The measurement of resource rents: An application to Canadian nickel

Once the ‘risk’ of the industry is recognized, there are at least two sources of higher-than-normal returns to investment in mineral extraction: Ricardian rents to resources with different economic qualities and monopoly rents. An estimate of the relative importance of these sources in the Canadian nickel industry over the period 1961-74 is made and it is found that Ricardian rents and, for one firm, monopoly rents, were important.     

基于SPSS的苏北地区可持续发展能力空间分异研究

以区域可持续发展能力建设为切入点,结合苏北地区的实际,建立适合该地区的可持续发展能力评价指标体系,然后运用SPSS软件的因子分析和聚类分析的方法,对苏北地区可持续发展能力进行综合评价。结果表明,区内各县市可持续发展能力差异较大,但其空间分异呈现出某些特征:经济可持续发展能力呈现由地区东南部向中间递减的“一”字型空间格局;资源环境可持续发展能力呈现由地区中部分别向东、向西递减的“凸”字型空间格局;社会可持续发展能力呈“M”字型空间格局;综合可持续发展能力呈“H”字型空间格局;以中心城市为核心,可持续发展能力向周边呈辐射状递减趋势。根据这些空间分异特征,提出了一些促进苏北地区可持续发展能力建设的建议。     

Industry Response to the Challenge of Sustainability: The Case of the Canadian Nonferrous Mining Sector

/ The paper investigates how the Canadian nonferrous sector is tackling the challenge of sustainable development. Although there is no consensus as to what sustainable development means in practice for management in the sector, at least three dimensions must be taken into account: (1) metals are recyclable, the availability of this resource is not a concern for the foreseeable future; (2) the need to minimize environmental impacts of metals exploration, extraction, transformation, consumption, and recycling; and (3) production activities should not be socially or culturally disruptive. The nonferrous mining industry faces several environmental problems. Some of the most significant are acid mine drainage, sulfur emissions, recycling, and metals toxicity. The industry has developed a number of responses to address these specific concerns as well as other more general challenges. Six strategies are described and analyzed: (1) research and development, (2) an effort of consensus building among stakeholders known as the Whitehorse Mining Initiative, (3) international networking, (4) active involvement in the development of environmental management standards, (5) management reorganization and (6) voluntary agreements. The importance of external factors in the shaping of corporate environmental management practices is discussed, in particular the role of government. Progress has been achieved in three areas: (1) managerial practices and organization, (2) reducing the impacts of ongoing operations and (3) minimizing future liabilities, but two significant fields of conflict remain, namely mining in wilderness areas and projects on aboriginal lands.KEY WORDS: Canada; Environmental management; Minerals industry; Nonferrous metals; Sustainable development; Whitehorse Mining Initiative     

藏北高原自然资源的利用与保护

藏北高原面积约60万km²,海拔在4500m以上,为青藏高原的主体。其气候寒冷干燥,人迹稀少,以高寒草原为主的生态系统基本保存完好,其天然草地辽阔,各类可利用草地面积占土地总面积53％,为西藏最大牧区,适宜发展地毯毛羊--藏绵羊。这里栖居着许多青藏高原特有的国家一、二类保护动物及有一定经济价值动物资源。高原上湖泊众多,湖泊面积占全国湖泊总面积的1/4以上。其中许多盐湖盛产有工业开采价值的食盐、天然碱及硼、锂、钾等重要稀有元素,为我国主要矿盐产地和远景开发区。目前因草地生态脆弱和利用不当,已有4％草地退化,沙地面积扩大,野生动物栖居范围也趋缩小;少数盐矿产地环境有所污染,盐湖资源浪费较大。所以适度利用天然草地、保护野生动物和综合开发盐湖资源,防止自然生态环境的恶化乃是开发藏北高原生物矿产资源的重要战略措施。     

塔里木盆地北缘绿洲不同连作年限棉田土壤有机碳、无机碳含量与环境因子的相关性

农田土壤碳库是土壤碳库的重要组成部分,易受人类活动调节且固碳减排潜力巨大,研究土壤有机碳、无机碳含量特征及其与环境因子的关系有助于深入理解土壤生态过程,为全球碳收支平衡研究提供理论支持.本文以塔里木盆地北缘绿洲为靶区,分析土壤碳库特征,结合冗余分析、通径分析,探究土壤有机碳、无机碳含量及其与环境因子的相关关系.结果表明:(1)同一土层不同连作年限棉田土壤有机碳、无机碳含量存在显著差异(P0.05),随连作年限增加,有机碳含量呈先增加后减少趋势,而无机碳含量呈先减少后增加趋势;同一连作年限棉田不同土层土壤有机碳、无机碳含量存在显著差异(P0.05),有机碳含量均在0~20 cm层达到最大值,而无机碳含量均在20~50 cm层达到最大值.(2)通过冗余分析得出环境因子对土壤碳库特征影响的重要性排序为:磷酸酶活性p H值蔗糖酶活性过氧化氢酶活性全氮速效磷速效钾土壤含水量脲酶活性电导率;磷酸酶活性、p H值、蔗糖酶活性、过氧化氢酶活性、全氮、速效磷、速效钾与土壤有机碳、无机碳含量呈极显著相关关系(P0.01);土壤含水量、脲酶活性与土壤有机碳、无机碳含量表现为显著相关(P0.05).(3)通径分析表明,速效钾对有机碳含量直接作用显著,是影响有机碳含量的主要因素,而脲酶活性对无机碳含量直接作用显著,是影响无机碳含量的主要因素.干旱半干旱区土壤有机碳、无机碳含量研究是评价农田生态系统土壤碳的"源/汇"效应的基础数据,对研究全球碳收支平衡和陆地碳循环机制具有重要意义.     

西北冰洋海域表层沉积物中厌氧菌分布特征

用逐步稀释法在4℃和25℃培养条件下测定了西北冰洋海域24个表层沉积物样品中厌氧菌(Anaerobic bacteria,AAB) 的检出率和含量.同时,分析了这两项指标的水平分布（纬度间、经度间）差异,以及在不同水深的变化特征.结果表明,在4℃和25℃培养条件下厌氧菌检出率高达100%,AAB含量范围分别为9.00×102~2.40×107cell·g-1和2.90×104~2.40×107cell·g-1,平均含量分别为4.54×106cell·g-1和3.99×106cell·g-1.AAB含量存在水平分布差异,随着纬度升高,或经度自西向东,或水深的加大,AAB的含量均呈现逐渐降低的趋势.     

Is this trail too crowded? A choice experiment to evaluate tradeoffs and preferences of park visitors in Garibaldi Park,British Columbia

Large crowds in parks can be a problem for park managers and visitors. However, perceptions of crowding are difficult to measure due to coping mechanisms deployed by park visitors. Furthermore, perceptions of crowding should not be measured in isolation, but rather as part of a suite of conditions that comprise the visitors’ outdoor experience. We used a dichotomous choice experiment with visual images and eight attributes to estimate park users’ utilities associated with their visitor experience in Garibaldi Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada. Our visual method allowed us to control for background view and compare user preferences on hiking trails with preferences at final destinations. We find that utilities are more sensitive to crowding at viewpoints than to other aspects of the outdoor experience. Thus, visitor satisfaction and crowding perceptions are more likely to be defined by where visitors have these encounters rather than the total number of encounters.     

北方海洋生态站几种经济动物体内5种重金属残留量

对北方海洋生态站生态监测海域几种贝类、鱼类体内Hg、Cd、Pb、As、Cu残留量及季节变化进行了调查、分析,并且评价了这些经济动物的生物质量。结果表明:贝类Hg的含量(×10-6湿重以下同)为未检出～0.026,As为0.330～1.361,Cu为0.67～14.04,Pb为0.022～1.02,Cd为0.086～3.90;鱼类的Hg含量为0.001～0.017、As为0.672～0.998、Cu为1 35～5.90、Pb为0.016～0.57、Cd为0.006～0.45。扁玉螺体内重金属残留量季节变化明显;生物体内Hg和Cu的含量均符合中华人民共和国国家标准中关于食品中限量卫生标准,其他重金属含量均有超标现象,Cd最严重。     

(De)legitimating extractivism: the shifting politics of social licence

ABSTRACT

Most scholarly accounts of social licence define it as a public relations strategy to legitimate resource development. In Canadian pipeline politics, however, it has had the opposite effect, crystallizing widespread concerns about industry capture of regulatory processes and affirming the democratic rights of local communities. This assessment of the concept’s critical, counter-hegemonic potential to challenge the policies, practices and logic of state-sponsored extractivist development situates social licence as a key discursive battleground in the struggle between politicization (which accents agonistic confrontation between competing alternative futures) and de-politicization (which defuses conflict and builds consensus around the perception of common interests). Frame analysis of news media and advocacy group texts is used to investigate how opponents of a pipeline project bridged the idea of social licence with movement frames concerning identity, injustice and democratic agency to transform the concept from a public relations term meant to enable corporate activity into a critical trope used to constrain it.