The effect of low emission zones on air pollution and infant health

This paper investigates the effect of low emission zones on air quality and birth outcomes in Germany. The staggered introduction of the policy measure creates a credible natural experiment and a natural control group for births and air pollution measurements in cities that enact low emission zones. I show that the introduction of the most restrictive type of low emission zone decreases average levels of fine particulate matter by about 4 percent and by up to 8 percent at a city's highest-polluting monitor. Low emission zones also reduce the number of days per year on which legal pollution limits are exceeded by three. However, these reductions are too small to translate into substantial improvements in infant health. My results are not driven by changes in maternal or city specific characteristics, and are robust to variations in specification and to the choice of control group.     

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。     

A Narrative Policy Approach to Environmental Conservation

Due to the urgency and seriousness of the loss of biological diversity, scientists from across a range of disciplines are urged to increase the salience and use of their research by policy-makers. Increased policy nuance is needed to address the science–policy gap and overcome divergent views of separate research and policy worlds, a view still relatively common among conservation scientists. Research impact considerations should recognize that policy uptake is dependent on contextual variables operating in the policy sphere. We provide a novel adaptation of existing policy approaches to evidence impact that accounts for non-evidentiary “societal” influences on decision-making. We highlight recent analytical tools from political science that account for the use of evidence by policy-makers. Using the United Kingdom’s recent embrace of the ecosystem approach to environmental management, we advocate analyzing evidence research impact through a narrative lens that accounts for the credibility, legitimacy, and relevance of science for policy.     

A Quantitative Review of Urban Ecosystem Service Assessments: Concepts,Models, and Implementation

Although a number of comprehensive reviews have examined global ecosystem services (ES), few have focused on studies that assess urban ecosystem services (UES). Given that more than half of the world’s population lives in cities, understanding the dualism of the provision of and need for UES is of critical importance. Which UES are the focus of research, and what types of urban land use are examined? Are models or decision support systems used to assess the provision of UES? Are trade-offs considered? Do studies of UES engage stakeholders? To address these questions, we analyzed 217 papers derived from an ISI Web of Knowledge search using a set of standardized criteria. The results indicate that most UES studies have been undertaken in Europe, North America, and China, at city scale. Assessment methods involve bio-physical models, Geographical Information Systems, and valuation, but few study findings have been implemented as land use policy.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-014-0504-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Interactions of Physical, Chemical, and Biological Weather Calling for an Integrated Approach to Assessment, Forecasting, and Communication of Air Quality

This article reviews interactions and health impacts of physical, chemical, and biological weather. Interactions and synergistic effects between the three types of weather call for integrated assessment, forecasting, and communication of air quality. Today’s air quality legislation falls short of addressing air quality degradation by biological weather, despite increasing evidence for the feasibility of both mitigation and adaptation policy options. In comparison with the existing capabilities for physical and chemical weather, the monitoring of biological weather is lacking stable operational agreements and resources. Furthermore, integrated effects of physical, chemical, and biological weather suggest a critical review of air quality management practices. Additional research is required to improve the coupled modeling of physical, chemical, and biological weather as well as the assessment and communication of integrated air quality. Findings from several recent COST Actions underline the importance of an increased dialog between scientists from the fields of meteorology, air quality, aerobiology, health, and policy makers.     

环境影响评价政策的一般理论分析

环境影响评价政策是我国环境政策体系中的重要组成部分，本文在对环境政策的内涵和基本特征阐述的基础上，运用公共政策的一般理论，对环境影响政策的内涵、特征、政策系统、政策过程以及主要政策功能进行了简明的分析，以达到从公共政策的角度来重新认识和了解环境影响评价制度的目的。     

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".     

关于煤粉工业锅炉的技术分析与政策思考

在技术进步和政策的推动下,煤粉工业锅炉的应用正在形成高潮,但存在技术上的不实宣传和推广政策偏向问题。为使该技术能健康和可持续地发展,本文针对该锅炉的效率、污染物排放、制粉配送、风险和经济效益以及推广政策等方面,做了较深入的研究。研究认为该锅炉有高效节煤、SO2和NOx排放总量下降、集中配送煤粉和锅炉房干净等优点,值得推广;但因粉尘排放总量和浓度上升,综合环保效果处于劣势,同时存在电耗较大、煤源要求苛刻、煤粉储运和使用有风险,及经济效益不确定等问题,因此必须根据全面的技术、环境和经济评价,因地制宜地推广。建议政府采取具体措施,如资助布局优质煤粉供应点,以节能减排实效为资助的依据,鼓励专业锅炉制造厂参与研发和竞争,制定地方和国家有关煤粉工业锅炉的制造、用煤和污染物排放等标准,使该技术不断完善,可持续地发展。     

Interactive two-stage stochastic fuzzy programming for water resources management

In this study, an interactive two-stage stochastic fuzzy programming (ITSFP) approach has been developed through incorporating an interactive fuzzy resolution (IFR) method within an inexact two-stage stochastic programming (ITSP) framework. ITSFP can not only tackle dual uncertainties presented as fuzzy boundary intervals that exist in the objective function and the left- and right-hand sides of constraints, but also permit in-depth analyses of various policy scenarios that are associated with different levels of economic penalties when the promised policy targets are violated. A management problem in terms of water resources allocation has been studied to illustrate applicability of the proposed approach. The results indicate that a set of solutions under different feasibility degrees has been generated for planning the water resources allocation. They can help the decision makers (DMs) to conduct in-depth analyses of tradeoffs between economic efficiency and constraint-violation risk, as well as enable them to identify, in an interactive way, a desired compromise between satisfaction degree of the goal and feasibility of the constraints (i.e., risk of constraint violation).     

A free lunch in the commons

We derive conditions under which raising costs through a regulatory constraint or a fully expropriated tax can increase the profits arising from a common-pool resource. The basic model assumes a fixed number of identical agents with linear costs selling in a single period at an exogenous price. A necessary and sufficient condition for a cost increase to be profitable is that aggregate output from the resource be locally convex in aggregate effort. We also show that cost increases can be profitable even if price is endogenous, agents are heterogeneous, entry is costless, or agents are playing a Markov-perfect equilibrium of a dynamic game. We also discuss more general welfare implications of the result along with its relation to existing results for a Cournot oligopoly.