Rainfall Response of Degraded Soil Following Reforestation in the Copper Basin, Tennessee, USA

2 Copper Basin in southeastern Tennessee became the site of increasingly extensive and successful reforestation efforts. To determine the effectiveness of more than 50 years of reforestation efforts, we compared rainfall infiltration, sediment detachment, and soil organic matter of reforested sites to those properties of unvegetated sites and forested reference sites outside the basin. Results of 54 rainfall simulation experiments conducted in zones of the basin known to have been planted during different decades demonstrate that hydrologic recovery of soils in the Copper Basin lags significantly behind the establishment of tree cover and the protection offered by vegetation against soil erosion. Soils in new “forests” have significantly less organic matter and lower infiltration than forests more than 50 years old. The long-term persistence of low infiltration rates serves as a reminder that, at sites where the A and B soil horizons have been lost, restoration of the hydrologic function of a landscape requires decades, at least.     

Gap analysis of water governance in Northern Iran: A closer look into the water reservoirs

The amount of rainfall in Mazandaran province of Northern Iran is high. Mazandaran has man-made water reservoirs called Ab-bandan, to collect rainfall for irrigating rice farms during the growing seasons. However, rice farms face water scarcity because only a small amount of rainfall is being stored in Ab-bandans, while either the remaining water runs off into the sea, or causes water-logging or flooding. This research addresses Ab-bandans governance gaps in the Mazandaran province, using the ‘Multi-level Governance Framework’ introduced by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). A modified Delphi technique with face-to-face interviews and a ranking round is used to identify Ab-bandans governance gaps. The identified gaps are classified into seven categories by applying the OECD's framework. In each of the categories there is one most important gap: the lack of a specific law for Ab-bandans, lack of long-term and strategic planning, low recognition of Ab-bandans at the national level, insufficient budget, lack of water user associations, lack of research in practice, and lack of using technology. The findings show that lack of a specific law for Ab-bandans in the country's water law is the most acute gap of all. In addition, the analysis highlights the fact that the policy category is the most critical one. The identified gaps are interlinked and exacerbate each other, therefore, a holistic perspective is needed to understand and resolve them. This study recommends a reform in the country’s water law, improved linkage between levels of government, co-operation among organizations involved in Ab-bandans management, and participation of local stakeholders in planning.     

A rhetorical analysis of the scientific debate over assisted colonization

Previous analyses of the debate on the assisted colonization of species (AC) omit a critical assessment of the rhetorical dimension of the AC debate. To address this gap, we ask: what kinds of arguments are deployed as mean of persuasion and what are the implications of the rhetorical dimension of the AC debate for decision-making on AC? Our methods consist of textual network analysis, which allowed us to generate maps of the arguments in the debate on AC and analyze these maps using standard network analytical measures. The argument maps of the AC debate emphasize different and multi-faceted value judgments. Some of these are couched in technical terms and thus are implicitly evaluative: what is an appropriate level of risk for focal species and recipient communities, how much knowledge/ignorance is sufficient to warrant action or inaction, and what species or ecosystem services are most valuable and should be prioritized in conservation science and management? Other types of arguments, however, are more explicitly evaluative: socio-economic calculations, defending or criticizing conventional principles of conservation policy, and ethical norms and values. While some of the technical aspects of the debate may be resolved by more research, the controversy over AC is unlikely to be resolved by science alone, because the issue is thoroughly enmeshed in rhetoric about who should have control over AC governance.     

Stakeholder involvement in strategic adaptation planning: Transdisciplinarity and co-production at stake?

To address increasing climatic variability and extremes, cities are gradually forced to develop climate change adaptation strategies that can ensure a continuous and transformative adaptation process. There is widespread consensus that the sustainable establishment of such strategies requires transdisciplinary approaches, that is, the involvement of internal and external stakeholders (state, civil society and market actors) to become part of the change and find innovative ways to unite their efforts and capacities. However, there is little research and hardly any empirical evidence on the process of stakeholder involvement and co-production in the development of municipal adaptation strategies. Against this background, this paper examines the factors that influence how and why different stakeholders are involved (or excluded) during the processes of developing adaptation strategies, and how this gets reflected in process outcomes. Based on applied participatory analysis of two pioneering municipalities in Germany and Sweden, the paper identifies and contrasts existing patterns to feed back into both theory and practice. Synergies, mismatches, barriers and driving forces for adaptation co-production are identified and contrasted with current adaptation discourses. The results highlight how the level of internal and external stakeholder involvement is conditional on (changes in) the broader governance context, and the associated power constellations in which stakeholders act (e.g., standing of departments, proximity to the decision-making body, changes in [or constellations of] political parties, contractual arrangements for staff, individual champions, progress in mainstreaming). On this basis, conclusions are drawn regarding how to foster sustainable and transformative adaptation through increased stakeholder involvement. The results and conclusions are crucial to advance theory on adaptation co-production, providing a basis for further analyses, research and action. They inform how existing theory, policies and/or guidelines for strategic adaptation planning need to be revisited to support change across current risk governance.     

走向更为积极的气候变化政策与管理

我国目前应对气候变化的策略表现为：将气候变化政策视为可持续发展政策的一部分；在参与全球气候变化的国际协议方面有着鲜明立场；重视气候变化方面的科学研究；把气候变化问题作为环境外交的重要部分；努力吸引公众参与等方面。但在政策的制定和执行中仍缺乏应有的积极性、主动性和前瞳性。我国的气候变化治理结构存在的问题主要包括：缺乏明确的决策机构和执行机构。科学研究对政策制定的支持能力不足，公众参与薄弱．企业减缓气候变化的动力不足。针对这些问题．提出了以“走向更为积极的气候变化政策与管理”为核心的改进治理结构的政策建议。     

红枫湖流域枯水期土壤理化特征与磷素分异研究

对贵州省红枫湖枯水期流域土壤的理化性质、磷素含量与形态分布进行了初步研究。结果表明,土壤偏酸性,以粉砂粒为主,消落带土样含水率略高于林地和荒地。表土全磷和速效磷含量为99.6~679.5mg/kg和1.1~18.6mg/kg,低于我国土壤平均水平,属喀斯特地质性缺磷;最高值分布在受人类活动污染严重的管理处和后午,且随土层深度的增加而降低。土壤中不同磷形态的含量顺序为Residual-PNaOH-PHCl-PNaHCO3-PH2O-P。其中,耕作土壤中有机碳、全氮、全磷和速效磷含量,以及H2O-P、NaHCO3-P和总可提取态磷的比例均显著高于荒地和林地,表明耕作与施肥过程不仅提高了土壤全磷和生物活性磷含量,也加剧了水土流失的环境风险。     

大气环境污染源治理产业化研究

文章介绍了大气环境污染源治理产业化的实施方法,这种方法介绍了大气环境污染源治理产业化管理,探讨了大气环境污染源治理项的投资,主要包括资金筹措方案,项目计划进度包括项目的总体目标、计划安排与阶段目标、企业的参与程度、产学研联合机制和其他必要的支撑和配套条件落实情况,只有在大气环境污染源治理产业化的过程中,各方面积极努力,各负其责,就一定能够做好大气环境污染源治理产业化的工作,保卫我们国家的大气环境.     

上海市环境污染第三方治理研究

环境污染第三方治理打破了传统的污染治理模式,是环境污染治理的一项重大改革.从中央到地方,各级政府出台了一系列环境污染第三方治理的相关政策文件.目前上海已在七大领域对第三方治理进行试点,在对金山区的调研基础上,分析了上海市环境治理现状,从治理模式以及治理绩效等角度对上海市环境污染第三方治理进行探讨,分析发现了污染企业治污积极性不高,环保企业生存压力大等问题,并从政府,污染企业和环保企业三个方面提出了相关建议.     

Improving the effectiveness of planning EIA (PEIA) in China: Integrating planning and assessment during the preparation of Shenzhen's Master Urban Plan

The enactment and implementation of the 2003 EIA Law in China institutionalised the role of plan environmental impact assessment (PEIA). While the philosophy, methodology and mechanisms of PEIA have gradually permeated through the various levels of government with a positive effect on the process and outcome of urban planning, only a few cities in China have so far carried out PEIA as a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)-type procedure. One such case is the southern city of Shenzhen. During the past three decades, Shenzhen has grown from a small town to a large and booming city as China has successfully and rapidly developed its economy by adopting the “reform and open door” policy. In response to the challenges arising from the generally divergent processes of rapid urbanisation, economic transformation and environment protection, Shenzhen has incrementally adopted the SEA concept in developing the city's Master Urban Plan. As such, this paper reviews the effectiveness of PEIA in three ways:

• • 

  as a tool and process for achieving more sustainable and strategic planning;

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  to determine the level of integration of SEA within the planning system; and,

• • 

  its effectiveness vis-à-vis implementation.

The implementation of PEIA within Shenzhen's Master Urban Plan offers important insights into the emergence of innovative practices in undertaking PEIA as well as theoretical contributions to the field, especially in exploring the relationship between PEIA and SEA and highlighting the central role of local governing institutions in SEA development.     

Forests in common: Learning from diversity of community forest arrangements in Europe

Europe has a wealth of community forest arrangements. This paper aims to transcend the diversity of locally specific terms and forms, to highlight the value of considering them inclusively. Building on methods to make sense of diversity, we use reflexive grounded inquiry in fifteen cases in Italy, Scotland, Slovenia and Sweden. Within four dimensions (forest, community, relationships between them, and relationships with wider society), we identify 43 subdimensions to describe them collectively. Our approach shows how European arrangements contribute to wider discourses of collective natural resource management. Both tradition and innovation in Europe inform options for environmental governance. Arrangements challenge the distinction between ‘communities of place’ and ‘communities of interest’, with implications for social and environmental justice. They exemplify multilevel environmental governance through both vertical and horizontal connections. Emerging from long histories of political and environmental pressures, they have a role in enhancing society’s connection with nature and adaptive capacity.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01377-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorised users.