Comments on "Ion adsorption components in liquid/solid systems"

Recently, Wu et al. (J Environ Sci 18(2006) 1167-1175) published a paper entitled as above. In the paper, the authors proposed a plotting method for describing adsorption isotherm, where adsorption density (q e) was plotted against the ratio of equilibrium concentration/particle concentration (Ce/W0) rather than (Ce) as traditionally defined. The authors claimed that this plot can eliminate the "particle concentration effect" (i.e., adsorption isotherm declines with increasing particle concentration), which may otherwise be inevasible with traditionally defined adsorption isotherms. We think that their conclusion is conceptually flawed and the plot may cause substantial inconstancy problems in practice.     

基于可持续生计的农村家庭灾后恢复研究

灾后恢复研究相对较少,是整个灾害治理/应急管理全流程(减灾、备灾、救灾和灾后恢复)中最需要加强的部分。目前大部分灾后恢复研究都侧重于物质重建,缺少全面的视角。本文借鉴被广泛用于发展领域内的可持续生计分析框架来分析农村家庭灾后恢复过程,希望为灾后恢复研究提供一个全面的视角,同时对可持续生计分析框架在灾害治理研究中的适用性进行一定的验证。本文所用数据来自于一项跟踪调查。研究地点为汶川地震某重灾县。首次问卷调查在2009年1月份开展,采用分层抽样方法,以访谈员面对面访问的形式,共在该县3个乡镇(9个村)调查了515户居民。第二次回访在2012年夏天进行,共完成415户家庭回访工作,回访率约为80.56%。通过对比两次调查所得415户相同农户家庭的生计资本(自然资本、金融资本,人力资本,物资资本,社会资本)数据,研究发现整体上农户所拥有的五类生计资本在灾后恢复阶段都有较大提升,其中物资资本增幅最高,其次是自然资本,金融资本,社会资本,增幅最小的是人力资本。生计资本在整体增加的同时,不同家庭间的物资、金融、人力和自然资本差距(标准差)也有所加大,但社会资本差距(标准差)有所减少。研究结果也从侧面证实了我国汶川地震灾后恢复主要侧重于物质重建,而且灾后恢复效果明显。同时,为灾难事件可以增强社会凝聚力提供了证据。跟踪调查中社会资本在灾后显著升高,而且不同家庭间的差距变小。研究表明,可持续生计分析框架可以为以家庭和社区为单元的灾害研究提供一个较好的分析工具。     

北京密云水库地区可持续发展模式研究

本文利用系统分析方法剖析了密云社会经济系统特征 ,构建了密云可持续发展系统动力学模型 ,进而设计了三种不同发展模式 ,并将其在模型上仿真运行 ,通过对三种方案的模拟结果比较 ,从中优选出一个经济和环境协调发展的综合方案 ,为决策者提供科学的决策依据     

Environmental,climate and social leadership of small enterprises: Fairphone’s step-by-step approach

ABSTRACT

Achieving sustainable consumption and production requires a break with current practices in many sectors, including the smartphone sector. Leaders are central actors in catalysing such change by developing, implementing and promoting innovative ideas, products and practices. Not only large but also small enterprises can aspire to assume leadership for sustainability. This contribution explores the environmental, climate and social leadership of the social enterprise Fairphone that seeks to start a movement towards a more sustainable smartphone sector. Endowed with barely any structural power, it relies on other leadership types, especially entrepreneurial leadership, which is based on dialogue, persuasion and coalition-building. Small enterprises can be leaders, but pursuing a goal such as transforming the smartphone sector takes a step-by-step approach targeting different follower groups from suppliers, competitors and consumers to end-of-life processors and policymakers. Those different follower groups are susceptible to different (combinations of) leadership types.     

Traps and transformations influencing the financial viability of tourism on private‐land conservation areas

The ability of private conservation organizations to remain financially viable is a key factor influencing their effectiveness. One‐third of financially motivated private‐land conservation areas (PLCAs) surveyed in South Africa are unprofitable, raising questions about landowners’ abilities to effectively adapt their business models to the socioeconomic environment. In any complex system, options for later adaptation can be constrained by starting conditions (path dependence). We tested 3 hypothesized drivers of path dependence in PLCA ecotourism and hunting business models: (H1) the initial size of a PLCA limits the number of mammalian game and thereby predators that can be sustained; (H2) initial investments in infrastructure limit the ability to introduce predators; and (H3) rainfall limits game and predator abundance. We further assessed how managing for financial stability (optimized game stocking) or ecological sustainability (allowing game to fluctuate with environmental conditions) influenced the ability to overcome path dependence. A mechanistic PLCA model based on simple ecological and financial rules was run for different initial conditions and management strategies, simulating landowner options for adapting their business model annually. Despite attempts by simulated landowners to increase profits, adopted business models after 13 years were differentiated by initial land and infrastructural assets, supporting H1 and H2. A conservation organization's initial assets can cause it to become locked into a financially vulnerable business model. In our 50‐year simulation, path dependence was overcome by fewer of the landowners who facilitated natural ecological variability than those who maintained constant hunting rates and predator numbers, but the latter experienced unsustainably high game densities in low rainfall years. Management for natural variability supported long‐term ecological sustainability but not shorter term socioeconomic sustainability for PLCAs. Our findings highlight trade‐offs between ecological and economic sustainability and suggest a role for governmental support of the private conservation industry.     

Characterizing efforts to reduce consumer demand for wildlife products

The unsustainable trade in wildlife is a key threat to Earth's biodiversity. Efforts to mitigate this threat have traditionally focused on regulation and enforcement, and there is a growing interest in campaigns to reduce consumer demand for wildlife products. We aimed to characterize these behavior-change campaigns and the evidence of their impacts. We searched peer-reviewed and grey literature repositories and over 200 institutional websites to retrieve information on demand-reduction campaigns. We found 236 campaigns, mainly in the grey literature. Since the 1970s, the number of campaigns increased, although for over 15% a start date could not be found. Asia was the primary focus, although at the national level the United States was where most campaigns took place. Campaigns most often focused on a single species of mammal; other vertebrates groups, with the exception of sharks, received limited attention. Many campaigns focused on broad themes, such as the wildlife trade in general or seafood. Thirty-seven percent of campaigns reported some information on their inputs, 98% on strategies, 70% on outputs, 37% on outcomes (i.e., changes in the target audience), and 9% on impacts (i.e., biological changes or threat reduction). Information on outcomes and impacts was largely anecdotal or based on research designs that are at a high risk of bias, such as pre- and postcampaign comparisons. It was unclear whether demand-reduction campaigns had direct behavioral or biological impacts. The lack of robust impact evaluation made it difficult to draw insights to inform future efforts, a crucial part of effectively addressing complex issues, such as the wildlife trade. If demand-reduction campaigns are to become a cornerstone of the efforts to mitigate the unsustainable trade in wildlife, conservationists need to adopt more rigorous impact evaluation and a more collaborative approach that fosters the sharing of data and insights.     

Using a social learning configuration to increase Vietnamese smallholder farmers’ adaptive capacity to respond to climate change

Social learning is crucial for local smallholder farmers in developing countries to improve their adaptive capacity and to adapt to the current and projected impacts of climate change. While it is widely acknowledged that social learning is a necessary condition for adaptation, few studies have systematically investigated under which conditions particular forms of social learning are most successful in improving adaptive capacity of the most vulnerable groups. This study aims to design, implement and evaluate a social learning configuration in a coastal community in Vietnam. We make use of various methods during four workshop-based interventions with local smallholder farmers: interviews with key farmers and commune leaders, farmer-to-farmer learning, participatory observations and focus group discussions. The methods for evaluation of social learning configuration include in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and structured survey interviews. Our findings show that the social learning configuration used in this study leads to an increased problem ownership, an enhanced knowledge-base with regard to climate change impacts and production adaptation options, improved ability to see connections and interdependencies and finally, strengthened relationships and social cohesion. The results suggest that increased social learning in the community leads to increase in adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers and improves both their economic and environmental sustainability. We discuss the key lessons for designing learning configurations that can successfully enhance adaptive capacity and smallholder farmers’ agency and responsiveness to the challenges posed by climate change impacts.     

人力资本投资软环境研究:基于社会保障制度和劳动力市场分割的视角

社会保障制度和人力资本投资的关系是近年来劳动经济学中新出现的一个课题,相关研究尚不多见。以我国养老保险的“统帐结合”模式为例,分析了社会保障对人力资本投资的影响,同时结合我国劳动力市场现状,对劳动力市场分割状态下“统帐结合”模式与人力资本投资的关系进行了分析。结果表明,增加“统帐结合”模式中个人账户的比例,将激励个人进行较多的人力资本投资,但劳动力市场分割的存在削弱了这种激励作用。因此,建议：适当增加“统帐结合”模式中个人承担的比例;建立覆盖全国的社会保障体系;加快劳动力市场建设。逐步消除劳动力市场分割状态,促进全国统一的、自由竞争的劳动力市场的形成。     

上海世博会低碳实践及对中国低碳旅游发展启示

以低碳经济和低碳旅游为视角,全面总结上海世博会在低碳旅游规划、低碳场馆、低碳旅游交通、新能源利用、碳交易机制和平台的建立、城市最佳实践区的设置等方面的经验,以探索符合中国低碳经济特征的低碳旅游发展模式.