Knowledge production and the science–policy relation in Dutch soil policy: results from a survey on perceived roles of organisations

In this paper, we present results from a survey on the perceived roles of organisations on the production and transfer of knowledge in Dutch soil policy. The results are interpreted by applying three theoretical perspectives to this relation: technical communities, epistemic communities and Mode 2 knowledge production. The main research results show that, since the perceived roles of organisations in some cases do not match the intended roles, or are inconsistent, communication of roles by organisations in the policy field is not effective. A second conclusion is that the respondents advocated an increase in interaction among policy levels and between knowledge production and policymaking. From the results, it seems that the Dutch soil policy field is on its way to a mode of socially robust knowledge production, where knowledge production, knowledge transfer and policymaking are integrated. In order to further this development, the paper provides recommendations on the further integration of science and policy concerning soil policy in the Netherlands.With respect to the methodology of survey research on the interaction between science and policy, the paper illustrates the importance of the professional identities of the respondents. The professional identities of the respondents are an important explanatory variable for the perceived roles of organisations.     

Disaster reduction,loss and damage data,and the post-2015 international policy agenda

Disaster risk management, particularly management of climate-related risks, has become central to the international policy agenda. Reducing hazard-related loss and damage relies heavily on scientific inputs. Science, in turn, relies on data—in this case 1) risk-related data on hazards, exposure and vulnerability, and 2) data on associated loss and damage outcomes. The latter, data on losses and damage, are also post-2015 international policy outcome indicators at the highest level, required for countries’ monitoring of progress in reducing disaster risk, adapting to climate change, and achieving sustainable development. Although the quantity and accessibility of loss and damage data are improving, a number of issues continue to constrain their potential. These include needs for more consistent cataloguing of hazards and extreme events, more systematic and accurate documentation of per-event losses and damage, more precise cross-referencing of hazard events with associated loss and damage, and improved standardization and interoperability among databases. We identify measures for improvement in this regard, both for research purposes and for post-2015 international policy implementation.     

How to be a more effective environmental scientist in management and policy contexts

This paper is intended for young researchers with an environmental conscience, alerting them that a self-centred ecology can work against conservation and other desirable goals. I propose that there is confusion in the biophysical ecologists’ community about the role of knowledge, stemming from several already surpassed beliefs that have been strongly criticized by scholars in the field of science and technology studies. In particular, environmental scientists still often seem trapped in the information deficit model, assuming a linear and unidirectional flow of knowledge from experts to users. This leads to an incomplete understanding and unrealistic expectations of ongoing processes of citizen participation (co-production of knowledge), impatience regarding the speed at which issues can be dealt with by politics, and a fuzzy notion of the role of our convictions regarding the value of nature conservation when we are consulted as experts. I analyse the consequences of disregarding tacit knowledge, i.e. the one knowledge beyond that codified in academic papers and books. I emphasize that preferences and values have a large influence on how we perceive, process, and act (or postpone to act) on information on our non-exclusive roles as scientists, decision makers or citizens. I argue that this is why political and ideological preferences have a large influence not only on which teams are appointed to solve problems, but also on which situations are perceived as problematic and given higher priorities. I include a cheat-sheet to enhance communication with decision-makers and other non-scientists that could prevent environmental zeal to be transformed into society’s annoyance and our eventual irrelevance. I plea for a more realistic attitude towards ecological research, highlighting that in environmental debates we are also long-term stakeholders, and not only casual, external and aseptic observers.     

Valuing water quality in China: purpose, approach and policy

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Low-carbon strategies towards 2050: Comparing ex-ante policy evaluation studies and national planning processes in Europe

The European Union (EU) is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels by 80%–95% in 2050 compared to 1990 levels. Various approaches have been developed to secure and evaluate the progress made towards this objective. To gain insights into how EU Member States are aligning to this collective long-term objective, we systematically compare the planning and ex-ante evaluation processes for five EU countries (respectively Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom). The comparative analysis consists of a qualitative comparison of (1) the governance of long-term policy planning and evaluation processes, (2) the national arrangement for quantitative (model-based) ex-ante policy evaluation and (3) the national arrangement for qualitative ex-ante policy evaluation (stakeholder participation). In a second step we conduct a quantitative comparison of national model-based ex-ante evaluation studies to assess the relative differences between the considered routes and the differences across the various countries. Although the five Member States plan policies along the same EU objective, we find a high diversity in how long-term commitments are established, governed and evaluated on the national level. Model-based scenario analyses are commonly used to explore and evaluate the possible national routes towards the EU 2050 objective. However, as these processes mostly concentrate on domestic action, they pay little attention to how domestic policies are affected by, or affecting, other international activities throughout Europe. Hence, current findings suggest that cross-border collaboration and stakeholder participation could further strengthen the analytical understanding of required transformative change in Europe and subsequently lead to a more durable long-term solution over time.     

理性对待 稳妥操作 切实调整完善废旧物资税征政策

围绕废旧物资增值税税征管理政策调整完善工作，论述了其在废旧物资“产废”、“收废”、“利废”三大基础环节的现状及存在的问题，提出合理平衡三大环节的经济利益及打造三大环节税征链扣的建议，为切实做好废旧物资税征政策调整完善工作提供参考。     

Faunal loss from bushmeat hunting: empirical evidence and policy implications in Bioko Island

Bushmeat market data can be used to detect hunting sustainability by using proxies such as decline in sale volume and price increases over time. Here, we explore these proxies for the Malabo market in Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea, the main bushmeat sale centre for the island. We gathered data during two sample phases (we call these ‘early’ and ‘later’) between March 1996 and October 1998, to test for evidence of faunal depletion during that period. Mammals (ungulates, rodents and primates) made up most of the bushmeat sold. Our analyses confirmed significant and sudden, rather than continuous, declines between phases, in total and individual animal group carcass volumes. Market species composition differed between phases; diversity indices and evenness increased in the later phase of the study. Price was related to species body mass and carcass condition (whether the carcass was smoked or fresh). Most species prices were higher in the later phase of the study. A total of 33 sites contributed bushmeat to the market, with over half of the recorded volume emerging from five sites in the south of the island. Bushmeat volume supplied from different regions of the island varied significantly between phases, and fewer sites contributed animals to the market during the later phase of the study. Proportionately more primates, ungulates but fewer rodents, appeared in the southern samples, compared with the northern. We suggest that in just over 2 years, hunting incursions, especially into the south of the island, may have resulted in drastic faunal losses. Subsequent data, collected by other authors, also indicate that the hunting spurt in the mid- and late-1990s may have irreversibly imperilled the island's mammalian fauna, since numbers of these animals entering the market have not increased since our study period. Although the Equato-Guinean authorities have recently initiated mechanisms to better protect the country's wildlife, through various legal and funding instruments, we suggest that these initiatives are likely to fail, if the social and environmental linkages are not fully understood to guide immediate restoration of such a unique African faunal assemblage.     

Ecosystem services provided by urban gardens in Barcelona,Spain: Insights for policy and planning

In many European cities, urban gardens are seen as increasingly important components of urban green space networks. We adopt an ecosystem services framework to assess contributions of urban gardens to the quality of of their users. First, we identify and characterize ecosystem services provided by urban gardens. Secondly, we assess the demographic and socioeconomic profile of its beneficiaries and the relative importance they attribute to different ecosystem services. Next we discuss the relevance of our results in relation to critical policy challenges, such as the promotion of societal cohesion and healthy lifestyles. Data were collected through 44 semi-structured interviews and a survey among 201 users of 27 urban gardens in Barcelona, Spain, as well as from consultation meetings with local planners. We identified 20 ecosystem services, ranging from food production over pollination to social cohesion and environmental learning. Among them, cultural ecosystem services (non-material benefits people derive from their interaction with nature) ​ stand out as the most widely perceived and as the most highly valued. The main beneficiaries of ecosystem services from urban gardens are elder, low-middle income, and migrant people. Our results about the societal importance of urban gardens ​were deemed highly relevant by the interviewed green space planners in Barcelona, who noted that our data can provide basis to support or expand existing gardening programs in the city. Our research further suggests that ecosystem services from urban gardens can play an important role in addressing several urban policy challenges in cities, such as promoting stewardship of urban ecosystems, providing opportunities for recreation and healthy lifestyles, and promoting social cohesion. We conclude that urban gardens and associated ecosystem services can play an important ​ in urban policies aimed at enhancing quality of life in cities, particularly if access to their benefits is expanded to larger segments of the population.     

沈阳市环保科技成果产业化工作进展与展望

总结了沈阳市几年来环保科技成果产业化工作的成绩和经验,提出了有效推进环保科技成果转化的建议及对策。     

Climate policy integration in the land use sector: Mitigation,adaptation and sustainable development linkages

This article re-conceptualizes Climate Policy Integration (CPI) in the land use sector to highlight the need to assess the level of integration of mitigation and adaptation objectives and policies to minimize trade-offs and to exploit synergies. It suggests that effective CPI in the land use sector requires i) internal climate policy coherence between mitigation and adaptation objectives and policies; ii) external climate policy coherence between climate change and development objectives; iii) vertical policy integration to mainstream climate change into sectoral policies and; iv) horizontal policy integration by overarching governance structures for cross-sectoral coordination. This framework is used to examine CPI in the land use sector of Indonesia. The findings indicate that adaptation actors and policies are the main advocates of internal policy coherence. External policy coherence between mitigation and development planning is called for, but remains to be operationalized. Bureaucratic politics has in turn undermined vertical and horizontal policy integration. Under these circumstances it is unlikely that the Indonesian bureaucracy can deliver strong coordinated action addressing climate change in the land use sector, unless sectoral ministries internalize a strong mandate on internal and external climate policy coherence and find ways to coordinate policy action effectively.     

碳氮氧同位素解析典型岩溶流域地下水中硝酸盐来源与归趋

利用多同位素(C、N和O)和水化学方法解析贵州八步地下河流域水体中硝酸盐(NO3-)来源与转化过程,利用SIAR模型定量计算NO3-不同输入端的贡献比例.结果表明,研究区地下水NO3-污染严重,近38％的地下水样品NO3-超过饮用水限值.地下水的δ15N-NO3值介于2.3‰～30.33‰,均值9.68‰,δ18O-N...     

The relationship between economic and carbon footprint changes in EU: The achievements of the EU sustainable consumption and production policy implementation

The Sustainable Consumption and Production policy is a key objective in the renewed European Union (EU) Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS). EU countries implement the targets of Sustainable Consumption and Production policy at different a level. Nevertheless, SDS targets are concerned more with production than consumption side. In addition, analysis of the carbon footprint data, which was supplied by the Global Footprint Network, showed that in all EU countries consumption-based carbon footprint caught-up and exceeded the level of production-based carbon (except Denmark and Estonia) during 1993–2010 period. The significant absolute decoupling in terms of carbon footprint from production-based perspective was observed in Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Slovakia, Poland, United Kingdom and Germany, meanwhile from consumption-based perspective only in Denmark, Estonia and Germany. Moreover in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Croatia the consumption-based carbon footprint grew faster than economy in general. Results imply that EU should put more focus on consumption side in terms of Sustainable Consumption and Production policy and measures taken. A commitment to reduce the environmental impact from consumption-based perspective should be more addressed covering values and lifestyles.     

Regulating groundwater use: The challenges of policy implementation in Guanajuato,Central Mexico

Around the world it has proven very difficult to develop policies and interventions that ensure socio-environmentally sustainable groundwater use and exploitation. In the state of Guanajuato, Central Mexico, both the national government and the decentralized state government have pursued to regulate groundwater use through direct state control, groundwater markets, energy pricing, and user self-regulation. We present and analyze these regulatory mechanisms and their outcomes in the field. We argue that the close interdependencies of these regulatory mechanisms have pre-empted the effectiveness of these policy instruments as well as that of other measures aimed at reducing groundwater use in order to advance towards sustainable exploitation levels.     

危机事件影响下环境政策变迁的过程、模式及机制研究

全球化和高速发展的城市化使得人类与生态之间的矛盾愈加严重,环境危机事件发生的频率不断上升,如何应对危机成为当今社会公共管理的主要议题。本文从环境危机事件的内涵与制度学诱因出发,通过梳理国内外相关理论和实证研究,对危机影响下环境政策变迁的过程、模式以及机制进行评述。研究表明,制度供求不匹配所带来的制度非均衡是导致环境危机出现的根本原因之一;环境危机事件有利于打破原有环境政策渐进性过程的路径依赖性,通过改变政府、公众、企业及其他利益相关体的机会格局与资源条件从而为主要政策变迁提供可能性。因此,危机事件影响下的环境政策变迁过程是自上而下和自下而上两种政策途径综合作用的结果。中国正处于“非稳定状态”的环境危机多发阶段,需要借鉴国外理论模型进行本土化研究。加强多学科之间的融合和有关理论的实际应用,为具有不同经济制度发展水平的地区制定区域可持续发展政策提供决策支持。     

科技创新战略中的“十二五”环境保护规划展望

本文对黑龙江省"十二五"期间经济又好又快发展、城镇化进程加快等因素带来的环境压力以及需重点关注的环境问题进行了分析,提出要创新思路,完善环境科技支撑体系,发展壮大环保产业,以解决重大环境问题为突破,推动环境科技创新,为黑龙江省环境保护"十二五"规划编制提供思路。     

Examining bushfire policy in action: Preparedness and behaviour in the 2009 Black Saturday fires

An important part of reducing the risk of disaster is the preparedness of the people at risk. Australian bushfire authorities have policies and publicity about what households should do to be prepared – which include knowledge about fire risk, awareness of one’s own risk, taking specific steps to reduce risk including having an emergency plan. Yet, there is sparse empirical evidence about the link between preparedness and actual behaviour in the face of a major disaster.The authors had an opportunity to examine the circumstances surrounding the 172 civilian fatalities which occurred in the 2009 Victorian ‘Black Saturday’ bushfires, through the examination of a detailed fatality dataset compiled by the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission. This dataset allows detailed examination of Victorian bushfire safety policy (‘Stay or go’) in action on a day of extreme fire danger: from preparedness (both before and on the day of the fire) to behaviour on the day of the fire itself.This analysis presents three overarching findings. First, some aspects of ‘Stay or go’ appear to be supported: being well-prepared to evacuate remains the safest option in a bushfire; sheltering passively is very dangerous. Second, successful implementation of ‘Stay or go’ depends on a multitude of factors, which can challenge even the most capable householders. Third, events like Black Saturday challenge the ‘Stay or go’ approach, and indicate the need for a different approach on extreme fire danger days. We conclude by reflecting on the findings from this research in terms of the most recent changes to bushfire policy in Victoria.     

A policy and technical measures for controlling soil and water loss in the Loess Plateau of China

Loess Plateau is the most serious region of soil and water loss in China and the world. The sediment carried into the Yellow River amounts to 1.6 billion tons every year. This paper reviews the factors and reasons for erosion in this area, and puts forward a comprehensive controlling policy on the basis of the principles of ecology and practise of Chinese scientists for 40 years. In conformity with the policy, a number of technical measures for controlling soil and water loss are suggested.     

Using participatory geographic approaches for urban flood risk in Santiago de Chile: Insights from a governance analysis

Studies based on information acquired by participative geographic approaches have sought to cope with emergency situations and disasters such as floods. However, the impact of these approaches to flood risk governance systems in order to understand these types of events as a complete risk cycle is still not clear. This paper focuses on analysing the governance possibilities of using participative geographic information like volunteered and public participatory geographic information for flood risk reduction in the case of Santiago de Chile, a city which regularly experiences urban floods during rainy seasons. Based on in-depth interviews and document analysis, our study indicates that a relevant part of the current information used for flood risk reduction efforts is provided to local and regional authorities by the affected population. Though, local actors are not recognized by central agencies as valid agents for the production of official information. Moreover, there are neither instances of communication or deliberation with the community, which reduces the capacity of local actors to discuss possible solutions. Participative geographic instruments are seen as potential mechanisms to strengthen work relations among local actors and authorities, by enhancing new logics for producing and sharing information. The impacts for the current risk governance system though can be diverse depending on the participants' level of commitment of participants and the political relations between actors and agencies. Considered as merely data acquisition and analysis mechanisms, participative instruments reproduce the existing hierarchical top-down structures. Furthermore, local-based approaches can enhance local work, support local diagnostics and increase the decision capacity of citizens.     

北京市老旧汽车淘汰经验启示及未来政策发展方向

梳理2011年以来北京市老旧汽车淘汰相关政策和控制措施,采用排放因子法核算机动车污染减排量和环境效益,分析了政策作用效果。结合当前北京市机动车污染排放状况,以及空气质量改善和碳减排需要,提出未来老旧汽车淘汰政策发展方向。结果表明：通过实施北京市老旧汽车淘汰政策,加速了北京市机动车车辆结构调整和优化,在机动车数量持续增加的情况下实现了其大气污染物排放量的减少,取得良好的环境效益。老旧汽车淘汰和补贴政策能够根据机动车结构和排放变化情况,设置差异化和细分的补贴力度,不断提高政策的导向性和精准度。面向未来政策方向,应进一步加强基于不同车型排放差异的更新方案的制定,面向重点用车单位,结合北京市重点碳排放单位管理,推进车辆结构调整和新能源化发展,从而实现机动车二氧化碳和大气污染物协同控制的目标。

     

我国粮食自给水平目标设定：研究综述与政策启示

确保重要农产品特别是粮食供给,是实施乡村振兴战略的首要任务。粮食自给水平目标设定是粮食安全状况评价和政策制定的基础,直接影响到国家粮食产业发展的战略方向和实施路径。本文通过对已有关于我国粮食自给水平目标设定的文献进行研读,在总结粮食自给率相关概念和回顾国家粮食自给方针演变的基础上,着重对我国粮食自给率目标设定水平、依据、意义,以及自给率变动的原因和产生的影响等问题进行系统梳理。结果显示：现有研究对于我国粮食安全自给水平设定目标尚无明确且统一的判断。研究提出,现阶段应以资源环境承载力为硬约束,以保持粮食生产稳定性为红线,设定粮食总量自给水平目标替代自给率目标,通过充分利用国外资源和国际市场,更好地实现粮食安全保障与生态环境保护的高度统一。