A perspective on radical transformations to sustainability: resistances,movements and alternatives

A transformation to sustainability calls for radical and systemic societal shifts. Yet what this entails in practice and who the agents of this radical transformation are require further elaboration. This article recenters the role of environmental justice movements in transformations, arguing that the systemic, multi-dimensional and intersectional approach inherent in EJ activism is uniquely placed to contribute to the realization of equitable sustainable futures. Based on a perspective of conflict as productive, and a “conflict transformation” approach that can address the root issues of ecological conflicts and promote the emergence of alternatives, we lay out a conceptual framework for understanding transformations through a power analysis that aims to confront and subvert hegemonic power relations; that is, multi-dimensional and intersectional; balancing ecological concerns with social, economic, cultural and democratic spheres; and is multi-scalar, and mindful of impacts across place and space. Such a framework can help analyze and recognize the contribution of grassroots EJ movements to societal transformations to sustainability and support and aid radical transformation processes. While transitions literature tends to focus on artifacts and technologies, we suggest that a resistance-centred perspective focuses on the creation of new subjectivities, power relations, values and institutions. This recenters the agency of those who are engaged in the creation and recuperation of ecological and new ways of being in the world in the needed transformation.     

Competing societal and ecological demands for groundwater: boundary judgments and convergence mechanisms in the Netherlands

Conflicts between human demands for clean water and terrestrial ecosystems’ needs for water are increasing. Such conflicts are stronger in the case of groundwater, as one of the cleanest forms of drinking water, and are expected to increase in frequency, in the context of population growth and climatic changes. This paper argues that behavioral approaches are essential not only toward understanding how socio-ecological conflicts emerge, but also how they could be overcome. A theoretical the framework is proposed, which suggests that the behaviors/actions of actors who sustain such conflicts can be understood by examining their ‘boundary judgments’ regarding natural resources and sustainability, in interaction with their powers/resources to implement the preferred behaviors. The concept of boundary judgements is rarely used in investigating sustainability conflicts. This concept is operationalized in relation to nature-society conflicts and applied empirically to illuminate the conflict in a case study from the Netherlands. Further, the theoretical framework suggests a parsimonious, yet comprehensive, typology of mechanisms that can be used to change/‘converge’ the behaviors and actions of the actors contributing to the problem, toward conflict closure. These are referred to as convergence mechanisms and can be persuasive, enabling or constraining. The paper concludes with reflections on the practical usefulness of the framework and concretes suggestions for further research, drawing on these convergence mechanisms and their interactions with boundary judgments on natural resources and sustainability.     

基于图模型的流域跨界水污染冲突研究

水资源短缺和水污染是我国面临的重要资源与环境问题。流域行政区划的分割使水污染可以由上游行政区向下游行政区进行转移,造成跨界水污染冲突。解决冲突的图模型是一种基于非合作博弈理论的冲突分析方法,该方法在策略层面对局中人行为进行分析,寻求冲突的均衡或者冲突解。最后,将解决冲突的图模型方法应用于太湖流域跨界水污染冲突,选取太湖流域跨界水污染冲突的两个实例进行研究。经分析,得到冲突潜在的均衡状态。结果表明,中央政府同时采取激励策略与控制策略、江苏省采取部分削减污染物排放策略和浙江省采取沟通协调策略是一种最稳定状态;且杭州和绍兴采取联合治污、两地排污企业服从管理不偷排污染物成为最终稳定状态。在实例研究之后,对图模型展开进一步的讨论。解决冲突的图模型方法对于流域跨界水污染冲突分析具有较好的效果     

自然观光地旅游者的风险感知变化及差异分析——以九寨沟自然风景区为例

旅游风险感知就是旅游者在其旅游行为前及过程中对可能发生的负面结果的感知,风险感知目前已成为旅游安全研究中的重要内容。通过构建旅游者风险感知量表,以九寨沟为案例地进行实证研究得出：（1）旅游者感知风险主要分为3个维度：功能障碍型、危机事件型及文化冲突型;（2）旅游者的总体风险感知较小,其中功能障碍型风险较大,其次为危机事件和文化冲突,并且地震等危机事件并未成为旅游者担心的主要风险;（3）不同旅游者的差异主要体现在“花费冤枉钱”、“迷路或与同伴走失”、“语言障碍”等方面,性别、地域、是否经历过灾害、是否买保险、是否带药品等因素对各类风险感知差异没有显著影响。旅游者风险感知研究为完善旅游安全理论提供了参考,并且对旅游地的风险管理提供了依据,具有指导和借鉴意义     

Armed conflict distribution in global drylands through the lens of a typology of socio-ecological vulnerability

Motivated by an inconclusive debate over implications of resource scarcity for violent conflict, and common reliance on national data and linear models, we investigate the relationship between socio-ecological vulnerability and armed conflict in global drylands on a subnational level. Our study emanates from a global typology of smallholder farmers’ vulnerability to environmental and socioeconomic stresses in drylands. This typology is composed of eight typical value combinations of variables indicating environmental scarcities, resource overuse, and poverty-related factors in a widely subnational spatial resolution. We investigate the relationships between the spatial distribution of these combinations, or vulnerability profiles, and geocoded armed conflicts, and find that conflicts are heterogeneously distributed according to these profiles. Four profiles distributed across low- and middle-income countries comprise all drylands conflicts. Comparing models for conflict incidence using logit regression and receiver operator characteristic analysis based on (1) the set of all seven indicators as independent variables and (2) a single, only vulnerability profile-based variable proves that the nonlinear typology-based variable is the better explanans for conflict incidence. Inspection of the profiles’ value combinations makes this understandable: A systematic explanation of conflict incidence and absence across all degrees of natural resource endowments is only reached through varying importance of poverty and resource overuse depending on the level of endowment. These are nonlinear interactions between the explaining variables. Conflict does not generally increase with resource scarcity or overuse. Comparison with conflict case studies showed both good agreement with our results and promise in expanding the set of indicators. Based on our findings and supporting literature, we argue that part of the debate over implications of resource scarcity for violent conflict in drylands may be resolved by acknowledging and accounting for nonlinear processes.     

Voice as Entry to Agriculturalists’ Conservationist Identity: A Cultural Inventory of the Yellowstone River

We explored the communicative construction of a conservationist identity among primary producers by excavating voices of agriculturalists operating along the Yellowstone River (Montana, USA). We used a cultural inventory approach to discover and then listen to informants’ voices as they constructed their conservation identity. Those who self-identified as conservationists talked about their ecological and social responsibilities, and described challenges they faced in protecting individual resources and system processes of the watershed. For these agriculturalists, conservation and production are inextricably linked, and enable them to provide a sustainable resource base for future generations. Insight from these voices enhances understanding of what sustainability could mean to those who self-identify as both conservationists and primary producers.     

基于用地倾向性评价的农村潜在土地利用冲突识别研究——以西峡县东坪村为例

精准识别农村潜在土地利用冲突是预先权衡和协调冲突用地,指导农村和谐发展的重要基础。以西峡县东坪村为例,综合考虑"发展建设—农业生产—生态维护"多重土地利用目标,进行建设用地、农业用地和生态用地的用地倾向性评价,建立倾向性比较矩阵识别潜在土地利用冲突区域,并根据识别成果提出相应的差别化管理建议。结果表明:东坪村有47%的土地存在明显潜在土地利用冲突的风险,包括冲突一般区和冲突激烈区,分别占土地总面积的20.61%和26.39%。冲突激烈区(J)中J1涉及面积最大,占土地总面积的18.84%,是接下来土地利用工作中亟需防治的重点问题。除此之外,用地优势区和冲突微弱区分别占土地总面积48.13%和4.87%。总体来看,东坪村内潜在土地利用冲突范围较大,程度较强,冲突形势较为严峻。     

基于F-H方法的冲突局势稳定性分析方法及其应用

冲突是一类普遍的社会现象，基于元对策的F H冲突分析方法已经在水资源冲突管理领域得到了广泛的应用。在深入分析F H方法原理的基础上，提出了一种考虑决策者对冲突问题预见能力的冲突局势稳定性分析方法，寻求冲突问题的均衡解。在局势稳定性分析过程中，当局中人基于个人预见水平不存在单方改进某可行局势的动机时，该局势对此局中人而言是稳定的。当全体局中人都认为某可行局势是稳定的，则此局势称为冲突问题的均衡点。最后，该方法被运用到湖北省宜昌市黄柏河流域水资源冲突问题中，模拟结果表明宜昌市水电局同时采取“激励合作”“强化管理”、东风渠灌区管理局“增加引水”、黄柏河流域管理局“追求效益”是最稳定的一种策略组合。提出的冲突局势稳定性分析为寻求冲突均衡提供了一种可行方法。     

What are distributed lag models of particulate matter air pollution estimating when there are populations of frail individuals?

The three-state (healthy, frail, and dead) population model is commonly used in time-series investigations of mortality displacement and particulate matter air pollution (PM). In this paper, the author proposes a new population model, called the mixture population model, that by allowing PM to have differential effects on individuals in the population, extends the population models currently used in investigations of mortality displacement. Using this new model, the properties of distributed lag models (DLM) of PM are investigated. In particular, the author derives a relationship between the parameters of the proposed population model and the estimates obtained from a DLM fitted to mortality arising from the model. This relationship provides insight into the interrelationships between the size of the frail population, the number of lags of PM included in a DLM and the proportion of the effect of PM on the healthy population that is estimable. The relationship will guide and contextualize future investigations by providing researchers with the knowledge to assess the consequences of the number of lags of PM included in a DLM in terms of what they can plausibly infer about the effect of PM on mortality based on this choice of lag.     

美国清洁能源的成本和效益

将从分析美国新能源战略的有效性和成本入手,梳理和评估美国政府的新能源方案,同时提出一些关于清洁能源的建议。选择了美国推广清洁能源行为作为对象来讨论,不仅因为美国是世界上最大的清洁能源和可再生能源的投资者,同时还强调美国在运行这一投资的时候并没有使用自由市场来推动,而是完全由政府买单和控制。具体要讨论的方案是：核清理;低收入家庭房屋保暖;先进的汽车电池（牵引）系统及组件;电动汽车补贴退税制度。通过对每个方案内容的阐述和成本、效益的分析,来评估这些方案是否是有价值的和值得继续的。最后的结论可以归纳为这些清洁能源实施项目非常低效,并且提出一系列的证据表明这些项目在没有政府巨额经费支持的情况下是无法继续的,同时表明在没有严格的项目完成日期、持续发生超过预算的额外支出的情况下,政府的支持计划很可能和初衷背道而驰     

水资源冲突分析研究进展

流域水资源配置冲突一般通过各方协商解决,“冲突分析”是一种解决这类问题的决策方法。该方法考虑冲突局中人的策略与偏好,根据局中人的实力、态度和目标排列偏好的优先顺序,通过分析局中人的可达局势与可行移动集来判断冲突局势的稳定性,寻求冲突的均衡解。回顾了冲突分析方法从标准的博弈分析发展到F H分析方法的演进历程,阐述了冲突分析数学模型的基本概念与要素,论述了冲突分析方法的发展、应用和模型化的进程,概括了国内冲突分析方法的研究现状。鉴于F H方法具有协商水资源冲突问题、协调各方利益的决策功能,提出继续完善其现状分析功能,强化局中人的理性意识,运用“冲突-协同”观点分析冲突事件。〖     

Sustainability indicators of water sharing compacts

There is an increasing crisis of fresh water availability throughout the world. Sharing the available water resources in a sustainable manner among numerous stakeholders in the backdrop of this crisis is more challenging. Very often water conflicts are triggered out in this challenging scenario. These conflicts are sometimes reconciled with compacts on sharing. Water sharing compacts on both surface and aquifer resources are very common. Whether these compacts are founded on postulates of sustainability is the important question we want to investigate. Conflicts resurface when the sustainability of a compact is at stake. In this paper, we are reviewing three compacts on surface water sharing to understand their sustainability perspectives and how it has helped addressing conflicts. An introduction to various legal instruments promulgated aiming water conflict abatement is given first. Different types of water sharing agreements being signed in the current water management practice are also looked into. Theoretical background of sustainability analysis, both quantitative and qualitative, applicable in the case of water sharing models is then discussed. This is followed by specific case study analysis of three interstate water sharing agreements executed in basins of different agro-climatic regions across the world. It includes the Colorado basin (USA), Murray Darling basin (Australia) and the Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP) basins (India). Interstate water sharing agreement of these basins is critically examined and compared to comment on its sustainability perspective. The Murray Darling basin and its compact appear to be better in its overall considerations of sustainability. Compared to Colorado and Murray Darling, PAP requires major revisions in its sustainability context. E flows and stochastic modeling are the thrust areas of PAP that require major revision.     

从环境-社会系统的角度看"建设和谐社会"

环境-社会系统的三元结构是指人、社会和自然三元。可持续发展取决于对这三元运动机制的协调。从环境-社会系统的视角看。可持续发展是指通过三种生产的和谐运行与环境—社会系统的稳定演进．获得“经济-社会-环境”整体的高效益。人类社会发展的两大基本矛盾是资源生产的矛盾和资源配置的矛盾．因此。建设和谐社会的关键在于：在争取“人-社会-自然”和谐演进的前提下。处理好人与社会、人与自然、自然与社会以及自然的、社会的方方面面的“关系”。     

Scientific understanding of stakeholders’ behavior in mining community

We attempt to understand, scientifically, how different members of the mining concession, impacted communities, and government authorities behave when a conflicting situation arises. The main purpose of our effort is to start developing a framework for the scientific modeling of stakeholders’ behavior, and we create a reality-driven generic scenario of conflict. We assume that the managers and superintendants of a mining operation currently envision a problem; one that tests the limits of the commitment of the company’s mission statement, and of the spectrum of actions taken which are embedded in the “culture” of the company’s corporate social responsibility. It is an “event” that highlights the nature of an overall problem that the company would like to predict and act proactively: the integration of scientific tools, sustainability, and cultural realities within a mining framework. We adapt an agent-based modeling approach and start with a theoretical understanding of certain social behavior, build a model, and simulate “what if” scenarios to understand its dynamics to gain a better insight of the complexity of a seemingly simple social system of interest.     

Climate and conflicts: the security risks of global warming

Since the publication of the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007, the securitization of global warming has reached a new level. Numerous public statements and a growing research literature have discussed the potential security risks and conflicts associated with climate change. This article provides an overview of this debate and introduces an assessment framework of climate stress, human security and societal impacts. Key fields of conflict will be addressed, including water stress, land use and food security, natural disasters and environmental migration. A few regional hot spots of climate security will be discussed, such as land-use conflicts in Northern Africa; floods, sea-level rise and human security in Southern Asia; glacier melting and water insecurity in Central Asia and Latin America; water conflicts in the Middle East; climate security in the Mediterranean; and the potential impact on rich countries. Finally, concepts and strategies will be considered to minimize the security risks and move from conflict to cooperation in climate policy.     

Goshute Native American Tribe and Nuclear Waste: Complexities and Contradictions of a Bounded-Constitutive Relationship

This essay examines discourse from members of the Skull Valley Goshute Native American tribe about the nuclear-waste proposal and tribal controversy. Building from Kinsella's “bounded-constitutive” theoretical model of communication, I argue the environment (material) is more than a context where Goshute culture and policy development (symbolic) plays out. Rather, environment, culture, and policy mutually define each other, and the material environment constrains Goshute culture. Instead of the symbolic unilaterally influencing the material, the material responds and acts to influence the symbolic. The symbolic becomes responsible to the material and vice versa as the relationship is multi-influential and interactive creating political, cultural, and environmental complexities and contradictions while fueling intra-tribal conflict.     

区域管治中的博弈效应

区域管治是在经济全球化背景下，通过多种利益集团的对话、协调、合作，解决区域内经济社会冲突，增强区域效力，其核心内容是协调和化解区域发展中的各种利益冲突。本文通过引入博弈论分析方法到区域发展研究领域，构造出地方政府-中央政府政策博弈模型、地方政府-土方政府竞合博弈模型、政府-企业-公众冲突模型来分析和描述区域管涌中各利益集团之间的博弈关系和过程，分析这些决策过程中各博弈方相互制约，相互作用的规律和疚，并针对不同的利益博弈类型，提出优化协调方案，为下一步更好地协调各方利益、实施区域管涌、推动区域一体化发展奠定理论基础，也为我国在划定主体功能区后制定差别化的区域管涌政策提供参考。     

Multiobjective optimisation method for life-cycle design of mechanical products

Manufacturing that minimises the exhaustion of natural resources, energy used and deleterious environmental impact is increasingly demanded by societies that seek to protect global environments as much as possible. To achieve this, life-cycle design (LCD) is an essential component of product design scenarios; however, LCD approaches have not been well integrated in optimal design methods that support quantitative decision-making. This study presents a method that yields quantitative solutions through optimisation analysis of a basic product design incorporating life-cycle considerations. We consider two types of optimisation approaches that have different aims, namely, (1) to reduce the use of raw materials and energy consumption and (2) to facilitate the reuse of the product or its parts when it reaches the end of its useful life. We also focus on how the optimisation results differ according to the approach used, from the viewpoint of the 3R concept (Reduce, Reuse and Recycling). Our method obtains optimum solutions by evaluating objectives fitted to each of these two optimisation approaches with respect to the product's life-cycle stages, which are manufacturing, use, maintenance, disposal, reuse and recycling. As an applied example, a simple linear robot model is presented, and Pareto optimum solutions are obtained for the multiobjective optimisation problem whose evaluated objectives are the operating accuracy of the robot and the different life-cycle costs for the two approaches. The characteristics of the evaluated objectives and design variables, as well as the effects of using material characteristics as design parameters, are also examined.     

Linking perceived land and water resources degradation,scarcity and livelihood conflicts in southwestern Tanzania: implications for sustainable rural livelihood

In Africa, the land and water resources quality are key factors for sustainable development. The degradation of the quality of these resources leads to scarcities and conflicts, which together threaten the sustainability of rural livelihoods. This work investigated and analysed the livelihoods conflicts over the land and water resources and their scarcities, policies that contributed to the land and water scarcities and the livelihood conflicts and linkage of the conflicts to the resources scarcities and degradation. Implications of degradation of the resources, development policies and livelihoods conflicts on sustainable development are discussed. Literature study, visits and discussions, participatory assessments, observations and questionnaire survey were used tools to collect data. Interviews of the 266 households revealed that, those experiencing the land and water scarcities and conflicts over these resources are significantly (p < 0.001) higher than those not experiencing the scarcities and conflicts. Crop-livestock competition, over the land and water resources causes prominent conflicts. A significant, (p < 0.05) associations of livelihoods conflicts to water shortage and period of water shortage for crop and livestock production were found. Improved accessibility to soil and water management technologies, wildlife–livestock co-existence, recognition of needs and land rights for pastoralists are recommended to minimize scarcities and herders versus farmers’ conflicts.