Climate engineering and human rights

ABSTRACT

In this Forum, three scholars discuss how climate engineering will pose novel human rights challenges, and may well force reconsideration of how human rights are applied as a guide to action. Following a short introduction, the first section introduces three competing approaches to human rights, arguing views which emphasize fairness or attempt to maximize satisfaction are more promising than one viewing human rights as inviolable ‘side-constraints’. The second section draws lessons from climate migration that are relevant for climate engineering in terms of incorporating a human rights approach to duties, rights, and participation. The final section compares the ‘needs-based’ and ‘rights-based’ approaches to humanitarian work in the face of climate change and climate engineering, raising concerns for duty-bearers and right-holders. The Forum’s conclusion draws together points of overlap and suggests a path forward for policy and research on this topic.     

Fast,cheap, and imperfect? US public opinion about solar geoengineering

ABSTRACT

Solar geoengineering, which seeks to cool the planet by reflecting a small fraction of sunlight back into space, has drawn the attention of scientists and policymakers as climate change remains unabated. Unlike mitigation, solar geoengineering could quickly and cheaply lower global temperatures. It is also imperfect. Its environmental impacts remain unpredictable, and its low cost and immediate effects may result in ‘moral hazard,’ potentially crowding out costly mitigation efforts. There is little understanding about how the public will respond to such tradeoffs. To address this, a 1000-subject nationally representative poll focused on solar geoengineering was conducted as part of the Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES) of the US electorate in October–November 2016. The importance that individuals place on solar geoengineering’s speed and cost predicts their support for it, but there is little to no relationship between their concerns about its shortcomings and support for its research and use. Acquiescence bias appears to be an important factor for attitudes around solar geoengineering and moral hazard.     

日本水环境质量监测管理概述

伴随着日本经济的高速发展,其水环境污染问题十分严峻,防治水污染成为日本政府在20—21世纪的重要工作之一。经过几十年的努力,日本水污染治理取得长足进展。目前日本水环境监测已经形成由水和土壤等方面组成的水循环监测体系,包括地表水、近海、湖泊、地下水和土壤等。在日本的重要环保法律法规中均有涉及水环境监测工作内容的明确法律条文,国家行政机关、地方政府和公立的科研单位在具体实施水环境质量监测过程中的职责和义务不同,水环境质量监测管理的国家行政机关以环境省为主,地方政府根据环境省制定的水环境质量标准、监测技术方法及规范,制定所辖地域的监测方案并实施监测,公立的环境科研机构在环境质量监测工作中起到重要的支撑作用。笔者概述了日本开展水环境质量监测的法律依据和监测管理情况等。     

区域环境风险评价及其关键科学问题

随着环境中能够检出的有毒污染物种类不断增多,基于制定环境标准来控制有毒污染物的传统方法正在受到挑战,而环境风险评价研究已成为当前环境领域研究的热点.加强风险评价方法研究,认识区域具有潜在风险的有毒污染物环境暴露与环境效应的关系,探讨风险评价中的关键科学问题,为风险管理提供科学依据已显得尤为紧迫.综述和讨论了环境风险评价技术的发展历史和区域生态风险评价存在的科学问题,并对深入开展区域环境风险评价研究提出了建议.     

Patterns of catch and trophic signatures illustrate diverse management requirements of coastal fisheries in Solomon Islands

Coastal fisheries are a critical component of Pacific island food systems; they power village economies and provide nutritious aquatic foods. Many coastal women and men actively fishing in this region rely on multi-species fisheries, which given their extraordinary diversity are notoriously difficult to both characterize, and to manage. Understanding patterns of fishing, diversity of target species and drivers of these patterns can help define requirements for sustainable management and enhanced livelihoods. Here we use a 12-month data set of 8535 fishing trips undertaken by fishers across Malaita province, Solomon Islands, to create fisheries signatures for 13 communities based on the combination of two metrics; catch per unit effort (CPUE) and catch trophic levels. These signatures are in turn used as a framework for guiding suitable management recommendations in the context of community-based resource management. While a key proximate driver of these patterns was fishing gear (e.g. angling, nets or spearguns), market surveys and qualitative environmental information suggest that community fishing characteristics are coupled to local environmental features more than the market value of specific species they target. Our results demonstrate that even within a single island not all small-scale fisheries are equal, and effective management solutions ultimately depend on catering to the specific environmental characteristics around individual communities.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01690-z.     

A scenario-based study on information flow and collaboration patterns in disaster management

Disaster management (DM) is a continuous, highly collaborative process involving governments, DM organisations, responders, the construction sector, and the general public. Most research approaches to DM include the development of information and communication technologies (ICT) to support the collaboration process rather than the creation of a collaboration process to provide information flows and patterns. An Intelligent Disaster Collaboration System (IDCS) is introduced in this paper as a conceptual model to integrate ICT into DM and the mitigation process and to enhance collaboration. The framework is applicable to the collaboration process at the local, regional and national levels. Within this context, the deployment of ICT tools in DM is explored and scenario-based case studies on flooding and terrorism—examples of natural and human-induced disasters, respectively—are presented. Conclusions are drawn regarding the differences found in collaboration patterns and ICT used during natural and human-induced disasters and the differences between currently available ICT and proposed ICT.     

基于B/S+C/S的矿山安全标准化管理信息系统研究

首先介绍了安全标准化实施的关键步骤、技术特点及其在矿山的应用,通过现场调研、安全培训,危害辨识与风险评价、文件汇编等环节在山西某矿山建立了安全标准化管理信息系统,在此基础上开发了与之相配套的、基于B/S和C/S混合模式的、在局域网上运行的应用软件--矿山安全标准化管理信息系统.系统由统一信息发布平台、即时报警系统、安全记录管理系统、统计分析系统等14个子系统组成.系统的应用提升了矿山安全生产整体水平,实现了矿山安全标准化和信息化.     

新型木材产销模式下的安全生产管理探讨

安全生产是构建和谐社会的基础和前提,是可持续发展的基本保障。随着市场经济的不断发展,国有林场的进一步深化改革,三明市国有林场探索总结出了“定产定销”的新型木材产销模式,林业生产经营和生产用工状况发生了很大的变化。探讨了在新型木材生产销售模式下如何进行安全生产管理的问题。     

特种设备管理中存在的问题与对策措施

对特种设备管理中的问题进行了深入的分析,并提出了针对性的解决办法。     

中国地质调查局安全生产管理平台方案探讨

安全生产管理平台是中国地质调查局为应对日益严峻的地质调查安全生产形势,加强地质调查安全生产监管而开发的一套软件系统,涵盖了安全管理工作的大多数内容,并具有信息处理、数据记录、文档管理、统计查询等功能。文章从系统目标、系统设计、主要功能模块等几方面分析了安全生产管理平台设计方案。建议加快安全生产管理平台研发速度,提高我国地质调查安全生产管理水平。