Deliberative democracy meets democratised science: a deliberative systems approach to global environmental governance

The main achievements of the debates on deliberative democracy and democratised science are investigated in order to analyse the reasons, meanings and prospects for a democratisation of global environmental policy. A deliberative systems approach, which emphasises the need to explore how processes in societal spheres interact to shape the deliberative qualities of the system as a whole, is adopted. Although science plays a key role in this, its potential to enhance deliberative capacity has hardly been addressed in deliberative theories. The democratisation of science has potential to contribute to the democratisation of global environmental policy, in that it also shapes the potential of deliberative arrangements in the policy sphere. Deliberative arrangements within the policy sphere may stimulate the democratisation of science to different degrees.     

Uncovering the Connections Among Sustainability, Governance and GDP

This paper examines the connections among sustainability, governance and GDP, using the data from 123 countries. Sustainability is found to be related with GDP in two contradictory ways. On the one hand, growth in GDP strengthens a nation＇s ability to maintain favorable environmental conditions into the future. On the other hand, GDP growth is built on more consumption of natural resources, and therefore generates a larger ＂foot-print＂ on the Earth. Governance plays a key role in sustainable development. However, it is not helping to reduce our footprint on the Earth. In fact, good governance is linked to a larger footprint. This reflects our materialist value and human impulse. When a society prefers the comfort and wellbeing of human beings to the welfare of its environment, democratic governance might be used as an effective tool against nature.     

淮河70年治理历程及“十四五”展望

淮河是我国第一条开展全面系统治理的大河。通过分析新中国成立以来淮河流域的旱涝灾害、水体污染事件及治理和管理措施,将淮河的治理分为3个阶段:第一阶段(1949—1978年)旱涝灾害频繁,主要遵循“蓄泄兼筹”思路,进行抗旱防洪等水利工程建设;第二阶段(1979—2005年)水质严重恶化,以提升防洪标准和强力治理污染源为思路,进行旱涝灾害和水污染的共同治理;第三阶段(2006年至今)淮河被列入水专项重点示范流域,在控源减排、减负修复、综合调控思路指导下,开展水污染的系统治理。相比20世纪90年代,目前淮河水质明显改善,GB 3838—2002《地表水环境质量标准》Ⅴ类和劣Ⅴ类水质占比降至12.2%,优良水质占比显著提升,但水污染形势仍然严峻,存在水环境污染压力大、水生态受损严重等问题。“十四五”期间应通过强化污染源系统治理、推进流域水生态完整性修复、提升流域调控管理能力等,持续推进淮河流域水污染治理。     

Water Governance and Water Use Efficiency: The Five Principles of WUA Management and Performance in China1

Wang, Jinxia, Jikun Huang, Lijuan Zhang, Qiuqiong Huang, and Scott Rozelle, 2010. Water Governance and Water Use Efficiency: The Five Principles of WUA Management and Performance in China. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(4): 665-685. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00439.x Abstract: In recent years China has attempted to reform water management by decentralizing water management responsibilities. The overall goal of our paper is to better understand the emergence of water user associations (WUAs) in China and assess if they are adhering to the practices spelled out by the Five Principles, a set of recommended practices that are supposed to lead to successful WUA operation. Using four sets of different types of villages to examine implementation and performance, we find that World Bank-supported WUA villages (“Bank villages”) can be thought of as operating mostly according to the Five Principles. For example, the Bank villages were endowed with a more reliable water supply; were set up and were operating with a relatively high degree of farmer participation; and leaders were more consultative and the process more formal. When WUAs are run according to the Five Principals, we show that WUAs increase water use efficiency. The study also provides evidence that there is a perception in the Bank villages that water management is improving in general and that there is less conflict both within the village and among villages. Perhaps more importantly, we find that the Bank’s effort to promote WUAs extended beyond their own project villages. The openness, consultative nature, and transparency found in the Bank WUAs are also found (albeit at a somewhat lower level) in the non-Bank WUA villages.     

Public Participation and Effective Water Governance at the Local Level: A Case Study from a Small Under-Developed Area in Chile

The concept of participation in rural development has been evolutionary for the past two decades with those involved, such as development agencies and governments, particularly in rural water supply, re-evaluating their active role. The move towards effective community participation has encouraged a shift from the traditional top-down to a bottom-up approach whereby there is a decentralisation of unevenly distributed resources and power to empower a community and allow mobility of ‘people participation’. The Molinos water project is the first large-scale development project of its kind introduced into the village of Molinos in an under-developed area of Chile, where there has been no tradition of people participation. The project objective was to implement a low technology, low budget water treatment plant to the village of Molinos. Various aspects have hindered the continued development of the project including both technical and financial. In terms of people participation, the initial approach used was the top-down approach. There was a failure to fully integrate the community or inform the community in a formal manner about the project and consult them regarding key project issues. This case study illustrates that the lack of comprehensive consultation and the low level of participation of the community on the participatory scale does not achieve much in terms of people-centred benefits. For governance at the local level to be effective, participation should be inclusive and communicative so as to enhance transparency throughout the project lifetime. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Citizen feedback in a fragile setting: social accountability interventions in the primary healthcare sector in Sierra Leone

Fragile and conflict‐affected states are frequently characterised by their inability to fulfil three core governance functions: provision of security, effective delivery of basic public goods and services, and managing political participation and accountability. This article explores the utility of social accountability interventions in fragile environments. Successful social accountability interventions can lead to joint examinations of public service standards by service‐users and providers, resulting in collaborative improvement efforts. The few available studies of such interventions implemented in fragile or conflict‐affected states show reasons for optimism as well as challenges. This article advocates the continued use of social accountability methods in fragile settings and provides examples of social accountability interventions in the health sector in Sierra Leone. The study suggests that social accountability can improve interaction between citizens and public service providers. Successful social accountability interventions can also lead to better quality and more accessible public services, which, in turn, can enhance state legitimacy.     

Local governance of energy transition: sustainability,transactions and social ties. A case study in Northeast France

This paper tackles the process of energy transition from a transactional perspective. It addresses the governance of energy transition by studying its local actualizations, moving beyond purely technical and normative readings. The paper shows that through the local socio-technological energy systems, sustainability governance filters down to the level of individual, everyday behavior, thus questioning the link between public and private spaces, especially regarding the issue of housing. Going beyond the results commonly yielded by transition studies, which favor large-scale analysis, it details how the discourse of citizen involvement, which often boils down to a mere call to control one’s individual energy consumption, conceals environmental inequalities, confirming the socioeconomic divide materialized in deprived areas such as public housing estates or remote rural areas. From a methodological standpoint, the analysis is based on four case studies in Northeast France, in more or less privileged areas, and in both urban and rural environments: the renovation of a heating network in the public housing estate of Cité de l’Ill, north of Strasbourg; the solar energy systems designed for property owners in Plobsheim, a residential suburb of Strasbourg; the energy-efficient equipment set up in a public housing estate in the city of Saint-Dié, in the Vosges; and citizen participation in a cooperative program to finance wind turbines in the small Alsacian city of Saâles, in a mountain rural area. The paper draws on the results of these sociological investigations, carried out using field observations, questionnaires and interviews.     

Shared governance arrangements and social connectivity: advancing large-scale coastal and marine conservation initiatives in the Dominican Republic

Increasingly, large-scale conservation initiatives (e.g. through protected area networks and transboundary connectivity initiatives) are growing in prevalence as their diverse sustainability benefits are further understood. Conventional, centralized approaches to conservation, often featuring unconnected discrete ‘patches’, are no longer sufficient for achieving effective, long-term protection. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how to achieve effective large-scale conservation initiatives by addressing the following objectives: (1) To assess the degree to which local actors are involved in coastal and marine conservation practices, with a focus on large-scale conservation initiatives (LCIs); and, (2) To identify barriers and opportunities for achieving effective large-scale conservation. This paper presents findings from research in the Dominican Republic where social-ecological components of coastal and marine systems are considered from multiple perspectives to advance management and increase effectiveness of LCIs. Data were acquired through semi-structured interviews with 35 coastal and marine actors (e.g. fishers, ministers, non-governmental organizations, practitioners, academics) working at local to international scales. Interview data were analysed through thematic coding using QSR-Nvivo 12 software. Respondents expressed that non-governmental actors (e.g. private organizations, coastal communities) should have an increased role in developing, implementing and managing coastal and marine LCIs. Additionally, respondents commented on strategies to enhance social connectivity (i.e. sharing experiences, programs and expertise) within coastal and marine practices to enhance effectiveness and facilitate learning. Findings contribute to the understanding of complex coastal and marine social-ecological systems of the Dominican Republic and provide further support for involving multiple actors in governance processes.     

基于DCD的“安全—发展”协同治理绩效评估框架探讨

党的十九大提出“统筹发展和安全”的要求,构建相应的“安全—发展”协同治理绩效评估体系成为迫在眉睫的任务。通过运用社会基本矛盾、社会主要矛盾、社会主要矛盾主要方面的理论原理,构建“发展—应急—满意度”(Development-Contingencies-Degree of Satisfaction,DCD)的三角形绩效分析框架,设立经济发展、安全责任制、科学管理、依法行政、公共服务、安全感等一级指标,探讨若干二级和三级指标,构建“安全—发展”协同治理绩效评估指标体系框架,为检验常态与应急态协同绩效治理水平提供尺度。     

多排抗滑桩治理工程的有限元设计计算与优化

在现行计算方法中,通常采用不平衡推力法等传统方法设计抗滑桩.尽管国内外岩土工程技术人员通过研究使传统算法取得了较大的进展,但仍有许多不完善的地方,特别对于多排抗滑桩治理工程的设计计算,传统方法更难胜任,而采用有限元强度折减法则能解决这些问题.通过文中工程实例的设计计算可以看出,由于有限元强度折减法可以充分考虑桩—土之间...