Governing sustainability: a dialogue between Local Agenda 21 and transition management

Since the 1990s, the local level of governance has become increasingly important in addressing the challenge of sustainable development. In this article, we compare two approaches that seek to address sustainability locally, namely Local Agenda 21 and transition management. Discussing both approaches along six dimensions (history, aim, kind of change, governance understanding, process methodologies, and actors), we formulate general insights into the governance of sustainability in cities, towns, and neighbourhoods. This dialogue illustrates two related modes of thinking about sustainability governance. We touch upon the importance of an integrated perspective on sustainability transitions through which sustainability is made meaningful locally in collaborative processes. We suggest that the explicit orientation towards radical change is a precondition for governing sustainability in a way that addresses the root causes of societal challenges. Governing sustainability should address the tensions between aiming for radical change and working with status quo-oriented actors and governing settings. We conclude that governing sustainability should be about finding creative ways for opening spaces for participation, change, and experimentation, that is, for creating alternative ideas, practices, and social relations. These spaces for innovation encourage a reflexive stance on ways of working and one's own roles and attitudes, thereby preparing a fertile terrain for actors to engage in change from different perspectives.     

Implementing the European flood risk management plan

In response to the extreme flood events of recent decades, the European Union has released the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC), which requires the creation of flood risk management plans. These plans do not yet exist in practice, as water management agencies have until 2015 to put them into action. This contribution will discuss two questions regarding the European flood risk management plan: First, how is the new instrument integrated into the various member states, particularly with respect to the scenario approach? Second, how prepared are the institutions for the collaborative planning paradigm of the flood risk management plan, particularly with respect to the river basin districts approach? Citing examples from France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Great Britain, this paper offers both a pessimistic and an optimistic perspective on the implementation of the new flood risk management instrument.     

Are national biodiversity strategies and action plans appropriate for building responsibilities for mainstreaming biodiversity across policy sectors? The case of Finland

The Convention on Biological Diversity's national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs) are major mechanisms for mainstreaming biodiversity into national policies. This article examines whether and how the NBSAPs contribute to mainstreaming biodiversity across policy sectors in Finland in order to halt biodiversity loss. We have developed an innovative analytical framework where the concept of responsibility addresses how motivations for mainstreaming can be built, and the concept of social learning outcomes addresses the extent of institutional changes for biodiversity. The Finnish NBSAP processes have been able to build diverse forms of responsibility (liability, accountability, responsiveness and care) in different policy sectors by providing new knowledge, careful process design and developing institutional linkages. Despite pro-biodiversity outcomes in the targeted policy sectors, the responsibilities do not diffuse from the environmental administration to other policy sectors to a sufficient extent. Closing this ‘responsibility gap’ is a key challenge for building effective environmental policies.     

Water Management Decision Making in the Face of Multiple Forms of Uncertainty and Risk

In the Wasatch Range Metropolitan Area of Northern Utah, water management decision makers confront multiple forms of uncertainty and risk. Adapting to these uncertainties and risks is critical for maintaining the long‐term sustainability of the region's water supply. This study draws on interview data to assess the major challenges climatic and social changes pose to Utah's water future, as well as potential solutions. The study identifies the water management adaptation decision‐making space shaped by the interacting institutional, social, economic, political, and biophysical processes that enable and constrain sustainable water management. The study finds water managers and other water actors see challenges related to reallocating water, including equitable water transfers and stakeholder cooperation, addressing population growth, and locating additional water supplies, as more problematic than the challenges posed by climate change. Furthermore, there is significant disagreement between water actors over how to best adapt to both climatic and social changes. This study concludes with a discussion of the path dependencies that present challenges to adaptive water management decision making, as well as opportunities for the pursuit of a new water management paradigm based on soft‐path solutions. Such knowledge is useful for understanding the institutional and social adaptations needed for water management to successfully address future uncertainties and risks.     

环境治理投入对经济增长的异质性影响研究——基于城市化的视角

在城市化水平不断提高的背景下,探究环境治理投入促进还是阻碍了经济增长,城市化在两者关系中扮演什么角色具有重要的现实意义。论文基于中国大陆2003—2015年31个省份的数据,运用面板门槛模型、系统广义矩估计方法探究环境治理投入与经济增长之间的关系。结果表明：1）环境治理投入与经济增长之间存在参数异质性,具有显著的门槛效应;2）环境治理投入对省际经济增长的影响因环境治理投入量的差异分为前期影响不显著、后期促进两个阶段;3）适度的城市化水平可以提高环境治理投入的效率,从而促进经济增长。基于此,论文认为应在继续增加环境治理投入的同时提高城市化水平,以城市化助力环境治理投入取得环境和经济效益的双赢。     

阿海水电站新源沟砂石加工废水处理工艺浅谈

新源沟砂石加工系统生产废水SS浓度高,采用水力旋流/加药絮凝/多级沉淀工艺处理,运行结果表明,处理出水水质满足《污水综合排放标准》（GB8978-1996）一级标准中的给定限值70mg/L,达标出水全部回用。     

Local governance of energy transition: sustainability,transactions and social ties. A case study in Northeast France

This paper tackles the process of energy transition from a transactional perspective. It addresses the governance of energy transition by studying its local actualizations, moving beyond purely technical and normative readings. The paper shows that through the local socio-technological energy systems, sustainability governance filters down to the level of individual, everyday behavior, thus questioning the link between public and private spaces, especially regarding the issue of housing. Going beyond the results commonly yielded by transition studies, which favor large-scale analysis, it details how the discourse of citizen involvement, which often boils down to a mere call to control one’s individual energy consumption, conceals environmental inequalities, confirming the socioeconomic divide materialized in deprived areas such as public housing estates or remote rural areas. From a methodological standpoint, the analysis is based on four case studies in Northeast France, in more or less privileged areas, and in both urban and rural environments: the renovation of a heating network in the public housing estate of Cité de l’Ill, north of Strasbourg; the solar energy systems designed for property owners in Plobsheim, a residential suburb of Strasbourg; the energy-efficient equipment set up in a public housing estate in the city of Saint-Dié, in the Vosges; and citizen participation in a cooperative program to finance wind turbines in the small Alsacian city of Saâles, in a mountain rural area. The paper draws on the results of these sociological investigations, carried out using field observations, questionnaires and interviews.     

Shared governance arrangements and social connectivity: advancing large-scale coastal and marine conservation initiatives in the Dominican Republic

Increasingly, large-scale conservation initiatives (e.g. through protected area networks and transboundary connectivity initiatives) are growing in prevalence as their diverse sustainability benefits are further understood. Conventional, centralized approaches to conservation, often featuring unconnected discrete ‘patches’, are no longer sufficient for achieving effective, long-term protection. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how to achieve effective large-scale conservation initiatives by addressing the following objectives: (1) To assess the degree to which local actors are involved in coastal and marine conservation practices, with a focus on large-scale conservation initiatives (LCIs); and, (2) To identify barriers and opportunities for achieving effective large-scale conservation. This paper presents findings from research in the Dominican Republic where social-ecological components of coastal and marine systems are considered from multiple perspectives to advance management and increase effectiveness of LCIs. Data were acquired through semi-structured interviews with 35 coastal and marine actors (e.g. fishers, ministers, non-governmental organizations, practitioners, academics) working at local to international scales. Interview data were analysed through thematic coding using QSR-Nvivo 12 software. Respondents expressed that non-governmental actors (e.g. private organizations, coastal communities) should have an increased role in developing, implementing and managing coastal and marine LCIs. Additionally, respondents commented on strategies to enhance social connectivity (i.e. sharing experiences, programs and expertise) within coastal and marine practices to enhance effectiveness and facilitate learning. Findings contribute to the understanding of complex coastal and marine social-ecological systems of the Dominican Republic and provide further support for involving multiple actors in governance processes.     

工业大气污染源排放绩效定量评价及应用

工业源治理是改善环境空气质量的重要途径,而如何开展精准治污仍然是目前亟需回答的问题.以天津市西青区为例,基于第二次全国污染源普查数据,对工业企业开展污染物排放绩效定量评价,并深入探究排放绩效评价应用于工业源精细化管控治理的意义、可行性以及存在的问题.结果 发现,西青区各行业的排放绩效水平差异较大.污染物排放绩效水平与行...     

Putting the cart before the horse: Water governance and IWRM

Water governance has emerged as perhaps the most important topic of the international water community in the 21^st century, and achieving “good” water governance is now a focus of both policy discourse and innumerable development projects. Somewhat surprisingly in light of this attention, there is widespread confusion about the meaning of the term “water governance”. This paper reviews the history of the term's use and misuse to reveal how the concept is frequently inflated to include issues that go well beyond governance. Further, it highlights how calls to improve water governance often espouse predetermined goals that should instead be the very function of water governance to define. To help overcome this confusion, the paper suggests a more refined definition of water governance and related qualities of good water governance that are consistent with broader notions of the concepts. In light of the substantial resources allocated in its name, this paper's findings show there is significant potential to strengthen efforts at improving water governance.