Towards a more effective EIA in transport planning: a literature review to derive interventions and mechanisms to improve knowledge integration

A set of process-related barriers negatively determines the effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in transport planning. Recent research highlights the unstructured stakeholder involvement and inefficient public participation in earlier phases of EIA as key bottlenecks. While the academic literature has produced promising theories for addressing these barriers, they have rarely been translated into solutions applicable and testable in practice. In order to bridge this theory–practice gap, we present a systematic literature review of interventions and mechanisms aimed at facilitating the integration of different sources and types of knowledge during the scoping phase of EIA. This review explores if and how interventions and mechanisms have been conducted in practice; if and why they worked or did not work and how relevant they are for EIA in transport planning. Based on this review, we distil a set of three specific interventions and trigger mechanisms applicable in the context of EIA in transport planning.     

对小城镇环境规划编制的几点思考

小城镇环境规划工作作为现阶段基层环保工作的重要推手和农村环境保护工作的重要载体,其科学的编制和积极的落实可明显改善区内生态环境质量,提高人民生活质量水平,促进经济可持续发展,对构建和谐社会起到重要的推动作用。针对规划编制过程中突出特色、环境分区、镇村差异及公众参与四个方面,依托案例,分别进行了研究和讨论,提出了相应意见,以期更好地指导该类环境规划的编制。     

Stakeholder Analysis of a Collaborative Watershed Management Process: A Florida Case Study1

Borisova, Tatiana, Laila Racevskis, and Jennison Kipp, 2012. Stakeholder Analysis of a Collaborative Watershed Management Process: A Florida Case Study. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(2): 277‐296. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00615.x Abstract: This study focuses on a Florida watershed where development of a total maximum daily load (TMDL) and its implementation plan resulted in conflicts among stakeholders. The overall goal is to build a better understanding of stakeholder perceptions of water quality problems, water policy processes and decisions, and water management plan development in a region where these issues have become contentious. Findings are based on a stakeholder analysis using qualitative data collected through focus groups with agricultural producers, local governments, and environmental groups, and supplemented with additional qualitative data on the watershed management process. Stakeholder conflicts in this case study are associated with perceived flaws in the structural and procedural characteristics of the stakeholder involvement process: (1) suboptimal watershed stakeholder representation on the TMDL executive committee, (2) an inappropriate voting procedure for making TMDL decisions, (3) limitations in information sharing between regulatory agencies and watershed stakeholders, and (4) stakeholders’ doubts about whether tradeoffs associated with achieving the water quality targets were assessed adequately throughout the TMDL planning and implementation process. This study contributes to the literature on collaborative watershed management by analyzing stakeholder involvement given Florida’s unique institutional settings, where implementation of TMDL pollution abatement is mandatory.     

论公共环境危机管理

目前,我国已经进入了公共环境危机高发期,公共环境危机已成为我国公共管理的一个重要客体。公共环境危机除了具有公共危机共有的特点外,还具有专业性、伴生性、城市性、量变到质变等4个特点。对于公共环境危机管理应从日常公共环境危机管理和公共环境危机事件管理两个方面着手。     

The marginal cost of public funds of mineral and energy taxes in Peru

We estimate the Marginal Cost of Public Funds (MCPF) for Peru using a detailed computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. Revenues from all major sources (including taxes on factors of production, natural resources such as energy and minerals, consumption, and imports) are examined. Our focus is on the efficiency implications of mineral and energy taxes, given their importance to Peruvian public finance. The primary data are from the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) as modified to include detailed tax information from the Peruvian Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Peruvian Internal Revenue Service. Consistent with the theories of public finance, we find that the MCPF is greater for activities that face high or widely varying tax rates. The taxes on energy and mineral activities represent a clear illustration of this relationship. The results presented in this paper indicate opportunities to improved efficiency in the current tax mix, and also indicate the financing costs of proposed expenditures that would be funded with taxes on energy and natural resources.     

基于人口视角的公共服务均等化改革

公共服务的利益分享和成本分担,最终都会落实到每一个人的身上,"人"是其中的一个重要影响因素.我国不同社会成员享有的公共服务水平存在着很大的不同,而且各自所承担的公共服务提供成本也有着较大的差距.本文立足于"人"这一基点,从三个方面剖析了我国公共服务非均等格局形成的原因:①长期存在的对"人"身份进行区分的传统及其在我国社会经济制度中的体现是我国公共服务非均等格局形成的根源;②人口流动性的缺乏为我国公共服务非均等格局的形成提供了某种便利;③巨大的人口规模以及农村人口占多数的人口结构等也加剧了我国公共服务非均等格局的程度.从"人"的角度看,我国推进公共服务均等化改革的基本思路是:彻底消除身份传统在公共服务体制中的影响,建立起无差别的公共服务供给制度和公平的公共服务成本分担机制;努力提高人口的流动性,并使社会经济改革与不新提高的人口流动性相适应;通过大力发展中小城镇等方式来适当调整人口结构.     

On the Plaintiff’s Subject Qualification for Environmental Public Interest Litigation Instituted by People’s Procuratorates

Although it is not the main duty for the People’s Procuratorate to institute environmental public interest litigation proceedings, the existence of "reserve" prosecution right of plaintiff not only is beneficial to timely prevention and cure of environmental damage, but also contributes indispensable judicial supervision force to the environmental legality construction. In order to safeguard environmental public interests, many local prosecutorial organizations have practiced environmental public interests litigation. Since Chinese law has not made explicit stipulation on the function of the People’s Procuratorate instituting environmental public interest litigation, the plaintiff’s subject qualification for environmental public interest litigation instituted by the People’s Procuratorate is still in question. In order to propel the People’s Procuratorate to completely and fully exercise their power of supervision and prosecution, there shall be corresponding legislation that provides powerful guarantee for the People’s Procuratorate instituting environmental public interest litigation.     

Publicly-provided information in environmental management: incorporating groundwater quality goals into herbicide treatment recommendations

Use of publicly-provided information to promote environmental quality has received somewhat less attention in the environmental management literature than use of other environmental policy tools based on economic incentives such as emissions taxes, subsidies and marketable permits. Yet publicly-provided information may have potential as an environmental policy tool, especially in managing problems of agricultural pollution, due in large part to the existing capability of public information agencies associated with the agricultural research community. Information provided by these agencies is known to be an important factor in decision making in agriculture and may have potential for influencing decisions that relate directly to preserving the integrity of environmental resources. Moreover, this potential may have particular relevance for protecting groundwater quality from agricultural production since the results of contamination are often at least partially internal to the farm decision maker. This paper develops an empirical model to formulate publicly-provided herbicide treatment recommendations designed to protect both the quality of groundwater and the income of farmers. An economic and statistical model of a crop-pest system is used in conjunction with a groundwater loading model to derive the trade-off relationship between producer income and movement of herbicide material through the root zone. The trade-off relationship can provide the basis for formulating herbicide treatment recommendations and can also shed light on appropriate groundwater quality goals.     

物联网在公共安全领域中的应用研究

公共安全是物联网的重要应用领域,以公共安全发展及创新的科技需求为出发点,提出公共安全物联网的概念,并设计出公共安全物联网的结构示意图;以物联网的四大关键技术——RFID技术、传感网络技术、智能技术和纳米技术为基础,结合具体的应用案例,详细分析这些关键技术在监测监控、人员定位、信息采集、智能探测和消防装备等方面的应用。结果表明,将物联网技术与公共安全相结合具有重要意义,下一步的工作重点是研发并应用基于物联网技术的新型公共安全设备和系统。