Pioneers of ecological restoration: the people and legacy of the University of Wisconsin Arboretum

A focus on communication can provide in-depth understanding of public participation in natural resource management. Analysis of empirical material from a participatory process using the theoretical concepts of discursive closure and discursive opening revealed that openings were achieved, but the perspectives represented in the process were also closed down. The reasons for closures are discussed in terms of structural constraints, with participants shown to have many different constraints and different reasons for making closures. The conclusion is that the type of theoretical analysis presented in this paper could be used by a facilitator in meetings as a participatory tool to investigate closures and open them up to achieve a more deliberative process.     

城市自然灾害应急管理中社会参与的评价研究 ——以太原市为例*

随着我国经济建设与社会建设的较快发展,城市自然灾害应急管理研究得到了越来越多的关注。目前城市自然灾害应急管理的研究多着眼于政府层面,尚未对社会力量在城市自然灾害应急管理中的作用进行详细论证。为研究社会力量在城市自然灾害应急活动中的现状,在坚持政府主导的原则下分析了社会参与在城市自然灾害应急管理中的重要作用,提出了社会力量参与城市自然灾害应急管理的评价指标体系,并进一步构建了基于G1方法的城市应急管理中社会参与的评价模型,对社会参与进行定量化分析。在此基础上,以太原市为例进行了实证研究,根据评价结果了解到太原市社会参与的状况,并找到社会参与做的比较好和存在不足的地方,并提出一些改善意见以提高城市自然灾害应急管理中的社会参与水平。     

Biosafety principles for GMOs in the context of sustainable development

If genetically modified organisms are to contribute to welfare they must be considered in the context of sustainable development. Biosafety implies considering the environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainable development. These dimensions can be interpreted through the principles of precaution, polluter pays and public participation. In this article, these key biosafety principles are operationalised and ways of implementing them in society are discussed. A comparison is made between the principles and the present EU law for deliberate release of GMOs. It is concluded that several improvements in EU policy are necessary to ensure sustainable development really is promoted.     

Contribution of tourism development to protected area management: local stakeholder perspectives

Ecotourism in protected areas plays an important role in establishing mutually beneficial relationships among local people, the protected area, and tourism that are essential in protected area management. However, to properly manage protected areas, local people should be major stakeholders in order to maximize local economic benefits and obtain support for conservation efforts. This study assesses the current status of local people's economic participation in tourism in the Wolong Nature Reserve using a questionnaire survey. Through evaluation of geographic origin, income, and occupational distribution of operators engaged in tourism-related business, we identified and discussed constraints and opportunities for economic participation of local people. Economic inequity was found among local people, as well as between locals and non-locals, due to limited startup capital and operational skills. At present, only a small percentage of local people receive revenue directly from tourism. In addition, economic leakage and local dependence on natural resources still exist in the study area. To promote ecotourism and sustainable development, the relationships among tourism, local people, and biodiversity conservation in the study area must be strengthened. According to the findings, some suggestions are offered to protected area managers to foster better relationships.     

Context matters: Combined influence of participation and intellectual stimulation on the promotion focus–employee creativity relationship

In this paper, we examined the interactive effects of two contexts—participation and intellectual stimulation, and promotion focus on creativity. On the basis of a multi‐organization sample of 213 employees, we tested and found that although promotion focus was positively related to creativity, the relationship between promotion focus and creativity was most positive when both participation and leader intellectual stimulation were high. We discuss the way contexts in combination influence employee creativity for promotion‐oriented individuals, through increasing decision latitude as well as stimulating and promoting creativity. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中小企业员工安全参与行为演化路径研究

员工积极参与企业安全生产活动有助于营造良好安全生产氛围,提高安全生产水平。为弄清中小企业员工安全参与行为演化规律,充分调动员工安全参与积极性,借助演化经济学理论与方法,构建员工与中小企业交往支付矩阵。通过分析交往过程演化模型,揭示个体不同策略选择对群体行为的影响。用数值仿真,演示群体不同初始比例和不同参数变化对演化趋势和结果的影响。研究结果表明,"不认真参与,不考核"模式为"不良锁定"模式,参数的大小影响系统收敛速度和收敛结果;改良安全活动内容、效果以及构建规范的考核机制,有助于强化中小企业员工的安全参与行为。     

Assessing the impact of household participation on satisfaction and safe design in humanitarian shelter projects

Participation has long been considered important for post‐disaster recovery. Establishing what constitutes participation in post‐disaster shelter projects, however, has remained elusive, and the links between different types of participation and shelter programme outcomes are not well understood. Furthermore, recent case studies suggest that misguided participation strategies may be to blame for failures. This study analysed 19 shelter projects implemented in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013 to identify the forms of participation employed. Using fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis, it assessed how household participation in the planning, design, and construction phases of shelter reconstruction led to outcomes of household satisfaction and safe shelter design. Participation was operationalised via eight central project tasks, revealing that the involvement of households in the early planning stages of projects and in construction activities were important for satisfaction and design outcomes, whereas engagement during the design phase of projects had little impact on the selected outcomes.     

Household self‐blame for disasters: responsibilisation and (un)accountability in decentralised participatory risk governance

The most important theoretical argument concerning decentralised participatory governance is that it can make a government more accountable for the needs of the governed. Key to this process are participatory spaces that act as mechanisms for dialogue between citizens and local government. However, within Cochabamba, a city in the centre of Bolivia, South America, ‘at‐risk’ citizens engage minimally with disaster risk issues in participatory spaces, despite high levels of civic participation. This is because ‘at‐risk’ populations view disasters as a private/household problem that is symptomatic of household error, rather than seeing them as a broader public problem due to wider structural inequalities. Consequently, they redistribute responsibility for disaster risk reduction towards households, which (re)produces the absolution of government authorities as guarantors of disaster risk reduction. This paper challenges the normative assumption that participatory spaces facilitate democratic deliberation of disaster risk reduction and the downward accountability of local government for disaster risk reduction.     

空气污染指数改进方案公众参与调查

为进一步改进API(空气污染指数),提出了5个改进方案,并针对方案中的重点问题进行公众参与调查. 调查问题包括现行API能否反映空气污染状况以及灰霾状况;是否同意加入CO,O₃和PM_2.5指标;是否同意将API的计算时间调整为00:00─23:00;ρ(PM_2.5)限值如何设定. 结果表明:公众对API改进方案总体上持肯定意见;超过70%的人同意在API中加入CO,O₃和PM_2.5指标,并有50%以上的人同意根据我国实际情况制订ρ(PM_2.5)限值. 由于改进方案4中增加了CO,O₃和PM_2.5指标,且将API计算周期调整为00:00─23:00,并按照我国的研究成果提出了ρ(PM_2.5)限值,因此,方案4更贴近公众的意见.