Governance of Complex Socio-Environmental Risks: The Case of Hazardous Chemicals in the Baltic Sea

Complex socio-environmental risks challenge society. In response to scientific uncertainty and socio-political controversies, environmental governance, precaution, and the ecosystem approach to management are held forward as complements to governmental risk-based sector-restricted regulation. We analyze this development for hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea. Based on interviews and policy analysis, we study informal governance and, in particular, four central EU and international policies, and investigate how present governance relates to risks and objectives at hand. While showing emergence of broader governance approaches, we conclude that central objectives will not likely be met. Furthermore, we question the quest for broad environmental governance and emphasize the value of command and control regulation, if it implements precaution. These findings contribute to the theorizing on environmental (risk) governance. Finally, we provide some ideas that could help development and implementation of risk policies for hazardous chemicals in the Baltic Sea as well as other complex risks.     

城镇化过程中的碳排放来源

改革开放以来,我国城镇化呈现快速发展趋势。2013年城镇化率达到53.7%,年均增长3.10%,是建国至改革开放之前城镇化年均增长率(1.75%)的近2倍。与此同时,碳排放总量增长至35年前的6.2倍,人均碳排放增长至35年前的4.4倍。城镇化过程伴随着高碳排放,增长速率高于城镇化发展速度。这预示着我国未来城镇化发展将面临巨大的高碳排放压力。如何降低城镇化过程中的碳排放成为亟待解决的问题。本文将城镇化过程中导致高碳排放的各因素归纳为经济、政治两项因素,对我国城镇化过程中工业、建筑、交通、地方政府等导致高碳排放结果的行为加以区分。研究发现,城镇化过程中的工业高碳排放、建筑面积扩张与其使用效率的背离、交通出行需求量的持续上升、居民生活水平提高带来的消费力增加,城市低密度扩张以及其背后地方政府官员考核机制与地方财税制度的弊端,是我国目前城镇化呈现高碳发展状态的主要原因。由此可见,过去的城镇化发展模式非低碳、非持续是有其深刻的经济与政治原因的。中长期的低碳转型只有把经济手段和制度调整结合,低碳发展理念才有可能实现。     

Explosion of solvent vapor in a ring partition of the floating roof

The relative importance of the vapor cloud explosion (VCE) hazard has grown in recent years. Many of large disasters were attributed to the VCE. This article introduced an explosion accident of solvent vapor in a ring partition of floating roof in detail. Source of explosive materials and ignition reason were analyzed, and the blast equivalency in ring partition was estimated in the specific conditions. The case would provide a reference for preventing the similar accident.     

基于可拓联系云模型的隧道塌方风险等级评价方法

为准确预测隧道塌方风险等级,基于塌方相关理论和工程实际,建立塌方风险等级评价因子体系,借助云理论中云雾化现象检验采用综合权重方法确定的评价因子权重,利用物元可拓理论与联系云模型实现评价因子定性与定量之间的转换,提出1种基于可拓联系云的隧道塌方风险等级评价方法。计算待评价物元与联系云模型间的综合确定度,结合模糊等级特征值确定塌方风险等级,并引入距离相似性判断风险的演变趋势。研究结果表明:可拓联系云模型评价结果与实际塌方风险等级一致,模型可以较好地适用于隧道塌方风险等级评价。     

Human rights and proactive displacement: determining the appropriate balance between the duty to protect and the right to remain

The proactive displacement by public authorities of populations from areas perceived to be exposed to a high risk of disaster presents complex human rights challenges. Provided that no ulterior motive is at play, the use of compulsory evacuations and relocations as policy responses to such risk is mandated by the duty to protect the right to life. However, proactive displacement in the interest of saving lives can be problematic as such measures can lead to the limitation of other human rights, resulting in an intricate assessment of whether compulsory evacuation or permanent relocation is proportional in any given circumstance. Such an analysis demands critical attention by public authorities to the perception of the disaster risk in question and problematises claims to objectivity of official risk assessments. Furthermore, it poses the question as to whether measures designed to address the disaster risk in question that are less intrusive than relocation may be available to public authorities.     

Socioeconomic backwardness and vulnerability to climate change: evidence from Uttar Pradesh state in India

This study tests the thesis that ‘vulnerability to climate change is not only a result of biophysical events alone but also influenced by the socioeconomic conditions in which climate change occurs’. The study chose Uttar Pradesh (UP), a state in India, for its importance in the nation's food and nutrition security programme and its high sensitivity to climate change. It uses an indicator approach to see which districts of UP are the most vulnerable to climate change, and attempts to identify the factors on a set of explanatory variables. The study finds that infrastructurally and economically developed districts are less vulnerable to climate change; in other words, vulnerability to climate change and variability is linked with social and economic development. This observation is corroborated by the findings of relational analysis wherein livestock, forestry, consumption of fertilizer, per capita income, and infant mortality rate are observed to be important correlates of vulnerability to climate change.     

基于1NM1模型的环保信息系统模式构建及其技术实现

环保信息化建设是一项复杂的系统工程,它需要充分考虑地域差异、业务差异、标准差异以及各层级数据之间的互联互通等问题。本文从顶层设计角度提出了1NM1信息化理论模型及其系统架构,并提出一个熵值公式来表示整个系统信息化的复杂程度。1NM1模型用来描述并指导在一个具有M个层级,每个层级又有N个部门,且层级和部门之间各具特色的组织中如何建设遵循统一平台、统一标准的统一化信息系统。该系统按照"云"加"端"的总分架构进行设计,并将整个系统分为云平台(Joint Cloud)和端平台(Joint OS)两个部分。通过云平台来对本级节点各类应用的数据和业务进行整合,然后利用端平台对本级节点新应用系统进行构建。1NM1模型的提出,不仅可为环保信息化的顶层设计、系统各层级之间的业务协同以及信息资源的整合提供一种新的解决思路,也可为其他行业的信息化建设提供理论指导与借鉴。     

浊点萃取分光光度法测定水中Cr(Ⅵ)

利用二苯碳酰二肼显色,Triton X-100-正辛醇浊点萃取,建立了一种分光光度法测定水中Cr(Ⅵ)的新方法,并探讨了不同测定条件对测定效果的影响。优化后的测定条件为(总体积50 mL)1 mol/L稀硫酸加入量1.0mL、2 g/L二苯碳酰二肼溶液加入量1.5 mL、10 g/L Triton X-100溶液加入量1.5 mL、3 g/L苯甲酸溶液加入量4.0mL、正辛醇加入量5.0 mL。Cr(Ⅵ)质量浓度在0~20μg/L范围内符合朗伯-比尔定律,线性回归方程的相关系数为0.995 5。该方法应用于水样中痕量Cr(Ⅵ)的测定,相对标准偏差小于2.5%,加标回收率为95.7%。     

Building community resilience: can everyone enjoy a good life?

Initiatives to reduce community carbon emissions and foster sustainable lifestyles have had varying degrees of success. There is now a need for a re-energised, concerted and joined-up approach that places environmental issues in a wider context – one that improves quality of life while building community resilience. This involves enhancing the capacity of neighbourhoods to recover, respond and adapt to environmental and socio-economic changes. This paper examines the experience gained in a participatory action research (PAR) study to build community resilience, where facilitators supported residents to take ownership of their own agendas. The New Earswick Good Life Initiative (GLI) was an 18-month project undertaken in a low-income suburb of York (UK). A range of approaches were used to identify activities which had the most potential to nurture resilience and foster a shift towards greater environmental sustainability. The GLI highlighted how the introduction of new ideas not only need to be locally relevant but also requires care and time in order for them to embed within community. Altering the way a community manages its environment involves transforming social relationships, strengthening institutions and influencing local power balances. Furthermore, it is necessary to build social capital, knowledge, leadership skills and support social networks to allow communities to effectively engage with relevant local and national policies. Only by providing opportunities to develop these resilient attributes can increased local responsibility be successful. The paper concludes by providing guidance on strengthening community resilience and delivering pro-environmental behaviour change.     

A framework for reforming India's forest biodiversity management regime

India's forest biodiversity management regime is analysed at the policy, legal and institutional levels, from the perspective of the triple objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the principles of the Indian constitution. The forest biodiversity management regime has both structural and functional flaws that render it largely incapable of facing the challenge of increasing biodiversity degradation and deepening poverty among the Adivasis and other forest‐dependent communities. The paper argues for the reform of the forest biodiversity management regime and offers recommendations in regard to most aspects of the regime, with a view of putting the country's conservation enterprise on a course that is effective, sustainable and inclusive, rejecting the report of the High Power Committee (HPC) (also known as the Subramanian Committee), which is premised on easing corporate access to forests.