Modeling joint production of wildlife and timber

Production of marketed commodities and protection of natural systems often conflict. A focus on only one goal can result in large losses in other goals and may result in inefficient and unsustainable outcomes. In this paper, we develop a method that combines economic and ecological models in a dynamic and spatial analysis to evaluate land use decisions and find cost-effective alternatives for which it is not possible to do better on one objective without harming another objective. The method is demonstrated using timber production and species conservation on a forested landscape over a 100-year planning horizon. Current land use strategies are simulated and compared with cost-effective alternatives. The approach is compared to a static reserve approach, similar to previous studies, and found to produce substantially more efficient management strategies for the case study landscape.     

The role of human actions in evolution and management of foredunes in The Netherlands and New Jersey, USA

The rationale and methods of construction of foredunes in The Netherlands and New Jersey, USA are identified and used to explain their genesis, locations, mobility, internal and external characteristics and temporal scales of evolution. Dunes are then ranked according to the degree they are modified by human processes. The lower level of protection required of foredunes in New Jersey and the greater amount of modification by municipal managers and shorefront residents results in smaller dunes and greater variety of sizes, shapes, methods of construction and alterations. As a result, humans are considered intrinsic agents in evolution of dune landforms and landscapes. Higher, wider, better vegetated foredunes occur in The Netherlands due to greater frequency of onshore winds and greater emphasis on sea defence at the national level. Natural processes play a greater role in the evolution of landforms. Human actions are considered extrinsic at this scale but intrinsic at the scale of landscapes. The change in foredunes from natural features to artifacts reveals the significance of humans in the modification of coastal landforms and reflects the changing perception of the role of these landforms in the coastal landscape.     

中国和国际环境条约

文章介绍了中国在积极参与环保领域的国际合作中，先后批准加入的２１个重要的多边环境和签署的２１项双边环境协定，并回顾最近几年在履约方面的重要进展，主要包括臭氧层的保护、控制危险废物越境转移，保护生物多样性、防止全球气候变化等几个方面的工作，同时，也展望了今后我国在履约方面所面临的艰巨任务。     

汽车工业发展与环境效应的数学模型及其应用

随着９０年代我国汽车工业的迅速发展和汽车保有量的不断增长，汽车排放物在我国特别是大城市渐渐成为大气的主要污染源，在民健康和我国可持续发展战略目标的实现构成了威胁。因此，我国政府越来越重视对汽车排放污染的控制，制定了一系列治理汽车排放污染的政策法规，本文试图运用数学分析方法建立以汽车排放总量为主变量的汽车工业发展环境效应分析的模型，计算和讨论了治理汽车排放污染物和污染防治的政策法规实施的潜在效果。为     

Guidelines for Systematic Review in Conservation and Environmental Management

Abstract:  An increasing number of applied disciplines are utilizing evidence-based frameworks to review and disseminate the effectiveness of management and policy interventions. The rationale is that increased accessibility of the best available evidence will provide a more efficient and less biased platform for decision making. We argue that there are significant benefits for conservation in using such a framework, but the scientific community needs to undertake and disseminate more systematic reviews before the full benefit can be realized. We devised a set of guidelines for undertaking formalized systematic review, based on a health services model. The guideline stages include planning and conducting a review, including protocol formation, search strategy, data inclusion, data extraction, and analysis. Review dissemination is addressed in terms of current developments and future plans for a Web-based open-access library. By the use of case studies we highlight critical modifications to guidelines for protocol formulation, data-quality assessment, data extraction, and data synthesis for conservation and environmental management. Ecological data presented significant but soluble challenges for the systematic review process, particularly in terms of the quantity, accessibility, and diverse quality of available data. In the field of conservation and environmental management there needs to be further engagement of scientists and practitioners to develop and take ownership of an evidence-based framework.     

Groundwater quality: Responsible agriculture and public perceptions

The chief sources of groundwater contamination on farms come from point sources and diffuse sources. Possible point sources are feedlots, poorly-sited manure piles, septic sewage-treatment systems—all of which can release nitrate, phosphates and bacteria— and sites of chemical spills. Diffuse sources are typified by excess fertilizer leaching from a number of arable fields. The basis of quality standards for drinking-water is discussed in relation to common contaminants present on farms. Samples of drinking-water were collected in 1991–1992 from wells on about 1,200 farms in order to study the quality of rural groundwater in Ontario. Analysis showed that approximately one third of wells were contaminated with bacteria, 14% were contaminated with nitrate, two wells were contaminated with pesticide, but 40% were considered unsafe because of the presence of at least one contaminant. These values were similar to those reported for similar regions in the U.S. There was no significant effect of agricultural practice on the proportion of contaminated samples. One response of Ontario's farmers to information on water quality has been to initiate their own program, the Environmental Farm Plan, which has 23 modules by which the risk of environmental contamination can be assessed. Government policies for agriculture can be expected to influence farming practices. However, the literature suggests that the consequences of policies aimed at reducing environmental contamination are poorly understood, not least because the instruments used for implementation can have widely differing impacts. The need for discussions on the ethics surrounding the relationship between food producers and consumers with regard to environmental contamination is identified.     

Using Insurance to Enhance Nitrogen Fertilizer Application to Reduce Nitrogen Losses to the Environment

The advantage of using insurance to help a farmer adopt a best nitrogen management plan (BNMP) that reduces the impact of agricultural production on the environment is analytically and empirically demonstrated. Using an expected value analysis, it is shown that an insurance program can be structured soas to reduce a farmer's cost of bearing the adoption risk associated with changing production practices and, thus, to improve the farmer's certainty equivalent net return thereby promoting the adoption of a BNMP. Using the adoption of growing-season only N fertilizer application in Iowa as a case study, it is illustrated how insurance may be used to promote the adoption of this practice to reduce N fertilizeruse. It is shown that it is possible for a farmer and an insurance company both to have an incentive to develop an insurance adoption program that will benefit both the farmer and the insurance company, increasing net social welfare and improving environmental quality in Iowa.     

The Kyoto Protocol and non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases and Carbon Sinks

Many trace constituents other than carbon dioxide affect the radiative budget of the atmosphere. The existing international agreement to limit greenhouse gases, the Kyoto Protocol, includes carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆) and credit for some carbon sinks. We investigate technological options for reducing emissions of these gases and the economic implications of including other greenhouse gases and sinks in the climate change control policy. We conduct an integreated assessment of costs using the MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model combined with estimates of abatement costs for non-CO₂ greenhouse gases and sinks. We find that failure to take advantage of the other gas and sink flexibility would nearly double aggregate Annex B costs. Including all the GHGs and sinks is actually cheaper than if only CO₂ had been included in the Protocol and their inclusion achieves greater overall abatement. There remains considerable uncertainty in these estimates, the magnitude of the savings depends heavily on reference projections of emissions, for example, but these uncertainties do not change the overall conclusion that non-CO₂ GHGs are an important part of a climate control policy.     

An Analysis with the CERT Model of the FSU Market Power in the Carbon Emissions Trading Market

This paper aims to assess the consequences of the amendments made to the Kyoto Protocol during COP 7 in Marrakech. The major issue of hot air and CDM transaction costs is examined using the CERT model to show that primary supply regions, typically those with hot air availability, might control the emissions reduction permit supply market and maximise net export revenues of permit supply by withholding 40 to 60% of available hot air credits. The assumption that primary permit suppliers control permit price via a restriction of hot air supply to the market will inadvertently leave a portion of the market share open to non-Annex B CDM supply, despite potentially extreme variance in CDM transaction costs. A summary table of policy implications on the emissions reduction permit market is also included.     

三权分置改革中新型农业经营主体的政策认知及其行为响应——以上海市青浦区为例

农村土地三权分置是现阶段我国农地产权制度的重大创新,其政策逻辑是通过农地产权的细化和明晰促进资源的优化配置,以推动农业转型发展。但是三权分置能否改善人们对土地产权的长期、安全、稳定的预期,改变经营主体的行为方式,依然有待实践的检验。以新型经营主体对政策的认知为切入点,以三权分置实践较早的上海市青浦区为典型案例,在问卷调查和实地访谈的基础上,基于“三权分置改革—主体认知—行为响应”的政策传导机制,应用结构方程模型,研究新型农业经营主体的政策认知程度对其规模经营行为、长期投入行为和向环境友好型农业转型等行为的影响。结果显示：新型农业经营主体对三权分置政策的认知对其三大类生产经营行为的转变均存在显著影响;并且认知程度越深,其实践农业生产方式转型的可能性越大。需要进一步完善配套制度建设、加强三权分置政策的宣传和解释力度,提升农业从业者人力资本水平,为农业转型升级提供内生动力。