Local Institutional Development and Organizational Change for Advancing Sustainable Urban Water Futures

This paper presents the local institutional and organizational development insights from a five-year ongoing interdisciplinary research project focused on advancing the implementation of sustainable urban water management. While it is broadly acknowledged that the inertia associated with administrative systems is possibly the most significant obstacle to advancing sustainable urban water management, contemporary research still largely prioritizes investigations at the technological level. This research is explicitly concerned with critically informing the design of methodologies for mobilizing and overcoming the administrative inertia of traditional urban water management practice. The results of fourteen in-depth case studies of local government organizations across Metropolitan Sydney primarily reveal that (i) the political institutionalization of environmental concern and (ii) the commitment to local leadership and organizational learning are key corporate attributes for enabling sustainable management. A typology of five organizational development phases has been proposed as both a heuristic and capacity benchmarking tool for urban water strategists, policy makers, and decision makers that are focused on improving the level of local implementation of sustainable urban water management activity. While this investigation has focused on local government, these findings do provide guideposts for assessing the development needs of future capacity building programs across a range of different institutional contexts.     

Place-based local governance and sustainable communities: lessons from Canadian biosphere reserves

The quest for sustainable communities might be fostered by a new ‘place-based’ governing approach that engages civil society and other actors in local decision-making processes. In Canada, lessons can be learned from the establishment and maintenance of biosphere reserves by networks of local communities of interests and other organisations. Biosphere reserves are created to promote conservation, biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods. Municipal and public participation in these reserves can be encouraged, promoting a local sense of place as well as sustainable community and regional development. An examination of two Canadian biosphere reserves, Riding Mountain and Long Point, illustrates how local governments and these reserves might assist each other in their mutual goals of long-term sustainability while offering a worthwhile model of local collaborative, place-based governance.     

自然资源合理利用与经济可持续发展

论文从理论上区分自然资源在经济发展过程中的代价性损失、市场失灵导致的过度性损失I和政府失灵导致的过度性损失II开始,分析了合理利用资源的度就是保证资源利用在代价性损失范围以内。然后从计算是否存在过度性损失入手,间接衡量了合理利用资源的度,进而判断资源利用是否符合代价性损失的标准。其中,分别以森林资源和土地资源为例,讨论了计算过度性损失I和II的方法,测算了S市某林场的过度性损失I和中国1989至1996和1999至2002年间的农地非农化的过度性损失II。结果显示,随着碳价格的变化,所研究林场的过度性损失I(提前砍伐年数)从0年增加到12年,社会净损失也从0增加到9954元h/m²。中国在两阶段内农地非农化过度性损失II共计596548hm²,占这两阶段农地非农化总数量的37.33%。文章最后提供了协调自然资源利用与经济可持续发展的途径。     

我国环境信息公开现状、问题与对策

环境信息公开是一项基础性、全局性工作。它不仅是公众参与环境保护的前提条件,也是推进我国环境管理工作全方位提升的重要手段。我国环境信息公开工作近年来进展迅速,但仍存在关键性环境信息严重缺失等现象,不仅无法满足社会及政府环境管理工作的需要,有时甚至会影响到社会稳定。本文从政府、企业、社会的不同层面和不同角度分析了我国环境信息公开存在的问题及其产生原因,并在此基础上从法律法规、组织监管和沟通协调等方面提出了一系列改进建议,包括:1加强组织领导,任命副部级官员主管环境信息公开工作;2推动国务院出台《环境信息公开条例》,推动各类环境政策法规纳入信息公开条款;3加强与社会各界的沟通和互动,充分发挥社会组织的作用;4建立主要污染源环境信息公开平台,刺激企业改进环境表现;5加强对地方政府环境信息公开工作的督查、考核、评价及表现公开;6加强各级政府环境信息公开能力建设;7实现环保部及环保系统内部数据信息统一管理、协调共享;8全面改善环境数据质量;9细化环境信息公开政策,包括环境风险及健康信息公开政策;10加强与其他部委关于环境信息公开工作的合作与协调。     

浅议环境经济手段在我国的应用

随着经济的快速发展，环境污染问题成为制约我国经济进一步发展的瓶颈之一，严重地阻碍着我国经济与社会可持续发展战略的实施。指出了环境污染问题的特征，分析了以行政干预为主的方法本身所造成的缺陷，提出必须运用适当的环境经济手段来促进环保事业的发展。同时提出了选择环境经济手段的思路，并对其理论渊源、现状和前景等方面进行了分析。     

重庆岩溶区土壤-植被生态系统探讨

岩溶地区土壤和植被是生态环境中最为敏感的自然环境要素,不同土壤类型塑造了不同的土地利用类型和植被景观。文章分析了重庆岩溶形成的地质背景,土壤类型分布特征及其不同土地利用下石漠化程度,论述了植被演替规律;并在此基础上提出了适生植物树种及其重庆岩溶地区土壤一植被生态系统恢复与建设的可行性措施。     

核与辐射安全监管大数据平台建设策略研究

核能与核技术利用事业的快速发展为我国经济社会发展提供了强大的助推力,但也使得我国面临的核与辐射安全风险日益加大,对核与辐射安全监管的需求与日俱增。当前,我国核与辐射安全监管工作挑战与机遇并存。介绍了我国核与辐射安全监管工作开展现状,分析了其中存在的困难与问题,提出亟需利用信息化及大数据技术,推动我国核与辐射安全监管现代化进程。基于我国核与辐射安全监管数据现状,提出了促进我国核与辐射安全监管数据管理水平提升的几点措施,包括完善数据管理体制,提升数据管理技术,转变数据管理思维,树立数据共享意识等。此外,详细阐述了核与辐射安全监管大数据建设策略,包括总体架构、建设目标、主要任务等。     

论新时期中国共产党在经济发展中的执行力

执行力对执政的中国共产党来说至关重要,关乎其执政地位的巩固。中国目前是党领导一切。要认识到政党政府在宏观调控、微观参与、经济发展配套设施提供方面对经济发展不可或缺的作用,接下来的问题就是如何提升政府执行力,使政党政府通过宏观调控、微观参与行为在经济领域达到更好的效果。本文在分析我党在执行力方面存在的问题的基础上,提出了提高我党执行力的若干建议。     

媒体报道、政府监管与企业环境信息披露

在中国经济和媒体环境发生巨大变革的情况下,外部压力对上市公司环境信息披露的影响研究面临新的社会背景。基于传播学议程设置理论、关注理论与信号传递理论,本文以2016年沪深A股八大重污染行业的315家上市公司为研究对象,研究了媒体报道与政府监管对上市公司环境信息披露水平的影响。其中,媒体类型既考虑了传统纸媒,也考虑了以新浪微博为代表的网络新媒体,政府监管方面采用2014年调整后的PITI指数对监管力度进行评价。研究发现,媒体报道数量越大,上市公司环境信息披露的内容越丰富,但并不能提高其信息披露质量;上市公司环境信息披露质量主要受媒体报道倾向性的影响,而媒体报道的数量对其影响较弱;地方政府对企业环境信息公开的监管力度对企业环境信息披露的影响并不显著。此外,随着地方政府监管力度的加大,媒体对企业的关注度下降,导致政府监管在媒体监督企业环境信息过程中具有一定的削弱作用。研究表明,随着近年来生态环境保护法制化进程的大力推进,环境制度约束相对舆论监督,在企业信息披露过程中发挥着越来越重要的作用。     

Government to Citizens (G2C) communication and use of social media in the post-disaster reconstruction phase

Post-disaster reconstruction (PDR) poses specific and complex challenges that government agencies have to deal with. Existing crisis management and communication models as well as literature on social media adoption by public organisations tend to focus on the critical stage, neglecting the issues that arise when the social, physical and cultural environments affected by a disaster have to be rebuilt. Conversely, this paper presents some preliminary findings on the Government to Citizen (G2C) communications and social media usage in PDR settings. The PDR process that followed the earthquakes in Emilia-Romagna (Northern Italy) in 2012 was used as a case study. Data derived from field notes and multiple-choice questionnaires revealed that government agencies provided information mainly about housing and infrastructure and financing and that they addressed this information to all citizens, although information was sometimes targeted specifically to business people, homeowners and members of community-based groups. Government officers gave preference to face-to-face contacts, Web portals and printed material. Social media were used predominantly as additional means of communication of PDR-related information, thus underrating their potential for community engagement and G2C bidirectional communication. In the discussions, findings are integrated into and validated against literature and communication theories.