Building the role of local government authorities towards the achievement of the human right to water in rural Tanzania

In recent decades, many changes have occurred in the approach to financing and operating water services in developing countries. The demand‐responsive approach is now adopted in many countries in a context of donor‐supported decentralization processes, which gives more responsibility to end users. However, the government's responsibility at different levels is enforced by the international recognition of the human right to water. This paper examines specific actions that build the role of local government authorities in this scenario. A collaboration between an international NGO and a rural district in Tanzania from 2006 to 2009 is used as an action research case study that is representative of local capacity‐building needs in decentralized contexts and rural areas. Three main challenges were detected: i) lack of reliable information; ii) poor allocation of resources in terms of equity; and iii) lack of long‐term community management support from the district. Two mechanisms were established: i) water point mapping as a tool for information and planning; and ii) a District Water and Sanitation Unit Support (DWUS) for community management. The results show how the framework provided by the goal of human right to water helps to define useful strategies for equity‐oriented planning and post‐project support at the local level.     

Better than their reputation: enhancing the validity of contingent valuation mail survey results through citizen expert groups

Although contingent valuation is the dominant technique for the valuation of public projects, especially in the environmental sector, the high costs of contingent valuation surveys prevent the use of this method for the assessment of relatively small projects. The reason for this cost problem is that typically only contingent valuation studies which are based on face-to-face interviews are accepted as leading to valid results. Particularly in countries with high wages, face-to-face surveys are extremely costly considering that for a valid contingent valuation study a minimum of 1000 completed face-to-face interviews is required. This paper tries a rehabilitation of mail surveys as low-budget substitutes for costly face-to-face surveys. Based on an empirical contingent valuation study in Northern Thailand, it is shown that the validity of mail surveys can be improved significantly if so-called Citizen Expert Groups are employed for a thorough survey design.     

输美轮胎特保案对中国贸易的影响及对策

分析了2009年9月26日美国对中国轮胎进口实施的特别保护措施,运用国际贸易和国际经济学的相关理论,对美国轮胎特保法案进行了剖析。在目前中美轮胎贸易情况下,从宏观和微观的角度探讨了轮胎贸易顺差形成的原因,以及长期和短期内对中国经济的影响,并对中国轮胎出口贸易提出了几点政策建议。     

Organochlorine pesticides and PCBs in fish from lakes of the Tibetan Plateau and the implications

High mountains may play significant roles in the global transport of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). This work aims to investigate the levels, patterns and distribution of semi-volatile organoclorine pollutants and to improve the understanding of the long-range atmospheric transport and fate of contaminants on the Tibetan Plateau. A total of 60 fish samples were collected from eight lakes located between 2813 and 4718 m above sea level across the Plateau. Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) including dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and its metabolites (DDTs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) were measured in fish muscle. The results showed that concentrations of DDT, HCH and HCB were comparable to or lower than those found in remote mountains of Europe, Canada and US, while PCB concentrations in fish were, on average, about 4-150 times lower on Tibet than at other mountain areas. The transport and fate of contaminants in the Plateau are significantly influenced by the unique climatological and meteorological conditions, particularly by the summer Indian monsoon and winter westerly jet stream.     

Hydrological Controls and Freshening in Meromictic Soap Lake,Washington, 1939-20021

Kallis, Jahn, Leo Bodensteiner, and Anthony Gabriel, 2010. Hydrological Controls and Freshening in Meromictic Soap Lake, Washington, 1939-2002. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(4): 744-756. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00446.x Abstract: The chemically stratified layer of naturally formed meromictic lakes exhibits unusual and often extreme physical and chemical conditions that have resulted in the evolution of uniquely adapted species. The Columbia Basin Irrigation Project appears to have had a marked effect on the hydrology of Soap Lake, a meromictic lake in the Grand Coulee of central Washington. The relation of hydrology to salinity was assessed by analyzing water budgets before and after the introduction of the irrigation project. Before irrigation, water gains were balanced by losses; after irrigation began groundwater gains approximately doubled. To manage lake levels and reduce groundwater influx, wells were installed to intercept groundwater. Although the hydrological cycle has been restored to pre-irrigation conditions, the meromictic character of the lake continues to change. Interception wells remove 10 to 16 Mm³ of groundwater annually, but influx continues based on change in the monimolimnion. From 1958 to 2003 the chemocline descended 1.1 m and the volume of the monimolimnion from 698,000 m³ to 114,000 m³. Annual loss of volume is occurring at a rate of 1.9% since 1958. Although groundwater interception wells are maintaining the volume of the entire lake, the recession of the chemocline indicates that conditions that have maintained meromixis at Soap Lake are currently not in equilibrium.     

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and mercury in fish from lakes of the Tibetan Plateau

High mountains may act as cold traps for globally transported persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and mercury (Hg). In the present study, 60 fish samples were collected from eight alpine lakes across the Tibetan Plateau. Concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), total mercury (HgT) and methyl mercury (MeHg) were quantified in the fish muscle tissues to improve the understanding of pollution status and factors regulating the transport and fate of these contaminants on the Plateau. The results showed that lake-averaged ∑₁₄PBDEs concentration was between 0.09 ng g⁻¹ dw and 4.32 ng g⁻¹ dw, which was lower than those reported for European mountains. The total mercury concentration in individual fish ranged from 243 to 2384 ng g⁻¹ dw, and that of MeHg from 131 to 1610 ng g⁻¹ dw, which is much higher than those reported in other mountain fish. The spatial variation of PBDEs and mercury in the Plateau is largely controlled by the specific meteorological patterns.     

基于WTA的湿地周边农户受偿意愿及影响因素研究

为了实现鄱阳湖湿地生态系统的可持续发展,促进公平合理的湿地保护局面的形成,对鄱阳湖湿地周边农户家庭生产生活的基本情况、生态环境的认知、以及基于禁渔期、保护候鸟和封洲禁牧等保护措施的生态补偿意愿进行了深入调查。结果表明：（1）鄱阳湖周边农户的家庭收入与湿地紧密相关,湖区农户具有一定的湿地生态环境认知和生态保护意识;（2）193份有效问卷中愿意接受补偿的比例高达881%,农户户均生态补偿意愿为3399元/(a·户),由此估算出鄱阳湖湿地生态补偿额约为每年582亿元;（3）Tobit回归模型的计量分析结果表明,农户的受偿意愿受年龄、生态效益的认知及生态保护态度的显著影响,研究认为提高农户的生态保护意识、对湖区农户进行合理的生态补偿是解决湿地保护与可持续发展问题的关键。     

农田生态补偿方式的选择及市场运作——基于武汉市383户农户问卷的实证研究

选择交易成本低、具有操作性的补偿方式,实现农田生态产品的市场运作,是农田生态补偿制度实施的关键。利用问卷调查资料,分析了武汉市农户对不同农田生态补偿方式的认知、选择以及其影响因素,在此基础上指出了政府补偿方式在农田生态补偿领域的缺陷及引进市场方式的建议。研究表明:(1)武汉市农户对农田生态补偿的认知程度较低,仅有10.71%的受访农户听说过生态补偿、生态危机等概念;(2)49.02%农户对现行的现金补偿方式不太满意,认为补偿金额太低,94.65%的受访者更倾向于接受更高额度的现金补偿方式;(3)农户对现金、实物、技术(智力)、政策等农田生态补偿方式的选择偏好受其性别、年龄、家庭人口、家庭年收入、家庭中需抚养人口数和文化程度的显著影响。研究提出构建农田生态补偿的交易平台、完善生态环境物品数量化的体系设计和管理模式的多样化是推进农田生态补偿的市场化运作的关键。     

不同类型农户农地投入的影响因素

农户作为农业生产投入的微观主体,其农地投入行为对农业和农村经济发展影响重大.本文以湖北省江汉平原和鄂北岗地6个县(市、区)的473个农户抽样调查数据,构建逐步回归模型,分析不同类型的农户农地投入行为的影响因素.结果表明:①近年来,农户耕地的投入水平处于上升趋势,国家实施的惠农政策取得了积极成效;②相对于消费型农户而言,利润型农户的总投入水平较离;③目前农户农地投入主要是流动资本投入,固定资本投入较少,农业污染较为严重,农业机械化水平有较大的提升空间;④农户农业生产目标决定其农地投入行为:消费型农户与市场联系不太紧密,依据家庭消费需求进行生产投入决策;利润型农户与市场联系非常紧密,追求利润最大化,按照市场行情进行生产投入决策.⑤不同类型农户农地投入的影响因素存在差异:家庭特征和家庭资源禀赋是影响消费型农户农地投入的主要因素;农业生产要素市场、农产品市场和农业政策是影响利润型农户农地投入的主要因素.     

市场失灵、非市场价值与农地非农化过度性损失

农地资源不仅具有经济生产功能,还具有大气调节、涵养水源、保持土壤成分、休闲娱乐等多种生态功能,而在非农化过程中这些功能在市场中没有以价格的形式体现出来,没有包含在农地的现实价值中。因而,有必要对农地的非市场功能进行详尽的分类及价值估算。同时,将由于市场失灵而没能包含到农地总价值中的生态环境等非市场价值纳入到成本效益决策中,来减少市场失灵所造成的农地非农化的效率损失。通过对农地非市场功能的具体分类及量化,测算我国不同经济区域因市场失灵导致的农地非农化过度损失,结果显示,代表东、中、西部地区的江苏、湖北和甘肃省的农地非农化过度损失Ⅰ分别为31.58%、38.13%和43.85%,这为我国农地非农化的行为调控及相应公共政策措施的制订和实施提供了理论依据。