Cost shifting and other perverse incentives in biodiversity offsetting in India

Biodiversity offsetting aims to compensate for development‐induced biodiversity loss through commensurate conservation gains and is gaining traction among governments and businesses. However, cost shifting (i.e., diversion of offset funds to other conservation programs) and other perverse incentives can undermine the effectiveness of biodiversity offsetting. Additionality—the requirement that biodiversity offsets result in conservation outcomes that would not have been achieved otherwise—is fundamental to biodiversity offsetting. Cost shifting and violation of additionality can go hand in hand. India's national offsetting program is a case in point. Recent legislation allows the diversion of offset funds to meet the country's preexisting commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). With such diversions, no additional conservation takes place and development impacts remain uncompensated. Temporary additionality cannot be conceded in light of paucity of funds for preexisting commitments unless there is open acknowledgement that fulfillment of such commitments is contingent on offset funds. Two other examples of perverse incentives related to offsetting in India are the touting of inherently neutral offsetting outcomes as conservation gains, a tactic that breeds false complacency and results in reduced incentive for additional conservation efforts, and the clearing of native vegetation for commercial plantations in the name of compensatory afforestation, a practice that leads to biodiversity decline. The risks accompanying cost shifting and other perverse incentives, if not preempted and addressed, will result in net loss of forest cover in India. We recommend accurate baselines, transparent accounting, and open reporting of offset outcomes to ensure biodiversity offsetting achieves adequate and additional compensation for impacts of development.     

A habitat‐based approach to predict impacts of marine protected areas on fishers

Although marine protected areas can simultaneously contribute to biodiversity conservation and fisheries management, the global network is biased toward particular ecosystem types because they have been established primarily in an ad hoc fashion. The optimization of trade‐offs between biodiversity benefits and socioeconomic values increases success of protected areas and minimizes enforcement costs in the long run, but it is often neglected in marine spatial planning (MSP). Although the acquisition of spatially explicit socioeconomic data is perceived as a costly or secondary step in MSP, it is critical to account for lost opportunities by people whose activities will be restricted, especially fishers. We developed an easily reproduced habitat‐based approach to estimate the spatial distribution of opportunity cost to fishers in data‐poor regions. We assumed the most accessible areas have higher economic and conservation values than less accessible areas and their designation as no‐take zones represents a loss of fishing opportunities. We estimated potential distribution of fishing resources from bathymetric ranges and benthic habitat distribution and the relative importance of the different resources for each port of total catches, revenues, and stakeholder perception. In our model, we combined different cost layers to produce a comprehensive cost layer so that we could evaluate of trade‐offs. Our approach directly supports conservation planning, can be applied generally, and is expected to facilitate stakeholder input and community acceptance of conservation.     

The perpetual state of emergency that sacrifices protected areas in a changing climate

A modern challenge for conservation biology is to assess the consequences of policies that adhere to assumptions of stationarity (e.g., historic norms) in an era of global environmental change. Such policies may result in unexpected and surprising levels of mitigation given future climate‐change trajectories, especially as agriculture looks to protected areas to buffer against production losses during periods of environmental extremes. We assessed the potential impact of climate‐change scenarios on the rates at which grasslands enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) are authorized for emergency harvesting (i.e., biomass removal) for agricultural use, which can occur when precipitation for the previous 4 months is below 40% of the normal or historical mean precipitation for that 4‐month period. We developed and analyzed scenarios under the condition that policy will continue to operate under assumptions of stationarity, thereby authorizing emergency biomass harvesting solely as a function of precipitation departure from historic norms. Model projections showed the historical likelihood of authorizing emergency biomass harvesting in any given year in the northern Great Plains was 33.28% based on long‐term weather records. Emergency biomass harvesting became the norm (>50% of years) in the scenario that reflected continued increases in emissions and a decrease in growing‐season precipitation, and areas in the Great Plains with higher historical mean annual rainfall were disproportionately affected and were subject to a greater increase in emergency biomass removal. Emergency biomass harvesting decreased only in the scenario with rapid reductions in emissions. Our scenario‐impact analysis indicated that biomass from lands enrolled in the CRP would be used primarily as a buffer for agriculture in an era of climatic change unless policy guidelines are adapted or climate‐change projections significantly depart from the current consensus.     

金属有机框架ZIF-8/聚二乙烯基苯纳米复合材料的合成及其吸附VOCs的性能

在常温常压下的甲醇溶液体系中,将COOH功能化的介孔材料聚二乙烯基苯(PDVB)与微孔材料金属有机框架(MOFs)ZIF-8进行复合,获得了一种新型的多孔纳米复合材料ZIF-8/PDVB,采用XRD、FTIR、SEM和氮气吸附-脱附等方法对ZIF-8/PDVB进行表征,并考察了其吸附甲苯、乙酸乙酯的性能.XRD谱图表明,所合成的ZIF-8以晶体形式存在;FTIR和XRD的结果表明,ZIF-8与PDVB的复合是通过Zn2+与PDVB上的COOH形成配位,未配位饱和的Zn~(2+)再与2-甲基咪唑进行配位,从而形成纳米复合材料ZIF-8/PDVB;SEM结果显示,ZIF-8晶体分散在PDVB的表面上;氮气吸附-脱附表征结果显示,ZIF-8/PDVB的比表面积达到1301 m~2·g~(-1),材料同时具有介孔与微孔结构.吸附性能评价结果表明,ZIF-8/PDVB对甲苯、乙酸乙酯均具有优良的吸附性能,ZIF-8/PDVB在吸附VOCs性能上显示出潜在的巨大优势.     

高效降解1,4-二烷的固态菌剂制备及其性能研究

1,4-二烷污染的生物修复效果很大程度上取决于其降解菌的活性和数量.本研究在前期获得1,4-二烷高效降解菌Xanthobacter flavus DT8的基础上,研究了该菌的扩大培养方法,并制备了易于贮藏和运输的固态菌剂,考察了菌剂的性能.实验结果表明,菌株X. flavus DT8可在富营养培养基中培养,较优的培养基配方为：Na₂HPO₄·12H₂O 1.0 g·L^-1,NH₄Cl 1.0 g·L^-1,MgSO₄·7H₂O 0.2 g·L^-1,酵母粉5.0 g·L^-1,蛋白胨1.0 g·L^-1,丙酮酸钠1.0 g·L^-1,pH 7.0~7.2.X. flavus DT8经发酵罐中扩大培养后,以草炭、硅藻土为载体,经进一步固态发酵制备了固态菌剂,微生物含量为2.17×10¹¹ CFU·g^-1,对1,4-二烷的降解效果明显优于活菌液.该菌剂具有良好的贮藏稳定性,4℃保藏90 d后对100 mg·L^-1的1,4-二烷48 h内去除率为63%;同时具有良好的底物广谱性,对醇类、苯系物和醚类物质也有很好的降解能力.     

模拟海水环境中8-羟基喹啉对B10铜合金的缓蚀行为研究

目的 研究模拟海水环境中8-羟基喹啉(8-HQ)对B10铜合金的缓蚀行为.方法 采用动电位极化曲线、电化学阻抗谱(EIS)和失重法等手段,研究不同浓度8-HQ在1 mol/L NaCl溶液中对铜合金的缓蚀效果,并采用傅里叶变换红外光谱仪对铜合金表面的锈层成分进行分析.结果 中时,其自腐蚀电流密度减小,阻抗模值增大.随着8-HQ浓度的升高,8-HQ对铜合金的缓蚀效率表现出先升高、后下降的阶段性特征.当铜合金浸泡在10 mg/L 8-HQ的NaCl溶液中时,阻抗模值和缓蚀效率随着浸泡时间的延长总体表现出增大的趋势.同时,对锈层的红外光谱分析进一步证明了Cu(8-HQ)2的存在.结论 8-HQ的存在减小了铜合金在NaCl溶液中的腐蚀速率,这与8-HQ在铜合金表面形成了保护膜,阻止氧从溶液中向阴极区域迁移有关.当8-HQ的质量浓度为10 mg/L时,其对铜合金的缓蚀效果最佳,并且该浓度下铜合金的耐腐蚀性能随着浸泡时间的延长持续上升.主要原因是8-HQ和Cu2+形成的[Cu(Ⅱ)HQ]络合膜与不断增厚的CuCl2保护膜在铜合金表面产生协同作用,从而抑制了电极的腐蚀反应.     

Isolation and characterization of a bacterial strain that efficiently degrades sex steroid hormones

A bacterial strain, ZY3, growing on sex steroid hormones as the sole source of carbon and energy was isolated from the sewage treatment plant of a prophylactic steroids factory. ZY3 degrades the 3-methoxy-17β-hydroxy-1,3,5(10),8(9)-δ-4-estren (MHE). This strain was preliminarily identified as Raoultella sp. ZY3 according to its morphology and its 16S rRNA gene sequence. During the experimental period (72 h), the optimum temperature, pH and 3-MHE concentration for the degradation of hydride by the strain ZY3 were 35°C, 10 and 10 mg/L, respectively. The degradation rate of the sex steroid hormones increased to 87% and 85% after the addition of maltose and peptone, respectively. Translated from China Environmental Science, 2005, 25(5): 585–588 [译自: 中国环境科学]     

大气混杂污染物诱导8—羟基脱氧鸟苷的形成及机理

以DNA加合物8－羟基脱氧鸟苷（8－OHdG)作为DNA氧化损伤的生物学标志物，用高压液相色谱－电化学检测（HPLC－EC）法对大气混杂污染物染毒后的DNA中8－OHdG进行定量检测，通过气质联用法（GC－MS）进行有机成分分析和原子吸收法（AAS）对其进行无机元素分析，并从大混杂污染物化学组成成分的角度推理并证实了其造成DNA损伤的分子机理。     

PT—C18色谱预柱流动注射在线富集原子吸收测定环境样品中的铅

本文采用ＰＴ－Ｃ１８色谱预处理柱，以８－羟基喹啉为螯合剂，流动注射在线分离富集与原子吸收联机，成功地测定了环境样品中的铅。１ｍｉｎ富集（４．２ｍｌ）的检出限为７．５μｇ１＾－１，相对标准偏差１．７％。     

DNA加合物8-氢基脱氧鸟苷特性研究

作为DNA氧化损伤的生物学标志物，8-羟基脱氧鸟苷（8-OH-dG）的特性研究，对稳定、灵敏、准确地定量8-OH-dG，进而研究有毒化学物质对生物体内的氧化损伤很重要，该文研究了氧化损伤DNA中8-OH-dG的分析、水解、储存、稳定性等方面的问题，采用Fenton型产羟自由基系统如螯合剂Fe^2 -H2O2为氧化源，与脱氧鸟苷和小牛胸腺DNA反应，生成的8-OH-dG用高压液相色谱-电化学法检测，并对8-OH-dG的分析条件进行优化，该法最低检出限为32fmol，比光学吸收法高2～3个数量级，线性范围可高达4个数量级，从0.32pmol到3.2nmol，相关系数0.9996。并对酶水解DNA的条件、储存酸度、中性偏酸的缓冲液中损失较少，其形成与所处介质环境有关，在氧化源存在或有氧环境中一定时间内有积累作用，添加抗氧化剂等干预措施后，能灵敏而稳定地对DNA中的8-OH-dG进行测定。