Interaction Between the Environment and Animals in Urban Settings: Integrated and Participatory Planning

In urban ecosystems, the ecological system has become completely unbalanced; this, in turn, has led to an increase in well-known problems such as air pollution, ground pollution, and water pollution. This imbalance has also led to the growth and spread of pathogens harmful to man, animals, and plants. Urban sustainability indicators, both global and local, also “indicate” the percentage of population, but these refer only to the human population, not the animal population. Cities need good waste, water, and air management, effective traffic planning, and good zoning of businesses, crafts, and services; over and above these activities, cities also need for planning to take into account the existence of pets (dogs, cats, and etc.) and nonpet animals (insects, birds, mice, etc.). Cities tend to be designed around humans and “on a human scale,” without taking into account the fact that a huge animal population is living side by side with people. That explains why overcrowding tends to go hand in hand with urbanization; all these populations, including humans, need to adapt to new spaces and often need to drastically change their behavior. This is a fact that must be included when drafting sustainable city plans. The supposed strategy is that of “integrated-participatory” control of the interactions between the environment and animals in the cities. Strategy will focus on the development of integrated approaches and tools for environment and animal management in the context of urban settings. This will require such specific methods as ecological balance sheets and ecoplans for the planning, management, and control of the interrelation among environment, animal, and public health. The objective is to develop a better understanding of urban biodiversity and of urban ecosystem functioning, in order to understand and minimize the negative impacts of human activities on them. The research will focus on assessing and forecasting changes in urban biodiversity, structure, function, and dynamics of urban ecosystems, with relationships among society, economy, biodiversity, and habitats.     

Why Won’t They Come? Stakeholder Perspectives on Collaborative National Forest Planning by Participation Level

Collaboration has taken root in national forest planning, providing expanded opportunities for stakeholder participation in decision-making, but are these processes considered meaningful by key stakeholders? Do the processes result in increased participation by key stakeholders? We present results of a study of stakeholder perspectives of a collaborative planning process on the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests in Western Colorado, U.S.A. The stakeholders were stratified by participation levels in order to explore a possible relationship between participation and perceptions of the collaborative process. We used a Q-methodology approach to compare and contrast perspectives across participant levels in the North Fork Valley Landscape Working Group process. The results demonstrate four distinct perspectives on the collaborative process: 1) The collaborative process is valued by the Forest Service and will directly influence planning decisions; 2) The Forest Service, the collaborative process, and other stakeholders are not to be trusted; 3) The collaborative process is most effective when emphasizing place-specific dialogue that primarily involves stakeholders educating the Forest Service about issues; and 4) Forest planning involves issues requiring the application of scientific knowledge and expertise rather than collaboration. These perspectives were not strongly associated with participation levels, with time constraint being the primary mediating factor affecting participation. There are several possible actions policymakers and planners can take to enhance participation and overcome high rates of nonparticipation.     

Improvements on Flood Alleviation in Germany: Lessons Learned from the Elbe Flood in August 2002

The increase in damage due to natural disasters is directly related to the number of people who live and work in hazardous areas and continuously accumulate assets. Therefore, land use planning authorities have to manage effectively the establishment and development of settlements in flood-prone areas in order to avoid the further increase of vulnerable assets. Germany faced major destruction during the flood in August 2002 in the Elbe and Danube catchments, and many changes have been suggested in the existing German water and planning regulations. This article presents some findings of a “Lessons Learned” study that was carried out in the aftermath of the flood and discusses the following topics: 1) the establishment of comprehensive hazard maps and flood protection concepts, 2) the harmonization of regulations of flood protection at the federal level, 3) the communication of the flood hazard and awareness strategies, and 4) how damage potential can be minimized through measures of area precaution such as resettlement and risk-adapted land use. Although attempts towards a coordinated and harmonized creation of flood hazard maps and concepts have been made, there is still no uniform strategy at all planning levels and for all states (Lae nder) of the Federal Republic of Germany. The development and communication of possible mitigation strategies for “unthinkable extreme events” beyond the common safety level of a 100-year flood are needed. In order to establish a sustainable and integrated flood risk management, interdisciplinary and catchment-based approaches are needed.     

规划环境影响评价项目实施有效性的评估

从管理程序、技术方法、内容设置、评价结论及规划实施的保障措施等方面,建立了评估规划环境影响评价实施有效性的指标体系,包括“早期介入、公众参与的有效性、评审制度的严格性、工作程序的合理性、评价方法的实用性、技术手段的先进性、指标体系的全面性和合理性、环境质量评价标准的有效性、累积影响评价、替代方案、评价结论的明确性、规划评价结论的有效采纳、缓解和跟踪措施”等13项指标,并在对9个规划环境影响评价案例实施有效性评估的基础上,分析了当前该领域普遍存在的问题,包括规划环境影响评价介入时机晚、替代方案较少、公众参与普遍流于形式和对累积影响考虑不够等.      

粮食基础设施震后恢复重建关键问题研究

在对汶川8.0级地震后绵阳市粮食基础设施破坏情况调研的基础上,提出恢复与发展并重、粮食基础设施节点与网络并行、推进行业整合和信息化的建设思路,规划了绵阳市灾后恢复重建的维修保障和重建发展项目,并对规划实施效果进行了经济和社会效益分析。     

一种基于事故后果的重大危险源安全规划方法

介绍了一种基于事故后果的重大危险源安全规划方法。该方法详细阐述了“最坏”事故情景选择、事故后果阈值确定及后果伤害范围划分的方法,以危险源周边人群作为主要脆弱性目标,通过分析事故后果伤害范围和目标的脆弱性级别确定危险源与周边环境的兼容性。另外,以危险品仓储区为例,利用该方法对仓储区可能发生的事故后果影响范围进行计算,对仓储区选址的可行性进行分析。本文提出的重大危险源安全规划方法可为城市土地使用及危险源的安全规划提供参考。     

Spatial distribution of aerosol pollution based on MODIS data over Beijing, China

With the help of regression analysis,the relationships were detected between aerosol's contribution to apparent reflectance(ACR) derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)on board Terra and hourly PM_(10)mass concentration measured at 30 ground-based locations in Beijing for the August of 2003 and 2004.It was shown that there was a good correlation between the ACR and PM_(10)(linear correlation coefficient,R=0.56).On the basis of this relationship,spatial distribution and possible sources of PM_(10)derived from MODIS were analyzed and two frequently heavily-polluted regions were found,namely downtown of the city and the district near Xishan Mountain.These two regions coincidently are also urban heat island centers.The foundings of this paper will be greatly useful for environmental monitoring and urban planning for Beijing,especially for the 2008 Olympic game to be held in Beijing.     

矿产资源规划理论的形成和发展

矿产资源规划是区域发展规划的重要组成部分,是政府对矿业经济进行宏观调控的一种手段。本文从理论更新和完善的角度重新确立了区域矿产资源规划的理论体系,提出矿产资源规划理论经历形成、发展与创新三个阶段,并就矿产资源配置与价格规律、矿产资源经济区划理论和可持续发展理论在其中的深远影响进行了初步探讨。     

Footprints for Sustainability: The Next Steps

The concept of an ecological footprint is based on the understanding that every individual human appropriates a share of the productive and assimilative capacity of the biosphere. An ecological footprint corresponds to this exclusive biologically productive area that a defined population uses for all its resource requirements and wastes, and is expressed in terms of bioproductive space, with world-average productivity. Humanity's footprint or its aggregate ecological demand can only temporarily exceed the productive and assimilative capacity of the biosphere without liquidating and weakening the natural capital on which humanity depends fundamentally. Therefore, accounting tools for quantifying humanity's use of nature are essential for overall assessments of human impact as well as for planning specific steps towards a sustainable future.This paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the ecological footprint as an ecological accounting method, points out research needs for improvement of the analysis, and suggests potential new applications. The paper identifies ten new applications of the tool to make it applicable at various geographic scales and for a number of analytical and didactic purposes. Then nine methodological improvements are suggested that could refine the currently applied method, making assessments more sensitive to a larger number of ecological impacts. It concludes that many crucial questions pertinent to building a sustainable society can be addressed by current ecological footprint research. By making the method more complete, this tool could evolve from being largely of pedagogical use to become a strategic tool for policy analysis.     

A spatially explicit backcasting approach for sustainable land-use planning

General backcasting as a decision support and planning method starts from desired future states and simulates developments backwards until reaching the present state. Development pathways that reveal steps to be taken to reach a certain future state, and milestones that serve as interim goals, are created during the process. Backcasting has hitherto only been applied in workshops or as a theoretical framework and no spatially explicit backcasting model has previously been established. This paper presents the development of a spatially explicit backcasting model. The proposed model first creates a future scenario utilizing an agent-based model and then simulates backwards. It is implemented using the programming language Python. The model has been applied to a case study for sustainable land-use planning in Salzburg, Austria. The results of the model run show a successful backcasting of land-use classes from a future state back to the present, in 10 year time steps.