Does More Storage Give California More Water?

Increasing reservoir storage is commonly proposed to mitigate increasing water demand and provide drought reserves, especially in semiarid regions such as California. This paper examines the value of expanding surface reservoir capacity in California using hydroeconomic modeling for historical conditions, a future warm‐dry climate, and California's recently adopted policy to end groundwater overdraft. Results show expanding surface storage capacity rarely provides sizable economic value in most of California. On average, expanding facilities north of California's Delta provides some benefit in 92% of 82 years modeled under historical conditions and in 61% of years modeled in a warm‐dry climate. South of California's Delta, expanding storage capacity provides no benefits in 14% of years modeled under historical conditions and 99% of years modeled with a warm‐dry climate. Results vary across facilities between and within regions. The limited benefit of surface storage capacity expansion to statewide water supply should be considered in planning California's water infrastructure.     

Economic performance and carbon intensity of human well-being: empirical evidence from the MENA region

Our paper explores the effect of economic performance variables on the carbon intensity of human well-being (CIWB) for 13 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region over the period (1995–2013). We use a time-series cross-sectional Prais–Winsten regression model with panel-corrected standard errors (PCSEs). We find that economic performance has a statistically significant positive influence on CIWB over the period in question; thus, economic performance harms the environment, but the final effect deviates to a constant level after a while. This finding is not encouraging from the economic sustainability point of view. On the contrary, we find that total health expenditure has a statistically significant negative impact on CIWB by increasing life expectancy, which means less stress on the environment.     

基于VEC模型的呼和浩特市三次产业发展与工业污染排放关系研究

本文通过构建VEC误差修正模型,对呼和浩特市1991-2012年间工业污染排放量与三次产业发展之间的关系分别进行考察。对具有协整关系的两组序列进行VEC模型构建,结果表明,在长期,第一产业、第三产业与工业废水排放存在反向关系,弹性分别为-6.22与-0.23,第二产业与工业废水变动方向相同,弹性为4.98。工业固体废弃物排放与第一产业产值在长期反向变动,弹性为-1.54,第二产业则与其同向运动,弹性为2.13。在短期,滞后一期与滞后二期的第一产业产值与第二产业产值对废水排放的扰动方向相反,而第三产业一阶与二阶后项的扰动方向相同,皆是反向;滞后一期的第一产业产值对固废排放反向扰动,第二产业产值的扰动方向与其相反。     

Connecting international priorities with human wellbeing in low-income regions: lessons from hawksbill turtle conservation in El Salvador

Hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) are highly endangered in the eastern Pacific Ocean, yet their eggs continue to be an important subsistence resource for impoverished coastal residents in El Salvador. In this study, we use naturalistic inquiry to explain the realities experienced by coastal residents who share habitat with hawksbills in El Salvador, and then suggest implications of the disparities between these realities and international priorities for hawksbill conservation and community development in El Salvador and other low-income regions. To provide a context for understanding hawksbill conservation and its implications for similar challenges related to conservation and wellbeing, we first summarise the conservation context, including the emergence of sea turtle conservation in El Salvador. We then describe our naturalistic approach, including the ethnographic methodology for this study. Finally, we detail the analysis of interviews conducted with tortugueros (i.e. local sea turtle egg collectors), to help explain how hawksbills fit into local realities. Our results demonstrate that, from the perspective of tortugueros, (1) the primary importance of hawksbills is the economic value attached to egg sales, but there exists a deeper connection to local culture; (2) egg purchase by hatcheries is a socially just conservation strategy that benefits both hawksbill and human wellbeing; and (3) opportunities for local residents to participate in decision-making regarding sea turtle conservation are limited, and should be increased. We argue that harmonising international conservation priorities with local community development realities is one path towards simultaneously contributing to long-term sea turtle recovery and human wellbeing in low-income regions.     

A green garden on red clay: creating a new urban common as a form of political gardening in Cologne,Germany

In March 2012, a brownfield site in Cologne was transformed into “a green garden on red clay”, when a community garden called NeuLand (new land) was created. This paper investigates in how far NeuLand is typical for a new form of political engagement 2.0, focused on local problems at people's doorstep rather than global critiques of political systems, which finds its expression in direct actions typical for the networked society, e.g. “green flash mobs.” Its potential to provide a blueprint for imagining and enacting alternative futures and new ways for citizens to claim their “right to the city” is being assessed. NeuLand provides an experiment with new forms of (urban) commons and possibly a (re)turn to the “liveable city” to replace the current neoliberal ideal of the “entrepreneurial city” [Harvey, D., 1989. From manageralism to entrepreneuralism: the transformation of urban governance in late capitalism. Geografiska Annaler, Series B, Human Geography, 71 (1), 3–17], developing new solutions to problems of urban management and city development that extend beyond the voluntary engagement of citizens within the logic of the neoliberal “big society.” Extending the scope beyond the analysis of urban gardening projects as examples of sustainable food production, or as vehicles for fostering community cohesion, integration or social capital, the NeuLand experiment is linked to wider debates of alternative and more sustainable socio-ecological futures than those currently practised in the newly “neoliberalizing cities” of Germany.     

我国基本农田保护制度的政策评价与完善研究

我国基本农田保护制度的变迁是典型的供给主导型制度变迁。本文从我国基本农田保护制度的概念与内涵谈起,分阶段分析了我国基本农田保护制度的形成与发展的演变过程,重点对改革开放后的基本农田保护制度绩效进行了评价与分析。并对我国现阶段基本农田保护失控的原因进行了制度层面上的分析,最后给出相关政策建议。     

The role of spatial scale in sustainable development

The role of spatial scale in sustainable development is assessed by dividing the world into multiple spatial units at different levels on a socio-political spatial scale. The basic patterns of sustainable development do not appear to be evident at all spatial levels, owing to the absence of some capital stocks and the conversion processes linking them, but environmental economics theory can be generalized to explain phenomena at various levels. Capital conversion processes influencing the sustainability of development of spatial units are constrained by processes at different levels, e.g. those imposing environmental conditions on development or affecting availability of investment capital. The autonomy of individual spatial units is also compromised by capital transfers to and from other units at the same level, so it is proposed that the sustainability of development of a particular unit should be estimated using net, rather than gross capital trends. Because of uneven development the same degree of sustainability should not be expected at the same time for all spatial units at the same spatial level.     

中国耕地变化模式的资源经济学分析

本研究旨在引入灰色系统关联分析法和高等计量经济学建模思想,结合经济学和土地学等相关学科知识,从资源经济学的角度揭示我国耕地动态变化过程,促进我国耕地可持续利用理论的完善与发展。结果表明:①在中、短时间尺度内社会经济发展因子对耕地变化起着重要的影响作用,主驱动因子有GDP、人均GDP、城市化水平和国家宏观政策;②耕地面积与GDP、城市化水平呈负相关,与人均GDP呈正相关;③我国耕地制度安排存在缺陷,是造成我国城市化蔓延占耕地的最直接原因;④我国应不断完善土地制度安排,同时,应不断促进社会经济发展技术水平的提高和加强政府导向,转变经济发展方式,从而减少社会经济发展对耕地的非科学侵占。     

营运机动车排气污染的经济学研究

运用现代经济学方法和原理对营运机动车排气污染实质进行了分析和论证,阐述了降低营运机动车排气污染外部成本的两种方法即明晰产权法和“内部化”法,提出了营运机动车排气污染防治的基本途径。     

农业巨灾影响下农民风险态度的行为经济学分析

通过借鉴行为经济学前景理论分析框架,构建了判定农业巨灾风险下农民风险态度的抽象模型。分析表明,面对农业巨灾风险,由于外界环境的不确定和信息不对称等因素的影响,农民对农业巨灾风险的认知能力不足,有限理性的实现程度偏低。同时,受非贝叶斯法则、代表性法则、锚定效应、从众行为和框架效应等的外界偏差性行为显著干扰的情况下,农民非理性选择很大程度上会主导个体的行为,农民极易出现风险偏好的倾向。