Motivations for the Restoration of Ecosystems

Abstract:  The reasons ecosystems should be restored are numerous, disparate, generally understated, and commonly underappreciated. We offer a typology in which these reasons—or motivations—are ordered among five rationales: technocratic, biotic, heuristic, idealistic, and pragmatic. The technocratic rationale encompasses restoration that is conducted by government agencies or other large organizations to satisfy specific institutional missions and mandates. The biotic rationale for restoration is to recover lost aspects of local biodiversity. The heuristic rationale attempts to elicit or demonstrate ecological principles and biotic expressions. The idealistic rationale consists of personal and cultural expressions of concern or atonement for environmental degradation, reengagement with nature, and/or spiritual fulfillment. The pragmatic rationale seeks to recover or repair ecosystems for their capacity to provide a broad array of natural services and products upon which human economies depend and to counteract extremes in climate caused by ecosystem loss. We propose that technocratic restoration, as currently conceived and practiced, is too narrow in scope and should be broadened to include the pragmatic rationale whose overarching importance is just beginning to be recognized. We suggest that technocratic restoration is too authoritarian, that idealistic restoration is overly restricted by lack of administrative strengths, and that a melding of the two approaches would benefit both. Three recent examples are given of restoration that blends the technocratic, idealistic, and pragmatic rationales and demonstrates the potential for a more unified approach. The biotic and heuristic rationales can be satisfied within the contexts of the other rationales.     

Adjustment costs from environmental change

The paper is concerned with the case whereby the distribution of a firm's productivity shocks changes without the knowledge of the firm. Over time the firm learns about the nature and extent of the change in the distribution of the shock and adjusts, incurring adjustment costs in the process. The long-run loss in profits (±) due to the shift in the distribution we term the equilibrium response. The transitory loss in profits, incurred while the firm is learning about the distribution shift, is termed the adjustment cost. The theory is then applied to the problem of measuring adjustment costs in the face of imperfectly observed climate change in agriculture. The empirical part of the paper involves estimating a restricted profit function for agricultural land in a five-state region of the Midwest US as a function of prices, land characteristics, actual weather realizations and expected weather. We then simulate the effect of an unobserved climate shock, where learning about the climate shock is by observing the weather and updating prior knowledge using Bayes Rule. We find adjustment costs to climate change are 1.4% of annual land rents.     

交通噪声污染经济损失估算方法比较研究

目前闷内外对于噪声污染经济损失的研究还相当有限，且采用的方法也存在很大的差别。运用环境经济学的观点和方法，提出了估算噪声污染损失的3种常用方法；损害费用法、意愿型调查评估法和防护费用法，并对其进行了比较研究。     

Social and hospital costs of patients admitted to a university hospital in Brazil due to motorcycle crashes

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the social and hospital costs of patients treated at a public hospital who were motorcycle crash victims.

Method: This prospective study was on 68 motorcycle riders (drivers or passengers), who were followed up from hospital admission to 6 months after the crash. A questionnaire covering quantitative and qualitative questions was administered.

Results: Motorcycle crash victims were responsible for 12% of the institution's hospital admissions; 54.4% were young (18–28 years of age); 92.6% were the drivers; 91.2% were male; and 50% used their motorcycles as daily means of transportation. Six months afterward, 94.1% needed help from someone; 83.8% had changed their family dynamics; and 73.5% had not returned to their professional activities. Among the injuries, 94.7% had some type of fracture, of which 53.5% were exposed fractures; 35.3% presented temporary sequelae; and 32.4% presented permanent sequelae. They used the surgical center 2.53 times on average, with a mean hospital stay of 18 days. The per capita hospital cost of these victims’ treatment was US$17,481.50.

Conclusion: The social and hospital costs were high, relative to the characteristics of a public institution. Temporary or permanent disability caused changes to family dynamics, as shown by the high numbers of patients who were still away from their professional activities more than 6 months afterward.     

生活垃圾焚烧厂超低排放的改造路线

通过分析国内外垃圾焚烧发电厂烟气净化系统的现状,基于燃煤电站和垃圾焚烧发电厂烟气物性之间的相似性及燃煤电站超低排放系统的先进性,提出了分别以循环流化床法脱硫和高效协同型湿法脱硫技术为核心的垃圾焚烧烟气超低排放改造可行技术路线,并分析了2种技术路线的初投资和运行成本.结果表明：2种技术路线的初投资相当,约为1.37万元/t,但以湿法脱硫为核心的技术运行费用较高,日运行成本约为16.46元/t;采用环保电价补贴政策时,2种烟气超低排放技术路线超过政策发电量部分的发电收入分别可以在3a和7a内弥补超低排放改造及运行带来的资金支出.     

矿工工作压力对心理社会安全行为的影响机理及实证研究

为研究工作压力对矿工心理社会安全行为的影响机理,探讨安全心理资本的中介作用以及心理社会安全氛围的调节作用,从积极心理学视角出发,对203名一线矿工进行实证分析。研究结果表明:矿工的安全心理资本在其工作压力与心理社会安全行为的负向关系中起中介作用;心理社会安全氛围能调节工作压力与安全心理资本之间的关系;心理社会安全氛围能够调节安全心理资本在工作压力与心理社会安全行为关系间的中介作用。     

煤矿绿色生态矿山建设投入经济机理分析

目前,煤矿建设仍然存在绿色生态投入动力不足的问题。本文首先指出了绿色生态矿山建设的现状,并运用外部性理论分析煤矿绿色生态投入不足的经济机理;最后,基于外部成本内化深入分析了外部影响因素对绿色生态矿山建设的影响机理。     

快速城市化对农村环境整治的影响和挑战研究

近年来中国农村环境整治力度不断加大,也面临着诸多挑战.其中影响最大的是中国当前的快速城市化进程.人口和其他资源要素在城乡的大规模快速迁移,对农村的社会经济造成了巨大的冲击,导致农村环境整治面临综合成本高、人力资本匮乏和社会资本涣散等诸多难题.为此,简单将城市环境治理的思路延续到农村地区,即以重工程技术轻治理机制、多部门投入缺乏有机整合以及政府包揽过多等为主要特征,很难真正发挥作用.需要站在城乡统筹发展的高度,农村环境整治与经济发展、社区振兴三位一体、系统推进.     

Do plants’ emissions respond to ambient environmental quality? Evidence from the clean water act

In this paper we show that plants respond to downstream ambient water quality after controlling for permitted levels of pollution. We find if past water quality declines by one percent, plants reduce current pollution by 0.35 percent. The magnitude of this coefficient is comparable to the coefficient on permitted discharge levels i.e. regulatory stringency itself. Results are consistent with two mechanisms. First, a decline in water quality may lead to more stringent permits that would raise the cost of abatement of a plant significantly. Second, the plant is likely to be subject to increased public pressure in response to poor water quality. Indeed, as expected, the impact of water quality becomes stronger in locations with higher median household income, higher percent carpooling to work, or lower percent of manufacturing employment but surprisingly with lower median age of residents, lower percent with bachelor׳s degree or higher percent of families with children.     

Conservation Businesses and Conservation Planning in a Biological Diversity Hotspot

The allocation of land to biological diversity conservation competes with other land uses and the needs of society for development, food, and extraction of natural resources. Trade‐offs between biological diversity conservation and alternative land uses are unavoidable, given the realities of limited conservation resources and the competing demands of society. We developed a conservation‐planning assessment for the South African province of KwaZulu‐Natal, which forms the central component of the Maputaland–Pondoland–Albany biological diversity hotspot. Our objective was to enhance biological diversity protection while promoting sustainable development and providing spatial guidance in the resolution of potential policy conflicts over priority areas for conservation at risk of transformation. The conservation‐planning assessment combined spatial‐distribution models for 646 conservation features, spatial economic‐return models for 28 alternative land uses, and spatial maps for 4 threats. Nature‐based tourism businesses were competitive with other land uses and could provide revenues of >US$60 million/year to local stakeholders and simultaneously help meeting conservation goals for almost half the conservation features in the planning region. Accounting for opportunity costs substantially decreased conflicts between biological diversity, agricultural use, commercial forestry, and mining. Accounting for economic benefits arising from conservation and reducing potential policy conflicts with alternative plans for development can provide opportunities for successful strategies that combine conservation and sustainable development and facilitate conservation action. Negocios de Conservación y Planificación de la Conservación en un Sitio de Importancia para la Biodiversidad