Investment and the Policy Process in Conservation Monitoring

Despite decades of discussion and implementation, conservation monitoring remains a challenge. Many current solutions in the literature focus on improving the science or making more structured decisions. These insights are important but incomplete in accounting for the politics and economics of the conservation decisions informed by monitoring. Our novel depiction of the monitoring enterprise unifies insights from multiple disciplines (conservation, operations research, economics, and policy) and highlights many underappreciated factors that affect the expected benefits of monitoring. For example, there must be a strong link between the specific needs of decision makers and information gathering. Furthermore, the involvement of stakeholders other than scientists and research managers means that new information may not be interpreted and acted upon as expected. While answering calls for sharply delineated objectives will clearly add focus to monitoring efforts, for practical reasons, high‐level goals may purposefully be left vague, to facilitate other necessary steps in the policy process. We use the expanded depiction of the monitoring process to highlight problems of cooperation and conflict. We critique calls to invest in monitoring for the greater good by arguing that incentives are typically lacking. Although the benefits of learning accrued within a project (e.g., improving management) provide incentives for investing in some monitoring, it is unrealistic, in general, to expect managers to add potentially costly measures to generate shared benefits. In the traditional linear model of the role of science in policy decisions, monitoring reduces uncertainty and decision makers are rational, unbiased consumers of the science. However, conservation actions increasingly involve social conflict. Drawing insights from political science, we argue that in high‐conflict situations, it is necessary to address the conflict prior to monitoring. Las Inversiones y el Proceso de Políticas en el Monitoreo de la Conservación Sanchirico et al.     

台风“浪卡”过程对海南岛臭氧污染的影响分析

为了探讨2016号台风“浪卡”对海南岛臭氧(O₃)浓度的影响,选取了2020年10月10～14日海南岛逐时空气质量监测数据、气象要素数据、ERA5再分析资料和“葵花8号”红外亮温TBB产品,采用相关分析和后向轨迹模拟方法进行深入讨论.结果表明,10月11～13日台风过程期间均有市县O₃最大8 h滑动浓度平均值[ρ(O₃-8h)]超标,海南岛平均ρ(O₃-8h)峰值出现在10月12日,为130.15μg·m^-3,共有4个市县O₃-8h浓度超标,其中临高县达到了全岛最高值,为198.44μg·m^-3.台风过程期间海南岛小时O₃浓度与降水量、相对湿度和风速呈负相关关系,与气压和气温呈正相关关系,其中与降水量、气压和相对湿度的相关系数通过了99.9%的信度检验.我国东南部沿海省份是海南岛此次O₃污染的主要贡献源区.受西太平洋副热带高压(副高)内部的下沉气流和台风“浪卡”外围下沉气流共同影响,源区大气...     

Environmental Effects on Rural-to-Urban Migration in China

Abstract: Migration process has become increasingly important in recent research on population and the environment. A majority of the existing migration and environment literature has focused on the en...     

缺氧/好氧交替连续流的生活污水好氧颗粒污泥运行及污染物去除机制

室温下接种成熟的好氧颗粒污泥于由独立的缺氧池和好氧池组成的缺氧/好氧交替连续流系统中,以实际生活污水为进水基质,探究曝气强度和水力停留时间对连续流系统的影响.研究表明在回流比为2,较小的曝气强度(0.6mL?min-1)和适当的水力停留时间(9 h)条件下更有利于污染物的去除,此时TP平均去除率为80.43％,TN平均...     

用最长连续无降水日建立宁夏的干旱预测概念模型

在相关普查及分析各因子物理意义的基础上,建立了宁夏不同程度干旱预测的概念模型,结果表明,影响宁夏全区不同程度干旱的大气及海洋强信号并不一定是线性关系,与大气及海洋各系统之间的相互配置,特别是高层与低层之间、中高纬与低纬之间、大气与海洋之间、各大气与海洋系统的强、弱之间及相对位置之间的配置等都有着非常重要的关系。     

采油废水生物法处理出水活性炭吸附试验研究

采用颗粒活性炭(GAC)对经胜利油田乐安联合处理站"隔油-混凝-过滤"和水解酸化-好氧生物工艺处理后的采油废水进行吸附研究,考察了GAC对生物处理出水COD(70～80mg/L)的去除效果。结果表明:温度35℃,时间为2h时,GAC静态吸附生物处理出水(pH8.0～9.0),内COD的去除率可达50%。动态吸附操作的过水流速为1～5m/h、接触时间19.2～96min时,吸附处理出水COD低于60mg/L,可以达到标排放要求。当体积速度小于2.0m3/(m·3h)时,过水流速变化对实际处理水量和单位炭吸附COD量影响不大,可作为吸附塔工程设计的参数。GC/MS分析结果表明,GAC对生物处理出水中的卤代烃、杂环化合物及羧酸衍生物去除效果较好,卤代烃主要污染物的去除率可达80%以上,出水中的主要有机成份为大分子有机酸。由有机概念图判断,被吸附的主要物质为憎水的非极性有机物。     

Critical flow-storm approach to total maximum daily load(TMDL) development: an analytical conceptual model

One of the key challenges in the total maximum daily load (TMDL) development process is how to define the critical condition for a receiving waterbody. The main concern in using a continuous simulation approach is the absence of any guarantee that the most critical condition will be captured during the selected representative hydrologic period, given the scarcity of long-term continuous data. The objectives of this paper are to clearly address the critical condition in the TMDL development process and to compare continuous and event-based approaches in defining critical condition during TMDL development for a waterbody impacted by both point and nonpoint source pollution. A practical, event-based critical flow-storm (CFS) approach was developed to explicitly addresses the critical condition as a combination of a low stream flow and a storm event of a selected magnitude, both having certain frequencies of occurrence. This paper illustrated the CFS concept and provided its theoretical basis using a derived analytical conceptual model. The CFS approach clearly defined a critical condition, obtained reasonable results and could be considered as an alternative method in TMDL development.     

刘潜安全定义的科学逻辑探赜*

为厘清安全科学的本质问题,探究系统科学思维下的安全基本定义和学科体系。以刘潜安全定义和“3要素4因素”系统原理为基础,探讨其科学逻辑。通过文献调研阐述主流安全定义,分析人类安全认识历史,在此基础上分析和解释刘潜安全定义及其内涵。基于刘潜安全定义的内涵,推断出其具有的4大外延,同时提出刘潜安全定义的特征。根据科学哲学、系统科学和科学学的基础理论,刘潜建立安全“3要素4因素”系统原理,对系统原理的内涵进行阐述。最后,分析刘潜安全定义的科学价值。结果表明:刘潜安全定义能够为安全科学奠定系统性、科学性和共性的认识基础,在安全基础概念中起到引领作用。     

上海市环境污染事故风险受体脆弱性评价研究

从环境风险受体敏感性和适应力两方面构建了脆弱性概念模型,在此基础上,考虑社会经济脆弱性和生态系统脆弱性,选取14个指标构建了上海市环境污染事故风险受体综合脆弱性评价指标体系.研究结果表明：上海市中心城区社会脆弱性较高,而崇明岛、南汇、奉贤的社会经济脆弱性最低;黄浦江上游水源保护区、崇明岛东滩湿地生态系统脆弱性较高,浦东...     

How percentage-protected targets can support positive biodiversity outcomes

Global targets for the percentage area of land protected, such as 30% by 2030, have gained increasing prominence, but both their scientific basis and likely effectiveness have been questioned. As with emissions-reduction targets based on desired climate outcomes, percentage-protected targets combine values and science by estimating the area over which conservation actions are required to help achieve desired biodiversity outcomes. Protected areas are essential for achieving many biodiversity targets, in part because many species are highly sensitive to human-associated disturbance. However, because the contribution of protected areas to biodiversity outcomes is contingent on their location, management, governance, threats, and what occurs across the broader landscape matrix, global percentage-protected targets are unavoidably empirical generalizations of ecological patterns and processes across diverse geographies. Percentage-protected targets are insufficient in isolation but can complement other actions and contribute to biodiversity outcomes within a framework that balances accuracy and pragmatism in a global context characterized by imperfect biodiversity data. Ideally, percentage-protected targets serve as anchors that strengthen comprehensive national biodiversity strategies by communicating the level of ambition necessary to reverse current trends of biodiversity loss. If such targets are to fulfill this role within the complex societal process by which both values and science impel conservation actions, conservation scientists must clearly communicate the nature of the evidence base supporting percentage-protected targets and how protected areas can function within a broader landscape managed for sustainable coexistence between people and nature. A new paradigm for protected and conserved areas recognizes that national coordination, incentives, and monitoring should support rather than undermine diverse locally led conservation initiatives. However, the definition of a conserved area must retain a strong focus on biodiversity to remain consistent with the evidence base from which percentage-protected targets were originally derived.