Transboundary Groundwater Policy: Developing Approaches in the Western and Southwestern United States1

Hathaway, Deborah L., 2011. Transboundary Groundwater Policy: Developing Approaches in the Western and Southwestern United States. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 47(1):103‐113. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2010.00494.x Abstract: The western and southwestern United States include dozens of groundwater basins that cross political boundaries. Common among these shared groundwater basins is an overlay of differing legal structures and water development priorities, typically, with insufficient water supply for competing human uses, and often, a degraded ecosystem. Resolution of conflicts over ambiguously regulated groundwater has clarified transboundary groundwater policy in some interstate basins, while transboundary groundwater policy in international basins is less evolved. This paper identifies and contrasts approaches to transboundary groundwater policy, drawing from recent conflicts and cooperative efforts, including those associated with the interstate compacts on the Arkansas and Pecos Rivers; the Hueco and Lower Rio Grande Basins shared by New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico; and the Mexicali Basin in California and Mexico. Some efforts seek to fit groundwater policy into existing surface water allocation procedures; some strive for a better fit – incorporating scientific understanding of key differences between groundwater and surface water into policy frameworks. In some cases, neither policy nor precedent exists. The collective experience of these and other cases sets the stage for improved management of transboundary groundwater; as such, challenges and successes of these approaches, and those contemplated in several hypothetical model agreements, are examined.     

流域跨界水污染纠纷对策研究

本文介绍了国内外广泛存在的严重流域跨界水污染纠纷问题，结合我国流域的实际情况，提出了污染物人工调控和污染物间接不影响等几个基本假定，构建了流域跨界水污染纠纷顺序决策模型，并用此模型解释了我国严重的流域跨界水污染纠纷问题；针对目前的状况，提出了改进污染物削减指令配额管理体制，建立合作协调管理体制的对策；通过对淮河流域跨界水污染纠纷的实证分析时比了两种管理体制的优劣，最后分析了影响合作协调管理体制的诸多因素。     

Impacts of Urbanization and Intensification of Agriculture on Transboundary Aquifers: A Case Study

The objectives were to (1) delineate the complex set of rules governing the fate and transfer of water rights as agricultural land is urbanized in Texas and New Mexico in the United States and Chihuahua in Mexico and (2) estimate the change in water use as a result of such urbanization. Important additional determinants of water use in the region include intensification of agriculture and the hydroschizophrenic policy framework. We conducted interviews with key informants to identify the possible outcomes for changes in water rights as land is urbanized. We constructed decision trees for each of the three jurisdictions, Chihuahua, Texas, and New Mexico, that identified the possible outcomes from urbanization. For each of the possible outcomes in the decision tree, we estimated a range of potential water use outcomes and the most likely water use outcome on a per unit of land area basis. Results show that urbanization of agricultural land has almost no impact on the aggregate demand for or use of surface water. However, the impacts of urbanization on groundwater use vary considerably over the region from Texas to New Mexico to Chihuahua. In New Mexico and Chihuahua where groundwater rights can be leased or sold to other users, the likely impact is a net increase in groundwater use as land is urbanized, ranging from 0 to 3,000 m³/ha in New Mexico and averaging 3,000 m³/ha or more in Chihuahua. In Texas, there is a net benefit in groundwater savings, but those savings are subject to being offset by increased groundwater pumping to meet the needs of expanding pecan production. The net result is continued groundwater depletion, threatening the life of the transboundary aquifers, the Hueco Bolson and the Mesilla Bolson, in the Middle Rio Grande basin (defined as the part of the basin between Elephant Butte Reservoir in New Mexico to the confluence of the river with the Rio Conchos from Mexico).     

Transboundary marine spatial planning: a reflexive marine governance experiment?

Because seas and coastlines are shared between states, the formulation and implementation of marine spatial planning (MSP) should be transboundary by nature. The main argument of this paper is that MSP should be organized as a transboundary policy-making process, but this is hampered by the conceptual and institutional fragmentation MSP is facing. Based on an analysis of four transboundary planning processes in different European seas, the paper gives insight into the possibilities to develop and implement transboundary marine spatial planning (TMSP). To overcome the conceptual and institutional challenges, TMSP should be developed as a reflexive governance arrangement, in which the actors involved are able to change the rules of the game and to challenge the existing (national-oriented) MSP discourses. The paper develops four forms of reflexivity (unreflectiveness; performative reflectiveness; structural reflectiveness; and reflexivity) to assess TMSP processes and to formulate conditions which are crucial to develop TMSP as a reflexive marine governance arrangement.     

越境环境污染的经济分析

本文在介绍了越境环境污染的损害非一致性和混合非一致性特征的基础上,从外部性角度分析了越境环境问题,并着重探讨了博弈论在越境环境污染分析中的应用。指出,国际合作是解决这类问题的有效途径。     

大气PM10跨界输送的自组织动力机制——以舟山市为例

我国城市间大气污染物的相互输送作用非常显著.舟山市大气污染物主要来源于长三角地区,本地源影响较小.因此,本文将以舟山市为例,应用频度统计分析方法,研究舟山市大气PM10污染演化宏观动态的统计分布规律.结果发现,舟山市大气PM10小时平均浓度的波动并非随机,而是在0.065~0.324 mg·m-3范围内具有标度不变特征,统计上服从典型的分形幂律分布.同时,为了阐明该分形幂律分布的产生动力机制,基于自组织临界理论,建立了大气PM10跨界输送模型.该模型以污染输送机制、二次颗粒物生成机制、城市内污染迁移扩散机制、大气自净机制这4个主导动力机制为核心,组建了非线性关联迭代算法.新的自组织动力模型的模拟结果定量地解释了舟山市大气PM10污染浓度的分形幂律统计分布规律的产生根源.同时,本研究结合区域风场等气象因素,深入讨论了大气PM10跨界输送的自组织行为机制.     

废旧电器电子产品越境转移国际管理制度比较

废弃电器电子产品的非法越境转移已成为国际社会关注的重要环境问题之一,与之相伴而生的废弃电器电子产品与旧电器电子产品的鉴别问题也成为国际环境公约的热点议题.在此背景下,针对废旧电器电子产品越境转移的管理制度和鉴别标准,对相关国际公约以及美国、日本和欧盟等典型出口方与泰国、马来西亚和中国等典型进口方进行了比较分析.结果表明,发达国家和发展中国家关于废旧电器电子产品越境转移的政策存在对立性,尽管《巴塞尔公约》在努力减少这种对立性,以保护发展中国家环境利益,但电子废物非法越境转移的风险仍然存在.结合中国废旧电器电子产品进口管理现状,提出了完善中国现有管理体系的政策建议.     

European environmental assistance to the region of Pskov in northwest Russia: sustainability,effectiveness and implications for environmental governance

The paper explores the impact and sustainability of environmental assistance coming to Russia from EU-based public and private foundations, and its implications for environmental governance. Geographically, the study ’encompassed all the assistance projects awarded in 1991–2016 involving beneficiaries from Pskovskaya Oblast’. This region is potentially an important target for EU investments in environmental infrastructure, due to its location by the EU border and high value of natural capital. The study demonstrates how the assumptions offered by the international aid literature (mostly derived from the global South) apply to Russia. We found major limitations to the assumption that co-financing provided by recipients ensures project effectiveness (demonstrating the acceptance of the donor's agenda) or sustainability (providing interest to the maintenance of outputs). Tangible assets are normally co-financed only if the investment was in agenda anyway (and therefore the donor gets only time gains, although this can be a valid purpose too); soft outputs (plans, surveys, policies, etc.) are usually co-financed in-kind, and therefore cannot secure any additional commitment. Likewise, physical infrastructure often ends up mismanaged due to low or no maintenance budgets available, while maintenance of soft outputs is too much dependent on contextual factors beyond the co-finance paradigm.     

Participatory GIS for strengthening transboundary marine governance in SIDS

In this paper we explore the challenges involved in engaging the full range of stakeholders needed for effective marine resource management in the transboundary Grenadine Islands shared by the small island developing States (SIDS) of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada. The study describes the ways stakeholders were engaged in the development of participatory geographic information systems (PGIS), both in terms of the research approach (process) and the final geodatabase (product); it illustrates how the approach provides a practical means to strengthen aspects of marine governance, particularly in a SIDS context. We found that PGIS can provide a foundation for ecosystem‐based transboundary marine governance. The advantages of this approach are two‐fold: it provides the fullest possible range of information as input for the management of marine resources and it engages the stakeholders. This engagement takes several forms: capacity to participate in research; ownership of information produced; increased stakeholder understanding; empowerment through access to information; capacity to interact with other stakeholders for information and problem‐solving; and competence to participate in actual governance processes. Lastly, we discuss considerations for other practitioners contemplating using PGIS, particularly those working in similar resource‐limited SIDS environments.     

左右岸跨界水污染治理演化博弈与政策路径研究

基于流域跨界水污染问题多关注于上下游矛盾而忽视左右岸的"公地悲剧",本研究构建左、右岸地区和流域政府三方演化博弈模型,探索奖惩、补偿及复合机制下的主体决策和演化格局差异,结合仿真实验给出推动左右岸协同治理政策路径.结果显示,实现左右岸地区达标排放的关键在于显化达标排放收益与超标排放损失.流域政府倾向于选择奖惩或补偿的单一机制,奖惩机制在不同政策组合中显示出必要性,补偿机制具有加快达标决策、减缓超标决策的收敛速度的积极意义.政策路径是首先采取"阶梯惩罚政策"并增加严重超标惩罚额;继而依次增加奖励和惩罚额促成"奖惩机制",或依次增加奖励额和左右岸之间的补偿额促成"补偿机制",同时给出了上述额度的量化表达式.