often have direct input to decision making. Yet, changes in climate and ocean conditions, for example, occur frequently and such changes have a major influence on salmon abundance. The scientific challenges are great, but the more difficult — and critical — aspect of the debate concerns policies and decisions affecting everyone, including those involved in rural enterprises (especially farming and logging); manufacturing and construction; electricity generation (including hydro, fossil fuel, and nuclear); national defense; urban development; transportation (including road, rail, air, and water). The debate also involves competing personal rights and freedoms; the prerogatives and roles of local, state, and federal government and Indian tribes; policies on human population level, reproduction, emigration, and immigration; and the future of fishing (commercial, recreational, and Indian). The salmon policy conundrum is characterized by: (1) nearly everyone claims to support maintaining wild salmon runs; (2) many competing societal priorities exist, many of which are partially or wholly mutually exclusive; (3) the region’s rapidly growing human population creates increasing pressures on all natural resources (including salmon and their habitats); (4) policy stances in the salmon debate are solidly entrenched; (5) society expects salmon experts to help solve the salmon problem; (6) each of the many sides of the political debate over the future of salmon use salmon experts and scientific “facts” to bolster its argument; (7) it has proved to be nearly impossible for salmon scientists to avoid being categorized as supporting a particular policy position; and (8) many advocates of policy positions couch their positions in scientific terms rather than value-based preferences. Although far from indisputable, I conclude that over the next century and allowing for considerable year-to-year and decade-to-decade variation, many, perhaps most, stocks of wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest likely will remain at their current low levels or continue to decline in spite of costly protection and restoration efforts.     

日本企业供应链碳管理——政策与实践

随着地球气候变暖的加剧,在全球范围内对温室气体(GreenHouseGas,GHG)的减排约束体制也得到了不断的强化。把碳减排和企业的供应链联系在一起,从原材料、制造到运输、废弃物处理等环节上来看,供应链上的企业协同碳减排要比单个企业碳减排更有效率。     

Community knowledge in environmental health science: co-producing policy expertise

As lay publics demand a greater role in the environmental and health decision-making that impacts their lives, policy makers are being forced to find new ways of understanding and incorporating the expertise of professionals with the contextual intelligence that community residents possess. This paper highlights how co-producing science policy, where technical issues are not divorced from their social setting and a plurality of participants engage in everything from problem setting to decision-making, can contribute to more scientifically legitimate and publicly accountable decisions. Through a detailed case study utilizing participant observation, ethnographic field work, semi-structured interviews, and reviews of original documents, this paper highlights how residents in a low income, Latino immigrant neighborhood in New York City organized their knowledge to participate in and significantly alter a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency exposure assessment. This paper reveals both the contributions and limits of local knowledge in environmental health governance and how the co-production framework can contribute to more technically credible science and democratically accountable policy.     

城市水资源供需系统优化分析

运用系统动力学的方法,研究了城市水资源供需系统的优化分析。系统中主要包括了人口、工业生产、水资源供应和污染等4个状态变量,其中总可供水量是系统的控制变量;得出水价和水污染整治投资比例是两个关键因素,系统运行结果表明,只有二者相互协调,共同发挥作用,才能保证城市水资源的可持续利用,缺一不可。论文以长春市为例,分析了城市水资源供需系统的动态变化,并提出了解决水资源短缺以及水体污染的控制方案。     

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.     

干旱区旅游业用水供需适配性评价模型及应用——以中国新疆为例

干旱区旅游业在促进区域社会经济发展的同时,也加剧了地区的水资源供需矛盾。针对中国干旱区水资源禀赋及旅游产业的特点,提出干旱区旅游业用水供需适配性评价模型。按照旅游业产值对地区生产总值贡献率、旅游业从业人员占地区就业人员比例、地区水资源禀赋约束等指标,构建综合测算干旱区旅游业用水供给量测算模型;从旅游“食、住、行、游、娱、购”全要素视角,建立由餐饮水足迹、住宿水足迹、能源水足迹、游览水足迹、购物水足迹等账户组成的旅游业用水需求量测算模型;针对“供给”与“需求”水量的数量关系,利用组合分析方法,构建旅游业用水供需适配性程度指数评价模型,并设定评价阈值,测算干旱区旅游业用水供给与需求适配性程度的评价等级。实证分析了新疆2025年旅游业用水供需适配性程度,得出结论：为使旅游业用水维持在“供需基本平衡”或“供需平衡”的状态,新疆旅游业规模最高发展速度应在15%以内,同时新疆政府必须保持社会用水量年均节水率在0.95%及以上;而如某年发生突发性事件,则其之后年份的旅游业规模发展速度可放宽至20%。     

黄河流域县域尺度生态系统服务供给和需求核算及时空变异

在核算黄河流域生态系统服务供给、需求及供需均衡度的基础上,分析国土空间格局演变与供需均衡度时空变化的共变趋势,采用相关分析和分位数回归方法测度各类国土空间对均衡度的影响及区域异质性。结果表明：（1）黄河流域国土空间格局及生态系统服务供需时空差异明显。下游和中上游沿河县域生活生产用地密集分布且2000—2015年增幅明显,生态系统服务供给增加与耕地和林地的分布一致,需求增加与人口密度和建设用地分布一致。（2）均衡度的时空变异受到国土空间格局演变的影响。不同均衡度水平下国土空间对均衡度的影响程度不同,且区域差异显著。（3）根据对均衡度产生影响的国土空间不同,不同区域应合理布局用地和发展政策以促进生态系统有效管理。