The new geometry of climate governance

ABSTRACT

Scholars and practitioners have focused in recent years on the potential for achieving cooperation in small “clubs” of countries. While solutions to global climate change will eventually require widespread cooperation, club strategies could help to catalyze that outcome. Unlike the Paris Agreement, which has achieved widespread but relatively shallow cooperation, it could be easier to tailor agreements that allow deep cooperation within smaller groups. This essay extends that logic to clubs whose geometry varies two-dimensionally across countries but also along a third dimension: within countries. Most of the key elements of international relations and international law theory that explain how clubs achieve cooperation are directly applicable to three-dimensional clubs. Most of the relevant experience for these clubs has occurred in the west; overdue is a close assessment of how key units – such as provinces and firms – within China and other emerging economies.     

我国应关注ISO呼吸防护的标准化工作

本文介绍了国际标准化组织（ISO）正在开展的呼吸器标准化工作的情况,包括参与国家信息和工作分工情况,以及ISO呼吸器标准体系、产品分类、标准项目信息、产出、进展和进度,分析了ISO标准在未来对全球呼吸防护计数和产品市场发展的影响,并呼吁中国尽早采取主动行动参与其中,争取获得更多的话语权和掌握未来产品技术发展方向的主动权。     

从安全防灾到韧性建设——国土空间治理背景下韧性规划的探索与展望

新形势下城市巨系统面临更多不确定性风险与未知扰动,要求安全防灾规划从目标对象、战略定位、技术手段与规划理念等方面做出适应调整,通过韧性城市建设引领区域安全稳定发展。对韧性城市的概念起源、理论发展与实践探索进行了梳理和评述,并结合我国“多规合一”后的国土空间规划体系改革,对空间治理背景下韧性规划的内涵特征、层级类型、流程形式与公共治理进行认识与思考;并从深化韧性城市的理论构建与机理研究、转变规划编制的设计思路和实践流程、完善韧性实践中的规划传导和尺度治理、关注韧性建设中的基层治理和公众参与四个方面,提出韧性规划的实践路径展望,力求有序推进我国城市公共安全现代化治理建设。     

Are the Precautionary Principle and the International Trade of Genetically Modified Organisms Reconcilable?

This paper seeks to find possibilities forreconciliation of the implementation of theprecautionary principle and the promotion ofinternational trade of genetically modified organisms,based on the assumption that a sustainabledevelopment is a right objective to strive for. Itstarts with an explanation of the background and therole of the precautionary principle, and describes inwhat way measures based on the precautionary principlecan easily lead to the creation of trade barriers. Thearticle then examines to what extent the WTO (WorldTrade Organisation) Agreements allow theimplementation of the precautionary principle. Inaddition, structural conflicts between the perceptionof the precautionary principle and the concept oftrade liberalisation will be evoked. The last sectionof the paper analyses to what extent the WTO rulesprovide possibilities to avoid or solve theseconflicts in order to attempt to answer the mainquestion: are the precautionary principle and theinternational trade of genetically modified organismsreconcilable?     

Importance of jumbo squid Dosidicus gigas (Orbigny, 1835) in the pelagic ecosystem of the central Gulf of California

The Humboldt squid is an important predator in the pelagic ecosystem of the central Gulf of California and the commercial catch of this species has increased over the past decade, probable due to a decrease of several top predators (sharks, large pelagic fish and the marine mammals) and the optimal feeding conditions in this area. Its high abundance and important position in the pelagic food web was quantified through two trophic models of the pelagic ecosystem of the central Gulf of California. Models represented conditions in 1980 and 2002, to document the decadal changes in ecosystem structure and function. The models were composed of 18 functional groups, including marine mammals, birds, fish, mollusks, crustaceans, and primary producers. Model results show direct negative effects on principal prey groups such as myctophids and pelagic red crab and positive effects on sharks, marine mammals and specifically sperm whales. It thus appears that the jumbo squid has an important role in the ecosystem and plays a central part in the overall energy flow as main food item for most top predators, and due to its predation of organisms on lower tropic levels.     

Leaching of styrene and other aromatic compounds in drinking water from PS bottles

Bottled water may not be safer, or healthier, than tap water. The present studies have proved that styrene and some other aromatic compounds leach continuously from polystyrene （PS） bottles used locally for packaging. Water sapmles in contact with PS were extracted by a preconcentration technique called as ＂purge and trap＂ and analysed by gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer （GC/MS）. Eleven aromatic compounds were identified in these studies. Maximum concentration of styrene in PS bottles was 29.5 μg/L. Apart from styrene, ethyl benzene, toluene and benzene were also quantified but their concentrations were much less than WHO guide line values. All other compounds were in traces. Quality of plastic and storage time were the major factor in leaching of styrene. Concentration of styrene was increased to 69.53 μg/L after one-year storage. In Styrofoam and PS cups studies, hot water was found to be contaminated with styrene and other aromatic compounds. It was observed that temperature played a major role in the leaching of styrene monomer from Styrofoam cups. Paper cups were found to be safe for hot drinks.     

中国国际贸易隐含碳文献比较研究

贸易中的隐含碳流动对中国的二氧化碳排放具有重要影响。从现有的文献来看,尽管出现了大量的针对中国贸易中隐含碳的相关研究,但由于数据及方法的不同,结果之间存在较大差异,很大程度上影响了研究结果的科学性和应用价值。本文对现有的中国国际贸易隐含碳文献进行了比较研究,结果发现:不同研究得出了相对一致的结论,但在隐含碳的具体数量上差异巨大。定性来看,中国是一个隐含碳净出口国,净出口量呈现出逐年增加的趋势。定量来看,1997-2007年,中国隐含碳出口量从3.1-8.8亿t增长到17.2-30.2亿t二氧化碳;隐含碳进口量从1.0-7.0亿t增长到5.8-16.5亿t二氧化碳;隐含碳净出口量从1.8-7.3亿t增长到11.4-22.6亿t二氧化碳;隐含碳净出口量占国内总排放量的比重由5%-20%增长到17%-30%。贸易中隐含碳核算结果的不确定性主要来自三个方面:核算方法产生的不确定性、数据融合产生的不确定性以及原始数据引入的不确定性。总体来看,多区域投入产出模型的研究结果相对稳定,可重复性较高;从数据精度和数据可获得性方面考虑,40个左右的部门分类可以取得较为理想的结果:把中国划分为多个区域研究国际贸易中的隐含碳在理论上更加可靠。国家气候变化对外谈判和国内减排目标的实现都需要对碳排放进行精确管理。在未来的研究中,应重视隐含碳核算的不确定性研究,逐步提高隐含碳核算的精度,更好地服务于国家的气候变化政策。     

International trade,carbon leakage,and CO2 emissions of manufacturing industry

Foreign trade drives China’s growth,but as the trade scale continues to expand,the carbon emissions also increase quickly.Based on the industry panel data from 1996 to 2010,this paper calculates carbon emissions of 27manufacturing industries.According to the intensity of carbon emissions,this paper divides the manufacturing sectors into low carbon and high carbon manufacturing industry and then analyzes the carbon emission trends.Next,the paper uses the feasible generalized least square regression to verify the existence of environmental Kuznets curve（EKC）of the manufacturing industry’s carbon.In order to investigate the carbon leakage problem,the regression also includes the interaction term between trade and industrial value added.Our findings are as follows:the carbon emissions of the whole manufacturing industry and low carbon manufacturing industry accord with the EKC curve,but have a linear relationship with the high carbon manufacturing industry;trade reduces the carbon emissions of the whole manufacturing industry and low carbon manufacturing industry,but it increases those of the high carbon manufacturing industry;for the whole manufacturing industry and low carbon manufacturing industry,there is no carbon leakage,but it exists in the high carbon manufacturing industry.On the whole,pollution haven hypothesis does not hold up in China,and China does not need to limit industry foreign trade to reduce the emission of CO₂.But the manufacturing industry will still be the main engine of the economic growth,and therefore our country should make an effective low-carbon policy,introduce advanced technology,increase R&D investment into lowcarbon technologies,and upgrade and transform the original equipment to change the backward mode of production.