Ethical considerations when conservation research involves people

Social science is becoming increasingly important in conservation, with more studies involving methodologies that collect data from and about people. Conservation science is a normative and applied discipline designed to support and inform management and practice. Poor research practice risks harming participants and, researchers, and can leave negative legacies. Often, those at the forefront of field-based research are early-career researchers, many of whom enter their first research experience ill-prepared for the ethical conundrums they may face. We draw on our own experiences as early-career researchers to illuminate how ethical challenges arise during conservation research that involves human participants. Specifically, we considered ethical review procedures, conflicts of values, and power relations, and devised broad recommendations on how to navigate ethical challenges when they arise during research. In particular, we recommend researchers apply reflexivity (i.e., thinking that allows researchers to recognize the effect researchers have on the research) to help navigate ethical challenges and encourage greater engagement with ethical review processes and the development of ethical guidelines for conservation research that involves human participants. Such guidelines must be accompanied by the integration of rigorous ethical training into conservation education. We believe our experiences are not uncommon and can be avoided and hope to spark discussion to contribute to a more socially just conservation.     

Rapidly assessing cobenefits to advance threat-management alliances

Conservation strategies aimed at reducing threats to biodiversity can have significant implications for multiple sectors in a socioeconomic system, but these cobenefits are often poorly understood. For example, many of the threats to native species also impede agricultural production, yet agriculture is typically perceived as in competition with conservation objectives. Although a comprehensive, multiobjective decision analysis is usually beyond the scope and capacity of conservation decision makers, failing to incorporate key socioeconomic costs and benefits into conservation decision-making processes can result in missed opportunities for diversifying outcomes and creating cost-sharing multisectoral partnerships. We devised a straightforward and readily interpretable approach to incorporate cobenefits into a threat-management prioritization approach. We used it to analyze the agricultural cobenefits of implementing 9 invasive animal management strategies designed to ensure the persistence of 148 threatened species across Australia's Lake Eyre Basin over 50 years. A structured elicitation process with 24 participants (scientists, land managers, agriculturalists, and other stakeholders) was used to collect information on each strategy, including costs, technical and social feasibility, benefits to native threatened species, and cobenefits to agricultural production systems. The costs of targeted invasive animal management to save threatened species across the basin (AU$33 million/year) outweighed the overall benefits to the agricultural industry (estimated AU$226 million/year). The return on investment for these management strategies varied substantially when agricultural cobenefits were considered alongside threatened species benefits and showed synergies and challenges. Our approach demonstrates the value of incorporating cobenefits of conservation actions into cost-effectiveness analyses to guide potential investment and partnerships and to diversify implementation pathways.     

An ecological economics approach to the management of a multi-purpose coastal wetland

Three interrelated management problems—eutrophication of multiple use shallow lakes, sea level rise and flood risk mitigation and tourism pressures—are analysed in the context of an internationally important wetland area, the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads in the UK. The ecological-economic research findings presented should provide essential information to underpin the regulatory and management process in this internationally important conservation area. The relevant authority somehow has to integrate the maintenance of public navigation rights, nature conservation, and tourism promotion in a highly dynamic ecosystems setting. Because of the stakeholder conflicts, potential and actual, a more inclusionary decision-making procedure is required, and is currently being implemented.     

Environment as the Stage for Economic Actors

The relative importance of economics and environment in debate may soon be reversed due to the influence of three fac- tors. Firstly, in the global economy it is hard to hide the unwanted products of economic processes. Secondly, huge advances in sci- ence will reduce the imperfect knowledge of markets, making some monitoring and analyzing tools show the design of sensible and equitable livelihood in communities, which is more important than the motivation of maximising profits for some individuals or firms. Thirdly, China, as the last major player on the planet to take on economic growth, comes from traditions fundamentally differ- ent from those economies that have experienced the Industrial Revolution previously. Its challenges with sustainability and en- vironmental conservation predate Western economics by millennia, and it is implementing policies domestically and starting to work on the world stage that acknowledges that the surroundings are the host for any economic and socio-political system.     

构建农民收入增长的长效机制

“三农问题”是关系国家经济和社会发展全局的问题，其核心是农民收入增长，农民收入增长的关键是构建收入增长的长效机制。本文通过分析中国农民收入的现状，从制度视角分析农民收入增长缓慢的土地制度、税费制度、金融体制、公共品供给体制以硬社会保障制度等方面原因．在此基础上提出构建中国农民收入增长长效机制的制度框架。     

灾害防御工程的经济效益评价原理及方法—以水坝震害防御工程为例

本文根据“价值工程”理论和“成本—效益”理论,在作者提出的防灾工程“功能函数”、“成本函数”、“价值函数”、“效益函数”等灾害经济学基本函数及数学模型的基础上,结合地质灾害防御工程实例,探讨了防灾工程经济效益的评价原理及方法。     

我国农业与农村可持续发展的制度创新

我国农业与农村可持续发展的核心问题是农民收入问题。只有切实提高农民的收入水平。才能有效地增加农民购买力，从而增加农业生产资料的投入。进而保证粮食增产。我国农业与农村可持续发展存在的两个矛盾是小农经济与市场经济社会化的矛盾以及小农经济与科技化之间的矛盾。面临的两个分离是家庭经济与集体经济的分离以及传统供销合作社与农民利益的分离。增加农民收入的规模经济论与乡镇企业论的确有成功的典范．但是。对我国更多的农村地区来讲．不具有普遍意义。我国农业和农村可持续发展的关键有两个．一是符合区域特色的区域农业专业化．二是通过专业合作社的制度创新．将分散的家庭组织起来．以解决家庭小生产与大市场之间的巨大矛盾。     

AGRICULTURAL WATER MODELING AND ECONOMIC INFORMATION NEEDS UNDER THE MODEL WATER CODE1

ABSTRACT: Economic information for efficient water allocation is difficult and costly to acquire under administrative water systems evolving under the Model Water Code. One approach to obtaining more information is to use a simulator like the Florida AGWATER model. The advantage of AGWATER is the potential for realistic prediction, because it operates at the field and day levels, using detailed information for each crop and tract. Unfortunately, such simulators are complex and require large amounts of costly input data. A better solution to the information problem may be to use markets for the marketable goods associated with water, because information is inherent in such a process. This approach will allow limited modeling and management resources to be put into using water models to generate information for the goods dependent on water that are difficult to market, like wildlife services.     

可持续发展:制度供求与政府责任

社会范围内可持续发展目标的实现。必须有健全的正式制度与非正式制度供给并配合有强有力的实施机制。然而．由于国家的制度供给功能与地方政府行为异化可能引致经济活动偏离制度目标．非正式制度供给主体的行为异化、经济发展水平及制度成本的非均摊皆可导致制度供给不足并由此引起诸多不可持续现象。本文旨在通过对可持续发展制度供求的理论分析．从可持续发展制度供求的内在要求上。阐述制度供求的非均衡状态对可持续发展的影响。探讨我国在可持续发展战略实施中制度供给不足的原因。明确提出中央政府和地方政府相应的制度供给责任。以改变不可持续发展的现状。     

层次分析法在评定最优环境工程方案中的应用

本文根据层次分析法的原理，结合环境工程评标的特点，建立了评定最优环境工程方案的层次结构模型。该模型引入三标度法来间接地构造判断矩阵，简化了专家或决策者的判断难度，增强了判断矩阵的逻辑性。结合某废水治理工程项目，介绍了层次分析法应用于工程评标的计算过程。结果表明，这种改进的层次分析法是进行环境工程方案优选的新颖、科学、简便的方法。