Nonformal environmental education: a case study with farmers in a town of the South Minas Gerais state,Brazil

Brazil is a central place in the international agricultural markets and this fact has been demanding environmentally oriented agricultural practices by Brazilian farmers and professionals involved in the agricultural market chain. A concise and structured questionnaire was applied to obtain the environmental perception of a group of Brazilian farmers in a town of the south Minas Gerais state, using herbicides as the topic for a case study. A highly variable opinion about taking the environment into account when choosing the most appropriate herbicide was found. Anyway, efficacy has been indicated as the most important factor when choosing an herbicide, followed by the environment and price. The outcomes from the questionnaires, i.e. the insufficient conception and importance given to environment when choosing the herbicide, motivated the creation of a teaching-learning model for the nonformal environmental education using the concept of socio-ecological resilience. This routine puts in practice the resilience thinking currently invoked as a major tool to achieve the conservation of the socio-ecological system, as well as it is complimentary to the outcome-oriented optimization for conservation theory. For the case study about farmers and the use of herbicides, we conclude that a complex reasoning and, ultimately, pro-environmental actions can be improved after experiencing the recommended model for environmental education.     

Quantifying the sustainability of water use systems: Calculating the balance between network efficiency and resilience

In ecological network theory, network efficiency and resilience are two essential but complementary attributes of the network structure, and a balance between these factors is critical for an ecosystem's long-term sustainability. Our paper introduces this method and related concepts into water use systems to provide a new angle for sustainability quantification. In this paper, we investigate the meanings of network efficiency and resilience in the context of sustainable development of water use systems, and define sustainable systems based on the optimal balance between network efficiency and resilience. With the consideration of complex artificial characteristics of water use, we propose an optimal water use network and quantify its flows. By ascendency calculation, the balanced network structure can be determined. We then use the four sub-basins of China's Haihe River as a case study to illustrate how the optimal network can be constructed and how the optimal balance for each scenario can be calculated. The results show that the optimal balance for the sub-basins has ascendency values ranging from 0.5970 to 0.7161. By analyzing the contribution of each water use activity to network's balance structure, the location of the optimal balance in water use systems can be better understood. This research represents the first attempt to explore the balance between a network structure's efficiency and resilience as a way to quantify the sustainability of water use systems, and builds a foundation for future studies on the assessment, regulation, and management of water resources.     

地理标志农产品种植户气象灾害的适应策略研究——以陕西猕猴桃种植户为例

基于地理标志农产品种植户的实地调研数据,利用多元线性回归模型从生计维度研究种植户对猕猴桃物候期内气象灾害的感知及适应策略的影响因素。物候期内气象灾害的感知对种植户适应能力有显著影响。不同类别生计资本对于种植户采取适应策略的影响具有差异性：自然资本通过提升家庭生计基础显著影响种植户采取越冬期冻害、芽膨大期冻害适应策略;物质资本通过改善家庭生产物资形式影响种植户采取越冬期冻害适应策略;金融资本通过拓宽家庭金融收入渠道等方式显著影响种植户采取越冬期冻害、芽膨大期冻害、高温日灼灾害适应策略;社会资本通过丰富家庭同质性和异质性社会资本显著影响种植户采取夏季干旱适应策略;人力资本则通过提升家庭整体教育质量并推动再生产能力显著影响种植户采取芽膨大期冻害与秋季连阴雨适应策略。最后,建议政府应通过提升种植户获取气象信息能力、加强举办农业培训等技能学习活动、完善农业组织建设等措施以提升其适应能力。     

基于“乡土—生态”系统韧性的红色旅游资源利用空间格局优化研究——以大别山革命老区为例

红色旅游资源利用与开发将对旅游地的人地关系地域系统产生强烈扰动,基于“乡土—生态”系统韧性水平厘定红色旅游资源利用空间格局,有利于推动红色旅游资源开发与区域可持续发展共促共赢。以大别山革命老区为例,从经济、社会、文化、生态四方面构建红色旅游地“乡土—生态”系统韧性水平评价体系,并对红色旅游资源的空间特征与类型进行识别。研究结果为：（1）各县域“乡土—生态”系统韧性以中低水平为主,呈“中部高、四周低”的空间分布特征。（2）区域内各子系统韧性处于勉强协调状态,县级行政单元的协调度呈现中等水平多、较高与较低水平少的“橄榄型”等级结构。（3）红色旅游资源的冷、热点区分别位于大别山南北两侧及中心地带,呈现出“大集聚、小分散”的特征,根据其规模、影响力划为五种聚类分区。（4）依据“乡土—生态”系统韧性在红色旅游资源高富集区可通过内部要素重构向更高水平发展、在中低密度区因吸纳和适应外界扰动力较弱而与红色旅游资源开发相互抑制这一特征,初步厘定“三区、两带、三核心”的红色旅游资源利用空间格局,并针对不同区域从“乡土—生态”系统韧性视角下提出差异化建议,以期排除红色旅游资源开发对“乡土—生态”系统产生的干扰。     

流动性视角下的国土空间安全及规划应对策略

人员、物资、能源资源等要素在不同层级空间的频繁流动,持续重构人类活动与自然环境关系,并对国土空间安全产生影响。从流动性视角进行国土空间安全探讨,提出在活动承载安全、资源与生态安全基础上,应考虑要素流动与人类活动、资源环境的耦合性及其潜在风险。流动性与国土空间安全的关系可以从“流”空间与场所空间耦合、“供—流—需”协调与资源配置安全、要素流与国土空间系统韧性三个方面来表征。以生态、水、粮食、经济、社会等安全塑造为目标,立足于各类要素流对人地关系系统影响的不确定性,以及自然灾害、突发公共安全事件等极端条件下的流动性风险,通过合理引导资源配置、科学布局国土空间要素等手段,实现人类活动、自然环境系统之间的自适应与良性反馈调节,形成安全韧性的国土空间格局与框架。在国土空间规划中,需要进行要素流与国土空间开发保护的耦合协调性分析评价,建立“形”与“流”结合的国土空间结构优化分析方法,增强不同空间的功能弹性以适应要素流动和活动集聚的不确定性,建立供需协同的国土空间支撑体系。研究对提升国土空间可持续发展水平以及保障人类生存安全具有重要意义。     

Are Wastewater Systems Adapting to Climate Change?

Wastewater (WW) systems are vulnerable to extreme precipitation events; storm‐induced WW system failures pollute the environment and put public health at risk. Despite these vulnerabilities, we know very little about how WW managers are responding to current climate risks or to future climate change. This study aims to fill this critical gap in the literature. Data from surveys and interviews were used to understand what WW managers are doing to adapt to the current climate, what facilitates those adaptations, and if they are adapting to future climate change. Findings show most WW managers (78%) are making changes to build resiliency to storms they have experienced in the past (e.g., extra fuel on site, extra staff on call, more training, better communication, adding generators, elevating components, adding capacity); most are not adapting to future climate change. Our work suggests organizational leadership, concern about future climate‐related impacts, and experiencing storm impacts drive resiliency changes while regulatory requirements drive adaptation to future climate change. Beyond advancing science, our work offers practical suggestions for building WW system resilience and for increasing WW system's consideration of future climate impacts in their resiliency building efforts.     

草原生态补奖政策对农牧民牲畜养殖规模的影响——基于生计分化的调节效应分析

实现对牲畜养殖规模的有效管控是草原生态补奖政策成败的关键。在农牧民生计分化日益加深的背景下,探讨草原生态补奖政策与生计分化对农牧民牲畜养殖规模的影响,对于完善草原生态补奖政策,实现草原生态保护与农牧民生计转换的有机结合具有重要的现实意义。本文阐释了草原生态补奖政策影响农牧民牲畜养殖规模的机理,并引入生计分化变量,基于实地调研获取的317份农牧交错区农牧民微观数据,运用最小二乘回归和分位数回归实证分析了草原生态补奖政策对农牧民牲畜养殖规模的影响以及生计分化在草原生态补奖政策影响农牧民牲畜养殖规模中的调节效应。研究结果表明:①补奖金额与牲畜养殖规模之间存在稳健的“倒U型”关系,表明补奖政策在短期内对牲畜数量的增加具有积极的促进作用,但随着补奖金额的增加,促进作用将逐渐减弱,最终趋于抑制。②根据非农牧收入占比和生计对牧业生产依赖程度的差异可将农牧民分为牧业为主型、农业为主型、均衡型、高兼型和深兼型五种类型农牧民。③农牧民生计分化对牲畜养殖规模的扩大具有抑制作用,且在草原生态补奖政策与牲畜养殖规模二者关系中具有调节作用。即在“倒U型”曲线的左侧,生计分化能够弱化草原生态补奖政策对牲畜养殖规模扩大的促进作用;在“倒U型”曲线的右侧,生计分化能够促使补奖金额对牲畜养殖规模的负向影响趋于放缓,有助于避免因补奖金额的增加引致牲畜养殖数量的锐减。根据以上结论,建议政府应进一步提高补奖标准以增强补奖弥补损失的有效性,重视发挥农牧民生计分化在牲畜养殖规模调控中的作用。     

Linkages between measures of biodiversity and community resilience in Pacific Island agroforests

Designing agroecosystems that are compatible with the conservation of biodiversity is a top conservation priority. However, the social variables that drive native biodiversity conservation in these systems are poorly understood. We devised a new approach to identify social–ecological linkages that affect conservation outcomes in agroecosystems and in social‐ecological systems more broadly. We focused on coastal agroforests in Fiji, which, like agroforests across other small Pacific Islands, are critical to food security, contain much of the country's remaining lowland forests, and have rapidly declining levels of native biodiversity. We tested the relationships among social variables and native tree species richness in agroforests with structural equation models. The models were built with data from ecological and social surveys in 100 agroforests and associated households. The agroforests hosted 95 native tree species of which almost one‐third were endemic. Fifty‐eight percent of farms had at least one species considered threatened at the national or international level. The best‐fit structural equation model (R² = 47.8%) showed that social variables important for community resilience—local ecological knowledge, social network connectivity, and livelihood diversity—had direct and indirect positive effects on native tree species richness. Cash‐crop intensification, a driver of biodiversity loss elsewhere, did not negatively affect native tree richness within parcels. Joining efforts to build community resilience, specifically by increasing livelihood diversity, local ecological knowledge, and social network connectivity, may help conservation agencies conserve the rapidly declining biodiversity in the region.     

森林生态系统恢复力评价——以江西省莲花县为例

生态系统恢复力是森林资源可持续发展的中心目标之一。在明确生态系统恢复力定义和尺度的基础上,分析了森林生态系统恢复力的影响因素,从生境条件和生态存储两方面遴选出26个指标,建立了森林生态系统恢复力评价指标体系,并以江西省莲花县为案例区,采用组合赋权法确定了指标权重,通过空间叠加计算了莲花县森林生态系统恢复力。结果表明:森林生态系统恢复力主要受内部存储的影响,其权重达到0.554。莲花县森林生态系统恢复力在0.103到0.464之间,平均值为0.268,恢复力达到或超过平均水平的森林面积为37 907 hm²,占森林总面积的49.2%,整体处于较低水平;分级结果表明仅48.16%的森林达到高或较高恢复力水平;在空间分布上,莲花县森林生态系统恢复力为南高北低,南部和中部的森林大多处于高或较高恢复力水平,北部地区大部分森林处于中等、较低或低恢复力水平。此外,恢复力高的森林沿乡镇边界线分布的特点非常明显。该研究结果可为森林资源管理提供重要科学依据。