Domestic politics and the formation of international environmental agreements

We investigate the effect of domestic politics on international environmental policy by incorporating into a classic stage game of coalition formation the phenomenon of lobbying by special-interest groups. In doing so, we contribute to the theory of international environmental agreements, which has overwhelmingly assumed that governments make decisions based on a single set of public-interest motivations. Our results suggest that lobbying on emissions may affect the size of the stable coalition in counterintuitive ways. In particular, a powerful business lobby may increase the government's incentives to sign an agreement, by providing it with strong bargaining power with respect to that lobby at the emission stage. This would result in lower total emissions when the number of countries involved is not too large. We also show that things change radically when lobbying bears directly on the membership decisions, suggesting that both the object and timing of lobbying matter for the way in which membership decisions, emissions and welfare are affected.     

Temporal pessimism and spatial optimism in environmental assessments: An 18-nation study

The personal assessments of the current and expected future state of the environment by 3232 community respondents in 18 nations were investigated at the local, national, and global spatial levels. These assessments were compared to a ranking of each country's environmental quality by an expert panel. Temporal pessimism (“things will get worse”) was found in the assessments at all three spatial levels. Spatial optimism bias (“things are better here than there”) was found in the assessments of current environmental conditions in 15 of 18 countries, but not in the assessments of the future. All countries except one exhibited temporal pessimism, but significant differences between them were common. Evaluations of current environmental conditions also differed by country. Citizens' assessments of current conditions, and the degree of comparative optimism, were strongly correlated with the expert panel's assessments of national environmental quality. Aside from the value of understanding global trends in environmental assessments, the results have important implications for environmental policy and risk management strategies.     

International cooperation around the North Sea basin

During the past 25 years, the management of marine ecosystems has evolved significantly. Due to the increased use of the sea and the increased awareness of adverse impacts of certain human activities in and around the sea, which has been a common good for a long time—‘Mare Liberum’—an international and integrated approach has become increasingly important to regulate the use of our common seas. From the late 1960s onwards, intergovernmental meetings have taken place in order to tackle the problems of international pollution of seas and oceans. One reason for this attention was the Torrey Canyon accident in 1967, which triggered the start of the Bonn Agreement in 1969 for coordinating the combat mission against oil and chemical spills in the North Sea. After the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, with the involvement of the European Union, the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), other regional and global Conventions, as well as the North Sea Ministerial Conferences were established. These continuous international efforts have resulted in a considerable reduction of the input of certain contaminants and of nutrients (in particular phosphate) into the marine environment. However, not all problems have yet been solve. The North Sea Ministers agreed at the Conference in Esbjerg (1995) to aim at a reduction of the input of all hazardous substances within one generation, in order to reach the goal of negligible risks of pollution. Furthermore, there is a general aim to minimize adverse effects of disturbing activities. The challenge, now and in the future, is to find a balance between economic development and environmental protection of our international marine waters aiming at a sustainable development of the marine resources by employing scientifically based measures and, in situations where there are reasonable grounds for concern but no conclusive links between cause and problem, applying the precautionary principle with respect to pollution and disturbing activities.     

臭氧层破坏的起因危害及对策

本文简介了臭氧层的破坏及耗损对生物和人类所造成的危害.描述了氯氟烃(CFC),氮氧化物(NO_x)与臭氧的反应,井详细论述了CFC,NO_x及火山爆发对臭氧层的破坏作用.对有关保护臭氧层的国际公约进行了扼要介绍.提出了防止臭氧耗损应来取的措施;执行保护臭氧层的国际公约;寻找CFC替代品;加强对臭氧层的科学研究     

对美国拒绝批准《京都议定书》的法理分析－－国际环境法的视角

运用共同但有区别的责任原则、风险预防原则、污染者负担原则等国际环境法上的基本原则，针对美国拒绝批准《京都议定书》所持的三个抗辨理由，一一进行了法理分析与批判。     

关于国际环境保护法的发展

阐述了国际环境法在近代和现代２个阶段的发展历程，相关内容、地位及作用，提出国际环境法的２个发展趋势；提高已缔条约中承诺的兑现程度；关注环境保护条约与贸易法则的冲突，还述及了中国国际环境法的贡献。     

The politics of disaster - Nicaragua

The occurrence of natural disasters, such as floods and earthquakes, are, in themselves, beyond oar control. However, careful preparation before such events, and the correct management of the problem once it occurs, can both lead to major redaction of the suffering involved.
Disaster preparation and emergency planning are both inextricably linked to politics and economics, both on a national and an international scale. Disasters themselves raise a number of issues of a political or economic nature, and die response to a natural disaster both in the short and the long term is largely determined by the political relations within a country, and between that country and the international community.
This paper examines these issues by taking the examples of the earthquake of Managua, Nicaragua in 1972 and the flooding that occurred in Nicaragua in 1982. These two natural disasters occurred under different administrations in Nicaragua, and tills allows some interesting comparisons.     

首都国际机场航空器排放清单的计算分析

基于微脉冲激光雷达提取的混合层高度与首都机场的实际运行数据,采用美国EPA方法,更准确的估算了2016年首都国际机场航空器排放清单.结果表明：在航空器起飞着陆（LTO）循环排放的各种污染物中,NO_x和CO排放量最多,分别占排放总量的53.3%和38.5%.滑行阶段和爬升阶段的排放总量较多,占排放总量的49.7%和25.7%.滑行阶段是航空器排放CO、SO_x、HC和PM的主要阶段.在滑行阶段的主要排放物是CO和NO_x,分别占滑行阶段排放总量的71.7%和17.2%.混合层高度变化对航空器排放的NO_x与CO影响最大,对SO_x、HC与PM影响较小.在所有的起降航班机型中,A320对排放影响最小,B77W影响最大.航空器场面滑行时间是影响污染物排放量的一个非常重要的因素.优化航空器滑行效率,减少滑行时间,对减少机场排放量会有非常积极的作用.     

国家环境权与国际环境合作

环境问题的国际化趋势是国际环境法发展的前提，而国家环境权与国际环境合作是国际环境法中不可或缺的两个部分。着重论述了国家环境权的概念和表现形式，国际环境合作的必然趋势以及二者结合的重要性和主要原则。     

中国和国际环境条约

文章介绍了中国在积极参与环保领域的国际合作中，先后批准加入的２１个重要的多边环境和签署的２１项双边环境协定，并回顾最近几年在履约方面的重要进展，主要包括臭氧层的保护、控制危险废物越境转移，保护生物多样性、防止全球气候变化等几个方面的工作，同时，也展望了今后我国在履约方面所面临的艰巨任务。