The Fallacies of Concurrent Climate Policy Efforts

Climate policy has assumed an extreme degree of urgency in the international debate in recent years. This article begins by taking a critical look at the scientific underpinnings of the efforts to stabilize the climate. It points to several serious question marks on the purported relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, and expresses distrust about claims of impending catastrophes related to rising sea levels, hurricanes, and spread of infectious disease. It then reviews the concurrent climate policy efforts and concludes that they are incoherent, misguided and unduly costly, and that they have so far had no perceptible impact on anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The exceedingly ambitious policy plans currently under preparation suffer from similar fallacies. For these reasons, but also because of the remaining scientific doubts and the exorbitant costs that have to be incurred, skepticism is expressed about the preparedness to implement the climate policy plans currently on the table.     

建筑行业发展与低碳生活的推广探讨

低碳生活是一种自然地节约各种资源的习惯,是一种生活习惯。气候变化是本世纪最严重的全球问题之一,不断推进低碳生活是减少人类生活对气候影响的重要途径。低碳生活推广后,消费者对建筑的规划、环境影响以及节能等关注将增加,进而影响建筑行业的发展。在分析低碳生活对建筑影响的基础上,提出了包括人才培养、政策支持和扩大宣传的多级支持发展建议。     

中国流域生态补偿标准核算方法分析

补偿标准核算是建立流域生态补偿机制的重要内容,也是生态补偿机制实施的关键环节.本文选取政策视角归纳了我国10个省份已经发布和实施的流域生态补偿政策的基本内容,对这些政策的补偿标准核算方法进行了分类,提出以成本和价值作为补偿标准核算方法分类的依据.结合流域生态补偿标准相关的研究成果以及国外政策,对我国流域生态补偿标准核算的政策内容进行了分析,在此基础上对政策层面流域生态补偿标准核算方法的发展和完善提出了建议.为了体现经济规律,同时增强生态补偿制度的激励作用,流域生态补偿政策中的补偿标准在污染赔偿方面需要进一步体现水污染造成的损失,在保护补偿方面需要体现水资源保护的经济价值.在未来我国流域生态补偿实施的过程中,相关方面协商确定补偿标准的趋势将会日益明显,在这个过程中各种量化核算和调查方法可以发挥比较重要的支持作用.本文的分析结果对于推动国家层面流域生态补偿标准核算政策制定或规范地方实践活动具有一定的参考价值.     

完善我国医疗废物集中处置收费政策的思考和建议

医疗废物处置收费政策是医疗废物处置产业化发展的重要前提和保障。当前,医疗废物处置收费政策执行难,欠费、漏费等问题非常突出,医疗废物集中收集十分困难。在对我国医疗废物处置收费政策进行全面分析和评估的基础上,对当前收费政策存在的主要问题和产生的原因进行了分析。以加快完善医疗废物处置收费政策为目标,从完善政策体系、加强监管执法、提高标准合理性、综合确定费用承担方、制定鼓励性的经济政策、提高宣传和缴费意识等方面,提出医疗废物处置收费政策改革完善的若干建议。     

China's Regional Policies:Progress of the 11~(th) Five Year Plan Period and Prospect of the 12~(th) Five Year Plan Period

During the 11th Five Year Plan period,China improved its policy system for the overall strategy of regional development,and established and completed the policies intended for the promotion of regional cooperation and interaction.Thereupon,regional development in China took on a series of positive changes such as the enhancement of coordination.During the 12th Five Year Plan period,China will fully implement and continuously improve the policy measures for development in its four major regions,strengthen differentiated guidance to different regions in line with the planning for major function-oriented zones,and accelerate the establishment of basic systems that facilitate coordinated regional development.     

China＇s Regional Policies： Progress of the 11^th Five Year Plan Period and Prospect of the 12^th Five Year Plan Period

During the 11^th Five Year Plan period, China improved its policy system for the overall strategy of regional development, and established and completed the policies intended for the promotion of regional cooperation and interaction. Thereupon, regional development in China took on a series of positive changes such as the enhancement of coordination. During the 12^th Five Year Plan period, China will fully implement and continuously improve the policy measures for development in its four major regions, strengthen differentiated guidance to different regions in line with the planning for major function-oriented zones, and accelerate the establishment of basic systems that facilitate coordinated regional development.     

Downgrading,Downsizing, Degazettement,and Reclassification of Protected Areas in Brazil

Protected areas (PAs) are key elements for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. Brazil has the largest PA system in the world, covering approximately 220 million ha. This system expanded rapidly in the mid‐1990s to the mid‐2000s. Recent events in Brazil, however, have led to an increase in PA downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement (PADDD). Does this reflect a shift in the country's PA policy? We analyzed the occurrence, frequency, magnitude, type, spatial distribution, and causes of changes in PA boundaries and categories in Brazil. We identified 93 PADDD events from 1981 to 2012. Such events increased in frequency since 2008 and were ascribed primarily to generation and transmission of electricity in Amazonia. In Brazilian parks and reserves, 7.3 million ha were affected by PADDD events, and of these, 5.2 million ha were affected by downsizing or degazetting. Moreover, projects being considered by the Federal Congress may degazette 2.1 million ha of PA in Amazonia alone. Relaxing the protection status of existing PAs is proving to be politically easy in Brazil, and the recent increase in frequency and extension of PADDD reflects a change in governmental policy. By taking advantage of chronic deficiencies in financial and personnel resources and surveillance, disputes over land tenure, and the slowness of the Brazilian justice, government agencies have been implementing PADDD without consultation of civil society. If parks and reserves are to maintain their integrity, there will need to be investments in Brazilian PAs and a better understanding of the benefits PAs provide. Degradación, Reajuste, Eliminacióm de las Listas y Reclasificación de Áreas Protegidas en Brasil     

Integrating Top-Down with Bottom-Up Conservation Policy in Africa

Abstract:  Developed nations intervened in conservation policy across Africa during the 20th century to address needs to protect species and biodiversity that were based on their own perceptions and priorities. In the 21st century, conservationists in Africa have revised these perceptions and begun the process of identifying conservation priorities from an African perspective and in consideration of Africans' priorities. Although foreign conservation interveners struggled to identify mechanisms to which local people would respond, African conservationists are now demonstrating how to integrate the continent's unique socioeconomic circumstances into efforts to protect biodiversity. In Africa effective conservation policy must include the generation of wealth, reduction of disease and hunger, and support of traditional land-use practices.     

Incorporating Social and Cultural Significance of Large Old Trees in Conservation Policy

In addition to providing key ecological functions, large old trees are a part of a social realm and as such provide numerous social‐cultural benefits to people. However, their social and cultural values are often neglected when designing conservation policies and management guidelines. We believe that awareness of large old trees as a part of human identity and cultural heritage is essential when addressing the issue of their decline worldwide. Large old trees provide humans with aesthetic, symbolic, religious, and historic values, as well as concrete tangible benefits, such as leaves, branches, or nuts. In many cultures particularly large trees are treated with reverence. Also, contemporary popular culture utilizes the image of trees as sentient beings and builds on the ancient myths that attribute great powers to large trees. Although the social and cultural role of large old trees is usually not taken into account in conservation, accounting for human‐related values of these trees is an important part of conservation policy because it may strengthen conservation by highlighting the potential synergies in protecting ecological and social values. Incorporación del Significado Social y Cultural de Árboles Añejos a Políticas de Conservación     

Using Twitter to communicate conservation science from a professional conference

Scientists are increasingly using Twitter as a tool for communicating science. Twitter can promote scholarly discussion, disseminate research rapidly, and extend and diversify the scope of audiences reached. However, scientists also caution that if Twitter does not accurately convey science due to the inherent brevity of this media, misinformation could cascade quickly through social media. Data on whether Twitter effectively communicates conservation science and the types of user groups receiving these tweets are lacking. To address these knowledge gaps, we examined live tweeting as a means of communicating conservation science at the 2013 International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB). We quantified and compared the user groups sending and reading live tweets. We also surveyed presenters to determine their intended audiences, which we compared with the actual audiences reached through live tweeting. We also asked presenters how effectively tweets conveyed their research findings. Twitter reached 14 more professional audience categories relative to those attending and live tweeting at ICCB. However, the groups often reached through live tweeting were not the presenters’ intended audiences. Policy makers and government and non‐governmental organizations were rarely reached (0%, 4%, and 6% of audience, respectively), despite the intent of the presenters. Plenary talks were tweeted about 6.9 times more than all other oral or poster presentations combined. Over half the presenters believed the tweets about their talks were effective. Ineffective tweets were perceived as vague or missing the presenters’ main message. We recommend that presenters who want their science to be communicated accurately and broadly through Twitter should provide Twitter‐friendly summaries that incorporate relevant hashtags and usernames. Our results suggest that Twitter can be used to effectively communicate speakers’ findings to diverse audiences beyond conference walls.