Modeling Opportunity Costs of Conservation in Transitional Landscapes

Abstract:  Conservation scientists recognize the urgency of incorporating opportunity costs into conservation planning. Despite this, applications to date have been limited, perhaps partly because of the difficulty in determining costs in regions with limited data on land prices and ownership. We present methods for estimating opportunity costs of land preservation in landscapes or ecoregions that are a changing mix of agriculture and natural habitat. Our approach derives from the literature on estimating land values as opportunity costs of alternate land uses and takes advantage of general availability of necessary data, even in relatively data-poor regions. The methods integrate probabilities of habitat conversion with region-wide estimates of economic benefits from agricultural land uses and estimate land values with a discount rate to convert annual values into net present values. We applied our method in a landscape undergoing agricultural conversion in Paraguay. Our model of opportunity costs predicted an independent data set of land values and was consistent with implicit discount rates of 15–25%. Model-generated land values were strongly correlated with actual land values even after correcting for the effect of property size and proportion of property that was forested. We used the model to produce a map of opportunity costs and to estimate the costs of conserving forest within two proposed corridors in the landscape. This method can be applied to conservation planning in situations where natural habitat is currently being converted to market-oriented land uses. Incorporating not only biological attributes but also socioeconomic data can help in the design of efficient networks of protected areas that represent biodiversity at minimum costs.     

生态文明市建设指标体系研究

我国是文明古国,礼仪之邦,主张"天人合一",人与人、人与自然和谐共存发展。党的十七大提出了生态文明建设,是人类文明发展史上的一大飞跃,是科学发展观对生态环境保护的新要求,是引导我国开创一条人与自然和谐的可持续发展道路。本文根据生态学原理,在国家环保局《生态县、生态市、生态省建设指标》基础上,结合包头市环境状况和经济发展,提出生态文明城市目标及实施途径和建设生态文明城市步骤,供参考。     

湖南省永兴县生态旅游现状与可持续发展

通过调查和评价永兴县旅游资源的分布和种类,探索永兴县生态旅游的发展目标和可持续发展方案。实践证明,永兴县生态旅游重点是打造便江画廊生态旅游区、板梁一悦来乡村旅游区和中国银都旅游区等品牌产品,积极推广“千年银都和一江丹霞”的旅游形象,加强生态旅游资源的管理,优化旅游产品和产业结构,全面提升旅游竞争力,有利于促进旅游业在永兴县的发展,有利于把永兴建设成为具有区域影响意义的省级精品旅游目的地。     

九寨沟县地表水环境容量研究

水体中污染物的排放必须与水体的水环境容量相适应.在综合考虑城市经济发展与水资源利用状况前提下,首先,通过监测资料对九寨沟县辖区内主要污水受纳水体--白水江的地表水环境质量现状进行了评价,同时,结合对白水江流域污染源的现场调查,明确了河道水体的主要污染因子为CODCr和NH3-N,并预测了其在远、近规划期内的排放量;其次,在对河段进行功能分区基础上,采用一维稳态模型下的段首控制法计算了水环境容量.结果表明,2005年白水江CODCr与NH3-N的理论水环境容量分别为39.44 T/d和2.32 T/d,2005年其实际水环境容量分别为26.42 T/d和1.55 T/d.白水江水环境容量在近、远期内均能满足城市发展要求,但鉴于九寨沟县的旅游定位功能,应采取更为严格的控制标准;最后,结合九寨沟城镇生活污染源、农村面源与工业污染源的相应特点,提出了全面提升九寨沟县水环境质量的规划方案,为白水江实施污染总量控制与水环境管理提供了科学依据.     

美、日土壤污染防治法律度对中国土壤立法的启示

目前中国土壤污染问题日趋严重。尽管中国现行的法律体系存在一些有关土壤污染防治的规定,但仍存在一定的局限性,中国目前还没有专门的《土污染防治法》,从而不能为中国土壤污染的防治工作提供有力地法律支撑和法律保障。本文在分析美国、日本有关土壤污染防治立法的基础上,就中国土壤污染防治立法提出了几点建议。     

典型大气环境玻璃钢天线罩聚氨酯涂层工艺老化行为研究

通过南海海洋大气环境、海南万宁湿热乡村大气环境、西藏拉萨高原大气环境户外大气暴露对玻璃钢基灭线罩聚氨酯涂层工艺进行了老化试验，运用光泽、颜色、粉化率、SEM等手段测试了涂层在户外大气暴露的性能变化和表面形貌，并进行对比分析。结果表明，在相同大气环境中，工艺玻璃钢板／雷达罩底漆／浅灰航天聚氨酯涂层耐候性能优于工艺玻璃钢板／环氧聚酰胺／弹性聚氨酯磁漆涂层的耐侯性能；对于同种工艺，西沙海洋大气环境对其耐侯性的影响最大，其次是万宁湿热乡村环境，拉萨高原环境影响较小；光照、温度、湿度是涂层老化的主要原因。     

预应力锚索加固石窟围岩的地震响应的数值模拟分析研究

针对预应力锚索加固石窟文物的特点,阐述了影响石窟围岩变形稳定性的主要因素和动力有限元分析方法。以榆林窟的三个典型工程剖面为实例,通过对不同峰值加速度、频谱、持续时间的动荷载作用下预应力锚索加固的石窟围岩位移场、应力场分布特征的数值模拟计算,揭示了预应力锚索加固石窟岩体在地震作用下的动态响应和变化规律。分析结果表明,随着地震动峰值加速度(PGA)、反应谱特征周期和地震动持续时间的增大,洞窟的位移和应力值明显增大,应力集中区的范围扩大,围岩损伤的可能性增加,稳定性降低。应力分布与洞窟数量、组合特性、几何形状和尺寸密切相关,并控制了石窟围岩的震害特征。本文为石窟文物的科学保护和岩体抗震加固与减灾提供了理论基础和实践依据。     

Constructions of Climate Change on the Radio and in Nepalese Lay Focus Groups

To date analyses of media climate change constructions have mostly focused on coverage in western newspapers. Consideration of coverage in developing countries, and analyses of media constructions alongside local understandings of climate change are comparatively rare. This article provides an analysis of the construction of climate change on Nepalese radio and lay constructions of environment and climate change within the country. Data from a radio program and six focus groups are analyzed. Analysis of the radio program indicated that climate change was portrayed as a certain reality with national impacts caused by the actions of the West. While climate change dominated the radio headlines, in focus groups local environmental problems received far more attention. The paper aims to both inform directions for future climate change communication in Nepal and the wider research agenda.     

发达国家洗涤行业节能减排的经验介绍

在全球节能减排的宏观政策之下,我国洗涤行业的逐步发展与壮大应符合国家节能减排的整体方向和目标,加强节能减排意识,实施有关节能减排的措施,走可持续发展的道路.本文通过对国外发达国家洗涤行业节能减排的政策、方法和经验的了解和学习,结合我国洗涤行业的实际特点,旨在找到适合我国洗涤行业的可持续发展道路.研究表明,虽然我国洗涤行业还处于快速扩大发展的初期,但我国可以根据自身的具体情况有选择性地借鉴国外发展和节能减排的经验和方法,在此基础上,结合具体实际特点,开拓创新,开发出适合我国洗涤行业的可持续发展道路,在快速扩大发展的同时,与其他行业和领域一同为实现我国的节能减排目标而努力.     

城市温室气体清单评价研究

城市消费了大量的能源,是全球人类活动温室气体的最大排放源,在应对气候变化中起到关键作用.城市温室气体清单评价成为重要的基础性工作,对于制定城市减排目标和计划、评估减排措施效果具有重要的意义.然而,城市开放的空间系统结构导致城市温室气体清单核算面临许多困难和挑战.本文对国内外城市温室气体清单方法和案例进行了回顾与展望,研究内容主要集中在比较城市清单和国家清单方法、联系和区别,分析清单编制的不确定性,在此基础上提出可借鉴的经验与启示,以期推动我国城市温室气体清单研究发展.