Woodlot management and livelihoods in a tropical conservation landscape

In biodiversity hotspots, there is often tension between human needs and conservation, exacerbated when protected areas prevent access to natural resources. Forest-dependent people may compensate for exclusion by managing unprotected forests or cultivating planted woodlots. Outside Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda, household wood product needs are high and population growth puts pressure on the environment. We investigated the role of privately and collectively managed woodlots in provisioning wood products and supporting local livelihoods. We found that households relied heavily on woodlots for daily needs and as resources during time of need. We also found that locally relevant social institutions, called stretcher groups, played a role in the management of woodlots, providing shared community resources. Privately and collectively owned woodlots support local livelihoods and wood product needs in the region. Long-term management of forests in Uganda should consider the value of woodlots and the mechanisms required to support them.     

Aerosol characterization in a city in central China plain and implications for emission control

Extensive studies on aerosol chemistry have been carried out in megacities in China, however, aerosol characterization in Central China Plain (CCP) is limited. Here we conducted real-time measurements of fine particle composition with a time-of-flight aerosol chemical speciation monitor in Kaifeng, Henan province in October 2019. Our results showed that nitrate and organics constituted the major fraction of non-refractory PM_2.5 for the entire study, on average accounting for 34% and 33%, respectively. However, aerosol composition was substantially different among four periods due to different meteorological conditions and chemical processing. For instance, nitrate presented the lowest contribution during the first period due to evaporative loss associated with high temperature (T), and then rapidly increased during polluted periods as a function of relative humidity (RH). Positive matrix factorization analysis showed the dominance of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) in OA, and also the changes in OA composition under different T and RH levels. In addition, this study is unique with two periods of local emission controls. Back trajectory and coefficient of divergence analysis showed that air pollution in CCP was overall homogeneously distributed. As a result, the effectiveness of local emission controls in this region was strongly affected by meteorological conditions and regional transport. We found that one of the periods with emission control even showed the highest concentrations for the entire study. Our results point towards the limited effect of local emission controls in mitigating air pollution in CCP, and highlight the importance of joint emission controls under unfavorable meteorological conditions.     

能源之星实验室认可政策解读及关键技术问题研究

本文对中国合格评定国家认可委员会能源之星实验室认可计划进行政策解读和明晰,并对能源之星实验室认可中出现的实验室比对、产品分类及检测方法,检测能力表述这三个直接影响实验室获得注册的突出关键问题进行了详细的分析和研究。为有意申请能源之星实验室认可的实验室进行指导,并为获得能源之星实验室认可的实验室最终获得美国环保署的最终注册提供借鉴。     

Ken Burns' The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009): Missed Opportunities for Environmental Messages

Ken Burns, over the course of a long and celebrated career, has developed an effective and popular formula for his documentary films, and a comfortable relationship with the Public Broadcasting System. With such a convincing, accomplished style, his work has the opportunity to tackle ecological concerns in his latest series, but Burns chooses not to do so, offering no explicit lessons to apply to current problems. While stressing the importance of the people's parks, ecological debates on land use for future citizen-owners are minimized; the conflict of conservation versus preservation policies is barely differentiated. With the skill and reputation of Burns, his researchers, and his production team, there is a singular opportunity for their films to address ecological issues, creating productive conversation using America as a microcosm of the larger global issues faced today. Nostalgia and national pride are useful, but those attributes should be channeled to look to the future.     

Design standards for product end-of-life processing

In 2006, the British Standards Institute (BSI) published BS 8887-1 ‘Design for Manufacture, Assembly, Disassembly and End-of-life processing’ (MADE) subtitled ‘General Concepts, Processes and Requirements’. This was the first British Standard to address design for efficient post-consumer product reprocessing. By designing and planning for remanufacture, much of the embodied energy and production investment can be retrieved after the consumer no longer requires the original item. Therefore, end-of-life products become an asset rather than a liability. Design for disassembly facilitates efficient deconstruction and thus enables materials to be recycled with minimal loss of purity, thus maximising their value. The analysis presented here is based on the Standard Industrial Classification codes of companies and organisations that have purchased BS 8887-1. These data are considered in relation to the influence of environmental legislation. Company age, size and location, as well as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications, are discussed. This paper concludes by suggesting suitable directions for the continued distribution and development of this environmentally, economically and socially beneficial standard.     

工业甲醛生产节能的基本途径

甲醛生产在化学工业生产中属于能耗较多的产品之一，回收甲醛生产过程中的化学反应热量不但节省大量能源，对于降低甲醛生产成本，改善生产环境都具有现实意义。     

论职业安全卫生管理体系的基本原理

职业安全卫生管理体系的系统化模式是基于自然科学和社会科学系统理论中的四方面要素 :输入、过程、输出、反馈 ;系统管理的 PDCA循环管理模式是职业安全卫生管理体系应采用的运行模式 ;职业安全卫生管理体系所包含的核心内容是系统安全的基本思想 ;职业安全卫生管理体系标准分为规范、指南两类。     

An evaluation of risk assessment framework for industrial accidents in India

Due to rapid industrialization, with high population density and constraints of land, it is expected that level of risks arising from the hazardous industries will increase in India in the coming decades. However, 30 years after the Bhopal accident (1984), except a few discrete regulations, there is as yet no integrated system for assessing and managing risks arising out of these hazardous industries in India. The gravity of aspects related to the management of industrial risk still remains crucially important. In particular, there is no standard guideline on risk analysis methodology, acceptability or tolerability criteria, nor is there an accident database or a risk reduction strategy for the areas where risk levels are already high. On top of this, there are technical and legislative gaps in the institutional framework to implement any of the above mentioned issues. With the backdrop of the Bhopal gas tragedy, the objective of this paper is therefore to evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive risk assessment framework for the emerging economy of India, in order to control and/or to reduce the risk level that exists. In this context, regulations and policies pertaining to industrial risk assessment were reviewed.     

西部城镇化、能源消费与碳排放的动态关系研究

通过西部11省、市、自治区1997~2012年面板数据,对西部地区城镇化、贸易开放、经济增长、能源消费与碳排放之间的动态关系进行了研究。使用3种面板单位根检验方法,结果显示:所有变量都是一阶单整;Pedroni和Kao协整检验表明变量之间存在协整关系;通过FMOLS估计方法进行回归,结果发现经济增长、能源消费、贸易开放都对CO2排放产生正的影响;西部地区GDP平方与CO2的关系符合环境库兹涅茨曲线特征;城镇化对CO2产生负的影响。格兰杰因果关系检验显示,短期内,GDP、贸易开放是CO2的单向格兰杰原因;能源消费、城镇化是CO2的双向格兰杰原因;能源消费、贸易开放是GDP的双向格兰杰原因;贸易开放是能源消费的双向格兰杰原因。存在误差修正机制,当系统在短期内偏离长期均衡时,5个变量在调整过程中能发挥重要作用,使其重新回到均衡状态。最后,提出政策建议。     

Levels of PCDD/Fs and trace elements in superficial soils of Pavia Province (Italy)

Trace elements and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) were analyzed in soils from rural and light-industrialized sites (n=168) of Province of Pavia (Northern Italy). Most of the trace element values fit in typical ranges of concentrations in soils and are similar to the ones reported for rural sites in Italy or sites with no direct anthropogenic impact. Total concentrations of 2,3,7,8 chlorine substituted PCDD/Fs in superficial soils ranged between 24.4 and 1287 pg g(-1) dw (0.5-28.9 pg WHO(98)-TEQ g(-1) dw). The North Eastern part of the Province presented significantly higher levels (p<0.001) than the rest of the Province for As, Cd, Hg, Pb, Zn and PCDD/Fs. While the existence of a defined heavy metal polluting source for this specific site has been suggested, in the case of PCDD/Fs, profiles were not linked to any specific emission source fingerprint. In the whole extension of Pavia Province, OCDD/F dominated the 2,3,7,8 chlorine substituted congener soil pattern, followed by the 1,2,3,4,6,7,8 hepta-CDD/F congener. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed that this profile could not be associated to any described PCDD/F emission source fingerprint and was relatively similar to the baseline deposition of sites with no direct impact of PCDD/F emission sources independently of land use.