Contesting the crisis narrative: epidemic accounts in Sierra Leone,Tanzania, and Democratic Republic of the Congo

Scientists and global commentators watched African countries closely in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, predicting an impending disaster: the virus was projected to overwhelm already weak health systems. These expectations were informed by imaginaries of Africa as an inevitable site of epidemic disaster. This paper draws on accounts from Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Democratic Republic of the Congo to contrast global catastrophe framings with everyday imaginations and experiences of crisis and crisis management. Utilising ethnographic research, the paper initially explores how COVID-19 was understood in relation to previous epidemics, from HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) to Ebola, as well as political conflict. It then considers how global crisis narratives both inform and are in tension with everyday collective and personal experiences. The paper brings these empirical reflections into a conversation with theoretical debates on the discursive construction of crisis and its effects, and argues that these tensions matter because crisis framings have consequences.     

Food web assessments in the Baltic Sea: Models bridging the gap between indicators and policy needs

Ecosystem-based management requires understanding of food webs. Consequently, assessment of food web status is mandatory according to the European Union’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) for EU Member States. However, how to best monitor and assess food webs in practise has proven a challenging question. Here, we review and assess the current status of food web indicators and food web models, and discuss whether the models can help addressing current shortcomings of indicator-based food web assessments, using the Baltic Sea as an example region. We show that although the MSFD food web assessment was designed to use food web indicators alone, they are currently poorly fit for the purpose, because they lack interconnectivity of trophic guilds. We then argue that the multiple food web models published for this region have a high potential to provide additional coherence to the definition of good environmental status, the evaluation of uncertainties, and estimates for unsampled indicator values, but we also identify current limitations that stand in the way of more formal implementation of this approach. We close with a discussion of which current models have the best capacity for this purpose in the Baltic Sea, and of the way forward towards the combination of measurable indicators and modelling approaches in food web assessments. Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01692-x.     

From COVID-19 to Green Recovery with natural capital accounting

The COVID-19 pandemic and related social and economic emergencies induced massive public spending and increased global debt. Economic recovery is now an opportunity to rebuild natural capital alongside financial, physical, social and human capital, for long-term societal benefit. Yet, current decision-making is dominated by economic imperatives and information systems that do not consider society’s dependence on natural capital and the ecosystem services it provides. New international standards for natural capital accounting (NCA) are now available to integrate environmental information into government decision-making. By revealing the effects of policies that influence natural capital, NCA supports identification, implementation and monitoring of Green Recovery pathways, including where environment and economy are most positively interlinked.     

黑曲霉M1M15M19降解稻草秸秆的试验研究

分析黑曲霉M1M15M19在含不同浓度的C源、N源稻草秸秆基质上培养30 d过程中木质纤维素酶类和主要化学成分.结果表明,黑曲霉M1M15M19降解秸秆的最佳条件是低碳高氮LCHN,降解秸秆中木质素的最佳条件是高碳低氮HCLN,经过25 d降解率分别为48.2%和20.4%.秸秆降解过程中纤维素酶和半纤维素酶起到了决定性的作用,秸秆中木质素降解过程中木质素过氧化物和锰依赖过氧化物起了重要作用.     

Cap and trade schemes on waste management: A case study of the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) in England

The Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) is one of the main instruments used in England to enforce the landfill diversion targets established in the Directive 1999/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste (Landfill Directive). Through the LATS, biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) allowances for landfilling are allocated to each local authority, otherwise known as waste disposal authorities (WDAs). The quantity of landfill allowances received is expected to decrease continuously from 2005/06 to 2019/20 so as to meet the objectives of the Landfill Directive. To achieve their commitments, WDAs can exchange, buy, sell or transfer allowances among each other, or may re-profile their own allocation through banking and/or borrowing. Despite the goals for the first seven years – which included two target years (2005/06 and 2009/10) – being widely achieved (the average allocation of allowances per WDA was 22.9% higher than those finally used), market activity among WDAs was high and prices were not very stable. Results in terms of waste reduction and recycling levels have been satisfactory. The reduction of BMW landfilled (in percentage) was higher during the first seven years of the LATS period (2005/06–2011/12) (around 7% annually) than during the previous period (2001/02–2004/05) (4.2% annually). Since 2008, the significance of the LATS diminished because of an increase in the rate of the UK Landfill Tax. The LATS was suppressed after the 2012/13 target year, before what it was initially scheduled. The purpose of this paper is to describe the particularities of the LATS, analyse its performance as a waste management policy, make a comparison with the Landfill Tax, discuss its main features as regards efficiency, effectiveness and the application of the “polluter pays” principle and finally discuss if the effect of the increase in the Landfill Tax is what made the LATS ultimately unnecessary.     

Analysis of the relations between circular economy and sustainable development goals

ABSTRACT

Since the United Nations approved the eight Millennium Development Goals in 2000 and, 15 years later, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the highest political institutions in the world have not stopped worrying about achieving the sustainability of the planet. Also in 2015, the European Commission prepared the European Union Action Plan for the Circular Economy, seeking a transition towards a less linear economy, in which products, materials, and resources are kept in the system for as long as possible and in which the generation of waste is minimized.

Since then, the European Union has continued issuing reports and communications to accelerate this process in search of a circular economy, making continuous references to the fact that, through circular economy initiatives, the SDGs would be fulfilled. In this context, the objectives of this paper are 1) to determine, through exploratory factor analysis and correlation analysis, whether there is a statistically significant relationship between circular economy initiatives undertaken in the EU and compliance with the SDGs; 2) to check, through a cluster analysis, if there are homogeneous groups of countries worldwide in terms of compliance with the SDGs; and 3) using this same technique, to check whether the countries that make up the EU achieve similar results in terms of compliance with the SDGs.     

双酚AF对雄性斑马鱼卵黄蛋白原水平与芳香化酶基因表达的影响

双酚AF(4,4'-六氟-2-二酚,BPAF)对生物有机体具有内分泌干扰作用。为研究低剂量BPAF对水生生物的效应,本研究选择成年雄性斑马鱼为研究对象,考察了0.005、0.05和0.5 mg·L~(-1)3种浓度BAPF暴露30 d对血浆中卵黄蛋白原(VTG)含量、2种卵黄蛋白原基因(vtg~(-1)和vtg-3)表达和2种芳香酶基因(cyp 19a与cyp 19b)表达的影响。结果表明:在0.005 mg·L~(-1)浓度暴露30 d后,血浆中VTG含量显著升高,随着暴露浓度的升高,促进作用不显著;BPAF暴露对不同组织中的4种基因存在不同的影响,0.005 mg·L~(-1)BPAF暴露可诱导脑部cyp19b、肝脏中cyp19a和性腺中vtg~(-1)、vtg-3和cyp19b基因表达;0.5 mg·L~(-1)BPAF暴露可导致肝脏中vtg~(-1)、vtg-3、性腺中cyp19a等基因显著上调。实验结果表明,BPAF具有雌性激素样效应,可诱导雄性斑马鱼体内部分组织卵黄蛋白原基因和芳香酶基因的表达。BPAF可引起斑马鱼血浆中的VTG含量的上升,从而干扰由VTG所参与的下丘脑-垂体-性腺轴与免疫系统的正常生理过程。     

Linking the Northeast states of the US mitigation program to the EU Emission Trading Scheme—Implications and costs

It is argued that there are at least five reasons for the Northeast states of the United States to implement a regional emission trading scheme for carbon dioxide despite the lack of federal policy regulations: goodwill, learning, political influence, risk management and competitiveness interests. Using an energy-economy model, the carbon price to bring the firms into compliance with a 10% reduction by 2020 is estimated to be 20-150 US$ per ton C. There have been discussions about linking the ongoing EU Emission Trading Schemes to the Northeast state initiative. The prime argument is that such a linkage would encourage a change of the federal US policy, which has traditionally followed action taken at the state level. Emissions trading with binding mitigation commitments could thus be demanded and accepted also on federal level. This paper demonstrates that the impact of linkage on permit prices depends on the reduction target in the European scheme: A low EU target results in a net flow of permits to the Northeast scheme, while a 40% EU reduction target results in a net flow of permits from the Northeast. Flow of permits from the Northeast state must be compensated for by the EU because the United States is not a party of the Kyoto Protocol. The EU must therefore buy permits in allowances recognized in the Kyoto regime in an amount equal to the net flow of permits from the Northeast states.

COVID-19管控期间气象条件变化对京津冀PM2.5浓度影响

2020年初新冠肺炎疫情（COVID-19）暴发后,中国多地实施了严格的管控措施,导致污染物排放量明显下降.但在减排实施的情况下,京津冀PM_2.5等污染物浓度较过去5 a同期却明显增长,出现了两次PM_2.5重度污染事件.利用欧洲中心ERA5再分析资料分析发现,相对于过去5 a, COVID-19管控期间京津冀地区的气象场表现为偏高的相对湿度、偏低的边界层高度和边界层内异常的辐合上升运动,有利于颗粒物的吸湿增长和二次转化,不利于污染物垂直方向上的扩散.此外,利用WRF-Chem模式开展敏感性试验发现,在京津冀中部地区气象场的变化导致2020年管控期间ρ(PM_2.5)升高了20～55μg·m^-3,升高比例高达60%～170%.进一步利用过程诊断分析法得出,增强的气溶胶化学过程和不利的湍流扩散条件是2020年COVID-19管控期间PM_2.5浓度升高的主要原因.在当今减排的大背景下,边界层高度和相对湿度的变化可能成为预报预测京津冀地区PM_2.5污染事件的重要指标...     

欧盟REACH法规研究

解读欧盟REACH法规,分析了欧盟REACH法规对国内产业,尤其是对中国石化的影响,为中国石化具体实践上述法规奠定了工作基础.