Conceptual development of a harmonised method for tracking change and evaluating policy in the agri-environment: The Agri-environmental Footprint Index

An aggregated farm-level index, the Agri-environmental Footprint Index (AFI), based on multiple criteria methods and representing a harmonised approach to evaluation of EU agri-environmental schemes is described. The Index uses a common framework for the design and evaluation of policy that can be customised to locally relevant agri-environmental issues and circumstances. Evaluation can be strictly policy-focused, or broader and more holistic in that context-relevant assessment criteria that are not necessarily considered in the evaluated policy can nevertheless be incorporated. The Index structure is flexible, and can respond to diverse local needs. The process of Index construction is interactive, engaging farmers and other relevant stakeholders in a transparent decision-making process that can ensure acceptance of the outcome, help to forge an improved understanding of local agri-environmental priorities and potentially increase awareness of the critical role of farmers in environmental management. The structure of the AFI facilitates post-evaluation analysis of relative performance in different dimensions of the agri-environment, permitting identification of current strengths and weaknesses, and enabling future improvement in policy design. Quantification of the environmental impact of agriculture beyond the stated aims of policy using an ‘unweighted’ form of the AFI has potential as the basis of an ongoing system of environmental audit within a specified agricultural context.     

Environmental education: new paradigms and engineering syllabus

The issue of sustainability places particular demands on engineers to become more ‘connoisseur’ of the roots of the problems, in addition to being ‘trained’ in problem solution techniques that emphasize holistic approaches (for both the social and ecological environment). We have introduced the new E3 model, as outlined here, to chemical engineering students, with an integrated approach to translate ‘generic’ common-sense pollution prevention strategies (design, operation) into definite problems where engineering science can be put into action. New tools (such as minimization hierarchy and life cycle), as well as abilities both to identify and evaluate environmental problems, and to propose, select and implement solutions, provide methods for understanding a problem and for mitigating it through (re)design of a product or process, by emphasizing basic approaches to analysis, synthesis and integration. Additionally, control technologies can be systematized, including the best available selection procedures on which the emission limits are based. Awareness, institutional factors and normative-ethical aspects are also considered.     

“煤改气”投资对宏观经济的拉动效应:基于北京市可计算一般均衡模型分析

“煤改气”是我国大气污染防治行动计划的政策措施之一,国内外目前对“煤改气”政策实施的环境效果研究较多,但对“煤改气”投资对宏观经济的拉动作用研究较少. 为综合评价“煤改气”政策的整体效果、探讨“煤改气”投资对宏观经济的拉动作用,以北京市为例,构建了北京市可计算一般均衡模型(MRDR-BJ),基于2017年北京市投入产出表,模拟不同情景下“煤改气”投资对宏观经济的拉动效应. 结果表明:随着“煤改气”投资的增加,北京市宏观经济增加值、温室气体排放量、就业量、家庭收入均增加;“煤改气”投资每增加20%,这些宏观指标分别增长0.05%、0.07%、0.07%和0.07%;“煤改气”投资对宏观经济的拉动系数为1.77. 研究显示,“煤改气”投资对宏观经济具有较大的拉动效应,建议全国各地尽快落实“煤改气”规划,以加快大气污染治理、促进生态环境建设,助力我国碳达峰、碳中和中长期目标的实现.      

Evidence,politics and power in public policy for the environment

Despite a recent emphasis on ‘evidence based policy’ accompanied by an abundance of ‘green’ policy instruments, experience from the European Union and OECD countries shows that decisions which truly aim to balance environmental considerations with social and economic ones remain thin on the ground. Moreover, many policies seem to fall short of, or directly contradict what the available ‘evidence’ suggests is required. This is a synthesis paper bringing together literature from the fields of political science, geography, sociology and science and technology studies to outline some of the obscurities relating to the use of scientific evidence in environmental decision-making. In this paper, we suggest that an exploration of three key inter-related issues is necessary to develop a richer understanding of why evidence and policy interact as they do. These are the nature of evidence itself; the normative, moral or ethical ‘politics’ of policy-making; and the operation of power in the policy process. Our primary goal is to bring various literatures together to better conceptualise the evidence–policy relationship. In so doing, we outline specific challenges for knowledge producers who set research priorities, and design and direct research projects. We also highlight significant implications for policy decision-making processes.     

The role of knowledge and research in facilitating social learning among stakeholders in natural resources management in the French Atlantic coastal wetlands

Environmental policy development increasingly refers to procedural approaches where local organisational structures are set up to initiate social interactions, to establish common working methods and to formulate collective agreements. In a context of complexity and uncertainty regarding environmental issues at stake, deliberations are mostly about managing interdependencies, i.e., building agreements and implementing changes so as to reconstruct the links between natural, technical and social phenomena. We see these deliberations as situations where social learning occurs; as an iterative process of knowledge co-production (i.e., of ‘knowing’) among stakeholders brought into interaction. Our research aims at better understanding these processes in the context of French Atlantic coastal wetlands where multi-stakeholder platforms for decision-making have become the dominant process for implementing natural resources management policies. Our studies focus on the challenge of managing the production and application of knowledge in social settings, in which scientists themselves come to play a role. They show how scientific knowledge can acquire heuristic value when used in the context of intervention research, as well as revealing some of the ethical dilemmas this may pose for the role of researcher.     

Fuzzy modelling to identify key drivers of ecological water quality to support decision and policy making

Water quality modelling is an effective tool to investigate, describe and predict the ecological state of an aquatic ecosystem. Various environmental variables may simultaneously affect water quality. Appropriate selection of a limited number of key-variables facilitates cost-effective management of water resources. This paper aims to determine (and analyse the effect of) the major environmental variables predicting ecological water quality through the application of fuzzy models. In this study, a fuzzy logic methodology, previously applied to predict species distributions, was extended to model environmental effects on a whole community. In a second step, the developed models were applied in a more general water management context to support decision and policy making. A hill-climbing optimisation algorithm was applied to relate ecological water quality and environmental variables to the community indicator. The optimal model was selected based on the predictive performance (Cohen’s Kappa), ecological relevance and model’s interpretability. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis was performed as an extra element to analyse and evaluate the optimal model. The optimal model included the variables land use, chlorophyll and flow velocity. The variable selection method and sensitivity analysis indicated that land use influences ecological water quality the most and that it affects the effect of other variables on water quality to a high extent. The model outcome can support spatial planning related to land use in river basins and policy making related to flows and water quality standards. Fuzzy models are transparent to a wide range of users and therefore may stimulate communication between modellers, river managers, policy makers and stakeholders.     

Nuclear power and post-2012 energy and climate change policies

At present there is no binding agreement (at a global level) to address the risk of anthropogenic climate change after 2012. Disagreements abound with respect to a post-2012 climate change agreement, on issues such as economic development, policy criteria, environmental effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, equity, dynamic flexibility, complementarity, enforceability and so on. One such disagreement is whether or not nuclear power should play a role in a post-2012 climate change agreement. This qualitative analysis explores the conditions under which nuclear power could contribute to addressing climate change in post-2012 architectures. It reveals that – given the right framework conditions – some architectures, like ‘cap and trade’ regimes or ‘policies and measures’ can improve the competitiveness of nuclear power plants, while others are unlikely to provide incentives for nuclear energy development in the short to medium term, such as adaptation and technology cooperation. Overall, the study concludes that post-2012 climate change policy should aim at providing policy flexibility without compromising technology flexibility. For example, the provision of long-term commitment periods has the potential to enable better investments in existing low-carbon technologies but stifle the policy flexibility that political decision makers are often keen to retain so that they can respond more quickly to new scientific evidence or advances in clean technology development.     

Anatomy of a buzzword: The emergence of ‘the water-energy-food nexus’ in UK natural resource debates

The existence of a water-energy-food ‘nexus’ has been gaining significant attention in international natural resource policy debates in recent years. We argue the term ‘nexus’ can be currently seen as a buzzword: a term whose power derives from a combination of ambiguous meaning and strong normative resonance. We explore the ways in which the nexus terminology is emerging and being mobilised by different stakeholders in natural resource debates in the UK context. We suggest that in the UK the mobilisation of the nexus terminology can best be understood as symptomatic of broader global science-policy trends, including an increasing emphasis on integration as an ideal; an emphasis on technical solutions to environmental problems; achievement of efficiency gains and ‘win-wins’; and a preference for technocratic forms of environmental managerialism. We identify and critique an ‘integrative imaginary’ underpinning much of the UK discourse around the concept of the nexus, and argue that attending to questions of power is a crucial but often underplayed aspect of proposed integration. We argue that while current efforts to institutionalise the language of the nexus as a conceptual framework for research in the UK may provide a welcome opportunity for new forms of transdisciplinary, they may risk turning nexus into a ‘matter of fact’ where it should remain a ‘matter of concern’. In this vein, we indicate the importance of critique to the development of nexus research.     

Knowledge brokerage designs and practices in four european climate services: A role model for biodiversity policies?

Environmental policies are broadly claimed to rely on sound scientific evidence because of the complexity, the uncertainty and the diverging political stakes that characterize issues like biodiversity decline or climate change. Classical advisory formats like assessments or standing advisory bodies have proliferated widely – especially at the global and national levels – yet exert only a limited influence on political decision-making, particularly in sub-national and local implementation contexts. Against this background, scholars have called for ‘bottom-up’ approaches to Science-policy interfaces that move from ‘problem to policy’. In the area of climate change, numerous ‘climate services’ have evolved at national, sub-national and even local levels, with the promise of being more decision-oriented. Four climate services in three European countries (the United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland) are investigated regarding whether and how they institutionalize and enact knowledge brokerage in a credible, salient and legitimate way. Focusing on the institutional and strategic design principles of this advisory setting in climate policy, insights are generated for the biodiversity policy field, where comparable settings are still broadly lacking.     

China''s environmental scientific research and technology development: review and envisage

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双重差分模型在政策环境评价中的应用研究—以农业支持保护补贴政策为例

政策环境评价是环境影响评价体系的重要组成部分,开展其方法研究对政策环境评价制度完善及实践开展至关重要。双重差分（DID）是计量领域用于政策效果评估的主流方法之一,以农业支持保护补贴政策为例,采用多期DID评估该政策对农业面源污染的影响,探究DID在政策环境评价中的适用性。结果表明,DID在政策环境评价中具有较好的适用性,可用于政策实施后的环境影响评价和政策实施前相关政策的回顾性评价。未来应加强政策环境评价的技术方法研究,形成统一完善的技术方法体系,以促进政策环境评价制度的构建与实践的开展。研究发现,政策设计上环境利好的农业支持保护补贴政策在研究区域对农业面源控制的正向影响并不显著,甚至刺激农户施用更多农药,产生了负面影响。

     

区域特色农产品绿色发展现状及对策——以临安市山核桃为例

本文以临安市山核桃主产区的发展为例,从山核桃生产、加工环节存在的环境问题,引起环境问题的原因分析,促进特色农产品绿色发展的对策等三个方面进行阐述,指出山核桃这一特色农产品的发展存在农业投入品滥用、生态系统脆弱、农业生产环境被污染等问题,提出通过调整农业补贴政策、确立农产品产地环境保护补偿制度等措施.     

生态补偿对区域发展的影响——以甘南黄河水源补给区为例

生态补偿给实施区带来许多影响,其有效性和持续性受到各种因素的挑战,全面评估生态补偿带来的影响是提高决策科学性的必要前提。基于多准则模糊分析模型,采用参与性农户评估方法对甘南牧民家庭进行调查,并根据分布区域将其分成纯牧区牧户、半牧区牧户和农区牧户,就实施生态补偿后对补给区内的经济、社会和环境变化造成的影响进行了分析。结果表明:①生态补偿的实施对区域发展的总体影响指数为3.39,影响程度较高,其中生态补偿对区域经济、社会发展和环境的影响指数分别为3.11、3.58和3.71;②受生态补偿的影响,研究区经济发展缓慢,其中对农户收入结构的变化影响最高,纯牧区和半牧区农户的人均收入和农畜产品商品率出现一定的下降;③受生态补偿的影响,牧民在环保意识和自身技能提高方面在三组间没有很大差异,纯牧区牧民具有更好的就业方式和维权意识,半牧区和农区牧民则对监督意识、参与意识、生活质量的提升具有更深感受;④生态补偿对环境改善的影响程度最高,影响指数为3.71,纯牧区牧民感受最为强烈,其次是半牧区和农区。     

Cleaner production in Danish fish processing – experiences,status and possible future strategies

Danish fish processing industry has been one of the pioneers regarding implementation of cleaner production and environmental management systems. This article describes the experiences with cleaner production (CP) among leading Danish industries producing pickled herring and canned mackerel. The article emphasizes two case studies of ‘first mover’ companies, but data from other ‘proactive’ companies are also included.The article provides an overview of different types of CP solutions, improvement potentials, synergistic effects and possible trade-offs. The development of the applied solutions from the late 1980s until today are analysed and recommendations to future strategies at company level and policy level are provided.It is concluded that significant environmental improvements have been obtained for the analysed companies – especially concerning reductions in water consumption, wastewater emissions, and utilisation of fish ‘waste’ for valuable by-products. Still, more focus could be placed on the reduction of energy consumption, change of packaging types, and environmental impacts in other stages of the products life cycle.Authorities and companies have mainly focused on on-site reductions of wastewater emissions, but life cycle assessments show that more attention should be given to the reductions of environmental impacts in other parts of the product chain, e.g. fishing operations and transport as well.     

A review on political factors influencing public support for urban environmental policy

Environmental quality is important to urban residents’ physical, social and psychological well-being. Governments have been formulating and implementing policies to mitigate environmental deterioration in cities. To effectively implement policies and achieve policy goals, gaining sufficient public support is an essential prerequisite; the policies would be in ruins and the government may also suffer from setbacks in other policy areas in the absence of public support. Therefore, to understand what contributes to public support is a crucial task for policymakers. Though current literature on socio-demographic and attitudinal/psychological factors provides fruitful accounts for policy support, a comprehensive examination of political determinants has yet to be established. In response to this, this review paper explores political factors that influence level of policy support based on existing literature. An integrated framework is proposed to explain policy support for urban environmental policy. This paper also discusses the possible directions of future research.     

Addressing the dynamics of agri-food systems: an emerging agenda for social science research

The ‘modernist’ project that has come to dominate food and agricultural policy has failed to provide sustainable outcomes for many poor people in developing countries. Conventional agricultural science is not able to explain let alone address these concerns because it is based on a static equilibrium-centred view that provides little insight into the dynamic character of agri-food systems. This paper analyses how prevailing narratives of technological change and economic growth have come to dominate key food and agriculture policy debates. It seeks to counter these orthodox notions by emphasising that agri-food systems are embedded in complex ecological, economic and social processes, and showing how their interactions are dynamic and vulnerable to short-term shocks and long-term stresses like climate change. The paper makes the case for a deeper understanding of diverse ‘rural worlds’ and their potential pathways to sustainability through agriculture. Moreover, it argues for a normative focus on poverty reduction and concern for the distributional consequences of dynamic changes in agri-food systems, rather than aggregates and averages. Finally, it sets out an interdisciplinary research agenda on agri-food systems that focuses on dynamic system interactions in complex, risk-prone environments and explores how pathways can become more resilient and robust in an era of growing risk and uncertainty.     

Sustainability assessment of a farm in the Chianti area (Italy)

In the study of agricultural systems, where land fertility and environmental conditions are primary factors, it is essential to consider both the efficiency and the environmental sustainability of processes. Emergy analysis, introduced by H.T. Odum [Science 242 (1988) 1132], is an approach developed at the interface between thermodynamics systems ecology. It was here used to obtain sustainability indicators and to assess the efficiency of a complex agricultural system, a farm in the Chianti area.The results for different crops were compared with Italian averages to obtain an idea of the long-term sustainability of this agricultural system. The cultivation of all the crops on the farm, except grapes, was more efficient and had less impact on the environment than the Italian standards. The Chianti grapes were compared not only with the Italian average but also with grapes of similar high quality, ‘Brunello di Montalcino’ and ‘Nobile di Montepulciano’, both grown in the same region. The production of grapes in the Chianti vineyard was more efficient and had an intermediate environmental impact, in the emergy sense, with respect to the other two systems.The proportion of emergy inputs to the farm that are local or renewable is quite high. Thus the emergy analysis demonstrated that the Chianti farm has a relatively good long-term sustainability considering both the whole system, and its individual crops.     

Exploring public perceptions of solutions to tree diseases in the UK: Implications for policy-makers

Tree diseases are on the increase in many countries and the implications of their appearance can be political, as well as ecological and economic. Preventative policy approaches to tree diseases are difficult to formulate because dispersal pathways for pest and pathogens are numerous, poorly known and likely to be beyond human management control. Genomic techniques could offer the quickest and most predictable approach to developing a disease tolerant native ash.The population of European Ash (Fraxinus Excelsior) has suffered major losses in the last decade, due to the onset of Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (previously called Chalara Fraxinea) commonly known in the UK as ash dieback. This study presents evidence on the public acceptability of tree-breed solutions to the spread of Chalara, with the main aim to provide science and policy with an up-stream ‘steer’ on the likely public acceptability of different tree breeding solutions. The findings showed that whilst there was a firm anti-GM and ‘we shouldn’t tamper with nature’ attitude among UK publics, there was an equally firm and perhaps slightly larger pragmatic attitude that GM (science and technology) should be used if there is a good reason to do so, for example if it can help protect trees from disease and help feed the world. The latter view was significantly stronger among younger age groups (Millennials), those living in urban areas and when the (GM)modified trees were destined for urban and plantation, rather than countryside settings. Overall, our findings suggest that the UK government could consider genomic solutions to tree breeding with more confidence in the future, as large and influential publics appear to be relaxed about the use of genomic techniques to increase tolerance of trees to disease.     

基于准自然实验的生态转移支付政策环境效应评价

生态转移支付政策的完善是深化生态补偿制度改革的重要组成部分. 为解决生态转移支付政策尚未充分改善环境质量这一现实问题,基于地方政府环境治理决策机理提出相应假设,选取山西省96个县域的环境和社会经济相关数据,运用倾向得分匹配-双重差分法评估生态转移支付政策的环境效应. 结果表明:生态转移支付政策的实施总体上在1%的显著性水平下改善了国家重点生态功能区所在县域的环境质量,但随着时间的推移,其环境效应逐渐变差. 生态转移支付资金规模的扩大进一步改善了环境质量,每增加1 000元生态转移支付资金,环境质量就得到2.285个百分点的改善,且生态转移支付政策的环境效应呈现出功能区类型、民族聚集程度的差异化特征. 进一步研究发现,贫困程度是导致不同地区生态转移支付政策环境效应存在差异的重要因素. 基于此,建议坚持实施生态转移支付政策,逐步扩大生态转移支付规模,强化生态转移支付资金分配的导向性和差异性,完善生态转移支付政策的市场化,多元化投入机制和完善补偿资金考核机制等,从多角度完善生态转移支付政策.      

Assessing the socioeconomic effects of multiple-use MPAs in a European setting: A national stakeholders’ perspective

The designation of marine protected areas (MPAs) may have intense social and economic effects on human communities. Driven by overarching global and European policies and national legislations, current systematic conservation planning in the UK and France requires an ecosystem approach that takes into account not only nature but also the human activities that take place in an area. Here, we identified a set of 64 socioeconomic variables potentially relevant for marine and coastal stakeholders in a European context and a comprehensive set of 20 marine and coastal stakeholder categories. Ninety national organisations in the UK and France belonging to those categories and potentially affected by/interested in the designation of multiple-use MPAs were identified and surveyed. Results show that environmental NGOs, research centres, local councils, managing agencies and statutory nature conservation bodies perceived that they are positively affected by these MPAs, whereas fishers’ organisations, shipping and aggregate industrial organisations and recreational organisations perceived to be chiefly negatively affected by MPAs. On average, the ecological effects of multiple-use MPAs are perceived as ‘largely positive’, though 30% of respondents did not perceive any positive ecological effects from these MPAs. The social, economic and cultural effects of such MPAs are perceived as ‘moderately positive’. Most respondents perceived broad range (>10 km) and permanent ecological, social, economic and cultural effects from multiple-use MPA designation suggesting high societal expectations towards these areas. However, only five variables were perceived to vary in intensity after the designation of multiple-use MPAs: ‘research’, ‘environmental performance by citizens, businesses and towns’, ‘number of green businesses’, ‘tourism’ and ‘economic activities’. The most important ‘social’ variables for stakeholder organisations referred to local populations’ engagement with the MPA, tourism and research. The most important ‘economic’ variables were linked to fishing, shipping and aquaculture activities. These variables highlight relevant topics to be considered in MPA planning, designation and management processes, especially in the UK and France. There were statistically significant differences in the ratings of socioeconomic variables between many organisations belonging to the same intuitive stakeholder categories, suggesting the importance of including as wide a range of stakeholder organisations as feasible in MPA socioeconomic-related processes. Our methods and findings can help to inform and streamline ongoing and future participatory MPA planning, management and monitoring processes in Europe and in other regions with similar socioeconomic characteristics.