Climate Change Policy in European Countries and its effects on industry

In this paper we discuss the effects ofdifferent climate change policies onindustrial activity and on welfare. Wecompare the effects of carbon taxes andgrandfathered permits and the effects ofexemptions for energy-intensive industries.We survey first the insights from economictheory and from model experiments for theUS. Next we use a general equilibrium modelto assess the effect of different climatechange policies on industrial activity persector and per member country in the EU. Wepay particular attention to the effects ofpolicies where one EU member state exemptsits energy-intensive sectors from abatementefforts. The main findings are that, in theEU, the effects on industrial activity andthe welfare costs of tradable permits orcarbon taxes are small when no industrialsectors are exempted. When one membercountry exempts its energy intensivesector, this will reduce somewhat theimpact on its activity level but willgenerate an extra welfare cost for theEU.     

克拉玛依市水,土资源承载力与城市发展对策研究

在城市可持续发展的进程中，克拉玛依已具备了许多有利条件，但同时也存在一些限制性２。文章重点研究了克拉玛依水、土地资源的承载力与城市发展的关系，从水资源供需平衡，水资源承载力与城市发展规模控制、土地资源人口承载力、工业用地规模、居住用地规模、绿化用地规模和环境管理等方面提出了对策。     

京津风沙源区防风固沙功能的时空变化及其区域差异

防风固沙功能是京津风沙源治理成效的关键监测指标。以往研究注重局地防风固沙功能的评估,对全区防风固沙功能的时空变化与内部差异揭示不足。基于京津风沙源区多期遥感数据,采用修正风蚀方程与GIS空间统计技术,评估分析了2000-2015年防风固沙功能的整体变化及其区域差异。结果表明:(1)京津风沙源区年均防风固沙量为28.98亿t,防风固沙能力为68.24 t/hm~2,且均随年份变化波动增加,年均增速分别为1.10%和0.71%;(2)京津风沙源区防风固沙能力呈西北高、东南低趋势,有49.06%的区域防风固沙能力高于70 t/hm~2,评估期内有54%的区域防风固沙能力明显提高;(3)浑善达克沙地亚区、典型草原亚区和荒漠草原亚区的防风固沙量累计为全区防风固沙总量的88%,燕山丘陵山地水源保护亚区和晋北山地丘陵亚区的防风固沙能力提升最显著;(4)锡林郭勒盟、赤峰市和乌兰察布市的防风固沙量合计占全区防风固沙量的77%,朔州市与包头市防风固沙能力较高,北京市与天津市防风固沙能力增速较高。因此,未来应重视分区施策治理与西部和北部防风固沙功能提升。     

为防震减灾事业做好科普宣传--南京地震科学馆的建设与发展

从1989年江苏省第一届科普宣传周起,南京基准地震台都被列为宣传周期间重点对外开放单位.于是,南京地震台克服重重困难,筹建了地震科学馆.十多年来在江苏省地震局和有关单位的大力支持下,由最初腾出地震台的会议室和几间办公室发展到有530平方米的展室和多功能厅,展出内容也得到丰富.同时,地震科学馆在防震减灾宣传中取得了一定的社会效益.     

大同市土地退化现状与动态变化研究

通过对大同市水土流失现状与动态变化、土地盐渍化和耕地数量与质量情况动态变化、土地沙漠化现状与动态变化的现状调查来分析大同市土地退化的主要成因以及采取的环境保护对策与建议.     

奈曼旗沙漠化土地动态变化分析

本文利用两期TM卫片对奈曼旗五个苏木的沙漠化土地动态进行了分析。10年间沙漠伦土地总面积减少了457.82km^2，但同期耕地面积净增加了394.08km^2；同时，流动沙地面积增加了139.62km^2，图斑数降低到了50％，流动沙地明显扩展，斑块间发生合并，集中连片的趋势严峻。不同苏木沙漠化土地变化表明，土地利用方式对其有明显影响。     

Toxic metals in sewage sludge-amended soils: has promotion of beneficial use discounted the risks?

Land application of contaminated waste products has been defended as beneficial use by some scientists and regulators, based on the premise that the behavior of any toxins accumulated in soils from this practice is reasonably well understood and will not have detrimental agronomic or environmental impacts into the foreseeable future. In this review, I use the case of toxic metals in sewage sludges applied to agricultural land to illustrate that metal behavior in soils and plant uptake is difficult to generalize because it is strongly dependent on the nature of the metal, sludge, soil properties and crop. Nevertheless, permitted agricultural loadings of toxic metals from sewage sludges are typically regulated using the sole criterion of total metal loading or concentrations in soils. Several critical generalizing assumptions about the behavior of sludge-borne metals in soil-crop systems, built into the US EPA risk assessment for metals, have tended to underestimate risks and are shown not to be well justified by published research. It is argued that, in the absence of a basic understanding of metal behavior in each specific situation, a more precautionary approach to toxic metal additions to soils is warranted.     

Climate Change and Energy Technologies

The long time scale of the climate change problem and the inherent nature of the carbon cycle bring important implications for present technology development efforts. Even if major technology improvements are achieved for non-carbon-emitting technologies such as energy-intensity improvements, wind, solar, biomass, and nuclear over the course of the 21^st century, most examinations of potential future greenhouse emissions conclude that additional technology development will be required to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations. The evelopment of an expanded suite of technologies including carbon capture and disposal, hydrogen systems and biotechnology hold the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations. This paper examines these technologies in the context of a global integrated assessment model of energy, agriculture, land-use, economics, and carbon cycle processes.     

Scale,context, and decision making in agricultural adaptation to climate variability and change

This work presents a framework for viewing agricultural adaptation, emphasizing the multiple spatial and temporal scales on which individuals and institutions process information on changes in their environment. The framework is offered as a means to gain perspective on the role of climate variability and change in agricultural adaptation, and developed for a case study of Australian agriculture. To study adaptation issues at the scale of individual farms we developed a simple modelling framework. The model highlights the decision making element of adaptation in light of uncertainty, and underscores the importance of decision information related to climate variability. Model results show that the assumption of perfect information for farmers systematically overpredicts adaptive performance. The results also suggest that farmers who make tactical planting decisions on the basis of historical climate information are outperformed by those who use even moderately successful seasonal forecast information. Analysis at continental scales highlights the prominent role of the decline in economic operating conditions on Australian agriculture. Examples from segments of the agricultural industry in Australia are given to illustrate the importance of appropriate scale attribution in adapting to environmental changes. In particular, adaptations oriented toward short time scale changes in the farming environment (droughts, market fluctuations) can be limited in their efficacy by constraints imposed by broad changes in the soil/water base and economic environment occuring over longer time scales. The case study also makes the point that adaptation must be defined in reference to some goal, which is ultimately a social and political exercise. Overall, this study highlights the importance of allowing more complexity (limited information, risk aversion, cross-scale interactions, mis-attribution of cause and effect, background context, identification of goals) in representing adaptation processes in climate change studies.