Risk management: Time for innovative approaches

Risk management practices under the current environmental regulations is a long, complex process that considers scientific, technologic, and management factors to develop various regulatory standards and pollution control measures. Using the mandatory enforcement approach, sometimes referred to as “command-and-control”, a set of preliminary environmental goals, such as better air and water qualities, were achieved. However, the information-intensive nature of the risk management process and the lack of flexibility in conventional regulatory methods to changing economic and technologic realities of the decade has created interest among risk managers to examine some innovative management approaches. Above all, environmental problems of a global scale require novel management methods while striving to achieve the desired environmental goals. As the principal analytical tool in risk management, quantitative risk assessment exerts considerable influence on the risk management process. Therefore, advances in risk management are closely associated with scientific developments that enhance the risk assessment process, particularly those efforts aimed at improving human exposure and toxicity assessments. Market incentives, information dissemination, creative enforcement practices, and interagency and intergovernmental interactions were identified as the key elements of innovative environmental risk management practices. This paper will present an overview of the emerging innovative risk management approaches.     

The case for free market environmentalism

Environmental Ethics is the ethics of how we humans are to relate to each other about the environment we live in. The best way to adjust inevitable differences among us in this respect is by private property. Each person takes the best care of what he owns, and ownership entails the free market, which enables people to make mutually advantageous trades with those who might use it even better. Public regulation, by contrast, becomes management in the interests of the regulators, or of special interests, such as lovers of rare species-not the people they're supposed to be serving.     

REVIEW ON GLOBAL NATURAL DISASTERS IN 2000

20 0 0ｗａｓａｒｅｌａｔｉｖｅｌｙｎｏｒｍａｌｙｅａｒｉｎｔｅｒｍｓｏｆｇｌｏｂａｌｄｉｓａｓｔｅｒｅｖｅｎｔｓ.Ｔｈｅｇｌｏｂａｌｌｏｓｓｆｒｏｍｎａｔｕｒａｌｄｉｓａｓｔｅｒｓｗａｓａｐｐｒｏｘｉｍａｔｅｌｙ 30ｂｉｌｌｉｏｎＵＳＤ ,ｗｈｅｒｅａｓｔｈａｔｉｎａｎｙｏｆｔｈｅｐｒｅｖｉｏｕｓｙｅａｒｓｈａｄｅｘｃｅｅｄｅｄ 1 0 0ｂｉｌｌｉｏｎＵＳＤ .Ｔｈｅｉｎｓｕｒａｎｃｅｌｏｓｓｉｎ 2 0 0 0ｗａｓｏｎｌｙ 8.3ｂｉｌｌｉｏｎＵＳＤ ,ｗｉｔｈ 92 0 0 ｐｅｒｓｏｎｓｋｉｌｌｅｄ .Ｔｈｅｒｅｗａｓｎ…     

Imperatives for attracting investment and technology in the Indian mining sector

In India, the mineral resource inventory and the production of a large number of important minerals have registered significant increases during the last few decades. Yet the country continues to be a net importer of many high value and scarce minerals and metals, like gold, diamond, and several base metals. Exploration and development of the resources of these minerals are technology- and capital-intensive. To bring technology and capital through foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Indian mineral sector, it is imperative to lay stress on: accurate resource estimation and categorization, as well as realistic projection of the true values; rationalization of legislative measures based on R&D studies and reorganization of the implementation machinery; conducive tax structure; notification of acts and rules applicable to offshore mineral resources; time-frames for granting licences and leases; encouragement to labor productivity by rationalizing labor laws; reforms in the monetary system to increase market competitiveness of Indian minerals; and judicial reforms. FDI in the Indian mineral sector is important to firm up the knowledge-base of mineral resources and their optimum exploitation.     

陕西关中地区水文气候状况对全球变暖的响应问题探讨

利用1953－1999年陕西关中地区年平均气温、年降永量和同期中国年平均气温距平资料，分析对比关中地区近50年气温变化与周期中国气温变化、气温与降水之间的关系，对关中地区日趋严重的水资源退化问题进行了探讨，揭示了全球变化的背景下关中地区气候变化的区域性特点及其气候干暖化趋势。关中地区未来气候将更趋干暖化，生态环境将更加脆弱。建议在西部大开发当中，把生态环境建设放在首要位置。     

Public opinion and siting solid waste landfills in Kuwait

Siting municipal solid waste landfills in Kuwait had not considered public concerns about the location of such facilities. Kuwait Municipality has disposed urban waste in abandoned sand quarries for the past 20 years in an unplanned fashion. Due to this improper siting criteria, environmental and health problems have risen from old landfills that are located in residential areas. In an effort to help responsible decision-makers in assessing public support for siting landfills a structured, yet simple, questionnaire was designed and distributed to a random sample of heads of households. Statistical techniques were employed to examine trends and relationships between the sample public responses concerning landfill siting criteria. The findings of the research indicated that a significant percentage of the responding sample did not know about the various landfill impacts and less than 50% were aware of the negative impacts of landfills on the public health and the environment. The visual appearance of the landfill scored the lowest impact in the opinion of the sample public while the most important aspect in siting a landfill appeared to be its economic consideration. The research findings also directed attention to the important role that the media could play in increasing public awareness. Results from the cross-classification analysis demonstrated the existence of differences in awareness levels according to age, nationality, martial status, education, and occupation of the responding sample. Statistically, these differences were significant at the 95% significance level, as supported by the test of the χ-square.     

Understanding Dispute Resolution Processes for American and Australian Public Wildlands: Towards a Conceptual Framework for Managers

/ The last 20 years have seen the successful application of environmental dispute resolution processes, where people voluntarily negotiate toward mutually acceptable solutions, to many environmental disputes. The effects of contextual influences, such as the number of parties and presence of deadlines, on outcomes are known and frequently described. Less well documented and understood are the interaction processes themselves. This paper draws on two case studies to develop a conceptual framework describing these processes. Disputes associated with management planning for the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex in the United States and Fitzgerald River National Park in Australia provided the cases. The conceptual framework derived had eight sequential stages: (1) joint definition of problems, (2) uncertainty about what to do, (3) agreement on group procedures, (4) realization of interdependence, (5) enthusiasm about collective possibilities, (6) commitment to working together, (7) consolidation of the group, and (8) implementation of a resolution. The framework provides new insights for managers of public wildlands, especially the need for varying but ongoing managerial involvement in dispute resolution processes. High levels of involvement and influence are essential at the beginning in problem definition and group procedure design and at the end in implementing resolutions. Conversely, agency members must be willing to exert less influence, while still being involved and committed to collective purposes, during the middle stages. Also apparent from the conceptual framework is the importance of developing shared understandings and of allowing sufficient time for understanding to develop, if successful resolution is to be achieved. KEY WORDS: Environmental dispute resolution; Conceptual framework; Public wildlands; Shared understandings; Australia     

浅析全球变暖的成因与人类健康

论述了全球变暖是当前人类所面临的一个最为严重的环境问题。这种日趋恶化的环境的产生与人类的各种活动是息息相关的, 环境的恶化必将给人类的健康带来最为严重的后果。