Barriers Beyond the Partners: Bureaucratic and Political Constraints to Implementing Joint Forest Management in Tamil Nadu,India

Whereas past research has treated co-management of common pool resources as if villagers and project implementing authorities were the only relevant actors, numerous external factors beyond the control of these two partners create barriers to successful co-management. This paper draws on discussions with Forest Department officials to examine the influence of these forces on the outcomes of Joint Forest Management (JFM) in Tamil Nadu, India. An empirical inquiry into the operational aspects of JFM indicates the important roles of political parties, powerful people, and other state institutions and functionaries as well as the flow of foreign funding. Further, the strong demand by local people for socio-economic development interventions as opposed to improvement of degraded forests belittles the role of the Forest Department relative to other departments. Numerous other conditioning factors and relationships are explored. The authors call for reforms in public governance to allow better participation of all the actors involved for this participatory management approach to succeed and sustain.     

Perceptions toward stewardship among residents living near U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Facilities

Although stewardship has been widely defined and used in environmental management and planning, there is a dearth of studies that describe how the lay public perceives this concept. A national sample of residents in 14 states who live near DOE nuclear facilities were interviewed to delineate public understanding and awareness of the stewardship program of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This study discusses the findings of the survey and discusses how institutional trust influences public participation and resident’s choices of potential stewards. Almost 40% of the respondents could not define stewardship; those who did, believed that ‘responsibility,’ ‘management,’ and ‘accountability’ are key elements of stewardship. In addition, about a third of the respondents identified Federal groups and the DOE as potential stewards. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue     

Effects of ocean temperature on the southern range limits of two understory kelps, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pterygophora californica</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Eisenia arborea</Emphasis>, at multiple life-stages

Environmental factors have long been shown to influence species distributions, with range limits often resulting from environmental stressors exceeding organism tolerances. However, these abiotic factors may differentially affect species with multiple life-history stages. Between September 2004 and January 2006, the roles of temperature and nutrient availability in explaining the southern distributions of two understory kelps, Pterygophora californica and Eisenia arborea (Phaeophyceae, Laminariales), were investigated along the coast of California, USA and the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico, by limiting either: (a) tissue nitrogen uptake and storage by adult sporophytes during periods of elevated temperature, and/or (b) production of embryonic sporophytes by microscopic gametophytes. Results suggest that while adult sporophytes of both species are tolerant of high temperatures and low nutrients, reproduction by their microscopic stages is not. Specifically, while E. arborea produced embryonic sporophytes at both 12 and 18°C, temperatures commonly observed throughout the southern portion of its range, P. californica produced sporophytes at 12 but not at 18°C. As a result, it appears that the southern distribution of P. californica, which ends in northern Baja California, Mexico, may be limited by temperature acting on its microscopic stages. In contrast, the ability of E. arborea’s microscopic and adult stages to tolerate elevated temperatures allows it to persist in the warmer southern waters of Baja California, as well as to the north along the California coast where both species co-occur.     

GCM-based analysis of water availability along the Tone River and Tokyo Metropolitan Area under climatic changes

Tone River supplies most of the water requirements of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area (TMA). Lowering of Tone flow and yearly fluctuation, however, is causing water shortage along TMA nowadays. This study investigated the future water availability scenarios under climatic changes. A state-of-the-art approach to utilize the output of several GCM has been demonstrated to investigate the future water availability scenarios for TMA from the Tone River. An integrated modeling approach for water balance considering several hydrological risk indices was adopted to quantify the future changes in this case. It is observed that the future summer precipitation along the Tone basin is going to be increased considerably, while an almost constant or decreasing trend is observed for winter season. Natural flow availability for winter or spring seasons thus can be crucial under future scenarios. After reservoir routing, the hydrological risk indices estimated, however, were not found to be changed significantly due to the presence of a robust reservoir system at the upstream.     

SUSTAINABILITY AT THE LOCAL LEVEL: MANAGEMENT TOOLS AND MUNICIPAL TAX INCENTIVE MODEL

The implementation of sustainable development may seem a simple concept when written on paper. However to carry-out long term actions put forward by the Agenda 21 (AG21) at the local level represents one of the main challenges as municipal governments in general do not have the capacity to effectively implement the process. Regional environmental assessment (REA) has shown to be effective in supporting decision-making not only to correct environmental problems due to past unsustainable social-economic developments but also help local governments to implement sustainable actions. However this requires long-term investments of AG21 plans and projects. The allocation of regular and consistent financial resources is one of the main ingredients for the sustainable development process. But traditional plans and projects financed by national and/or international funds may not be sustainable in the long-term because they become dependent on external funding. Research demonstrate that innovative economic instruments such as ecotaxes represent a feasible alternative to sponsor local sustainability because taxes are collected permanently by the government and could be invested in continuous actions. Ecotaxes experiences have provided important reference to structure a municipal incentive model (MIM) to sponsor AG21’s environmental plans and projects on a long-term (permanent) basis. However sustainable development cannot be solely through economic investments. A comprehensive municipal environmental management scheme (MEMS) has been established to support the incentive model. The scheme seeks not only to improve local institutional framework but also incentive continuous participation of local stakeholders at all levels of society. Participatory events and the provision of incentives (educational and financial) are key to motivate society to protect the environment and support actively the sustainable development process as emphasised in the RIO-92 Conference.     

乡镇工业污染防治战略初探

本文通过对乡镇工业经济发展现状及其环境问题的评价分析,提出乡镇工业环境管理应按本地自然条件、经济发展水平和乡镇企业的特点,实施分区域、按行业、有重点地进行管理的防治战略。并建议我国环境管理在以城市和大工业为重点的同时,及早将乡镇工业污染防治工作放在战略高度加以重视,切实加强乡镇工业环境管理。     

中国经济的“阿基米德支点”

资源是经济发展的“阿基米德支点”：世界十大经济国每年能源的生产占全球的６２．１％，消费为７１．０％。重要矿产资源的生产多排在世界前１０名生产国之，外面是消费则多排在１０名之内，且对这些矿产资源的消费量多在９５％以上。     

基于卫星遥感气溶胶产品评估体系的气溶胶时空分布及变化趋势表征

卫星遥感气溶胶虽然空间覆盖度高,但不同产品数据在准确性和适用性上存在显著差异.为了能够科学定量的衡量各个产品的优劣,选择最合适的气溶胶产品,该研究以数学统计为基础,提出了一种卫星遥感气溶胶产品评估体系,并依此确定了全球6个人口密集地区的最优卫星数据集,在此基础上开展了近10年的（2009—2018）气溶胶时空变化分析.结果表明暗像元算法在植被覆盖度高的地区表现最好,深蓝算法在亮地表的沙漠干旱地区更占优势,而暗像元-深蓝融合算法在土地类型复杂且气溶胶来源多变时得以突出.人口密集的6个区域中,除了区域A和区域B,其它地区的大气污染水平整体偏高.其中,A、B、E的气溶胶负荷呈下降变化,区域F基本不变,其余区域上升变化.评估体系的建立为气溶胶遥感产品的选取提供了新的衡量方法,且该文关于气溶胶时空分布及变化的分析可以为区域性气溶胶研究提供一定的参考价值.     

中国原油进口来源国供应安全的定量评估

原油供给安全在中国国家安全中占有重要地位,对其定量评估可为防范风险提供政策参考。采用事件数据分析法定量测度中国与21个主要原油进口来源国之间的双边关系,结果表明：中国与大多数原油贸易伙伴的关系处于中低水平,但近十多年总体保持上升趋势,原油进口存在一定的政治关系风险但趋于下降。选用资源、政治、经济、运输、军事5个方面的11个指标,通过组合赋权法确定指标权重,运用集对分析方法评估中国21个原油进口来源国的供应安全度,并识别主要障碍因子。结果表明：21国供应安全度存在较大差异。部分中东国家、俄罗斯、委内瑞拉、哈萨克斯坦供应安全度较高,多数非洲国家和亚太国家供应安全度较低。供应国的原油资源状况、运输风险、政治风险是制约多数国家供应安全的主要障碍因素。为防范风险,中国需坚持开展多边“能源外交”,扩大战略石油储备等多方面施策方针。