Legal and regulatory challenges in the implementation of CO2 geological storage: An Alberta and Canadian perspective

Alberta is the province with the largest CO₂ emissions in Canada, with approximately two-thirds of emissions originating from large stationary sources. Due to the fortuitous association of large CO₂ sources with the storage capacity offered by the underlying Alberta basin, it is expected that large-scale CO₂ geological storage in Canada will occur in Alberta first, and both levels of governments are contemplating measures to facilitate implementation. A review of the current provincial and federal legislation and regulations presented in this paper indicates that the existing legal and regulatory regime is reasonably sufficient, with some modifications, to accommodate the active injection phase of CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) operations, and the early takers of this new technology. However, governments in Alberta and Canada, and likely everywhere, need to address several pressing issues dealing mainly with the CCS post-operational phase. These issues, reviewed in this paper from an Alberta and Canadian perspective, fall into several categories: jurisdictional, property (ownership), regulatory and liability. Because Alberta is a landlocked province, matters relating to CO₂ storage under the seabed will not be addressed here except when discussing matters of jurisdiction and CO₂ classification. Possible models for post-injection liability transfer to the state are also presented. Although this review is focused on western Canada conditions, the issues are broad enough to be of interest in other jurisdictions, which may also adopt parts of the legal and regulatory framework that is quite well developed in Alberta.     

Indicators of urban climate resilience: A contextual approach

As urban populations grow and climate exposure increases, more cities are introducing formal planning processes to adapt to climate change. This paper explains the process applied to eight cities in the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) for developing indicators for planning and monitoring local climate resilience. This process relied on transferring a common conceptual framework for climate resilience, together with a locally led iterative and collaborative process that engaged technical and planning authorities and vulnerable groups. The process varied slightly between cities and generated indicators that were chosen for their contextual fit and availability of data. The main benefit of developing resilience indicators in this way was the local capacity that the process built, in terms of understanding resilience, shared understanding of concepts and measurement and establishment of a common platform for future planning and monitoring of climate adaptation interventions at the city level.     

Drinking water quality governance: A comparative case study of Brazil,Ecuador, and Malawi

Human health is greatly affected by inadequate access to sufficient and safe drinking water, especially in low and middle-income countries. Drinking water governance improvements may be one way to better drinking water quality. Over the past decade, many projects and international organizations have been dedicated to water governance; however, water governance in the drinking water sector is understudied and how to improve water governance remains unclear. We analyze drinking water governance challenges in three countries – Brazil, Ecuador, and Malawi – as perceived by government, service providers, and civil society organizations. A mixed methods approach was used: a clustering model was used for country selection and qualitative semi-structured interviews were used with direct observation in data collection. The clustering model integrated political, economic, social and environmental variables that impact water sector performance, to group countries. Brazil, Ecuador and Malawi were selected with the model so as to represent the diversity of the clusters. This comparative case study is important because similar challenges are identified in the drinking water sectors of each country; while, the countries represent diverse socio-economic and political contexts, and the case selection process provides generalizability to our results. We find that access to safe water could be improved if certain water governance challenges were addressed: coordination and data sharing between ministries that deal with drinking water services; monitoring and enforcement of water quality laws; and sufficient technical capacity to improve administrative and technical management of water services at the local level. From an analysis of our field research, we also developed a conceptual framework that identifies policy levers that could be used to influence governance of drinking water quality on national and sub-national levels, and the relationships between these levers.     

Divergent neighbors: corporatism and climate policy networks in Finland and Sweden

ABSTRACT

Previous research has suggested that corporatist polities tend to enact more ambitious environmental policies than others. Here it is argued that the macro concept of corporatism can be dissected into three components: inclusiveness, consensualism and strength of tripartite organisations. These components of corporatism can be measured at the meso-level of policy networks. It is proposed that inclusiveness and consensualism are related to ambitious climate policy but exclusive tripartite coalitions can be detrimental for the ambitiousness of climate policy. This argument is backed by evidence from policy network surveys in two similar corporatist countries where climate change policies diverge: Sweden, where policies are ambitious, and Finland, where they are less so. It is found that in Sweden the climate change policy network is more consensual and slightly more inclusive, while in Finland tripartite organisations play a strong role.     

中国循环经济发展规划的进展探讨

当前循环经济的研究工作在中国深入展开,与此相适应的循环经济规划的编制和实施工作紧密进行.文章围绕规划的理论基础、现实意义,以及基本元素构成进行介绍.就开展规划编制工作的现状展开综述,归纳所取得的成绩与存在的缺陷、待解决或完善的内容.从我国实际并行的若干规划出发,初步阐释其与循环经济规划协调的原理.现阶段的循环经济探索主要还是基于环境,其可能的经济属性的严重探究不足.试行循环经济规划之后增加的再生成本等其他相关问题在后一阶段的规划推进中需深入考虑.     

Importance of health assessments for conservation in noncaptive wildlife

Wildlife health assessments help identify populations at risk of starvation, disease, and decline from anthropogenic impacts on natural habitats. We conducted an overview of available health assessment studies in noncaptive vertebrates and devised a framework to strategically integrate health assessments in population monitoring. Using a systematic approach, we performed a thorough assessment of studies examining multiple health parameters of noncaptive vertebrate species from 1982 to 2020 (n = 261 studies). We quantified trends in study design and diagnostic methods across taxa with generalized linear models, bibliometric analyses, and visual representations of study location versus biodiversity hotspots. Only 35% of studies involved international or cross-border collaboration. Countries with both high and threatened biodiversity were greatly underrepresented. Species that were not listed as threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List represented 49% of assessed species, a trend likely associated with the regional focus of most studies. We strongly suggest following wildlife health assessment protocols when planning a study and using statistically adequate sample sizes for studies establishing reference ranges. Across all taxa blood analysis (89%), body composition assessments (81%), physical examination (72%), and fecal analyses (24% of studies) were the most common methods. A conceptual framework to improve design and standardize wildlife health assessments includes guidelines on the experimental design, data acquisition and analysis, and species conservation planning and management implications. Integrating a physiological and ecological understanding of species resilience toward threatening processes will enable informed decision making regarding the conservation of threatened species.     

景观健康及其评价初探

生态系统健康是环保领域新兴的、正崭露头角的科学，将生态系统健康科学应用于景观评价是基于人类管理景观严重受到威胁和趋于退化的现实。在论述景观健康概念及其特征的基础上，探讨对景观健康进行整体评价的方法和指标。     

基于DPSIR模型的海岛生态安全综合评价

结合海岛生态系统的特点,根据海岛生态安全的概念,基于DPSIR模型建立了反映海岛生态系统自身完整性、健康性、对外服务性和不受威胁的海岛生态安全评价框架体系。采用熵权法确定指标权重并用纵横比较的方式综合分析长海县海岛生态安全。主要的特点有：一是将海岛生态安全内涵纳入DPSIR框架建立评价指标体系,保证了适用性和权威性;二是探索了静动结合的综合评价方法,反映了海岛生态安全的稳定性和发展性;三是综合考虑自然-经济-社会复合生态系统,分析了海岛生态安全的调控性和人类干扰性。按照2006--2010五年样本数据识别出长海县生态安全的关键因素。     

生态承载力环评:研究进展·存在问题·修正对策

环评技术标准的科学性和完备性是决定环评文件质量及应用价值的关键,但长期以来生态承载力环评技术一直是环评标准体系中最薄弱的环节.通过回顾国内外生态承载力研究发展历程,解析生态承载力概念和内涵,介绍自然植被净第一性生产力评估法、生态足迹法、资源供需平衡法与综合指数法等常用生态承载力评估方法的评价原理、技术流程,指明上述各类方法片面注重“承载力”极值的量化或超载与否的评估,但却忽视人类经济社会发展产生压力指标与区域自然承载能力对应关键指标在指标类型、大小及空间上的矛盾对立性研究,以致评价过程不清晰、评估成果对于优化区域人地关系的参考价值十分有限.在此基础上结合我国生态承载力环评制度、技术导向及研究实践状况论述,指出现有生态承载力环评技术标准存在技术方案不完整、评价内容项目针对性弱、评价空间尺度与项目影响范围不匹配等问题,以此为前提,提出重新界定规划环评领域生态承载力概念,以提升科学性与实用性为目标革新生态承载力环评技术框架体系,针对项目生态压力类型及空间格局确立生态承载力评价内容,充分利用3S等新技术开展生态承载力定量化评估等修正对策建议.研究旨在为开展生态承载力评估技术革新与探索研究提供借鉴.      

企业生产事故应急预案编制技术

依据企业生产事故管理体系结构,从事故预防、应急准备、应急响应和事故恢复4个阶段入手,阐述了企业生产事故应急预案编制的总体思路,将应急预案的编制过程分为准备和编写两个阶段,能够达到科学性、可操作性和体系化的基本要求。笔者提出由企业生产事故的一个基本预案加上应急功能程序和支持附件组成的应急预案的结构模式,提出企业应急预案编制的工作要点。