Managing safety in hydropower projects in emerging markets – Experiences in developing from a reactive to a proactive approach

International companies investing in emerging markets need to address the management of safety under varying conditions. The paper presents an evaluation of the approaches taken by an international hydropower company in two different construction projects, one in India and one in the Philippines. In the first project, the company had to intervene as a reaction to poor safety and overall performance. Based on previous experiences, the company selected a proactive approach in the second project, involving use of the contracting process to ensure adequate conditions from the start of construction and onwards. The paper accounts for the safety performance results in the two projects and interprets them in relationship to external and internal influencing factors in the respective project. It is concluded that a proactive approach has the potential of delivering satisfactory safety results at moderate costs for follow-up. A reactive approach risks exposing the company to ethical and reputation risks due to a poor safety performance before the corrective actions have taken full effect. It is also resource demanding. Results demonstrate the feasibility of turning around a project’s safety performance also when preconditions are challenging.     

Decision on oil and gas exploration in an Arctic area: Case study from the Norwegian Barents Sea

This paper addresses how risks to the environment in the Arctic are handled in decisions regarding the exploration for petroleum resources. An exploration well in the Norwegian Barents Sea is used as a case to demonstrate how environmental risks are assessed together with technical and economic considerations in the Oil Company’s decisions to enter into a new area and drill a well. The paper outlines environmental challenges in petroleum activities in the Arctic, the different roles of the Authorities and Oil Companies in decisions about petroleum activities, and the Oil Company’s tools and decision criteria used in addressing risks in the decision making.It is concluded that environmental and associated reputation risks are not a major issue at the strategic level in the Oil Company, since the most controversial areas in the Norwegian Arctic offshore have already been kept out of the exploration acreage by the authorities. Risks and uncertainties penetrate every aspect of the exploration of petroleum resources, and environmental risks are not unique in this sense. The Oil Company has established technical and economic tools and decision criteria to address them, and the mitigation of environmental risks becomes an element in the technical and economic analyses that affect detailed design and operational procedures. Mitigation measures such as the minimization of discharges to the sea (the so-called “zero-discharge” policy) and oil spill contingency planning are dimensioned to meet authority requirements and expectations rather than on strict risk acceptance considerations. A significant concern is to avoid delays in the permit granting process.     

中国生物入侵的生态分布

生物入侵已被列为当今世界最为棘手的三大环境难题(生物入侵、全球气候变化和生境破坏)之一。文章阐述了我国生物入侵的现状，以时间和地理区域为尺度，初步探讨了生物入侵的生态分布特征。指出其特征是：生物入侵对生物多样性造成重大影响，入侵生物的数量逐年增加，具有时间动态性；生物入侵的分布具有纬度地带性规律，纬度越低生物入侵的现象越严重；入侵生物的数量具有地理区域性。     

Climate capacity:the measurement for adaptation to climate change

This article proposed the concept of"climate capacity"as a way of measuring human’s adaptiveness to climate change.This article also focused on the related concepts like ecological carrying capacity,water resources carrying capacity,land carrying capacity as well as population carrying capacity.The concept of climate capacity was articulated against a background of global climate and environmental change.Essentially,China’s efforts to adapt to climate change was a matter of improving climate capacity,which is the ecosystem as well as the frequency,the intensity and the scale of human’s social activities that the climatic resources of a particular geographic area were supposed to support.The climate capacity has two components.One is the natural climate capacity,which includes temperature,sunlight,precipitation,extreme climatic events,etc.The other is the derived climate capacity,which includes water resources,land resources,ecological systems,climatic risks,etc.The climate capacity can be developed or be transferred between regions by taking engineering,technology or regime-based adaptive measures.However,these adaptive measures must be implemented under the principle of economic rationalism,ecological integrity,climate protection,and social justice.It is expected that by combining the climate capacity and its threshold value with the assessment of climate change risks,we are able to predict the optimal population carrying capacity and the scale of socioeconomic development,and furthermore,provide policy support for the socioeconomic development strategy and adaptive planning.In the regions with high climate capacity,there is a symbiotic relationship between adaptation and socioeconomic development.But,in the regions with limited climate capacity,irrational development may further damage the environment.Taking the Yangtze River delta,a region with high climate capacity,and a region of Ningxia,a region with limited climate capacity,as illustrative examples,the authors of this article analyzed the policy implications of climate capacity and further made suggestions on the problems of capacitylimited adaptation and development-driven adaptation.This article argued that the concept of climate capacity can not only be used as an analytical instrument of climate change economics,but also it can provide research support for planning regional adaptation and development with climate change impact and risk assessments.     

北京申奥宣传中应体现可持续发展理念的几点建议

可持续发展已经作为一种理念成为全人类的共识和共同的追求。北京中奥应集中体现中国作为发展中国家的特点,可用持续发展理念来指导绿色奥运、人文奥运、科技奥运,打好三结合这张牌。     

组合施肥技术对黑土肥力影响的研究

采取定位试验的方法研究了组合施肥技术对土壤有机质、氮、磷的影响。结果表明,组合施肥较单施化肥土壤有机质含量增加1.8～3.3g/kg;土壤全氮增加0.05g/kg,速效氮(除Ⅱ处理外)增加6.6～44.6mg/kg;土壤全磷增加0.15～0.29g/kg.速效磷增加15.68～37.21mg/kg。土壤有机质增量为0.6～23g/kg;土壤氮素增量全氮增加0.002～0.25g/kg,速效氮增加11.6～39.4mg/kg;土壤磷素增量全磷增加0.09～0.24g/kg,速效磷增加23.59～57.28mg/kg。在保持土壤肥力有所提高的情况下,玉米大豆两年平均产量提高7.7％～17.3％,净收入提高19.4％～37.3％,由此可见,组合施肥技术应用前景广阔。     

阜新市产业结构调整与可持续发展战略研究

本文系统总结了国内外资源型衰退地区产业结构调整的经验及模式,并从区域竞争和创新思想出发,在分析阜新市产业结构调整与区域发展面临的核心问题,竞争优势的基础上,提出了阜新市区域发展战略模式及相关行动计划。     

Keeping pace with forestry: Multi-scale conservation in a changing production forest matrix

The multi-scale approach to conserving forest biodiversity has been used in Sweden since the 1980s, a period defined by increased reserve area and conservation actions within production forests. However, two thousand forest-associated species remain on Sweden’s red-list, and Sweden’s 2020 goals for sustainable forests are not being met. We argue that ongoing changes in the production forest matrix require more consideration, and that multi-scale conservation must be adapted to, and integrated with, production forest development. To make this case, we summarize trends in habitat provision by Sweden’s protected and production forests, and the variety of ways silviculture can affect biodiversity. We discuss how different forestry trajectories affect the type and extent of conservation approaches needed to secure biodiversity, and suggest leverage points for aiding the adoption of diversified silviculture. Sweden’s long-term experience with multi-scale conservation and intensive forestry provides insights for other countries trying to conserve species within production landscapes.

     

Sediment radioisotope dating across a stratigraphic discontinuity in a mining-impacted lake

Application of radioisotope sediment dating models to lakes subjected to large anthropogenic sediment inputs can be problematic. As a result of copper mining activities, Torch Lake received large volumes of sediment, the characteristics of which were dramatically different from those of the native sediment. Commonly used dating models (CIC-CSR, CRS) were applied to Torch Lake, but assumptions of these methods are violated, rendering sediment geochronologies inaccurate. A modification was made to the CRS model, utilizing a distinct horizon separating mining from post-mining sediment to differentiate between two focusing regimes. (210)Pb inventories in post-mining sediment were adjusted to correspond to those in mining-era sediment, and a sediment geochronology was established and verified using independent markers in (137)Cs accumulation profiles and core X-rays.