Analysis of livelihood security: a case study in the Kali-Khola watershed of Nepal

This paper examines household livelihoods in highland and lowland communities of the Kali-Khola agricultural watershed in western Nepal on the basis of economic, ecological and social security indicators. Significant differences were found in soil fertility status, pests and diseases management, risk and uncertainties, use of agrochemicals and access to social services. No remarkable variations were found in crop diversification, annual agricultural income and food sufficiency. However, uncertainty and risk in agricultural production is relatively low in highland communities. The findings reveal that agriculture production alone is not a viable livelihood option for agricultural watershed communities in Nepal. The households growing crops with hired labour have relatively sustainable livelihoods in Nepal's agricultural watersheds. Insufficient agricultural land, insufficient working manpower within a family, and lack of access to ecological agricultural services are prime factors in being livelihood insecure in agricultural watershed communities. Therefore, long-term policies and plans need to be developed for the empowerment of local farmers and to support rural livelihoods with adaptable and flexible income-generating strategies, resilient resource management institutions and enhancement of knowledge, skills and social capital.     

Nonstructural Urban Stormwater Quality Measures: Building a Knowledge Base to Improve Their Use

This article summarizes a research project that investigated the use, performance, cost, and evaluation of nonstructural measures to improve urban stormwater quality. A survey of urban stormwater managers from Australia, New Zealand, and the United States revealed a widespread trend of increasing use of nonstructural measures among leading stormwater management agencies, with at least 76% of 41 types of nonstructural measures being found to be increasing in use. Data gathered from the survey, an international literature review, and a multicriteria analysis highlighted four nonstructural measures of greatest potential value: mandatory town planning controls that promote the adoption of low-impact development principles and techniques; development of strategic urban stormwater management plans for a city, shire, or catchment; stormwater management measures and programs for construction/building sites; and stormwater management activities related to municipal maintenance operations such as maintenance of the stormwater drainage network and manual litter collections. Knowledge gained on the use and performance of nonstructural measures from the survey, literature review, and three trial evaluation projects was used to develop tailored monitoring and evaluation guidelines for these types of measure. These guidelines incorporate a new evaluation framework based on seven alternative styles of evaluation that range from simply monitoring whether a nonstructural measure has been fully implemented to monitoring its impact on waterway health. This research helps to build the stormwater management industry’s knowledge base concerning nonstructural measures and provides a practical tool to address common impediments associated with monitoring and evaluating the performance and cost of these measures.     

Understanding the social impacts of enforcement activities on illegal wildlife trade in China

Illegal wildlife trade enforcement is a cornerstone conservation strategy worldwide, yet we have a limited understanding on its social impacts. Using Chinese online wildlife seizure news (2003–2018), we evaluated the interactions among enforcement operations, news frequency, and social engagement (i.e., whistle-blowing) frequency. Our results showed that intensive enforcement operations, which commenced after 2012, have social impacts by increasing the frequency of all seizure news significantly by 28% [95% Confidence Interval (CI): 5%, 51%] and those via whistle-blowing by 24% [95% CI: 2%, 45%], when compared to counterfactual models where possible confounding factors were accounted for. Furthermore, we revealed the potential interaction between enforcement seizure news with and without social engagement, and the consequential social feedback process. Of the species identified from ‘whistle-blowing’ news, up to 28% are considered as high conservation priorities. Overall, we expanded our understanding of the enforcement impacts to social dimensions, which could contribute to improving the cost-effectiveness of such conservation efforts.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01686-9.     

加权欧氏距离模型在水环境质量评价中的应用

建立了利用加权欧氏距离法进行水环境质量污染评价模型 ,并研究 4个测点的水环境质量污染状况 ,和其它方法比较 ,取得了满意的结果 ,为水环境质量污染评价提供了一种有效的评价方法     

Evaluation of the International Vehicle Emission （IVE） model with on-road remote sensing measurements

Intemational Vehicle Emissions （IVE） model funded by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency （USEPA） is designed to estimate emissions from motor vehicles in developing countries. In this study, the IVE model was evaluated by utilizing a dataset available from the remote sensing measurements on a large number of vehicles at five different sites in Hangzhou, China, in 2004 and 2005. Average fuel-based emission factors derived from the remote sensing measurements were compared with corresponding emission factors derived from IVE calculations for urban, hot stabilized condition. The results show a good agreement between the two methods for gasoline passenger cars＇ HC emission for all 1VE subsectors and technology classes. In the case of CO emissions, the modeled results were reasonably good, although systematically underestimate the emissions by almost 12%-50% for different technology classes. However, the model totally overestimated NOx emissions. The IVE NOx emission factors were 1.5-3.5 times of the remote sensing measured ones. The IVE model was also evaluated for light duty gasoline truck, heavy duty gasoline vehicles and motor cycles. A notable result was observed that the decrease in emissions from technology class State II to State I were overestimated by the IVE model compared to remote sensing measurements for all the three pollutants. Finally, in order to improve emission estimation, the adjusted base emission factors from local studies are strongly recommended to be used in the IVE model.     

Persistent organochlorine contaminants in hair samples of Northern Poland population, 1968-2009

The European regulation on chemicals, REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), came into force on 1 June 2007. With pre-registration complete in 2008, data for these substances may provide an overview of the expected chemical space and its characteristics. In this paper, using various in silico computation tools, we evaluate 48 782 neutral organic compounds from the list to identify hazardous and safe compounds. Two different classification schemes (modified Verhaar and ECOSAR) identified between 17% and 25% of the compounds as expressing only baseline toxicity (narcosis). A smaller portion could be identified as reactive (19%) or specifically acting (2.7%), while the majority were non-assigned (61%). Overall environmental persistence, bioaccumulation and long-range transport potential were evaluated using structure-activity relationships and a multimedia fugacity-based model. A surprisingly high proportion of compounds (20%), mainly aromatic and halogenated, had a very high estimated persistence (>195 d). The proportion of compounds with a very high estimated bioconcentration or bioaccumulation factor (>5000) was substantially less (6.9%). Finally, a list was compiled of those compounds within the applicability domain of the models used, meeting both persistence and bioaccumulation criteria, and with a long-range transport potential comparable to PCB. This list of 68 potential persistent organic pollutants contained many well-known compounds (all halogenated), but notably also five fluorinated compounds that were not included in the EINECS inventory. This study demonstrates the usability of in silico tools for identification of potentially environmentally hazardous chemicals.     

水中放射性核素锶-90测量不确定度的评估

阐述了分析放射性核素产生不确定度因素比一般化学分析多的原因,通过采用鱼骨图法分析放射性核素锶-90测量实验中的不确定度和分析计算公式中的有关参数,了解到分析水中放射性核素锶-90时,主要受到样品测量、仪器探测效率、样品化学回收率和样品取样体积等4个方面的不确定度因素影响。     

银厂沟风景区旅游环境质量评价

为正确评估风景区的旅游资源，确定其深度开发的意义，保持生态环境、从旅游环境容量、旅游区级别、旅游资源的综合价值3方面对银厂沟风景区的旅游环境质量进行了评价。结果表明，银厂沟风景区属于省级旅游地，具有一定的潜在开发意义。指出，在旅游高峰期，该风景区的环境容量超标，产生了游客食宿不便、景区观赏点不足、设施损坏、环境负荷加重等问题，应引起旅游管理部门的重视。     

地表水多级模糊数学评价法修正应用探讨

针对地表水水质状况的科学评价问题,从计算原理出发,深入分析多级模糊数学综合评价方法无法科学合理评价劣Ⅴ类地表水的根本原因,并在此基础上探索性提出模糊数学评价应用修正方案。以武汉市的4个典型湖泊为评价分析对象,对修正方案的评估结果进行比较。实例研究证实模糊数学评价修正法能科学识别和合理描述劣V类水体的水质污染状况。以所有地表水污染状况为基础,整合所有待评水体污染指标超标最大值体系(溶解氧浓度的最小值)作为劣V类水质统一标准限值,能有效提高该评价法的科学合理性及全面通用性,有助于模糊数学综合评价法在地表水水质评价领域应用的完善与推广。     

组合赋权法确定清河流域总量减排绩效评估指标权重

运用组合赋权法确定评价指标权重,是保证流域总量减排绩效评估结果合理、可靠的关键。通过对基于主观判断的层次分析法和依赖客观数据的均方差法的综合分析,构建了组合赋权模型。并将其应用于辽宁省清河流域的总量减排绩效评估指标权重的确定。结果表明,资金投入、水质和点源污染等几项指标权重较大,即对清河流域总量减排绩效管理影响严重。而组合赋权法能够综合考虑主观和客观因素对赋权结果的影响,避免了单一方法确定权重存在的局限性,为流域总量减排绩效评估提供了一种新的思路。