A system dynamics model to facilitate public understanding of water management options in Las Vegas,Nevada

Water managers increasingly are faced with the challenge of building public or stakeholder support for resource management strategies. Building support requires raising stakeholder awareness of resource problems and understanding about the consequences of different policy options. One approach that can help managers communicate with stakeholders is system dynamics modeling. Used interactively in a public forum, a system dynamics model can be used to explain the resource system and illustrate the effects of strategies proposed by managers or suggested by forum participants. This article illustrates the process of building a strategic-level system dynamics model using the case of water management in Las Vegas, Nevada. The purpose of the model was to increase public understanding of the value of water conservation in Las Vegas. The effects of policies on water supply and demand in the system are not straightforward because of the structure of the system. Multiple feedback relationships lead to the somewhat counterintuitive result that reducing residential outdoor water use has a much greater effect on water demand than reducing indoor water use by the same amount. The model output shows this effect clearly. This paper describes the use of the model in research workshops and discusses the potential of this kind of interactive model to stimulate stakeholder interest in the structure of the system, engage participant interest more deeply, and build stakeholder understanding of the basis for management decisions.     

Towards an agile participatory urban soundscape planning framework

This paper presents an agile participatory urban soundscape planning process model, which is proposed as a prerequisite on which to build and reference the efficacy of urban soundscape planning. The model was developed through data synthesis and analysis and mapping engagement with diverse stakeholders across four applied soundscape projects in Brighton and Hove, UK. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the model is the first of its kind in applied soundscape practice. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and document analysis of published resources. The framework used for the analysis of the findings comprised four core urban planning stages: goals and objectives, engagement (e.g. prediction/modelling/design/planning), implications, evaluation. The study found that when integrating soundscape planning with core urban planning stages it was necessary to first identify the appropriate stakeholders in relation to the project context. It was found that these stakeholders could be wide-ranging and unexpected, thereby reinforcing the appropriateness of incorporating an agile approach in the resulting model. The study also found that users’ perceptions are central to soundscape practice and need to be considered at each stage of a planning process to produce an effective and sustainable outcome. A variety of specific events, appropriate to the requirements of the stakeholders, are important for engaging planning authorities, users and other stakeholders at different stages. This study also demonstrated that an evidence-based evaluation method is recommended in an agile participatory urban soundscape planning process to assess stakeholders’ engagement at each stage and to inform and guide subsequent steps in the planning process relevant to the local context(s).     

对完善中国大气污染防治工作的几点建议研究

大气是人类乃至其他生物赖以生存和发展的必不可少的环境要素之一。面对近来中国中东大部分地区爆发的雾霾天气,虽具一定偶然性,但纠其根本原因是由重经济发展、轻环境治理的发展模式埋下的恶果,这也使大气污染治理陷入年年治、年年雾的怪圈。大气污染防治是一项系统工程,不是简单从一时的环境应急处理就能解决的。还需要从立法、行政决策、社会监督管理、公众参与、引入市场机制等宏观层面统筹大气污染防治工作,才能从根本上解决顽疾。     

中国环境影响评价（EIA）中的公众参与

探讨了中国在环境保护领域中公众参与的政治法律背景、社会机制和优缺点等理论问题，分析了中国ＥＩＡ以及公众参与的形式、内容发生模转变的驱动对发展和加强中国的公众参与提出了一些对策建议。     

亚洲环境执政理论与实践

发展中国家环境执政能力问题越来越引起人们的关注.在界定环境执政能力概念的基础上,分析了亚洲国家环境执政能力状况以解释这些国家面临的环境问题,并尝试分析亚洲国家环境管理从传统手段向市场手段转变的推动因素,最后提出了亚洲国家转向环境良治的扩大和加强区域、国家和地区机构网络,促进环境政策制定执行过程中权力的下放和向地方政府的转移,增加国家立法和其他政策制定机构中环境非政府组织和社区组织成员的比例,运用战略环境评价和战略环境管理理念,关注中小型企业遵守环境法规等政策、措施方面的建议.     

城市规划环境影响评价中公众参与研究方法与案例

围绕规划环境影响评价中公众参与方案的有效性,以城市规划的环境影响评价为例,从城市规划和规划环境影响评价的特点出发,综合运用自上而下的分析手段和利益相关者研究方法,建立了城市规划环境影响评价开展公众调查的研究框架,将社会学调查方法有机地纳入规划环境影响评估方法学体系.以大连市城市发展规划环境影响评价为案例,讨论该研究框架在实践中的应用.     

The “How” and “Why” of Including Gender and Age in Ethnobotanical Research and Community-Based Resource Management

This paper examines the process and outcome of participatory methods for stakeholder identification. We used focus group style participatory methodology to engage local residents in identifying key sub-groups relevant to conservation in Boumba, Niger. We then conducted a quantitative pictorial recognition study to measure the diversity of local useful plant knowledge across groups. The community identified six gender and age-class groupings relevant to the study. The effect of a participant''s gender, socially-defined age class or the interaction of the two factors on the number of plants recognized varied by plant use. Medicinal plant knowledge was highest among elders. Food plant knowledge of food plants increased with age for women only. Where as the interaction of age and gender was strongest on fodder plant knowledge, where mid-aged men scored highest. We reflect on the impact that heterogeneity of local botanical knowledge has on our understanding of local natural resource use and the strengths of using a participatory approach to identifying the stakeholder groups which underlie this heterogeneity.     

北美自由贸易区公众参与环境保护对我国的启示

随着世界经济发展和全球范围内环境保护浪潮的兴起，可持续发展已成为国际社会的共识．环境问题正日益得到国际社会、各国政府及人民的关注．各国政府在积极行使环境管理职权之处，纷纷采取公众参与的有效形式，达到环境保护的目的．北美自由贸易区在这一方面做了成功的探索.     

战略环境影响评价及其在我国实施的必要性

本文简要介绍了战略环境影响评价（SEA）的产生，涵义，特点及研究现状，分析了当前我国环境影响评价存在的主要问题，重点论述了SEA在我国实施的必要性，阐明了SEA是实现可持续发展和改善我国环境评价质量的重要手段。     

The contribution of forums to rural sustainable development: a preliminary evaluation

This paper assesses the contribution that forums have made in progressing sustainable land use policies and decisions within rural Wales. The examples of Cardigan Bay Forum and Wales Rural Forum are used to show how sustainability has been addressed within their overall agendas. The contemporary debate about sustainable development has provoked a new organizational response with forums visible in many activities and initiatives. The traditional adversarial approach between groups has been replaced by a more sophisticated and complex assemblage of bodies that together create the forum ideal. Consensus, partnership and mutual understanding form the language of this new discourse. However, their presence raises certain key questions as to their role, purpose, representativeness and value in rural resource management debates. These questions have not been considered in the literature, and with the increasing proliferation of forums generally, there is a need to assess whether they are bringing about real and effective change. The two examples reveal clear evidence of forums as agents of change. However, there is considerable tension within both forums, within a climate of financial and membership vulnerability, between the need for involving all legitimate interests and the need to achieve meaningful outcomes for individual members. Such tension goes to the heart of who the two forums actually represent and their resulting actions. The way that these tensions have been reconciled lie at the heart of the forum phenomenon.1998 Academic Press