Serving the Common Interest in U.S. Forest Policy: A Case Study of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act

In the United States, the common interest often is conceived as a by-product of the pluralist, interest-group-driven democratic process. Special interests dominate in many political arenas. Consequently, we have lost the language, vocabulary, and ability to talk about the common interest. The way to reverse this trend is to develop and practice with new tools that allow us to articulate what we mean by the common interest in specific contexts. In this article, we leveraged the literature on procedural, substantive, and pragmatic decision making to illustrate how they work together to demonstrate whether and how the common interest was served in three case studies of Healthy Forests Restoration Act implementation on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona. In two of the cases we found that the common interest was mostly served, while in the third case it was not. Our results raise questions about the ability of procedural criteria or substantive criteria alone to determine effectiveness in decision making. When evaluated together they provide a more complete understanding of how the common interest is or is not served.

On the value of large predators in Sweden: a regional stratified contingent valuation analysis

This paper contributes with an applied policy analysis of the predator preservation policy in Sweden. We estimate the overall mean willingness to pay (WTP) for preserving the four large predators in the Swedish fauna by applying the contingent valuation method. Using survey data from 2004 we find that 50 percent of the Swedish population is willing to contribute financially toward implementation of the predator policy package, and that the estimated overall mean WTP is approximately SEK 290. Further, we test for spatial differences in attitudes and WTP and find that respondents in Stockholm have the highest overall mean WTP, while respondents living in wolf-territories have the lowest. Our mean WTP measure is flawed with upward bias, since we cannot estimate the willingness to accept for those with clearly negative preferences regarding the predator policy package (e.g. hunters). In this paper, we set their WTP equal to zero. Thus, we cannot rule out the possibility that the mean willingness to pay is, in fact, negative, i.e. the social-value of implementing the predator policy is negative. Finally, the estimates of the overall WTP are sensitive to response-uncertainty. When the respondents indicate uncertainty about their valuation, they tend to state higher values.     

Integrating lidar and satellite optical depth with ambient monitoring for 3-dimensional particulate characterization

A combination of in-situ PM_2.5, sunphotometers, upward pointing lidar and satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD) instruments have been employed to better understand variability in the correlation between AOD and PM_2.5 at the surface. Previous studies have shown good correlation between these measures, especially in the US east, and encouraged the use of satellite data for spatially interpolating between ground sensors. This work shows that cases of weak correlation can be better understood with knowledge of whether the aerosol is confined to the surface planetary boundary layer (PBL) or aloft. Lidar apportionment of the fraction of aerosol optical depth that is within the PBL can be scaled to give better agreement with surface PM_2.5 than does the total column amount. The study has shown that lidar combined with surface and remotely sensed data might be strategically used to improve our understanding of long-range or regionally transported pollutants in multiple dimensions.     

The alignment of agricultural and nature conservation policies in the European Union

Europe is a region of relatively high population density and productive agriculture subject to substantial government intervention under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Many habitats and species of high conservation interest have been created by the maintenance of agricultural practices over long periods. These practices are often no longer profitable, and nature conservation initiatives require government support to cover the cost for them to be continued. The CAP has been reformed both to reduce production of agricultural commodities at costs in excess of world prices and to establish incentives for landholders to adopt voluntary conservation measures. A separate nature conservation policy has established an extensive series of protected sites (Natura 2000) that has, as yet, failed to halt the loss of biodiversity. Additional broader scale approaches have been advocated for conservation in the wider landscape matrix, including the alignment of agricultural and nature conservation policies, which remains a challenge. Possibilities for alignment include further shifting of funds from general support for farmers toward targeted payments for biodiversity goals at larger scales and adoption of an ecosystem approach. The European response to the competing demands for land resources may offer lessons globally as demands on rural land increase.     

Global environmental assessments: Impact mechanisms

Many impacts of Global Environmental Assessment (GEA) processes on policy processes, and the mechanisms underlying these impacts, remain underappreciated. In this research, we focus on the 5th Global Environment Outlook and the Working Group III contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Based on the perception of GEA process participants, we describe the mechanisms through which assessments create or alter interpersonal interactions which can affect the dissemination of ideas. In particular, we find that GEAs can contribute to framing international coordinative discourses in intergovernmental negotiations. This can be achieved by widening, improving and/or maintaining the active participation of policy actors in the discussions of global environmental risks and by creating the scientific foundations for intergovernmental negotiations. GEAs can also contribute to national coordinative discourses by facilitating reflexive learning amongst participants, empowering them to diffuse and translate global information, and by providing methodological guidance. They can contribute to national communicative discourses by reviving interest and awareness of the urgency to address environmental problems. In this way they provide powerful arguments for governmental societal actors to challenge or strengthen existing national coordinative discourses. Finally, GEAs can improve scientific discourses worldwide by enhancing the capacity of individual researchers to produce and communicate relevant research insights. This is achieved by participating in a learning exercise with an extended community of peers and policy actors. This article is part of a special issue on solution-oriented global environmental assessments.     

Looking through the postdisaster policy window

Policy windows are transitory opportunities during which the likelihood of adopting new policy or legislative proposals is greater than usual. Accepted wisdom has held that natural disasters serve as focusing events that generate policy windows in their wake. This paper highlights the need for a more circumscribed understanding of when and where policy windows occur based on the experiences of three US regional planning organizations: a hand-picked commission of community leaders, a council of governments, and a special-purpose substate organization. The first operated in the San Francisco Bay Area of California following the Loma Prieta earthquake (October 1989), and the other two in South Carolina's Atlantic coastal plain after Hurricane Hugo (September 1989). The analysis concludes that natural disasters did not transform the agenda or mission of these entities. Policy windows were neither automatic outcomes of focusing events nor did they ensure the adoption of pertinent policy within the organizations investigated. Several conditions are minimally necessary for using policy windows to bring about hazard mitigation: comprehensive institutional conceptualization of hazards management, institutional strength and flexibility, and well-placed, effective policy entrepreneurs.     

关于排污权交易的若干探讨

从排污权交易的基本概念，排污权的初始分配，交易机制等方面讨论中，提出应按我国的环境管理模式排污权交易政策，发挥其在总量控制以及环境管理的特殊作用；排污权初始分配应实行偿形式；其交易适宜在较大的总量控制区域；政府在交易中可抽取一定比例排污权作为“交易税”等观点。     

隐喻机制下的英语一词多义现象

隐喻是人类普遍存在的一种思维方式,也是一词多义现象产生的一个重要因素.英语中的一词多义现象就是人类通过认知手段由一个词的中心意义或基本意义向其它意义的延伸,隐喻认知对多义词的形成起着无可替代的作用,本文就英语的一词多义现象,提出英语教师在教学过程中应当重视培养和提高学生外语学习中的"隐喻能力".     

关于建立环境与发展综合决策制度的理论与实践思考

环境与发展综合决策制度是中央提出的要求尽快建立和完善的新的环境保护管理制度之一，是社会主义市场经济条件下完善政府决策方式的必然选择。在充分阐述亟待建立综合决策制度的基础上，分析了综合决策对提高宏观决策水平，推动环境法制建设等方面的积极作用，明确了综合决策应遵循的基本原则，纳入范畴和具体制度，提出了综合决策制度实施的对策措施。     

中国的改革开放政策与环境保护发展

从产业结构、能源结构、基本设施、西部大开发、新工业文明等5个方面分析了中国经济体制的改革和经济增长方式的转变,并从法制建设、行政管理、公众 意识、经济手段、科技进步等5个角度讨论了中国环境保护政策的演化。展望 了中国的环境保护在综合决策、控制人口、强化法制、增加投入、清洁生产等5种措施上的发展效果。