Utilitarian framings of biodiversity shape environmental impact assessment in development cooperation

Biodiversity is under threat from anthropogenic pressures, in particular in biodiversity-rich developing countries. Development cooperation actors, who traditionally focus on the improvement of socio-economic conditions in the South, are increasingly acknowledging the linkages between poverty and biodiversity, e.g. by referring to the ecosystem services framework. However, there are many different framings which stress the need for biodiversity integration and which influence how biodiversity and development are and/or should be linked. Moreover, there is a gap between the lip service paid to biodiversity integration and the reality of development cooperation interventions. This study analyses how biodiversity framings are reflected in environmental impact assessment (EIA) practice, and how these framings influence EIA and decision-making. The findings, based on an in-depth qualitative analysis of World Bank EIAs undertaken in West Africa, indicate the incoherent quality but also the dominance of the ‘utilitarian’ and ‘corrective’ framings, which respectively stress human use of nature and mitigation of negative unintended development impacts. Identifying and highlighting these discursive trends leads to increased awareness of the importance of biodiversity among all development actors in North and South. However, some framings may lead to an overly narrow human-centred approach which downplays the intrinsic value of biodiversity. This study proposes recommendations for an improved integration of biodiversity in development cooperation, including the need for more systematic baseline studies in EIAs.     

广东省土壤砷元素空间变异与环境意义

利用广东省260个土壤剖面数据,开展区域尺度下的土壤砷（As）元素质量分数的空间分布和垂直变异研究。结果显示,研究区土壤砷的几何平均质量分数为10.4 mg.kg-1,高于全国的平均水平9.6 mg.kg-1。表层土壤As的上基线质量分数为23.4 mg.kg-1。土壤As的空间分布特征主要决定其成土母岩的类型,主要表现为A、B、C 3层土壤As的空间展布形式相似,高As背景质量分数主要分布于石灰岩和砂页岩地区。此外,由A层至C层,As质量分数呈逐渐增加的趋势（由低到高依次为10.4 mg.kg-1,10.7 mg.kg-1,11.3 mg.kg-1）,但无底层富集特征,这种垂直变异特征与低有机质含量和强烈的土壤侵蚀作用有关。计算得出,研究区由土壤侵蚀引发的流入周边水体的土壤As每年可高达1 040 t。