Recent changes in international commodity agreements

The contents of international commodity agreements have changed from those in which open-ended intervention mechanisms regulated the market defending a normative price to those limiting intervention so as not to obscure market forces and consequently the market price. Underlying this change is the principle to which the developed countries accorded the highest priority, namely that the interests of producing and consuming countries must balance to avoid an indiscriminate transfer of resources. On the other hand, the principles which guided agreements that set a normative price were based on the grounds that the market price determined by unequal partners was unfair and that internationally agreed developmental goals implied untied and unconditional resource transfers by means of normative, higher than market, prices. These two sets of principles were incompatible. As a result negotiations were not only difficult but inconclusive. Another reason for this outcome was that the question of the cost effectiveness of market duplicating agreements based on the principle of balanced interests was unresolved. These reasons explain why commodity agreements do not figure currently in substantive discussions on North-South cooperation and why only three commodity agreements have a functional role and even of these three, one is not in force definitively.     

The International Environmental Expert Panel for Major Dam/Reservoir Projects: The Yellow River, China

The experience of the International Expert Panel on Environment for the Xiaolangdi dam/reservoir project in China (XEP) showed that the Panel meetings resulted in a marked improvement in project environmental performance by all parties participating in project implementation, with no parties exempt from the Panel's evaluations. Unfortunately the Loan Agreement authorizes use of the Panel only through the project stages of final design and construction, hence the 12th Panel meeting, which matched project construction completion, ended this series. The Panel has recommended that some meetings of the Panel be held during the project's operations stage in order to maintain continuing attention to environmental needs. The XEP experience showed that the XEP, in addition to monitoring project environmental performance, was very valuable for (i) training of Chinese staff involved in project implementation, and (ii) serving in the role as expert consultant for guiding the work of the Chinese participants. The XEP experience also showed the need for making a clear separation between evaluation, the overall resettlement program per se, and the environmental effects of the program. The Panel recommended that the Ministry of Water Resources and World Bank cooperate in sponsoring a book on The Environmental History of the Xiaolangdi Project, including both dam construction as well as resettlement problems, which would serve as a very valuable reference for guiding environmental planning for future dam projects in China (Ludwig, H.F. 1994–2000).     

温室效应与全球变化（四）：通过国际谈判与合作减少全球人为二氧化碳的排放

在限制人为二氧化碳的排放以控制全球变化的问题上，发达国家与发展中国家之间存在着尖锐的利益冲突。目前，大气中人为增加的二氧化碳绝大中份是发达国家在过去１５０年内排放的。它们目前的排放量仍占全球人为排放量的四分之三。发展中国家在经济发展过程中不可避免地要增加二氧化碳的排放量，这是它们正当的发展权利。作者讨论了各种限制人为二氧化碳排放的国际协定方案，认为可交易的二氧化碳排放许可证制度是比较现实的方案。     

A biotechnological agenda for the third world

Third World countries should exploit the genetic information stored in their flora and fauna to develop independent and highly competitive biotechnological and pharmaceutical industries. The necessary condition for this policy to succeed is the reshaping of their universities and hospitals—to turn them into high-caliber research institutions dedicated to the creation of original knowledge and biomedical invention. Part of the service of the Third World foreign debt should be co-invested with the lending banks in high technology enterprises. This should be complemented with an active program of investments in First World biotech companies and university research departments which could contribute to the solving of problems connected with the First World. These strategic alliances would allow effective training of molecular biologists, improvement of South American universities, and education of biotechnologists, managers, and lawyers in the complexities of high-technology business. The establishment of real joint ventures between developed and underdeveloped countries might contribute to change the present strained relations between the North and the South, and science and technology could become real forces of social and economic development.     

环保国际履约中企业的资金机制分析

目前,中国参加了50多项涉及环境保护的国际条约,并积极履行这些条约规定的义务。履行这些国际条约需要中国企业的积极支持与参与,在此从中国签署的国际条约出发,分析中国企业所承担的责任和资金机制,为探讨中国POPs行动计划的企业投融资措施提供借鉴。     

内蒙古草原生态环境治理的国际合作思路

内蒙古草原面积巨大,占全国草原总面积的1/3,其草原生态环境不仅与国家生态安全紧密相连,而且对周边国家的气候、环境也会产生重大影响。本文从国际法视角出发,根据国际合作原则,依据《京都议定书》清洁能源机制,提出了内蒙古草原生态治理的国际合作思路。一要依托联合国及联合国环境规划署,开展更为广泛的环保合作项目;二要依托国际社会各种环境保护组织和环境合作机构,在《联合国气候框架公约》和《京都议定书》等国际法框架内,全面开展环境外交,寻求国际社会的多方合作;三要依托内蒙古绿色食品贸易,与环境大国展开国际合作;四要依托内蒙古绿色能源基地的建设,寻求国际合作,希望本文能对政府部门制定草原生态治理规划时有所启迪和帮助。     

我国水生生物的二甲苯基准阈值探讨及其在风险评估中的初步应用

搜集筛选了二甲苯对我国淡水生物的急、慢性毒性数据。物种涵盖了昆虫类、甲壳动物类、鱼类、两栖动物类、环节动物类、软体动物类、轮虫类和浮游植物类。数据分析表明,甲壳类生物对二甲苯最为敏感。采用美国水生生物基准技术对二甲苯水质基准进行推算,得出保护我国淡水生物的二甲苯急性基准域值为1.41 mg·L-1,慢性基准为0.57 mg·L-1。基于获得的二甲苯基准值对我国部分流域二甲苯的暴露生态风险进行初步评估,结果表明二甲苯并未对这些水体中的水生生物造成潜在风险。本研究将为二甲苯水质标准的制修订和流域水环境管理提供技术支持。     

Hydrological Responses to Climate and Land‐Use Changes along the North American East Coast: A 110‐Year Historical Reconstruction

The North American east coast (NAEC) region experienced significant climate and land‐use changes in the past century. To explore how these changes have affected land water cycling, the Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model (DLEM 2.0) was used to investigate the spatial and temporal variability of runoff and river discharge during 1901‐2010 in the study area. Annual runoff over the NAEC was 420 ± 61 mm/yr (average ± standard deviation). Runoff increased in parts of the northern NAEC but decreased in some areas of the southern NAEC. Annual freshwater discharge from the study area was 378 ± 61 km³/yr (average ± standard deviation). Factorial simulation experiments suggested that climate change and variability explained 97.5% of the interannual variability of runoff and also resulted in the opposite changes in runoff in northern and southern regions of the NAEC. Land‐use change reduced runoff by 5‐22 mm/yr from 1931 to 2010, but the impacts were divergent over the Piedmont region and Coastal Plain areas of the southern NAEC. Land‐use change impacts were more significant at local and watershed spatial scales rather than at regional scales. Different responses of runoff to changing climate and land‐use should be noted in future water resource management. Hydrological impacts of afforestation and deforestation as well as urbanization should also be noted by land‐use policy makers.     

浅水湖泊(阳澄湖)沉积物氨氧化菌的分子证据

选择长江三角洲中型浅水湖泊--阳澄湖,应用分子生物学方法鉴定淡水系统底质中的厌氧氨氧化细菌和好氧氨氧化细菌.试验设计三组厌氧氨氧化特异性巢式引物,对沉积物细菌的16S rRNA进行特异性扩增.其中,引物对AMX368f-AMX820r从底质中扩增出了anammox特异性序列,系统发育分析表明样品序列分别与Candidatus brocadia fulgida、Candidatus brocadia anammoxidans和Candidatus scalindua属近似.应用amoA基因特异性探针在底质中扩增出的好氧氨氧化菌序列,均属于Betaproteobacteria.本研究提供了阳澄湖中好氧氨氧化菌与厌氧氨氧化菌共存的分子证据.     

绿色技术推广：经验借鉴、策略梳理及匹配分析

绿色技术推广是促进绿色科技成果转化,推动社会经济发展绿色转型的重要支撑。本文将绿色技术依据其应对的生态环境问题划分为清洁、循环、低碳3类技术,并挑选了10类关键技术领域作为研究对象。基于对美国、日本、欧盟等发达国家和地区绿色技术推广代表性领域的回顾分析,从政府、企业、中介组织、金融机构、科研院所等推广主体出发梳理出10类绿色技术推广的共性策略,并讨论了当前绿色技术推广的主要障碍。根据各类绿色技术的发展阶段和市场应用情况,就清洁技术的大气污染防治、污水处理、土壤修复和生态养殖技术,循环技术的资源循环利用和垃圾资源化处理技术,低碳技术的工业节能、新能源发电、新能源汽车和绿色建筑技术,分别提出了未来进行技术推广可优先采用的推广策略和特色化举措。