Devising indicators of sustainable development for the mining and minerals industry: An analysis of critical background issues

The exact application of sustainable development in the mining and minerals industry has precipitated considerable debate in recent years. Since the publication of the Brundtland Commission's Report, Our Common Future, numerous explanations have been put forth in an attempt to define sustainable development in the mining and minerals context. Specifically, the inability of the Brundtland Report to outline an effective sustainability framework, combined with its contention that no single blueprint for sustainable development exists, has prompted a number of academics and practitioners to provide personal viewpoints on the application of sustainable development in the mining and minerals industry. This paper focuses on one aspect of the mining and minerals-sustainable development debate: the corporate perspective. It first uses the burgeoning body of literature to define sustainable development in the corporate mining context. Second, it addresses, against the background of this interpretation, many of the salient issues associated with developing a series of plausible Sustainable Development Indicators (SDIs) for use in the mining and minerals extraction industry. The paper clearly illustrates the difficulty in both arriving at a suitable working definition of sustainable development for an industry, and developing an acceptable set of universal standards for measuring environmental and socioeconomic performance.     

基于景观连接度的斑块分级的尺度效应

认识到尺度对景观格局分析结果的影响,生态学家们越来越多地进行尺度效应的相关研究.已有的尺度效应研究多注重描述景脱格局指数对尺度变化的响应,这只能对景观的状态进行描述.无法辨别那些对景观功能具有重要意义的关键景观元素.文章选取8个景观连接度指数.通过改变最小制图单元和物种的搜索范围,研究尺度对斑块分等定级的影响,并据此确定各连接度指数的尺度敏感性.结果表明:景观中斑块的相对重要性随尺度变化而变化,其变化程度因指数而异.其中,AWF为尺度效应最不明显的指数,PC和IIC次之,其余指数(NL,NC,LCP,H和F)的尺度效应均十分显著;在衡量景观的连通性时,除IIC外的其他所有指数的尺度效应均十分显著.由此说明,根据连接度指数确定的斑块相对重要性的尺度敏感性与该指数本身的尺度敏感性无关.     

关于景观的保护问题

景观作为自然与人类相互作用的一个基本单位，目前正在发生剧烈的变化。许多传统的文化建筑和土地利用方式和格局正在走向衰亡，景观的多样性和丰富性受到前所未有的威胁，常常被千篇一律的大片单调的景色所代替。本文主要讨论下列三个问题：景观的基本含义及其保护，景观保护的主要任务；景观保护是区域发展的基础。     

Re-evaluation and re-classification of erionite series minerals

Governments and industries have introduced regulatory measures requiring safety controls to limit asbestos exposure of the general public and asbestos workers. Although erionite is a more potent health hazard mineral than asbestos, it has received far less attention. Precise definition of erionite, types of these fibrous minerals, and most importantly, characterization requirements still raise questions and often lead to arguments and even legal disputes. Many bulk erionite samples used in animal and cell experiments for carcinogenicity are not mineralogically pure. To test this hypothesis, we characterized two erionite standards from Rome, Oregon, and Pine Valley, Nevada, USA. These standards were characterized quantitatively using modern analytical techniques, and one of them, the erionite standard from Rome, Oregon, passed the required tests for positive identification, but the other, the erionite standard from Pine Valley, Nevada, did not. Furthermore, we observed ambiguous definitions, incorrect identifications, and inaccurate reporting of clinical investigations. To address this problem, we established characterization guidelines for positive identification of erionite using a modified balance error formula, and we re-evaluated and re-classified published erionite data from the literature as erionite-Ca, erionite-Na, and erionite-K. If data did not pass either the E% or Mg-content test, then we propose that reference to them in the literature be disregarded. Erionite requires special attention from the mineralogical community to help establish its true carcinogenetic properties. We believe that the characterization guidelines established in this paper will contribute to setting up rules and regulations for evaluation of erionite by regulatory agencies.     

Wildfire, landscape diversity and the Drossel-Schwabl model

How simple can a model be that still captures essential aspects of wildfire ecosystems at large spatial and temporal scales? The Drossel-Schwabl model (DSM) is a metaphorical forest-fire model developed to reproduce only one pattern of real systems: a frequency distribution of fire sizes resembling a power law. Consequently, and because it appears oversimplified, it remains unclear what bearings the DSM has in reality. Here, we test whether the DSM is capable of reproducing a pattern that was not considered in its design, the hump-shaped relation between the diversity of succession stages and average annual area burnt. We found that the model, once reformulated to represent succession, produces realistic landscape diversity patterns. We investigated four succession scenarios of forest-fire ecosystems in the USA and Canada. In all scenarios, landscape diversity is highest at an intermediate average annual area burnt as predicted by the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. These results show that a model based solely on the dynamics of the fuel mosaic has surprisingly high predictive power with regard to observed statistical properties of wildfire systems at large spatial scales. Parsimonious models, such as the DSM can be used as starting points for systematic development of more structurally realistic but tractable wildfire models. Due to their simplicity they allow analytical approaches that further our understanding under increasing complexity.     

LANDIS and forest landscape models

This paper provides contextual documentation of the LANDIS model development to provide a framework for the other papers in this special issue. The LANDIS model of forest landscape disturbance and succession was developed since the early 1990s as a research and management tool that optimizes the possible landscape extent (100 s ha to 1000 s km²), while providing mechanistic detail adequate for a broad range of potential problems. LANDIS is a raster model, and operates on landscapes mapped as cells, containing tree species age classes. Spatial processes, such as seed dispersal, and disturbances such as fire, wind, and harvesting can occur. LANDIS development benefited from the modelling and research progress of the 1960s to the1980s, including the growth of landscape ecology during the 1980s. In the past decade the model has been used by colleagues across North America, as well as in Europe and China. This has been useful to those not able to undertake the cost and effort of developing their own model, and it has provided a growing diverse set of test landscapes for the model. These areas include temperate, southern, and boreal forests of eastern North America, to montane and boreal western forests, coastal California forest and shrub systems, boreal Finnish forests, and montane forests in Switzerland and northeastern China. The LANDIS model continues to be refined and developed. Papers in this special issue document recent work. Future goals include integration within a larger land use change model, and applications to landscape and regional global change projection based on newly incorporated biomass and carbon dynamics.     

产业生态系统的构建途径与管理方法

建立产业生态系统是循环经济最终得以实现的关键.国内外学者对产业生态系统的概念、特点、构建原则、管理理念等作了一些研究,但还缺乏对产业生态系统的特点、构建途径与管理方法方而的深入系统研究.文章对此进行了比较深入系统地研究,阐明产业生态系统具有开放性、循环性、层次性、本土性、经济性、演进性、调节性的特点;认为产业生态系统构建的关键在于建立起使物质和能量高效循环利用的生态产业链和生态产业共生网络,并从生态产业链、产业生态系统多样性、关键种企业、产业共生网络、信息网络等方面探讨了产业生态系统的构建途径;提出对产业生态系统的管理要结合区域特点,在生态产业管理理念的指导下,采取生命周期评价、产品生态设计、生态产业园的规划没计、生态产业孵化、生态产业链的风险评价等管理方法,建立起一种新型的产业生态系统管理体系,实现产业生态系统与自然生态系统的协调可持续发展.     

The effects of landscape structure on space competition and alternative stable states

Many species that compete for space live on heterogeneous landscapes and interact at local scales. The quality, amount, and structure of landscapes may have considerable impact on the ability of species to compete or coexist, yet basic models of space competition do not include that level of detail. We model space competition between two species with positive feedback through recruitment facilitation, which creates the potential for alternative stable states to occur. We compare the predictions of a spatially implicit model with a simulation model that includes explicit space and landscape structure. We create structured landscapes in which we specify the amount of habitat and degree of fragmentation and ask how landscape structure, dispersal strategy, and scale affect the presence of alternative stable states, or bistability. We find that structured landscapes can reduce the range of parameter values that lead to bistability in our model, but they do not eliminate bistability. The type of landscape and the dispersal distance for each species also influence the amount of environmental change needed for abrupt community shifts to occur. Coexistence of the two competitors is possible under certain conditions when connectivity is low. Consequently, landscape structure may lead to considerable disparity between the predictions of simple models and actual dynamics on complex landscapes during environmental change.     

The British aggregates industry: Planning and environmental issues

The British aggregates industry, supplying naturally graded rocks (sand and gravel), crushed hardrocks (limestone, igneous, sandstones, etc.) and artificial aggregates (steel slags and lightweight materials) to the civil engineering and construction sectors, has experienced dramatic growth in production since the Second World War. A review of these trends is presented, taking into consideration structural changes within the industry. Accompanying these developments has been the recently increased concern over the planning and environmental problems which have resulted. The paper assesses these issues and examines some of the solutions which have been considered. Suggestions are made regarding the relative merits of these solutions, and the most appropriate developments which can be pursued.     

几种粘土矿物和粘土对溶液中磷的吸附效果

通过磷等温吸附与饱和吸附后释放试验,研究了高岭土、蒙脱土、凹凸棒土、蛭石和沸石对溶液中磷的吸附效果及其影响因素。结果表明,蛭石磷理论饱和吸附量最大,为3473mg·kg-1,其他依次为凹凸棒土、黄褐土、蒙脱土、下蜀黄土和沸石,高岭土磷理论饱和吸附量最低,为554mg·kg-1。影响粘土矿物和粘土磷理论饱和吸附量的主要因素是钙含量和胶体氧化铁及氧化铝的含量,pH值、阳离子交换量和比表面对磷理论饱和吸附量影响不大,粘土矿物和粘土吸附磷的机制主要为化学吸附。粘土矿物和粘土磷饱和吸附后释放试验表明其磷释放量很低。     

Erionite series minerals: mineralogical and carcinogenic properties

Erionite is a human and animal carcinogen and one of the most toxic minerals known. Erionite deposits have been reported in many countries; however, it is only in the area of three villages of Cappadocia, Turkey, that environmental exposure to erionite has been demonstrated to be the cause of an epidemic of the disease mesothelioma. In the USA, no cases of mesothelioma have been reliably proven to be the result of erionite exposure, though the possibility exists. Erionite samples from three villages of the Cappadocia region were characterized mineralogically and compared with three different standards from the USA. Micro morphological details of erionite minerals using a high-resolution field-emission SEM showed that microstructures of "bundles", "fibers", and "fibrils" are important physical properties of fibrous erionite minerals. Typical lung burden of erionite and asbestos fibers were compared in terms of number of fibers. Assuming the lung burden of fibers in a human mesothelioma victim is about 1 mg, and the hazardous fibers are approximately 1 mum in diameter and 10 mum long, that milligram contains approximately 40 million asbestos and 50 million erionite fibers. These microstructures of erionite minerals draw attention to the concepts of surface area or surface-area-to-volume ratio and their relationship to the carcinogenicity of the mineral. The larger surface area creates a wider platform for mineral-cell interaction and thus more possibilities of proliferative transformation of mesothelial cells. Consequently, understanding the exact mineralogical properties will help determination of the true carcinogenic mechanism(s) of the mineral for prevention and possibly treatment of malignant mesothelioma.     

Assessment of the contribution of land use pattern and intensity to landscape quality: use of a landscape indicator

The objective of this research work is the evaluation of the impact of landuse pattern and intensity on landscape by means of an indicator. The method used to calculate a ‘landscape indicator’ (I_land) allows to take into account the objective as well as the subjective approach of landscape. I_land corresponds to the degree of agreement between landscape supply by farmers and landscape demand by the social groups. The supply and the demand are evaluated through four criteria: ‘diversity’, ‘upkeep’, ‘openness’ and ‘heritage’. The landscape supply is calculated from data of landscape objects (punctual, linear and spatial) for each criterion recorded at the field level. The values of the four criteria for the landscape demand are allocated by the user(s) of the indicator (decision makers, regional council, social groups…) into five classes (0–4). The value of the landscape indicator is the least favourable difference between supply and demand for the four criteria. An example of calculation of the ‘landscape indicator’ for an arable farm is given. The collection of data needs 2 h with the farmer and 2 h for a survey of the farm land.     

城市生态系统的格局和过程

城市生态系统是人类活动影响下的复合生态系统。人为的开发利用活动和局地的生物物理条件形成了城市特有的景观格局。城市发展改变了自然的生物栖息环境,从根本上改变了生态系统的结构、过程、功能,以及所提供的各种服务。这种改变最终又会影响人类自身的健康生存。文章综述了国内外有关城市景观格局和和重要生态过程之间相互作用机制的研究进展。通过研究发现,在大尺度上,净初级生产力是衡量城市发展对区域物流、能流影响的有效指标;在小尺度上,城市物流、能流过程和城市内部的景观结构、格局有很强的相关性。城市发展显著的改变了自然的栖息地及生物生长过程,本地植被种类减少,外来种增加,外来种的数量和人口数量有显著的相关性;而城市动物群落主要由一些小型哺乳动物、无脊椎动物、鸟类、两栖爬行类动物组成,其中,鸟类是研究城市化过程的有效指示物种。城市生态系统特有的景观格局及生态等过程显著的改了局部区域的微气候和水文过程,城市气温增加,风速降低,云、雾量增加,地表径流增加,流速加大,污染负荷增强等。因此,控制人类活动,优化土地利用的结构和空间格局,是改善城市生态系统结构和过程,保证可持续发展的基本出发点。但是,目前有关城市-格局-过程之间的影响机制还不十分清楚,尤其是定量研究较少。因此,结合传统的城市生态学,景观生态学的理论和其他相关学科领域的发展,为深入分析城市格局-过程之间的关系提供了重要的研究前景。     

Efficient species-level monitoring at the landscape scale

Monitoring the population trends of multiple animal species at a landscape scale is prohibitively expensive. However, advances in survey design, statistical methods, and the ability to estimate species presence on the basis of detection-nondetection data have greatly increased the feasibility of species-level monitoring. For example, recent advances in monitoring make use of detection-nondetection data that are relatively inexpensive to acquire, historical survey data, and new techniques in genetic evaluation. The ability to use indirect measures of presence for some species greatly increases monitoring efficiency and reduces survey costs. After adjusting for false absences, the proportion of sample units in a landscape where a species is detected (occupancy) is a logical state variable to monitor. Occupancy monitoring can be based on real-time observation of a species at a survey site or on evidence that the species was at the survey location sometime in the recent past. Temporal and spatial patterns in occupancy data are related to changes in animal abundance and provide insights into the probability of a species' persistence. However, even with the efficiencies gained when occupancy is the monitored state variable, the task of species-level monitoring remains daunting due to the large number of species. We propose that a small number of species be monitored on the basis of specific management objectives, their functional role in an ecosystem, their sensitivity to environmental changes likely to occur in the area, or their conservation importance.     

The social welfare implications of industry self-auditing

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) audit policy authorizes reduced penalties for firms that voluntarily undertake compliance audits and then correct and report any discovered violations to the agency. While the EPA claims the policy is a success, this paper joins a growing literature in questioning that claim. A game-theoretic model of the audit policy is developed where the goal of enforcement is remediation and the agency is unable to commit to a pre-announced inspection policy. Self-auditing is beneficial because it permits both self-reporting and self-policing to occur; however additional costs are imposed on firms. Self-auditing is more likely to be socially beneficial when the damages caused by violations are large. The current audit policy explicitly excludes violations that result in serious actual or potential harm. When violations are small, as most current disclosures under the audit policy are, firm self-auditing is likely to increase social costs.     

异丙甲草胺在氧化铝界面的亲核置换转化动力学及其影响因素

采用批处理实验的方法研究γ-Al2O3界面上亲核试剂硫化钠作用下异丙甲草胺的转化动力学及其影响因素。结果表明,硫化钠作为一种亲核试剂,能促使异丙甲草胺发生亲核置换转化,且可以进一步提高异丙甲草胺在氧化铝多相反应体系中的转化速率。结果还表明,随着硫化钠浓度的升高,异丙甲草胺降解动力学常数k值也相应增加(当硫化钠浓度为5 mmol·L 1时,k值为0.043 h 1;而当硫化钠的浓度为100 mmol·L 1时,k值上升到0.974 h 1),以速率常数k值与硫化钠初始浓度作图,发现速率常数k与硫化钠浓度成正相关线性关系,其相关系数达到0.985;多相体系中反应溶液的pH会影响异丙甲草胺的转化速率,在含有10 mmol·L 1硫化钠的γ-Al2O3体系中(温度为25℃),溶液pH值由6.0上升到10.0,异丙甲草胺降解动力学常数k由0.046上升到0.195 h 1;异丙甲草胺的转化速率与多相体系中的反应温度呈显著正相关关系,转化速率取决于体系的反应温度,温度越高,转化速率越大;热力学Arrhenius经验式求得异丙甲草胺的活化能Ea=49.9 kJ.mol 1。转化速率与温度的关系为:lnk=6.005 4×103/T+17.868。     

Meso-scale landscape analysis based on landscape balance investigations: problems and hierarchical approaches for their resolution

Varied utilization demands of society to the landscape are leading to an overlay of interests and thus to land use conflicts. Thereby, essential landscape functions like the regulation function (i.e. run-off regulation, groundwater recharge, groundwater protection, buffer functions of the soil, etc.) may be affected, and result in stresses to our natural resources like soil and water. The land use conflicts become especially obvious in a regional context. The diminution of such land use conflicts in terms of a regional management of environment and natural resources requires the knowledge of the response of the landscape balance to land use changes. The results of integrated landscape analysis enable the calculation of scenarios that allow the derivation of site-suitable land use variants with positive effects (decrease) to material out-wash from landscape parts and material inputs into surface water and groundwater. Numerous and complex methodological problems arise with such analysis, as well as with the investigation and assessment of the landscape water balance and water-bound material fluxes on the mesoscale.As a contribution for the resolution of these problems, the authors present a hierarchical nested approach that interlinks scale-specific methods. Due to the complexity and difficult implementation from purely system-oriented approaches in both applied landscape research and planning, the connection to more pragmatic approaches is herewith striked. Thus, information about the impact of land use changes on the landscape balance, as well as the assessment of landscape functions for both watersheds and administrative units should be enabled. Beside the check of the scale-specific applicability of models (i.e. E2D/3D, ABIMO, ASGi, SWAT, modifications of the USLE), the transferability of parameter- and indicator systems for the assessment of the landscape balance on the concerned scale levels is also investigated. An important objective is thereby the optimization of the validity of landscape information for the spatio-temporal levels of the mesoscale.     

Nutrient fluxes at the landscape level and the R* rule

Nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems involves not only the vertical recycling of nutrients at specific locations in space, but also biologically driven horizontal fluxes between different areas of the landscape. This latter process can result in net accumulation of nutrients in some places and net losses in others. We examined the effects of such nutrient-concentrating fluxes on the R* rule, which predicts that the species that can survive in steady state at the lowest level of limiting resource, R*, can exclude all competing species. To study the R* rule in this context, we used a literature model of plant growth and nutrient cycling in which both nutrients and light may limit growth, with plants allocating carbon and nutrients between foliage and roots according to different strategies. We incorporated the assumption that biological processes may concentrate nutrients in some parts of the landscape. We assumed further that these processes draw nutrients from outside the zone of local recycling at a rate proportional to the local biomass density. Analysis showed that at sites where there is a sufficient biomass-dependent accumulation of nutrients, the plant species with the highest biomass production rates (roughly corresponding to the best competitors) do not reduce locally available nutrients to a minimum concentration level (that is, minimum R*), as expected from the R* rule, but instead maximize local nutrient concentration. These new results require broadening of our understanding of the relationships between nutrients and vegetation competition on the landscape level. The R* rule is replaced by a more complex criterion that varies across a landscape and reduces to the R* rule only under certain limiting conditions.