Shopping studies for regional planning

This paper is based on a shopping study carried out by the Department of Geography, University of Utrecht, during 1983. It is concerned with retail planning research for larger regions and starts with a state of the art review of retail planning research in the Netherlands. The aim, in developing a new research strategy, was to reduce time and costs through using computer facilit es for both data handling and data collection. There is discussion of methodology and some outcomes to demonstrate the possibilities of the strategy.     

A regional environmental information system for analyzing and predicting the impacts of nonferrous mining on an agricultural environment

Mineral exploitation is a necessary component of China's economic development goals. Such exploitation brings with it the potential for serious environmental degradation. Careful environmental impact assessments of mining projects are required in order to implement China's environmental protection law and identify measures for protecting surrounding agricultural environments. This article describes an environmental information system that has been developed for the purpose of assisting with the environmental impact assessment of nonferrous mining operations with a particular focus on agricultural impacts. An application of the environmental information system to the Yongping copper mine, located in Jiangxi Province, is discussed. The role of the environmental information system is analyzing and predicting soil contamination from heavy metals and other types of impacts from this mining operation is described. The environmental information system is designed for implementation on an IBM PC/XT microcomputer. The experience gained from the Yongping copper mine application and the growing popularity of microcomputers in China indicate a significant potential for the effective use of a microcomputer-based environmental information system in other parts of China.     

Watershed surveys to support an assessment of the regional effects of acidic deposition on surface water chemistry

Through the Direct/Delayed Response Project (DDRP), the United States Environmental Protection Agency is attempting to assess the risk to surface waters from acidic deposition in three regions of the eastern United States: the Northeast Region, the Southern Blue Ridge Province, and the Mid-Appalachian Region. The central policy question being addressed by the DDRP is: Within the regions of concern, how many surface water systems (lakes, streams) will become acidic due to current or altered levels of acidic sulfur deposition, and on what time scales? The approach taken by the DDRP is to select a statistically representative set of watersheds in each region of concern and to project the future response of each watershed to various assumed levels of acidic deposition. The probability structure will then be used to extrapolate the watershed-specific results to each region. The data will be used also for statistical investigation of hypothesized relationships between current surface water chemistry and watershed characteristics. Because the needed terrestrial data base was not available, regional watershed surveys were conducted to meet the specific data needs of the DDRP. Maps (1∶24,000) of soils, vegetation, land use, depth to bedrock, and bedrock geology were made for each watershed. The soils were grouped into sampling classes based on their hypothesized response to acidic deposition. Randomized sampling of these classes provided regional means and variances of soil properties that can be applied to individual watersheds. Because of DDRP's need for consistency within and among regions, unique quality control/quality assurance activities were developed and implemented. After verification and validation, the DDRP data base will be made publicly available. This will be a unique and useful resource for others investigating watershed relationships on a regional scale. The results of these surveys and the conclusions of the DDRP will be presented in several future papers. The current paper gives an overview of the context, rationale, logistical considerations, and implementation of these surveys, with special emphasis on the field activities of watershed mapping and soil sampling. This discussion should be useful to those planning, implementing, and managing survey activities in support of regional assessments of other environmental concerns, who are likely to face similar choices and constraints.     

On the transmission of the effects of monetary policy to the regions

In the paper the theoretical framework is that of credit rationing theory, the regional differences being examined in terms of both financial markets and the real economy. Empirically the focus is upon regional trends in market conditions and the timelags experienced in the effects of monetary policies in two different regions. The period of time examined is from 1970 to 1978, the changes in the marginal interest on central bank credit issued to the commercial banks being taken as the indicator of monetary policy and data on employment opportunities vacant in the regions as representing market conditions and the delay‐effects of monetary policy. The methods used are those of cross‐correlation analysis.     

Regional news portrayals of global warming and climate change

In this study we utilize content analysis techniques to examine how the issue of global warming and climate change has been characterized during the period of 1992 through 2005 by the Houston Chronicle—the largest regional newspaper in the Texas coastal region. A total of 795 global warming and climate change news articles from the Houston Chronicle are collected, coded and analyzed. Data analyses are organized and presented with regard to issue salience, various issue attributes (issue image, scope, linkage, participant, proposed solution and responsible party), use of science, and scientific information sources cited in the news stories. We find that regional media attention to the global climate change issue generally increases over time and an overwhelming majority of the news articles view the issue as a harmful problem. However, given the scientific consensus that global warming will result in significant devastating climate change consequences to the coastal regions, there are still a fair number of news articles delivering mixed, undetermined or even non-harmful messages. We also find that climate change is often discussed as a national or international-global issue, and frequently linked to a number of other public issues rather than just being viewed as an environmental–ecological problem. Moreover, we find that emphasis on issue solutions is placed more on mitigation strategies than on adaptation behaviors, and that both governmental and non-governmental actions and responsibilities are suggested for dealing with climate change. In addition, our findings indicate that the regional newspaper in Texas obtains scientific information on climate change primarily from academic institutions. Implications of our findings and recommendations for future research are discussed in the concluding section.     

区域控制及其立法建议

我国目前的环境污染出现区域经，流域化的趋势，要求控制对象由点源转向区域，推行污染区域控制，介绍了区域控制的概念及原则，并提出了立法建议。     

试论区域环境影响评价

本文是对区域环境影响评价的总结与分析。文中叙述了区域环境影响评价的发展趋势、评价特点、评价内容和评价程序，指出了区域环境影响评价对新经济开发区的重要性和紧迫性。     

Indonesian peat and vegetation fire emissions: Study on factors influencing large-scale smoke haze pollution using a regional atmospheric chemistry model

Numerical modelling of fire-related smoke haze episodes in Southeast Asia is important for both prediction and assessment of atmospheric impacts, especially when observational data are fragmentary, as is the case in Indonesia. This work describes the atmospheric fate of smoke particles emitted during the 1997 Indonesian fires modelled with a regional atmospheric chemistry model. We established a new fire emission inventory and calculate that 55 teragram (Tg) of particulate matter and 1098 Tg of carbon were released during this fire episode. Our emission estimate is an intermediate value compared with other studies. Utilising different scenarios, we demonstrate the variable atmospheric impacts of surface vegetation fires and peat soil fires separately and also investigate the sensitivity of smoke dispersion to the differing meteorological conditions of an El Niño and a normal year. When peat fires are included in the emission inventory, modelled ambient particle concentrations exceed the ambient air quality standard across transboundary scales. In a scenario including only surface vegetation fires, ambient air quality standards are exceeded only in areas close to the main fires. This scenario demonstrates the prominent role of fires in peat areas in causing regional air pollution episodes. In years with normal meteorological conditions, intermittent precipitation and associated wet deposition during the dry season are predicted to remove most of the particulate emissions close to the sources. Strongly reduced rainfall and generally stronger southeasterly winds during El Niño years provide favourable conditions for larger scale smoke haze pollution.     

小区域建设规划的思考与实践

结合江苏省如皋市长青沙岛无公害农业园区暨乡村休闲旅游度假区建设规划，提出规划的指导思想和目标，并阐明规划应遵循的几项原则，尤其是规划的可操作性原则，认为规划的实施方案应当尽可能地详细具体。     

Adaptation and mitigation strategies in agriculture: an analysis of potential synergies

As climate changes due to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, agriculture will be one of the key human activities affected. Projections show that while overall global food production in the coming decades may keep pace with the food requirements of a growing world population, climate change might worsen existing regional disparities because it will reduce crop yields mostly in lands located at lower latitudes where many developing countries are situated. Strategies to enhance local adaptation capacity are therefore needed to minimize climatic impacts and to maintain regional stability of food production. At the same time, agriculture as a sector offers several opportunities to mitigate the portion of global greenhouse gas emissions that are directly dependent upon land use, land-use change, and land-management techniques. This paper reviews issues of agriculture and climate change, with special attention to adaptation and mitigation. Specifically, as adaptation and mitigation strategies in agriculture are implemented to alleviate the potential negative effects of climate change, key synergies need to be identified, as mitigation practices may compete with modifications to local agricultural practices aimed at maintaining production and income. Under future climate and socio-economic pressures, land managers and farmers will be faced with challenges in regard to selecting those mitigation and adaptation strategies that together meet food, fiber and climate policy requirements.