Infrastructure and Conservation Policy in Brazil

Abstract:  The development of transportation and energy infrastructure has been a major driver in the conversion of natural ecosystems in Brazil since the nineteenth century. Although this pattern is present in most countries, Brazil differs in the scale of opportunities that are still available to build its physical infrastructure while pursuing an ambitious conservation agenda. This advantage stems from the magnitude of intact ecosystems, a dynamic policy environment, and the increasing availability of biological and economic data needed to harmonize conservation with public works. Success depends on integrating conservation and infrastructure planning, rather than relying on the project based, largely ineffective environmental assessment process. Front-loading environmental mitigation and compensation will also help, as will improving public access to, and understanding of, information on the environmental and economic values at stake in major infrastructure decisions.     

Land Reform and Biodiversity Conservation in Brazil in the 1990s: Conflict and the Articulation of Mutual Interests

Abstract:  Land-reform and environmental movements, revitalized by the democratization of civil society in Brazil in the 1990s, found their objectives in conflict over forested parcels that settlers want for conversion to agriculture but that are important for wildlife conservation. In the Atlantic Forest, where 95% of the forest is gone, we reviewed three cases of Brazilian nongovernmental organization (NGOs) engagement with the land-reform movement with respect to forest remnants neighboring protected areas that have insufficient habitat for the long-term survival of unique endangered species. In the Pontal do Paranapanema (São Paulo), Poço das Antas (Rio de Janeiro), and southern Bahia, environmental NGOs have supported agricultural alternatives that improve livelihood options and provide incentives for habitat conservation planning. Where land-reform groups were better organized, technical cooperation on settlement agriculture permitted the exploration of mutual interests in conciliating the productive landscape with conservation objectives. Processes of regular consultation among NGOs, environmental agencies, and the private sector revealed that there was less zero-sum conflict over the same lands than commonly perceived. In both groups, technicians found forested lands less suitable for small-scale agriculture, and leaders took risks to justify and support claims to alternative existing agricultural lands. Based on the cases we examined, the construction of landscapes with both forest stewardship and poverty-reducing agrarian reform faces continued obstacles from contradictory agrarian and environmental sector policies and inadequate economic incentives for forest stewardship on private lands.     

Simple Spatial Modeling Tool for Prioritizing Prescribed Burning Activities at the Landscape Scale

Abstract:   Resources for prescribed fire are frequently insufficient to manage public lands for all conservation and resource management objectives, necessitating prioritization of the application of fire across the landscape within any given year. Defining tradeoffs when applying prescribed fire to large landscapes is problematic not only because of the complexity of weighing competing management objectives at the landscape scale, but also because of the difficult nature of independently applying need-to-burn criteria to large areas. We present a case study of a simple modeling process implemented at Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle (U.S.A.) to prioritize the application of prescribed fire. In a workshop setting, managers and biologists identified key conservation criteria and landscape management objectives that drive the application of prescribed fire. Remote sensing and other spatial data were developed to directly or indirectly represent all these criteria. Using geographic information system software, managers and biologists weighted each criterion according to its relative contribution to overall burn prioritization, and individual values for the criterion were scored according to how they influence the need to burn. Subsequently, this process has been validated and modified through ecological monitoring. This modeling process has also been applied to the 77,400-ha Blackwater River State Forest, public land adjacent to Eglin Air Force Base, demonstrating its applicability to lands with varying management priorities. The advantages of this model-based approach for prioritizing prescribed fire include the reliance on accessible, inexpensive software, the development of spatially explicit management objectives, the ease of transferability, and clearly stated assumptions about management that may be tested and reviewed through monitoring and public comment.     

完善土地利用总体规划有利于政府宏观管理

在社会主义市场经济体制的建立与发展的条件下,土地使用制度改革的日益深化,以及土地可持续利用日益被高度重视的新形势下,土地利用总体规划作为政府对土地利用实行宏观调控的有效手段,在规划修编时必须重点对规划目标、科学测算、用地平衡和规划协调等几个方面作进一步深入研究。同时,要通过切实可行的法律、行政的政策和措施,予以必要保障。     

Loading estimates of lead, copper, cadmium, and zinc in urban runoff from specific sources

Urban stormwater runoff is being recognized as a substantial source of pollutants to receiving waters. A number of investigators have found significant levels of metals in runoff from urban areas, especially in highway runoff. As an initiatory study, this work estimates lead, copper, cadmium, and zinc loadings from various sources in a developed area utilizing information available in the literature, in conjunction with controlled experimental and sampling investigations. Specific sources examined include building siding and roofs; automobile brakes, tires, and oil leakage; and wet and dry atmospheric deposition. Important sources identified are building siding for all four metals, vehicle brake emissions for copper and tire wear for zinc. Atmospheric deposition is an important source for cadmium, copper, and lead. Loadings and source distributions depend on building and automobile density assumptions and the type of materials present in the area examined. Identified important sources are targeted for future comprehensive mechanistic studies. Improved information on the metal release and distributions from the specific sources, along with detailed characterization of watershed areas will allow refinements in the predictions.     

混凝法处理废乳化液的研究

采用聚合硫酸铁（PFS）和聚合氯化铝（PAC）处理废乳化液，适宜的pH范围为pH≤8，在废乳化液CODcr为7000－35000mg/L时，PFS较佳投加量为0.46-0.56g/L,PAC较佳投加量为1.5-3.5g/L,CODcr去除率均可达94％以上。出水经分析表明，PFS和PAC混凝对废乳化液中的脂类和羧酸盐均有较好的效果，并且B／C由0.12分别提高到0.58和0.55，大大改善废乳化液的可生化性。     

Investigation on the influence of methanol on adsorption and leaching of pesticides with soil column liquid chromatography

The effect of methanol of low concentration on adsorption and leaching of atrazine and tebuconazole was studied in this paper. The adsorption coefficients and the retardation factors (R^m) of pesticides on EUROSOIL 3# log-linearly decreased as volumetric fraction of methanol (f^c) was increased in the binary solvent mixtures of methanol and water. These data are consistent with solvophobic theory formerly outlined for describing the adsorption and transport of hydrophobic organic chemicals from mixed solvents. Nevertheless, the adsorption of these pesticides in soil–water system slightly increased when the soil was pre-washed with methanol in comparison with that pre-washed with water (pure water system). Furthermore, their adsorption coefficients were still higher in binary solvent systems with methanol of very low concentrations, i.e. f^c<0.03 for atrazine and f^c<0.01 for tebuconazole, than those in pure water system. The adsorption coefficients (logK^w) of atrazine and tebuconazole predicted by solvophobic theory were 0.5792 and 1.6525, respectively, and their experimental logK^w were 0.3701 and 1.6275 in pure water system. Obviously, the predicted logK^w of the two pesticides was higher than the experimental log K^w in pure water system. The predicted K^w and the retardation factor (R^w) in pure water system by solvophobic theory are thus possibly inaccurate.     

基于AHP和比较可能度关系的列控车载系统安全可靠性分析

列控车载系统是保证行车安全的重要系统,其对安全可靠性的要求极高。从人、机和环境3个方面,针对列控车载系统的特点,在分析列控车载系统各安全影响因素的基础上,利用层次分析法建立各影响因素间的关联关系,并充分考虑指标环境的不确定性和决策者思维的模糊性,构建三角模糊数互补判断矩阵。其次,运用三角模糊数比较可能度关系理论,集结所有指标比较的可能度,构建可能度关系比较矩阵。利用三角模糊数矩阵转换关系将可能度关系比较矩阵转换为模糊一致性判断矩阵,在此基础上求解各指标的各层单排序及总排序向量。最后,结合具体算例指出列控车载系统安全可靠性的关键影响因素,以及实际运行当中可能存在的问题并提出决策优化建议。     

一种三元复合型细水雾洗消氯气的性能及机理研究

采用由亚铁（Fe^2＋）盐、表面活性剂（OP）和清水组成的三元复合型洗消剂对液氯泄漏进行模拟洗消实验研究,其洗消效率比清水细水雾有显著提高。通过对比实验考察了添加剂的浓度和洗消时间对其洗消效率的影响,并对雾滴粒径进行了测量。研究结果表明洗消剂中各成分之间的物理化学耦合作用提高了含添加剂的细水雾的洗消效率,表面活性剂组分可以降低溶液的表面张力,减小雾滴粒径,增大细水雾与氯气的接触面积;而亚铁盐组分则可以与氯气发生化学反应,将强氧化性的Cl2完全转变为较稳定的Cl-,增强洗消剂的化学洗消作用,且洗消效果更加彻底。     

Shrinkage and fragmentation of grasslands in the West Songnen Plain,China

In the past century, especially the past five decades, the grasslands of the West Songnen Plain, Northeast China, were rapidly converted into croplands and salinized wasteland, and experienced a fragmentation process that is still ongoing. Almost no information is available on the spatial-temporal changes of grasslands in this area. In this study, grassland cover change, agricultural reclamation and salinized wasteland expansion were investigated during the past five decades. Grassland fragmentation was studied based on four landscape metrics. The grassland cover change was detected from a time series of topographic maps from 1954, satellite images of Landsat TM in 1986, 1995, and 2000 using remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS). In addition, the land use changes were analyzed using a transition matrix of land use types, while the driving forces were explored according to climatic changes and socioeconomic developments. The results indicated a significant decrease in grassland area. Of the 1 418 945 ha of native grassland in 1954, approximately 64% was removed by 2000, while the number of patches (NP) increased from 865 to 2035 and the mean patch size (MPS) decreased from 1640 ha to 252 ha. During the whole study period, the average annual decrease rate of grassland was 34 894 ha/year. Cropland and salinized wasteland were the two main land use types into which grassland converted. During the past decades, obvious climatic changes occurred, which supplied a favorable potential environment for agricultural development but damaged grassland productivity. On the other hand, population, GDP and livestock number increased significantly as grassland quality decreased. According to the results, the shrinkage and fragmentation of grasslands may well be explained by socioeconomic development and aided by changing climatic conditions.