Is Urban Stream Restoration Worth It?1

Kenney, Melissa A., Peter R. Wilcock, Benjamin F. Hobbs, Nicholas E. Flores, and Daniela C. Martínez, 2012. Is Urban Stream Restoration Worth It? Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(3): 603-615. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00635.x Abstract: Public investment in urban stream restoration is growing, yet little has been done to quantify whether its benefits outweigh its cost. The most common drivers of urban stream projects are water quality improvement and infrastructure protection, although recreational and aesthetic benefits are often important community goals. We use standard economic methods to show that these contributions of restoration can be quantified and compared to costs. The approach is demonstrated with a case study in Baltimore, Maryland, a city with a legal mandate to reduce its pollutant load. Typical urban stream restoration costs of US$500-1,200 per foot are larger than the cost of the least expensive alternatives for management of nitrogen loads from stormwater (here, detention ponds, equivalent to $30-120 per foot of restored stream) and for protecting infrastructure (rip-rap armoring of streambanks, at $0-120 per foot). However, the higher costs of stream restoration can in some cases be justified by its aesthetic and recreational benefits, valued using a contingent valuation survey at $560-1,100 per foot. We do not intend to provide a definitive answer regarding the worth of stream restoration, but demonstrate that questions of worth can be asked and answered. Broader application of economic analysis would provide a defensible basis for understanding restoration benefits and for making restoration decisions.     

资源环境约束下的中国经济增长质量研究

现有对于资源环境与经济增长之间关系的研究主要是在经济增长数量分析的框架下展开分析,而很少从经济增长质量分析的框架入手进行考察。经济增长质量是指经济增长内在的性质与规律,具体包括经济增长的结构、经济增长的稳定性、福利变化与成果分配以及资源利用和生态环境代价四个维度。当资源利用效率不断提高和生态环境代价逐渐降低时,经济增长质量都将会得到提高。本文从经济增长质量视角出发,采用国际规范的逻辑实证主义分析方法,以中国经济转型时期的省级面板数据为样本对改革开放以来中国资源环境代价与经济增长质量之间的关系进行理论研究与实证考察。研究表明:模型的估计结果与理论研究的结论是一致的,中国经济转型期资源环境代价与经济增长质量之间存在显著的正向关系。因此,在中国经济发展进入新阶段的背景下,在经济增长数量不断扩张的同时,还需要不断改进经济增长的资源利用效率和生态环境代价,要实现经济增长的数量与质量的统一,追求中国经济发展的长期可持续性。     

煤炭资源开采环境污染物影子价格的估计——基于安徽煤炭企业的调查数据

环境污染物的影子价格体现了污染物的边际减排成本,是政府制定公共环境政策的重要依据。本文在环境技术的基础上,扩展了传统的产出方向性距离函数方法,进而构建了能够将多种环境污染物的影子价格进行综合估测新的影子价格模型。采用这种新的模型方法和安徽煤炭开采和洗选企业的样本数据,对煤炭资源开采利用过程中排放的三种主要环境污染物——废水、废气和固体废物的影子价格进行了估计。结果发现,2009年,安徽煤炭开采和洗选企业所排放的废水、废气和固体废物的平均影子价格分别为0.021 6万元/t、0.031 37万元/t和0.178 48万元/t。这三种环境污染物的影子价格存在差异,反映出安徽煤炭开采企业处理不同环境污染物所面临的环境成本是不同的。环境行为监管者在做出环境规制决策前要充分考虑到这个前提。     

A contextual framework for understanding good practice in integrated catchment management

Principles of good practice for collaborative resource management were derived from the literature and their use studied in a range of integrated catchment management processes. Desk-based reviews and interviews with participants allowed the principles to be refined and described within a framework that illustrates the interrelationships between core principles, enabling principles, precursors to a project and the influence of external factors on such collaborative processes. The findings illustrate the importance of these relationships in understanding how success is defined and under what conditions successful outcomes can be achieved. Understanding how these procedural aspects influence outcomes contributes to the wider literature on collaborative resource management that often treats processes separately from their context.     

Stewardship among lifestyle oriented rural landowners

Changes in landownership associated with amenity migration are affecting the demographic, cadastral and ecological conditions of rural landscapes. These changes and concerns about their impacts on natural resource management, including ecological conservation, relate to both the structural consequences of landownership change, land subdivision and to the motivations, management ability and attitudes of lifestyle oriented rural landowners. Based on an Australian case study near Sydney, NSW, this paper examines the motivations and practices of such landowners, assesses potential consequences for vegetation and characterises the landowners according to three stewardship types.     

江苏沿海风能资源禀赋与开发利用研究

江苏沿海地区拥有丰富的风能资源,开发前景十分广阔,尤其是中部、南部地区拥有广阔的沿海滩涂和辐射沙洲,建设沿海风电场的条件优越,是打造江苏"海上三峡"新能源基地的希望所在。阐述了江苏沿海风能资源开发的重要意义,分析了沿海风能资源的禀赋与时空分布特点,指出江苏沿海岸区风能资源丰富,且沿海滩涂宽广,是建立大型风力发电场的理想之地,在此基础上提出发展江苏沿海绿色能源基地的构想。     

休宁县野生木质藤本植物种质资源及园林用途研究

野外考察和文献调查分析表明,安徽省休宁县野生木质藤本植物资源丰富、种类繁多,累计有25科48属132种(含种以下等级),其中主要有葡萄科、蔷薇科、猕猴桃科、毛茛科、卫矛科、豆科等6个科.对藤本植物的观赏特性及园林用途进行了较详细的阐述.     

水资源生态足迹分析——以安康市为例

根据生态足迹分析方法,建立了水资源生态足迹概念模型,确定了计算水资源帐户生态足迹所需的3个关键参数,即平均水资源产量、均衡因子和地区产量因子,计算了安康市1996—2007年水资源生态足迹和生态承载力。引入水资源生态足迹压力指数、万元GDP水资源生态足迹、累积水资源生态足迹等指标,利用水足迹模型评价水资源可持续发展程度的全面性和对比性。结果表明,计算结果可客观评价安康市水资源可持续发展与利用情况,为地区水资源的可持续利用与管理提供了科学的依据。     

湖北“两圈”区域发展可持续性评价与预测

利用可持续发展指数（SDI）对湖北“两圈”各市州发展现状进行了评价,而后利用9年的人均生物资源生态承载量年平均增长率、人口年平均增长率和足迹承载量比值年平均增长率及2006年相关数据对未来44年进行了预测。结果表明,截至2006年底,湖北省有一半以上国土面积的生物资源开采超过当地土地负荷,人均生物资源生态承载量持续下降,资源日益紧张,呈不可持续发展;武汉城市圈2006年生物资源生态足迹超出生物资源生态承载量的32%;鄂西生态文化旅游圈（简称：鄂西生态圈）除襄樊、荆州、荆门因人口多,生物资源生态足迹较大等原因导致SDI值较高外,其他市州的SDI值均较低;神农架的SDI最小;武汉城市圈人均生物资源生态承载量呈负增长,人口控制较好,足迹承载量比值增长较快;鄂西生态圈人均生物资源生态承载量呈负增长,增长速率大于武汉城市圈和湖北省,人口控制较差,足迹承载量比值增长较慢;按照现有发展模式,无论是武汉城市圈还是鄂西生态圈,无论其当前发展是可持续性还是不可持续的,未来他们都将进入不可持续的发展状态。因此,对“两圈”进行规划时要根据各自发展现状制定长期、科学的发展规划.     

Negotiation System of Ecological Compensation of Water Source Areas

In view of no generally accepted ecological compensation standards and methods at present,this paper discusses the introduction of the negotiation system to the process of ecological compensation for water source areas.That is,the government in water source areas and the downstream regions of river basins should confirm their respective rights and obligations and then establish their compensation standards through negotiations according to the different purposes of water use.The amount of compensation should be determined in the comprehensive consideration of the quality,quantity and compensation price of water.Through open and fair negotiations,an institutional arrangement will be set up,which can make the water source areas and the downstream regions of river basins fully express their true preferences and their independent choices on the ecological environment.