Post-disaster recovery dilemmas: challenges in balancing short-term and long-term needs for vulnerability reduction

Following disasters, governments often clamor to quickly reduce risk, rebuild communities and restore permanence. The pressure to urgently address complex, difficult decisions can result in reactive policies that may increase long-term vulnerability of affected populations. Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the 26 December 2004 tsunami represents such an example: a hastily designed coastal buffer zone policy has incited massive relocation of affected populations and resulted in social, economic and environmental problems that threaten the well-being of poor coastal communities. We review the impacts of this policy from its inception, days after the tsunami hit the island, until its revision, approximately 10 months following the disaster. We then apply a framework to conceptualize the components of vulnerability within Sri Lanka's coastal, human–environment system and to identify where post-disaster policies should focus to reduce vulnerability of coastal populations more effectively. From this analysis, it is apparent that the buffer zone policy gave disproportionate attention to reducing exposure to future tsunamis and, subsequently, did not address the critical social, economic and institutional factors that influenced sensitivity to the hazard. Post-disaster policies aimed at sustainable re-development should be informed by an analysis of the components of vulnerability that comprise a system and how these can be most effectively influenced during the separate short-term and long-term phases of rebuilding.     

Fitting together the building blocks for sustainability: a revised model for integrating ecological,social, and financial factors into business decision-making

Companies committed to integrating sustainability concerns into product decisions are confronted with the daunting task of assessing hundreds, or thousands, of materials and goods. Further complicating efforts have been the rapid growth of environmental and social assessment principles, strategies, actions, and tools. The lack of clarity on how existing approaches are complementary or distinct has resulted in ambiguities about pathways forward for companies. This current state of the field highlights the need to draw out interconnections between the wide range of current work on integrating environmental and social issues into material, product, and other business decisions.This article—developed through collaboration among several environmental, social, and sustainability-oriented researchers and practitioners—addresses this need through building upon pre-existing work [J. Cleaner Prod. 10(3) (2002) 197; J. Cleaner Prod. 8(3) (2000) 243]. It proposes adaptations on a framework for organizing the assessment field, including development of exemplary sustainable product characteristics and their inclusion in a “strategic sustainable development” decision-making model and process [J. Cleaner Prod. 10(3) (2002) 197]. The article also argues for an expansion of analytical approaches within this previously developed framework in order to highlight social aspects of sustainability and landscape-level issues. Finally, the article puts these elements together to describe a pathway forward for companies. In the conclusion, areas for future research are highlighted.     

Environmental impacts of building materials and building services components for commercial buildings in Hong Kong

The growing concerns over the environmental impacts of buildings have led to increasing demands for more environmental friendly buildings and building materials. Hitherto, there are not any comprehensive studies that show the overall environmental impact profiles of building materials and building services components for buildings. This paper intends to bridge this gap by reporting overall lifecycle environmental profiles of buildings as well as the ranking orders of environmental impacts of all the building materials and building services materials and components for commercial buildings. Twenty-five commercial buildings in Hong Kong, which include three Grade A office buildings, four Grade B office buildings, one Grade C office buildings, four retail centers and three hotels, have been selected for our study. Based upon these collected samples, no statistical differences were found in the average lifecycle environmental impacts for different building types despite some minor variations were detected. Subsequently, 10 types of building materials and 10 types of building services components have been identified for their significant lifecycle environmental impacts on commercial buildings. Among all, concrete, reinforcement bar, copper power cables, and copper busbars were ranked to be the four most significant materials or components to the total lifecycle environmental impacts. These should form the major targets for improvements in environmental performance of commercial buildings.     

Educating for sustainability: opportunities in undergraduate engineering

Awareness of the complex and interrelated environmental, economic and social problems in our world is increasing; the sustainability debate no longer focuses on whether changes are necessary but on what kind of changes are needed and how they can be carried out. Engineers are increasingly looked to for sustainable solutions yet find themselves less than adequately prepared to provide answers. Education is consistently identified as one of the key strategies for facilitating sustainable development; the required shift in the thinking, values and actions of individuals and institutions calls for efforts to make sustainability concerns a central theme of all education. This paper examines ways to better prepare engineers for the challenges of sustainable development and to increase the effectiveness of their solutions.     

利用废PS制备建筑保温材料

利用回收的聚苯乙烯泡沫塑料,选择合适的原料配比,可以制备成保温性能很好的建筑材料。     

Industrial ecology framework for achieving cleaner production in the mining and minerals industry

Industrial ecology (IE) is an emerging framework adopted in the manufacturing, construction, and process industries to provide innovative solutions in strategic planning, leading to cleaner operation and production. An IE framework integrates a large number of processes, economic constraints, and environmental, health and safety considerations for optimized resource utilization. This paper provides a review of environmental management practices in the mining and minerals industry, emphasizing two concepts: IE and cleaner production. The mining and minerals industry provides primary materials for industrial activities; as such, it is an important component in the “industrial ecosystem.” This industry is subject to very stringent social and environmental scrutiny, while providing society with required natural resources to meet essential sustainable development requirements. The implementation of an IE framework in the sector will contribute to sustainable development.     

中国环境影响评价制度存在问题及对策探讨

中国环境影响评价制度经过多年发展,已建立起较为完善的环境影响评价制度体系,但仍存在一些问题,主要表现在：公众参与制度可操作性不强,部门间缺乏有效的协调机制,可供选择方案缺失,违法成本过低,未批先建现象严重。在对这些主要问题展开分析的基础上,对完善环境影响评价制度的对策进行了探讨,提出了一系列完善措施,以便更好地处理经济发展与环境保护的关系,达到经济、社会和环境的全面协调可持续发展。     

Dynamic analysis and assessment for sustainable development

The assessment of sustainable development is crucial for constituting sustainable development strategies.Assessment methods that exist so far usually only use an indicator system for making sustainable judgement.These indicators rarely reflect dynamic characteristics.However,sustainable development is influenced by changes in the social-economic system and in the eco-environmental system at different times.Besides the spatial character,sustainable development has a temporal character that can not be neglected;therefore the research system should also be dynamic.This paper focuses on this dynamic trait,so that the assessment results obtained provide more information for judgements in decision-making processes.Firstly the dynamic characteristics of sustainable development are analyzed,which point to a track of sustainable development that is an upward undulating curve.According to the dynamic character and the development rules of a social,economic and ecological system,a flexible assessment approach that is based on tendency analysis,restrictive conditions and a feedback system is then proposed for sustainable development.     

浅析水泥行业中的清洁生产机会

清洁生产是企业可持续发展的必由之路,本文以某水泥企业为例,通过对其生产全过程进行分析,找出能够提高原材料、能源的利用率和产品质量,减少废弃物产生的技术、经济、环境可靠的清洁生产机会,通过方案的实施获得一定的经济效益、环境效益和社会效益,为今后水泥行业的清洁生产审核积累了经验。     

我国环保产业现状分析及发展措施建议

中国环保产业近几年以10%的速度迅速增长,从而成为我国国民经济新的增长点.大力发展环保产业对实现我国经济和社会发展战略目标,促进经济和社会可持续发展具有十分重要的意义.通过分析我国环保产业现状,指出我国环保产业现存的问题,提出了加快我国环保产业发展的一些建议.     

多晶硅光伏组件生产可持续性评价

分别采用了全生命周期评价软件、全生命周期成本法、社会性指数评价法,对我国多晶硅光伏组件生产阶段的环境影响、经济性和社会性影响进行了定量评估.结果表明:多晶硅生产、多晶硅电池片生产、电池组装3个阶段的环境影响相对较大,其中多晶硅生产阶段对气候变化的贡献率在50%以上.经济成本分析显示,原料和劳动力的成本占总成本的70%以上.多晶硅电池片生产阶段的成本在光伏组件生产过程的5个阶段中所占的比重最大.社会性影响分析结果显示,在光伏组件生产中,劳动岗位增加的贡献指数值为0.72,劳动力就业贡献较大,而生产能力提高的贡献指数值仅为0.18,显示生产能力提高的贡献较小.研究显示,为提高多晶硅光伏组件的可持续性,在生产过程中需寻找清洁能源、寻找环保替代材料以降低环境影响;积极鼓励支持企业进行技术研发创新,着力提高电池转换效率以降低生产成本;通过市场良性竞争提高多晶硅光伏行业的社会贡献.      

环境经济效率的R型因子分析

定量分析和评价各省区环境经济效率的状况,深刻认识环境质量和经济效率的关系,为区域经济可持续发展决策服务是主要解决的问题。并定义了环境经济效率的定义和评价指标体系,应用R型因子分析模型和SPSS软件,结合国家1999年的统计数据,进行了实证分析。结果表明,旋转的因子得分方法在指标聚类方面有优势,旋转的因子得分矩阵和权重阵的积决定的排序结果客观性较好。     

A monitoring study of nutrient cycles in soils used for shifting cultivation under various climatic conditions in tropical Asia. II. Nutrient stores in biomass and soil—results of baseline studies

Results of baseline studies of nutrient stores in vegetation, litter, roots and soils down to a depth of 0.75 m at sites in Sarawak (Malaysia) under wet equatorial conditions, Sri Lanka under semiarid conditions and Thailand under monsoonal conditions indicate important quantitative and qualitative differences in the macronutrients (Ca, Mg, K, N, P and S) of the various distinct nutrient reservoirs. Most are related to the independent variables (climatic conditions and parent materials) regulating soil fertility and biomass regeneration.The roles of litter, roots, topsoil and subsoil vary in importance. In Sarawak, fast biomass regeneration and large yearly litter accumulations influence recycling of nitrogen and phosphorus considerably. Topsoil and shallow rooting systems play important roles in this ecosystem, whereas in Sri Lanka, subsoil and deep rooting systems acting as sieves are important media for recycling.The relative importance of nutrient accumulation in vegetation components was found to correspond to the following sequence: trunks<branches/twigs<leaves. Although pathways in recycling differ quantitatively and qualitatively, in all systems the maintenance of tree vegetation and prevention of killing potentially valuable tree trunks during the cropping period in shifting cultivation is probably crucial for the prevention of critical initial nutritional losses from leaching. The accumulated analytical base will be the reference for subsequent monitoring studies.     

Methodology for the development of a new Sustainable Infrastructure Rating System for Developing Countries (SIRSDEC)

The improvement of infrastructures in developing countries has become a priority for the most advanced economies, which have founded a broad range of international development organizations to undertake infrastructure projects worldwide. Infrastructure is the key driver that can accelerate the balance among the economic, social and environmental aspects forming the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) in these countries. Given the lack of appropriate tools to ensure the achievement of this goal, this paper describes the methodology conceived for the development of a Sustainable Infrastructure Rating System (SIRSDEC) aimed at promoting the design, construction and operation of sustainable infrastructure projects in these geographical areas. SIRSDEC is structured into a hierarchical decision-making tree consisting of three levels of elements (requirements, criteria and indicators) selected to assess infrastructure systems according to sustainability principles. The methodology on which SIRSDEC is based combines the action of two multi-criteria decision-making methods (MCDM) such as the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Integrated Value Model for Sustainable Assessment (MIVES). AHP is proposed to weight the elements forming the decision-making tree after processing the opinions provided by a group of international experts regarding the importance of requirements, criteria and indicators, whilst MIVES is suggested to value infrastructure projects according to their contribution to the TBL. The article emphasizes the added value provided by the combination of AHP and MIVES in the design of an ad-hoc rating system aimed at fostering the implementation of sustainable infrastructure projects in developing countries.     

生物资源的多目标最佳可持续利用

在最优化控制理论的基础上,提出了生物资源的多目标最佳可持续利用的理论和方法。该理论在确定生物资源的收获量时,不但考虑到相应的经济效益和生物的种群恢复能力,同时也考虑了收获对环境和社会效益以及生物群落的影响。包括反映环境、生物、经济和社会效益在内的诸因素作为最优化的目标。为了保证理论上的最佳收获量能被应用到一个具体的生物系统,还提出了制定满意可持续收获策略的思想和方法。作为实例,本文讨论了关于凤眼莲的多目标最佳可持续利用和满意可持续收获策略。     

Evaluating the sustainability of diets–combining environmental and nutritional aspects

This study examined two methods for jointly considering the environmental impact and nutritional quality of diets, which is necessary when designing policy instruments promoting sustainable food systems. Both methods included energy content and 18 macro- and micronutrients in the diet, the climate impact, land use and biodiversity damage potential. In Method 1, the content of different nutrients in the diet was normalised based on recommended intake or upper levels for average daily intake and presented together with the environmental impacts, which were normalised according to estimated sustainable levels. In Method 2, the nutritional quality of different diets was considered by calculating their nutrient density score, and the environmental impact was then expressed per nutrient density score. Three diets were assessed; a diet corresponding to Nordic recommendations, the current average Swedish diet and a lifestyle Low Carbohydrate-High Fat (LCHF) diet. Method 1 clearly showed that the climate impact was far beyond the sustainable level for all diets, while land use was within the sustainability limit for the recommended diet, but not the other two. Comparisons based on nutrient density scores depended on the score used, but the current and LCHF diets had more impact than the recommended diet (less livestock products) for all but one score. Over- and under-consumption of nutrients were clearly shown by Method 1 but not possible to distinguish with Method 2, as normalisation was not possible, making it difficult to evaluate the absolute scale of the impacts when nutrient density scores were used. For quantitative information on the environmental and nutritional impacts of diets as support in decision-making processes, it is important that data presentation is transparent. There is limited value in reducing results to a low number of indicators that are easy to read, but difficult to interpret, e.g. nutrient density score. Method 1 allows combined assessment of diets regarding environmental impact and nutritional intake and could be useful in dietary planning and in development of dietary recommendations and other policy instruments to achieve more sustainable food systems.     

Life cycle cost (LCC) as a tool for improving sustainability in the Norwegian fishing fleet

Systems engineering principles in fisheries management may structure and improve the decision-making process. Sustainability in the fishing fleet is comprised of economic, environmental, and social dimensions. Even though the total system value may be constituted by economic factors and technical factors, non-market issues, such as environmental and social issues, have an increasingly important impact on the economic performance of a system or company. Life cycle cost (LCC) is related to the systems engineering process, because economic considerations are very important in the process of creating systems. LCC involves evaluation of all future costs related to the life cycle of a system. The main objective of this article is to discuss the usefulness of LCC as a method to enhance sustainable designs of fishing vessels for ship owners, and to improve the decision-bases for fisheries management.     

东北老工业区环境与经济可持续发展的研究

为保证我国东北老工业区的社会、经济、环境全面协调可持续发展,从东北老工业区的概况,社会、经济、环境问题的现状入手,对其社会系统、经济系统和环境系统在地区发展中面临的困境和主要问题进行了分析;立足于系统科学的角度,从社会、经济、环境3个系统方面,为东北老工业区提出了协调可持续发展的宏观建议。     

二氧化钛涂覆材料对甲苯的光催化降解作用

在自制的模拟小室中对二氧化钛涂覆材料的光催化性能进行了初步研究，在玻璃、瓷砖和日光灯这3种常见材料表面涂覆了二氧化钛，并以甲苯为模型化合物，测试了3种材料的净化性能。结果表明，3者对甲苯均有一定的降解效果，是有实用前景的光催化净化材料。     

面向循环经济的矿产资源开发利用模式

科学的发现与技术进步使一些矿物逐渐变成为人类所利用的资源。矿物的开发利用又为可持续发展的实现提供支持。论文面向循环经济,对经济发展的模式进行了探讨,分析了矿产资源开发利用的循环经济途径,针对矿业的特点,从企业、产业园区、区域3个层次确定了矿产资源的开发利用模式,提出了相应的产业政策。研究认为:①循环经济模式是矿业可持续发展的惟一途径;②矿产资源的开发利用在不同的层次应采取各自的发展模式;③煤炭是我国的主要能源,煤炭资源的循环经济模式可以提高资源的利用率和减少对环境造成的破坏与污染,促进国民经济可持续发展。