The idea of sustainable development

In this lecture, I demonstrate how very different macroeconomic history begins to look if Nature is included as a capital asset in production activities. The tentative conclusions I draw from the evidence are: (1) high population growth in the world’s poorest regions (South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa) has been an obstacle to the achievement of sustainable economic development there; relatedly, (2) when population growth is taken into account, the accumulation of manufactured capital, knowledge, and human capital (health and education) has not compensated for the degradation of natural capital in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and, in all probability, even in the UK and the US; (3) China is possibly an exception to (1) and (2). This article is based on the Keynote Lecture delivered at the international symposium on “Sustainability in an Unequal World”, held in Tokyo on November 24, 2006. The exposition relies on my book, Economics: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007. The author is the Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge.     

在电子废弃物管理中生产者责任延伸制度探讨

随着2003年我国家电、通讯和电脑等电子产品的报废高峰期和宽带电讯业发展的黄金时代的到来，电子废弃物的污染问题日益引起人们的关注。我国传统废弃物的处理和管理制度的不完善。已使我国沿海地区的电子垃圾泛滥成灾，甚至威胁到内陆地区。而且电子废弃物中大量的有用资源没有得到有效回收。也不符合政府最近提倡的全民节约原则。因此，国家制定了有关电子废弃物的生产者责任延伸（EPR）制的具体法律法规。本文从环境经济学角度。结合其它国家和地区的生产者责任延伸制的颁布和运行情况。对我国电子废弃物的管理中施行生产责任延伸制进行初步探讨。     

省会城市机动车环保监管部门管理对策研究

贵阳市机动车排气污染防治管理中心成立以来,在机动车环保监管方面做了许多有益的探索和思考,得到国家环保部、省环保厅的充分肯定和表扬,得到了市民的大力支持,先后有长春、昆明、重庆等多个省会城市前来学习调研。文章简述了全国省会城市机动车环保监管现状;介绍了贵阳市机动车排气污染防治管理中心的运行管理情况,分析管理过程中存在的问题和积累的经验;提出修改完善地方法规、强化机构能力建设、制定从业资质认定地方标准等管理对策和建议。     

社会资本对生态补偿绩效的影响机制研究——以锡林郭勒盟草原生态补偿为例

通过对农户开展的问卷调查分析了锡林郭勒盟草原生态补偿绩效,结果表明生态补偿绩效不容乐观,农户感受到的生态环境状况仅有小幅度的改善,消除经济激励之后农户表现出较低的参与积极性.基于结构方程模型,以农户自我发展能力和生态保护能力为中介,构建社会资本对生态补偿绩效的影响机制模型.结果表明社会资本对经济效应表现出显著负影响;对生态效应表现出显著正影响.社会网络、普遍信任、机构信任、互助倾向和惩罚程度对于经济效应影响系数分别为-0.05、-0.05、-0.01、-0.06和-0.03;对于社会效应影响系数分别为0.11、0.10、0.03、0.12和0.06;对于生态效应影响系数分别为0.36、0.33、0.09、0.38和0.19.在社会资本5项维度中互助倾向反映度最高,机构信任最低,因子载荷分别为0.77和0.19.农户自我发展能力和生态保护能力在社会资本对生态补偿绩效影响中表现出显著中介作用.     

闽三角城市群自然资本损失评估

在快速城镇化进程中,城市群发展在促进区域经济竞争与合作的同时,也在一定程度上造成人地关系矛盾的加剧,生态系统服务水平下降。为了量化城镇化对自然资本产生的变动,揭示人类资源消耗过程对区域生态系统服务的影响机制,以快速城镇化的典型区域——闽三角城市群为例,运用能值分析方法与GIS技术,分析了2000-2015年闽三角城市群可更新资源时空演变特征,城镇化进程中生态环境价值演变规律以及土地转化过程中的自然资本损失。研究结果表明：（1）闽三角城市群可更新资源在时间上呈波动减小趋势,空间上自沿海区域向内陆区域逐渐升高;（2）高环境质量等级中城镇用地面积占比呈显著增加趋势,由0增加到10.63%,人类活动导致区域生态环境价值的损失逐渐上升;（3）城镇化过程中由于城市空间扩张,使部分自然用地与农业用地转化为城镇用地,转化过程造成的自然资本损失总量为1.27×10²² seJ,货币价值超过6.30×10⁹元。研究有助于完善城镇化影响下的生态环境效应研究,为城市群或区域生态环境管理与修复提供决策参考。     

城市可持续发展的关键自然资本研究

城市是社会、经济与环境相互作用最为集中与深刻的区域，随着城市环境问题的日益严重，城市可持续发展成为共同关注的焦点。自然资本在可持续发展体系中起到关键的作用，因此，识别城市系统的关键自然资本是实现城市可持续发展的前提。通过分析城市绿色空间的生态服务功能，结果表明绿色空间是影响城市可持续发展的重要的自然资本。在此基础上，提出了通过保护与投资于绿色空间两种途径实现城市可持续发展的措施与建议。     

Introduction: Natural Capital, Poverty and Development

Can development occur without running down natural resources in an unsustainable way? The concept of natural capital offers a way for those with divergent views (ecologists and economists for example) to discuss this difficult question. Four aspects are examined in detail. First, the role of institutions in facilitating sustainable development is discussed, with examples from forestry. Then examples from (eco)tourism illustrate the potential – and limits – of applicability of the concept. Measurement issues for natural capital are then considered in detail. Finally, the concept is applied to agricultural strategy in fragile lands, where the tradeoff between the environment and development is likely to be most severe. Some implications for future research and policy are developed.     

Institutions, Forest Management, and Sustainable Human Development – Experiences from India

New institutional economists have argued that there are many categories of institutions, including market and non-market institutions, which may prove economically efficient, specifically for public goods and common pool goods. The Government of India introduced a non-market community-based institution, known as Joint Forest Management (JFM), for forest management and protection in 1990. JFM is a sharing mechanism for forest planning and management based on sharing of rights and duties, control and decision-making authority over forestlands, between forest departments and local user groups. By 2001, 42 000 Village Forest Committees established under JFM were managing over 11.5 million ha forestland. These institutions have proved very useful, and have contributed to forest management as well as four aspects of sustainable human development (SHD) – ecological output, income generation, village infrastructure development, and community empowerment. In the long-term, community-based institutions will prove to be a foundation of SHD and participatory democracy.     

Re-emphasizing sustainable development — The concept of ‘Evolutionability’ On living chances, equity, and good heritage

The principle of sustainable development is now 15-year-old. There are a lot of definitions and models for its explanation — ranging from triangles and prisms to eggs — but still its sense is diffuse. Moreover, important aspects like equity are not sufficiently taken into account.The following article takes a critical look on sustainable development. It shows logical, systemic, philosophic and ethic reasons for the re-development of substantial parts of the principle of sustainability. Based on the proposed Principle of Good Heritage it provides a rough outline of a future Concept of Evolutionability, comprising a first tentative for a definition of evolutionable development, aiming at achieving a more appropriate and more workable mainstream view of sustainability.Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

论北京城市建设的综合减灾问题

本文针对北京城市建设面临的自然与人为灾害背景,简要论述了北京地震、水灾、火灾及“新致灾源”的历史及现状,强调开展首都圈灾害研究及减灾规划设计的重要性,并提出了系统的减灾方略及相应的管理构想。