运用绩效管理推动地方政府抓紧抓实生态环境建设

绩效管理作为推动地方政府建设生态环境的有效手段和方式,能够把生态环境建设纳入地方政府的绩效管理,从而推动地方政府实施生态环境建设。在此过程中应侧重于如下几个问题：提高环境保护在政府绩效评价体系中的地位与比重;探索建立生态文明建设动态评价系统,对环境质量和生态发展进行区域性监控与跟踪;将国家环境功能区划纳入到地方经济社会发展规划中,成为地方政府绩效考核的基本依据和内容;坚持绩效管理理念,推进环境风险全过程管理;强化目标责任制,构建科学发展的长效机制;从以内部考核为主向内外考核兼顾转变。     

On the Process of Peasant Workers’ Transformation to Urban Residents

The unique two-stage ＂Chinese path＂ of China＇s rural-urban migration, which cannot be fully explained by classical theories of economic development, makes us to give peasant workers＇ transformation to urban residents a top priority. On the basis of fully explaining peasant workers＇ transformation to urban residents, a method for measuring its process has been advanced and then confirmed with the data of March in 2005 from surveys to peasant workers in Wuhan. Finally, the suggestions of accelerating peasant workers＇ transformation to urban residents to promote the construction of a harmonious society have been drawn from the analysis.     

中小城市居民垃圾分类行为影响因素——以张家港市为例

为识别中小城市居民分类行为的影响因素和决策机制,本文构建了中小城市居民垃圾分类行为决策模型,并以江苏省张家港市为例,运用结构方程拟合与修正,分析了主客观因素对居民分类行为的影响,并与大城市相关研究进行了比较.结果表明：张家港市垃圾分类参与率达95%,高于一、二线大城市.对于张家港市居民而言,“行为意愿”是影响其分类行为最显著的因素,其次是“环保意识”和“社会影响”;“经济回报”和“法规影响”的显著性较低,尚未发挥应有的激励作用;“分类知识掌握程度”和“时间花费”的影响不显著.总体来看,主观意识（敏感性系数：0.629）仍是影响中小城市居民分类行为的主导因素,但在强制垃圾分类背景下,随着分类设施的建设完善、法律法规的颁布和社区管制加强,其影响作用趋于减弱,而客观环境对应的显著观测变量更多,对居民分类行为的影响逐渐增强,将是政府制定管理政策的有效发力点.     

Old problems and new dilemmas: the conundrum of environmental management reform in China

ABSTRACT

Underpinning China’s severe and continuing environmental degradation is a stubborn gap between environmental regulation and regulatory enforcement at the local level. In the past, scholars have sought explanations for the causes of this implementation gap by interviewing frontline environmental officials. Due to the fact that the self-perception data used in most of those existing studies were gathered prior to 2012, the possible factors contributing to the compromised effectiveness of local environmental enforcement from 2012 onward remain largely unknown. This empirical weakness should not be overlooked, as the prevailing institutions governing China’s local environmental management practices have been experiencing many frame-breaking transformations since 2012. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with leaders of environmental law enforcement teams in all administrative districts of Guangzhou in 2017, this paper not only summarizes pervasive elements which negatively impact the current effectiveness of environmental regulatory efforts, but also provides qualitative evidence and theoretical accounts for three enforcement dilemmas stemming from reform measures taken by the central government.     

Exploitation of carbohydrate food sources in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Polybia occidentalis</Emphasis>: social cues influence foraging decisions in swarm-founding wasps

An efficient exploitation of carbohydrate food sources would be beneficial for social wasp species that store nectar within their nest. In the swarm-founding polistine wasp Polybia occidentalis, we now demonstrate that the decisions of when and where to forage are influenced by information from conspecifics. Only when foragers had been trained to collect at artificial carbohydrate feeders did newcomers (food-source-naive individuals) continuously arrive at these feeders during 2 h of experiment. In control tests, in which no forager had been trained, not a single newcomer alighted at any of the offered carbohydrate food sources. This indicates that, during the foraging process, a nest-based input provided by successful foragers must have stimulated nestmates to search for food. Once activated, the newcomers’ choice on where to collect was strongly influenced by field-based social information. The mere visual presence of accumulated conspecifics (wasp dummies placed on one of the feeders) attracted newcomers to the food sources. Interestingly, however, visual enhancement was not the only decision-biasing factor at the feeding site. In an experimental series where searching wasps had to choose between the experimental feeder at which 3 foragers continuously collected and the control feeder with nine wasp dummies, only 40% of the wasps chose the visually enhanced feeder. This points to the existence of additional mechanisms of local enhancement. The possibility that, in social wasps, recruitment is involved in the exploitation of carbohydrate food sources is discussed.     

The dynamics of social learning in an insect model,the bumblebee (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Bombus terrestris</Emphasis>)

Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) are attracted to those particular inflorescences where other bees are already foraging, a process known as local enhancement. Here, we use a quantitative analysis of learning in a foraging task to illustrate that this attraction can lead bees to learn more quickly which flower species are rewarding if they forage in the company of experienced conspecifics. This effect can also be elicited by model bees, rather than live demonstrators. We also show that local enhancement in bumblebees most likely reflects a general attraction to conspecifics that is not limited to a foraging context. Based on the widespread occurrence of both local enhancement and associative learning in the invertebrates, we suggest that social influences on learning in this group may be more common than the current literature would suggest and that invertebrates may provide a useful model for understanding how learning processes based on social information evolve.     

Coercive versus cooperative pollution control: Comparative study of state programs to reduce erosion and sedimentation pollution in urban areas

This article examines coercive and cooperative approaches to implementing state urban erosion and sedimentation pollution control programs. State administrators report serious shortfalls in their ability to control sources of pollution, but comparison of more and less successful programs provides evidence of what states can do to make programs more effective. Key ingredients for a successful state effort include the use of coercion with both the private sector and local government, adequate staffing, application of severe sanctions when violations of state standards are detected, and provision of technical assistance. Many state programs lack one or more of those elements, which explains their inability to adequately control urban erosion and sedimentation pollution.     

Implementing climate variability adaptation at the community level in the Amazon floodplain

The need to design measures for adapting to climate change is increasingly recognized as important and has encouraged research on the role of local ecological knowledge (LEK) in supporting adaptation. Studies of how LEK can help adapt to increasing climate variability remain limited. This article develops an approach through which the process of adaptation can be tracked at a community level. We describe how community residents in the Amazon floodplains incorporate natural hydrologic and ecological processes into their management systems to optimize ecosystem functioning.We describe two case studies where LEK is used as a resource by small-scale fisher-farmers in the Amazon floodplains to adapt to the increasing impacts on their livelihoods generated by changing climate patterns. This article draws on local histories and seeks to identify the critical factors that either facilitate or impede household ability to reduce their vulnerability. We found that the LEK of small fisher-farmers has facilitated the adaptation of a resource management system to optimize production across a broad range of floodplain habitats and conditions. There are, however, significant challenges to operationalizing these approaches, including an absence of systematically collected data on adaptation strategies and outcomes. In addition, local people must be integrated into policymaking processes so their knowledge can contribute to the design of locally appropriate policies for adapting to the impacts of climate related events.     

When implementation works: A comparison of Ramsar Convention implementation in different continents

What are the processes that shape implementation of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) in multilevel governance? In an attempt to address this question, we move from a top-down view of implementation as compliance with international rules to viewing it as a dynamic process shaped by action at various levels. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands offers an important context to understand the mechanisms that shape multilevel implementation outcomes. We examine Ramsar Convention implementation in Austria, Mexico, and the Republic of Korea in order to identify relevant processes that define multilevel implementation. These cases represent three different types of government, and shed light on the ways in which international law is implemented by respective governments. The Austrian case, a federal government, illustrates the ways in which subnational authorities (the provinces) are influenced by binding regional institutions (EU-rules) to create a more robust context for protection in terms of designation of Ramsar sites. The Mexican case, a semi-federal government, shows how spurred involvement by local NGOs, states, and scientists can result in significant expansion of efforts. The Korean case, a unitary government, demonstrates the ways in which aligning institutional interests (in this case local governments with national ministries) can lead to strong implementation. Analysis of these cases provides two robust findings and one deserving additional study. First, overlapping governance efforts where activity has ties with multiple regional and international biodiversity efforts tend to see cumulative implementation. Second, institutional and organizational complexity can provide opportunities for local actors to drive the implementation agenda through a mix of processes of coordination and contentious politics. A third, more tentative finding, is that multilevel funding sources can ease implementation.     

Local Air Quality Management policy and practice in the UK: The case for greater Public Health integration and engagement

The UK’s Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) regime is designed to protect people’s health from the ill-effects of air pollution, but it is failing to achieve its full potential. The Public Health aspects of, perspectives on, and integration and engagement in, LAQM have been poorly considered to date. This critical literature review assessed LAQM-related strengths and limitations in order to explore how Public Health, through greater integration and engagement, can add value to the regime.‘Structure’ and ‘process’ weaknesses were identified, including: a poorly defined Public Health role, a narrowly-scoped prescribed process, risk assessment uncertainties, ineffective communications, shallow evaluations and disconnected policies. Separately and cumulatively, these have hindered Public Health integration in LAQM policy and practice and stunted the regime's evolution. Engaging Public Health in LAQM future design and delivery can help solve these problems, by improving risk assessments and raising awareness of air pollution and other health-influencing relationships, targeting action in high-need areas, coordinating air pollution mitigation and health improvement interventions, and connecting different policy areas.Increasing Public Health integration and engagement in LAQM can enhance the existing regime. Acting now is timely from both LAQM and Public Health perspectives. This review's findings should be used to inform debates and decisions around the future development of Local Air Quality Management arrangements both in the UK and beyond.