Democratising planetary boundaries: experts,social values and deliberative risk evaluation in Earth system governance

ABSTRACT

Recent debates about the concept of planetary boundaries recall longstanding concerns about whether ecological limits are compatible with ecological democracy. The planetary boundaries framework (originally set out in Rockström et al., 2009a, 2009b) defines values for key Earth-system processes such as climate change and biodiversity that aim to maintain a ‘safe’ distance from thresholds or levels that could endanger human wellbeing. Despite having a significant impact in policy debates, the framework has been criticised as implying an expert-driven approach to governing global environmental risks that lacks democratic legitimacy. Drawing on research on deliberative democracy and the role of science in democratic societies, we argue that planetary boundaries can be interpreted in ways that remain consistent with democratic decision-making. We show how an iterative, dialogical process to formulate planetary boundaries and negotiate ‘planetary targets’ could form the basis for a democratically legitimate division of labour among experts, citizens and policy-makers in evaluating and responding to Earth-system risks. Crucial to this division of evaluative labour is opening up space for deliberative contestation about the value judgments inherent in collective responses to Earth-system risks, while also safeguarding the ability of experts to issue warnings about what they consider to be unacceptable risks.     

扎龙湿地的生态环境评价及防治对策

介绍了扎龙湿地的生态状况 ,并运用模糊数学对其生态状况给予评价 ,为做好扎龙湿地的生态保护工作 ,提出了相应的对策     

太阳活动对地球表面温度影响的研究进展

论述了近年来对地球表面温度变化特征、原因研究的意义及研究进展。许多研究表明，20世纪全球地表气温的变化是自然因素和人为因素共同作用的结果。根据多种反映太阳活动的代用指标拟合的气候模型指出，太阳活动可以解释1850年以前气温变化的大部分情况。工业革命以来，温室气体成为不可忽视的影响因素，太阳活动对气候影响所占的比重及其相互作用的物理机制仍然是有待深入研究和解决的问题。     

基于GEE的中国南海水质反演与富营养化评价

基于Google Earth Engine(GEE)平台,以MODIS遥感影像为数据源,通过构建多元特征建立水质反演模型,分析了2006～2018年的南海透明度(SD)、总氮(TN)、叶绿素(Chl-a)、化学需氧量(COD)的空间变化特征,并通过综合营养指数分析了南海富营养化的时空趋势.结果表明:GEE结合多元回归模...     

Remote sensing: Using the spatial domain

Objects in the terrestrial environment interact differentially with electromagnetic radiation according to their essential physical, chemical and biological properties. This differential interaction is manifest as variability in scattered radiation according to wavelength, location, time, geometries of illumination and observation and polarization. If the population of scattered radiation could be measured, then estimation of these essential properties would be straightforward. The only problem would be linking such estimates to environmental variables of interest. This review paper is divided into three parts. Part 1 is an overview of the attempts that have been made to sample the five domains of scattered radiation (spectral, spatial, temporal, geometrical, polarization) and then to use the results of this sampling to estimate environmental variables of interest. Part one highlights three issues: first, that relationships between remotely sensed data and environmental variables of interest are indirect; second, our ability to estimate these environmental variables is dependent upon our ability to capture a sound representation of variability in scattered radiation and third, a considerable portion of the useful information in remotely sensed images resides in the spatial domain (within the relations between the pixels in the image). This final point is developed in Part 2 that explores ways in which the spatial domain is utilized to describe spatial variation in remotely sensed and ground data; to design optimum sampling schemes for image data and ground data and to increase the accuracy with which remotely sensed data can be used to estimate both discontinuous and continuous variables. Part 3 outlines two specific uses of information in the spatial domain; first, to select an optimum spatial resolution and second, to inform an image classification.     

Google Earth在海岸线修测调查中的应用研究

对Google Earth免费提供的高分辨率的卫星影像有效地用到海岸线修测调查中做了探讨.Google Earth提供的卫星图像匹配了视图的经纬度等位置信息,并可以放入点、线和面等标记,基于其高清遥感地图的岸线位置与走向能直接反映海岸线最新变化情况.通过对上海市海岸线修测数据在GE平台上进行验证,双向分析修测点位精度和GE精度,提出数据判读、岸线自动提取等功能应用.     

The Anthropocene: From Global Change to Planetary Stewardship

Over the past century, the total material wealth of humanity has been enhanced. However, in the twenty-first century, we face scarcity in critical resources, the degradation of ecosystem services, and the erosion of the planet's capability to absorb our wastes. Equity issues remain stubbornly difficult to solve. This situation is novel in its speed, its global scale and its threat to the resilience of the Earth System. The advent of the Anthropence, the time interval in which human activities now rival global geophysical processes, suggests that we need to fundamentally alter our relationship with the planet we inhabit. Many approaches could be adopted, ranging from geoengineering solutions that purposefully manipulate parts of the Earth System to becoming active stewards of our own life support system. The Anthropocene is a reminder that the Holocene, during which complex human societies have developed, has been a stable, accommodating environment and is the only state of the Earth System that we know for sure can support contemporary society. The need to achieve effective planetary stewardship is urgent. As we go further into the Anthropocene, we risk driving the Earth System onto a trajectory toward more hostile states from which we cannot easily return.     

Vulnerability of land systems to fire: Interactions among humans,climate, the atmosphere,and ecosystems

Fires are critical elements in the Earth System, linking climate, humans, and vegetation. With 200–500 Mha burnt annually, fire disturbs a greater area over a wider variety of biomes than any other natural disturbance. Fire ignition, propagation, and impacts depend on the interactions among climate, vegetation structure, and land use on local to regional scales. Therefore, fires and their effects on terrestrial ecosystems are highly sensitive to global change. Fires can cause dramatic changes in the structure and functioning of ecosystems. They have significant impacts on the atmosphere and biogeochemical cycles. By contributing significantly to greenhouse gas (e.g., with the release of 1.7–4.1 Pg of carbon per year) and aerosol emissions, and modifying surface properties, they affect not only vegetation but also climate. Fires also modify the provision of a variety of ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, soil fertility, grazing value, biodiversity, and tourism, and can hence trigger land use change. Fires must therefore be included in global and regional assessments of vulnerability to global change. Fundamental understanding of vulnerability of land systems to fire is required to advise management and policy. Assessing regional vulnerabilities resulting from biophysical and human consequences of changed fire regimes under global change scenarios requires an integrated approach. Here we present a generic conceptual framework for such integrated, multidisciplinary studies. The framework is structured around three interacting (partially nested) subsystems whose contribute to vulnerability. The first subsystem describes the controls on fire regimes (exposure). A first feedback subsystem links fire regimes to atmospheric and climate dynamics within the Earth System (sensitivity), while the second feedback subsystem links changes in fire regimes to changes in the provision of ecological services and to their consequences for human systems (adaptability). We then briefly illustrate how the framework can be applied to two regional cases with contrasting ecological and human context: boreal forests of northern America and African savannahs.     

新一代地球观测信息在天然气水合物研究中的应用展望

地球上蕴藏着巨大的天然气水合物(GasHydrates)矿藏,它可作为一种新的烃类资源来开发利用。天然气水合物中CH4的释放影响全球气候变化。同时,天然气水合物是一种潜在的环境灾害诱发因素。天然气水合物的研究与开发目前在国内外成为研究热点。新一代地球观测信息,如已发射成功的TERRA中的MODIS、MOPITT信息以及即将发射的化学星CHEM为天然气水合物的研究与开发提供了新的技术方法。中国气候观测系统中观测台站观测信息的共享,加速了开发利用新一代地球观测信息的速度,也必将促进新一代地球观测信息在天然气水合物研究中发挥更大的作用。