EU sustainable development indicators: An overview

The European Union's commitment to sustainable development at the 1992 Earth Summit resulted in an EU‐wide sustainable development strategy, adopted in Gothenburg in 2001. This article presents an overview of the set of sustainable development indicators (SDIs) recently adopted by the European Commission to monitor, assess and revise the strategy. It provides a critical assessment of the current status of the indicator set, and reviews the main policy trends in the areas of the strategy through a brief analysis of headline indicators, placing energy and climate change issues in a broader perspective. Finally, the article compares the energy SDIs to the recent inter‐agency energy indicators for sustainable development (EISD), underlining their similarities as well as their different priorities and objectives. The article concludes that further research is needed to improve the SDI set and further explore the linkages between themes.     

城市生态承载力研究

生态安全是生态承载力的“底线” ,超过了这一临界值 ,生态安全问题就会凸显而变得严重 ,甚至出现崩溃。笔者通过对生态足迹需求和生态承载力的计算 ,判断该地区处于生态盈余 /赤字 ,得出该地区自然生态系统所提供的产品和服务的供应量超过了 /不足以该地区人们正常生活的需求量的结论。计算出珠海 2 0 0 2年生态足迹和生态承载力 ,该结果显示出珠海的发展属于地方可持续性的。通过计算珠海从 2 0 0 2～ 2 0 2 0年各指标的时间序列值来追踪各个时点的可持续程度 ,弥补了生态足迹计算法中指标静态性的缺陷。预测了未来 18年珠海的生态足迹需求 ,其结果表明珠海市生态承载力严重不足 ,生态功能水平薄弱。城市生态承载力的研究不仅能指导珠海生态安全和可持续发展 ,而对其他城市的生态规划及发展也具有参考价值。     

区域战略安全管理——历史、现状与未来

以人权原则以及现代工业的理念 ,从现代安全管理体系和方法的新要求入手 ,站在长久安全和可持续发展战略的高度 ,探求新的安全管理理念和模式 ;进一步研讨了区域战略安全管理模式 ,并归纳出其类型与层次 ;概述了国内外安全管理模式的发展历程 ,对我国战略安全管理的现状和对新模式的探索过程进行了分析 ,归纳出国内外战略安全管理新理念构架 ;重点阐述了HSE(健康、安全、环境 ) ,QHSE(质量、健康、安全、环境 ) ,OHS(职业健康安全 )管理体系战略、安全文化战略以及美国和欧共体战略安全管理等先进理念 ;最后提出了闭环控制的滚动式战略安全管理技术构思和战略安全管理的国内外发展趋势。区域战略安全管理模式的应用与发展将使现代安全管理提高到一个新的高度。     

Possibilities and options for the Clean Development Mechanism and the Green Investment Scheme in Central and Eastern Europe: Macedonian and Romanian perspectives

Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is a rapidly changing and developing region which is making the transition to a market based economy. Along with economic reforms, the countries of the region are engaged in substantial environmental reforms, including climate change mitigation activities. Mitigation of, and adaptation to, the consequences of climate change are costly processes. It is therefore of great importance that the national and international mechanisms addressing these problems use methods both environmentally sound and economically efficient. Through two case studies that address the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and the Green Investment Scheme (GIS) in Romania, this paper explores challenges, related tasks and main problems in the establishment of mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol in Central and Eastern Europe.     

From climate change impacts to adaptation: A development perspective for India

India has good reasons to be concerned about climate change as it could adversely affect the achievement of vital national development goals related to socio‐economic development, human welfare, health, energy availability and use, and infrastructure. The paper attempts to develop a framework for integrated impact assessment and adaptation responses, using a recently built railroad coastal infrastructure asset in India as an example. The framework links climate change variables — temperature, rainfall, sea level rise, extreme events, and other secondary variables — and sustainable development variables — technology, institutions, economic, and other policies. The study indicates that sustainable development variables generally reduce the adverse impacts on the system due to climate change alone, except when they are inadequately applied. The paper concludes that development is a vital variable for integrated impact assessment. Well crafted developmental policies could result in a less‐GHG intensive future, enhanced adaptive capacities of communities and systems, and lower impacts due to climate change.     

Techno-economic analysis of natural gas combined cycles with post-combustion CO2 absorption, including a detailed evaluation of the development potential

We performed a detailed analysis of the potential future costs and performance of post-combustion CO₂ absorption in combination with a natural gas combined cycle (NGCC). After researching state-of-the-art technology, an Excel model was created to analyze possible developments in the performance of energy conversion, CO₂ capture, and CO₂ compression. The input variables for the three time frames we used were based on literature data, product information, expert opinions, and our own analysis. Using a natural gas price of 4.7 €/GJ, we calculated a potential decrease in the costs of electricity from 5.6 €ct/kWh in the short term to 4.8 €ct/kWh in the medium term and 4.5 €ct/kWh in the long term. The efficiency penalty is calculated to decline from 7.9%-points LHV in the short term to 4.9%-points and 3.7%-points in the medium and long terms, respectively. In combination with NGCC improvements, this may cause an improvement in the net efficiency, including CO₂ capture, from 49% in the short term to 55% and 58% in the medium and long terms, respectively. The total capital costs including capital costs of the NGCC ware calculated to decline from 880 in the short term to 750 and 690 €/kW in the medium and long terms, respectively, with a decline in the incremental capital costs due to capture from 350 in the short term to 270 and 240 €/kW in the medium and long terms, respectively. Finally, the avoidance costs may decline from 45 €/tCO₂ in the short term to 33 €/tCO₂ in the medium term and 28 €/tCO₂ in the long term.     

Beyond the resource curse? Diamond mining,development and post-conflict reconstruction in Sierra Leone

In recent years, the so-called ‘resource curse’ syndrome has gained increasing currency. Growing evidence suggests that many African countries with significant natural wealth have actually reaped limited rewards, instead experiencing underdevelopment, corruption, political instability, and in some cases, violent conflict. In the small West African state of Sierra Leone, it has been suggested that diamonds played a key role in fuelling a brutal civil war during the 1990s, an issue that has given rise to a burgeoning literature on ‘blood diamonds’. However, as Sierra Leone emerges from a decade of destruction, other research suggests that diamonds could actually provide the impetus for post-war reconstruction. This paper explores the role of alluvial diamond mining in post-conflict Sierra Leone, focusing on two communities in the Eastern Province that were badly affected by the war. Drawing on field-based research conducted between 2002 and 2007, the paper considers the diamond mining situation in the context of broader development strategies in post-conflict reconstruction. It is argued that sustainable development can only be achieved if future policies are based on a detailed understanding of relationships between diamond mining and rural development at local, regional and national levels.     

我国矿产资源态势及发展战略的哲学思考

本文以辩证法为指导,客观地分析了我国矿产资源的情况,指出我国矿情主要具有两个特点:矿产资源形势总量丰富,人均较少;矿产资源形势有喜有忧。基于此,提出我国矿产资源发展战略对策是:实行开源与节流并重的方针,走“资源节约型”道路;利用国内外两种资源;资源配套与发挥区域优势相结合。     

Sustainable Land Use Requires Attention to Ecological Signals

This case study details the difficulties of landscape management, highlighting the challenges inherent in managing natural resources when multiple agencies are involved, when the land users have no incentive for conservation, and when government agencies have too few resources for effective management. Pumping of groundwater from the aquifer of La Costa de Hermosillo in the state of Sonora, Mexico, began in 1945 and developed so quickly that by the late 1950s salinity intrusion from the Gulf of California was occurring in the wells. In the 1970s, the irrigatable land in La Costa peaked at 132,516 ha and the extracted volume of water from the aquifer peaked at around 1.14 billion cubic meters annually. By the 1980s, 105 wells of the total of 498 were contaminated with seawater and, therefore, identified for closure. At present La Costa de Hermosillo still represents 15% of the total harvested land, 16% of the total annual production, and 23% of the gross agricultural production of the state of Sonora. However, there are approximately 80,000 ha of abandoned fields due to salt water intension, lack of water and/or lack of credit available to individual farmers. This unstable situation resulted from the interplay of water management policies and practices, and farm-land policies and practices. While government agencies have been able to enforce better water use for agricultural production, there remains a significant area that requires restoration from its degraded state. For this piece of the ecosystem management puzzle, government agencies have thus far been unable to affect a solution.