Volunteer Macroinvertebrate Monitoring: Tensions Among Group Goals,Data Quality,and Outcomes

Volunteer monitoring of natural resources is promoted for its ability to increase public awareness, to provide valuable knowledge, and to encourage policy change that promotes ecosystem health. We used the case of volunteer macroinvertebrate monitoring (VMM) in streams to investigate whether the quality of data collected is correlated with data use and organizers' perception of whether they have achieved these outcomes. We examined the relation between site and group characteristics, data quality, data use, and perceived outcomes (education, social capital, and policy change). We found that group size and the degree to which citizen groups perform tasks on their own (rather than aided by professionals) positively correlated with the quality of data collected. Group size and number of years monitoring positively influenced whether a group used their data. While one might expect that groups committed to collecting good-quality data would be more likely to use it, there was no relation between data quality and data use, and no relation between data quality and perceived outcomes. More data use was, however, correlated with a group's feeling of connection to a network of engaged citizens and professionals. While VMM may hold promise for bringing citizens and scientists together to work on joint conservation agendas, our data illustrate that data quality does not correlate with a volunteer group's desire to use their data to promote regulatory change. Therefore, we encourage scientists and citizens alike to recognize this potential disconnect and strive to be explicit about the role of data in conservation efforts.     

环境保护公众参与制度回顾、评估和建议

文章总结了国际上公众参与环境保护的发展与趋势,分析了中国公众参与环境保护现状、存在问题及原因,并借鉴国际经验,明确中国公众参与的具体方式和主要内容,提出了进一步推进中国公众参与环境保护的政策建议。     

白洋淀流域水资源管理中的公众参与分析及评价

有效的公众参与是提高流域水资源管理效率和流域综合管理成功的关键因素. 选取白洋淀流域的典型城市模块(保定市)、乡村模块(涞水县)及水敏感区(安新县)进行研究,综合采用问卷调查、利益群体访谈和专家咨询等方法,对政府管理人员、流域居民的环境意识及水资源管理参与现状进行了分析评价,比较与评估了政府及相关利益群体的环境知识、环境满意度、信息流通渠道、参与意愿、实际参与度、政府行为及其公众认知度和接受度. 结果表明:公众参与水资源管理的现状是水敏感区的参与效果好于城镇模块,且城镇模块好于乡村模块;公众获取环境知识与环境信息的途径主要以亲身感受与媒体宣传的被动接受形式为主;参与途径不畅通,实际参与度低于有参与意愿的比例,参与意愿不确定性高;公众对于政府行为的认知度为41.3%,接受度仅为19%;管理者对于公众参与在水资源管理中作用的认识仍有待提高,参与活动以宣传教育为主,缺乏整体考虑及上下游沟通与设计,缺乏全过程参与,居民尚未形成共同认可的流域价值观. 建议加强全过程参与、环保民间团体的作用以及学校环境教育.      

环境影响评价中公众参与影响因素及方式分析研究

针对环境影响评价中公众参与影响因素及方式分析问题,介绍了环境影响评价中公众参与的特征,包括公开性、双向性和参与性,对公众参与的影响因素进行了分析,主要分析了利害关系人、法律制度、公共政策、市场经济发展水平和社会信息化程度,探讨了公众参与有效性要素的措施,主要有公众人员的选择、公众赋予的权力、参与时间的选择、解决矛盾能力和公众参与形式,在环境影响评价中进行公众参与不仅是环境影响评价本身的需要,同时也是中国民主制度的体现。     

Advancing values-based approaches to climate change adaptation: A case study from Australia

Coastal flooding affects physical and social place attachments. Values-based approaches to climate change adaptation examine how risks to place attachments are distributed within and among communities, with a view to informing equitable adaptation policies. In this nascent body of research, divergent theoretical frameworks and empirical approaches to measuring social values are evolving. While some studies explore the things people value about their everyday lives generally—the lived values approach, others locate specific social and cultural values in geographic space—the landscape values mapping approach. This study aims to compare the explanatory value of these two approaches for understanding the social risks of sea-level rise, and appraise whether either or both approaches are likely to meet local adaptation planning needs. It does this by examining the potential social impacts of sea-level rise in Kingston Beach, Australia, informed by a mail-out survey of the community. The lived values approach identified that the natural environment, scenery, relaxed lifestyle and safety are highly important to local residents, while the landscape values mapping approach revealed that Kingston Main Beach is the most highly valued of eight coastal landscape units. Incorporating the landscape values mapping into the lived values cluster analysis revealed that while Kingston Main Beach is highly important for its recreational value to some members of the community, for others manmade features such as community halls or sports ovals may be of higher importance because they facilitate social interactions. There is potential to further integrate these two approaches to better inform adaptation policy about how lived and landscape values are distributed among communities, where they are located in space and whether they change over time. A deeper understanding of such assigned values can lead to improved engagement with coastal residents to inform adaptation policy now and into the future.     

发挥城市基层组织作用,有效进行公众参与工作

根据作者从事环境评价工作的经验,结合北京市的城市建设项目的案例,说明在公众参与工作中结合中国城市基层组织特点,发挥基层组织作用,能够有效使公众参与环境保护、体现公众环境知情权、制止群体事件的发生,进一步做好公众参与工作。     

灌溉管理改革的进展、特征及决定因素:黄河流域灌区的实证研究

论文采用两年的面板数据实证研究了我国黄河流域灌区灌溉管理改革的进展、特征及决定因素。研究结果表明,自20世纪90年代开始,黄河流域灌区灌溉管理改革取得了很大的进展,传统的集体管理已经逐步被承包管理和用水协会管理所取代,不同管理制度下农民参与的程度与管理的透明度都有所区别,政府的政策干预在促进灌溉管理改革上发挥了十分重要的作用,改革具有明显的政策导向性。在未来的灌溉管理改革中,政府部门应进一步出台相关鼓励改革政策,积极引导广大农民参与到改革的事业中,促进改革在更加广阔的农村地区的有效推进和良性发展。     

珠海市民及高校学生对垃圾分类和减废的认识和参与调查比较研究

珠海市在垃圾分类和减废相关政策的执行过程中,市民的意识和参与起着至关重要的作用。本研究对珠海市民及高校学生有关垃圾分类和减废的观念和行为进行问卷调查,对垃圾分类和减废的现状和困难进行了分析、比较和探讨,并对问题的解决提出了建议。     

规划环境影响评价中的公众参与实例研究

公众参与作为规划环境影响评价的重要组成部分,具有重要的作用和意义。以大同市医药工业园区规划环境影响评价中的公众参与为例,介绍了公众参与的工作程序、方式、分析结果及意见的落实,证实了公众参与的必要性。     

环境影响评价中的公众参与现状及其改进建议

通过对30多份环境影响报告书的分析,针对我国目前的公众参与现状及存在的问题,提出改进建议。