Assessment of Soil Sealing Management Responses,Strategies, and Targets Toward Ecologically Sustainable Urban Land Use Management

Soil sealing has negative impacts on ecosystem services since urban green and soil get lost. Although there is political commitment to stop further sealing, no reversal of this trend can be observed in Europe. This paper raises the questions (1) which strategies can be regarded as being efficient toward ecologically sustainable management of urban soil sealing and (2) who has competences and should take responsibility to steer soil sealing? The analyses are conducted in Germany. The assessment of strategies is carried out using indicators as part of a content analysis. Legal-planning, informal-planning, economic-fiscal, co-operative, and informational strategies are analyzed. Results show that there is a sufficient basis of strategies to secure urban ecosystem services by protecting urban green and reducing urban gray where microclimate regulation is a main target. However, soil sealing management lacks a spatial strategically overview as well as the consideration of services provided by fertile soils.     

环保公共服务均等化的内涵及其评价

大力推进基本公共服务均等化是政府管理的重要课题之一,但对于环保公共服务均等化的概念、内涵和评价方法仍缺乏深入的分析。本文探讨了环保公共服务及其均等化的概念和内涵,从政策服务、监管服务、治理服务、应急服务、信息服务和教育服务的六个方面明确了环保公共服务的主要内容,对环保公共服务中权利机会均等、过程均等、结果均等的内涵进行了诠释。在此基础上,运用德尔斐调查法和专家评估法,构建了以投入、资源、服务和结果的四要素为维度的环保公共服务均等化评价指标体系和相应的评价方法。通过对2008年我国31个省级行政单位的实证分析,结果表明评价结果能够较准确地反映环保公共服务均等化的整体状况和问题所在,该评价指标体系和评价方法能够作为政府决策的量化工具,为我国公共服务均等化的推进提供参考和依据。     

Coupling Socioeconomic and Lake Systems for Sustainability: A Conceptual Analysis Using Lake St. Clair Region as a Case Study

Applying sustainability at an operational level requires understanding the linkages between socioeconomic and natural systems. We identified linkages in a case study of the Lake St. Clair (LSC) region, part of the Laurentian Great Lakes system. Our research phases included: (1) investigating and revising existing coupled human and natural systems frameworks to develop a framework for this case study; (2) testing and refining the framework by hosting a 1-day stakeholder workshop and (3) creating a causal loop diagram (CLD) to illustrate the relationships among the systems’ key components. With stakeholder assistance, we identified four interrelated pathways that include water use and discharge, land use, tourism and shipping that impact the ecological condition of LSC. The interrelationships between the pathways of water use and tourism are further illustrated by a CLD with several feedback loops. We suggest that this holistic approach can be applied to other case studies and inspire the development of dynamic models capable of informing decision making for sustainability.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-013-0432-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

基于生态系统服务功能理论的生态足迹模型研究

由于传统Wackemagel and Rees生态足迹模型仅研究人类对资源的需求和生态系统供给的生物生产能力之间的差距,忽略了生态系统的其它功能,无法体现生态系统的整体性.本文以传统生态足迹模型为基础,引入生态系统服务功能价值理论,提出了基于生态系统服务功能价值的生态足迹模型.该模型以生态生产性土地的生态服务功能价值评估为基础,改进传统生态足迹模型中均衡因子和产量因子的计算方法.采用生物生产性土地的综合生态系统服务功能的价值当量因子计量生态足迹模型中的均衡因子,采用生态系统单元的单位面积生态系统服务功能价值与全国该生态系统单元的平均价值的比值表示产量因子.改进后的生态足迹模型既反映了区域人类资源消费对生物生产性土地的占用,又反映了区域人类资源消费对生态系统服务功能的使用,较科学的体现了生态系统的整体性.同时,本文以大连市2005年社会经济统计数据为基础,运用改进的生态足迹模型对大连市的生态足迹进行了测算,对研究模型进行了检验.     

The Anthropocene: From Global Change to Planetary Stewardship

Over the past century, the total material wealth of humanity has been enhanced. However, in the twenty-first century, we face scarcity in critical resources, the degradation of ecosystem services, and the erosion of the planet's capability to absorb our wastes. Equity issues remain stubbornly difficult to solve. This situation is novel in its speed, its global scale and its threat to the resilience of the Earth System. The advent of the Anthropence, the time interval in which human activities now rival global geophysical processes, suggests that we need to fundamentally alter our relationship with the planet we inhabit. Many approaches could be adopted, ranging from geoengineering solutions that purposefully manipulate parts of the Earth System to becoming active stewards of our own life support system. The Anthropocene is a reminder that the Holocene, during which complex human societies have developed, has been a stable, accommodating environment and is the only state of the Earth System that we know for sure can support contemporary society. The need to achieve effective planetary stewardship is urgent. As we go further into the Anthropocene, we risk driving the Earth System onto a trajectory toward more hostile states from which we cannot easily return.     

高原牧区自然生态价值的测算——以四川省甘孜藏族自治州新龙县为例

自然生态系统提供人类需要的各种服务,有广泛的使用价值,其中生态服务功能,即无形资产的价值最为重要。本文对新龙县环境的特殊性进行了分析,根据影响生态价值的相关因素,计算了新龙县天然林和天然草地的生态服务功能平均价值,并进一步计算出新龙县1999~2003年受到保护和管理的天然林和天然草地的生态服务功能价值。结果显示,新龙县天然林的生态服务功能平均价值为11837元/hm2,草地为7915元/hm2,1999~2003年,新龙县生态服务功能价值增加值占调整后GDP的比重高达65%~85%。但这部分价值长期未得到统计和合理的补偿,为实现流域环境和经济的可持续发展,建议建立国家、地方、区域、行业多层次的补偿系统,同时逐步完善市场机制。     

河西走廊星火产业带城市生态经济联系强度测算

随着社会经济发展和市场化、全球化的推进,城市在区域发展中的地位和作用日益加强,区域内部与区域之间生态经济联系更加密切与复杂。基于改进的万有引力模型,将城市生态系统服务价值引入区域生态经济联系系统,测算了河西走廊星火产业带城市间生态经济联系强度及隶属度。结果表明,产业带城市生态经济联系强度整体偏低,两极分化显著。     

Fish Migration, Dams, and Loss of Ecosystem Services in the Mekong Basin

The past decade has seen increased international recognition of the importance of the services provided by natural ecosystems. It is unclear however whether such international awareness will lead to improved environmental management in many regions. We explore this issue by examining the specific case of fish migration and dams on the Mekong river. We determine that dams on the Mekong mainstem and major tributaries will have a major impact on the basin’s fisheries and the people who depend upon them for food and income. We find no evidence that current moves towards dam construction will stop, and consider two scenarios for the future of the fisheries and other ecosystems of the basin. We conclude that major investment is required in innovative technology to reduce the loss of ecosystem services, and alternative livelihood strategies to cope with the losses that do occur.     

Integrated landscape planning and remuneration of agri-environmental services. Results of a case study in the Fuhrberg region of Germany

Until now, existing remuneration of environmental services has not sufficiently supported the goals of spending money more effectively on the environment and of motivating farmers. Only a small share of the budgets for agriculture in the EU, as well as in US and other countries, is available for buying environmental goods and services beyond the level of good farming practice (GFP). This combined with the insufficient targeting of compensation payments to areas where special measures are needed leads to an unsatisfactorily low impact of agri-environment measures compared to other driving forces that stimulate the intensification of farming. The goal of this paper is to propose a management concept that enhances the ecological and cost efficiency of agri-environment measures. Components of the concept are a comprehensive environmental information base with prioritised goals and targets (available in Germany from landscape planning) and new remuneration models, which complement conventional compensation payments that are based upon predetermined measures and cost. Comprehensive landscape planning locates and prioritises areas which require environmental action. It contains the information that authorities need to prioritise funding for environmental services and direct measures to sites which need environmental services beyond the level of GFP.Also appropriate remuneration models, which can enhance the cost efficiency of public spending and the motivation of the farmers, can be applied on the base of landscape planning.Testing of the planning methodology and of one of the remuneration models (success-oriented remuneration) in a case study area (“Fuhrberger Feld” north of Hanover, Germany) demonstrated the usability of the concept and led to proposals for future development of the methodology and its application in combination with other approaches.     

Watershed protection: Capturing the benefits of nature's water supply services

Healthy watersheds provide valuable services to society, including the supply and purification of fresh water. Because these natural ecosystem services lie outside the traditional domain of commercial markets, they are undervalued and underprotected. With population and development pressures leading to the rapid modification of watershed lands, valuable hydrological services are being lost, which poses risks to the quality and cost of drinking water and the reliability of water supplies. Increasing the scale and scope of programmes to protect hydrological services requires policies that harmonize land uses in watersheds with the provision of these important natural services. This article summarizes key attributes of hydrological services and their economic benefits; presents a spectrum of institutional mechanisms for safeguarding those services; discusses programmes in Quito (Ecuador), Costa Rica and New York City; and offers some lessons learned and recommendations for achieving higher levels of watershed protection.