Public Attitudes Towards Policy Instruments for Congestion Mitigation in Shanghai

Congestion causes many externalities for the society, including time delays, excessive fuel consumption, air pollution, noise and safety concerns. In Shanghai, various policy options have been explored, piloted or applied; however, not all of them may be understood and accepted by the public. A survey was conducted to investigate people＇s attitudes towards several policy options. The main findings reveal that Shanghai residents are resistant to certain policies, such as congestion charges, higher parking charges in congested areas and car restrictions. Instead, they favor public transport provisions. The paper suggests that there is a case for promoting public transport and more efficient trips when the car ownership is still low, and for investing in a policy of educating the public on the ＇true＇ costs and causes of congestion before embarking on ,an intensive policy of congestion charges or restrictions.     

Emission Patterns under Alternative Congestion and Motor Vehicle Pollution Mitigation Policies in Shanghai

As a megacity with thriving economy, Shanghai is experiencing rapid motorisation and confronted with traffic congestion problems despite its low car ownership. It is of value to look into the policies on emission control of motor vehicle and congestion reduction in such a city to explore how to reconcile mobility enhancement with the environment. Results of a dynamic simulation displayed time paths of emissions from motor vehicles in Shanghai over the period from 2000 to 2020. The simulation results showed that early policies on emission control of motor vehicle could bring about far-reaching effects on emission reduc- tion, and take advantage of available low-polluting technologies and technical innovation over time. Travel demand management would play an important role in curbing congestion and reducing motor vehicle pollution by calming down car ownership rise and deterring inefficient trips as well as reducing fuel waste caused by congestion.     

Effect of Increase in Price of Oil on Behavior of Private Car Owners in Beijing

In order to understand the short-term response of private car owners to changes in the price of oil, a survey was conducted in Beijing after the gasoline price in China rose in June 2008. It showed that private car drivers in Beijing reduced their trips in the one month period following the price adjustment. Certain trip characteristics and drivers' demographics significantly influenced price elasticity in the short term, including the purpose of the trip, the distance covered and the income of the car driver.     

中国不同交通模式的可达性空间格局研究

交通运输网络是经济发展的重要保障,分析可达性空间格局差异对引导人口分布和交通设施合理建设具有重要意义。以中国2 317个县级行政区域为研究对象,采用加权平均旅行时间法,通过构建可达性指标分析了公路、铁路、机场、港口及综合交通的空间格局。结果表明:公路可达性形成了以郑州、武汉、合肥为中心的\"核心-外围\"模式;铁路形成了以京沪线为轴线,沿铁路干线分布的带状结构,最优区已南移至合肥及南京;机场可达性形成了以各个枢纽机场为核心的\"轴-辐\"结构;港口可达性由沿海向内陆降低;综合交通可达性由东向西降低,具有反自然梯度特征。4种交通方式的可达性总体水平较高,约有70%的县域超过平均水平,与人口分布具有一定的相似性,东部城市高于西部城市,但存在区域内的不均衡现象。最后对各交通方式出现的问题提出了一些针对性建议。     

我国公众环境保护意识的调查与分析

本文根据一次大规模的抽样调查资料，初步分析了我国公众环境保护意识的现状，认为从总体上看，公众的环保意识水平偏低；公众的环境资源况颇具特色；在经济发展与环境保护之间出现明显矛盾时，半数公众能够优先考虑环境保护；大多数公众认为环境保护与个人有关，但对个人的努力信心不足；超过七成的公众表示愿意为环境保护支付一定费用，但对高收入阶层普遍寄予较高的期望；公众有一定的依法保护环境的心理基础，但法律知识又非常缺乏。     

Linking Conservation and Development: An Analysis of Local People’s Attitude Towards Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal

Factors influencing local people’s attitudes towards conservation of the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve (KTWR) are analyzed using an ordered logit model. The results indicate that households living closer to the KTWR are more likely to reveal negative attitude towards conservation. Similarly, respondents from larger households tend to show negative conservation attitude. Educated respondents and farmers are likely to demonstrate a positive conservation attitude. The results consistently show that households with poor socioeconomic status and greater dependence on the KTWR for firewood, fodder, and raw materials are likely to possess a more negative attitude towards conservation. Poor households may not necessarily be less concerned about conservation, although institutional settings and abject poverty near protected areas appear to affect their attitudes. Sustainable management of protected areas and local support for natural resource conservation would require socioeconomic development.     

Dependence on forest resources and tropical deforestation in Ghana

In Ghana, forests provide many products on which the local population subsists. However, these resources are depleting due to a variety of factors including agricultural expansion and over-exploitation of forest resources. This paper presents an analysis of the level of local dependence on forest resources and its implications for forest management in Ghana. The paper also outlines the causes of continuing deforestation in the studied region from the perspective of the local residents and discusses what role they could play in addressing the problem. The aim is to share more light on the current causes of deforestation and make suggestions for improved community-based forest management practices that could help to reduce deforestation. Primary data was collected through personal interviews and focus group discussions with 431 household heads randomly selected from three Forest Districts in Ghana. The survey showed that income from agriculture constituted 60% of the average total rural household income. Forest income provided 38% of total household income, and off-farm income 2%. The four most highly ranked causes of deforestation are poverty-driven agriculture, lack of alternative rural wage employment other than farming, household population levels, and conflict in traditional land practices. This shows a shift in the view of local people who in the past were quick to blame logging companies and government policies for deforestation. The majority of the respondents depended on wild animals like snail, bush meat, wild honey and wild and cultivated vegetables. Given the reasons for deforestation, much thought needs to go into agroforestry practices (e.g. snail farming, bee keeping, fish farming, and vegetable production) in efforts to reduce deforestation, which are currently less promoted. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

区域用水结构演变规律与调控对策研究

我国水资源严重短缺,在新的形势下,必须根据经济发展调整用水结构.本文以地处西北干旱区的榆林市为例,通过收集榆林市1990-2005年国民经济各行业用水量,结合信息熵原理,计算出不同年份用水量熵值及优势度动态演化情况.结果表明,榆林市用水系统熵值由1990年的0.569增加到2005年的0.667,总体呈上升趋势,表明榆林市用水结构趋向无序.同时,系统的均衡度也呈增加趋势,这表明当地用水系统在趋于无序发展的同时,用水系统的均衡程度有所提高,系统均衡性增强.从地区来看,南六县的用水系统熵值要高于北六县,且南六县用水系统熵值一直处于下降趋势,北六县则在波动中表现出一定的上升趋势,这与南六县长期从事特色农业,产业结构相对比较稳定,而北六县主要发展工业,导致用水结构中农业、工业、生活用水结构变化较大有关.最后,结合榆林市实际,提出"南护水源,北抑需求"的总体调控思路,通过建立权威、高效、协调的管理机制,推进水管理体制改革、加强立法和执法监督,规范水资源管理行为、因地制宜,调整和优化产业结构, 大力发展生态型低耗水产业、明确水权、建立水市场,制定合理水价、广泛宣传,积极引导,改变用水观念等措施,不断调整用水结构,最终实现经济社会可持续发展.     

我国城市可持续发展对智能运输系统管理规划的需求分析

本文在分析我国城市可持续发展对智能运输系统管理规划的需求的基础上，指出了我国城市交通存在的问题，并根据我国城市的特点，提出了制定城市智能运输系统管理规划的原则和注意事项，并对城市智能运输系统管理规划的总体结构和总体配置，以及实施步骤提出了设想。     

生态、经济协同发展的滨湖区空间管制分区研究——以巢湖东段为例

生态敏感性极高的滨湖区正面临着人类开发带来的环境威胁。旨在通过滨湖区空间管制,处理好保护与开发的关系,避免和减少开发过程中可能带来的负面环境问题,实现滨湖区持续、健康发展。应用模糊评价与GIS空间分析方法,首先从生态环境敏感性、经济发展潜力两大方面出发,构建了包括2项I 级指标、9项Ⅱ级指标和32项Ⅲ级指标的滨湖区空间管制分区评价指标体系;应用GIS空间分析模块,以500 m网格为基本评价单元,分别进行滨湖区的生态敏感性、经济发展潜力以及二者的叠加评价。结果显示：滨湖区从单元上可确定4类开发功能取向（适宜、较适宜、限制、禁止建设）,从区域生态、经济协同发展要求下,从满足生产、生活和生态的需要,宜将滨湖区划定不同功能的空间管制区     

Global-scale vs. regional-scale scenario assumptions: implications for estimating future water withdrawals in the Elbe River basin

In this paper, we explore how scenarios of future water withdrawals in a river basin are influenced by scale-dependent quantifications of the driving forces for two global-scale storylines. Either global-scale information or region-specific information is used to do the quantifications. In addition, we analyze the impact of including or not some restricted regional-scale information in the employed water use model. To develop scenarios of water withdrawals in the German part of the Elbe River basin, we applied the modules for domestic, thermoelectric power and manufacturing water use of the global water model WaterGAP, using scale-dependent driving forces scenarios and other scale-dependent model input. In the global-scale quantitative interpretations of the storylines of the IPCC SRES scenarios A1 and B2, all major driving forces of water withdrawals in the basin—population, thermoelectric power production and industrial gross domestic product—show vigorous increases between 2000 and 2025, while from the regional perspective, smaller increases but mostly decreases appear to be plausible. These discrepancies are partly due to the fact that for the global-scale interpretations only the historic developments until 1990 were taken into account, and not until 2000 as in the regional case. The resulting scenarios of sectoral water withdrawals in 2025 differ strongly between the two scale-dependent interpretations of the storylines, with the global one leading to much higher absolute water withdrawals and much lower withdrawal decreases between 2000 and 2025. Therefore, for regional assessments of water withdrawals, we recommend to embed the scenario analysis in global-scale storylines by performing regional-scale quantifications of the global qualitative driving forces scenarios, based on a limited amount of region-specific information.     

Co-Partnership in Forest Management: The Gwira-Banso Joint Forest Management Project in Ghana

The involvement of local communities, as well as the private sector and the government in forest management is now an important principle of tropical forestry policy and practice and a major component of most international forestry aid programmes. This paper present an analysis on the Joint Forest Management Project initiated by two timber companies (Ghana Primewood Products Ltd and Dalhoff Larsen & Horneman) in collaboration with local people in Gwira-Banso of Ghana. Conditions required for enhancing responsibility for and commitment to local forest management, and for an effective local participatory process were also analysed. The study began with the premise that incentives and good communication will enhance participation in joint forest management.The assumption was valid and the results from the survey showed that five broad issues prioritised by respondents to be essential for co-partnership in forest management are communication, financial support, tree planting, multiple land use and benefit sharing. The Project enjoys a great deal of support from the local community, but a number of factors make the continued support of local people a challenging task, including questions of immediate livelihood sources and tenure arrangements. Although this participatory forest management has been implemented over a relatively short period, there is evidence that government and private sectors can successfully involve local people in sustainable management of the forests.