Practical actions for applied systematic conservation planning

Systematic conservation planning is intended to inform spatially explicit decision making. Doing so requires that it be integrated into complex regulatory and governance processes, and there are limited instances where this has been achieved effectively. South Africa is a global leader in the application of conservation plans, the outputs of which are widely used for spatial planning and decision making in many spheres of government. We aimed to determine how conservation planning in the country progressed from theory to implementation, and to identify practical actions that enabled this transition, by assessing temporal trends in the characteristics of conservation plans (1990–2017, n = 94). Since 2010 conservation planning has entered an operational period characterized by government leadership of plans, administrative rather than ecological planning domains, decreasing size of planning units, increasing emphasis on end-user products, and scheduled revision of plans. Key actions that enabled this progression include transitioning leadership of plans from scientists to practitioners, building capacity within implementing agencies, creating opportunities to integrate plans in legislative processes, establishing a strong community of practice, adopting implementation-focused methods, and balancing standardization with innovation. Learning from this model will allow other countries, particularly those with a similar megadiverse, developing context, to operationalize conservation planning into spatial planning and decision making.     

试析清代北京地区政府救灾组织系统的主要特点

清代建都北京,在这里实行特殊的行政管理制度,与之相适应,救灾组织系统也与各地不同。清代北京地区政府救灾组织系统的主要特点有三：一是旗、汉分城办理。清初实行的旗、汉分城居住政策,导致北京城市居址环境的变迁。内城八旗救灾事务由八旗都统负责,外五城救灾事务由五城察院负责。这一特点既与清代逐渐演变形成的特殊官制有关,又与中央集...     

我国不同区域地质环境城市地下水防污性能分布特征分析

以近几十年来积累的地下水化学和水文地质资料为基础,对我国城市地下水防污性能进行了综合评价,分析了我国不同区域地质环境城市地下水防污性能分布特征及其形成原因,并提出了针对不同地下水防污性能等级的防污建议。     

化工园区定量风险评估方法及其应用

分析了我国化工园区风险特点,介绍了区域定量风险评估方法,以某化工园区为例进行了定量风险评估,通过分析计算,给出了该区域的风险评估结果,项目符合标准的要求,提出了风险控制措施,有助于化工园区装置合理布置和科学规划.     

农村生活用能的区域分异——以关中临渭区为例

研究农村生活用能的区域分异,对于优化用能结构、制定合理的能源利用和生态环境保护政策具有重要意义。以关中临渭区为例,采用实地问卷调查、能源利用区位商、相关分析等方法,探究平原地区、黄土台塬与丘陵山区农村生活用能的分异特征及成因,得到以下结论:①平原地区具有区位优势的生活能源为煤炭、玉米棒芯、液化气、蜂窝煤、电能和太阳能,煤炭的区位商达2.671;黄土台塬为沼气、太阳能、作物秸秆、蜂窝煤、液化气和玉米棒芯,沼气的区位商达3.465;丘陵山区为薪柴,区位商为1.142。前两者用能多元化,商品能源较多;丘陵山区用能结构单一,木柴为主的非商品能源居多。②区域用能分异特征突出。平原地区市场化导向明显,多种能源互补利用;黄土台塬地区政策导向明显,沼气利用较多,用能组合多样;丘陵山区受自然条件影响,薪柴为主,其他燃料为辅。农村生活用能的区域分异取决于自然环境、生产结构、经济环境以及外界环境,是收入水平、温度、发展条件、政策影响等方面综合作用的结果。③平原地区人均收入高(7 056元),人均商品用能多(204.15 kgce);条件恶劣的丘陵山区人均收入低(5 750元),人均商品用能少(45.38 kgce)。人均非商品用能受人均收入影响小,相对稳定。人均有效耕地和人均耕地越多,人均商品用能越多,人均非商品用能越少,且人均有效耕地变化引起的用能类别的变化幅度较大。     

Optimizing carbon sequestration in commercial forests by integrating carbon management objectives in wood supply modeling

This paper provides a methodology for generating forest management plans, which explicitly maximize carbon (C) sequestration at the forest-landscape level. This paper takes advantage of concepts first presented in a paper by Meng et al. (2003; Mitigation Adaptation Strategies Global Change 8:371–403) by integrating C-sequestration objective functions in existing wood supply models. Carbon-stock calculations performed in Woodstock^TM (RemSoft Inc.) are based on C yields generated from volume table data obtained from local Forest Development Survey plots and a series of wood volume-to-C content conversion factors specified in von Mirbach (2000). The approach is used to investigate the impact of three demonstration forest-management scenarios on the C budget in a 110,000 ha forest in south-central New Brunswick, Canada. Explicit demonstration scenarios addressed include (1) maximizing timber extraction either by clearcut or selection harvesting for greatest revenue generation, (2) maximizing total C storage in the forest landscape and in wood products generated from harvesting, and (3) maximizing C storage together with revenue generation. The level of clearcut harvesting was greatest for scenario 1 (≥15 × 10⁴ m³ of wood and ≥943 ha of land per harvesting period), and least for scenario 2 (=0 m³ per harvesting period) where selection harvesting dominated. Because softwood saw logs were worth more than pulpwood ($60 m⁻³ vs. $40 m⁻³) and were strategic to the long-term storage of C, the production of softwood saw logs exceeded the production of pulpwood in all scenarios. Selection harvesting was generally the preferred harvesting method across scenarios. Only in scenario 1 did levels of clearcut harvesting occasionally exceed those of selection harvesting, mainly in the removal of old, dilapidated stands early in the simulation (i.e., during periods 1 through 3). Scenario 2 provided the greatest total C-storage increase over 80 years (i.e., 14 × 10⁶ Mg C, or roughly 264 Mg ha⁻¹) at a cost of $111 per Mg C due to lost revenues. Scenarios 3 and 1 produced reduced storage rates of roughly 9 × 10⁶ Mg C and 3 × 10⁶ Mg C, respectively; about 64% and 22% of the total, 80-year C storage calculated in scenario 2. The bulk of the C in scenario 2 was stored in the forest, amounting to about 76% of the total C sequestered.     

土地利用规划环境影响跟踪评价分析

文章就环境影响跟踪评价是否适用于土地利用规划的实施进行了分析,并提出了实施评价的具体程序,基于价值模型建立了评价指标体系,采用指标体系法有效简化了评价工作的复杂性。并以扬州市土地利用总体规划(2005-2020)跟踪评价为例,进行了案例研究。通过回顾性评价和预测评价,识别出了主要环境问题以及环境制约因素,并根据规划总目标、阶段目标和环境保护规划、环境功能区划,进一步提出环境保护对策和措施,且对规划目标进行了调整。     

Towards an agile participatory urban soundscape planning framework

This paper presents an agile participatory urban soundscape planning process model, which is proposed as a prerequisite on which to build and reference the efficacy of urban soundscape planning. The model was developed through data synthesis and analysis and mapping engagement with diverse stakeholders across four applied soundscape projects in Brighton and Hove, UK. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the model is the first of its kind in applied soundscape practice. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and document analysis of published resources. The framework used for the analysis of the findings comprised four core urban planning stages: goals and objectives, engagement (e.g. prediction/modelling/design/planning), implications, evaluation. The study found that when integrating soundscape planning with core urban planning stages it was necessary to first identify the appropriate stakeholders in relation to the project context. It was found that these stakeholders could be wide-ranging and unexpected, thereby reinforcing the appropriateness of incorporating an agile approach in the resulting model. The study also found that users’ perceptions are central to soundscape practice and need to be considered at each stage of a planning process to produce an effective and sustainable outcome. A variety of specific events, appropriate to the requirements of the stakeholders, are important for engaging planning authorities, users and other stakeholders at different stages. This study also demonstrated that an evidence-based evaluation method is recommended in an agile participatory urban soundscape planning process to assess stakeholders’ engagement at each stage and to inform and guide subsequent steps in the planning process relevant to the local context(s).     

(Not) talking about justice: justice self-recognition and the integration of energy and environmental-social justice into renewable energy siting

Renewable energy often provokes heated debate on climate change, energy security and the local impacts of developments. However, how far such discussions involve thorough and inclusive debate on the energy and environmental-social justice issues associated with renewable energy siting remains ambiguous, particularly where government agendas prioritise renewable energy and planning systems offer limited opportunities for public debate on value-based arguments for and against renewable energy developments. Using the concept of justice self-recognition, we argue for greater attention to public discussion of the justice dimensions of renewable energy to assist in developing mechanisms to integrate distributive and procedural fairness principles into renewable energy decision-making. To explore how justice is currently invoked in such contexts, we examine recent U.K. policies for renewable energy and public submissions to applications for small-scale wind energy projects in Cornwall, U.K. The analysis of public comments revealed that justice concerns were rarely discussed explicitly. Comments instead did not raise concerns as justice issues or focused implicitly on distributive justice, stressing local aesthetic, community and economic impacts, clean energy and climate change. However, the findings indicated limited discussion of procedural or participatory justice, an absence that hampers the establishment of coherent procedures for deciding acceptable impacts, information standards, public participation and arbitrating disputes. We conclude by suggesting procedural reforms to policy and planning to enable greater public expression of justice concerns and debate on how to negotiate tensions between energy and environmental-social justice in renewable energy siting decisions.     

Harnessing place attachment for local climate mitigation? Hypothesising connections between broadening representations of place and readiness for change

Public engagement in local environmental planning and decision-making is often advocated on various grounds, both instrumental and normative. Yet in developed countries in the context of renewable energy infrastructure deployment, place attachment, place identity and place-protective action continue to be implicated in public objection. We set out an interdisciplinary change readiness hypothesis of specifically how local participatory scenario or visioning processes that include climate mitigation measures may support the mobilisation of place attachment for climate mitigation, including renewable energy deployment. We hypothesise that local visioning may support movement towards change readiness by helping to anchor unfamiliar social representations of low carbon energy infrastructure and new patterns of urban form in existing, more positive representations of localities and associated attachments. To this end, seeking ways to modify threat perceptions relating to climate change and renewable energy infrastructure is advocated as a key direction for study.