Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution in China: Causes and Mitigation Measures

Non-point source (NPS) pollution has been increasingly serious in China since the 1990s. The increases of agricultural NPS pollution in China is evaluated for the period 2000-2008 by surveying the literature on water and soil pollution from fertilizers and pesticides, and assessing the surplus nitrogen balance within provinces. The main causes for NPS pollution were excessive inputs of nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides, which were partly the result of the inadequate agricultural extension services and the rapid expansion of intensive livestock production with little of waste management. The annual application of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides in China increased by 50.7 and 119.7%, respectively, during 1991-2008. The mitigation measures to reduce NPS pollution include: correct distortion in fertilizer prices; improve incentives for the recycling of organic manure; provide farmers with better information on the sound use of agro-chemicals; and tighten the regulations and national standards on organic waste disposal and pesticides use.     

珠三角地区POPs农药的污染现状及控制对策

概述了中国及国际社会对持久性有机污染物（Persistent Organic Pollutants,POPs）的关注情况。并通过对POPs农药在珠江三角洲地区（Pearl River Delta Area,PRD）使用情况的调查，以及对珠江三角洲地区POPs农药在各环境介质中的污染现状的文献综述，结合环境污染数据以及POPs农药污染调查工作中得到的数据和信息，对该地区POPs污染的可能原因和环境中可能存在的新近污染源进行了初步探讨。同时也指出了当前珠江三角洲地区在POPs农药削减与淘汰工作中所遭遇到的缺乏完善的管理体系等困难，并针对问题提出了包括加大科研投入，加强基础研究，掌握污染物来源和去向，加强替代药物的研究，建立和实施更严格的环境法规以及标准，加强环境监测能力建设，建立POPs农药污染的信息公开机制等一系列的控制对策。     

后金融危机时期中国环保投融资策略研究

后金融危机时代,不管是金融市场,还是全球经济格局都发生了巨大变化。我国环保投融资存在着投资总量不足、投融资主体环保执行力不足,环保效果不佳等问题;为应对国际金融危机带来的深刻影响,有效化解后危机时代的发展困境,需要针对国家金融调控、信贷政策带来的变化,加倍关注资本市场体系发展的变化、融资渠道和融资工具的创新运用,通过制定更加具有灵活性和针对性的政府建设项目投融资规划和发展战略规划,以实现环保投融资平台的健康、可持续发展。在剖析存在问题原因的基础上提出了我国环保投融资策略,包括拓宽投融资渠道,构建多元投资主体,壮大环保投融资规模;加强管理,强化各投融资主体的环保执行力,提高环保投融资效益;创新环保投融资机制,建立多层次的环保投融资风险责任分担机制。     

我国东部沿海地区蔬菜中重金属累积分布特征及居民膳食暴露评估

采用电感耦合等离子体质谱仪(ICP-MS)分析了我国东部北方和南方沿海地区市售叶类、根茎类、瓜果类、豆类及食用菌5类蔬菜样品中6种有害金属元素(Cr、Ni、As、Cd、Hg和Pb)及5种人体必需金属元素(Mn、Fe、Cu、Zn和Se)的累积水平,并研究了其在不同蔬菜样品中的分布特征.结果表明,所有蔬菜样品中的6种有害金属水平均远低于国家食品安全标准规定的最高限量,居民食用这些蔬菜不存在明显的非致癌风险,但因食用蔬菜导致的无机砷暴露有10^-5水平的潜在致癌风险.蔬菜对有害金属和必需金属的累积呈现出明显的同步趋势(P <0.01).相比其他蔬菜,食用菌表现出对有害金属及必需金属更高的累积水平,提醒人们需加强对食用菌中重金属污染的监测工作.     

多次进水-曝气的好氧颗粒污泥系统实验

选用SBR反应器R1和R2接种污水处理厂活性污泥,以生活污水为进水,分别采用一次进水-曝气策略和多次进水-曝气策略运行,对运行过程中粒径变化及处理效果进行研究.实验表明,运行56和39 d后R1和R2成功实现污泥颗粒化;稳定运行后R1和R2中出水COD、 TN和TP浓度(mg·L^-1)分别为29.7、 13.7、 0.31和19.2、 8.1、 0.37,去除率分别为87.7%、 75.6%、 95.1%和90.1%、 85.6%、 94.2%,其中颗粒平均粒径达到740μm和791μm.结果表明,相同运行时间下,R2中的出水NO^-₃-N浓度和出水TP浓度低于R1.运行后期,R1和R2中DPAO占全部PAOs的比值由最初11.17%分别增至25.47%和34.08%.与一次进水-曝气策略相比,采用多次进水-曝气策略运行在启动初期系统内NO^-₃-N浓度较低,PAOs受到的冲击更小,DPAO富集情况更好,除磷性能更好,利于AGS的形成.     

Application of Fair Trade certification for wild plants: lessons from a FairWild project in India

Based on a study of an experimental wild plant certification project implemented within a tribal community in India, this paper explores how wild plant collectors respond to two contradictory objectives of certification, namely, conserving a targeted plant species while promoting its sale. By providing economic incentives through certification, the project aimed to induce a shift from the collection of immature berries to mature berries from a targeted tree species. However, the majority of the collectors increased their harvests of mature berries while continuing to collect the same quantities of immature berries. This unanticipated project outcome can be attributed to the unique nature of wild plants as an uncertain income source that requires no investment. Evidently, collectors have developed their own concepts of ecological and economic sustainability derived from this unique income source endowed by nature, and have incorporated the new economic opportunity into their own natural resource management strategies.     

Beehive fences as a multidimensional conflict‐mitigation tool for farmers coexisting with elephants

Increasing habitat fragmentation and human population growth in Africa has resulted in an escalation in human–elephant conflict between small‐scale farmers and free‐ranging African elephants (Loxodonta Africana). In 2012 Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) implemented the national 10‐year Conservation and Management Strategy for the Elephant in Kenya, which includes an action aimed at testing whether beehive fences can be used to mitigate human–elephant conflict. From 2012 to 2015, we field‐tested the efficacy of beehive fences to protect 10 0.4‐ha farms next to Tsavo East National Park from elephants. We hung a series of beehives every 10 m around the boundary of each farm plot. The hives were linked with strong wire. After an initial pilot test with 2 farms, the remaining 8 of 10 beehive fences also contained 2‐dimensional dummy hives between real beehives to help reduce the cost of the fence. Each trial plot had a neighboring control plot of the same size within the same farm. Of the 131 beehives deployed 88% were occupied at least once during the 3.5‐year trial. Two hundred and fifty‐three elephants, predominantly 20–45 years old entered the community farming area, typically during the crop‐ ripening season. Eighty percent of the elephants that approached the trial farms were kept out of the areas protected by the beehive fences, and elephants that broke a fence were in smaller than average groups. Beehive fences not only kept large groups of elephants from invading the farmland plots but the farmers also benefited socially and financially from the sale of 228 kg of elephant‐friendly honey. As news of the success of the trial spread, a further 12 farmers requested to join the project, bringing the number of beehive fence protected farms to 22 and beehives to 297. This demonstrates positive adoption of beehive fences as a community mitigation tool. Understanding the response of elephants to the beehive fences, the seasonality of crop raiding and fence breaking, and the willingness of the community to engage with the mitigation method will help contribute to future management strategies for this high human–elephant conflict hotspot and other similar areas in Kenya.     

Slow recovery of tropical old‐field rainforest regrowth and the value and limitations of active restoration

There is current debate about the potential for secondary regrowth to rescue tropical forests from an otherwise inevitable cascade of biodiversity loss due to land clearing and scant evidence to test how well active restoration may accelerate recovery. We used site chronosequences to compare developmental trajectories of vegetation between self‐organized (i.e., spontaneous) forest regrowth and biodiversity plantings (established for ecological restoration, with many locally native tree species at high density) in the Australian wet tropics uplands. Across 28 regrowth sites aged 1–59 years, some structural attributes reached reference rainforest levels within 40 years, whereas wood volume and most tested components of native plant species richness (classified by species’ origins, family, and ecological functions) reached less than 50% of reference rainforest values. Development of native tree and shrub richness was particularly slow among species that were wind dispersed or animal dispersed with large (>10 mm) seeds. Many species with animal‐dispersed seeds were from near‐basal evolutionary lineages that contribute to recognized World Heritage values of the study region. Faster recovery was recorded in 25 biodiversity plantings of 1–25 years in which wood volume developed more rapidly; native woody plant species richness reached values similar to reference rainforest and was better represented across all dispersal modes; and species from near‐basal plant families were better (although incompletely) represented. Plantings and regrowth showed slow recovery in species richness of vines and epiphytes and in overall resemblance to forest in species composition. Our results can inform decision making about when and where to invest in active restoration and provide strong evidence that protecting old‐growth forest is crucially important for sustaining tropical biodiversity.     

Role of Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries in Snow Leopard Conservation

The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) inhabits the rugged mountains in 12 countries of Central Asia, including the Tibetan Plateau. Due to poaching, decreased abundance of prey, and habitat degradation, it was listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 1972. Current conservation strategies, including nature reserves and incentive programs, have limited capacities to protect snow leopards. We investigated the role of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in snow leopard conservation in the Sanjiangyuan region in China's Qinghai Province on the Tibetan Plateau. From 2009 to 2011, we systematically surveyed snow leopards in the Sanjiangyuan region. We used the MaxEnt model to determine the relation of their presence to environmental variables (e.g., elevation, ruggedness) and to predict snow leopard distribution. Model results showed 89,602 km² of snow leopard habitat in the Sanjiangyuan region, of which 7674 km² lay within Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve's core zones. We analyzed the spatial relation between snow leopard habitat and Buddhist monasteries and found that 46% of monasteries were located in snow leopard habitat and 90% were within 5 km of snow leopard habitat. The 336 monasteries in the Sanjiangyuan region could protect more snow leopard habitat (8342 km²) through social norms and active patrols than the nature reserve's core zones. We conducted 144 household interviews to identify local herders’ attitudes and behavior toward snow leopards and other wildlife. Most local herders claimed that they did not kill wildlife, and 42% said they did not kill wildlife because it was a sin in Buddhism. Our results indicate monasteries play an important role in snow leopard conservation. Monastery‐based snow leopard conservation could be extended to other Tibetan Buddhist regions that in total would encompass about 80% of the global range of snow leopards. Papel de los Monasterios Budistas Tibetanos en la Conservación del Leopardo de las Nieves     

风电机组抗冰冻设计

我国南方高海拔风电场冬季温度低、湿度大,风电机组受冰冻影响非常普遍,且较为严重,冰冻现象导致风电机组发电量损失,甚至引发严重的安全事故。针对南方风电场环境,提出风电机组抗冰冻设计。桨叶同时采用被动式涂层技术和主动式加热技术;风速风向仪选用抗冰冻超声波式;导流罩和机舱罩外壳采用流线型设计;控制程序采用机组冰载报警和主动除冰控制策略等。采用的抗冰冻设计应用于云南某风电场样机,有效地解决了风电机组覆冰现象,发电量明显高于同类型其他机组,为风电机组抗冰冻设计提供了一定的指导。