Global assessment of the biodiversity safeguards of development banks that finance infrastructure

Infrastructure development is a major driver of biodiversity loss globally. With upward of US$2.5 trillion in annual investments in infrastructure, the financial sector indirectly drives this biodiversity loss. At the same time, biodiversity safeguards (project-level biodiversity impact mitigation requirements) of infrastructure financiers can help limit this damage. The coverage and harmonization of biodiversity safeguards are important factors in their effectiveness and therefore warrant scrutiny. It is equally important to examine the extent to which these safeguards align with best-practice principles for biodiversity impact mitigation outlined in international policies, such as that of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. We assessed the biodiversity safeguards of public development banks and development finance institutions for coverage, harmonization, and alignment with best practice. We used Institute of New Structural Economics and Agence Française de Développement's global database to identify development banks that invest in high-biodiversity-footprint infrastructure and have over US$500 million in assets. Of the 155 banks, 42% (n = 65) had biodiversity safeguards. Of the existing safeguards, 86% (56 of 65) were harmonized with International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standard 6 (PS6). The IFC PS6 (and by extension the 56 safeguard policies harmonized with it) had high alignment with international best practice in biodiversity impact mitigation, whereas the remaining 8 exhibited partial alignment, incorporating few principles that clarify the conditions for effective biodiversity offsetting. Given their dual role in setting benchmarks and leveraging private finance, infrastructure financiers in development finance need to adopt best-practice biodiversity safeguards if the tide of global biodiversity loss is to be stemmed. The IFC PS6, if strengthened, can act as a useful template for other financier safeguards. The high degree of harmonization among safeguards is promising, pointing to a potential for diffusion of practices.     

环境监测主动适应生态文明建设新特征的路径

简述了环境保护新特征的系统诊断,指出面对环境保护呈现的新特征,环境监测管理及建设存在环境监测的各项技术、标准、规范、管理措施滞后于社会经济基本现代化的发展要求,体制机制滞后于环境保护的发展要求,服务能力滞后于公共服务的需求,质量管理滞后于严格的环境管理需求等问题。提出,应从传统的环境监测向资源环境承载力监测预警转变,从条块管理向垂直管理的体制转变,从监测信息相对封闭向监测信息主动公开转变,由单纯依靠自身监测向依靠各部门和全社会监测转变,从污染物总量监测为主向污染物总量,环境质量监测并重转变,从实验室质控为主向全过程质控转变,从以生态,环境为核心的环境监测向以人为本的环境监测转变。     

中国矿山环境保护投融资渠道研究

矿产资源的大规模开发,在带来巨大经济效益的同时也产生了一系列的社会和环境问题。在市场经济条件下,资金问题是制约矿山环境保护的最大瓶颈。长期以来,受我国经济水平和矿山环境保护自身特点的限制,庞大的资金需求和有限的供给之间的矛盾成为制约矿山环境保护的主要障碍。为了改善我国矿山环境保护巨大资金缺口的局面,探索我国矿山环境保护的投融资渠道,就显得十分重要和迫切。本文从我国矿山环境保护的投融资现状入手,在分析我国现行矿山环境保护投融资渠道的基础上,对我国矿山环境保护投融资渠道进行了创新。     

污染场地风险管控环境经济政策体系：国外经验与本土实践

快速城市化和工业化给我国带来了大量的场地污染问题,污染场地修复和风险管控成为国土资源可持续利用的重要领域,创新土壤污染防治经济政策,充分发挥市场调节作用是土壤污染防治的内在要求,是破解土壤生态环境问题、推进土壤污染防治管理转型的重要支撑。本文从经济政策的体系、投融资模式与机制等方面展开,对美国、德国、荷兰等发达国家的污染场地风险管控环境经济政策进行了梳理分析,总结其可借鉴的成功经验;介绍了我国污染场地风险管控环境经济政策实施现状,最终从完善调控体系、明晰权责归属、拓宽资金来源、规范资金运营、丰富投融资模式、探索费用效益分析机制等方面提出我国污染场地风险管控环境经济政策体系的改进建议。     

浅谈我国上市公司资本结构特点及优化措施

我国上市公司资本结构的主要特点是偏好股权投资、流动负债比率偏高、债券比重小。要改变我国上市公司资本结构中呈现的重股轻债的状况,需采取优化股权结构、发展和完善债券市场、规范股市行为等措施,使我国上市公司的资本结构日趋合理。     

我国生态环境补偿机制的完善与可持续发展关系探讨

阐述了我国生态环境价值被低估甚至缺失的状况。分析了我国生态环境价值被低估的表现及生态环境补偿机制的完善与可持续发展的关系。指出政府亟需通过适当的制度安排，从建立健全生态环境的经济补偿机制、经济赔偿机制、经济处罚机制．经济激励机制．加大财政转移支付中生态补偿的力度，积极探索市场化生态环境补偿模式，建立资源环境价值评价体系，建立生态环境保护标准体系等方面，完善生态环境补偿机制，为可持续发展提供重要的制度保障。     

美国资产证券化中的政府作用对我国的借鉴

美国政府在资产证券化创设过程中发挥了巨大的作用。为推动我国资产证券化的开展，我国政府可借鉴美国做法，采取修订法律、营造金融环境、设置政府机构等措施。     

Institutional innovation in urban governance: The case of climate change adaptation

Urban governance systems need to be adaptive to deal with emerging uncertainties and pressures, including those related to climate change. Realising adaptive urban governance systems requires attention to institutions, and in particular, processes of institutional innovation. Interestingly, understanding of how institutional innovation and change occurs remains a key conceptual weakness in urban climate change governance. This paper explores how institutional innovation in urban climate change governance can be conceptualised and analysed. We develop a heuristic involving three levels: (1) “visible” changes in institutional arrangements, (2) changes in underlying “rules-in-use”, and (3) the relationship to broader “governance dilemmas”. We then explore the utility of this heuristic through an exploratory case study of urban water governance in Santiago, Chile. The approach presented opens up novel possibilities for studying institutional innovation and evaluating changes in governance systems. The paper contributes to debates on innovation and its effects in urban governance, particularly under climate change.     

Water Resource Protection in Taiwan: An Evaluation of the Taipei Water Management Commission

/ This study evaluates the institutional capacity and performance of the Taipei Water Management Commission. The commission, which manages the Taipei Water Special Area-one of 95 such areas in Taiwan and the only one managed by a supervisory agency-has established a record of water conservation that suggests its utility as a model for managing other protected water resources areas in Taiwan. However, its present institutional structure limits its ability deliver on its mandate. The study identifies a number of problems related to the commission's current institutional structure that need to be addressed if the commission is to serve as a viable model for managing other protected water resource areas in Taiwan.KEY WORDS: Water resources management; Commissions; Institutional capacity; Taiwan     

Institutional design in transformation: A comparative study of local irrigation governance in Uzbekistan

The irrigation sector constitutes the backbone of Uzbekistan's economy, providing social and economic stability in the region. The sector collapsed with the fall of the Soviet Union, due to worsening of infrastructure conditions causing tensions among resource users. Subsequent irrigation management reforms were implemented in a top-down manner. More than a decade after the initial reforms – which established local Water Consumers Association (WCA) and transferred operation and maintenance responsibilities for on-farm irrigation canals – the poor performance of these associations is still apparent, illustrating the heritage of the strong role of state agencies in Uzbek water management that still affects collective irrigation management today. This paper identifies the necessary and sufficient conditions for successfully managing common pool resources (CPRs) and, more specifically, irrigation canal maintenance in the rural Bukhara region of Uzbekistan. Fifteen WCAs were examined regarding conditions that may facilitate successful irrigation canal maintenance. Methods involved focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with the associations concerned. Data gathered was analyzed using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. The results indicate that two paths of local factors can lead to well-maintained irrigation canals: (1) the combination of appropriate chairmanship skills with sustainable resource appropriation or (2) the combination of appropriate chairmanship skills with the presence of effective participatory governance. The results also illustrate the role of path-dependence and traditional co-production of irrigation management in Uzbekistan.