Across Space <Emphasis Type="Italic">and</Emphasis> Time: Social Responses to Large-Scale Biophysical Systems

The conceptual rubric of ecosystem management has been widely discussed and deliberated in conservation biology, environmental policy, and land/resource management. In this paper, I argue that two critical aspects of the ecosystem management concept require greater attention in policy and practice. First, although emphasis has been placed on the “space” of systems, the “time”—or rates of change—associated with biophysical and social systems has received much less consideration. Second, discussions of ecosystem management have often neglected the temporal disconnects between changes in biophysical systems and the response of social systems to management issues and challenges. The empirical basis of these points is a case study of the “Crown of the Continent Ecosystem,” an international transboundary area of the Rocky Mountains that surrounds Glacier National Park (USA) and Waterton Lakes National Park (Canada). This project assessed the experiences and perspectives of 1) middle- and upper-level government managers responsible for interjurisdictional cooperation, and 2) environmental nongovernment organizations with an international focus. I identify and describe 10 key challenges to increasing the extent and intensity of transboundary cooperation in land/resource management policy and practice. These issues are discussed in terms of their political, institutional, cultural, information-based, and perceptual elements. Analytic techniques include a combination of environmental history, semistructured interviews with 48 actors, and text analysis in a systematic qualitative framework. The central conclusion of this work is that the rates of response of human social systems must be better integrated with the rates of ecological change. This challenge is equal to or greater than the well-recognized need to adapt the spatial scale of human institutions to large-scale ecosystem processes and transboundary wildlife.     

电子部组件延寿分析

由于军用电子设备的高可靠性以及列装之前的测试无法完全模拟出真实的服役环境,导致测试结果的参考意义不大。鉴于此,文中将以电子部组件的任务剖面作为基础,在制作环境载荷谱时,参考影响电子部组件寿命的关键因素,将电子元器件及焊点疲劳失效的机理模型作为理论依据。在绘制电子部组件的CAD模型时,进行适当简化,使用ANSYS软件对其进行多载荷耦合作用下的有限元仿真,找出电子元器件的薄弱点,并对关键部位进行寿命预测,为军用电子设备故障的初步诊断及装备延寿分析提供借鉴。     

Do voluntary international environmental agreements work?

We consider the effects of international environmental agreements using the 1988 Sofia Protocol on the reduction of nitrogen oxides. Panel data on 23 European countries for the period 1985–96 is used to evaluate the impact on emissions by dividing countries into participants and non-participants: that is, those that did and those that did not ratify the Sofia Protocol. Using a difference in difference estimator and controlling for country-specific variables, we find that signing the treaty had a significant positive impact on emission reduction. The estimated yearly reduction in emissions is approximately 2.1% greater than it would have been without the Sofia Protocol.     

绿色贸易壁垒的成因

环境问题的全球化、政治化、社会化、累加化和用经济手段解决环境问题，使形成绿色贸易壁垒成为可能，关贸总协定中达成一些与生态环境保护有关的协定为绿色贸易壁垒的设置提供了法律依据，而“环境标志”制度则是实施绿色贸易壁垒的重要的通常的手段。     

Climate treaties and approaching catastrophes

If the threshold that triggers climate catastrophe is known with certainty, and the benefits of avoiding catastrophe are high relative to the costs, treaties can easily coordinate countries' behavior so as to avoid the threshold. Where the net benefits of avoiding catastrophe are lower, treaties typically fail to help countries cooperate to avoid catastrophe, sustaining only modest cuts in emissions. These results are unaffected by uncertainty about the impact of catastrophe. By contrast, uncertainty about the catastrophic threshold normally causes coordination to collapse. Whether the probability density function has “thin” or “fat” tails makes little difference.     

40 years of global environmental assessments: A retrospective analysis

This paper provides a retrospective analysis of global environmental assessment (GEA) processes and their changing character, focus and political context over the past 40 years. We examine how and why elements of organizational design, objectives, and the evolving political landscape have interacted and changed, with a view of informing the design and conduct of future processes. We find that the historical genesis of GEAs is closely connected to the emergence of environmental multilateralism. However, the prevailing conditions and assumptions which originally gave rise to the GEA concept have changed significantly over time, giving rise to an increasing demand for a focus on response options and policies. We also find that the epistemic and process complexity of GEAs has increased substantially, without a corresponding expansion in the magnitude and composition of GEA management teams. We suggest that developing analytical capacities for policy assessment as well as ensuring sufficient resources and tools to manage increasingly complex GEAs is essential to ensure their future relevance and success. This article is part of a special issue on solution-oriented GEAs.     

Sustainability Capacity Building Based on Educational Method： A Case Study on China and Sweden Joint Program

Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development （EE＆ESD） have been widely accepted as an effective educational method to contribute to capacity development and processes of change in developing countries. This paper takes SIDA supported EE＆ESD in formal educationadvanced international training program, China as an example. By analyzing and reflecting its orientation, implementation, outcomes and evaluation, experiences and lessons learned are expected to help improve the sorts of international cooperation capacity building programs both from international and also Chinese perspectives.     

Developments in water quality monitoring and management in large river catchments using the Danube River as an example

Effective management of water quality in large rivers requires information on the influence of activities within the catchment (urban and rural) throughout the whole river basin. However, traditional water quality monitoring programmes undertaken by individual agencies normally relate to specific objectives, such as meeting quality criteria for wastewater discharges, and fail to provide information on basin-scale impacts, especially in transboundary river basins. Ideally, monitoring in large international river basins should be harmonised to provide a basin-scale assessment of sources and impacts of human activities, and the effectiveness of management actions. This paper examines current water quality issues in the Danube River Basin and evaluates the approach to water quality monitoring in the context of providing information for a basin-wide management plan. Lessons learned from the monitoring programme in the Danube are used to suggest alternative approaches that could result in more efficient generation of water quality data and provide new insights into causes and impacts of variations in water quality in other large international river basins.     

Analyzing the effectiveness of international environmental policies: The case of the Kyoto Protocol

We study the effectiveness of emission targets under the Kyoto Protocol with respect to reducing CO₂ emissions. Using country-level and US state-level panel data and employing the synthetic control method, we find very little evidence for an emission reduction effect for the major emitters among the Annex B countries with binding emission targets. More generally, we also show that evaluating the effectiveness of international environmental policies at the country level comes with a number of empirical challenges that may invalidate findings based on more traditional panel data approaches.     

China’s Import of Wastes and Its Implications

The trade of wastes in the world has been increasing and China has become the largest importer of wastes. This paper examines the import trend of different wastes and finds out that the total import volume to China approved by the Chinese government keeps increasing and the illegal trade can not be banned despite repeated prohibitions; therefore, China is not only ＂a world factory＂, but actually ＂a global garbage dump＂. In order to well understand the implications of wastes import, this paper further analyzes the resource and environmental effects and risks of different wastes imports as well as the strong driving force of wastes imports. Based on these detailed analysis and solid data, policy recommendations are put forward to reduce the demand for raw materials, to further strengthen the inspection of and supervision over the international trade of the wastes that can be used as raw materials by using the life cycle analysis and risk analysis, to improve the environmental standards and strengthen the disposal capacity, to re-export the raw materials produced from the imported wastes, to develop the long-term planning for the import of wastes and to promote international cooperation.