中美大气污染的空间交互影响--来自国家和城市层面PM2.5的经验证据

准确识别中美大气污染的空间交互影响可以为两国在大气污染治理领域开展双边合作提供科学依据。以PM 2.5浓度表征大气污染程度,采用收敛交叉映射(Convergent Cross Mapping,CCM)方法,在采集伯克利地球发布的小时数据的基础上通过算数平均得到2018年1月1日至2018年12月31日的PM 2.5浓度日均数据,从国家和城市两个层面识别了中美大气污染的空间交互影响。研究发现,中美两国的大气污染是空间交互影响的。其中,国家层面,在CCM因果检验基础上的广义同步检验表明,在1%显著性水平上,大气污染仅存在由美国指向中国的单向因果关系。城市层面,中美两国10个样本城市之间理论上共存在50个可能的因果关系(5×5×2)。研究发现,在1%显著性水平上,美国城市指向中国城市的因果关系有12个,而中国城市指向美国城市的因果关系仅有5个。在影响强度上,美国城市的大气污染对中国城市的影响强度高于中国城市的大气污染对美国城市的影响强度,如重庆的大气污染对华盛顿的影响强度为0.21,而华盛顿的大气污染对重庆的影响强度为0.35。面对大气污染的空间交互影响,中美两国可通过积极开展联合科研攻关,厘清大气污染的传输路径及其驱动因素,进行污染物的联合监测与数据管理;通过共享大气污染治理技术和建立大气污染防治基金等方式,加强在大气污染治理领域的合作。一旦中美两国成功建立起大气污染双边合作治理体系,依靠两国的国际地位和国际影响力,必将吸引越来越多的国家参与进来共同行动,大气污染全球治理体系的构建将非常值得期待。     

美国跨界大气环境监管经验对中国的借鉴

大气污染因其污染因子易受气候变化等影响,可进行长距离跨界传输,是典型的跨行政边界问题。我国地域辽阔,行政区域众多且与多个国家接壤或比邻,跨界污染问题研究十分必要。近年来,我国区域性大气污染问题明显,管理手段落后,缺乏相应管理体制和机制。美国在跨界大气环境管理方面取得了显著的成果,积累了丰富的经验,这对我国大气环境管理,尤其是跨界大气环境管理工作具有重要的借鉴意义。本文首先以美国大气跨界污染治理为例,结合具体实例,主要从机构设置、职能职责、运作方式三个方面详细分析了州内、州与州与之间以及跨国界三个层次跨界大气环境监管体系;其次,从上述几方面对我国与美国跨区域大气环境监管机制进行逐项比较分析;再次,对我国跨区域大气环境监管体系障碍分析认为,统分结合的环境管理体制和尚未建立区域联防联控机制是借鉴发达国家跨界大气环境监管经验的主要障碍;在此基础上,针对我国的跨区域大气环境管理工作提出5个方面的建议,即成立跨区域的权力机构;加强政府区域间协调合作;强化依法治理;多种管理手段综合应用;加强信息公开和公众参与。     

经济增长、国际贸易与污染排放的关系研究——基于美国和中国SO2排放的实证分析

在世界经济一体化进程中,国际贸易成为影响各国环境污染变化的重要因素,将其纳入经济增长与环境污染间关系的分析框架是环境学界关注的一个重要问题。本文基于联立方程模型,从经济产出、污染排放、污染治理和国际贸易等四个方面探讨了经济增长与污染排放的相互作用机理,并以美国、中国SO2排放为例进行了实证研究。结果表明:污染排放对经济产出有影响,且对美国和中国分别为正作用和负作用。经济增长增加了两国国内污染排放,且中国增加的相对更多。而污染治理均减少了国内污染排放,美、中的污染减排弹性系数分别为-0.277和-0.417。国际贸易对美国起到污染减排作用,对中国的影响不显著,考虑到贸易对中国经济增长的拉动作用,其经济规模间接污染效应不容忽视。对于中国而言,加大污染治理投资、改善贸易进出口状况、降低经济发展过程中的污染排放是实现经济与环境协调发展的有效途径。     

Existing oxidant/ozone standards in OECD countries

This paper describes the historical development and current legislation to control photochemical oxidant pollution in OECD countries. Policies for implementing, attaining, and maintaining ambient air quality standards or goals are discussed, problems associated with the various steps are highlighted, and the possibility of international policy guidelines which could control pollution across national frontiers is considered. To date, only a few countries have formulated ambient air quality standards for ozone/ oxidants; these standards are usually short-term averages over 1 h, ranging from 0.06 ppm (μL/L) in Japan to 0.12 ppm (μL/L) in the United States. The current interest in air quality management on an international scale leads to the conclusion that successful control of photochemical oxidant pollution would be best accomplished through the establishment of internationally acceptable standards or goals for oxidants/ozone based on health effects and other relevant environmental impacts, in combination with control strategies developed and implemented on an international level.     

Fertility and air pollution: Some empirical findings

This paper attempts to explain regional differences in fertility rates in the standard metropolitan statistical areas of the United States through socioeconomic factors and air pollution. An important feature of this study is that it uses the most recent data pertaining to a homogeneous sample of observations within a country rather than using data for different countries. Statistical results suggest that given other factors, fertility and the level of air pollution have an inverse relationship. This quantitative effect is statistically significant but the absolute impact is rather low. Our results also suggest that an increase in the level of income, relative education of females, temperature, and the availability of physicians would in the long run reduce fertility rates in the urban areas of the United States.     

欧洲有关国家关于执行欧盟废旧电子电气指令的措施

随着全球高科技工业的迅猛发展、人类消费水平的不断提高和消费结构的变化，电子废弃物快速增长，并造成日益严重的环境污染问题，因此引起了全球各国高度关注并制定了相关环境管理对策。2003年2月13日，欧盟公布了《废旧电子电气设备指令》（简称WEEE指令）和《限制某些有害物质在电子电气设备中使用指令》（简称ROHs指令）。欧盟各国实践表明，欧盟成员在欧盟指令公布之前已经制定了关于收集和适当处理电子电气废物的规定，这些规定基本上与欧盟新指令有着相同的内涵。因此，欧盟成员政府并不需要为了满足欧盟指令的新要求而对目前国内的电子电气处理体制做太大的修改，故可以预期欧盟各国执行欧盟关于废旧电子电气设备指令过程中将不会导致过多问题产生，并且执行成本相对较小。     

部分国家碳减排方案及其基本依据

二氧化碳是导致全球气候变暖最重要的温室气体．碳减排是缓解温室效应的一项重要措施．因而成为全球变化研究中的热点。在分析国际上主要利益集团中主要代表国家的碳减排方案的基础上．分析各个集团不同减排方案的基本依据。欧盟主张对灵活性机制的运用予以严格限制．强调发达国家应将主要精力放在本土的减排上．强烈反对允许以参与灵活机制来替代降低排放指标。伞形集团要求实施自由的排放权交易和灵活执行KP，主张对其应用不加任何限制．这是伞型国家的主要利益交合点。发展中国家共有的主要观点为：支持严格执行京都议定书．强调“共有但有区别的责任”的减排原则，认为发达国家应对温室气体排放负最大的责任并应率先减排。     

人类健康风险的定量评估与分析

通过深入研究．将人类健康风险解析环境污染、食物安全、疾病流行和医疗保障四个方面。在建立一套评价人类健康风险指标体系的基础上。对40个样本国家进行评估。用聚类分析的方法．将40个国家分为四类，在对每一类国家的人类健康风险特点进行对比发现，在同等经济发展水平下，中国的人类健康风险相对较高。通过分析人类健康风险与经济发展水平的关系得出,人均GNI 1000，3000美元是国家经济发展的关键时期。同样也是改善人类健康状况的关键时期，这一时期国家要高度重视改善人类健康状况。     

Quantitative Evaluation and Analysis on Human Health Risk

Health condition is related to the economic and social development of a country and the whole world. We concluded that the influencing factors of health risk include environment pollution, food security, disease threat and health care condition, and then an indicators system is put forward in the paper. Based on the foundation of the indicators system, 40 countries were chosen to evaluate the condition of human health risk. With the method of Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, 40 countries were divided into four groups, and we analyzed the characteristic of each group. Compared with other countries at the similar development level of economy, the human health risk of China is much higher. We analyzed the correlation between human health risk and the economy development level, and then we concluded that a country should attach importance to improving the condition of human health, when the GNI per capita is between $ 1000 and 3000 US dollars. The stage is vital for economy development, and also for the improvement of the human health condition. We found that countries with high human health risk are mostly in Africa and Asia. The developed countries should help the developing countries reduce the human health risk for a win-win situation of the development of the whole humanity.     

Social cost of environmental pollution and application of counter measures through clean development mechanism: in the context of developing countries

The developing countries i.e., the non-Annex-I countries (parties to the Kyoto Protocol but not responsible to any reduction target yet) in the Kyoto Protocol whose economies are in transition are also allowed to reduce GHG emissions. Among these, the countries that have accepted the Kyoto Protocol may be benefited from CDM projects to promote sustainable development. The developed countries i.e., the Annex-I countries (that have signed the Kyoto Protocol & are responsible to have specific GHG emission reduction target) or the investing countries, in return, have privilege to purchase CER credits (in units equivalent to one tonne of CO₂ gas emission reduction) to meet the emission target as specified in the Kyoto Protocol. The key step in understanding about CDM is to grasp the concept of “baseline” and “additionality”. The “Baseline” is the emissions level that would have existed if a CDM project had not happened. The feature of an approved CDM project is that the planned reductions would not occur without the additional incentive provided by emission reduction credits; this concept is known as “Additionality”. According to environmental additionality concept, baseline emission minus project emission is equal to emissions reduction. “Investment Additionality,” ultimately rejected during negotiation of the “Marrakech Accords” and “Financial Additionality,” are the two important concepts. The concept of trading of CER matches to the idea of Pigovian tax (equal to the negative externality and which is considered one of the “traditional” means of bringing a modicum of market forces) in Economics, making pollution more costly to the polluter, as the polluters have negative cost since they save money by polluting; hence, there are supposed negative externalities associated with the market activity. Economic theory predicts that in an economy where the cost of reaching mutual agreement between parties is high and where pollution is diffuse, Pigovian tax will be an efficient way to promote the public interest and will lead to an improvement of the quality of life measured by the Genuine Progress Indicator and other human economic indicators, as well as higher gross domestic product growth. We can seek a level of pollution such that the marginal savings (MS) to one polluting unit from pollution (−MC) is equal to marginal damage (MD) from pollution over the entire population, since pollution is a public bad i.e., MS (x*) = ∑MD_i (x*) where ∑D_i (x) is the total damage. Though the responsibility of reduction in emission does not lie on the non-Annex-I countries, still effort of maintaining global emission balance can be expected equally from developed and developing countries. The responsibilities of Kyoto Protocol are (a) to reduce global GHG emissions, (b) to bring about sustainable development in the developing countries lie on above two groups since its effect on February 16, 2005. Different polluters have different costs of pollution control. The least costly way of controlling pollution from various sources that reflects different costs of pollution control making the set of environmental regulations to achieve the emission target at the lowest cost makes the regulation cost-effective. Though efficiency is not attainable for many regulations, cost-effectiveness is attainable.     

Ozone concentration patterns observed during the 1976–1977 long-range transport study

The ozone distribution observed for April to September, 1976 and 1977, have been categorized and analyzed according to episodes. The major characteristics of the 40 ozone episodes are discussed. The major features are: (1) most episodes were associated with high pressure systems that enter the United States of America through Minnesota, (2) they normally have a duration which averages seven days for both years, (3) transported ozone from the midwest affected the northeastern United States and (4) the highest ozone concentrations were usually found in Connecticut. A particular episode, 9–19 May 1977, is examined in detail and shows the production of ozone in the midwestern United States under stagnant conditions and its eventual eastward transport. The first two days of the subsequent episode are shown to demonstrate the local accumulation of ozone in the northeast. The distribution of ozone throughout the entire eastern half of the country is also illustrated.     

Public disclosures: using information to reduce pollution in developing countries

The failure of formal regulation and market-based approaches to control pollution has highlighted the significance of informal regulation in the form of ‘public disclosure’ and ‘rating’ for achieving environmental goals in the nineties. In developing countries where pollution information is often scarce, disclosure can make a firm’s emissions more costly. This is because it increases penalties from regulators, local communities, consumer organizations and factor markets. Public or information disclosure combines conventional environmental monitoring, self-regulation and public pressure using environmental ratings to promote better environmental management. Thus, it forms an effective tool to control pollution in developing countries like India, China or Kenya and countries-in-transition like Poland, Russia, etc. The different examples given in the paper indicate that effective public disclosure requires a credible scheme with scrutiny at different checkpoints similar to the one used for PROPER in Indonesia or GRP in India.     

CO2 emissions in German, Swedish and Colombian manufacturing industries

This study evaluates and compares the trends in CO₂ emissions for the manufacturing industries of three countries: two developed countries (Germany and Sweden) that have applied several measures to promote a shift towards a low-carbon economy and one developing country (Colombia) that has shown substantial improvements in the reduction of CO₂ emissions. This analysis is conducted using panel data cointegration techniques to infer causality between CO₂ emissions, production factors and energy sources. The results indicate a trend of producing more output with less pollution. The trends for these countries’ CO₂ emissions depend on investment levels, energy sources and economic factors. Furthermore, the trends in CO₂ emissions indicate that there are emission level differences between the two developed countries and the developing country. Moreover, the study confirms that it is possible to achieve economic growth and sustainable development while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as Germany and Sweden demonstrate. In the case of Colombia, it is important to encourage a reduction in CO₂ emissions through policies that combine technical and economic instruments and incentivise the application of new technologies that promote clean and environmentally friendly processes.     

Using the WTO/TBT enquiry point to monitor tendencies in the regulation of environment, health, and safety issues affecting the chemical industry

The growing importance of technical regulation affecting the use and sale of chemical products is a topic of interest not only for the chemical industry, but also for governments, nongovernmental organizations, consumers, and interested communities. The results of such regulation on behalf of the environment, health and safety of individuals, as well as its economic effects on industrial activity, are well understood in the United States and recently in the European Union. In less developed countries, however, the general level of public understanding of these issues is still minimal. It is common knowledge that the so-called "regulatory asymmetry" between countries at different levels of development contributes to the establishment of technical barriers to trade. Such asymmetries, however, also have other impacts: the displacement of polluting industrial sectors to countries which have less demanding regulations, the concentration of unsafe and harmful environmental conditions in certain parts of the globe, and the competitive disadvantage for industries located in countries where control is more rigid. This study analyses information on a wide range of technical regulations issued by World Trade Organization (WTO) members, and focuses on those regulations that affect the chemical industry. This information is available through the WTO Enquiry Points, organizations created in each country to administrate the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement (TBT). This article consists of an analysis of 4,301 notifications of technical regulations by WTO member states in the 7-year period following the establishment of the WTO in 1995. Starting from this mass of information, 585 notifications that affect the circulation or use of chemical products were isolated. Of this group, 71% refer to only 15 countries. This group of notifications was further classified according to their motivation (the environment, health, safety), by the type of product affected (medications, fuels, hazardous products, etc.), by the type of country where it was established (developed, emerging or developing) and the existing conformity assessment mechanism (prohibition, licenses, certification, labeling, etc.). Beyond identifying tendencies in specific industrial sectors, the notifications studied here reach more than 100 chemical products, substances, preparations and other materials, which are subject to various levels of restrictions in different parts of the globe because of their composition or adverse reactions during their life cycles.     

The relationship between country and individual household wealth and climate change concern: the mediating role of control

The relationship between wealth and climate change concern has been a focus of several studies. In this article, we hypothesize that richer households (and countries) are less concerned about climate change because wealth provides a buffer against some of the related risks. This leads people in wealthier countries and households to perceive a greater sense of control over climate change impacts, which in turn results in lower levels of concern. We tested this hypothesis using a unique household survey encompassing 11 OECD countries and over 10,000 households and applying mixed multi-level regression models. Our results confirmed a statistically significant negative relationship between country and household wealth and individuals’ perceptions of the seriousness of climate change. This study contributes to current literature by showing that this relationship is mediated through sense of control, measured at the country level by the country’s readiness index and at the individual household level by the extent of adoption of energy efficiency improvements. These findings raise the question of how best to incentivize action on climate change amongst those with the ability—but not necessarily the motivation—to respond.

     

Sustainability indicators for clean development mechanism projects in Vietnam

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is one of the flexible instruments of the Kyoto Protocol designed to combat climate change so as to bring advantages to developing countries and developed countries alike. Indeed, CDM projects have a two-fold objective: to offset greenhouse gas emissions and to contribute to sustainable development in the host country. However in many cases, the latter objective appears to be marginalized. This is at least partly due to the difficulties surrounding the definition and the measurement of sustainability, in particular in a developing country context. To assess CDM projects’ contribution to sustainable development in the host country, scholars and practitioners need adapted indicator sets. A set of indicators were developed by way of an iterative Delphi approach amongst selected Vietnamese experts. The Delphi approach allowed a systematic collection of the experts’ judgements on the sustainability indicators through a set of sequentially applied questionnaires, interspersed with feedback from earlier responses. This exercise resulted in the selection of a set of 36 indicators, which emphasise economic efficiency, public health and pollution issues. The exercise yielded a locally supported and context-specific set of sustainability indicators that will allow Vietnamese decision-makers to enhance the sustainability of the approved CDM projects. In the future this set should be continually improved through real-life application and further participation from local stakeholders. This study is a first step in a long-term process towards developing an adapted toolkit for sustainability assessment of CDM projects in Vietnam.     

农业面源污染现状与防治进展

通过对国内外农业面源污染研究资料的分析,认为农业面源污染的形式主要有:化肥污染、农药污染、农膜污染、秸秆燃烧污染、养殖业污染及水土流失等。农业面源污染导致了土地退化,在全世界不同程度退化的12亿hm2耕地中,约12%由农业面源污染引起;是河流和湖泊的重要污染源,导致美国40%的河流和湖泊水质不合格;是引起地表水氮、磷富营养化的主要因素,欧洲国家由农业面源污染排放的磷为地表水污染总负荷的24%-71%;中国的农业面源污染造成的水体氮、磷富营养化也显著超过来自城市的生活点源污染和工业点源污染。提出目前比较好的防治措施有:最佳农田管理措施、植被过滤带和人工湿地。建议我国控制农业面源污染必须从政策和法律上对农业生产活动进行规范,采用先进的理论和技术实行源头控制,并辅助以过程控制和末端控制。     

Industrial pollution discharges from the West African region

Information on the type and quantity of industrial pollutants from major land-based sources entering the marine environment through direct coastal discharges or indirectly through rivers, as well as on the present status of industrial waste management (treatment and disposal) practices, are provided for the West African region. Most of the data utilized in this analysis were collected by six UNIDO experts who visited the eighteen countries of the West African region during the period of January through August 1980. Industrial operations were visited and information was collected from the various ministries involved with industrial development and environmental protection. Estimates of the mass of pollutants discharged to the ocean were based upon production rates used in conjunction with actual measurements made by the industries located in the countries visited; studies reported in the literature; and an extrapolation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Effluent Standards for various industrial sectors. The West African region was divided into five zones closely approximating the major currents of the Atlantic Ocean. The estimated pollution discharged by the industrial sector was calculated for each of the zones by adding the contribution from each country assigned to a zone.     

Population,development,and environment in India

High population growth and continued economic development have caused serious environmental damage in the Asia Pacific region.However,the recent experience is that the pace of environmental degradation is faster in developing countries than in developed countries.To this end,the study seeks to assess the impact of population pressure on India’s environment,with particular reference to the degradation of natural endowments like land and water resources and the resultant environmental pollution in the six regions of India.The rapid economic growth and expansion of infrastructure development in recent decades have not come without serious environmental consequences particularly in the southern,northern,and western regions.But in the eastern,north-eastern,and central regions of the country,environmental damage has been mainly due to rapid population growth.     

A review of regulatory decisions for environmental protection: part I - challenges in the implementation of national soil policies

Since many soil studies have already revealed the possible risks to human health and the environment arising from contaminated soils it is therefore crucial to preserve soil quality under current and future conditions. In the last three decades a number of countries already introduced national policies and practices for the management of contaminated sites, and in 2002, an EU Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection was proposed by the European Commission. In this paper we review and analyse several national contaminated land policy regimes already in place in order to assess common elements and to identify specific needs in the development of national soil policies. We propose a framework that combines the D-P-S-I-R structure of policy evaluation with the Source-Pathway-Receptor approach to health risk assessment to support the development of effective country specific regulatory decisions for managing contaminated land in countries where these are yet to be implemented. The framework proposed allows decision makers to effectively use available information and to identify existing data gaps. As a result it is apparent that while there are technical aspects of site characterisation, risk assessment and remediation processes that could be commonly implemented at an EU level there are certain trans-scientific aspects that require political choices and need to be customized by EU Member States.