The SEAP in the city of Girona,a crossroads between boldness and pragmatism

The Covenant of Mayors has secured the commitments of over 5400 European Cities (as of December 2013) to achieving the European Union 20-20-20 climate change mitigation targets by 2020 through action at the local level. Due to the youth of the initiative, few experiences have been reported in the academic literature. We study the development of the Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) in the city of Girona (Catalonia, Spain) to analyse the opportunities and challenges this process may present in a small- to medium-sized, compact Mediterranean city. This knowledge can provide information to local authorities in similar municipalities, technical teams and decision-makers at the European level interested in enhancing the performance of such plans in the future. In this article, we explain how the SEAP was developed in Girona, the main results and proposed actions, and discuss the main setbacks. We conclude that an overarching European oversight organism is advisable to coordinate and aid local efforts.     

20世纪90年代以来主要气象灾害对我国粮食生产的影响与减灾对策

干旱、洪涝、风雹和低温四大类主要气象灾害已经成为限制我国粮食增产的主要障碍。近5年的统计结果表明，我国平均每年粮食受灾面积达0．52亿hm^2，粮食损失超过500亿kg。干旱是危害最大的灾种，每年因旱灾损失粮食占气象灾害损失粮食的57％。20世纪90年代以来旱灾的发生较以往大幅度加重。我国农业应该采取的减灾对策为：改善生态环境；加强农业基础设施建设；推广节水灌溉与旱作农业技术；加强农业减灾科学技术研究；完善农业防灾减灾体系；建立农业灾害保险与补贴机制。     

甲烷排放与应对气候变化国家战略探析

甲烷的全球变暖潜势是二氧化碳的72倍(20年水平),但其在大气中的寿命短于二氧化碳,可以作为优先减排对象。中国的甲烷排放十分突出,甲烷减排在应对气候变化国家战略中具有重要的基础性地位,然而在政策研究中,甲烷受到的关注程度远低于二氧化碳。本文基于甲烷排放研究的相关进展,首次系统性地论述了中国甲烷排放与应对气候变化国家战略之间的关系。主要结论是:甲烷排放的有效控制和减缓可以成为中国温室气体减排的重要组成部分,甲烷等温室气体的减排战略要用"系统减排"思路替代传统的"末端减排"思路;甲烷系统减排的策略和实施措施不仅需要重视主要排放部门(如煤炭开采与洗选业,农业)的直接末端减排,更需要突出强调建设活动、城市消费、资本投资和出口贸易等消费端的间接体现减排;在国际气候谈判中通过纳入甲烷排放,可以至少在五个方面丰富和支撑中国的国家立场,如从承诺"单位GDP二氧化碳减排"向承诺"单位GDP温室气体减排"转变。     

Strategic Environmental Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Options in the Canadian Agricultural Sector

This article presents a methodological framework for strategic environmental assessment (SEA) application. The overall objective is to demonstrate SEA as a systematic and structured policy, plan, and program (PPP) decision support tool. In order to accomplish this objective, a stakeholder-based SEA application to greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation policy options in Canadian agriculture is presented. Using a mail-out impact assessment exercise, agricultural producers and nonproducers from across the Canadian prairie region were asked to evaluate five competing GHG mitigation options against 13 valued environmental components (VECs). Data were analyzed using multi-criteria and exploratory analytical techniques. The results suggest considerable variation in perceived impacts and GHG mitigation policy preferences, suggesting that a blanket policy approach to GHG mitigation will create gainers and losers based on soil type and associate cropping and on-farm management practices. It is possible to identify a series of regional greenhouse gas mitigation programs that are robust, socially meaningful, and operationally relevant to both agricultural producers and policy decision makers. The assessment demonstrates the ability of SEA to address, in an operational sense, environmental problems that are characterized by conflicting interests and competing objectives and alternatives. A structured and systematic SEA methodology provides the necessary decision support framework for the consideration of impacts, and allows for PPPs to be assessed based on a much broader set of properties, objectives, criteria, and constraints whereas maintaining rigor and accountability in the assessment process.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
John Twigg and Mihir R. Bhatt, eds, Understanding Vulnerability
Joachim von Braun, Tesfaye Teklu and Patrick Webb, Famine in Africa: Causes, Responses, and Prevention
C. Emdad Haque, Hazrads in a Fickle Environment: Bangladesh
Walter Gillis Peacock, Betty Hearn Morrow and Hugh Gladwin, eds, Population and Food: Global Trends and Future Prospects
Roy Gutman and David Rieff, eds, Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know     

Non-linear incentives,plan design,and flood mitigation: the case of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's community rating system

A basic proposition of ‘agency theory’ is that output-based performance incentives encourage greater effort. However, studies find that incentive schemes can distort effort if rewards for performance are discrete or non-linear. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Community Rating System (CRS) is a flood mitigation programme with a non-linear incentive design. Under this programme, localities are incentivised to implement a mix of 18 flood mitigation activities. Each activity is performance scored, with accumulated scores corresponding to a percent discount on flood insurance premiums for residents that hold National Flood Insurance policies. Discounts range from 0 to 45% and increase discretely in increments of 5%. With multivariate statistical and Geographic Information Systems analytic techniques, tests are made to find whether observed changes in annual CRS scores for participating localities in Florida are explained by non-linear incentives, adjusting for hydrologic conditions, flood disaster histories, socio-economic and human capital controls that can plausibly account for local mitigation activity scores over time. Results indicate that local jurisdictions are discount-seeking, with mitigation efforts partially driven by the non-linear incentive design of the CRS programme. The paper ends with recommendations to improve the operation FEMA's flood mitigation programme.     

户用沼气模式生命周期减排清单与环境效益分析

相对于传统农业活动,以沼气为纽带的生态农业生产具有清洁的能源生产和高度闭环的废物回收处置等明显优势,在全国范围内得到入户推广。本文综合考虑沼气工程建造、使用和综合利用等生命周期过程,分析了典型户用沼气池综合利用各阶段环境节能减排清单,并在此基础上评价其环境效益。结果表明,"猪-沼-稻-果"综合农业利用模式下单位沼气池节能减排效果明显,其中CO2、PM10、CH4和CO净减排量分别达3 060.700kg、19.820kg、12.960kg和75.590kg,总净节能达9 068.4MJ。其中,玉米秸秆、沼液沼渣的利用和燃煤替代对温室效应的减缓明显,畜禽粪便的利用和燃煤的替代减缓了环境酸化以及富营养化过程,而光化学氧化的减缓主要来自玉米秸秆的利用而减少的CO、VOC的排放,沼气工程对人体毒害的减缓主要是来自燃煤替代而减少的SO2和PM10排放。户用沼气利用对各种环境影响均有减缓作用,其中对光化学氧化、富营养化、环境酸化和温室效应的改善最为显著,对于降低能源耗竭、减缓对人体的毒性也起到了较好的作用。     

Responsibility,capacity, greenness or vulnerability? What explains the levels of climate aid provided by bilateral donors?

At the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit, donors pledged to ‘jointly mobilize’ $100 billion/year for climate finance by 2020. The Copenhagen Accord and other agreements do not specify who should provide how much of this collective target beyond the general principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR&RC), according to which the more responsible a country is for climate change and/or the more capable of paying, the more climate finance it should provide. Two additional burden-sharing mechanisms may explain how much climate finance donors provide: willingness to pay or ‘greenness’ and self-interest. These mechanisms are tested to determine which best explains current patterns in climate finance commitments by analysing bilateral climate aid. There is evidence for capability—richer countries provide more climate aid. In contrast, responsibility, greenness or self-interest do not induce more climate aid commitments. Better understanding the drivers of climate aid helps to mobilize more climate finance, and advances understanding of (sectoral) aid allocation.     

"十二五"环境规划中应对气候变化问题的思考

气候变化对我国社会、经济与环境的协调可持续发展影响日趋严重,把应对气候变化问题纳入国家环境规划必要且适时.在分析行为效益、实施成本、适应性排放和国际因素的基础上,提出我国"十二五"环境规划中应同时考虑"减缓"和"遥应"行为应对气候变化并权衡二者优先次序,采用以适应为主的"单效"方案,将自然承载力、生产系统、社会人居环境三个层次和自然生态系统、水资源、灾害与风险、低碳经济、敏感部门、城市化环境效应、海岸带等7个相关主要问题作为规划应对气候变化的熏点领域.     

General equilibrium effects of a supply side GHG mitigation option under the Clean Development Mechanism

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is considered a key instrument to encourage developing countries' participation in the mitigation of global climate change. Reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through the energy supply and demand side activities are the main options to be implemented under the CDM. This paper analyses the general equilibrium effects of a supply side GHG mitigation option-the substitution of thermal power with hydropower--in Thailand under the CDM. A static multi-sector general equilibrium model has been developed for the purpose of this study. The key finding of the study is that the substitution of electricity generation from thermal power plants with that from hydropower plants would increase economic welfare in Thailand. The supply side option would, however, adversely affect the gross domestic product (GDP) and the trade balance. The percentage changes in economic welfare, GDP and trade balance increase with the level of substitution and the price of certified emission reduction (CER) units.