Sustainability assessment with time-series scores: a case study of Chinese provinces

Asian nations are currently facing a number of challenges, including environmental degradation and growing societal inequalities, in the course of their rapid economic growth and industrialization. Under such conditions, it is of critical importance to develop appropriate assessment tools with which to comprehensively measure the sustainability status of a region in order to guide its transformation into a sustainable society. This paper proposes a method of sustainability assessment consisting of the three components of environment, resource, and socio-economic with aggregated time-series scores. This method can demonstrate the relative sustainability scores of targeted regions for different time periods, thereby, enabling the comparison of relative sustainability status for different regions over these periods. We carried out a case study of Chinese provinces for the years 2000 and 2005 using the proposed method and confirmed its applicability as the indicative type of sustainability assessment at the regional level, while actually investigating the sustainability status and its chronological changes. The results indicated that aggregate sustainability index scores improved between 2000 and 2005 in most provinces, mainly due to significant improvement in the scores for the socio-economic component, whereas the scores for the environment component deteriorated in some provinces over the study period. Our method proves to be effective in analyzing the relative sustainability status among targeted regions for different time periods in the form of aggregate scores, paving the way for practical applications, such as policy analysis, in the pursuit of a sustainable society.     

Sustainability education and a new master’s degree, the master of sustainability science: the Graduate Program in Sustainability Science (GPSS) at the University of Tokyo

The University of Tokyo started its Graduate Program in Sustainability Science (GPSS), offering a master of sustainability science degree, in 2007. The GPSS curriculum consists of: (1) knowledge and concept oriented courses, which cover sustainability-related subjects from a holistic viewpoint; (2) experiential learning and skills oriented practical courses, which offer practical exercises to acquire the skills and sensibility required of future leaders; and (3) the Master’s thesis, for which students are encouraged to address complex sustainability problems through a transdisciplinary approach. Sustainability science is not a discipline that can be defined simply by the subjects it deals with, but is an academic field characterized by core principles that include holistic thinking, transdisciplinarity, and respect for diversity. The GPSS has been designed so that students may gain the capacity to understand and practice these principles. The present paper describes how the GPSS has defined sustainability education and designed its curriculum accordingly.     

A Template for Integrated Community Sustainability Planning

This article describes a template for implementing an integrated community sustainability plan. The template emphasizes community engagement and outlines the components of a basic framework for integrating ecological, social and economic dynamics into a community plan. The framework is a series of steps that support a sustainable community development process. While it reflects the Canadian experience, the tools and techniques have applied value for a range of environmental planning contexts around the world. The research is case study based and draws from a diverse range of communities representing many types of infrastructure, demographics and ecological and geographical contexts. A critical path for moving local governments to sustainable community development is the creation and implementation of integrated planning approaches. To be effective and to be implemented, a requisite shift to sustainability requires active community engagement processes, political will, and a commitment to political and administrative accountability, and measurement.     

Assessing the social impacts of extensive resource use activities

Extensive forms of resource use are rarely subject to detailed environmental and social assessment. This paper outlines a potential methodology for assessment of the social impacts of extensive resource use activities based on the Pressure-State-Impact-Response (PSIR) model of integrated indicator development. It then tests this methodology through a case study of changed water flow regimes in Central Queensland's Fitzroy River catchment. While resource degradation associated with interruptions to flow was expected to force all resource users to face higher costs and greater uncertainty, negative social impacts were particularly concentrated among vulnerable groups and downstream industries. Extension of the PSIR framework and methodology proved useful in linking social and biophysical research and would thus appear to offer some potential as a model for incorporating social concerns within natural resource decision making.     

土地利用总体规划的环境影响评价指标体系研究

科学合理的土地利用总体规划环境影响评价指标体系既可提高规划的科学性,又可为新一轮规划的修编提供科学依据。运用系统分析法、归纳演绎法、专家咨询法等方法研究建立土地利用总体规划的环境影响评价指标体系,初步将其构建为目标层、准则层和指标层3个层次,包括社会指标、环境指标及资源指标。     

Linking Hydrologic Alteration to Biological Impairment in Urbanizing Streams of the Puget Lowland,Washington, USA1

Abstract: We used a retrospective approach to identify hydrologic metrics with the greatest potential for ecological relevance for use as resource management tools (i.e., hydrologic indicators) in rapidly urbanizing basins of the Puget Lowland. We proposed four criteria for identifying useful hydrologic indicators: (1) sensitive to urbanization consistent with expected hydrologic response, (2) demonstrate statistically significant trends in urbanizing basins (and not in undeveloped basins), (3) be correlated with measures of biological response to urbanization, and (4) be relatively insensitive to potentially confounding variables like basin area. Data utilized in the analysis included gauged flow and benthic macroinvertebrate data collected at 16 locations in 11 King County stream basins. Fifteen hydrologic metrics were calculated from daily average flow data and the Pacific Northwest Benthic Index of Biological Integrity (B‐IBI) was used to represent the gradient of response of stream macroinvertebrates to urbanization. Urbanization was represented by percent Total Impervious Area (%TIA) and percent urban land cover (%Urban). We found eight hydrologic metrics that were significantly correlated with B‐IBI scores (Low Pulse Count and Duration; High Pulse Count, Duration, and Range; Flow Reversals, T_Qmean, and R‐B Index). Although there appeared to be a great deal of redundancy among these metrics with respect to their response to urbanization, only two of the metrics tested – High Pulse Count and High Pulse Range – best met all four criteria we established for selecting hydrologic indicators. The increase in these high pulse metrics with respect to urbanization is the result of an increase in winter high pulses and the occurrence of high pulse events during summer (increasing the frequency and range of high pulses), when practically none would have occurred prior to development. We performed an initial evaluation of the usefulness of our hydrologic indicators by calculating and comparing hydrologic metrics derived from continuous hydrologic simulations of selected basin management alternatives for Miller Creek, one of the most highly urbanized basins used in our study. We found that the preferred basin management alternative appeared to be effective in restoring some flow metrics close to simulated fully forested conditions (e.g., T_Qmean), but less effective in restoring other metrics such as High Pulse Count and Range. If future research continues to support our hypothesis that the flow regime, particularly High Pulse Count and Range, is an important control of biotic integrity in Puget Lowland streams, it would have significant implications for stormwater management.     

Investigating the Fate and Transport of Escherichia coli in the Charles River,Boston, Using High‐Resolution Observation and Modeling1

Abstract: The processes affecting the fate and transport of Escherichia coli in surface waters were investigated using high‐resolution observation and modeling. The concentration patterns in Boston’s Charles River were observed during four sampling events with a total of 757 samples, including two spatial surveys with two along‐river (1,500 m length) and three across‐river (600 m length) transects at approximately 25‐m intervals, and two temporal surveys at a fixed location (Community Boating) over seven days at hourly intervals. The data reveal significant spatial and temporal structure at scales not resolved by typical monitoring programs. A mechanistic, time‐variable, three‐dimensional coupled hydrodynamic and water quality model was developed using the ECOMSED and RCA modeling frameworks. The computational grid consists of 3,066 grid cells with average length dimension of 25 m. Forcing functions include upstream and downstream boundary conditions, Stony Brook, and Muddy River (major tributaries) combined sewer overflow (CSO) and non‐CSO discharge and wind. The model generally reproduces the observed spatial and temporal patterns. This includes the presence and absence of a plume in the study area under similar loading, but different hydrodynamic conditions caused by operation of the New Charles River Dam (downstream) and wind. The model also correctly predicts an episode of high concentrations at the time‐series station following seven days of no rainfall. The model has an overall root mean square error (RMSE) of 250 CFU/100 ml and an error rate (above or below the USEPA‐recommended single sample criteria value of 235 CFU/100 ml) of 9.4%. At the time series station, the model has an RMSE of 370 CFU/100 ml and an error rate of 15%.     

城市土地资源可持续利用评价指标体系构建

土地资源可持续发展的核心内容是如何将一个概念转换成可操作的管理模式，即建立一套切实可行的指标体系。目前，我国关于土地可持续发展的指标体系评价处于探索阶段，还没有形成一套较成熟的评价方法。基于对于我国土地可持续发展的指标体系研究，构建了一套有关城市土地可持续利用的评价指标体系。     

河北省耕地保护重点区域的划分与调控

新一轮土地利用总体规划修编提出对各类、各区域用地开展统筹研究,为解决各地区的耕地问题提供了新的思路。论文以河北省为例,首先按照耕地的可持续生产能力,以县为单位依次通过设计指标体系、确定权重、数据标准化和划分重点区域对其进行定量评价,从而指出各级政府在耕地保护过程中各自应重点关注的区域;其次,分析受胁迫因素,确定划分指标,确立划分标准并划分重点区域受胁迫程度,对重点区域耕地的受胁迫程度进行了定量区分,为针对不同区域采取不同的措施提供了依据;再次,提出了调控不同级别、不同受胁迫程度区域耕地的刚性、弹性和预期指标;最后,制定了一系列措施以保障指标能够被有效地实施。