The role and functioning of environmental assessment: theoretical reflections upon an empirical investigation of causation

Environmental assessment is an intriguing policy phenomenon: it is employed in an ever-increasing range of contexts the world-over, yet research indicates it rarely efficiently or effectively achieves its principal purpose of promoting sustainable development. Increasingly, practical limitations in the effectiveness of environmental assessment are attributed to its theoretical shortcomings, particularly in relation to the conception of causation. This research advanced debate on environmental assessment by examining the theoretical implications of an empirical analysis of its causal operation in purposefully selected cases. The causal models derived from the research data illustrate the diversity of mechanisms through which environmental assessment can contribute to sustainability, and provide an insight into the complexity and contextuality of causation in the empirical realm. The research findings also highlight a multiplicity of societal expectations concerning environmental assessment's contribution to sustainable development. It is concluded that the interplay of non-rational variables (such as power, agency, experiences and expectations) necessitates the pursuit of a reflexive accommodation of purposes, methods and context in environmental assessment practices.     

Assessing the Transactional Nature of Wilderness Experiences: Construct Validation of the Wilderness-Hassles Appraisal Scale

Concerns over the increasing popularity of wilderness recreation have resulted in attempts to determine the amount of use that different areas can tolerate without adverse affects to the resource. Early attempts to establish recreational carrying capacities focused on managers' assessments of biophysical impacts. The perceptions of wilderness visitors, however, are now considered integral to capacity decisions. This study used a stress appraisal framework to understand wilderness visitors' perceptions of on-site conditions. It was based on the premise that negative appraisals of wilderness conditions produce stress and that individual perceptions vary based on personal and situational characteristics. The purpose of the study was to assess the validity of a wilderness-hassles appraisal scale by testing hypothesized relationships between experience-use history (EUH), place attachment, and stress appraisal. Data collection occurred through a postal survey of hikers (n = 385) contacted in the High Peaks and Pemigewasset Wilderness Areas during the summer of 2004. An exploratory factor analysis indicated that stress appraisal is a multi-dimensional construct. Validity testing procedures were restricted to those dimensions that were consistent between study areas and provided partial support for the hassles scale. As hypothesized, EUH did not influence perceptions of wilderness conditions. Place attachment, on the other hand, was positively correlated with stressful appraisals of social and managerial conditions. Although Kruskall Wallis tests revealed significant differences in visitors' perceptions of managerial conditions between study sites, perceptions of social conditions did not vary significantly. Implications for management and recommendations for further refinement of the wilderness hassles construct are discussed.     

湖北省农田承灾力综合评价

由于目前的灾害预测,预报水平还很低,人们只有深入了解各承灾体的灾能力,对承灾体作出科学的分析和评价,才能有效地做到防灾,减灾。由于各地的经济条件及自然条件不同,农田承灾力也不大一样。     

People's Biodiversity Registers: Lessons Learnt

People's Biodiversity Registers (PBR) document folk knowledge of status, uses, history, ongoing changes and forces driving changes in biodiversity resources, gainers and losers in these processes and people's perceptions of how these resources should be managed. A number of PBRs have been prepared in different parts of India beginning 1995 through initiatives of NGOs and educational institutions working with local communities and village councils. These attempts have been motivated by a desire to promote decentralised systems of management of natural resources and to create the basis for equitable sharing of benefits of commercial utilisation of folk knowledge of uses of biodiversity. The documents bring together important locality specific information on biodiversity resources and ecological processes affecting them. They lead to recognition of conservation oriented local practices such as protection of sacred groves. They help mobilise local communities to prudently manage local biodiversity resources in ways that would promote social justice. It is however important to recognise that not all folk knowledge may be valid, nor all folk practices wise, and to create systems of careful assessment of the material. There are many encouraging signs globally, as well as within India, such as the coming in force of the Convention on Biological Diversity, forces promoting decentralised democratic systems of governance and institutions of co-management of natural resources which suggest that programmes like PBR will have an important role to play in promoting conservation, sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits of biodiversity resources in the coming decades.     

榆林市生态环境承载力评价分析

榆林市是我国重要的能源矿产资源的富集地,近年来,随着社会经济的快速发展,该市的生态系统(包括资源、环境)能否承受人类社会经济活动带来的压力,以榆林市的实际情况出发,建立生态环境承载力指标体系进行评价论证,得出水资源、土地资源和固废排放等的问题最为突出,为此提出了相应的对策建议。     

贵州岩溶地基评价及处理

以贵州为例,将山区岩溶地基分为岩石地基、红粘土地基、岩土地基三类,对各类地基评价方法及处理措施进行了详细的论述,提出了一些新的评价方法及处理措施。     

城市污水处理企业QHSE评价指标体系

为尽快提高城市污水处理行业QHSE管理水平,结合城市污水处理企业的运营特点,通过分析城市污水处理企业QHSE管理的关键影响因素的反馈关系,确立了持续循环的评价步骤,构建了城市污水处理企业QHSE评价指标体系,并采用网络分析法和灰色评价法对模型进行量化处理和综合评价。并结合实际案例进行了验证,为污水处理企业提高QHSE水...     

环境监测站激励机制探讨

简述了建立公平合理激励机制的重要性,指出了地市级环境监测单位激励机制存在的问题.提出构建合理有效的员工激励机制,优化配置员工,实行任职激励;以岗定薪、全面完善薪酬体系,实行分配激励;完善绩效考核制度,配合薪酬制度改革;正确构建评价机制,实行评估激励;建立科学培训机制,实行培训激励;推进文化建设,实行环境激励.     

污染源在线监测管理中对营运方的考评

污染源在线监测管理采用第三方营运模式具有很好的优越性,但仍存在一定的问题。本文以上海市嘉定区环境监测站对该区污染源在线监测管理模式为例,对第三方营运过程中出现的问题进行探讨。详细阐述了嘉定区环境监测站对污染源在线监测管理对营运方采用技术考评的依据、考评内容,总结了技术考评的优势及其存在的问题,并提出相应的对策,最后对该考评模式进行了展望。     

Woody vegetation change in Sahelian West Africa: evidence from local knowledge

Vegetation changes in Sahelian West Africa have been increasingly investigated since 1970 due to the catastrophic droughts in the early 1970s and 1980s and the following decades with below average precipitation. In most cases this was done by remote sensing and vegetation studies. In recent years, local knowledge of farmers and pastoralists about vegetation changes has been increasingly investigated. In this paper, information from different case studies in three West African countries (Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal) was used to analyse and evaluate vegetation changes in the Sahel. In total, data were analysed from 25 villages, where the local people were asked to mention plant species and qualify their present occurrence compared to the past. In total, 111 woody species were mentioned as having changed compared to the past, of which 79% were classified as having decreased or disappeared. For each single location 8–59 different woody species were mentioned. In most cases, these are valuable species of socio-economic importance. Only 11% of the species was classified as increasing or new (0–12 were mentioned per location), the later being mainly exotic species. Ten percent were categorised differently among villages. A comparison of local knowledge from different locations provide regional scale information on endangered species and thereby crucial information for making insightful priorities for assisted regeneration, reforestation and conservation strategies.