Critical environmental indicators: performance indices and assessment models for sustainable rural development planning

Sustainable development planning must be based on environmental and biophysical baseline indices that effectively define comparative development potential and environmental constraints. As such, indices must define the comparative advantage of the natural resource base and measure the fundamental capacity to sustain production rates of natural resource goods and services used to create societal well being. Complex biophysical and socioeconomic characteristics affect the identification and selection of sustainable development strategies. When derived from effective baseline indicators, indices may be used to define the spatial and temporal distribution of economically viable production opportunities and may be expressed in derived indices that realistically describe basic production opportunities and guide the selection of feasible, long-term development strategies. Specifically, representative indices are critical in the identification of development goals and realistic objectives and can be used to evaluate, select and implement sustainable development strategies and plans. It is stressed that the relevancy and effectiveness of public policies depend on the identification of representative evaluation models and baseline indices to define development strategies that are both environmentally sustainable and economically viable. In this context, the role of baseline indicators that define natural resource production capacities is discussed. This includes potential resource uses, derived benefits and their economic and environmental impacts. Key thematic indicators are suggested that may be especially useful in identifying development alternatives and impacts. This suggested that clearly defined environmental pollution limits or impact standards be used to define public risk tolerance limits and carrying capacity constraints. It is argued that these measures may be more effective in directing policy choices than economic valuation of non market goods and services that represent environmental externalities associated with resource exploitation options and economic development strategies. To this end, examples of thematic indicators and derived indices are introduced that may prove effective in resource assessment, economic evaluation and strategic development planning.     

辽宁中部城市群环境保护治理规则

辽宁中部城市群是由以沈阳为中心，包括沈阳，鞍山、抚顺、本溪、辽阳、铁岭六个市。本文分三部分，辽宁中部城市不境质量现状基本概况，辽宁中部城市九环境保护治理，辽宁中部城市群环境保护政策措施。     

Human immuno-deficiency virus and infant feeding in complex humanitarian emergencies: priorities and policy considerations

Issues surrounding mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS pose considerable challenges in complex humanitarian emergencies. The risk of vertical transmission through breastfeeding is well recognised, but safe alternatives are limited by the social, economic and environmental conditions of emergency situations. In 2000, the World Health Organisation published a technical report on behalf of the UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/UNAIDS Inter-agency Task Team on Mother-to-child Transmission of HIV which outlined revised recommendations for infant feeding by HIV-positive women. This paper outlines reasons why these recommendations may be insufficient during the initial stages of complex humanitarian emergencies and proposes recommendations for establishing infant-feeding policy. Methods of mother-to-child transmission of HIV are reviewed and recent research findings are discussed. Rationale for modifying the 2000 UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/UNAIDS infant-feeding recommendations in complex emergency situations is explored from the perspective of the infant, the mother and humanitarian field staff. Ethical limitations and future priorities are considered. The paper concludes with recommendations and a policy decision-making framework for consideration during the initial stages of humanitarian crises.     

Emergency preparedness through game playing

The lack of emergency preparedness in Mauritius has been the cause of many tragedies. Our approach to tackle this problem was by developing an emergency preparedness game layered and fused with a disaster warning and guidance system that emanates clarity to the unfathomable bearings of emergencies and natural disasters. The emergency preparedness game is based on a selection of diverse real life-threatening difficulties that entail different strategies aimed at bettering the survival instincts of users. It uses story-telling scenarios along with in-game footnotes that yield directives on how to brave fierce and unpredictable calamities. The game reinforces a sense of self-composedness and suppressing untimely fears of users in horrendous circumstances. With regard to the warning system, it unremittingly feeds users with notifications during emergencies, that encases shortest escape routes to lead them to safe locations via a fully functional GPS map. This application brings some novelties that are virtually non-existent in related applications. For instance, this application includes a warning and guidance system, a 3D scenario game to prepare its users for disasters, an interactive survival toolkit selection, an SMS rescue feature and a mass notification system via the web.     

建设城市中的防火安全系统

本文根据调查分析，指出建设城市防火安全系统的迫切性。阐述了建设城市防火安全系统的基本原理和规划方法。并探讨了城市防火安全系统的运用管理。     

The 2004 Madrid train bombings: an analysis of pre-hospital management

The terrorist train bombings in Madrid, Spain, on 11 March 2004 triggered a swift and massive medical response. This paper analyses the pre-hospital response to the attacks to gain insight into current trends in disaster management among Madrid's Emergency Medical Services (EMSs). To this end, the existing emergency planning framework is described, the basic structures of the different EMSs are presented, and the attacks are briefly depicted before consideration is given to pre-hospital management. Finally, an explanation of the main underlying misconceptions in emergency planning and management in Madrid is provided to aid understanding of the origins of some of the problems detected during the response. These are attributable mainly to inappropriate planning rather than to mistakes in field-level decision-making. By contrast, many of the successes are attributable to individual initiatives by frontline medics who compensated for the lack of clear command by senior managers by making adaptive and flexible decisions.     

基于生态保护的道路规划策略

分析了路段与景观两个尺度上的道路生态环境影响,结合当今景观生态学、道路生态学的研究成果,系统论述了与道路交通规划建设相关的生态策略：（1）在区域尺度上,依据生态敏感度规划路网密度、保持大型自然空间的生态完整性、提倡非生态敏感地段的交通集中、增加路网的区域水平渗透性;（2）在路段规模上,自然空间的生境避让、保持重要地段的自然连续性、打破交通生态瓶颈、减少道路交通的环境影响、补偿道路建设的生态影响等。这些策略旨在为可持续道路交通提供基于生态合理性的规划原则与方法。     

济宁生态市规划与建设途径

生态市是实现城市社会—经济—自然可持续发展的一种模式和过程。以山东省济宁市为例,提出了济宁生态市建设的战略措施。从资源型城市的产业生态转型、水体和矿山的自然生态修复和孔孟文化的人文生态振兴3方面提出了建设目标;建设框架包括自生型生态环境、竞争型循环经济和共生型和谐社会。主导产业和循环经济建设要促进传统农业和矿山开采型产业向静脉产业、阳光产业、物流产业、文化产业和旅游产业的生态转型;从水资源、水环境、水生态、水景观、水安全和水文化建设几方面提出了水资源保护与水环境治理的综合措施;最后提出了济宁市煤矿塌陷区的生态修复对策和生态文化建设策略。     

The city as a refuge for insect pollinators

Research on urban insect pollinators is changing views on the biological value and ecological importance of cities. The abundance and diversity of native bee species in urban landscapes that are absent in nearby rural lands evidence the biological value and ecological importance of cities and have implications for biodiversity conservation. Lagging behind this revised image of the city are urban conservation programs that historically have invested in education and outreach rather than programs designed to achieve high‐priority species conservation results. We synthesized research on urban bee species diversity and abundance to determine how urban conservation could be repositioned to better align with new views on the ecological importance of urban landscapes. Due to insect pollinators’ relatively small functional requirements—habitat range, life cycle, and nesting behavior—relative to larger mammals, we argue that pollinators put high‐priority and high‐impact urban conservation within reach. In a rapidly urbanizing world, transforming how environmental managers view the city can improve citizen engagement and contribute to the development of more sustainable urbanization.     

Effectiveness of conservation easements in agricultural regions

Conservation easements are a standard technique for preventing habitat loss, particularly in agricultural regions with extensive cropland cultivation, yet little is known about their effectiveness. I developed a spatial econometric approach to propensity‐score matching and used the approach to estimate the amount of habitat loss prevented by a grassland conservation easement program of the U.S. federal government. I used a spatial autoregressive probit model to predict tract enrollment in the easement program as of 2001 based on tract agricultural suitability, habitat quality, and spatial interactions among neighboring tracts. Using the predicted values from the model, I matched enrolled tracts with similar unenrolled tracts to form a treatment group and a control group. To measure the program's impact on subsequent grassland loss, I estimated cropland cultivation rates for both groups in 2014 with a second spatial probit model. Between 2001 and 2014, approximately 14.9% of control tracts were cultivated and 0.3% of treated tracts were cultivated. Therefore, approximately 14.6% of the protected land would have been cultivated in the absence of the program. My results demonstrate that conservation easements can significantly reduce habitat loss in agricultural regions; however, the enrollment of tracts with low cropland suitability may constrain the amount of habitat loss they prevent. My results also show that spatial econometric models can improve the validity of control groups and thereby strengthen causal inferences about program effectiveness in situations when spatial interactions influence conservation decisions.