阿斯旺高坝的生态环境问题

:通过对阿斯旺高坝和尼罗河的实际考察和生态环境监测数据的分析 ,介绍了埃及政府相关管理部门的官员和专家对阿斯旺工程的看法 ,对阿斯旺高坝及其生态环境问题进行了评述。认为阿斯旺工程是一个成功的工程 ,它对埃及发挥的巨大影响和积极作用是有目共睹的。它对生态环境的不利影响 ,确被很多批评者盲目地夸大了 ,其中也包含有政治因素。中国在修建水利工程时 ,要对环境的影响作出客观、科学的评价 ,并采取措施把不利影响减少到最小。阿斯旺高坝运行近 30年 ,在生态环境监测方面积累了丰富的数据 ,这些成果和结论对三峡工程具有直接的借鉴和参考价值。     

红壤丘陵区土地利用变化对土壤质量影响

以鄂南红壤丘陵典型区的三个村为代表 ,应用地理信息系统对 1981和 1998年两个时期的土地利用变化和土壤质量进行对比研究 ,分析了土地利用变化对土壤质量的影响。结果表明 :研究区土地利用结构总体上具有农业型特点 ,17a间水田减少了 2 1% ;其余的利用方式则有不同幅度的增加 ,居民地、水域、林地、园地和旱地增加了 4 2 .2 %、99.6 %、8%、5 6 .8%和 8%。土壤质量有从优劣两端向中等靠拢的趋势 ,17a后 、 、 和 等地面积分别减少 18.6 %、12 .2 %、2 9.6 %和 2 5 % ; 等地增幅达 5 1.9%。土地利用方式及管理措施是影响土壤质量演变方向和强度的关键因子 ,园地和林地的土壤质量大多得到明显改善 ,水田的Δ SQI多数呈下降的趋势 ,旱地的土壤质量变化比较复杂 ,与土地利用结构相关。依此 ,本文探讨了定向培育土壤质量的途径     

重大事故应急救援法律法规体系建设

重大事故应急救援法律法规体系作为生产安全应急救援体系建设的重要内容之一 ,在重特大事故多发的今天 ,已显得尤为重要。笔者结合国内外重大事故应急救援立法的现状 ,论述加强我国应急救援法律法规体系建设的必要性 ;提出重大应急救援法律法规体系建设要从法律、行政法规及部门规章、地方性法规及规章3个方面进行 ;同时提出建立联席会议制度、应急预案编制审核和备案制度、报告与信息发布制度、应急救援的分级响应制度、应急救援演习制度、应急救援资金补偿制度、应急救援的奖惩制度等急救援工作制度体系。最后 ,还强调建立重大事故应急救援体系对于提高政府对国家危机的管理能力有着深远的影响和意义。     

通才式安全工程专业课程设置的探讨

根据安全工程专业所处的学科结构体系 ,讨论了通才式安全工程专业高等教育课程设置所考虑的因素。提出了通才式安全工程专业高等教育课程的设置思想、专业基础课和主干课的学时比以及实践与理论相结合的实习方法。     

Island-based catchment—The Taiwan example

Rapid economic and industrial development in Taiwan over the past five decades has elevated the islands standing and earned it a place in the group known as the Four Small Dragons of Asia. Such growth, however, has been at the expense of the environment. There are currently nearly 23 million people juggling for space on the small island of 35,873 km². Aggravating the matter further, the central mountain ranges and hills take up 73.6% of the land area with some 156 peaks surpassing 3,000 m. As a result, most people live in coastal plains which amount to only 9,490 km². Pressure to move people inland has led to road construction and deforestation, both of which have contributed to an already high denudation rate of topsoil. As a consequence of this, thirteen rivers in Taiwan are now ranked among the top 20 worldwide in terms of sediment yield. Aside from this, the frequency of both floods and droughts increased prior to 1990, perhaps because of deforestation and global warming. Fortunately, the new conservation-orientated forest management policy of 1991 has alleviated the problem, somewhat, and the occurrence of floods and droughts has since decreased. The problem of water shortage, however, has worsened because of the warming trend in atmospheric temperature. Damming may ameliorate the water shortage problem but may affect the shoreline stability, as well as the ecology and water quality in the estuaries. Furthermore, these detrimental effects may go far beyond the estuaries, and even fisheries on the continental shelves may be affected.     

Destruction of Wetlands and Waterbird Populations by Dams and Irrigation on the Murrumbidgee River in Arid Australia

The Lowbidgee floodplain is the Murrumbidgee Rivers major wetland in southeastern Australia. From more than 300,000 ha in the early 1900s, at least 76.5% was destroyed (58%) or degraded (18%) by dams (26 major storages), subsequent diversions and floodplain development. Diversions of about 2,144,000 ML year^–1 from the Murrumbidgee River come from a natural median flow of about 3,380,000 ML year^–1 providing water for Australias capital, hydroelectricity, and 273,000 ha of irrigation. Diversions have reduced the amount of water reaching the Lowbidgee floodplain by at least 60%, from 1888 to 1998. About 97,000 ha of Lowbidgee wetland was destroyed by development of the floodplain for an irrigation area (1975–1998), including building of 394 km of channels and 2,145 km of levee banks. Over 19 years (1983–2001), waterbird numbers estimated during annual aerial surveys collapsed by 90%, from an average of 139,939 (1983–1986) to 14,170 (1998–2001). Similar declines occurred across all functional groups: piscivores (82%), herbivores (87%), ducks and small grebe species (90%), large wading birds (91%), and small wading birds (95%), indicating a similar decline in the aquatic biota that formed their food base. Numbers of species also declined significantly by 21%. The Lowbidgee floodplain is an example of the ecological consequences of water resource development. Yanga Nature Reserve, within the Lowbidgee floodplain, conserved for its floodplain vegetation communities, will lose these communities because of insufficient water. Until conservation policies adequately protect river flows to important wetland areas, examples such as the Lowbidgee will continue to occur around the world.     

An algorithm for assessing the risk of traffic accident

INTRODUCTION: This study is aimed at developing an algorithm to estimate the number of traffic accidents and assess the risk of traffic accidents in a study area. METHOD: The algorithm involves a combination of mapping technique (Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques) and statistical methods (cluster analysis and regression analysis). Geographical Information System is used to locate accidents on a digital map and realize their distribution. Cluster analysis is used to group the homogeneous data together. Regression analysis is performed to realize the relation between the number of accident events and the potential causal factors. Negative binomial regression model is found to be an appropriate mathematical form to mimic this relation. Accident risk of the area, derived from historical accident records and causal factors, is also determined in the algorithm. The risk is computed using the Empirical Bayes (EB) approach. A case study of Hong Kong is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. RESULTS: The results show that the algorithm improves accident risk estimation when comparing to the estimated risk based on only the historical accident records. The algorithm is found to be more efficient, especially in the case of fatality and pedestrian-related accident analysis. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The output of the proposed algorithm can help authorities effectively identify areas with high accident risk. In addition, it can serve as a reference for town planners considering road safety.     

Human impacts on the stream-groundwater exchange zone

Active exchanges of water and dissolved material between the stream and groundwater in many porous sand- and gravel-bed rivers create a dynamic ecotone called the hyporheic zone. Because it lies between two heavily exploited freshwater resources—rivers and groundwater—the hyporheic zone is vulnerable to impacts coming to it through both of these habitats. This review focuses on the direct and indirect effects of human activity on ecosystem functions of the hyporheic zone. River regulation, mining, agriculture, urban, and industrial activities all have the potential to impair interstitial bacterial and invertebrate biota and disrupt the hydrological connections between the hyporheic zone and stream, groundwater, riparian, and floodplain ecosystems. Until recently, our scientific ignorance of hyporheic processes has perhaps excused the inclusion of this ecotone in river management policy. However, this no longer is the case as we become increasingly aware of the central role that the hyporheic zone plays in the maintenance of water quality and as a habitat and refuge for fauna. To fully understand the impacts of human activity on the hyporheic zone, river managers need to work with scientists to conduct long-term studies over large stretches of river. River rehabilitation and protection strategies need to prevent the degradation of linkages between the hyporheic zone and surrounding habitats while ensuring that it remains isolated from toxicants. Strategies that prevent anthropogenic restriction of exchanges may include the periodic release of environmental flows to flush silt and reoxygenate sediments, maintenance of riparian buffers, effective land use practices, and suitable groundwater and surface water extraction policies.     

River systems as providers of goods and services: a basis for comparing desired and undesired effects of large dam projects

In developing countries, large dam projects continue to be launched, primarily to secure a time-stable freshwater supply and to generate hydropower. Meanwhile, calls for environmentally sustainable development put pressure on the dam-building industry to integrate ecological concerns in project planning and decision-making. Such integration requires environmental impact statements (EISs) that can communicate the societal implications of the ecological effects in terms that are understandable and useful to planners and decision-makers. The purpose of this study is to develop a basic framework for assessing the societal implications of the river ecological effects expected of a proposed large dam project. The aim is to facilitate a comparison of desired and potential undesired effects on-site and downstream. The study involves two main tasks: to identify key river goods and services that a river system may provide, and to analyze how the implementation of a large dam project may alter the on-site capacity and downstream potentials to derive river goods and services from the river system. Three river goods and six river services are identified. River goods are defined as extractable partly man-made products and river services as naturally sustained processes. By four main types of flow manipulations, a large dam project improves the on-site capacity to derive desired river goods, but simultaneously threatens the provision of desirable river goods and services downstream. However, by adjusting the site, design, and operational schedule of the proposed dam project, undesirable effects on river goods and services can be minimized.