Parks versus PES: Evaluating direct and incentive-based land conservation in Mexico

Protected areas (PAs) and payments for ecosystem services (PES) are the top two mechanisms available for countries to achieve international REDD agreements, yet there are few empirical comparisons of their effects. We estimate the impacts of PAs and PES on forest conservation, poverty reduction, and population change at the locality level in Mexico in the 2000s. Both policies conserved forest, generating an approximately 20–25% reduction in expected forest cover loss. PES created statistically significant but small poverty alleviation while PAs had overall neutral impacts on livelihoods. Estimates by individual policy type for the same level of deforestation risk indicate that biosphere reserves and PES balanced conservation and livelihood goals better than strict protected areas or mixed-use areas. This suggests that both direct and incentive-based instruments can be effective, and that policies combining sustainable financing, flexible zoning, and recognition of local economic goals are more likely to achieve conservation without harming livelihoods.     

Village-scale reserves in the forest frontier regions of Chenes and Calakmul,Mexico

ABSTRACT

Sketch-map-facilitated interviews were conducted in 23 villages in two adjacent regions in the southern Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico – the Maya (and increasingly Mennonite) forest-agriculture mosaic of the Chenes, and the late-20^th-century-settlement forest frontier of Calakmul – to determine the frequency and typology of local-scale reserves, including the external (e.g. Payments for Environmental Services programs) and internal sources of their generation. 9% of the study communities are found to satisfy the author’s criteria for deliberate, autochthonous reserves. The static polygon reserve and static map are found to have limited value for understanding the evolving cultural ecologies of these regions. Alternative approaches are discussed, particularly those employed by geographers.     

Greening Leviathan: the rise of the environmental state?

‘Bringing the state back in’ to research on comparative, inter-, and trans-national environmental politics and policy will contribute to better understanding of the limits and prospects of contemporary approaches to environmental politics and the overall evolution of contemporary states once environmental issues become central. The rationale for the state as an analytical perspective in environmental policy and politics is explained, and an empirically oriented concept of the environmental state is introduced, along with a tentative sketch of its evolution in historical perspective. A research agenda on the environmental state is mapped out, centring around variation and convergence in environmental states across space and time; the political/economic dynamics of contemporary environmental states; and inter-linkages among environmental problems, the constitution of political communities, and the functioning of the public power. In conclusion, the ways in which the contributions to this volume address that research agenda are introduced.     

Beyond ‘trees are good’: Disservices,management costs,and tradeoffs in urban forestry

The provision of ecosystem services is a prominent rationale for urban greening, and there is a prevailing mantra that ‘trees are good’. However, understanding how urban trees contribute to sustainability must also consider disservices. In this perspective article, we discuss recent research on ecosystem disservices of urban trees, including infrastructure conflicts, health and safety impacts, aesthetic issues, and environmentally detrimental consequences, as well as management costs related to ecological disturbances and risk management. We also discuss tradeoffs regarding species selection and local conservation concerns, as well as the central role of human perception in the interpretation of ecosystem services and disservices, particularly the uncritical assertion that ‘everybody loves trees’. Urban forestry decision-making that fails to account for disservices can have unintended negative consequences for communities. Further research is needed regarding life cycle assessments, stakeholder decision-making, return-on-investment, and framings of services and disservices in urban forestry.     

机载武器及其双配套设备可靠性鉴定试验方案的分析

通过分析机载武器的使用特点和情况,并结合实验室开展机载武器可靠性鉴定试验的已有经验,对该类装备的可靠性鉴定试验的方案进行了分析和讨论,对试验样件在充足或不足的条件下进行试验的各种试验方案进行了深入分析。指出了各种方案的优缺点,对比了各种试验方案的特点。最后给出了机载武器可靠性鉴定统计试验方案的选取原则。     

ABC算法优化SVR的磨损故障预测模型

目的为了提高故障预测的精度,针对支持向量回归SVR(Support vector machine for regression,SVR)参数选择困难的问题,提出一种采用人工蜂群(artificial bee colony,ABC)算法优化支持向量回归(SVR)的故障预测模型(ABC-SVR)。方法该模型先对样本数据进行重构,然后将故障预测误差(适应度)作为优化目标,通过ABC算法寻优找到最优的SVR参数,建立故障预测模型。最后通过实例仿真验证模型的优越性。结果采用ABC算法优化的SVR故障预测模型进行时间序列预测,能够较好地跟踪发动机滑油金属元素浓度的变化过程,并且能够提前2个取样时间预测异常情况的出现。结论 ABC-SVR模型有效解决了SVR参数选择难题,能够更加准确地表现故障变化规律,提高了故障预测精度。     

水专项"十三五"时期辽河流域水环境管理研究思路初探

以水专项在辽河流域实施的阶段性成果及辽河流域水环境管理现状为基础,分析"十三五"时期辽河流域水环境管理的需求,提出构建成套流域水环境管理技术体系和管理大平台、全面建设并优化水生态环境监测网络、实行水环境管理的动态调节机制和建立健全流域水环境管理长效机制的水环境管理研究思路,并指出研究应密切结合地方管理,充分发挥地方环境管理的责任主体地位,为水专项第三阶段"综合调控"战略目标的实现提供有力支撑.     

饮用水水源地严格管理水质的对策分析——对实行严格水资源管理问题上的看法和建议

2012年1月国务院发布了《关于实行最严格水资源管理制度的意见》,这是众所关注的要事,实行了最严格水资源管理的原则精神以及确定县级以上政府负总责的规定.但对如何严格管理的技术路线和对策措施上,特针对现实中存在的主要问题提出以下3点看法和建议:①达到地面水环境质量Ⅱ类水质的饮用水水源地不一定未受污染;②保护区内企业车间排水口符合第一类污染物最高允许排放浓度规定是满足饮用水水源地要求的必要条件;③《地面水环境质量标准》(GB 3838-2002)对第一类污染物规定的Ⅱ类水质,是否体现了水环境背景值有较大存疑.     

Investigation on the changes effected by tool profile on mechanical and tribological properties of friction stir processed AZ31B magnesium alloy

The present study investigates the effect of tool shoulder profile on the mechanical and tribological properties of friction stir processed AZ31B magnesium alloy. The tool rotational speed and feed rate are the chosen process parameters. The experiments were conducted with 3 level 2 factors full factorial design. The recorded responses were tensile strength, wear losses and corrosion rate. The results were analyzed with the help microstructures of the processed samples. The study reveals that, for concave shoulder tool, the strain hardening effect was playing a major role in determining the properties of the processed materials and for the step shoulder tool, the grain size plays a major role in determining the properties of the processed materials.     

阳澄湖蓝藻综合监测监控模式研究

以昆山为例,从监测点集成范围的选择、数据采集模式研究、数据传输模式研究、数据集成标准研究、数据应用展示样机等方面,对阳澄湖蓝藻综合监测监控模式进行研究,应用3G、物联网、云推送等新技术;制定《昆山市环境质量自动监测数据集成标准模式》和《昆山市环境质量自动监控通讯传输技术规范》;探索一条湖泊蓝藻综合监测监控的新思路和新模式。