苏锡常地区地下水资源开发利用与环境保护

分析了江苏省苏锡常地区地下水资源的开发利用现状,以及因地下水长期超量集中开采导致的资源破坏和生态环境问题,提出该区地下水资源合理开发利用和环境保护的对策。     

Resource extraction and recycling with environmental costs

Extraction and use of a natural resource is assumed to affect the environment adversely. A perfect substitute for the resource can be supplied through a recycling process. Recycling may also have harmful effects on the environment, but to a smaller extent than extraction. The optimal path of extraction and recycling is studied under various assumptions about the environmental effects of recycling and the assimilative capacity of the environment. In particular, it is shown how the cost of recycling will affect initial resource extraction as well as the environmental quality at the time of resource exhaustion and in the long-run stationary state.     

Proposed Definition of Environmental Damage Illustrated by the Cases of Genetically Modified Crops and Invasive Species

Abstract: The introduction of non‐native plant species and the release of genetically modified (GM) crops can induce environmental changes at gene to ecosystem levels. Regulatory frameworks such as the Convention on Biological Diversity or the EU Deliberate Release Directive aim to prevent environmental damage but do not define the term. Although ecologists and conservationists often refer to environmental effects of GM crops or invasive species as damage, most authors do not disclose their normative assumptions or explain why some environmental impacts are regarded as detrimental and others are not. Thus far, a concise definition of environmental damage is missing and is necessary for a transparent assessment of environmental effects or risks. Therefore, we suggest defining environmental damage as a significant adverse effect on a biotic or abiotic conservation resource (i.e., a biotic or abiotic natural resource that is protected by conservational or environmental legislation) that has an impact on the value of the conservation resource, the conservation resource as an ecosystem component, or the sustainable use of the conservation resource. This definition relies on three normative assumptions: only concrete effects on a conservation resource can be damages; only adverse effects that lead to a decrease in the value of the conservation resource can be damages; and only significant adverse effects constitute damage to a conservation resource. Applying this definition within the framework of environmental risk assessment requires further normative determinations, for example, selection of a threshold to distinguish between adverse and significant adverse effects and approaches for assessing the environmental value of conservation resources. Such determinations, however, are not part of the definition of environmental damage. Rather they are part of the definition's operationalization through assessment procedures, which must be grounded in a comprehensible definition of environmental damage.     

Central and individual air-conditioning systems — A comparison of environmental impacts and resource consumption in a life cycle perspective

This paper compares individual (split) and central systems of air-conditioning in a life cycle perspective, taking into account the environmental impacts and resource consumption during resource extraction, material production, production of the air-conditioning units, their use, disposal and recycling. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used in conducting this comparison.

Central systems have a longer lifetime than individual systems, lower electricity consumption and maintenance requirements during the use phase, and a higher recycling potential during the disposal phase. However, to transfer cool air, central systems use a large quantity of water pipes or air ducts, the production of which contributes significantly to resource use. The LCA study reveals that, on the whole, the central systems generally use less resources than split systems and result in lower environmental impacts.

The paper suggests a need for producers of air-conditioners to consider a change from being suppliers of air-conditioning hardware to being suppliers of cool air in order to overcome the initial cost constraints of central systems and realize their environmental and economic improvement potential to the benefit of the environment, and the industry as well as customers.     

Natural resources policy 1975–1985

Natural resources policy in the United States is a matter for deep concern. It is inconsistent, often outdated, and grossly overdependent on direct regulation vis-à-vis adjustments in the defective system of economic incentives. This policy also fails to recognize the tight web of interdependences among all resource problems, including those of environmental resources. This paper explores these interdependencies and develops a coherent program of natural resources policies. The chief elements are reduced reliance on direct regulation, increased reliance on economic incentives, measures to cancel unfavorable distributive effects, measures to improve the competitiveness and performance of the natural resource industries, and reorganization of both legislative and administrative branches of government.     

Using the paired comparison methodology to assess environmental values in the coastal zone of Ghana

Like many developing countries, Ghana is grappling with environmental issues, such as the degradation of coastal natural resources. In an attempt to ameliorate the current state of affairs, broad institutional arrangements and policy interventions have been put in place. However coastal natural resources are still being overexploited and the effects of this are felt more strongly by certain groups (such as women and the rural poor) than others. This has led to the argument pointing to an urgent need to include local resource users as active participants in environmental decision making and to incorporate their environmental values in the management of coastal natural resources. Using empirical data from women in two Ghanaian coastal communities, this paper highlights the importance of exploring how the environmental attitudes and values of women might be considered in the management of local coastal natural resources. It assesses effectiveness of the paired comparison methodology in this respects and how this method can be also used to prioritise their environmental concerns. The results show that in both areas respondents place the greatest importance on the coastal natural resources as sources of wealth creation and of food, values which are often described as being “anthropocentric”. The paper thus argues that having discovered that the ecological value placed on natural resources is low, initiatives that could win the support of people would be those that link the livelihood and wellbeing to coastal NRM. It emphasizes the fact that conservation cannot exist outside of people and social systems; nor will it succeed unless they are linked to the welfare of resource users.     

Biological Integrity and the Goal of Environmental Legislation: Lessons for Conservation Biology

Abstract: Passage of environmental legislation often creates a state of euphoria among supporters such that implementation programs are not rigorously evaluated Endangered species and water resource legislation are two examples of sound environmental legislation with major weaknesses in their implementation. Regulations to implement the US. Clean Water Act, for example, emphasize water quality (physical and chemical properties of water) by calling for uniform standards for contaminants rather than the broader goal of improving the quality of water resources. As a result, improvements in the quality of water resource quality have been limited despite massive expenditures. Natural resource agencies' narrow emphasis on harvested and threatened and endangered species has similar consequences. Unless a comprehensive and rigorous definition of the goals of biodiversity legislation is developed and adhered to by regulatory agencies, efforts to implement biodiversity legislation could lead to similar problems. Protection of biodiversity should be considered a subset of the need to protect the biological integrity of natural resource systems and the ecological health of the biosphere. Programs to protect biodiversity should reflect that more holistic goal and include provisions for evaluating success at attaining stated goals and for making midcourse adjustments in programs when resources are not being adequately protected.     

东太湖茭草资源生态评价及利用对策

根据1990年调查,对东太湖茭草资源现状及环境影响进行论述,揭示其生态失调、利用价值下降的趋势;从保护湖泊资源和水利功能的角度探讨开发治理的对策。     

Development and the environment in the next two decades

This paper considers the environmental problems which might face the state of Western Australia in the next two decades, against the background of a development scenario, current concern over the environment, and the Doomsday Syndrome which seems to be conditioning much of current thinking. Two important aspects of the State's future are considered: resource depletion and pollution. A positive view of the resource depletion problem is taken in that it is impossible to assess reserves of natural resources without considering the impact of science and technology upon resource development and discovering new resources. There is also considerable evidence of success in combating pollution within the present system.It is a difficult task, particularly for the layman, to decide just what to believe in the face of the great and growing volume of errors of fact which find their way into the media on environmental matters. The result of this seems to be that an adversary approach has been adopted in environmental stances, and development tends to be halted whilst debates are carried on.The current status of environmental science is reviewed and leads to the proposition that growth and environmental quality can be compatible if new philosophies of growth and resource management are developed based on conservation and progress. The major difficulties are not seen as the predictions of doom but Western society's growing incapacity for action and an unwillingness toassume control of its own destiny.Based on a paper presented to Prospect 2000-A Conference on the Future, Australia and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science, Perth, Western Australia, 14–18 May, 1979.     

Sustainable management of shellfish resources in Bandon Bay, Gulf of Thailand

Bandon Bay (Surat Thani Province) is one of the most productive coastal areas in southern Thailand. The Tapi River and 18 channels are the main sources of freshwater, nutrients, organic matter and sediment to the bay and the loading of freshwater and nutrients provide essential support for the production of phytoplankton in the estuarine ecosystem. Bandon Bay is important as natural spawning, nursery and feeding grounds for shellfish such as oysters, blood cockles, green mussels, short-necked clams, mud crabs and shrimps, and the estuary also serves as an excellent area for mariculturing of shellfish. In fact, oysters and blood cockles cultured in Bandon Bay are now being exported worldwide. However, Bandon Bay is also a textbook example of overexploitation of coastal resources in the tropics including all the derived changes in the estuarial ecosystem with severe socio-economic consequences. Hence, there is an urgent need for setting up an integrated management plant for a sustainable use of shellfish resources in Bandon Bay. The present study attempts to integrate water quality simulation results, socio-economic data and information on existing shellfish resource use in the process of proposing a set of sustainable management strategies for shellfish resources in Bandon Bay. These strategies involve: (1) using water quality modeling to monitor ecological and environmental changes in shellfish culture beds and their natural habitats in the process of setting up a master plan for management of waste water discharge into Bandon Bay; (2) zoning of shellfish mariculture in the coastal area in order to solve conflicts between resource users; (3) setting up a clear system for taxation of mariculture where the revenue may be used for (4) setting up and managing mangrove strips as filters of pollution and sediment around Bandon Bay; and finally (5) it is suggested to form a committee with members representing all relevant stakeholders plus the local government in order to work on resolving the existing and potential future conflicts over resource usage in Bandon Bay. This methodology may be seen as an important contribution towards a Bandon Bay sustainable management approach, based on the principles of integrated coastal zone management because it is science-based and takes into consideration the needs and perceptions of people involved in coastal resource extraction.     

Capitalizing property rights insecurity in natural resource assets

Property rights are commonly touted as a solution to common pool resource problems. In practice, however, the security of property rights over natural resources varies substantially; this may affect returns to ownership and asset values. We use an analytical model to examine the effects of insecure property rights to natural resources on the market value of assets. We then use a unique dataset of fisheries from three countries to examine empirically how differences in property rights affect market outcomes. We find significant asset market capitalization of insecurity arising from (1) ownership disputes, (2) illegal extraction from resource stocks, and (3) the possibility of government revocation of rights.     

Sequential development and exploitation of an exhaustible resource: do monopoly rights promote conservation?

This paper explores the problem of sequential exploitation of exhaustible resources by a monopolist, when a setup cost must be incurred to access the next pool. Under certain circumstances, the monopolist will always follow a more conservationist path of extraction and delay the introduction of new resource pools compared to a social planner. However, with other forms of consumer demand, the monopolist may exhaust the resource more quickly, especially if many new options will follow. These results may apply especially to depletable resources like antibiotics or biotech products, for which significant research and development costs are required, followed by monopoly rights conferred by patents.     

资源-环境双重约束下的区域生态效率的时序特征——以广西壮族自治区为例

为了探讨资源—环境双重约束下我国生态赤字地区资源环境绩效水平,利用生态脆弱指数和资源环境绩效指数（REPI）对地处珠江三角洲的广西资源环境绩效进行了系统分析和比较研究。结果表明：尽管资源环境绩效水平从2000年的72.4上升为2007年的116.1,但趋势并不明显,资源环境综合绩效水平在全国的第24—26位徘徊。综合绩效指数、SO2排放绩效指数、工业固体废弃物排放绩效指数和生物资源指数呈现＂N＂型变动,水污染指数下呈＂∧＂变动态势,大气污染指数呈现＂W＂型剧烈变动,生态承载力处于超载状态,生态脆弱性趋势没有明显改变。资源消耗和污染物排放的下降态势并不稳定。1995—2007年,广西区域环境水平呈下降趋势,区域环境水平和资源转化效率呈剧烈变动的下降趋势,抗逆水平和生态保护指数有所提高,土地资源指数呈现下降态势,排放强度指数下降明显,生态脆弱指数保持恒定,气候变异指数呈波浪状变动,环境治理指数呈剧烈变动。广西面临生态环境的整体不稳定性和对外力干预敏感性的双重压力。广西应发挥地处泛珠三角的地缘优势和辐射＂东盟＂的区位优势,加大结构调整和制度创新力度,缩短目前资源密集型的发展阶段,改善生态效率和承载力,提升广西在泛珠江三角洲地区的综合竞争力。     

On the extraction of an exhaustible resource by a monopoly

Hotelling's r-percent rule does not hold for monopoly extractors of durable exhaustible resources. An example with a nondurable resource in which the rule also fails to hold is presented. An economy with a fixed average propensity to save is modelled. The monopoly extractor recognizes that resource extraction, by affecting output and hence capital accumulation, affects future demand. The firm exploits this effect by causing the marginal profitability of extraction to grow faster or slower than the rate of interest, depending upon initial conditions. Conditions are developed under which the growth rate will be less than the interest rate.     

Exergetic assessment for ecological economic system: Chinese agriculture

Based on the thermodynamic concept of exergy as a unified measure for environmental resources and economic products, a framework for systems assessment is presented for ecological economies. With a typical systems diagram devised for a general ecological economy with four arm fluxes for free local natural resources, purchased economic investment, environmental impact and economic yield, system indices of the renewability index, exergy yield ratio, exergy investment ratio, environmental resource to yield ratio, system transformity and environmental stress index are defined for a congregated systems ecological assessment with essential implications to sustainability. As a detailed case study to the Chinese agriculture from 1980 to 2000 with cropping, forestry, stockbreeding and fishery sectors, extensive exergy account and systems assessment are carried out with emphasis on annual and structural variations against social political transitions. For the overall agriculture as a congregated ecological stage, the value of the system transformity is found around 10, the typical value for the general ecological hierarchy as well devised by Odum associated with Lindeman's Tenth Law.     

Optimal energy use in a polluted environment

Some of the basic issues involved in the optimal intertemporal use of energy resources when there are environmental spillovers are examined at a macroeconomic level and in a world of certainty. Several scenarios are considered with varying assumptions concerning the depletability of the energy resource stock and the nature of pollution production. In particular, with an accumulating form of pollution it is shown that initially the energy resource should be used more slowly to reduce environmental damage and over the plan the rate of use should be increased—a counter-Hotellian result.     

The optimal use of non-renewable resources: The theory of extraction

The traditional theory of exhaustion is revised to allow for long run capital mobility. This model is extended to include the impact of cumulative environmental damages on the optimal path of resource use. Models and optimal markets are then analyzed for cases where minerals are available over a continuum of quality and where recycling ameliorates inevitable exhaustion of non-renewable resources. Finally, the impact of technological change on long run trends in mineral prices is examined.     

The effects of direct and indirect constraints on biological communities

Human activities are expected to result in a diversity of directional or stochastic constraints that affect species either directly or by indirectly impacting their resources. However, there is no theoretical framework to predict the complex and various effects of these constraints on ecological communities. We developed a dynamic model that mimics the use of different resource types by a community of competing species. We investigated the effects of different environmental constraints (affecting either directly the growth rate of species or having indirect effects on their resources) on several biodiversity indicators. Our results indicate that (i) in realistic community models (assuming uneven resource requirements among species) the effects of perturbations are strongly buffered compared to neutral models; (ii) the species richness of communities can be maximized for intermediate levels of direct constraints (unimodal response), even in the absence of trade-off between competitive ability and tolerance to constraints; (iii) no such unimodal response occurs with indirect constraints; (iv) an increase in the environmental (e.g., climatic) variance may have different effects on community biomass and species richness.     

两种评价森林资源生态环境效益计量方法的比较

对评价森林资源生态环境效益的 2种方法进行了比较 ,阐述了这 2种方法的优缺点 ,通过案例分析可知 :森林资源环境效果评价法获得的评价值大 ,而意愿调查法的评价值小 ,并说明了导致这 2种方法评价值不同的原因。     

Control theory applied to natural and environmental resources an exposition

Four control theory models of natural and environmental resource use, drawn from the existing literature, are developed in a manner to emphasize their technical and decentralized interpretive similarity. Renewable, nonrenewable, and amenity resource use are treated as closely related problems of optimal (biological, earth material, ecological, or environmental) capital allocation over time. Thus nonrenewable resources, and the problem of exhaustion, are just limiting (zero growth) cases of renewable resources, and the problem of species extinction. Just as exhaustion can be optimal, extinction can be optimal. Waste recycling is treated as part of the problem of optimal regeneration of “sclean” environmental capital; wilderness use as a problem of managing the regeneration of ecological capital.