Lessons learnt from a participatory integrated assessment of greenhouse gas emission reduction options in firms

This article discusses an approach for identification and evaluation of short-term greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction options in firms. The approach is based on lessons learnt from a project using Participatory Integrated Assessment (PIA) and builds on the idea that effective public climate policy for firms requires options that have support from stakeholders and are practically feasible. Scenarios are used to provide a link with short-term policy developments and a model assists to communicate quantitative effects of options to participating stakeholders. Our approach can be seen as a first step towards a framework that meets the need for more systematic approaches to PIAs identifying effective public policies for short-term GHG emission reduction options in firms. In order to identify effective options for non-carbon dioxide GHG emission reductions, our approach has been applied to Dutch dairy farms, after which it has been refined. The case study suggests that our approach can provide balance between practical, context specific issues and scientific-theoretical aspects, thereby avoiding common pitfalls of participatory research projects to focus too much on either theory or practical issues.

基于多层次模型的农户土地利用决策影响因素分析——以陕西省米脂县高西沟村为例

土地利用变化驱动力研究一直是学者们关注的热点问题之一,土地利用驱动力在不同尺度的变化也越来越受学者们关注。论文以陕西省米脂县高西沟村为研究区域,在地形图、航片解译数据及2009年实际测量数据和农户调查数据的基础上,基于多层次模型的理论,借助HLM6.07(student)软件工具,构建从地块(微观尺度)到农户(中观尺度)的二层土地利用决策影响因素模型,试图揭示微观层面土地利用决策的影响因素在不同尺度上的变化机制。研究结果表明:①农户选择种植土豆、谷子作物的土地利用决策与地块的自然因素和农户的社会经济因素有关;②农户种植土豆、谷子行为决策的影响因素存在差异;③将多层次模型应用到从微观尺度到中观尺度分析农户土地利用决策影响因素是符合实际情况的,这为进一步构建影响农户土地利用决策的因素——微观尺度(地块)、中观尺度(农户)、宏观尺度(村庄)的三层模型奠定了基础,同时为研究土地利用决策机制提供了一种方法。     

决策环境风险评价的研究进展

对环境风险评价的基本概念、发展历程以及主要的技术路线和方法作了总结,介绍了决策环境风险评价的概念和应用,指出当前决策环境风险评价研究中存在的主要问题。     

Risk-based evaluation of wastewater treatment projects: A case study in Niasar city,Iran

For sustainable wastewater management, it is essential to consider social, environmental, geological and technical features as well as economic feature in the decision-making process. A limitation of many of the earlier works on wastewater management is that they take into account only financial criteria to make a decision for a given problem. Moreover, the decision-makers’ (DMs) attitude to risk, or optimism degree, when faced with uncertainty is not considered. In this paper, we study the application of risk-based multi-attribute decision-making (RB-MADM) methods to achieve sustainable wastewater management. Consideration of uncertainty, value tradeoffs, and different risk attitudes of decision makers are the important features of the developed methodology. A case study on the Iranian city of Niasar is presented to illustrate how this methodology can be applied to select the most preferred alternative for wastewater management among a set of options. The most preferred option is selected with respect to nine attributes under different optimism/pessimism degrees, using six different MADM methods. The results show that the ranking of options is sensitive to the optimism degree of the DMs. The proposed approach may help policy makers to achieve sustainable wastewater management.     

Analysing household decision-making on oil palm cultivation in Thailand

This paper analyses the dynamics of land use via the perspectives, motivations and behaviours of local landowners looking at land-use change (through the landowner’s eyes) in the way that the landowners would prefer to do and not to do in various situations. The dynamics are explored in the context of an oil-palm-based biodiesel development in Thailand where the advent of oil palm (OP) has caused the loss of paddy areas. A sequential mixed-method strategy, including 10 in-depth interviews and 180 responses to a questionnaire survey, indicates that the likelihood of a landowner switching traditional land for OP cultivation is affected by a number of factors including age and education of the head of household, number of household farming labourers, amount and source of income, land size and land right. Moreover, the results indicate that success of switching land to OP cultivation was determined by factors influencing willingness and capacity to change. Willingness-related factors are relevant to outcome expectation and social networks and connections while capacity-related factors are relevant to finance, labour, capital, land rights and transportation.     

Application of analytical hierarchy process and geographic information systems in land-use suitability evaluation: a case study of Dümrek village (Çanakkale,Turkey)

This study used both analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and geographic information systems (GIS) to make a land-use suitability analysis for the village of Dümrek, NW Turkey. Primarily, alternative land uses for agriculture, meadow–pasture and forest were determined along with criteria for these alternatives and a hierarchical structure was produced and used to determine the weights of the criteria. Spatial data were identified by means of GIS and calculations were made using the suitability values specified and weights obtained from AHP. Suitability maps were then produced for the above land use alternatives. Subsequently, a synthesized suitability map was formed from these maps. According to the weights specified by AHP, the order of land use preferences among the alternatives for rural development of Dümrek was agriculture, forest and meadow. The synthesized suitability map showed that the areas allocated for forest and agriculture were close to the present ratios of use; however, meadow land, which does not exist at present, should be allocated as a land use to constitute 12.5% of the study area. Achieving sustainability in land use is possible by planners and administrators considering results obtained from land suitability mapping studies at the stage of allocating land uses. The method applied in this research is considered useful when taking policy decisions covering the evaluation of rural land use, particularly for subunits of the state administration.     

Comparative analysis using EIA for developed and developing countries: case studies of hydroelectric power plants in Pakistan,Norway and Sweden

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is an important legislative and scientific tool that may assist and improve the quality assistance for the decision-making process in sustainable development. Here, a comparison of EIAs from three cases of hydropower projects in Pakistan, Norway and Sweden is reported. A huge difference concerning the incorporation of environmental considerations into the decisionmaking process between developed and developing countries is observed. The EIA system of Pakistan appears to be less efficient in the application and review process. In addition, the appraisal of issues, the decision-making process and evaluation through post-monitoring is not as well performed in Pakistan as in cases of hydroelectric power plants in Sweden and Norway. The key reason for this shortcoming is misconceptions about the EIA process, which initially receives intense attention but becomes weakened by the time of implementation. This implies that there is a need to adopt simplified and flexible EIA techniques suitable for the infrastructure and resources of a specific country, taking into account institutional, technical and financial constraints. Improvements are required in public participation, awareness, as well as in environmental control and data system sectors in Pakistan, besides simply enacting legislation to achieve the goals of the EIA system.     

基于LEC法的煤矿安全投资决策

利用基于作业条件危险性评价法(LEC)的综合评分决策法,对煤矿安全培训、通风除尘设施投资的合理性进行评价,分析了系数的取值过程并得到综合评分决策的合理度值.结果表明,基于LEC的综合评分决策法对煤矿安全投资合理度进行分析决策,具有直观、量化的优点,在一定程度上解决了安全投资规模难以把握的难题,可以对煤矿企业的安全投资提供合理化建议,便于管理者决策.     

非常规突发事件应急决策方法研究

为深入研究非常规突发事件应急决策方法,提高对非常规突发事件的应对能力,调查研究基于应急预案、范例推理和智能规划等3种非常规突发事件的应急决策方法,对比分析这3种方法的特点。研究发现:这3种方法都可以在一定程度上为非常规突发事件提供辅助决策,但是基于智能规划的应急决策方法更适于非常规突发事件复杂的决策环境,有较大发展潜力。然后针对该方法,提出一些需要深入研究的开放性课题。