Operational Indicators for Measuring Agricultural Sustainability in Developing Countries

This paper reviews relevant literature on the sustainability indicators theoretically proposed and practically applied by scholars over the past 15 years. Although progress is being made in the development and critical analysis of sustainability indicators, in many cases existing or proposed indicators are not the most sensitive or useful measures in developing countries. Indicator selection needs to meet the following criteria: relative availability of data representing the indicators, sensitivity to stresses on the system, existence of threshold values and guidelines, predictivity, integratability and known response to disturbances, anthropogenic stresses, and changes over time. Based on these criteria, this paper proposes a set of operational indicators for measuring agricultural sustainability in developing countries. These indicators include ecological indicators involving amounts of fertilizers and pesticides used, irrigation water used, soil nutrient content, depth to the groundwater table, water use efficiency, quality of groundwater for irrigation, and nitrate content of both groundwater and crops. Economic indicators include crop productivity, net farm income, benefit–cost ratio of production, and per capita food grain production. Social indicators encompass food self-sufficiency, equality in food and income distribution among farmers, access to resources and support services, and farmers knowledge and awareness of resource conservation. This article suggests that the selection of indicators representing each aspect of sustainability should be prioritized according to spatial and temporal characteristics under consideration.     

经济发达地区的生态农业发展战略--以江苏省江阴市为例

我国的经济发达地区普遍存在着人地关系紧张、环境质量恶化和农产品质量下降等问题,发展生态农业是缓解这些矛盾的重要途径。本文以江阴市为例,分析了经济发达地区农业发展中存在的主要制约因素,强调了区内发展生态农业的迫切性和优势条件,根据区域社会经济发展特点,指出该市应以为中心城市服务的都市生态农业为发展方向,借鉴发达国家生态农业建设的先进经验,将生态农业建设与农业现代化建设有机地结合起来,探索和推广适合本地特点的精准设施农业技术,达到节约水、肥资源,提高农产品产量和品质的目的。     

“Talking of citizenship … ” Exploring the contribution an intergenerational,participatory learning project can make to the promotion of active citizenship in sustainable communities

The value of participating in community projects for the creation of a sustainable community is widely recognised but there remains little research into the multiple dispositions, knowledge, and competencies necessary for building and maintaining such a community. This article examines a small intergenerational social learning project that brought together students from a local community college and members of the town community association to explore the concept of sustainability-focused citizenship. The project was founded on themes of active citizenship, social learning, and intergenerational interaction, and was jointly evaluated by the participants and the researcher. This article presents two key ways in which this community-based learning project contributed to the promotion of citizenship for a sustainable community – firstly, as effective preparation for citizenship for sustainability, through the development of knowledge, disposition, and competencies, and secondly, in the performance of citizenship during the course of the workshops, through the encounter with, and negotiation of, difference.     

Social learning from public engagement: dreaming the impossible?

Learning that transcends participation processes is critical if public engagement is to translate into a legacy of enhanced environmental citizenship. However, a lack of empirical evidence has limited discussion to date to largely ‘aspirational’ claims. This paper offers the first rigorous examination of whether public participation does generate beyond-process social learning. Initially we review the literature on public participation and environmental citizenship to identify the key dimensions of social learning. We then re-visit a well-worked case study of an innovative public engagement process on the Hampshire waste strategy from the 1990s. Approximately one third of the original participants have been interviewed to identify whether and how the experience had a lasting effect on them. Key methodological difficulties are discussed, not least the analytical difficulties of attributing learning to a process that happened ten years previously. However, we argue that there is evidence that both instrumental and communicative learning have taken place, and conclude by identifying key areas that require further research.     

Can home gardens scale up into movements for social change? The role of home gardens in providing food security and community change in San Jose,California

Urban policymakers and sustainable food activists have identified urban agriculture as an important strategy for confronting a host of urban problems, including food insecurity, health disparities, access to urban green space and community economic revitalisation. Much recent work on urban agriculture has examined community and school gardens, but little research has been undertaken on home gardens as a solution to urban problems. This article examines a home-gardening programme in San Jose, California, La Mesa Verde, asking whether some of the benefits found in community gardens can be found in home gardens. Specifically, we look at financial, health and community benefits, examining the potential of home gardens to become forces for broader social change. We ask whether gardens can become agents of cultural preservation, self-determination, particularly for recent immigrants who use these spaces to build identities and work towards collective action and self-determination.     

“The Lucky country”? A critical exploration of community gardens and city–community relations in Australian cities

Urban agriculture (UA) has the potential to expand beyond the grassroots level to meet the social, cultural, economic and food needs of urban dwellers. At its core, UA represents an alternative use of urban space that occurs with or without government support or approval. The experiences of community gardeners and their views of, and engagement in, community gardens as a form of UA, or local “alternative food networks”, is a focal point of this paper. Relying on Australian city case studies, this paper explores community gardens, using critical urban approaches concerning “rights to the city” and diverse economies. Findings from this study reveal how community gardeners understand and participate in diverse economies and extended local food networks. They also identify respondents’ views of local councils as barriers to the emergence of community gardens, and other forms of UA, as a local response to growing concerns over impacts of the global food chain on food security. In contrast to other Western cities, effective city–community relations for community garden growth have yet to emerge in Australian cities, as key policy areas for urban sustainability and social cohesion.     

生态文明建设中的企业责任

生态文明建设中的企业责任是企业社会责任的重要组成部分,是指企业力所能及地承担起环境保护、社会关爱、人与自然辩证统一的生态义务。近年来我国污染物排放增长态势基本得到遏制,但因行政体制与执法存在缺陷、企业自律性不足,污染治理形势依然严峻。通过借鉴美国、日本两国的先进经验,分别从政府、企业、公众层面提出完善生态环境保护法律法规体系,构建企业责任绩效评价指标体系,强化企业生态责任培训,树立公众新的责任感和消费观念等合理建议。     

Alaska’s Freshwater Resources: Issues Affecting Local and International Interests1

Alessa, Lilian, Mark Altaweel, Andrew Kliskey, Christopher Bone, William Schnabel, and Kalb Stevenson, 2011. Alaska’s Freshwater Resources: Issues Affecting Local and International Interests. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 47(1):143‐157. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2010.00498.x Abstract: The State of Alaska faces a broad range of freshwater challenges including limited resource access in rural communities, increasing freshwater use, and a pressing need to better understand and prepare for climate‐driven change. Despite these significant issues, Alaska is relatively water‐rich and far more equipped to address its water resource concerns compared with other regions of the world. Globally, simultaneous and rapid water stresses have influenced and complicated conflicts and are motivating nations to develop markets and trade as one of the primary means to manage their needs for this resource. This paper presents these interacting issues in the context of Alaska’s relationship with a world undergoing significant social and ecological changes that affect freshwater supplies. We present the challenges faced by Alaska in the context of a larger global perspective, and briefly explore the relative effects these issues have on local, regional, and global scales. We present the argument that Alaska needs to develop more robust institutions and policies that can alleviate both household concerns and ensure that Alaska plays a significant role in the international freshwater arena for its long‐term resilience.     

The network imaginary: coherence and creativity within a multiscalar collaborative effort to reform US fire management

In response to the ongoing crisis in fire management, the US Fire Learning Network (FLN) engages partners in collaborative, landscape-scale ecological fire restoration. The paper contends that the FLN employs technologies, planning guidelines and media to articulate an FLN imaginary that co-ordinates independent efforts to engage in ecological fire restoration work without need of either hierarchal authority or collective social capital. This imaginary may allow the FLN to draw on the creativity and adaptive innovation of collaboration to reform fire management institutions and fire-adapted ecosystems.     

北方城市园林绿化出现的问题及科学绿化措施

根据城市绿化的特点和植物的功能,指出了在园林绿化中一些错误认识和不科学的绿化方式,强调应树立科学绿化观,通过严格管理、科学种养,在节约能源、资金、资源的基础上,保证园林绿化的观赏效果、生态功能和社会效益。     

城市生态休闲绿地建设研究

城市生态休闲绿地不同于城市绿地,主要包括其中的城市公园绿地和其他绿地。结合市民平时主要在居住地附近散步、节假日喜欢到郊区游憩的休闲活动特点,把生态休闲绿地分为日常短时休闲绿地和节假日长时休闲绿地。在城市生态休闲绿地建设中,应重点建设日常短时休闲绿地,配套开发节假日长时休闲绿地,完善城市公共绿地的休闲设施,增强城市公共绿地的大众性,提高专有绿地的开放性。     

城市生态休闲带的开发与规划--以广州市帽峰山为例

界定了城市生态休闲带的概念,并简要描述了其基本特征与开发现状。在此基础上,分别从“突出生态,体现休闲,兼顾旅游,注重文化,科学开发和全面保护”等方面探讨了城市生态休闲带开发与规划的新思维。以广州市帽峰山为例,尝试提出了广州市北部生态休闲带的开发与规划模式。     

协调环境与发展的公共战略决策

以环境与发展综合决策机制为指导，社会经济环境可持续发展为目标，公众参与为行为准则，分析了目前公共战略决策制定过程中较少考虑环境影响的现状，提出了协调环境与发展的公共战略决策，探讨了体现环境与发展协调思想的公共战略决策的内涵和技术方法。