Amounts of pesticides reaching target pests: Environmental impacts and ethics

Less than 0.1% of pesticides applied for pest control reach their target pests. Thus, more than 99.9% of pesticides used move into the environment where they adversely affect public health and beneficial biota, and contaminate soil, water, and the atmosphere of the ecosystem. Improved pesticide application technologies can improve pesticide use efficiency and protect public health and the environment.     

中国农业净碳汇时空演化特征分析

论文以全国范围县级单元为研究对象,对1991—2011年长达21 a的农业净碳汇时空格局变化规律展开了深入分析。研究表明：1）从时间变化角度可以发现,整体上我国农业在长达21 a内均以净碳汇为主,并且总体上处于波动上升趋势,农业净碳汇净增93.7%;2）我国农业碳汇结构相对比较稳定,稻谷、小麦和玉米三者共同占到了80%左右,而碳源结构则在1991—2011年间发生了较大变化,由1991年农药为主,化肥、牛为辅转变成为化肥为主,农药、地膜、牛为辅的结构;3）空间分布方面,我国县域农业净碳汇量地区间差距在不断缩小,存在4种农业碳生态类型区;4）1991—2011年间净碳汇为负值的县级单元数量增多,并且在空间上主要分布于西南地区与内蒙古。农业种植量相对较小,作物生长碳吸收不明显,单位产量农业投入要素多以及农业类型以畜牧业为主是这些地区农业净碳汇为负值的主要原因。     

西藏地区水电开发的低碳效益评价

论文针对西藏水电开发及外送在我国优化能源资源配置、调整能源结构和控制CO₂排放中的重要地位,综合考虑受电区火力发电的供电煤耗、CO₂排放水平及其动态变化,开展西藏地区水电开发的化石燃料替代、CO₂减排等低碳效益评价。结果表明：1）2006—2012年西藏水电开发的化石燃料替代效应和CO₂减排效应变化具有明显的波动性;2）不同技术水平下西藏水电开发的化石燃料替代效应存在明显差异,华中电网技术水平下西藏水电开发的化石燃料替代量最大,西北、西藏电网技术水平下次之,全国电网技术水平下最小;3）不同排放水平下西藏水电开发的CO₂减排效应也存在明显差异,西藏电网排放水平下西藏水电开发的CO₂减排量最大,西北、华中电网排放水平下次之;4）西藏水电未来开发的化石燃料替代潜力和CO₂减排潜力突出,2030年西藏水电开发的化石燃料替代量超过2012年西北电网5省区火电燃料消耗总量的75%;与其他排放水平相比,2030年华中电网排放水平下西藏水电开发的CO₂减排量相对较小,但仍然超过2013年阿根廷、巴基斯坦、越南等国能源消费的CO₂排放量。因此,西藏水电开发及外送对于我国推动能源结构低碳化、实现2030年应对气候变化国家自主行动目标等具有重要意义。     

Industrial ecology flows of agriculture and food industry in Finland: utilizing by-products and wastes

Although half of the administrative units in China are said to have implemented their local Agenda 21, the promotion of sustainable communities is not pervasive. In this paper, we adopted a relatively untried mode of analysis and a socio-economic context to illustrate the potentials and failures of China's grassroots local government bodies in achieving sustainable waste management. Our study shows that, among the three main functions of sustainable waste management (ensuring environmental hygiene, provision of recycling logistics and changing the consumption pattern of the local community) for local governments, grassroots local government bodies in mainland China are only able to do the minimum, i.e. ensuring environmental hygiene and handling complaints. One of the reasons for the failure is that, despite the emphasis on capacity building in China's Agenda 21, the reality is that no action is taken to empower grassroots local government. Despite the high profile accorded by the Chinese central government to motivating local governments to formulate their own Agenda 21, local sustainability and waste management performance have little relevance to the appraisal systems of these government agents.     

广东货船水运的温室气体排放和低碳发展对策

作为我国港口大省和低碳试点省,广东需先行测算船舶水运的GHG(温室气体)排放量基线,以探究低碳水运对策. 通过文献调研收集适用数据和资料,基于引擎功率法,测算了广东抵港货船在2010年的GHG排放量. 结果表明:广东专属经济区海域内货船水运的GHG总排放量为2887×104t,不确定性在-36%~45%之间,其中在领海区域内的排放量为730×104t;远洋集装箱船是GHG最大排放源,占总排放量的43%;集装箱船、干散货船、油轮和其他货船的GHG排放量不确定性均介于-30%~50%之间,远洋货船的主引擎在正常航行模式下输出功率是最主要的不确定性源. 基于分析船舶水运的GHG排放特征,提出船舶减速、向远洋货船供应岸电和内河货船主引擎转用天然气共3项低碳节能措施,共可减排40%的GHG排放量.该研究结果不仅为广东低碳水运发展提供基础性的GHG排放数据,也可为其他港口地区提供估算水运业GHG排放量的技术方法参考和实践经验.      

Indicators of sustainability as a tool in agricultural development: partitioning scientific and participatory processes

SUMMARY

Sustainable indicators have become popular tools by which policymakers can assess progress towards a more sustainable agriculture. Varying approaches to defining sustainability lead to disagreement about the value of indicators and yet some form of measurement is required so that society can judge the effects of policy. Environmental and social problems and their causes span national boundaries. An international framework for assessing agricultural activities, their effects and the pressures that drive those activities is therefore required. However, a guiding principle of the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development is that global problems require local action. Thus, indicators must provide information for policymakers as well as guidance for farmers and other practitioners. Many indicator programmes currently proposed do not provide this level of guidance as no evaluation as to what level of activity is sustainable has been agreed. A model is presented, to show how scientific and political or participatory approaches may be combined to meet the multiple objectives of involving people, maintaining scientific integrity and providing guidance for policymakers and practitioners alike.     

Assessing the relative impacts of the factors affecting MIS adoption process

Micro-irrigation systems (MIS) have been at the forefront of policy-making and social research in exploring determinants that could potentially impact the adoption of MIS technologies in the field to fulfil the basic aim of enhanced agricultural productivity and enriched nutritional quality of the produce with optimal adoption of natural resources. Therefore, this study was undertaken to determine why MIS technologies have not been adopted to the extent anticipated, so that suitable policy schemes, promotional schemes and socio-technical frameworks could be formulated for their enhanced adoption to enhance the socio-economic status of the farming community in the Dahod district of Gujarat State, India. A study of 350 non-MIS (NMIS) and 350 MIS farmers was conducted to identify factors affecting the MIS adoption process. The logit model was fitted using XLSTAT software (XLSTAT 2014.1.04) to the explanatory variables (determinants) of the MIS adoption process. Type III analysis and ANOVA were conducted to test the relative significance of the explanatory variables adopted. It was found that total income had the highest weight (or beta coefficient, i.e. 0.625) followed by total land area (0.546), motor horsepower (0.499), dependency ratio (0.397), and education (0.295) and age of household head (0.207). Furthermore, to assess the efficacy of the logit model, the ROC curve was also developed and the AUC was found to be 0.881, and therefore the model was considered to discriminate well in identifying the factors affecting the MIS adoption process. The study found that higher total income and education level increase the likelihood of MIS adoption and agricultural water management, and therefore special training programmes on installation, as well as repair and maintenance, of MIS systems and agricultural water management can be planned at the institutional/organisation level. The total cultivable area is also one of the important determinants in MIS adoption, and therefore the adoption of MIS schemes should not be restricted to large farmers only, but rather should be extended to both small and marginal farmers.     

Facilitating resilient rural-to-urban sustainable agriculture and rural communities

ABSTRACT

This article contributes to efforts to validate a common set of parameters and principles of sustainable agriculture. Comparisons between alternative forms of sustainable agriculture and rural-to-urban community resilience are investigated. Conclusions are drawn between multiple sustainable/alternative agriculture systems and evaluated. A set of common baseline parameters and principles is proposed as a method of evolving a common structural framework for strengthening sustainability of agriculture and rural contexts. Concepts of rural-to-urban community sustainability are proposed, supporting sustainable agriculture contexts as rural and urban. In the twenty-first century, agriculture is becoming more diversified and less typified as a rural occupation. Urban agriculture is expanding as the need for fresh, affordable, accessible agriculture produce increases in urban areas. Evidence supports symbiotic relationships between sustainable agriculture and rural/urban communities, although some claim this relationship has not been clearly defined.

This article investigates sustainable agriculture from two perspectives. We ask ‘what are common parameters and principles of the various forms of sustainable agriculture,’ and ‘why urban-to-rural context.’ Organic agriculture parameters and principles are proposed as a conceptual framework toward establishing baseline parameters and principles for sustainable agriculture. Best management parameters of urban and rural sustainable agriculture in the United States and the United Kingdom are examined for their potential to develop a strengthening framework of parameters and principles of agriculture and rural-to-urban sustainability. These results are compared and evaluated for their effectiveness in redefining current sustainable agriculture practices, and their value in strengthening sustainable agriculture symbiosis with rural-to-urban community systems.     

低碳农业评价指标体系的构建及对广东的评价

本文对低碳农业评价指标体系的构建进行深入探讨,主要从农业生产要素产出效率、能源利用低碳化水平、农业生产方式低碳化水平、农业碳汇效应4个维度构建指标体系,并运用德尔菲法、加乘混合合成法确立综合指标评价值及设定低碳农业发展水平的等级评价标准,以此为科学量化评价农业低碳发展水平提供一个简便工具,实现对低碳农业评价由定性描述向定量分析的转变。在此基础上,将该评价指标体系应用于对广东省低碳农业发展综合评价的实证研究,以期为农业决策者制定和实施科学的低碳发展政策提供依据。研究结果显示,2006-2010年广东省低碳农业发展水平与低碳农业发展要求尚有较大差距,处于从较高碳发展水平向中碳发展水平迈进的阶段;“农业生产方式低碳化水平”成为广东农业低碳发展的最大制约性因素;与全国其他9省区比较,广东省低碳农业发展综合指数属于中等偏下的位次。由此可见,当前广东省高碳化的现代农业发展模式,成为阻碍低碳农业发展的最大因素;而坚持现有耕地的有效保护与合理拓展有效耕地面积,并因地制宜地提高农地的复种指数,对增强广东种植业的碳汇效应,保护和改善生态环境具有关键性的作用。     

日本城市碳排放清单计算方法——以横滨市为例

日本是关注全球气候变化并作出行动最早的国家之一,根据其法律大中城市以上的行政区必须编制温室气体减排规划,包括排放清单、趋势预测、减排目标、措施及效果分析、方案实施与监督等。日本环境省为了帮助地方政府编制该规划,提供了城市层面的温室气体排放清单的编制方法指导。本文以横滨市为例,比较完整地介绍日本城市CO2排放清单编制基本方法,为我国城市碳排放清单编制提供参考。