MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS OF WATER-USE DATA USING A GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM1

ASSTRACT: As part of its mission, the U.S. Geological Survey conducts water-resources research. Site-specific and aggregate water-use data are used in the Survey's National Water-Use Information Program and in various hydrologic investigations. Both types of activities have specific requirements in terms of water-use data access, analysis, and display. In Kansas, the Survey obtains water-use information from several sources. Trpically, this information is in a format that is not readily usable by the Survey. Geographic information system (GIS) technology is being used to restructure the available water-use data into a format that allows users to readily access and summarize site-specific water-use data by source (i.e., surface or ground water), type of use, and user-defined area.     

A case study of resources management planning with multiple objectives and projects

Each National Park Service unit in the United States produces a resources management plan (RMP) every four years or less. The plans commit budgets and personnel to specific projects for four years, but they are prepared with little quantitative and analytical rigor and without formal decision-making tools. We have previously described a multiple objective planning process for inventory and monitoring programs (Schmoldt and others 1994). To test the applicability of that process for the more general needs of resources management planning, we conducted an exercise on the Olympic National Park (NP) in Washington State, USA. Eight projects were selected as typical of those considered in RMPs and five members of the Olympic NP staff used the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to prioritize the eight projects with respect to their implicit management objectives. By altering management priorities for the park, three scenarios were generated. All three contained some similarities in rankings for the eight projects, as well as some differences. Mathematical allocations of money and people differed among these scenarios and differed substantially from what the actual 1990 Olympic NP RMP contains. Combining subjective priority measures with budget dollars and personnel time into an objective function creates a subjective economic metric for comparing different RMP’s. By applying this planning procedure, actual expenditures of budget and personnel in Olympic NP can agree more closely with the staff’s management objectives for the park.     

Equity and nuclear waste disposal

Following the recommendations of the US National Academy of Sciences and the mandates of the 1987 Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act, the US Department of Energy has proposed Yucca Mountain, Nevada as the site of the world's first permanent repository for high-level nuclear waste. The main justification for permanent disposal (as opposed to above-ground storage) is that it guarantees safety by means of waste isolation. This essay argues, however, that considerations of equity (safer for whom?) undercut the safety rationale. The article surveys some prima facie arguments for equity in the distribution of radwaste risks and then evaluates four objections that are based, respectively, on practicality, compensation for risks, scepticism about duties to future generations, and the uranium criterion. The conclusion is that, at least under existing regulations and policies, permanent waste disposal is highly questionable, in part, because it fails to distribute risk equitably or to compensate, in full, for this inequity.     

灵空山自然保护区二叶舌唇兰种群分布格局研究

基于灵空山自然保护区油松林内设置的70 m×90m的二叶舌唇兰样地的调查数据为基础,应用扩散系数C、平均拥挤度X*、Ca指标、丛生指数I、聚块性指数、负二项分布等聚集度指标研究二叶舌唇兰(Platnthera chlorantha)种群的分布格局与聚集强度.结果表明:在5 m×5 m、1 m×1 m的取样尺度下,二叶舌唇兰种群的分布格局均表现为聚集分布,且在1 m×1 m的小取样尺度下聚集强度较强;聚集原因在于其种子扩散的有限性及环境空间的异质性.     

国家可持续发展实验区科技计划实施现状及成效

国家可持续发展实验区是我国实施可持续发展战略的重要实验示范基地。多年来,秉承科技支撑发展的原则,实验区开展了一系列科技创新及实验示范。在对现有实验区开展实地调研和问卷调查的基础上,从计划类别、经费来源、参与形式、应用领域等方面,分析了"十一五"以来实验区承担的各类科技计划项目实施现状,并对项目实施成效进行了总结分析。分析发现,实验区承担的各类科技计划项目,通过破解区域发展制约因素,取得显著社会效益;突出科技示范与引领,科技支撑能力不断提升;创新了管理机制与模式,积累了丰富的项目管理经验;通过部门联动,科技惠民计划成效凸显。文章通过探寻科技在实验区建设中的引领和带动作用,发现实验区项目对接的特点与规律,查找实验区科技创新存在的问题与不足,提出了科技支撑实验区发展的对策与建议。     

Using Cost‐Effective Targeting to Enhance the Efficiency of Conservation Investments in Payments for Ecosystem Services

Abstract: Ecosystem services are being protected and restored worldwide through payments for ecosystem services in which participants are paid to alter their land‐management approaches to benefit the environment. The efficiency of such investments depends on the design of the payment scheme. Land features have been used to measure the environmental benefits of and amount of payment for land enrollment in payment for ecosystem services schemes. Household characteristics of program participants, however, may also be important in the targeting of land for enrollment. We used the characteristics of households participating in China's Grain‐to‐Green program, and features of enrolled land to examine the targeting of land enrollment in that program in Wolong Nature Reserve. We compared levels of environmental benefits that can be obtained through cost‐effective targeting of land enrollment for different types of benefits under different payment schemes. The efficiency of investments in a discriminative payment scheme (payments differ according to opportunity costs, i.e., landholders’ costs of forgoing alternative uses of land) was substantially higher than in a flat payment scheme (same price paid to all participants). Both optimal targeting and suboptimal targeting of land enrollment for environmental benefits achieved substantially more environmental benefits than random selection of land for enrollment. Our results suggest that cost‐effective targeting of land through the use of discriminative conservation payments can substantially improve the efficiency of investments in the Grain‐to‐Green program and other payment for ecosystem services programs.     

Can the green economy enhance sustainable mountain development? The potential role of awareness building

Mountain socio-ecological systems produce valuable but complex ecosystem services resulting from biomes stratified by altitude and gravity. These systems are often managed and shaped by smallholders whose marginalization is exacerbated by uncertainties and a lack of policy attention. Human–environment interfaces in mountains hence require holistic policies. We analyse the potential of the Global Mountain Green Economy Agenda (GMGEA) in building awareness and thus prompting cross-sectoral policy strategies for sustainable mountain development. Considering the critique of the green economy presented at the Rio + 20 conference, we argue that the GMGEA can nevertheless structure knowledge and inform regional institutions about the complexity of mountain socio-ecological systems, a necessary pre-condition to prompt inter-agency collaboration and cross-sectoral policy formulation. After reviewing the content of the GMGEA, we draw on two empirical cases in the Pakistani and Nepali Himalayas. First, we show that lack of awareness has led to a sequence of fragmented interventions with unanticipated, and unwanted, consequences for communities. Second, using a green economy lens, we show how fragmentation could have been avoided and cross-sectoral policies yielded more beneficial results. Project fragmentation reflects disconnected or layered policies by government agencies, which inherently keep specialized agendas and have no incentive to collaborate. Awareness makes agencies more likely to collaborate and adopt cross-sectoral approaches, allowing them to target more beneficiaries, be more visible, and raise more funds. Nevertheless, we also identify four factors that may currently still limit the effect of the GMGEA: high costs of inter-agency collaboration, lack of legitimacy of the green economy, insufficiently-secured smallholder participation, and limited understanding of the mechanisms through which global agendas influence local policy.     

Coastal management research: a personal reflection on the conference outcome

Communication between scientific disciplines related to coastal management is difficult but essential. Different views on the role of science in coastal management were key elements of many discussions at the conference. In this personal impression the author looks back and reflects on the arguments which participants with different scientific back-ground exchanged.     

Understanding the Role of Representations of Human–Leopard Conflict in Mumbai through Media‐Content Analysis

Attempts to minimize the effects of human–wildlife conflict (HWC) on conservation goals require an understanding of the mechanisms by which such conflicts are caused and sustained. This necessitates looking beyond the natural sciences to the human dimensions of wildlife management. Public dissemination of information regarding HWC occurs largely through the mass media. We conducted a content analysis of print media articles on human–leopard conflict in Mumbai, India. We sought to understand the framing of HWC and the changes in media coverage over a 10‐year period (2001–2011) during which a large number of attacks on people prior to 2005 were followed by a program of trapping and relocation. After 2005, when there was a decrease in the level of conflict, the tone of English‐language media reports changed. The perpetrator framing was over 5 times more likely before 2005, whereas a neutral framing was twice as likely after 2005. English‐language and non‐English‐language print media differed significantly in their framing of HWC and in the kinds of solutions advocated. Our results also suggest the print mass media in Mumbai could be an influential conduit for content that diminishes HWC. These media outlets seem attentive to human–leopard conflict, capable of correcting erroneous perceptions and facilitating mitigation and effective management. We believe better contact and mutual understanding between conservation professionals and the mass media could be an important component of managing HWC. We further suggest that in such interactions conservation professionals need to be aware of cultural and linguistic differences in reporting within the country. Entendiendo el Papel de las Representaciones del Conflicto Humano–Leopardo en Mumbai A Través del Análisis de Contenido de Medios     

A gateway to nature: Teenagers' narratives on smoking marijuana outdoors

Increasingly, many youth are disconnected from the natural world; rather, they inhabit a technological world. Although experiences in nature have long been a source of fascination, little is known about how youth independently access and make sense of nature. We focus on the experiences of youth who chose to use marijuana in nature. A substance such as marijuana is often viewed as a “gateway” leading to “harder” drug use; rarely do we consider how marijuana might be a gateway to positive experiences. Narrative analysis was used to explore how young people, aged 14–18, describe their marijuana use in nature, an important aspect of the culture and context of marijuana use. Youth's constructions of nature are revealed in four narratives in which they situate themselves: freedom in nature, the pleasure of leisure, in awe of the natural world and making meaning of the world. One subnarrative, flowing through space, was also uncovered. The findings point to the importance of these nature experiences for youth who expressed how they were able to be in nature in new ways. Participants articulated their yearning for and ability to establish a connection within their natural world.