Science as a “fixed point”? Quantification and boundary objects in international climate politics

Our understanding of climate change is dominated by quantified scientific knowledge, with science and politics usually seen as operating separately and autonomously from one another. By investigating a particular fact box in the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), this paper challenges the assumption that science and policy can be clearly delineated. The so-called “Bali Box” gained a prominent role in negotiations leading up to the Copenhagen Conference in 2009, as it was widely seen as providing a “fixed point” – a quantified scientific answer to the question of equitable effort-sharing between North and South. This understanding of the Bali Box triggered a backlash, however, when the hybrid character of the box as an assemblage of science, political considerations and moral judgements became evident to actors in the negotiations. The paper employs the notion of boundary objects to analyse the history of the Bali Box, and argues that climate politics will benefit from a richer understanding of the interplay between science and policy. Moving beyond characterizations that place the Bali Box on either side of a clear boundary between the scientific and the political, we suggest focusing instead on what the Box as a hybrid product is doing, i.e. how it simplifies and quantifies, what it covers and what it leaves outside.     

What use is CRELE? A response to Dunn and Laing

This paper responds to an original research article by Gemma Dunn and Matthew Laing in volume 76 of this journal. Their article describes an empirical study on the demand-side of the science-policy interface, and proposes a new framework by which to evaluate and/or design effective knowledge systems for influencing policymaking. In doing so, they also critique the commonly used CRELE framework, and propose that their alternative ACTA framework better summarises the most important aspects of scientific research for influencing decision-making. In response, this paper highlights some ambiguities commonly arising from the use of CRELE, to which Dunn and Laing have also succumbed, alongside ambiguities within CRELE itself, which they have failed to address. These difficulties highlight how empirical evidence of the sort collected by Dunn and Laing should not alone determine the worth of any knowledge-systems framework. This paper then discusses the dangers arising from a framework such as ACTA, were it to be used instead, and concludes that although CRELE is flawed, it does at least point to appropriate priorities for the use of evidence in public decision-making.     

Decline of ‘biodiversity’ in conservation policy discourse in Australia

Market-based instruments along with conceptualizing the environment as a collection of ‘ecosystem services’ has become increasingly common within environmental and conservation policy. This kind of thinking is also increasingly prominent in the public discourse surrounding environment and conservation policy, particularly in the context of communicating the importance of policy measures. Language used in public discourse can have a powerful influence on how people engage with policy issues, and changes within the biodiversity and conservation discourse may have consequences for public engagement in conservation. We explored how these factors are changing with time by documenting the use of the terms ‘bio’ and the prevalence of economic language in the text of 3553 media releases between 2003 and 2014 from the Australian Government environment portfolio, and 1064 media releases from the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF). Results show that in the last decade, the term ‘biodiversity’ has become less prevalent whilst economic language has increased in both Australian Government and ACF communication. A further content analysis in a subsample of 745 media releases explored the prevalence of ecosystem services framing, results indicating that it has become a mainstream concept. While this may reflect a strategic response by these agencies to better engage with both the general public and decision makers within what is an increasingly dominant neoliberal paradigm, we argue it may also have unintended (possibly adverse) impacts on how people think about and engage with biodiversity conservation.     

Gender in integrated water management: an analysis of variation

Gender is an important variable in water use, policy, and intervention. This article explores this variation and its policy implications. Concepts are applied in several case studies to draw generic conclusions. Variation is related to the purpose of water use (consumptive or productive) and to the local, culture-specific patterns of the intra-household organization of consumption for family welfare (which includes domestic water provision) and income-generation (for which water is an input, especially in rural areas). For domestic water use, the intra-household sharing of unpaid domestic responsibilities is a key gender issue. Water for productive use, on the other hand, is embedded in the gendered organization of household economic activity, as elaborated for smallholder-irrigated agriculture. In female-managed and dual farming systems, where a high proportion of farm decision-makers are women, irrigation agencies need to better target their support. In male-managed farming systems, however, the majority of women lack their own farm enterprise in which water is an input. Women's access to land, markets and credits besides access to water, is at stake. To conclude, given the strong variation in water use along gender lines, gender analysis is indispensable for any concrete water policy and intervention.     

国外私人水坝安全管理政策及其对我国的启示

小型水坝数目多 ,分布广 ,安全管理困难。笔者研究了西方发达国家的私人水坝管理政策的基本准则、主要内容、管理方案的选取等问题 ,并针对我国处于产权市场化改革的水利工程的安全管理问题提出了几点具体建议     

Adaptation options in agriculture to climate change: a typology

Adaptation in agriculture to climate change is important for impact andvulnerability assessment and for the development of climate change policy. A wide variety of adaptation options has been proposed as having thepotential to reduce vulnerability of agricultural systems to risks related toclimate change, often in an ad hoc fashion. This paper develops atypology of adaptation to systematically classify and characterize agriculturaladaptation options to climate change, drawing primarily on the Canadiansituation. In particular, it differentiates adaptation options in agricultureaccording to the involvement of different agents (producers, industries,governments); the intent, timing and duration of employment of theadaptation; the form and type of the adaptive measure; and the relationshipto processes already in place to cope with risks associated with climatestresses. A synthesis of research on adaptation options in Canadianagriculture identifies four main categories: (i) technological developments,(ii) government programs and insurance, (iii) farm production practices,and (iv) farm financial management. In addition to these `directadaptations', there are options, particularly information provision, that maystimulate adaptation initiatives. The results reveal that most adaptationoptions are modifications to on-going farm practices and public policydecision-making processes with respect to a suite of changing climatic(including variability and extremes) and non-climatic conditions (political,economic and social). For progress on implementing adaptations to climatechange in agriculture there is a need to better understand the relationshipbetween potential adaptation options and existing farm-level andgovernment decision-making processes and risk management frameworks.     

经济体制改革对环境保护的影响及其政策调整

本文研究了我国由计划经济体制向市场经济体制转变过程中对环境保护产生的积极作用及其面临的问题，探索了适应社会主义市场经济体制实现环境与经济可持续发展的政策措施。     

我国环境保护政策框架体系改革的几点思考

针对当前越来越热的“环保改革”话题，从现实和发展两个方面详细阐述了环保改革的必要性和目标，指出了改革中的重点和难点问题，强调必须建立新的管理体制和政策框架，在此基础上提出了推进和完善排污权交易试点的对策建议。     

走向更为积极的气候变化政策与管理

我国目前应对气候变化的策略表现为：将气候变化政策视为可持续发展政策的一部分；在参与全球气候变化的国际协议方面有着鲜明立场；重视气候变化方面的科学研究；把气候变化问题作为环境外交的重要部分；努力吸引公众参与等方面。但在政策的制定和执行中仍缺乏应有的积极性、主动性和前瞳性。我国的气候变化治理结构存在的问题主要包括：缺乏明确的决策机构和执行机构。科学研究对政策制定的支持能力不足，公众参与薄弱．企业减缓气候变化的动力不足。针对这些问题．提出了以“走向更为积极的气候变化政策与管理”为核心的改进治理结构的政策建议。     

绿色农业产地环境的生态补偿政策绩效评价

安全的产地环境为绿色农产品生产和绿色农业可持续发展奠定了良好的物质基础,是保证消费者食品安全的源头。农业生态补偿是通过综合利用行政、法律、经济等手段,对造成农业生态环境污染、农业生态破坏的个人和组织的负外部性行为进行收费(税),对恢复、维持和增强农业生态系统服务功能做出贡献的个人和组织的正外部性行为给予经济补偿的一种制度。为了了解区域绿色农业产地环境生态补偿政策的实施效果,本文以武汉市重要的农产品生产和供应基地东西湖区为例,运用层次分析法与模糊综合分析法,以生态价值、经济价值和社会价值为价值取向,构建了包括职能指标、效益指标、潜力指标3个一级指标,10个二级指标和39个三级指标体系,对东西湖区农业生态补偿政策实施绩效进行评价。评价结果表明,东西湖区在实施绿色农业产地环境生态补偿政策前后效益变化分值差都在30以上,最低变化值为31.42,最高变化值为59.75。其中,政策目的设计、政策战略规划、政策反馈指标、经济效益、生态效益、社会效益和行政组织建设等方面的变化值都在50以上,政策实施管理指标、资源利用、农业生态补偿技术的变化值都在30以上。由此可以看出,绿色农业产地环境生态补偿政策发挥了一定的作用,但还有进一步提升空间。为此,要加强绿色农业产地环境生态补偿政策实施管理,提高绿色农业产地环境生态资本利用效率,提升绿色农业产地环境生态补偿技术水平。