The Need to Disentangle Key Concepts from Ecosystem‐Approach Jargon

The ecosystem approach—as endorsed by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB) in 2000—is a strategy for holistic, sustainable, and equitable natural resource management, to be implemented via the 12 Malawi Principles. These principles describe the need to manage nature in terms of dynamic ecosystems, while fully engaging with local peoples. It is an ambitious concept. Today, the term is common throughout the research and policy literature on environmental management. However, multiple meanings have been attached to the term, resulting in confusion. We reviewed references to the ecosystem approach from 1957 to 2012 and identified 3 primary uses: as an alternative to ecosystem management or ecosystem‐based management; in reference to an integrated and equitable approach to resource management as per the CBD; and as a term signifying a focus on understanding and valuing ecosystem services. Although uses of this term and its variants may overlap in meaning, typically, they do not entirely reflect the ethos of the ecosystem approach as defined by the CBD. For example, there is presently an increasing emphasis on ecosystem services, but focusing on these alone does not promote decentralization of management or use of all forms of knowledge, both of which are integral to the CBD's concept. We highlight that the Malawi Principles are at risk of being forgotten. To better understand these principles, more effort to implement them is required. Such efforts should be evaluated, ideally with comparative approaches, before allowing the CBD's concept of holistic and socially engaged management to be abandoned or superseded. It is possible that attempts to implement all 12 principles together will face many challenges, but they may also offer a unique way to promote holistic and equitable governance of natural resources. Therefore, we believe that the CBD's concept of the ecosystem approach demands more attention. La Necesidad de Desenredar Conceptos Clave del Argot Ambiente‐Estrategia     

Environmental awareness and the contemporary society of China——an analysis and an understanding

ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＴｈｅｗｏｒｄ“ｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔ”ｎｏｗｂｅｃｏｍｅｓａｃａｔｃｈｗｏｒｄｉｎＣｈｉｎａ，ｂｕｔｔｈｅｔｅｒｍ“ｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｌａｗａｒｅｎｅｓｓ（ＥＡ）”ｉｓｓｔｉｌｌｎｏｔｉｎｔｈｅｓａｍｅｐｏｓｉｔｉｏｎ．ＴｈｉｓｉｓｔｈｅｒｅａｓｏｎｗｈｙＩｔｒｙｔｏｍａｋｅａｂｒｉｅｆｉｎｑｕｉｒｙｉｎｔｈｉｓｐａｐｅｒａｂｏｕｔｔｈｅｒｅｌａｔｉｏｎｓｈｉｐｂｅｔｗｅｅｎｔｈｅＥＡａｎｄＣｈｉｎａ○ｓｓｏｃｉｅｔｙ．ＥＡｉｓａｎｕｎｄｅｒｓｔａｎｄｉｎｇｏｆｖ…     

防震减灾与社区建设

本文从建设安全社区,打造平安城市,构建和谐社会的角度,分析阐述了防震减灾工作在构建和谐社会中的基础作用。     

上海市地表水水质近20年的变化

利用1983-1999年的水质监测数据和有关的自然社会经济统计数据，研究了上海市地表水水质近20年的变化，并对影响水质变化的自然社会经济因素进行了探讨，研究发现：（1）上海市近20年的地表水水质变化可分为缓慢恶化，加速恶化和逐渐改善3个阶段，1996年是水质变化趋势的转折点；（2）水质变化主要受人类社会经济活动影响，与水文气象因素相关性较小；93）农牧业，生活污染是影响水质变化的主要因素；（4）农牧业，生活污染的迅速上升趋势受到遏制，工业污染持续减少，而城市污水处理能力呈跳跃式大幅度增长，是水质恶化趋势发生逆转的根本原因；（5）上海市的高度城市化进程在1996年后已转变为地表水水质改善的积极动力和重要原因。     

The emergence of global environmental awareness

An effective plan for global ecosystem management must be developed in the next 10 or 20 years. Awareness of the need has recently emerged, but still no integrated resource management system is universally accepted. A fragmented management approach has not been effective. Any successful course of action must be based on three assumptions: (1) that science can determine how ecosystems function, (2) once this is known, the social/political system will be able to protect ecosystems to the extent needed for the survival of human society, and (3) reality will take precedence over political expediency because Mother Nature cannot be fooled. This discussion focuses on the transition from awareness to taking effective action.     

提升“小康社会”环境质量综合指数的对策措施

环境质量综合指数是南京市建设“小康社会”的难点、核心指标,通过分析环境质量状况和环境保护工作的现状,提出了创建期间有关环保工作的机制、管理的重点和工程措施等对策与措施.     

Techno-environmental risks and ecological modernisation in “double-risk” societies: reconceptualising Ulrich Beck’s risk society thesis

By utilising a relatively underused framework developed by Maurie J. Cohen (1997. Risk society and ecological modernisation alternative visions for post-industrial nations. Futures, 29 (2), 105–119), this theoretical paper joins two of the most debated theories of environmental politics – ecological modernisation (EM) and Ulrich Beck’s risk society thesis – into a unified framework and problematises some of their implicit assumptions to theoretically introduce the notion of a “double-risk” society. In addition, it explains the differences between the traditional “Risk Society” theorised by the German sociologist Ulrich Beck and the newly introduced concept of a “double-risk” society. The arguments put forward in this paper provide some fresh perspectives facilitating the study of the techno-environmental risks and other ecological problems faced by “double-risk” societies. Theoretically, this paper adds to both EM theory and the risk society thesis as the generalisability of their existing versions is limited precisely because they fail to address some important social changes at the global structural level.     

Scaling up site disputes: strategies to redefine ‘local’ in the fight against fracking

Plans to replace an aging diesel backup energy plant with liquid natural gas (LNG) generators in Whitehorse, Yukon, resulted in a public outcry, involving community meetings, massive petitions, and demonstrations. Are these civil society protests just a case of a local siting dispute – a response to an unwanted industrial site in an urban neighborhood? Here, it is argued that siting debates are not the driver of these campaigns, but instead are harnessed by activists to advance a broader environmental movement. By linking the LNG project to more distant extraction, involving hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’), movement leaders portray the entire territory as part of the ‘local’ for Whitehorse residents. Movement leaders rely upon two key mechanisms: claiming insider status, and identifying visible symbols. This case reveals the strategic use by environmental movements of local concerns to recruit support for broader campaigns, and the value of local, place-based activism for broader environmental movements.     

人与自然和谐是构建和谐社会的物质基础

在剖析和谐社会及人与自然和谐基本内涵的基础上。通过分析资源短缺、生态破坏和环境污染对社会和谐的破坏作用。阐明了人与自然和谐是构建和谐社会的基本前提；通过分析加强环境保护、合理开发利用资源可以促进民主法治和公平正义。促使社会充满活力、安定有序。促进经济繁荣和持续发展。阐明了以人与自然和谐推进和谐社会的构建。进而全面论述了人与自然和谐是构建和谐社会的物质基础。     

浅析水资源与人口、经济和社会环境的关系

水资源是人类社会生存和发展的物质基础,水资源问题是涉及到包括人口、经济、社会与环境的一个复杂巨系统。在对水资源的概念及其自然、经济和社会等属性综述的基础上,详细论述了水资源与水文循环、水量平衡结构、人口、经济、社会与环境等的相互关系,并以黄河流域水资源问题为例,说明目前阶段的水资源问题与人口、经济发展、社会与环境的联系愈加紧密。在上述分析的基础上,作者认为水资源承载力是刻画水资源与区域人口、经济、社会与环境复杂关系的一个很好的分析途径,并进一步明晰了水资源承载力的概念和研究方向。