Ethics and fundamental principles of risk acceptance criteria

Ethics are concerned with distinguishing between what actions are “right” and “wrong” and what values are “good” and “bad”, etc. and there is a long academic tradition in discussing ethics and ethical theories. Risk acceptance criteria, on the other hand, distinguish between levels of risks that are acceptable and levels that are intolerable. In some sense, one may say that risk acceptance criteria distinguishes between “good” and “bad” systems and activities with regards to the risk they expose the society or elements of a society to and there is thus an obvious link between ethics and risk acceptance criteria or to risk management at large. However, there are few references in the literature that explores this link, and in this paper, the ethical foundation of fundamental principles of risk acceptance criteria will be elaborated upon.This paper considers some important principles for establishing risk acceptance criteria for safety critical systems and activities. The various principles and the philosophies behind them might at first sight seem contradictory and exclusive, but it is demonstrated how they may coexist in one and the same regulatory regime; They may complement each other in order to achieve the overall safety objectives of society. Then, some brief considerations of the ethical foundations for the principles will be given and some relevant examples of actual risk acceptance criteria will be given from the maritime industries. However, it is believed that the principles and discussions are of general interest and apply to all areas of technical risk and to safety regulations in a broader perspective.     

区域管制在实现国家资源安全过程中的作用研究

本文分析了国家资源安全的特点 ,提出区域管制是实现国家资源安全的重要手段。认为建立资源市场 ,对自然资源进行资产化管理 ,制定资源开发利用技术标准 ,实行资源开发许可审批制度 ,采取激励政策 ,建立安全押金制度是实现国家资源安全的重要途径     

Is Multilateralism the Future? Sustainable Development or Globalisation as ‘A Comprehensive Vision of the Future of Humanity’

This paper provides an overall evaluation of the outcomes of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), which took place in Johannesburg from 26 August to 4 September 2002, in a historical perspective, against the background of earlier major United Nations conferences and General Assembly resolutions on environment and development. It focuses on the political and institutional context of the WSSD and its preparatory process and explores its policy implications for future international cooperation on sustainable development in a globalizing world. Both the results of the formal intergovernmental negotiations and the new phenomenon of partnerships for sustainable development between governments, international organizations, the private sector and other major groups are analysed. The Johannesburg Declaration and the WSSD Plan of Implementation are shown to contain little in the way of political vision, credible new commitments and innovative approaches, likely to reinvigorate the implementation of the objectives of sustainable development as formulated in Rio. Though ostensibly designed to give a new political impetus to multilateralism, the WSSD rather revealed the inadequacy of intergovernmental political governance structures to address the social and environmental consequences of economic globalization.     

Food Supply Chain Governance And Public Health Externalities: Upstream Policy Interventions And The UK State

Contemporary food supply chains are generating externalities with high economic and social costs, notably in public health terms through the rise in diet-related non-communicable disease. The UK State is developing policy strategies to tackle these public health problems alongside intergovernmental responses. However, the governance of food supply chains is conducted by, and across, both private and public spheres and within a multilevel framework. The realities of contemporary food governance are that private interests are key drivers of food supply chains and have institutionalized a great deal of standards-setting and quality, notably from their locations in the downstream and midstream sectors. The UK State is designing some downstream and some midstream interventions to ameliorate the public health impacts of current food consumption patterns in England. The UK State has not addressed upstream interventions towards public health diet at the primary food production and processing stages, although traditionally it has shaped agricultural policy. Within the realities of contemporary multilevel governance, the UK State must act within the contexts set by the international regimes of the Common Agricultural Policy and the World Trade Organization agreements, notably on agriculture. The potential for further upstream agricultural policy reform is considered as part of a wider policy approach to address the public health externalities issuing from contemporary food supply chains within this multilevel governance context.     

煤矿扇风机噪声治理及应用研究

以平顶山天安煤业股份有限公司一矿扇风机噪声治理为例,针对煤矿扇风机噪声强度大、衰减慢、治理难度大等特点,提出了一种综合治理措施,把消声、隔声、吸声等有机结合起来,使治理后的扇风机房边界噪声达到了《工业企业厂界环境噪声排放标准》(GB 12348-2008)中的噪声限定规定,风井口处的噪声满足了《工业企业噪声控制设计规范》(GBJ 87-85)中的要求,使企业做到了达标排放。     

基于博弈论视角的美国页岩气开发环境政策分析及启示研究

受水平井技术及水力压裂技术的推动,美国实现了页岩气的规模开发和能源独立.而环境监管漏洞却成为制约美国页岩气产业发展的主要障碍.在此背景下,运用博弈论原理,构建了政府、页岩气开发商、居民三方博弈模型,给出了该模型均衡条件下的解,讨论了影响三方主体决策的主要因素.基于美国的经验,结合中国页岩气开发的实际,提出谨慎推进页岩气开发、注重页岩开发的环境评估、鼓励页岩气开发技术的创新、加强环境监管等建议.     

对中国室内环境治理的发展分析研究

随着中国经济社会的发展,人民生活水平不断提高,随之而来的是人们对生活环境的高要求,因此室内环境的治理就显得尤为重要.室内环境的治理与人们的生活息息相关,关系到人们的身体健康,这就需要对室内环境治理的发展进行研究与探讨,明确该行业的发展现状、目标、发展策略,以创造出良好的经济效益和社会效益,加快小康社会的建设.针对室内环境治理行业的发展现状,只有对行业重要性及其面临的机遇和挑战进行深入挖掘,才能促进行业不断稳健发展.     

北京市“白色污染”对策研究

在考察分析北京市“白色污染”现状的基础上,归纳出目前治理“白色污染”过程存在的6个问题。针对这些问题,梳理国内外治理“白色污染”经验,同时提出了“源头控制、逐步替代,宣传教育、减量使用,鼓励回收、健全网络,重修法规、强化监管,奥运期间、齐抓共管”的治理建议。     

生态环境多中心治理路径探析

生态环境是人类赖以生产和生活不可或缺的一部分,生态资源的开发和使用促进了人类社会的发展,然而伴随人类的开发和使用,生态环境消耗已经超出其自身恢复能力,生态环境治理成为世界各国不容忽视的重要问题。我国生态环境治理取得了一定成果,但总体而言生态环境恶化趋势并未改变,探索生态环境多中心治理路径十分必要。本文从我国生态环境治理现状出发,阐述了以市场为中心和以政府为中心两种传统生态环境治理模式及其局限性,并在此基础上提出构建生态环境多中心治理模式,探析生态环境多中心治理路径。     

An implementation assessment of China’s Environmental Information Disclosure Decree

China’s 2007 Open Government Information Regulations is widely considered as a milestone in the country’s information policy history and is praised as a “sunshine program”. The Environmental Information Disclosure Decree was the first to operationalize these general regulations into a sectoral information disclosure system on environment. This study assessed the implementation of the environmental information disclosure system about six months after the Decree took e ect on May 1, 2008. Through reviewing the websites of all 31 provincial Environmental Protection Bureaus and the Ministry of Environmental Protection, conducting an experiment with actual information disclosure request, and through interviews with all provincial Environmental Protection Bureaus, this article concluded that the implementation of the environmental information disclosure system still falls short. Future improvements should focus on further publicity of the regulations and decree to enhance public participation, the establishment of an independent evaluation and supervision system for information disclosure, the exchange of experiences and best practices among provincial Environmental Protection Bureaus, and on strengthening the legal status of environmental information disclosure.