BSE in the UK: Why the Risk Communication Strategy Failed

The 2000 BSE Inquiry report points out that the most serious failure of the UK Government was one of risk communication. This paper argues that the government's failure to communicate the risks BSE posed to humans to a large degree can be traced back to a lack of transparency in the first risk assessment by the Southwood Working Party. This lack of transparency ensured that the working party's risk characterization and recommendations were ambiguous and thus hard to interpret. It also meant that uncertainties were not addressed in a satisfactory way. In the recommendations, the attitude to uncertainty was implicit rather than explicit.The risk communication based on the report amplified these flaws. Most importantly, it did not address the uncertainty at all. Apparently, the reason for this was fear of overreaction by the public. However, the result was counter-productive, because the risk communication did not then appear trustworthy. Later risk assessments and risk communication omitted to correct these flaws. Indeed, the fact that, following receipt of new information, advisory experts and policy makers had changed their views of the risk to humans was never clearly communicated to the public. There seemed to be little faith in the public's ability to reach a balanced judgment regarding the uncertainties.In the concluding section of the paper, this analysis is compared with the food standards agency's (FSA's) approach to BSE. The intervention of this agency was seen as one of the more important efforts to restore consumer confidence in British beef. And the agency certainly appears to be committed to openness and to addressing scientific uncertainty. However, using the risk of BSE in sheep as a case study, the paper shows that transparency – i.e., the clear presentation of factual and normative claims and assumptions underlying advice, and openness about the reasoning based on these claims and assumptions – is less than fully achieved in the FSA's work.     

Integrating fisheries into the national development plans of Small Island Developing States (SIDS): Ten years on from Barbados

The development and effective introduction of strategies designed to ensure the ecologically and economically sustainable utilization of coastal and marine resources is perhaps the major challenge for Small Island Developing States (SIDS). In response, the 1994 Barbados Programme of Action (BPoA) called upon the SIDS to implement appropriate coastal and marine strategies and, crucially, ensure that such strategies were integrated into sustainable national development plans (NDPs). This article examines the extent to which contemporary NDPs and donor support programmes have incorporated the fisheries sector — arguably the most important coastal/marine resource for many SIDS — into such documents. Applying an assessment methodology, originally developed to identify levels of environmental mainstreaming within World Bank country assistance strategies to NDPs and donor support programmes, we are able to identify those SIDS who have most effectively integrated the fisheries sector into such documents. Comparison with data indicating the importance of the sector to the national economy (in terms of generating foreign exchange, employment generation and/or supporting domestic protein consumption levels) enables us to pinpoint those countries with substantial fisheries sectors, but a correspondingly lower than expected degree of sectoral mainstreaming. We suggest that the January 2005 review of the BPoA offers an opportune moment for such countries to redress these omissions.     

The role of digital data entry in participatory environmental monitoring

Many argue that monitoring conducted exclusively by scientists is insufficient to address ongoing environmental challenges. One solution entails the use of mobile digital devices in participatory monitoring (PM) programs. But how digital data entry affects programs with varying levels of stakeholder participation, from nonscientists collecting field data to nonscientists administering every step of a monitoring program, remains unclear. We reviewed the successes, in terms of management interventions and sustainability, of 107 monitoring programs described in the literature (hereafter programs) and compared these with case studies from our PM experiences in Australia, Canada, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greenland, and Vietnam (hereafter cases). Our literature review showed that participatory programs were less likely to use digital devices, and 2 of our 3 more participatory cases were also slow to adopt digital data entry. Programs that were participatory and used digital devices were more likely to report management actions, which was consistent with cases in Ethiopia, Greenland, and Australia. Programs engaging volunteers were more frequently reported as ongoing, but those involving digital data entry were less often sustained when data collectors were volunteers. For the Vietnamese and Canadian cases, sustainability was undermined by a mismatch in stakeholder objectives. In the Ghanaian case, complex field protocols diminished monitoring sustainability. Innovative technologies attract interest, but the foundation of effective participatory adaptive monitoring depends more on collaboratively defined questions, objectives, conceptual models, and monitoring approaches. When this foundation is built through effective partnerships, digital data entry can enable the collection of more data of higher quality. Without this foundation, or when implemented ineffectively or unnecessarily, digital data entry can be an additional expense that distracts from core monitoring objectives and undermines project sustainability. The appropriate role of digital data entry in PM likely depends more on the context in which it is used and less on the technology itself.     

梨树县农业生态环境的分析与建议

生态保护的重点是保护自然资源及由其组成的各类生态系统,预防环境污染和生态破坏,改善和恢复生态系统的环境功能,维护生态平衡。我县工业发展迅速,生态环境面临的压力不断加大,为改善其生态环境现状及存在问题,提出对策与建议,以实现全县经济社会的可持续发展。     

周口店地质遗迹保护现状分析及对策建议

周口店地区地质遗迹丰富,在考古界和地质界都拥有极高的地位.通过实地考察,发现目前的保护中存在很多问题,如开山采石破坏了有价值的地质遗迹、众多水泥厂排放的烟尘污染了空气等,笔者针对存在的问题,提出了加强立法、严格执法、保护第一、积极开发、充分发挥其旅游文化价值等一系列方案措施;对比较典型突出的问题,提出了具体解决方案,希望以此唤起社会的进一步重视,以更好保护这一人类共有的财富.     

试论生态文明建设中的环境保护

随着经济的发展,人们越来越清醒地认识到,以污染环境和破坏生态来换取一时经济繁荣的危害日益突出。正是这种清醒,推动人类文明进行着一场深刻的反思和变革,把追求人与自然的和谐相处,推上当今社会发展主旋律的位置,它预示着人类进入一个生态文明的新时代。生态文明是协调发展物质文明的保障者,是与时俱进的精神文明的塑造者,是日益完善的政治文明的体现者。因此,建设生态文明既是实现全面建设小康社会奋斗目标的内在需要,又是深入贯彻落实科学发展观的重要内容;建设生态文明,必须强化政策支撑,增加生态文明建设的内生动力;必须强化执法监督,增加生态文明建设的环保执行力;必须强化生态补偿能力,构建最具活力的绿色发展模式。     

环境保护在学习实践科学发展观活动中的地位与作用——从环境哲学角度看学习实践科学发展观活动

环境保护是科学发展观的题中之意,科学发展观关于环境保护的论述,是党的环境保护理论的精髓。学习实践科学发展观活动,是一个哲学内涵非常丰富的课题,是十分难得的研究环境哲学的大好机遇。试点经验显示了环境保护在学习实践科学发展观活动中的重要作用。他们一方面在科学发展中通过转变发展方式,调整经济结构,解决环境难题;一方面坚持环境保护与经济发展并重,在保护环境中求发展,努力实现环境与经济“双赢”。其共性是,注重治本、注重生态、注重政策。深入学习实践科学发展观,关键在实践,要深入一线,深入调研,融人群众的实践,总结来自一线的新鲜经验。要适应新形势,了解新情况,解决新问题。在学习实践科学发展观活动中,不断提高落实科学发展观,在科学发展中,提高解决环境问题的能力,实现环境与发展、环境与经济的“双赢”。     

经济与环境协调发展综合指标与实证分析

贯彻落实科学发展观,其重要内容之一就是要实现经济与环境的协调发展.建立了体现经济与环境协调关系的5个单项指标,即能耗强度、水耗强度、污染物(SO2和COD)排放强度、运输强度、环保投入强度,以及1个综合性指标--经济与环境协调度.以上述指标为基础,比较分析了代表我国东部及中、西部地区经济发展水平的广东省、湖北省和陕西省1999-2003年经济与环境关系现状.结果表明:东部发达地区经济与环境日趋协调,而中、西部地区经济与环境关系协调度较差,尤其是西部地区表现尤为明显.      

对新疆边境地区跨境环境问题的思考

新疆边境贸易的发展促进了新疆经济的发展,但是在发展的过程中也存在跨境水体污染、固体废物危险废物跨境转移、消耗臭氧层物质非法贸易、外来物种入侵、跨境保护区与野生动物跨境迁徙和沙尘等跨境环境问题,并针对性提出了相应的科技需求,旨在为新疆边境地区跨境环境问题的研究提供一些思考。