Implementing the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty: Future applications of geographic information systems within the Committee for Environmental Protection

With the entry into force of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (the Protocol) in January 1998, key operational aspects of the newly established Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP), such as its advisory capacity to Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATCMs) need to be urgently addressed. This paper advocates the use of a geographic information system (GIS) environmental database to reinforce the advisory capacity of the CEP. The demonstrated links between the provisions of the Protocol and GIS capabilities illustrate the potential this has to assist the CEP in delivering informed advice to ATCMs. The range of GIS applications that could be utilized by the CEP in fulfilling its functions are examined by reference to precedents in Europe (CORINE) and Australia (ARIS).     

浅析松花湖渔业资源保护

通过多年实地调研,认为拦网养殖、湖滩地种植、过度捕捞、沿湖城镇生活污水污染等是渔业资源不断减少主要原因,并根据实际情况提出防治对策。     

不同入口位置的行人进入流实验研究

为了研究行人进入流运动规律,寻找合理的入口位置,对不同入口位置(中间、右侧)进行了不同人数(10人、20人、30人、40人)的可控实验。分析了行人进入流的时间、速度和空间分布,并统计了空间分布影响因素——入口避让、边界吸引、分布角度和空间关系的规律。结果表明,入口位于中间的设计更好,进入时间和稳定时间较短,速度更快,空间分布更合理。这些影响因素的统计,也为行人进入流的模型建立提供了实验基础。     

Uncertainties in the assessment of “significant effect” on the Dutch Natura 2000 Wadden Sea site – The mussel seed fishery and powerboat race controversies

Natura 2000, the nature network based on the European Bird and Habitat Directives, is explicitly grounded on ecological science. To acquire a permit under the Dutch Nature Conservation Act, an appropriate assessment of significant effects must be conducted based on the best available scientific knowledge. In this way the scientific and policy world are directly linked. This article focuses on ‘significant effect’ as a boundary object to analyse how science–policy interactions shape the meaning and assessment of significant effect and how these interpretations influence the decision-making process. To this end, two conflicts over significant effect are investigated: the conflict over the 2006-spring permit for the mussel seed fishery, and the 2011 permit for the planned World Championship powerboat races. In both cases nature organisations started a court process against the government-granted permits in protest to the “no significant effect” claim, stating that there was insufficient certainty for this conclusion. These conflicts are approached as controversies between discourse coalitions with different interpretations of the ecological knowledge. We show how significant effect became a focal point in the controversies, limiting the debate to ecological arguments and science-based expertise, but also creating options for parties to advance their protest by articulating uncertainties. Only uncertainty of incomplete knowledge was explicitly addressed, excluding ambiguity of values and unpredictability of the actual ecosystem. We suggest that acknowledging the value aspect in disputes on significant effect would leave more space for effective solutions of the problems under debate.     

环境保护市场化推进实践与思考

在分析环境保护市场化推进经验与制约瓶颈的基础上,从公共物品、准公共物品和私人物品特征明显的环境保护领域3个方面提出了环境保护市场化推进的重点领域与推进机制,并从加大监察执法力度、优化专项资金使用、强化政策引导和加强环保市场监管等方面提出了环境保护市场化的推进措施与建议。     

我国环保产业研究现状分析——基于宏观视角的文献述评

通过文献研究法,基于宏观视角对我国环保产业研究成果进行梳理。当前,我国的环保产业研究成果初具规模,研究重点在于环保产业的现状分析、问题探讨以及对策研究,包括环保产业各主体间博弈均衡、环保产业的技术支持、投融资机制等内容。未来环保产业研究应注意环保产业竞争力的科学评价、环保产业主体间的良性互动及其合力的达成以及环保技术评价和兑现。     

浅析美欧物联网发展和环保应用概况

这篇文章主要对美国和欧盟物联网发展历程进行了概述,并对欧盟的一系列物联网政策文件《欧盟物联网行动计划》、《未来物联网战略》等进行解读,最后重点分析了美国City Sense,MARVIN物联网环保应用案例和欧洲OSIRIS空气质量传感网、Sensaris穿戴式无线传感器监测系统、河川水质污染管理与预警系统等重要物联网环保应用项目。在此基础上,结合中国环保物联网发展现状提出相关建议。     

Boundary organisations and their strategies: Three cases in the Wadden Sea

This article discusses three empirical cases of boundary organisations, within the context of the Wadden Sea: the Wadden Academy, IMSA Amsterdam and the NCEA. The research aims to provide further insights into how boundary organisations work in practice. The research shows that the role of a boundary organisation can be fulfilled by different types of organisations (not solely scientific). Depending on the science–policy interaction problem they face, a boundary organisation can have different goals and use different strategies. Furthermore, the strategic use of media outputs, and the degree of actuality and public debate can have a substantial influence on the practices of boundary organisations.     

On the influence of chemical initial and boundary conditions on annual regional air quality model simulations for North America

The influence of chemical initial conditions and chemical lateral boundary conditions (CLBCs) on long-term regional air quality model simulations was investigated using outputs from an annual simulation of the year 2002 on a North American domain. This simulation was carried out using the AURAMS regional air quality model. It was subdivided into three multi-month segments with two overlap periods (May 15–30 and September 1–30) to allow the segments to be run in parallel. For this approach to work, model predictions had to match very closely by the end of the two-week and four-week overlap periods. The time required for the values of daily domain-average surface PM_2.5 concentration to match for the two simulation segments associated with each of the two overlap periods was four and six days, respectively. For individual locations within the model domain, however, the required spin-up period was as much as nine days, considerably longer than the 2–4-day spin-up period usually assumed in the literature. For ozone, on the other hand, the daily domain-average surface ozone concentration values did not converge for either overlap period. A zero-gradient CLBC had been used for all run segments and species. When a time-invariant CLBC for ozone was used instead, the daily domain-average surface ozone concentration values behaved more realistically and did converge after fewer than three days. A similar improvement was also obtained for individual locations, but with spin-up periods of up to nine days. Model chemical spin-up time thus seems to be dependent on the species considered, the time required for the influence of the inflow boundaries to reach all locations within the domain, and the impact of local emissions sources. These results suggest the use of a spin-up period of longer than one week for a large (continental) domain and long-term simulation of PM_2.5 and O₃ rather than the 2–4 days commonly assumed in the literature.     

Boundary work in climate policy making in Brazil: Reflections from the frontlines of the science-policy interface

Despite challenges to the authority and legitimacy of science as a neutral representation of the world, expert advisors are playing an increasingly central role in environmental policy-making in both the Global North and South. This article explores the science-policy interface, based on the experience of the main author as a scientist and policy-maker at FEAM, a state-level environmental agency in Brazil. Contributing to the literature on boundary objects and organizations, the article details the practices necessary to manage the relationship between political and scientific norms in the development of the regional Climate and Energy Plan (CEP) for the state of Minas Gerais. To sustain the role of FEAM as a boundary organization mediating between political and scientific demands, a team of scientists and policy-makers had to perform different types of boundary work in a closely connected manner. It was necessary to actively frame climate change as an economic problem, and structure its solution in terms of mitigation mechanisms. Responding to changes in the national and international political context, FEAM reframed climate change from mitigation into largely an adaptation issue that could lead to win-win solutions as to attain saliency and avoid insurmountable political obstacles for its approval. Based on this experience, the article argues that the performance of boundary objects and organizations in the science-policy interface not only requires an ability to bring ‘truth to power’ but to also the capacity to sense, anticipate and avoid political obstacles. For this reason even though boundary organizations provide a breeding ground for institutional learning it is an unsuitable location for scientific or political revolutions.