Overcoming Contradictions Between Growth and SustainabiUty： Institutional Innovation in the BRICS

The recent accelerated growth rates or efforts to emulate countries that have achieved a rapid pace of economic growth are widely acclaimed as means to uplift millions from poverty. In so doing, however, this rapid economic growth is most likely to coincide with unsustainable levels of consumption, place excessive pressure on life support systems and terrestrial sinks and foreshorten options for the future. Rather than pursuing the ＂Environmental Kuznets Curve＂ （EKC） hypothesis that higher income will bring with it the means to reduce the impacts of greater consumption, ecological economists assert that buying our way out of future scarcity with fast growth is indeed contradictory with sustainability. To better understand these contradictions and explore potential institutional innovations that may enable developing nations to better confront them （in effect, ＂tunneling under＂ the EKC）, this article refers to recent experience in the BRICS countries （Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa）. Beginning with a brief comparative summary of major development and environmental indicators, pressures on resources and society in each of the BRICS are discussed, followed by identification of institutional and policy frameworks each country has evolved to confront the challenges of growth and sustainability. The article closes with general conclusions for further research and information sharing among developing nations.     

对社会第三方检测机构参与环境现场监测活动管理模式的思考

通过分析环境监测面临的形势与发展趋势、引入社会第三方检测机构参与环境现场监测活动的风险,以及现场监测活动自身特点,论述了当前社会第三方检测机构参与环境现场监测活动,应采用由环境监测站领受任务,制定监测方案,指派现场负责人,负责方案的具体实施和全程质控管理,第三方检测机构在现场负责人的指导下完成具体的监测工作,并在此过程中接受现场负责人监督考核的管理模式。提出,社会第三方检测机构参与环境现场监测尚需完善法律体制,提升现场监测监管水平,促进各级环境监测站职能转变。     

我国环境管理的发展轨迹分析

在综合分析环境管理相关研究成果的基础上,梳理了我国环境管理的思想、理论、机构、法制建设、制度及其教育宣传六个方面的发展轨迹,探讨了当前环境管理各方面轨迹脉络和目前仍存在的问题。     

Design of Experimental Streams for Simulating Headwater Stream Restoration1

Huang, Jung-Chen, William J. Mitsch, and Andrew D. Ward, 2010. Design of Experimental Streams for Simulating Headwater Stream Restoration. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 1-15. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00467.x Abstract: Headwater streams flowing through agricultural fields in the midwestern United States have been extensively modified to accommodate subsurface drainage systems, resulting in deepened, straightened, and widened streams. To restore these headwater streams, partial or total reconstruction of channels is frequently attempted. There are different approaches to reconstructing the channel, yet there is little evidence that indicates which promises more success and there has been no experimental work to evaluate these approaches. This study designs three experimental channels – two-stage, self-design, and straightened channels – on a human-created swale at the Olentangy River Wetland Research Park, Columbus, Ohio, for long-term evaluation of headwater stream evolution after restoration. The swale receives a continuous flow of pumped river water from upstream wetlands. Using streamflow and stage data for the past 12 years, a channel-forming discharge of 0.18 m³/s was estimated from bankfull discharge, effective discharge, and recurrence interval. These stream channels, after construction, will be monitored to evaluate physical, chemical, and biological responses to different channels over a decade-long experiment. We hypothesize that the three stream restoration designs will eventually evolve to a similar channel form but with different time periods for convergence. Monitoring the frequency and magnitude of changes over at least 10 years is needed to document the most stable restored channel form.     

城市环境空气污染预报研究进展

主要介绍了城市环境空气污染预报的方法,综述了城市环境空气污染预报的国内外研究现状,主要介绍了美国第三代Momdel-3 CMAQ模式系统和中国科学院大气所的嵌套网格空气质量预报系统(NAQPMS),以及最新的多模式污染预报技术,本文最后指出中国目前的大气环境形势比较严峻,城市环境空气污染预报模式还存在一些问题,并探讨了今后的发展方向。     

A bibliometric review of nitrogen research in eutrophic lakes and reservoirs

The global application of nitrogen is far greater than phosphorus, and it is widely involved in the eutrophication of lakes and reservoirs. We used a bibliometric method to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate nitrogen research in eutrophic lakes and reservoirs to reveal research developments, current research hotspots, and emerging trends in this area. A total of 2695 articles in the past 25 years from the online database of the Scientific Citation Index Expended(SCI-Expanded) were analyzed. Articles in this area increased exponentially from 1991 to 2015.Although the USA was the most productive country over the past 25 years, China achieved the top position in terms of yearly publications after 2010. The most active keywords related to nitrogen in the past 25 years included phosphorus, nutrients, sediment, chlorophyll-a, carbon,phytoplankton, cyanobacteria, water quality, modeling, and stable isotopes, based on analysis within 5-year intervals from 1991 to 2015 as well as the entire past 25 years. In addition, researchers have drawn increasing attention to denitrification, climate change, and internal loading. Future trends in this area should focus on:(1) nutrient amounts, ratios, and major nitrogen sources leading to eutrophication;(2) nitrogen transformation and the bioavailability of different nitrogen forms;(3)nitrogen budget, mass balance model, control, and management;(4) ecosystem responses to nitrogen enrichment and reduction, as well as the relationships between these responses; and(5)interactions between nitrogen and other stressors(e.g., light intensity, carbon, phosphorus, toxic contaminants, climate change, and hydrological variations) in terms of eutrophication.     

Hunting for common ground between wildlife governance and commons scholarship

Wildlife hunting is essential to livelihoods and food security in many parts of the world, yet present rates of extraction may threaten ecosystems and human communities. Thus, governing sustainable wildlife use is a major social dilemma and conservation challenge. Commons scholarship is well positioned to contribute theoretical insights and analytic tools to better understand the interface of social and ecological dimensions of wildlife governance, yet the intersection of wildlife studies and commons scholarship is not well studied. We reviewed existing wildlife-hunting scholarship, drawing on a database of 1,410 references, to examine the current overlap with commons scholarship through multiple methods, including social network analysis and deductive coding. We found that a very small proportion of wildlife scholarship incorporated commons theories and frameworks. The social network of wildlife scholarship was densely interconnected with several major publication clusters, whereas the wildlife commons scholarship was sparse and isolated. Despite the overarching gap between wildlife and commons scholarship, a few scholars are studying wildlife commons. The small body of scholarship that bridges these disconnected literatures provides valuable insights into the understudied relational dimensions of wildlife and other overlapping common-pool resources. We suggest increased engagement among wildlife and commons scholars and practitioners to improve the state of knowledge and practice of wildlife governance across regions, particularly for bushmeat hunting in the tropics, which is presently understudied through a common-pool resource lens. Our case study of the Republic of Congo showed how the historical context and interrelationships between hunting and forest rights are essential to understanding the current state of wildlife governance and potential for future interventions. A better understanding of the interconnections between wildlife and overlapping common-pool resource systems may be key to understanding present wildlife governance challenges and advancing the common-pool resource research agenda.     

西藏高原草地生态系统及其生态修复研究

文章在查阅相关文献的基础上,开展实地考察、咨询专家学者和有关管理部门,对西藏高原草地研究进行梳理归纳形成了4个时段;同时评析了不同调查结果的西藏草地面积,认为第二次西藏草原普查的8 820.15×104hm2比较符合现状;对西藏高原草地生态系统目前面临的最大问题—草地退化进行了探究,截至2012年,西藏天然草地退化面积...     

A long-term survey on anthropogenic impacts to the water quality of coral reefs, southern Taiwan

Before 2001, the ecological protection area in the Kenting National Park (KTNP), southern Taiwan, was poorly described. In this study, a set of four-year data (2001-2004) of seawater qualities at 19 sampling sites around the Nanwan Bay in the KTNP was used to explore anthropogenic impacts to ecological environment, especially coral reefs. The parameters of water quality were analyzed immediately after collection. The results showed that higher values of nutrients and suspended solids were attributed to the higher run-off around Nanwan Bay. The fluxes of nutrients and suspended solids were consistently correlated to rainfall. Hence, equations were developed to calculate nutrient fluxes and suspended solids by using only rainfall data. Our results show that suspended solids and ammonia were the dominant factors leading to the drop in coral coverage. In summary, the water quality in the intertidal zone of Nanwan Bay has been degraded and required greater attention.