The commons dilemma

Whenever a short-term or local need in the exploitation of a scarce natural resource must be pitted against its long-term use or the needs of the larger community, the commons dilemma arises. The study of commons dilemmas originated in agricultural economies but has importance in all resource management areas. Psychologists have recently found it to be a useful paradigm in the study of decision-making behavior.This paper reviews the commons dilemma as it has been used in three areas of psychological research: games theory, animal and human territorial behavior, and behavior reinforcement. In the first area, results show how communication within groups operates in cooperation/competition situations. In the second, the effects of social and political ideologies are examined. In the third, the implications of the commons dilemma with regard to breaking out of social traps are discussed. Throughout, the relevance of this basic psychological research to rational resource management is made clear. An extensive bibliography of relevant original research is provided.     

Five propositions for improving decision making about the environment in developing communities: insights from the decision sciences

Decisions focused on managing natural resources in developing areas present some of the most imposing challenges to policy makers, scientists, and stakeholders alike. The response of policy makers and the technical community in the face of these challenges has been significant. However, our experiences as researchers and facilitators of group planning and decision-making processes have left us concerned about the lack of attention devoted to supporting the underlying processes used to make these complex decisions. To this end, we present five propositions based on work in the decision sciences that we believe stand out as essential for improving decision-making processes in developing communities.     

Residential Water Consumption,Motivation for Conserving Water and the Continuing Tragedy of the Commons

This paper explores the effect of the perception of externalities (PE) on residential water consumption. Externalities occur when individuals make decisions that harm others, without concern for the impact or feeling a need to compensate for the harm. The aim of this study was to investigate whether PE affects people's motivation to conserve water, and, consequently, the practice of residential water consumption. Two hundred eighty Mexican citizens responded to a questionnaire investigating how they perceived that other individuals in their community wasted water. Respondents were also asked about their motives to conserve water, and direct observations of individual water consumption were recorded. Results were processed within a structural equations model, which revealed that motives to conserve water significantly inhibit water consumption. Since the perception of externalities also inhibits conservation motives, the resulting effect of PE on water consumption is positive. This result means that the more people perceive that others waste water, the less their conservation motives, and, therefore, the more their own water consumption.     

建立我国环境民事纠纷仲裁制度刍议

目前,我国环境民事纠纷的处理方式主要有协商、调解和诉讼三种方式,这几种方式分别存在着一定的缺陷。环境仲裁是解决环境民事纠纷的一种良好方式,在某种程度上可以克服以上几种方式存在的一些缺陷,同这几种方式能起到一定的互补作用。文章介绍了环境民事纠纷仲裁制度的意义并分析了我国环境民事纠纷仲裁制度应具备的特点,力图为建立环境民事纠纷仲裁制度提出法律建议。     

An inexact two-stage mixed integer linear programming method for solid waste management in the City of Regina

In this study, an interval-parameter two-stage mixed integer linear programming (ITMILP) model is developed for supporting long-term planning of waste management activities in the City of Regina. In the ITMILP, both two-stage stochastic programming and interval linear programming are introduced into a general mixed integer linear programming framework. Uncertainties expressed as not only probability density functions but also discrete intervals can be reflected. The model can help tackle the dynamic, interactive and uncertain characteristics of the solid waste management system in the City, and can address issues concerning plans for cost-effective waste diversion and landfill prolongation. Three scenarios are considered based on different waste management policies. The results indicate that reasonable solutions have been generated. They are valuable for supporting the adjustment or justification of the existing waste flow allocation patterns, the long-term capacity planning of the City's waste management system, and the formulation of local policies and regulations regarding waste generation and management.     

On the Design of Computer-Based Models for Integrated Environmental Science

The current research agenda in environmental science is dominated by calls to integrate science and policy to better understand and manage links between social (human) and natural (nonhuman) processes. Freshwater resource management is one area where such calls can be heard. Designing computer-based models for integrated environmental science poses special challenges to the research community. At present it is not clear whether such tools, or their outputs, receive much practical policy or planning application. It is argued that this is a result of (1) a lack of appreciation within the research modeling community of the characteristics of different decision-making processes including policy, planning, and (2) participation, (3) a lack of appreciation of the characteristics of different decision-making contexts, (4) the technical difficulties in implementing the necessary support tool functionality, and (5) the socio-technical demands of designing tools to be of practical use. This article presents a critical synthesis of ideas from each of these areas and interprets them in terms of design requirements for computer-based models being developed to provide scientific information support for policy and planning. Illustrative examples are given from the field of freshwater resources management. Although computer-based diagramming and modeling tools can facilitate processes of dialogue, they lack adequate simulation capabilities. Component-based models and modeling frameworks provide such functionality and may be suited to supporting problematic or messy decision contexts. However, significant technical (implementation) and socio-technical (use) challenges need to be addressed before such ambition can be realized.     

Government policy and environmental protection in the developing world: The example of Nigeria

Environmental protection is a topical and controversial issue of contemporary Third World development. As a result of the growing crisis of environment and development as well as issues of global environmental balance, divergent views and proposals have been put forward by external governments, international agencies, and environmental groups in resolving the environmental degradation problems of the developing world. However, very little appraisal has been made of the efforts by indigenous Third World governments in facing up to their environmental conservation issues. This article examines the role of past and recent government environmental control policies and programs in Nigeria. The article analyzes three aspects of environmental protection: (1) the theoretical economic bases of environmental protection and the Nigerian approach to environmental protection, including traditional values and modern institutional control measures, the latter embracing nature conservation efforts; (2) environmental considerations in national development plans; and (3) the evolution of a federal environmental protection agency and a national policy on environment. Finally, the article discusses the future challenges and directions for environmental policy.     

Culture and the environment in France

Although the French concern for environmental protection dates back several centuries, a committed movement toward environmental protection did not begin until the second half of the 19th century. The Romantic influence of Rousseau and others led to the formation of various societies aimed at protecting the French landscape.Until the most recent environmental crusades of the 1960s and 1970s, the cause of protecting the natural environment seemed to fall largely on the shoulders of scientists and anglers, who voiced their concern over increasing environmental degradation in pamphlets and recreational journals. Their pressure aided in the passage of legislation on water quality.During the 1960s, environmental organizations proliferated and, in league with student activists, played an important role in raising the environmental consciousness of the French. During the 1970s, these activists began to turn to traditional political mobilization as a way of drawing attention to their platform. Environmental activism reached its peak with the antinuclear rallies of the late 1970s. By the end of the 1970s, many environmental associations had grown up in the French culture, but the future of environmentalism remains questionable owing to a number of economic realities, including the oil crisis, which made nuclear power much more acceptable to the public.     

填埋场环境影响评价决策支持系统的研究和开发

通过分析我国填埋场环评存在的问题，本文提出采用VB6．0的方法，基于知识推理来建立填埋环境影响评价决策支持系统（LEIADSS），使填埋场环评工作标准化。实例研究显示，利用VB6．0编程语言可以方便的完成该系统的设计，且能使环评工作快速、准确的完成。     

Inexact multistage stochastic integer programming for water resources management under uncertainty

In this study, an inexact multistage stochastic integer programming (IMSIP) method is developed for water resources management under uncertainty. This method incorporates techniques of inexact optimization and multistage stochastic programming within an integer programming framework. It can deal with uncertainties expressed as both probabilities and discrete intervals, and reflect the dynamics in terms of decisions for water allocation through transactions at discrete points of a complete scenario set over a multistage context. Moreover, the IMSIP can facilitate analyses of the multiple policy scenarios that are associated with economic penalties when the promised targets are violated as well as the economies-of-scale in the costs for surplus water diversion. A case study is provided for demonstrating the applicability of the developed methodology. The results indicate that reasonable solutions have been generated for both binary and continuous variables. For all scenarios under consideration, corrective actions can be undertaken dynamically under various pre-regulated policies and can thus help minimize the penalties and costs. The IMSIP can help water resources managers to identify desired system designs against water shortage and for flood control with maximized economic benefit and minimized system-failure risk.     

入世中国环境保护的挑战与机遇

本文着重分析了入世给中国环境保护事业带来的挑战和机遇。作者认为,入世在短期内将给中国的环境状况和环境保护带来沉重的压力;但从长远来看,入世将改善我国的环境状况并推动环境保护的发展。     

When unequals are treated equally: the 2002 commission of inquiry into Orica's Geomelt proposal

This paper deals with the Commission of Inquiry (COI) established by the NSW Department of Planning to examine Orica's proposal to build a Geomelt plant at its Botany site to destroy its stockpile of Hexachlorobenzene. The Inquiry is analysed in light of the literature on democracy/democratisation. The paper argues that the standard operating procedures of the Inquiry ensured that all stakeholders were treated equally. However, this equality was found to be purely formal, and drawing on the critique of formal equality dating back to Aristotle, it is argued that treating unequals equally results in the circumvention of deliberative democratic ideals by perpetuating entrenched structural inequalities while nonetheless giving the superficial appearance of fair play.     

Public reaction to the risks of energy technology

Implicit in every government decision on energy technology is a trade-off of a certain amount of risk in return for societal benefits. As a result of growing public concern over such risks, environmental analysts are increasingly being requested not only to describe potential adverse consequences but also to quantify their probability. However, this task is frustrated not only by inadequate experience with, and incomplete knowledge of, the causality of environmental impacts, but also by a disparity between individual and societal views of risk. While the societal view is based on objective risk functions andnet societal benefit, individuals tend to rely on subjective judgment, and consider the distribution as well as the amount of benefit. Thus, environmental risk assessments, produced by analysts on behalf of society as a whole, are likely to be quite speculative, and are unlikely to be reliable indicators of the acceptability of risk to the public.     

Improving planning through interactive methodological research

The Hawaii Environmental Simulation Laboratory (HESL) was a three year experiment in improving governmental decision making by developing better research methodologies for use by public decision making bodies and community organizations. Funded through the University of Hawaii by the Ford Foundation (FF) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), HESL conducted its researchinteractively with the intended users of its products. This paper sets the HESL experiment in the context of recent trends in applying better methodology to environmental decision making and involving citizens in these decisions. It describes the HESL effort, and then draws conclusions about both the effectiveness of the experiment and the way it was conducted, providing information that may be useful in guiding university groups, public agencies, and community organizations pursuing similar objectives.     

Lessons for PPGIS from the application of a decision-support tool in the Nova Forest Alliance of Nova Scotia, Canada

The effectiveness of a decision-support tool created to identify protected-area potential within the Nova Forest Alliance (NFA) of Nova Scotia, Canada is assessed from the perspective of a public participatory geographic information system (PPGIS) approach. The application sought to create an integrated GIS-based decision-support tool for community-focused communication and conservation assessment among NFA partners (including private woodland owners, government agencies, forest companies, and non-government organizations) and potential application within other model forests in Canada. The application illustrated that the GIS-based tool, once set up and populated with the necessary data, was able to generate effective visual alternatives to support decision making within the NFA community and elsewhere. However, from a PPGIS perspective, the application faced challenges that influenced the efficacy of its implementation: (1) limitations arose around data quality, use and sharing policies; (2) although opportunities for participation by the NFA partnership were initiated, these proved insufficient to achieve adequate engagement, buy in and support for the process and outcomes; and (3) the expert-grounded GIS-based tool requires a greater degree of expertise than may currently be present in the community. These challenges limit its ongoing use in the NFA and its potential utility in other model forests. For PPGIS-decision-support applications to be effective in the NFA and elsewhere, it is suggested that the following conditions be met: (1) implementation of geographically based data policies to allow for greater data accessibility, specifically with fewer bureaucratic and private sector barriers; (2) engagement of community partners in the initial project design, goal-setting and subsequent stages, even if this requires extensions to anticipated timelines; and (3) development of effective participatory technical systems that meet the needs of participants without being so complex as to constitute a barrier to their use.     

Application of spatial multi-criteria analysis to site selection for a local park: a case study in the Bergamo Province, Italy

This contribution discusses a site selection process for establishing a local park. It was supported by a value-focused approach and spatial multi-criteria evaluation techniques. A first set of spatial criteria was used to design a number of potential sites. Next, a new set of spatial and non-spatial criteria was employed, including the social functions and the financial costs, together with the degree of suitability for the park to evaluate the potential sites and to recommend the most acceptable one. The whole process was facilitated by a new software tool that supports spatial multiple criteria evaluation, or SMCE. The application of this tool, combined with a continual feedback by the public administration, has provided an effective methodology to solve complex decisional problem in land-use and urban planning.     

Development of a decision support system for Prioritization of multimedia dischargers

In 1990 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began sponsoring several pilot projects in its regional offices to examine the potential benefits of adopting a multimedia approach to facility management. This approach differs from traditional practices at EPA in that facilities (dischargers regulated under permits issued by the agency) are managed based upon their cumulative impacts to all media: air, water, and land. Currently, facilities are managed by separate programs at EPA that evaluate environmental impacts from a single-media perspective. One aspect of discharger management is the necessity to allocate limited financial resources in a way that will minimize risk to human health and the environment. A careful, risk-based prioritization of facilities is one means of providing insight to the most effective strategy of allocating monitoring, inspection, and enforcement resources. Prioritization from a multimedia perspective is particularly difficult, however, since it requires translation and integration of medium-specific facility performances, management objectives, and perceptions of risk into a cumulative rating. A computerized decision support system (DSS) designed to guide management through the prioritization process from a multimedia perspective was identified as a potentially valuable tool for use in the pilot projects. This article describes the development of such a prototype, outlines the features of the completed system, and discusses its potential for use at EPA.     

Adaptive management in the U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System: science-management partnerships for conservation delivery

Adaptive management is an approach to recurrent decision making in which uncertainty about the decision is reduced over time through comparison of outcomes predicted by competing models against observed values of those outcomes. The National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a large land management program charged with making natural resource management decisions, which often are made under considerable uncertainty, severe operational constraints, and conditions that limit ability to precisely carry out actions as intended. The NWRS presents outstanding opportunities for the application of adaptive management, but also difficult challenges. We describe two cooperative programs between the Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey to implement adaptive management at scales ranging from small, single refuge applications to large, multi-refuge, multi-region projects. Our experience to date suggests three important attributes common to successful implementation: a vigorous multi-partner collaboration, practical and informative decision framework components, and a sustained commitment to the process. Administrators in both agencies should consider these attributes when developing programs to promote the use and acceptance of adaptive management in the NWRS.     

Serving the Common Interest in U.S. Forest Policy: A Case Study of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act

In the United States, the common interest often is conceived as a by-product of the pluralist, interest-group-driven democratic process. Special interests dominate in many political arenas. Consequently, we have lost the language, vocabulary, and ability to talk about the common interest. The way to reverse this trend is to develop and practice with new tools that allow us to articulate what we mean by the common interest in specific contexts. In this article, we leveraged the literature on procedural, substantive, and pragmatic decision making to illustrate how they work together to demonstrate whether and how the common interest was served in three case studies of Healthy Forests Restoration Act implementation on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona. In two of the cases we found that the common interest was mostly served, while in the third case it was not. Our results raise questions about the ability of procedural criteria or substantive criteria alone to determine effectiveness in decision making. When evaluated together they provide a more complete understanding of how the common interest is or is not served.

乌鲁木齐市市民环境意识万人问卷调查报告

为贯彻全国和自治区第４次环保会议精神,了解和提高全市各族群众的环境意识,使环境保护基本国策深入人心,乌鲁木齐市环保局在１９９８年“六·五”世界环境日之际开展了以“关心环境保护,共建美丽首府”为主题的市民环境意识万人问卷活动。由全市７区１县及２个开发区环保局（站）协助,分别在政府机关、厂矿、学校、街头、摊点进行发放问卷活动。调查结果初步摸清了乌鲁木齐市在环境宣传教育中所取得的成效和存在的问题,为今后更好地加强环境宣传教育,普及环境科学知识,提高社会各界环境意识提供了参考信息。