Adapting to new policy environment – past pattern and future trend in us-sino waste plastic trade flow

Plastics are one of the most used materials in human activities, where consumer consumption and industrial production together has imposed vast rise in demand for this material in last century. While plastic is ideally derived from crude oil as a primary source from manufacturers’ perspective, varying crude oil prices are driving manufacturers economically to seek for alternative sources for plastics production. Waste plastic recovered from obsolete consumer products thus becomes an economic substitution for virgin plastics, which is further intensified with the possibility of international waste plastic trading. This study focuses on waste plastic trade between the US and mainland China by performing a correlation analysis of trade data. It is suggested in this study that although waste plastics are traded from the US to mainland China in general, as many of us believes, the route is gradually shifting in the past years. With tightening Chinese customs regulations, waste plastic from the US now tends to take a transit in a third destination (Hong Kong SAR for instance) for preliminary treatment to bypass Chinese customs inspection. Such phenomenon is worth noting, as a complication in waste plastic trading route hinders waste plastic transboundary movement monitoring. Furthermore, it will have adverse consequent consumer, industrial, and environmental impacts. It is thus necessary for national competent authorities to strengthen cooperative study and communication capacity in the future as a response to the changing waste plastic trade pattern.     

Motivations for the use and consumption of wildlife products

The dominant approach to combating the illegal wildlife trade has traditionally been to restrict the supply of wildlife products. Yet conservationists increasingly recognize the importance of implementing demand-side interventions that target the end consumers in the trade chain. Their aim is to curb the consumption of wildlife or shift consumption to more sustainable alternatives. However, there are still considerable knowledge gaps in understanding of the diversity of consumer motivations in the context of illegal wildlife trade, which includes hundreds of thousands of species, different uses, and diverse contexts. Based on consultation with multiple experts from a diversity of backgrounds, nationalities, and focal taxa, we developed a typology of common motivations held by wildlife consumers that can be used to inform conservation interventions. We identified 5 main motivational categories for wildlife use: experiential, social, functional, financial, and spiritual, each containing subcategories. This framework is intended to facilitate the segmentation of consumers based on psychographics and allow the tailoring of interventions—whether behavior change campaigns, enforcement efforts, or incentive programs—to the specific context in which they will be used. Underlining the importance of consumer research and collaborating with local actors is an important step toward promoting a more systematic approach to the design of demand reduction interventions.     

水污染问题的经济学分析及其对策探讨

针对我国水资源污染的现状,从经济学角度对水污染的原因进行了分析,指出在公共资源产权没有明确界定的情况下,公共资源总是被过度利用,水资源产权制度缺损导致的外部性是水污染问题产生的根本原因;提出通过状态转移、实行产权管理、建立完善的市场调节机制和法律体系,是解决我国水污染问题的根本出路.     

Recent changes in international commodity agreements

The contents of international commodity agreements have changed from those in which open-ended intervention mechanisms regulated the market defending a normative price to those limiting intervention so as not to obscure market forces and consequently the market price. Underlying this change is the principle to which the developed countries accorded the highest priority, namely that the interests of producing and consuming countries must balance to avoid an indiscriminate transfer of resources. On the other hand, the principles which guided agreements that set a normative price were based on the grounds that the market price determined by unequal partners was unfair and that internationally agreed developmental goals implied untied and unconditional resource transfers by means of normative, higher than market, prices. These two sets of principles were incompatible. As a result negotiations were not only difficult but inconclusive. Another reason for this outcome was that the question of the cost effectiveness of market duplicating agreements based on the principle of balanced interests was unresolved. These reasons explain why commodity agreements do not figure currently in substantive discussions on North-South cooperation and why only three commodity agreements have a functional role and even of these three, one is not in force definitively.     

电子商务与旅游市场运行机制研究

基于互联网的旅游电子商务的发展，变革着旅游交易的方式，创造了新的虚拟市场空间，使旅游市场的效率得到提高、旅游供需匹配功能得到强化，同时也加剧了旅游市场的内部竞争。旅游电子商务市场的虚拟化发展也为旅游市场管理提出了新课题，需要研究开发一系列新的技术手段和市场规范制度来保证旅游市场健康、良性发展。文章从电子商务与旅游市场运行的机制方面进行了一定的研究与探讨，力求说明以旅游电子商务来改造传统旅游市场的运作方式，提升旅游市场运行效率所具有的重要意义及可操作性。     

Ethical and Value-based Aspects of the European Commission's Precautionary Principle

In February 2000, the EuropeanCommission adopted a Communication on theprecautionary principle. This states how theCommission intends to apply the principle andestablishes guidelines for its application. Thedocument is intended to inform discussions oninternational agreements. In particular, itprovides a defense of European Union (EU)precautionary policies in case of tradedisputes, for example, in case the EU isaccused of imposing unfair trade barriers onexports of genetically-modified (GM) productsfrom the United States under the rules of theWorld Trade Organisation. In the communication,the Commission emphasizes the scientificaspects of the precautionary principle, perhapspartly to counter claims from US officials thatthe EU's reluctance to accept GM imports is notbased on science but is politically-motivated.However, a principle is by definition a moralguide to behavior. In other words, it is anethic. The precautionary principle should beviewed as a complement to science, to beinvoked when a lack of scientific evidencemeans that outcomes are uncertain. Anyinterpretation of this principle needs to placeat least as much emphasis on its ethical andvalue-based aspects as on its scientificjustification. The Commission's interpretationrisks undermining the painstaking progress madeamong European Union member states inresponding to public concern about GM crops andfood by adopting increased precaution. Thispaper explores the balance between thescientific and ethical/value-based aspects ofthe precautionary principle as set out in theCommission's communication, to make the casethat it is the ethical and value-based aspectsrather than the scientific aspects of theguidelines that need strengthening.     

Global Trade in GM Food and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety: Consequences for China

The UN Cartagena Protocol onBiosafety adopted in Montreal, 29 January, 2000and opened for signature in Nairobi, 15–26 May,2000 will exert a profound effect oninternational trade in genetically modifiedorganisms (GMOs) and their products. In thispaper, the potential effects of variousarticles of the Protocol on international tradein GMOs are analyzed. Based on the presentstatus of imports of GMOs and domestic researchand development of biotechnology in China,likely trends in imports of foreign GM food andrelated products after China accedes to WTO isexplored. Also, China's potentialcountermeasures to control and regulate importsof GMOs in line with implementation of theProtocol are discussed. China, in recent times,has increased its food and agricultural importssubstantially from USA and Canada. Chinaimported soybean 10.42 mill. tons in 2000 andabout 15 mill tons in 2001, of which majorityare from USA where GM soybean accounts for60%. The plantation of US Monsanto'stransgenic Bt cotton was increased to more than1 million ha in China in 2001. Though China haspaid great attention to develop biotechnology,it appears to have little scope to export GMOsand GM products. So China may consider a rangeof administrative measures to implement theCartagena Protocol and to regulate its importof GMOs and GM agricultural products.Consequently, the Regulation on Safety ofAgri-GMOs was issued on June, 2001 and followedthree detailed rules issued in Jan. of 2002,with a priority to limit foreign GMOs importingby safety certification and labeling system.These were outlined taking into accountpolicies adopted in Western countries such asgreen barriers to international trade.     

An economic analysis of different types of formal and informal entrepreneurs, recovering urban solid waste in Bangalore (India)

The recycling sector in India, which consists of a comprehensive trade and production sector, is rather complex. Nevertheless, it creates important benefits for both the economy and the environment. In order to comprehend the system, a case study has been performed on the recycling sector (paper, plastic, glass and non-ferrous metal) in Bangalore (India), focussing on the market structure, the scale of operation, employment effects, constraints, and recent developments. It was found that this highly competitive and labour-intensive industry is largely dependent on cheap labour and the supply of solid waste from the local trade system. Its mostly informal nature results from the ‘unregisteredness’ of the materials. Consequently, government involvement is avoided as much as possible. With present growth rates, prospects of recycling in Bangalore are advancing. Yet, problems such as lack of supply and loss of quality emerge. Therefore, quality control and market conditions should be improved.     

我国环境经济政策现状与发展建议

本文简述了我国环境经济政策的主要内容以及实施中遇到的突出问题，并结合《国务院关于落实科学发展观加强环境保护的决定》中关于环境经济政策的最新要求，提出了进一步推进和完善我国环境经济政策的建议。     

Redistributing the world's wealth: Cancun ‘summit’ discord

The aim of the North-South ‘summit’ conference in 1981 was to bridge the wealth gap between the few industrial nations and the hundred-odd poor countries. Unfortunately no firm proposals materialized. The rich nations refused to increase their aid transfers to the developing countries or to correct the growing inequalities in world trade. The multiplication of wealth is the basic concern of the North in an era of recession and unemployment. The division of wealth is an urgent necessity for the South, but their demands for a global reallocation of resources remained unmet. The gap is likely to widen considerably in future.