INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT OF THE GREAT LAKES-ST. LAWRENCE BASIN1

Neither Canada nor the United States attach much importance to the International Joint Commission (IJC) judging by the size of staffs and annual budgets. The Commission has been restricted to a relatively minor number of functions in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence. It has investigated: the degree and causes of water and air quality deterioration; the effects of hydroelectric and navigation projects on water levels; the impacts of water-level fluctuations; and the feasibility of a deep waterway from the St. Lawrence to the Hudson River. Projects approved by the Commission have produced less than might be expected through no fault of the Commission. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission has promoted little international management. Budgetary limitations restrict its lamprey control program; institutional limitations restrict its ability to deal effectively with fishery problems. Commission responsibilities are limited to coordination and advisory functions. Since Canada and the United States have not chosen to refer most aspects of river basin management to international bodies, an institutional void exists in the Great Lakes Basin to consider these questions on a continuous basis. There is a need for expanded international cooperation.     

Institutions, Forest Management, and Sustainable Human Development – Experiences from India

New institutional economists have argued that there are many categories of institutions, including market and non-market institutions, which may prove economically efficient, specifically for public goods and common pool goods. The Government of India introduced a non-market community-based institution, known as Joint Forest Management (JFM), for forest management and protection in 1990. JFM is a sharing mechanism for forest planning and management based on sharing of rights and duties, control and decision-making authority over forestlands, between forest departments and local user groups. By 2001, 42 000 Village Forest Committees established under JFM were managing over 11.5 million ha forestland. These institutions have proved very useful, and have contributed to forest management as well as four aspects of sustainable human development (SHD) – ecological output, income generation, village infrastructure development, and community empowerment. In the long-term, community-based institutions will prove to be a foundation of SHD and participatory democracy.     

Assessing Tourists' Preferences for Recreational and Environmental Management Programs Central to the Sustainable Development of a Tourism Area in the Dominican Republic

The main goals of this paper are to (1) highlight the need for sustainable development as a means to conserve natural resources and the environment, which often represent the basis for tourism development, (2) illustrate the importance of assessing tourists' preferences when designing programs and policies central to the sustainable development of a tourism area, and (3) study tourists' interests in sustainable development. With these goals in mind, 180 tourists from Europe, Latin America, and North America were interviewed as they were leaving the resort region of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. The main factors that they considered when deciding where to go on a beach vacation were evaluated, as well as their preferences regarding four programs designed to improve recreational and environmental management of the area. Preferences by tourists were elicited both in monetary and non-monetary terms. This paper reports the non-monetary analysis of the data. The results indicate that clean ocean water and beaches, quality of services, and price are the most important factors considered by the respondents before deciding to come to Punta Cana. It was not possible to obtain reliable responses on how tourists perceived the four programs contributing to the sustainable development of Punta Cana. Nevertheless, they expressed high interest and willingness to pay for two of these programs: the outdoor aquarium and the Water Management Program. The results reported in this paper show how important it is to elicit tourists' preferences of programs central to the sustainable development of tourism areas since these preferences can drive managers' development decisions in more sustainable directions.     

中国乡村发展面临的挑战与长期性管理策略

分析研究了当前我国乡村发展所面临的严峻的挑战性问题，如乡村非农化进程停滞，城乡差异扩大带来的问题等；尤其是乡村生态破坏和环境污染危及到农业生产环境的安全和城乡居民的生存基础的情况，指出21世纪中国乡村发展相当迫切而艰巨；在可持续发展思想的框架下，提出了长期性管理策略，即类型管理、目标管理、乡村制度性投入的管理模式，并考虑了实现乡村可持续发展的制度创新与保障问题；随后针对乡村发展管理，构想了实施对策：即，1）积极推进城市化，缩减乡村人口总量；2）开展农业行业标准的制定和修订工作；3）推进乡村产业的科技创新步伐；4）强化生态环境观念，实行空间开发管制、尤其是生态脆弱地区。此外还需强调环境教育机制和广泛的公众参与机制。     

SNOW: NATURE'S RESERVOIR1

ABSTRACT: Snow, one of Nature's greatest reservoirs, supplies most of the usable water in the Western United States. Reliable predictions of the quantity and timing of the release of this water are used in making management decisions involving irrigation, stock water and municipal water supplies, hydro-power generation, recreation, navigation, and pollution control Practically oriented research is vital for the proper development and management of this resource. In southwestern Idaho, the Northwest Watershed Research Center, ARS, USDA, is conducting intensive investigations for assessing snow Volumes, snow water content, and snow-melt over a watershed. Application of these research findings will result in better development and management of the water stored as snow in Nature's reservoir.     

The Precautionary Principle and the Prevention of Marine Pollution

This paper argues that the environmental changes witnessed in the past decade call for a new approach to environmental management; an approach based not on the principle of the assimilative capacity of the environment but on the precautionary principle, and the emerging preventive environmental paradigm. Uncertainties in scientific knowledge and complexities in ecological systems have presented specific failures of the assimilative capacity methodology. It is argued that these failures are not circumstantial in nature, nor are they the result of misapplication of science by scientists. Rather, they represent inherent problems in the use of the assimilative capacity concept in environmental management. The emergence of the precautionary principle is discussed and a formulation of the principle is presented. In conjunction with the operational approach of clean production, we believe that this principle offers a sounder basis for the prevention of marine pollution in the next decade.     

A critical review of the water quality classification system in Turkey: A case study on Meric Basin

An 11-year period of water quality data, collected by the Directorate of Sate Water Works of Turkey are thoroughly analyzed for the purpose of implementing water quality classes to water resources in the Meric Basin, located on the European land mass of Turkey. Water quality parameters are divided into four groups as physical, organic, inorganic, and bacteriological. The quality class of each group is evaluated by taking into account the poorest quality of any parameter in the group, after which a quality rank is assigned to the sampling station and the waterbody in question. This method of water quality classification imposed by the Turkish Water Quality Act, is then criticized with respect to a statistical approach.     

TIMBER MANAGEMENT INFLUENCES ON AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH1

ABSTRACT: Recent watershed research indicates that many timber management practices have profound effects on the water quality of small headwater streams. These streams often support fisheries of high value. Current knowledge seems to indicate that a definite potential exists for a symbiotic relationship between timber and fisheries management. Maximum development of both resources is attainable only if further research efforts recognize the mutually benefiting aspects of these heretofore separate disciplines. Future research should carefully examine the complex interrelationships between small headwater aquatic ecosystems and the riparian forest environment.     

Population Viability Analysis for the Przewalski's Gazelle

The Przewalski's gazelle, Procapra przewalskii, is now isolated in four local populations on the east and northwest shores of Qinghai Lake. We have been being conducting field surveys in the Qinghai Lake region since 1994. Based on the information we gathered from those surveys, we carried out a Population Viability Analysis (PVA) on the Przewalski's gazelle. We discovered that the Przewalski's gazelle would be extinct within 200 years if no management measures were taken. Since the local population size of the gazelle is small, the most effective measures are to control the wolf density and to reduce the impact of climatic catastrophes. In order to increase the population of the gazelle, we should also take measures to increase primary production of the grassland, to establish a habitat corridor, and to increase the rate of migration of individuals among different local populations.