Stewardship of Natural Resources: Definition, Ethical and Practical Aspects

Stewardship is potentially a usefulconcept in modernizing management philosophies. Use ofthe term has increased markedly in recent years, yetthe term is used loosely and rarely defined in landmanagement literature. The connections between thispractical usage and the ethical basis of stewardshipare currently poorly developed. The followingdefinition is proposed: ``Stewardship is theresponsible use (including conservation) of naturalresources in a way that takes full and balancedaccount of the interests of society, futuregenerations, and other species, as well as of privateneeds, and accepts significant answerability tosociety.' A religious interpretation would require thephrase ``and ultimately to God' to be added.Stewardship has both secular and religiousinterpretations and it will be desirable to developboth of these aspects in parallel. A task forphilosophers is to establish whether the ethical basisof stewardship is sufficient to address environmentalconcerns or whether it is necessary to embrace widerethical approaches. Stewardship occupies similarground to several other concepts of use and managementof resources, particularly sustainability. It canbuild on sustainability by encouraging a broader viewof who and what should benefit from managementactivity. In particular, it focuses attention on therole of managers in providing public benefit and onenvisaging other species as a form of ``stakeholder' inmanagement decisions. Stewardship is applicable acrossthe widest range of fields of resource use and alsohas relevance to aspects of land tenure and propertyrights. Application of stewardship will require someadjustments in the roles of private managers/ownersvis-à-vis government. It might providemanagers with an expanded role and, importantly, amore positive image, both of themselves and in theeyes of the public. Stewardship could alsobe developed in a way that has relevance to citizensin general (as opposed to managers and owners ofresources), through their interactions with naturalresources as consumers.     

长江中游地区水资源产业化开发研究

长江中游地区对丰富的水资源进行产业化开发可实现振兴经济的目的,其中售水、水电、水运、水域农业和水上旅游业是主要开发领域。水资源产业化开发的利益关系由合理的收费与价格体系进行协调。     

实施可持续发展战略，促进贵州省经济发展

在分析贵州省的人口、资源省情与环境状况基础上 ,阐述了经济建设与人口、资源、环境的关系 ,提出了贵州省实施可持续发展战略的对策。     

云南元江芦荟资源的开发及产业对策

云南元江是国内外有名的中华芦荟分布区。作者论述了如何利用云南元江的自然条件开发丰富的芦荟资源,并提出了相应的产业发展对策。     

河南省农业自然资源可持续利用途径

农业的持续发展依赖于农业自然资源的可持续利用。根据可持续发展思想,通过分析河南省农业自然资源的现状和资源利用中存在的主要问题,作者提出了实现该省农业自然资源可持续利用的途径。     

区域资源开发的系统转换理论

作者在分析资源与资源功能的基础上,以区际资源功能互补转换和区内资源结构对应转换为主题,论述了有关“区域资源开发的系统转换理论”的新思想。     

新工艺炭黑生产的节能与环境效益

对于能耗高、污染重的炭黑工业来说,采用新工艺生产炭黑,其节能效果与环境效果是显著的。     

PLANNING FOR DROUGHT: MOVING FROM CRISIS TO RISK MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT: Severe drought is a recurring problem for the United States, as illustrated by widespread economic, social, and environmental impacts. Recent drought episodes and the widespread drought conditions in 1996, 1998, and 1999 emphasized this vulnerability and the need for a more proactive, risk management approach to drought management that would place greater emphasis on preparedness planning and mitigation actions. Drought planning has become a principal tool of states and other levels of government to improve their response to droughts. For example, since 1982, the number of states with drought plans has increased from 3 to 29. Many local governments have also adopted drought or water shortage plans. Unfortunately, most state drought plans were established during the 1980s and early 1990s and emphasize emergency response or crisis management rather than risk management. This paper presents a substantive revision of a 10‐step drought planning process that has been applied widely in the United States and elsewhere. The revised planning process places more weight on risk assessment and the development and implementation of mitigation actions and programs. The goal of this paper is to encourage states to adopt this planning process in the revision of existing drought plans or, for states without plans, in the development of new plans.     

建设我国节水高效农业的战略对策

21世纪我国水资源供需矛盾进一步加剧,农用水资源严重短缺,解决我国粮食安全问题,必须发展节水高效农业,本文阐述了未来我国农业可持续发展面临的节水任务,分析了影响节水发展的制约因素,提出了促进节水高效农业发展的战略措施和对策。     

中国水利水电工程开发与区域可持续发展

本文论述了中国水利水电工程开发与区域可持续发展的关系,并提出了中国实现可持续的水利水电工程开发的主要对策。