Barriers Beyond the Partners: Bureaucratic and Political Constraints to Implementing Joint Forest Management in Tamil Nadu,India

Whereas past research has treated co-management of common pool resources as if villagers and project implementing authorities were the only relevant actors, numerous external factors beyond the control of these two partners create barriers to successful co-management. This paper draws on discussions with Forest Department officials to examine the influence of these forces on the outcomes of Joint Forest Management (JFM) in Tamil Nadu, India. An empirical inquiry into the operational aspects of JFM indicates the important roles of political parties, powerful people, and other state institutions and functionaries as well as the flow of foreign funding. Further, the strong demand by local people for socio-economic development interventions as opposed to improvement of degraded forests belittles the role of the Forest Department relative to other departments. Numerous other conditioning factors and relationships are explored. The authors call for reforms in public governance to allow better participation of all the actors involved for this participatory management approach to succeed and sustain.     

我国固体废物的管理体制问题分析

随着经济的发展和城市化水平的提高,固体废物的产生量迅速膨胀,其已成为制约社会和经济持续健康发展的瓶颈.以政策过程为主线,主要在责任界定、政策制定、政策执行和效果监督等环节上对城市生活垃圾、工业固体废物、危险废物和进口固体废物这4种重要的固体废物管理中存在的问题进行分析.结果表明,城市生活垃圾和工业固体废物管理中最亟待解决的问题均在于管理责任机制不明确;危险废物管理中最显著的困难在于国内相关法律法规还不健全、存在监管漏洞;进口固体废物管理中关注的重点是电子垃圾非法贸易问题.针对以上问题,给出了相应的政策建议,以促进固体废物管理体制基础的完善.     

Significant developments in sustainable development law and governance: A proposal

This article develops a practical proposal for progress on sustainable development law. It examines the prospects for an international sustainable development law to provide a framework for more effective, coherent governance. Sustainable development law is briefly defined and an analytical framework is provided. Different degrees of integration between economic, social and environmental law are described. Certain principles of international law related to sustainable development are also highlighted. It is argued that these principles may serve to guide law‐makers and jurists where social, economic and environmental law and policy conflict or overlap. Continuing, underlying questions of sustainable development governance are addressed and its global frameworks analysed. The article also focuses on the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in August‐September 2002, and its specific mandate for the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) to take related legal developments into account. The article advances a proposal: that governments, economic, social and environmental intergovernmental organizations and other actors establish a ‘network of inquiry’ with members from relevant groups, including legal and academic organizations, and other expert groups, in order to follow, research, analyse and debate legal developments in a balanced way.     

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.     

When and how to use Q methodology to understand perspectives in conservation research

Understanding human perspectives is critical in a range of conservation contexts, for example, in overcoming conflicts or developing projects that are acceptable to relevant stakeholders. The Q methodology is a unique semiquantitative technique used to explore human perspectives. It has been applied for decades in other disciplines and recently gained traction in conservation. This paper helps researchers assess when Q is useful for a given conservation question and what its use involves. To do so, we explained the steps necessary to conduct a Q study, from the research design to the interpretation of results. We provided recommendations to minimize biases in conducting a Q study, which can affect mostly when designing the study and collecting the data. We conducted a structured literature review of 52 studies to examine in what empirical conservation contexts Q has been used. Most studies were subnational or national cases, but some also address multinational or global questions. We found that Q has been applied to 4 broad types of conservation goals: addressing conflict, devising management alternatives, understanding policy acceptability, and critically reflecting on the values that implicitly influence research and practice. Through these applications, researchers found hidden views, understood opinions in depth and discovered points of consensus that facilitated unlocking difficult disagreements. The Q methodology has a clear procedure but is also flexible, allowing researchers explore long‐term views, or views about items other than statements, such as landscape images. We also found some inconsistencies in applying and, mainly, in reporting Q studies, whereby it was not possible to fully understand how the research was conducted or why some atypical research decisions had been taken in some studies. Accordingly, we suggest a reporting checklist.     

协同治理理论视角下连云港湾长制试点存在的问题及对策

近岸海域环境综合治理是典型的公共产品和公共服务,需要多个主体协同治理。连云港湾长制已实施两年多,虽取得了一定成效,但从协同治理理论来看,仍存在治理主体相对单一、公众参与不足问题。因此,今后应以协同治理理论为指导,形成多元的治理主体,树立各个治理主体的权威性,加强各治理主体的协同性,充分发挥各治理主体的积极性,共同推进湾长制的实施。     

支撑环境污染第三方治理的标准体系构建研究

采用系统论及系统工程方法论,结合我国环境污染治理标准制定情况,构建了科学合理的支撑环境污染第三方治理的标准体系。标准体系包含4个子体系及22个专业领域,体系的建立可为形成环境污染第三方治理相关的共性技术、管理与服务标准提供理论参考。通过标准梳理工作,确定未来迫切需要制定一整套环境污染第三方治理绩效评价的相关标准。该研究成果能够强化环境污染第三方治理效果,完善环境污染第三方治理机制体制,对规范环境污染第三方治理技术与服务市场化应用具有一定的参考价值。     

废旧轮胎再制造过程的环境污染及防治研究

随着汽车和轮胎行业的迅速发展,由此产生的废旧轮胎也逐年增加。废旧轮胎再利用技术既可解决橡胶资源短缺问题,又能消除黑色污染,是循环经济的重要环节,在推广这一技术的同时,应注意其伴生的环境污染。再利用生产主要分为清洗、打磨、粘中垫胶、粘预硫化胎面、低温硫化等步骤。此过程将产生粉尘、非甲烷总烃废气、橡胶颗粒以及清洗废水等污染物。应对这些污染物采取有效的治理措施,使其满足达标排放和无害化的要求,以达到经济利益和环境保护的双赢。     

Water Governance and Water Use Efficiency: The Five Principles of WUA Management and Performance in China1

Wang, Jinxia, Jikun Huang, Lijuan Zhang, Qiuqiong Huang, and Scott Rozelle, 2010. Water Governance and Water Use Efficiency: The Five Principles of WUA Management and Performance in China. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(4): 665-685. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00439.x Abstract: In recent years China has attempted to reform water management by decentralizing water management responsibilities. The overall goal of our paper is to better understand the emergence of water user associations (WUAs) in China and assess if they are adhering to the practices spelled out by the Five Principles, a set of recommended practices that are supposed to lead to successful WUA operation. Using four sets of different types of villages to examine implementation and performance, we find that World Bank-supported WUA villages (“Bank villages”) can be thought of as operating mostly according to the Five Principles. For example, the Bank villages were endowed with a more reliable water supply; were set up and were operating with a relatively high degree of farmer participation; and leaders were more consultative and the process more formal. When WUAs are run according to the Five Principals, we show that WUAs increase water use efficiency. The study also provides evidence that there is a perception in the Bank villages that water management is improving in general and that there is less conflict both within the village and among villages. Perhaps more importantly, we find that the Bank’s effort to promote WUAs extended beyond their own project villages. The openness, consultative nature, and transparency found in the Bank WUAs are also found (albeit at a somewhat lower level) in the non-Bank WUA villages.