Resource scarcity,energy use and environmental impact: A case study of the New Bedford,Massachusetts, USA,fisheries

The commercial fishing fleet in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA, harvests seafood on George’s Bank, home of one of the nation’s most productive fisheries. We calculated the energy return on investment (EROI) and carbon intensity of protein harvest in the New Bedford fisheries from 1968 to 1988. EROI is the ratio of the energy content of the edible fish protein harvested to the quantity of fossil fuel energy used directly in the harvesting process. Carbon intensity is the quantity of carbon dioxide (CO₂) released (from the burning of fossil fuels) per calorie of edible fish protein harvested. The results show that the EROI of protein harvest declined from 0.18 to 0.028 from 1968 to 1988, indicating that the energy used to harvest seafood increased from about 6 to 36 kcal of fuel for each kilocalorie of protein harvested. The quantity of CO₂ released per calorie of edible fish protein is a linear function of energy use and therefore increased in a similar manner. During this period there was a large increase in fishing effort (caused by the increase in the real price of seafood products, favorable tax treatment for new vessel construction, and low interest loans from the government), and a decline in several important species of fish. The results suggest that fishing pressure could be managed effectively by the regulation of fuel use by the fleet. Despite the increase in the price of many seafood products, fishermen absorbed many of the costs of increasing scarcity in the form of longer working hours and fewer men per vessel.     

Populations of domesticated cattle and buffalo in the Western Forest Complex of Thailand and their possible impacts on the wildlife community

The Western Forest Complex (WEFCOM) of Thailand is comprised of many protected areas and has one of the highest wildlife populations in the country. Populations of wildlife in the WEFCOM have decreased dramatically over recent years. Rapid economic development has resulted in the conversion of forest into agricultural and pastoral land, which has directly and indirectly impacted the wildlife community. This research aimed to evaluate populations of domesticated cattle (Bos indicus) and buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) in the WEFCOM and their possible impacts on the wildlife community. Domesticated cattle and buffalo keepers from 1561 (or 3.3%) of houses in and near WEFCOM were interviewed. The average number of animals per household was 15.6 cattle and 8.5 buffalo. Most villagers released domesticated cattle and buffalo to forage in the protected areas. This tended to have a high impact on the wildlife community in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary and Tungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary. The least impacted areas were Luam Khlong Ngu National Park, Thong Pha Phum National Park and Chaleam Ratanakosin National Park. With a high risk to the wildlife community, law enforcement should be used in combination with a certain level of co-management with local communities.     

Economic sustainability and the preservation of environmental assets

The core requirement of sustainability is that current economic activities should not result in an excessive burden on future generations. This criterion is general enough to imply different decision rules for the preservation of environmental assets. Neoclassical economics does not have a sustainability criterion for environmental assets independent of the intertemporal efficiency criterion, which allocates environmental and man-made capital based on projected monetary benefits and costs. This criterion is examined in terms of the feasibility of valuing the benefits of environmental assets, the substitution possibilities between natural and man-made capital, and the ethical grounds for using efficiency as the sole determinant of the allocation of environmental assets. An alternative ecological sustainability criterion is the preservation of safe minimum levels of environmental assets in physical terms rather than the dollar value of a composite of natural and man-made capital. Safe minimum standards for environmental assets constrain the efficiency criterion in order to ensure the sustainability of economic systems. It is argued that the ecological approach to sustainability should limit the economic approach for decisions involving the allocation of environmental assets.     

Hot Spots of Perforated Forest in the Eastern United States

National assessments of forest fragmentation satisfy international biodiversity conventions, but they do not identify specific places where ecological impacts are likely. In this article, we identify geographic concentrations (hot spots) of forest located near holes in otherwise intact forest canopies (perforated forest) in the eastern United States, and we describe the proximate causes in terms of the nonforest land-cover types contained in those hot spots. Perforated forest, defined as a 0.09-ha unit of forest that is located at the center of a 7.29-ha neighborhood containing 60–99% forest with relatively low connectivity, was mapped over the eastern United States by using land-cover maps with roads superimposed. Statistically significant (P < 0.001) hot spots of high perforation rate (perforated area per unit area of forest) were then located by using a spatial scan statistic. Hot spots were widely distributed and covered 20.4% of the total area of the 10 ecological provinces examined, but 50.1% of the total hot-spot area was concentrated in only two provinces. In the central part of the study area, more than 90% of the forest edge in hot spots was attributed to anthropogenic land-cover types, whereas in the northern and southern parts it was more often associated with seminatural land cover such as herbaceous wetlands.     

成都龙泉山地区建设用地生态适宜性评价

随着景观格局与生态过程之间的关系日益受到重视,传统的评价方法已经不能满足生态适宜性评价的发展需要。本文以成都市龙泉山地区为例,从景观类型、生态功能、生态价值、土壤侵蚀敏感性和地质灾害敏感性5个方面建立评价指标体系,分别采用最小累积阻力模型和模糊综合评判法描述水平生态过程和垂直生态过程下的生态适宜性,综合两种评价结果进行建设用地的生态适宜性评价。研究结果表明,模型机理的差异使评价结果有着很大的区别,两种方法的综合应用可以有效弥补彼此的不足,本文将研究区的生态适宜性评价结果划分为禁止开发区、严格限建区、一般限建区、重点开发区和优化开发区5个分区,各区的面积分别为259．70km^2、793．89km2、1220．35km2、739．68km2和490．42km2。以往的生态适宜性评价方法往往单一地考虑水平或者垂直生态过程,本文构建的这种综合水平和垂直生态过程的评价方法为生态适宜性评价的方法研究提供了有益的尝试和补充。     

秦皇岛市农业和农村生态环境保护对策

秦皇岛市乡镇工业污染长期居高不下,农业生态保护形势面临严峻挑战,治 理乡镇工业污染和加强农业生态保护应是今后工作的重点。     

Assessing the impact of leather industries on the quality of water discharged into the East China Sea from Wenzhou Watersheds

Ammonium nitrogen and total germanium are among the main pollutants in the wastewater discharged from the leather industry. The intake of high concentrations of ammonium nitrogen and/or total germanium harms human health and biological species, as is well documented in literature. This paper focuses on assessing the trends of ammonium nitrogen and total germanium concentrations through time in two watersheds (Aojiang and Oujiang) in the Wenzhou metropolitan area of Zhejiang Province and their relationships with the released wastewater using regression and correlation statistics. The paper also utilizes the integrated pollution index to evaluate water quality in the two watersheds. Preliminary results show that, from 1992 to 1998 in the Aojing watershed, the concentrations of ammonium nitrogen and total germanium increased 13 and 14 times, respectively, decreasing somewhat after 1998, while between 1992 and 1997 in the Oujiang watershed, the concentrations increased, then decreased after 1997. The concentrations of ammonium nitrogen and total germanium are positively related to the amount of released wastewater. The concentrations of ammonium nitrogen and total germanium exceeded water standards 12 and 3 times, respectively, in Pingyang county of the Aojiang watershed, 14 and 3.3 times in Lucheng District of the Oujiang watershed, and 14 and 3.8 times in the Ouhai Oujiang watershed, respectively. In Pingyang county of the Aojiang watershed, the water quality degraded from Type III in 1992 to over Type V in 2003, and in the Oujiang watershed, the water quality degraded from Type II to over Type IV in 1999, when they were compared with the water quality standards. The water quality slightly improved in 2003 for the Oujiang watershed. It appears that pollution did have a direct positive correlation with leather industry production in the Pingyang Aojing watershed, while there was a negative correlation between the two in the Oujiang watershed. In these two watersheds, the integrated pollution index did not appear to relate to population dynamics and agricultural production. This paper also discusses the current new methodologies and approaches adopted nationally and internationally to reduce the contaminants and purify the environment for maintaining a sustainable and healthier environment in Wenzhou.     

基于全过程控制的铁路建设项目生态环境保护发展状况评估

铁路建设项目的生态环境影响在其全生命周期内各时期有不同的表现形式.在阐述不同时期应重点关注的生态环境保护问题的基础上,从全过程控制角度,建立了涵盖前期规划、建设期、运营期3个阶段的铁路建设项目生态环境保护发展状况评估指标体系,运用层次分析法对各指标进行权重评定.根据权重计算结果对铁路建设项目生态环境保护工作中重要时期及...     

生态修复的环境法属性探讨

在环境法中,要了解生态修复的属性。目前,业界关于生态修复的研究还处于初级阶段,掌握生态修复的含义,了解生态修复与法律之间的关系,才能进一步探讨生态修复的环境法属性。在生态修复上,政府起到极其重要的作用,政府要加强对环境的保护,使生态修复能够真正落到实处,并严格依据环境法的要求及时追究侵害人的责任。     

秦皇岛市生态状况及资源开发利用水平分析综述

秦皇岛市区内生态类型多样,各类生态系统功能突出,自然资源丰富,尤其是海、旅游资源优势突出,为区域经济发展提供了良好的基础条件。该文对秦皇岛市生态系统平衡及资源开发利用水平进行了定量分析。