Modeling Wetland Plant Community Response to Assess Water-Level Regulation Scenarios in the Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River Basin

The International Joint Commission has recently completed a five-year study (2000–2005) to review the operation of structures controlling the flows and levels of the Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River system. In addition to addressing the multitude of stakeholder interests, the regulation plan review also considers environmental sustainability and integrity of wetlands and various ecosystem components. The present paper outlines the general approach, scientific methodology and applied management considerations of studies quantifying the relationships between hydrology and wetland plant assemblages (% occurrence, surface area) in Lake Ontario and the Upper and Lower St. Lawrence River. Although similar study designs were used across the study region, different methodologies were required that were specifically adapted to suit the important regional differences between the lake and river systems, range in water-level variations, and confounding factors (geomorphic types, exposure, sediment characteristics, downstream gradient of water quality, origin of water masses in the Lower River). Performance indicators (metrics), such as total area of wetland in meadow marsh vegetation type, that link wetland response to water levels will be used to assess the effects of different regulation plans under current and future (climate change) water-supply scenarios.The Canadian Crown reserves the right to retain a non-exclusive, royalty free licence in and to any copyright.     

COMPARATIVE BASES OF INDUSTRY POLLUTION ABATEMENT AND COMMERCIAL INNOVATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT: Adoption, maintenance, and operation of pollution control technology by manufacturing firms is essential to effective water resource management. In this study of 102 industries, we find that company adoption of pollution control technology and practices is primarily associated with two factors: (1) the overall company capacity for innovation in its production technology; and (2) company relationships with state and federal pollution control agencies, local government officials and professionals. Managerial attitudes about pollution and government regulation are not associated with either pollution control or commercial innovation, but are seen as basic to industry-government relationships. The data suggest an important regulatory dilemma, the problem of regulating a large number of small companies with a low capacity for innovation, but which when taken together account for large volumes of toxic effluent.     

环境规制的界定、分类与演进研究

受Chipko运动启发,本文对环境规制的内涵做了重新界定.基于这一界定,将环境规制分为显性环境规制和隐性环境规制,其中,显性环境规制又分为命令控制型环境规制、以市场为基础的激励性环境规制和自愿性环境规制;分析了不同类型环境规制的内涵与特征等,着重提出了隐性环境规制这一全新范畴,并对其涵义、生成与作用模式进行了初步的研究;从规制主体、规制对象、规制成本和效率等方面探讨了不同环境规制闻的联系与区别;研究了环境规制的演变过程.本文的意义在于,对政府而言,对隐性环境规制的探索,可能扩大了政府环保策略的选择与运用空间;对企业来说,则打开了长期为人们所忽略的一个"环境规制黑箱",丰富了人们对企业环境决策变量的认识,为改善和优化企业的环境决策提供了理论基础.     

基于Internet的交通道口事故监测管理系统的研究

传统的道路交通监测存在不足之处 ,相应的路口自动监测力量犹显薄弱。对诸如闯红灯 ,闯单禁行线 ,超速等交通违章行为缺乏现代化的监测、取证等必要手段。笔者提出基于Internet的道路交通违章监测系统 ,有效地利用先进的通信及计算机技术 ,为提高交通道口的管理水平 ,确认违章事故提供了手段 ,并对此系统进行深入地分析和设计 ,同时通过实例证明 ,该系统违章监测和事故确认具有的有效性和可操作性。     

异质性企业环境责任与碳绩效的关系研究：媒体关注和环境规制的联合调节效应

“双碳”愿景下微观企业层面的环境责任受到更多关注。本文运用Python获取2014—2019年中国A股上市工业企业数据,分析了异质性企业环境责任对碳绩效的影响,探讨了媒体关注和环境规制在其中的联合调节效应。研究表明：履行前瞻型环境责任和反应型环境责任均对企业碳绩效有显著的增进作用;媒体关注可以正向调节前瞻型企业环境责任和碳绩效的关系,但在反应型企业环境责任与碳绩效间的调节作用不显著。进一步研究发现：环境规制与媒体关注在反应型企业环境责任和碳绩效间产生正向联合调节作用,而在前瞻型环境责任与碳绩效间的联合调节作用不显著。研究结果支持了政府和媒体对企业环境责任的正式和非正式治理效果,进而提高了企业碳绩效的作用逻辑,拓展了对企业碳绩效影响因素以及异质性企业环境责任的理论研究,将环境治理他治和自治相结合,为多元环境治理主体协同联动推进“双碳”目标顺利实现提供新思路和参考证据。     

The German packaging ordinance: the questionable effects of a fragmentary solid waste management approach

Germany seems to be one of the leading nations in solid waste management, especially in the case of packaging waste; success stories about the ongoing increase in recycling strengthen this impression. However, enormous costs and questionable ecological benefits are the result of Germany's packaging ordinance and the formation of the recycling organization Duales System Deutschland (DSD). This article shows that similar progress in the reduction and recycling of packaging could have been realized without the packaging ordinance and dual system, with lower costs. This regulatory impact analysis of the German packaging ordinance covers all the effects on the different life-cycle stages of packaging, from production to recycling or disposal. The conclusion is that a fragmentary solid waste management approach – one that is based, like the German packaging ordinance, more on ideology than on facts – leads to enormous costs and questionable ecological benefits. To improve this situation, there is a need for an integrated solid waste management approach, based on evaluation of the economic, environmental, and social effects of different waste management options for the materials involved. Received: February 4, 1999 / Accepted: April 30, 1999     

调水调沙对黄河口海域大型底栖动物群落的影响

于2013年调水调沙前(未开始)、中、后(结束)分别对黄河口海域18个监测站进行了3个航次的大型底栖动物调查,对调水调沙期间大型底栖动物与环境因子的关系进行了研究. 结果表明:3次调查共发现大型底栖动物118种,生物量在调水调沙前、中、后分别为(4.31±1.43)、(5.57±3.85)和(4.04±1.38)g/m2,栖息密度分别为(241±59)、(173±44)和(199±40)ind/m2,并且3次调查期间的生物量和栖息密度均无显著差异(P>0.05);调水调沙期间优势种更替不明显;Shannon-Wiener多样性指数等级在调水调沙前、后均评价为“好”,调水调沙期间为“中等”. 冗余分析表明,除少数机会种和污染指示种外,多数大型底栖动物对环境因子的生态需求为深水、高pH、高盐度和高ρ(DO)(DO为溶解氧). 调水调沙影响范围为调查扇面的东北及河口海域,出现软体动物死亡、多毛类机会种等数量大幅增加的现象. BOPA(底栖动物多毛类机会种和端足目动物)指数和环境因子统计分析显示,调水调沙期间大部分站位环境质量良好,河口污染有加重趋势.      

A framework to measure the wildness of managed large vertebrate populations

As landscapes continue to fall under human influence through habitat loss and fragmentation, fencing is increasingly being used to mitigate anthropogenic threats and enhance the commercial value of wildlife. Subsequent intensification of management potentially erodes wildness by disembodying populations from landscape-level processes, thereby disconnecting species from natural selection. Tools are needed to measure the degree to which populations of large vertebrate species in formally protected and privately owned wildlife areas are self-sustaining and free to adapt. We devised a framework to measure such wildness based on 6 attributes relating to the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of vertebrates (space, disease and parasite resistance, exposure to predation, exposure to limitations and fluctuations of food and water supply, and reproduction). For each attribute, we set empirical, species-specific thresholds between 5 wildness states based on quantifiable management interventions. We analysed data from 205 private wildlife properties with management objectives spanning ecotourism to consumptive utilization to test the framework on 6 herbivore species representing a range of conservation statuses and commercial values. Wildness scores among species differed significantly, and the proportion of populations identified as wild ranged from 12% to 84%, which indicates the tool detected site-scale differences both among populations of different species and populations of the same species under different management regimes. By quantifying wildness, this framework provides practitioners with standardized measurement units that link biodiversity with the sustainable use of wildlife. Applications include informing species management plans at local scales; standardizing the inclusion of managed populations in red-list assessments; and providing a platform for certification and regulation of wildlife-based economies. Applying this framework may help embed wildness as a normative value in policy and mitigate the shifting baseline of what it means to truly conserve a species.     

环境规制对技术创新效率的影响分析——基于创新链视角的两阶段实证检验

新古典经济学理论认为,严格的环境规制会提高污染治理成本,挤占技术创新活动的资金,对技术创新产生"挤出效应"。而"波特假说"认为,长期内适当的环境规制政策将对企业的科技创新活动起到刺激性推动作用,可弥补因规制而增加的额外成本,从而形成"创新补偿效应"。这个观点表明环境规制对于企业的技术创新可能存在非线性影响效应。另外,技术创新要经历研究开发阶段与成果转化阶段,即从资源投入到产生经济效益的过程。本文基于系统观和创新链视角,创新性地构建两阶段关联DEA模型测算技术创新活动的投入产出效率,并运用中国2011——2017年间的省级面板数据进行回归检验,探讨环境规制强度对研究开发阶段和成果转化阶段技术创新效率的非线性影响效应,同时将中国划分为东部、中西部两大区域分别考察,进一步揭示环境规制对技术创新效率影响的空间异质性和阶段性特点,最后提出相应政策建议。