The European Commission’s Green Deal is an opportunity to rethink harmful practices of research and innovation policy

The European Union’s Green Deal and associated policies, aspiring to long-term environmental sustainability, now require economic activities to ‘do no significant harm’ to EU environmental objectives. The way the European Commission is enacting the do no significant harm principle relies on quantitative tools that try to identify harm and adjudicate its significance. A reliance on established technical approaches to assessing such questions ignores the high levels of imprecision, ambiguity, and uncertainty—levels often in flux—characterizing the social contexts in which harms emerge. Indeed, harm, and its significance, are relational, not absolute. A better approach would thus be to acknowledge the relational nature of harm and develop broad capabilities to engage and ‘stay with’ the harm. We use the case of European research and innovation activities to expose the relational nature of harm, and explore an alternative and potentially more productive approach that departs from attempts to unilaterally or uniformly claim to know or adjudicate what is or is not significantly harmful. In closing, we outline three ways research and innovation policy-makers might experiment with reconfiguring scientific and technological systems and practices to better address the significant harms borne by people, other-than-human beings, and ecosystems.     

基于环境行为理论的公众一次性塑料减量政策研究

公众行为心理是影响一次性塑料减量政策有效性的关键因素。为针对公众心理制定差异化的政策措施,借鉴环境行为理论的计划行为理论(TPB)和规范激活理论(NAM),构建了一次性塑料减量行为意向模型;基于该模型编制了调查问卷,通过线上、线下相结合的方式,共获得408份有效问卷;采用AMOS软件对结构方程模型进行了分析。结果表明:(微)塑料污染的后果意识对公众一次性塑料减量的意向产生了显著的正向影响,政府应扩大宣传(微)塑料的环境影响,特别是要使公众感受到(微)塑料污染对健康的负面影响;受访者减少使用一次性塑料制品的正面态度对其行为的影响尚不显著,因此针对一次性塑料减量行为的奖惩机制必不可少,以增加公众执行一次性塑料减量行为的动力。     

双碳背景下煤基产业绿色低碳转型之路

加快煤基产业的绿色低碳转型发展,对于中国实现碳达峰、碳中和目标至关重要。重点分析了煤炭、煤电、煤化工行业产品产量、温室气体排放等基本现状,识别煤基产业绿色低碳转型在产业布局、生态环境保护压力、能源利用效率、低碳技术创新等方面面临的风险挑战,并从科学谋划产业布局、加大生态环境保护力度、强化节能改造提效、聚焦技术创新应用、深化多产业耦合发展等角度提出煤基产业绿色低碳发展路径,为煤基产业的绿色低碳发展提供政策支撑。

     

基于全球三大经济体实践的环境影响评价改革趋势及动因研究

环境影响评价(简称环评)是一项重要环境管理制度,自1969年实施以来,在全球范围内经历了不断的修正和完善。特别是近10年来,在不同的政治、经济背景下,全球三大经济体——美国、中国和欧盟的环评改革均呈现出简化行政程序以及提高评价过程和报告书质量的共同趋势。采用多源流分析框架,对美国、欧盟和中国环评制度改革的根源、动力和趋势进行比较研究。结果表明,环评改革的根源在于不同国情背景下政策的实践反馈、公众环保意识的觉醒以及市场压力。

     

The case for policy‐relevant conservation science

Drawing on the “evidence‐based” (Sutherland et al. 2013) versus “evidence‐informed” debate (Adams & Sandbrook 2013), which has become prominent in conservation science, I argue that science can be influential if it holds a dual reference (Lentsch & Weingart 2011) that contributes to the needs of policy makers whilst maintaining technical rigor. In line with such a strategy, conservation scientists are increasingly recognizing the usefulness of constructing narratives through which to enhance the influence of their evidence (Leslie et al. 2013; Lawton & Rudd 2014). Yet telling stories alone is rarely enough to influence policy; instead, these narratives must be policy relevant. To ensure that evidence is persuasive alongside other factors in a complex policy‐making process, conservation scientists could follow 2 steps: reframe within salient political contexts and engage more productively in boundary work, which is defined as the ways in which scientists “construct, negotiate, and defend the boundary between science and policy” (Owens et al. 2006:640). These will both improve the chances of evidence‐informed conservation policy.     

Aligning science and policy to achieve evolutionarily enlightened conservation

There is increasing recognition among conservation scientists that long‐term conservation outcomes could be improved through better integration of evolutionary theory into management practices. Despite concerns that the importance of key concepts emerging from evolutionary theory (i.e., evolutionary principles and processes) are not being recognized by managers, there has been little effort to determine the level of integration of evolutionary theory into conservation policy and practice. We assessed conservation policy at 3 scales (international, national, and provincial) on 3 continents to quantify the degree to which key evolutionary concepts, such as genetic diversity and gene flow, are being incorporated into conservation practice. We also evaluated the availability of clear guidance within the applied evolutionary biology literature as to how managers can change their management practices to achieve better conservation outcomes. Despite widespread recognition of the importance of maintaining genetic diversity, conservation policies provide little guidance about how this can be achieved in practice and other relevant evolutionary concepts, such as inbreeding depression, are mentioned rarely. In some cases the poor integration of evolutionary concepts into management reflects a lack of decision‐support tools in the literature. Where these tools are available, such as risk‐assessment frameworks, they are not being adopted by conservation policy makers, suggesting that the availability of a strong evidence base is not the only barrier to evolutionarily enlightened management. We believe there is a clear need for more engagement by evolutionary biologists with policy makers to develop practical guidelines that will help managers make changes to conservation practice. There is also an urgent need for more research to better understand the barriers to and opportunities for incorporating evolutionary theory into conservation practice.     

能源结构与CO_2排放的定量关联机制研究

识别能源结构调整对CO2排放的定量影响可以为评估国家相关温室气体控制政策提供数理工具。首先基于中国的实际能源结构,对不同能源的标准煤CO2排放系数进行了测算和适用范围界定,在此基础上,定量分析了中国"十一五"期间能源结构调整对CO2排放的影响,指出了中国节能措施和能源结构调整措施对CO2排放影响的贡献率。通过对能源结构调整与CO2排放的敏感性定量测算,可知非化石能源替代煤炭具有最佳的CO2排放降低效益。在定量分析基础上,提出了基于能源结构的降低CO2排放的针对性措施和政策建议。     

The alignment of agricultural and nature conservation policies in the European Union

Europe is a region of relatively high population density and productive agriculture subject to substantial government intervention under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Many habitats and species of high conservation interest have been created by the maintenance of agricultural practices over long periods. These practices are often no longer profitable, and nature conservation initiatives require government support to cover the cost for them to be continued. The CAP has been reformed both to reduce production of agricultural commodities at costs in excess of world prices and to establish incentives for landholders to adopt voluntary conservation measures. A separate nature conservation policy has established an extensive series of protected sites (Natura 2000) that has, as yet, failed to halt the loss of biodiversity. Additional broader scale approaches have been advocated for conservation in the wider landscape matrix, including the alignment of agricultural and nature conservation policies, which remains a challenge. Possibilities for alignment include further shifting of funds from general support for farmers toward targeted payments for biodiversity goals at larger scales and adoption of an ecosystem approach. The European response to the competing demands for land resources may offer lessons globally as demands on rural land increase.     

The Need to Disentangle Key Concepts from Ecosystem‐Approach Jargon

The ecosystem approach—as endorsed by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB) in 2000—is a strategy for holistic, sustainable, and equitable natural resource management, to be implemented via the 12 Malawi Principles. These principles describe the need to manage nature in terms of dynamic ecosystems, while fully engaging with local peoples. It is an ambitious concept. Today, the term is common throughout the research and policy literature on environmental management. However, multiple meanings have been attached to the term, resulting in confusion. We reviewed references to the ecosystem approach from 1957 to 2012 and identified 3 primary uses: as an alternative to ecosystem management or ecosystem‐based management; in reference to an integrated and equitable approach to resource management as per the CBD; and as a term signifying a focus on understanding and valuing ecosystem services. Although uses of this term and its variants may overlap in meaning, typically, they do not entirely reflect the ethos of the ecosystem approach as defined by the CBD. For example, there is presently an increasing emphasis on ecosystem services, but focusing on these alone does not promote decentralization of management or use of all forms of knowledge, both of which are integral to the CBD's concept. We highlight that the Malawi Principles are at risk of being forgotten. To better understand these principles, more effort to implement them is required. Such efforts should be evaluated, ideally with comparative approaches, before allowing the CBD's concept of holistic and socially engaged management to be abandoned or superseded. It is possible that attempts to implement all 12 principles together will face many challenges, but they may also offer a unique way to promote holistic and equitable governance of natural resources. Therefore, we believe that the CBD's concept of the ecosystem approach demands more attention. La Necesidad de Desenredar Conceptos Clave del Argot Ambiente‐Estrategia     

浅谈长江大流域旅游资源开发

本文对长江流域旅游资源的特点和开发条件进行了评价,同时论述了浦东开发对其的影响,提出了策应浦东开发的措施选择。