Social Learning Through Evaluation: A Case Study of Overcoming Constraints for Management of Dryland Salinity

Conventional approaches to evaluation of environmental programs have tended to limit themselves to restricted measures of program effectiveness. This paper shows how a social learning approach can be incorporated into evaluating public environmental programs. A social learning approach is particularly suited to complex environmental challenges which are inherently difficult to understand, predict, and manage, thus complicating the evaluation process. The paper presents an Australian case study of dryland salinity management where there are major knowledge barriers impeding conventional management techniques. The research presented in this paper focused on evaluating a public demonstration program to track its impact through its design, implementation, and monitoring phases. The paper shows that, by incorporating social learning principles and practices, program evaluation can promote collective action, critical reflection, and increased knowledge to underpin improved environmental management.     

Balancing Conservation and Economic Sustainability: The Future of the Amazon Timber Industry

Logging has been a much maligned feature of frontier development in the Amazon. Most discussions ignore the fact that logging can be part of a renewable, environmentally benign, and broadly equitable economic activity in these remote places. We estimate there to be some 4.5 ± 1.35 billion m³ of commercial timber volume in the Brazilian Amazon today, of which 1.2 billion m³ is currently profitable to harvest, with a total potential stumpage value of $15.4 billion. A successful forest sector in the Brazilian Amazon will integrate timber harvesting on private lands and on unprotected and unsettled government lands with timber concessions on public lands. If a legal, productive, timber industry can be established outside of protected areas, it will deliver environmental benefits in synergy with those provided by the region’s network of protected areas, the latter of which we estimate to have an opportunity cost from lost timber revenues of $2.3 billion over 30 years. Indeed, on all land accessible to harvesting, the timber industry could produce an average of more than 16 million m³ per year over a 30-year harvest cycle—entirely outside of current protected areas—providing $4.8 billion in returns to landowners and generating $1.8 billion in sawnwood sales tax revenue. This level of harvest could be profitably complemented with an additional 10% from logging concessions on National Forests. This advance, however, should be realized only through widespread adoption of reduced impact logging techniques.     

Characterising the landscape of state environmental review policies and procedures in the United States: a national assessment

Following the intent of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, many states have adopted policies and procedures directing state agencies and local government units to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of development projects prior to their undertaking. In contrast to a rich literature on federal requirements, current understanding of state environmental review is narrowly focused and outdated. This paper seeks to provide information on the landscape of state environmental review policy frameworks. The paper identifies 37 states with formal environmental review requirements through a document review of state statutes, administrative rules and agency-prepared materials, and confirms this finding through a survey of state administrators. A two-tier classification is used to distinguish states based on the approach taken to address environmental review needs and the scope and depth of relevant policies and procedures implemented. This paper also provides a discussion of policy and programme attributes that may contribute to effective practice, and of the potential for adopting relevant legislation in states where environmental review is currently lacking.     

过江通道建设对相对落后地区发展的影响——以江苏省南通市为例

苏通大桥及沪崇苏通道的建设将引致区域交通格局的演化,从而对相关地区经济社会发展产生深远影响。对于相对落后的南通市而言,快速过江通道建设既是促进发展的良好机遇,同时也将带来新的挑战和威胁：（1）交通可达性改善明显,南向联系趋于便捷,运输成本相应减小,要素集聚呈现加速态势,但优质要素面临流失威胁;（2）产业规模迅速扩张,但以低层次产业为主,进一步加大了产业层次提升的压力,同时建设用地的盲目扩张和散乱布局,使得空间开发无序风险加剧;（3）进入上海都市圈的紧密圈层,有望成为长江三角洲北翼重要的次中心城市,但面临的竞争压力也不断增大。为促进南通市的可持续发展,政府部门应在推进都市区建设、促进要素集聚、空间资源的合理和统筹利用等方面制定科学有效的区域政策。     

Australia and Russia: How do their environmental policy processes differ?

This paper focuses on comparative review and analysis of the systems of environmental protection, national environmental strategies and fundamentals of environmental legislation in Australia and the Russian Federation. These countries have many socioeconomic similarities, such as low population densities and richness in natural resources which are largely exported. The main disparity between Australia and Russia is in the types of economy. This paper ‘continues’ the sequence of recent scholarly publications on comparison of various features of environmental policies in the countries from all over the world. Comparative analysis in this research has been based on examination of scholarly publications, legislation, government documents, mass media sources and NGO responses. The analysis has revealed a number of differences including top-down implementation of policies in Russia whereas in Australia, each State (Territory) implements policies with significant independence from the Commonwealth Government. At the same time, similarities between the countries have been identified: for example, in deficits in the budget of local environmental authorities and in the presence of contradictions in legislation at national and regional levels of government. Suggestions resulting from this analysis include further integration of sustainable development strategies at all levels of Australian government to encourage further protection of the environment and, for Russia, creating a separate Ministry of Environmental Protection. These approaches should assist facilitation of sustainable development for both nations. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

厌氧发酵沼气工程的工艺及存在的问题

利用厌氧消化技术处理畜禽养殖废水,制取清洁能源——沼气,在治理污染的同时变废为宝,减少温室气体的排放,从而实现国民经济的可持续性发展。本文概述了集约化畜禽养殖场废污水处理中采用的厌氧发酵工艺,以及厌氧发酵沼气工程中存在的问题。     

危险品运输实时监控及应急救援服务平台构建

针对我国危险品运输监管及应急救援现状,提出构建"危险品运输实时监控及应急救援服务平台"的技术方案。设计了平台系统的技术框架,介绍装载于危险品运输车辆之上的"监控终端"以及应急救援车辆之上的"智能终端"的基本功能,并以环保部门为例阐述了服务平台与危险废物监管政务平台之间的数据交换及功能耦合,以及利用服务平台开展危险品运输事故应急救援联动流程。该平台可望解决"危险品运输多部门监管数据不一致以及多部门联动应急救援调度困难"这一实际问题。     

基于协整和因果分析的我国安全生产宏观政策干预研究

为进一步分析我国安全生产政策的实施效果及存在问题,根据政策时效干预度量化模型,采用协检验、格兰杰因果检验和脉冲响应分析等计量方法对1978-2006年我国特别重大事故发生趋势与政策时效干预力度关系进行量化分析,得出特别重人事故的发生与政策时效干预力度问存在长期均衡关系,且在10%的显著水平下,特别重大事故的发生是政策时效干预力度加强的格兰杰原因.同时分析表明,目前我国安全生产政策干预表现出两大缺点:被动性和滞后性.因此,应逐步开展生产安全事故宏观预警与政策模拟等研究,为提高安全生产宏观政策干预的主动性和前瞻性提供技术支持.     

政府主导、人口流动与城乡收入差距

中国经济增长具有典型的政府主导特征,通过构造一个包含城镇和农村经济产出的社会福利函数来分析政府主导型经济增长对城乡收入差距的影响关系,并基于中国城镇化发展实际分析了人口流动对城乡收入差距的影响,在此基础上提出研究假说,统计中国1997—2014年省际面板数据,采用泰尔指数测度城乡收入差距并分别进行静态和动态回归分析与检验。静态研究发现政府主导和人口流动显著地拉大了城乡收入差距,但是二者的交互项对城乡收入差距的确具有收敛效应,即随着人口流动的增加,政府主导对城乡收入差距的边际贡献会降低,同样随着政府主导的提升也会降低人口流动对城乡收入差距的边际贡献,这种影响关系在分区域的回归中依然成立,并通过了稳健性检验;动态研究发现全国和分区域中城乡收入差距的变动存在显著的正向路径依赖特征,全国层面政府主导显著地拉大了城乡收入差距,而人口流动及其与政府主导的交互项则显著地缩小了城乡收入差距,但分区域来看政府主导和人口流动对城乡收入差距的影响存在显著的区域异质性,并通过了稳健性检验。因此缩小城乡收入差距不应设置单一的政策目标,需要建立多方面的政策配套体系,逐步矫正政府主导型经济中造成的政府职能异化,精准识别地方财政收支量的规模和结构条件,扩大涉农业务投资的规模,激活农村经济发展活力;在城乡户籍制度改革中进一步打破城乡分割藩篱,大力发展非农产业,增加农民的非农就业机会,促进农民的非农化就业和城镇化迁移,提升城镇化发展质量;最终通过一系列的配套性制度安排,旨在加强支持农业发展和农村建设,促进农民收入增长的制度供给,实现城乡共享发展。