Of parks and politics: the production of socio-nature in a Gujarati town

Urban parks in India are often discussed as positive environmental projects, and their creation appears as unproblematic in public discourse. This paper presents the creation of a municipal park in a small city in Gujarat, India. Using insights from history and architecture, we stress the importance of reading parks as political and to some extent ideological projects in the larger context of city-making. The political ecology and history of the particular park studied here allow us to problematise the socio-ecological project of urban “beautification” via park creation. The municipal park, established in the centre of a small urban agglomeration after displacing a slum settlement from the site, is – as we argue – an integral part of a local geography of power. As such it expresses several registers of values upheld by local elites and brings into focus highly conflictive social relations. The case study contributes to further developing a situated urban political ecological approach that starts theorising cities from the South. It moreover offers a critical perspective on the understudied urban nature of small towns.     

The contribution of computer‐based information systems to partnership between public agencies and voluntary environmental groups

This paper considers the contribution of computing to the implementation of a policy of partnership between public environmental agencies and local voluntary groups. The present policy commitment to partnerships of this kind is reviewed. Particular information needs arise when public agencies seek to give co‐ordinated support to the environmental action undertaken by local groups. These stem from the disaggregated nature of the structure and functions of the voluntary sector. Computer‐based information systems are identified as a bridge between the regional organisation of public agencies and the local activities of voluntary groups. A computer system devised to aid the forward planning of public support for voluntary action is described. It is considered that this technique has value as part of a wider strategy of interaction between the public and voluntary sectors.     

Emergent publics and affects in environmental governance

Drawing on the wide social scientific literature on emotions and affects, we highlight the value and potential contribution of the affect theory for understanding public engagement in environmental policy and planning. We suggest that such theorization complements political ontologies that envision concerned publics to arise as citizens are attached to objects and other beings in their everyday life. Focus on emotions and affects enables in-depth exploration of the corporeality of these attachments, increasing understanding about how affected publics get driven for action and how new sensibilities and horizons for action are created. Based on the discussion of affect theory and case examples, we argue that emotions and affects should be treated as crucial carriers of knowledge about transformation of political subjects and their concerns. They also direct analytic gaze beyond public participation procedures and encourage the development of novel, more inclusive settings for public engagement.     

Using Canonical Correlation Analysis to Identify Environmental Attitude Groups: Considerations for National Forest Planning in the Southwestern U.S.

As public land management agencies pursue region-specific resource management plans, with meaningful consideration of public attitudes and values, there is a need to characterize the complex mix of environmental attitudes in a diverse population. The contribution of this investigation is to make use of a unique household, mail/internet survey data set collected in 2007 in the Southwestern United States (Region 3 of the U.S. Forest Service). With over 5,800 survey responses to a set of 25 Public Land Value statements, canonical correlation analysis is able to identify 7 statistically distinct environmental attitudinal groups. We also examine the effect of expected changes in regional demographics on overall environmental attitudes, which may help guide in the development of socially acceptable long-term forest management policies. Results show significant support for conservationist management policies and passive environmental values, as well as a greater role for stakeholder groups in generating consensus for current and future forest management policies.     

It's Good to Talk! Environmental Information and the Greening of Industry

This paper focuses on one aspect of industry's contribution to safeguarding the environment: the use and production of environmental information. Access to such information is an important part of the government strategy for promoting shared responsibility for the environment. The objective of the paper is to assess how far public regulation, private regulation and self regulation provide an incentive to industry to use and produce environmental information.     

The misleading of public participation in environmental assessment – exploring four infrastructure cases in Denmark

The article analyses the recent development of public participation in environmental assessment and indicates some unfortunate and unintended results. A number of Danish cases show how the tools involved are employed for a kind of ‘acceptance planning’, instead of actual environmental protection, and that the legitimacy which public inclusion was supposed to bring to environmental assessment has instead been replaced by considerations of legality, which frees entrepreneurs and authorities from including real environmental considerations in their planning. Thus, the undesirable handling of public participation that the article analyses is not only due to the actual difficulties of practising inclusion and the indisputable complexity of the environmental issues but also to a very large extent due to considerations of economic efficiency and an unwillingness among investors – public as well as private – to take account of environmental consequences as a long-term issue. The article ends with a range of recommendations for securing public inclusion in matters of environmental assessment through independent public initiatives or institutions that do not answer to authorities and entrepreneurs.     

海洋油气开发工程环评中公众参与探讨

根据我国环境影响评价公众参与现状和海洋油气开发工程公众参与实践,对海洋油气开发工程环评中公众参与进行初步探讨。目前海洋油气开发工程公众参与存在的问题主要有:相关公众界定较难、公众主要是在环评机构主导下的被动参与、信息不对称使公众难以正确表达意见、相关公众中个人的环境素养和法制意识不高。根据存在的问题,建议通过以下方法提高海洋油气开发工程环评公众参与水平:研究制定海洋工程公众参与技术方法规范;掌握好公众参与时机,尽早启动,调动公众主动参与;科学确定公众范围,选择好公众参与对象;结合实际选择公众参与方式。     

The ethics of Google Earth: crossing thresholds from spatial data to landscape visualisation

‘Virtual globe’ software systems such as Google Earth are growing rapidly in popularity as a way to visualise and share 3D environmental data. Scientists and environmental professionals, many of whom are new to 3D modeling and visual communications, are beginning routinely to use such techniques in their work. While the appeal of these techniques is evident, with unprecedented opportunities for public access to data and collaborative engagement over the web, are there nonetheless risks in their widespread usage when applied in areas of the public interest such as planning and policy-making?     

控制环境与健康风险:美国环境标准制度功能借鉴

传统观念下,环境与健康分属两个不同领域,美国作为最早遭遇环境与健康问题的国家,经过多年努力,形成了建立以保障公共健康为核心的环境标准体系和环境与健康风险评估框架,实现了对环境与健康风险的有效控制。美国对环境污染物的界定主要取决于其对公共健康的影响,将污染物分为普遍及对公共健康危害较大的污染物、一些污染范围较小或对公共健康危害较小的污染物两类,且采取不同的标准制定方法。在标准制定方面,主要是将有关科学共识转化为可执行的环境标准。为了避免环境标准的不确定性带来的不利影响,建立了包括科学论证、公开透明、周期性审查等较为严格的环境标准制定程序。美国赋予环境标准制度以控制环境与健康风险的功能,并通过建立以保障公共健康为核心的环境标准体系,实现对环境与健康风险有效控制的执法路径,对解决中国目前存在的环境标准价值缺失、体系割裂、内容缺失等问题,实现环境标准的功能再造具有较强的借鉴意义。     

An analysis of the effect of public policy on community garden organisations in Edinburgh

Several community gardens have been developed in Edinburgh over the past five years, which reflects renewed interest in “grow your own” projects, and the recognition of the associated environmental and social health benefits they provide. Community gardens have been included in a range of policy documents at national and local levels, acknowledging their contribution to sustainable food systems, health and well-being and environment and biodiversity. This research explores how public policy influences community garden practice and, reflexively, how organisations running community gardens in the third sector are represented in public policy frameworks. A mixed methodology of desk-based research of policy documents, associated reports and academic literature; and informal interviews with community gardens staff and organisers was utilised. It was found that while community gardens are represented in policy, at a national level the framing of community gardens and related food growing projects as “alternative” hinders their full potential. Community gardens fulfil a wide range of policy goals, particularly in the health, social capital and well-being sectors which can minimise their capacity to contribute to local food production in a substantial way. It is proposed that community gardens could be normalised by promoting gardens in visible locations in neighbourhoods and within local plans; and through reflexive strategic and community action utilising a reasoning backwards approach to planning and funding.     

Herd no More: Livestock Husbandry Policies and the Environment in Israel

Livestock production in both industrial systems, where livestock are packed tightly together, and in highly traditional systems, where a shepherd follows her herd in dispersed rangelands, are cited as key contributors in some of the most acute environmental problems around the globe. Israel is one of the few countries where both of these systems exist, with surprisingly little contact between them. The environmental impact of the sectors were examined along with Israel’s public policies in the field. While historically, much attention has been placed on the contribution of the Bedouin pastoralists to desertification and erosion, this may be linked to historic misapprehension about actual impacts of goats on local rangelands as well as political motivations and concerns about losing national sovereignty over large areas of rangelands. The true environmental effects appear to be minor. A far more critical concern is water pollution caused by the industrial sector of livestock production—an issue that recently has attracted considerable government attention and investment in a successful dairy infrastructure initiative. The divisions between governmental supports for the Jewish and Arab sectors of livestock management are inconsistent with efficient environmental management. Policies should be designed to encourage Bedouin to find ways to sustainably continue their traditional livestock husbandry practises, which today are largely associated with ecological benefits and constitute a unique cultural asset for Israel and the world.     

公众参与环境执法角色关系探析

环境是公共的,环境利益具有公众性。在环境执法中积极吸纳公众意见,是国家民主管理社会的体现。公众参与环境执法的角色定位即：政府在环境执法中处于核心地位,拥有最终裁量权;企业是环境执法的对象;公众是环境执法的最终受益者。政府、企业与公众的沟通协调是公众参与环境执法的有效机制。     

生态环境损害赔偿诉讼：定义与定位矫正

面对生态环境损害赔偿诉讼这一新型诉讼形式,准确把握其定义和定位至关重要。现有生态环境损害赔偿诉讼按国家自然资源所有权私权化路径进行制度构建,其现行定义为特殊私益诉讼,现行定位为环境行政替代工具。这种定义与定位导致其与环境公益诉讼割裂,运行序位上优先于环境民事公益诉讼,引起国家机关角色错位。生态环境损害赔偿诉讼与环境民事公益诉讼的诉讼标的相同,救济和保护的利益均为环境公益,其定义应回归公益诉讼本位;政府在环境公益保护上有着广泛的职权和手段,是环境公共治理的优先主体,仅在少数行政不能的情形下才有借助司法的必要性和合理性,其在定位上应作为环境行政执法的补充机制在有限范围内发挥作用。据此,生态环境损害赔偿诉讼在制度体系上应与既有环境民事公益诉讼置于同一诉讼系属统筹立法,在诉讼序位上应让位于社会组织提起的环境民事公益诉讼。     

Assessment of Compliance Performance of Environmental Regulations of Industries in Tuzla (Istanbul,Turkey)

Although environmental management in Turkey is evolving, its performance needs to be assessed in terms of the extent to which polluters and dischargers are complying with their legal obligations. In spite of this necessity, however, not a single study evaluating the effectiveness of command-and-control strategy of environmental management has been conducted. It is for this reason that it was decided to conduct an analysis of the impact of environmental legislation on a major industrial area in Turkey. Accordingly, Turkish environmental legislation was analyzed, and all relevant obligations and responsibilities of industry are identified. Based upon this appraisal, a questionnaire was prepared and used to conduct interviews in Tuzla, Istanbul. From the results, it can be concluded that environmental compliance performance of industry is low. The total of 92 parameters has been questioned. Fifty-three parameters have been found as satisfactory compliance, whereas 26 parameters have been classified as partial compliance and 13 as unsatisfactory compliance. The most important reason for inadequate performance is the lack of an effective national and local environmental compliance management system. The other leading reasons are found to be low-level environmental consciousness of the people, absence of environmental management system at the sites, inadequacies in environmental subsidies, and insufficiencies in public environmental infrastructure. Four recommendations are made to increase the effectiveness of compliance management: establishing an effective environmental compliance management system, accelerating public investment for environmental infrastructure, developing financial subsidies and incentive schemes for environmental investments, and encouraging voluntary initiatives.     

Towards a Sustainable Urban Environmental Management Approach (SUEMA): Incorporating environmental management with Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)

An Environmental Management System (EMS) has been widely in use by many companies to manage the environmental effects of their operations. The process has recently gained ground in being adopted at city and municipal levels as well as in institutions such as universities. However, an EMS that is conducted at corporate level has some deficiencies when it is applied at city level. These deficiencies are in evaluating environmental goals and policies carried out to mainly ensure that the policies meet ISO 14001 standard and corporate requirements and neglect of public participation. Urban areas differ from companies due to their size, complexity and environmental challenges, high rate of growth and the dynamic nature of urban systems. Therefore, they need an urban environmental management approach that will assess the formulated urban environment policies and goals in a strategic method before implementation, including social dimensions such as public participation. Therefore, this paper proposes a modified approach to incorporate an EMS, called the Sustainable Urban Environmental Management Approach (SUEMA). The approach recognizes the above-mentioned deficiencies and benefits from the advantages of sustainability and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in the formulation and evaluation of policies, plans and programs. SUEMA is developed to ensure more sustainable urban environmental planning and development.     

环境保护的公众参与现状、问题及对策

本文从我国环境保护公众参与进程缓慢的历史和参与意识日益提高的现状出发,分析了目前我国环境保护的公众参与存在缺乏相应的法律制度保障、公众主动了解环保知识不足、参与机制不健全、渠道不顺畅等问题,提出了以加强环境信息公开、环境决策民主化,建立和发展环保社团等办法推动公众参与环境保护的对策。     

于GRI体系的机场企业环境信息披露研究

机场作为民航运输的关键节点和重要枢纽,肩负着服务区域经济的重要使命,同时也面临环境保护与可持续发展的巨大挑战。作为公共基础设施和城市形象窗口,机场上市公司具有披露环境信息的义务与责任。在充分研究国内机场上市公司环境信息披露制度背景的基础上,本研究借鉴全球报告倡议组织（GRI）发布的《可持续发展报告指南》（第四版）及机场运营者行业补充（GRI-AOSS）构建了适用于我国机场的环境信息披露评价指标体系,并利用公开数据对国内6家机场上市公司的环境信息披露情况进行了实际测评。结果表明：我国机场环境信息披露程度较低,存在内容简单、量化不足、质量下降等问题。机场上市公司环境信息披露亟待在法律法规层面进行系统规范。建议借鉴GRI等相关国际标准及成功经验,制定适用于我国的科学可行的环境信息披露标准和制度体系。     

浅析环境信息公开的作用

环境信息公开能提高环境保护参与者的环境意识,改变他们的环境行为和行动,解决"市场失灵"、"政治失灵"的问题,教育环境保护各利益相关者,推进决策过程中的民主进程。要提高环境信息的作用,应公开公众所面临的环境风险,公开的环境信息必须可靠,有关的环境信息必须对公众有用且方便获得,政府机构应关注公众对环境信息的反馈。     

行政正当程序视角下环境公众参与制度的规范与完善

行政正当程序理论是环境公众参与制度的理论基础。2014年修订的《中华人民共和国环境保护法》中已经确立以环境公众参与权为核心的环境公众参与制度,但是对于公众参与的规范特别是参与权的规范过于笼统。面对实践中参与主体类型界分不明、多项权利内容规范缺失、法律责任规范效力存疑及环境行政管理规范不足等问题,本文建议应以行政正当程序理论为指导,实现参与主体的类型化界分,细化公众参与权利内容,增加公众参与法律责任条款,并完善环境行政管理公众参与规范。     

生态环境损害赔偿:概念界定、理论基础与制度框架

生态环境损害不同于环境污染或生态破坏导致的人身、财产损害,是环境污染或生态破坏行为引发的区域环境质量下降或生态功能退化等重大不利改变,其实质是个体经济利益对公共环境利益的侵蚀所造成的"外部不经济性"。生态环境损害赔偿是使"外部不经济性内部化"的过程,需采用公法手段综合利用政府、市场和社会三种方式使责任者承担修复或赔偿相应修复费用的责任。生态环境损害赔偿的核心在于赋予特定主体代表公共环境利益进行索赔的权利,并以此为逻辑起点构建生态环境损害赔偿的制度框架。生态环境损害赔偿制度框架由本体与配套制度构成,本体制度包括生态环境损害赔偿的内容与范围、索赔主体、生态环境损害赔偿的协商与诉讼程序,配套制度包括生态环境损害评估、社会化责任分担机制,以及生态环境损害赔偿的公众参与制度。