面向循环经济的信息服务协同管理平台研究

本研究面向循环经济企业、园区、政府和相关社会公众,以实现循环经济发展模式的小循环、中循环和社会大循环的融合为最终目标,以构建信息服务协同管理平台为主要途径,重点分析了平台建设的四方面必要性和三方面可行性。在此基础上,设计了平台的功能定位和体系架构。平台功能包括活动数据采集、活动数据不确定性分析与校准、企业绿色投入产出分析、循环经济效率指标评价、物质流与能量流可视化分析、园区循环经济协同度分析、宏观物质流分析和循环经济公共信息服务,平台的体系架构由交互层、逻辑层和数据层组成。     

建立基于EGSS 的中国环保产业统计框架的思路

欧盟统计署制定的环境货物和服务部门(environmental goods and services sector,EGSS)统计框架是目前国际认可的专门用于环保产业统计的框架体系,具有全面性、多维性和一致性等特点。本文分析了目前中国环保产业统计概况,初步比较了通过公开的常规统计数据收集EGSS数据和环保产业调查收集EGSS数据的可行性,提出实施"分阶段渐进式"策略逐步引入EGSS统计框架较为可行。     

The pika and the watershed: The impact of small mammal poisoning on the ecohydrology of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

With approximately 20 % of the world’s population living in its downstream watersheds, the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) is considered “Asia’s Water Tower.” However, grasslands of the QTP, where most of Asia’s great rivers originate, are becoming increasingly degraded, which leads to elevated population densities of a native small mammal, the plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae). As a result pikas have been characterized as a pest leading to wide-spread poisoning campaigns in an attempt to restore grassland quality. A contrary view is that pikas are a keystone species for biodiversity and that their burrowing activity provides a critical ecosystem service by increasing the infiltration rate of water, hence reducing overland flow. We demonstrate that poisoning plateau pikas significantly reduces infiltration rate of water across the QTP creating the potential for watershed-level impacts. Our results demonstrate the importance of burrowing mammals as ecosystem engineers, particularly with regard to their influence on hydrological functioning.     

A framework for the social valuation of ecosystem services

Methods to assess ecosystem services using ecological or economic approaches are considerably better defined than methods for the social approach. To identify why the social approach remains unclear, we reviewed current trends in the literature. We found two main reasons: (i) the cultural ecosystem services are usually used to represent the whole social approach, and (ii) the economic valuation based on social preferences is typically included in the social approach. Next, we proposed a framework for the social valuation of ecosystem services that provides alternatives to economics methods, enables comparison across studies, and supports decision-making in land planning and management. The framework includes the agreements emerged from the review, such as considering spatial–temporal flows, including stakeholders from all social ranges, and using two complementary methods to value ecosystem services. Finally, we provided practical recommendations learned from the application of the proposed framework in a case study.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-014-0555-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Valuing environmental amenities through inverse optimization: Theory and case study

Amenity values of private forests are implicit but play a critical role in decision and policy making. This study presents an innovative valuation approach integrating techniques of operations research and economic theory of pricing environmental goods. A forest planning problem was inversed through altering its reward function of timber values so that the observed harvesting behavior became optimal. The discrepancy between the original and new rewards uncovered amenities values which were linked to forest attributes via hedonic models. This method was applied to a case study of the U.S. southern pine region. Depending on forest conditions, total economic values of amenities varied from zero to just under one thousand dollar per ha. At a discount rate of 3%, a typically managed forest generated on average $243 ha⁻¹ of amenities values per annum, more than twice of harvested timber values. Structural diversity and density of large pine trees were the key determinants to preserving forests for environmental amenities.     

Achieving sustainability goals for urban coasts in the US Northeast: research needs and challenges

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy and other recent extreme events, urban coastal communities in the northeast region of the United States are beginning or stepping up efforts to integrate climate adaptation and resilience into long-term coastal planning. Natural and nature-based shoreline strategies have emerged as essential components of coastal resilience and are frequently cited by practitioners, scientists, and the public for the wide range of ecosystem services they can provide. However, there is limited quantitative information associating particular urban shoreline design strategies with specific levels of ecosystem service provision, and research on this issue is not always aligned with decision context and decision-maker needs. Engagement between the research community, local government officials and sustainability practitioners, and the non-profit and private sectors can help bridge these gaps. A workshop to bring together these groups discussed research gaps and challenges in integrating ecosystem services into urban sustainability planning in the urban northeast corridor. Many themes surfaced repeatedly throughout workshop deliberations, including the challenges associated with ecosystem service valuation, the transferability of research and case studies within and outside the region, and the opportunity for urban coastal areas to be a focal point for education and outreach efforts related to ecosystem services.     

Household susceptibility to hydrological change in the Lower Mekong Basin

The hydrological conditions of the Lower Mekong Basin support a multitude of ecosystem services. Processes that influence water flow in the Mekong River will thus have implications for the tens of millions of people whose livelihoods depend on these services. This study presents an assessment of livelihood susceptibility to hydrological change in the Lower Mekong Basin. Using an index‐based approach, susceptibility scores were calculated for 2,703 households. Using those scores, we compared average household susceptibility across the basin, among countries and among eco‐zones. Due to their greater livelihood dependency on water‐related activities, mean household susceptibility was higher in Vietnam than in Cambodia, Laos, or Thailand. Households in Northern Laos also had high susceptibility, which was attributed to their low adaptive capacity. The findings suggest that policies aimed at reducing vulnerability to hydrological change in the Lower Mekong Basin should account for geographic context. Further, they highlight how policies may be able to strategically target the most susceptible households, but that poorly designed policies have the potential to exacerbate vulnerability. In the face of high uncertainty surrounding hydrological change in the Lower Mekong Basin, our assessment of susceptibility should help inform precautionary water management policies and provide baseline information needed for more comprehensive vulnerability assessments.     

Ecosystem services in infrastructure planning – a case study of the projected deepening of the Lower Weser river in Germany

We consider how ecosystem services can be incorporated into water infrastructure planning by studying the projected deepening of the Lower Weser river channel in Germany. We recalculate the project's benefit–cost ratio by integrating the monetary value of changes in different ecosystem services, as follows: (1) the restoration costs of a mitigation measure for a loss in fresh water supply for agricultural production in the estuary region, (2) the costs of a loss in habitat services, transferring the willingness to pay from a contingent valuation study to the area assessed in the environmental impact assessment, and (3) the benefits of emissions savings induced by more efficient shipping, taking a marginal abatement cost approach. We find that including monetary values for ecosystem service changes leads to a substantial drop in the benefit–cost ratio. On this basis, we argue for a reform of the standard cost–benefit analysis to facilitate more complete welfare assessments.     

Eliciting preferences for wetland services: a way to manage conflicting land uses

A choice experiment was used to analyse the preferences of residents neighbouring the Erstein polder (Alsace, France) for the different services that it provides. The heterogeneous nature of these preferences was shown through the use of a latent class model. Whilst the population as a whole values the improvement in water quality and the contribution, even partial, to flood protection, preferences differ when it comes to biodiversity and public access to the site. This study shows the potential conflicts between the different uses of the Erstein polder. These conflicts represent different communication themes for the site managers.     

How to support the effective management of Natura 2000 sites?

In Europe, biodiversity conservation relies on the Natura 2000 network. However, it is often difficult to ensure the favourable conservation status of species and habitats due to scarce financial resources. Therefore, we examined the current management strategies and conditions of three Italian Natura 2000 sites based on a questionnaire and stakeholder meetings. Additionally, we qualitatively assessed the potential of ecosystem services provision. Then an A'WOT analysis was carried out to identify and highlight internal and external factors affecting natural and semi-natural ecosystems and the socio-economic context, aiming to propose new instruments and approaches for effective management. The analysis revealed opportunities for developing tourism and the high potential of regulating services, whereas the bureaucratic burden and a lack of funding threaten the attainment of biodiversity conservation goals. Thus, we propose that payments for ecosystem services should be considered to support the effective management of Natura 2000 sites.