Pre-listing conservation of candidate species under the endangered species act: An evaluation of prevalence,accessibility, and market-based conservation efforts

In 2011, a legal settlement required the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to develop a series of work plans to assess a backlog of candidate species for protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Using the resulting USFWS Fiscal Year 2013–2018 work plan, which included 261 candidate species, we identified and analyzed pre-listing candidate conservation plans (PLCP) to determine their characteristics and evaluate the use of market-based mechanisms. Among the 34 PLCPs identified, we found that species-based conservation plans were more common than habitat-based plans, and market-based conservation approaches were infrequently implemented. Inconsistencies in plan documentation were present throughout the USFWS’s online portal, and not all documentation was publicly accessible. Lastly, we found that many states had implemented their own endangered species programs or initiated conservation plans through a state agency. Our work informs the recently-adopted USFWS pre-listing conservation policy and highlights needed improvements in tracking large numbers of at-risk species as they become the subject of regulations. Increased transparency and consistency in conservation plan databases, coupled with increased accessibility, will improve future at-risk species planning.     

Combating the Illegal Trade in African Elephant Ivory with DNA Forensics

Abstract:  International wildlife crime is burgeoning in this climate of global trade. We contend that the most effective way to contain this illegal trade is to determine where the wildlife is being removed. This allows authorities to direct law enforcement to poaching hot spots, potentially stops trade before the wildlife is actually killed, prevents countries from denying their poaching problems at home, and thwarts trade before it enters into an increasingly complex web of international criminal activity. Forensic tools have been limited in their ability to determine product origin because the information they can provide typically begins only at the point of shipment. DNA assignment analyses can determine product origin, but its use has been limited by the inability to assign samples to locations where reference samples do not exist. We applied new DNA assignment methods that can determine the geographic origin(s) of wildlife products from anywhere within its range. We used these methods to examine the geographic origin(s) of 2 strings of seizures involving large volumes of elephant ivory, 1 string seized in Singapore and Malawi and the other in Hong Kong and Cameroon. These ivory traffickers may comprise 2 of the largest poaching rings in Africa. In both cases all ivory seized in the string had common origins, which indicates that crime syndicates are targeting specific populations for intense exploitation. This result contradicts the dominant belief that dealers are using a decentralized plan of procuring ivory stocks as they became available across Africa. Large quantities of ivory were then moved, in multiple shipments, through an intermediate country prior to shipment to Asia, as a risk-reduction strategy that distances the dealer from the poaching locale. These smuggling strategies could not have been detected by forensic information, which typically begins only at the shipping source.     

关于贸易与环境关系的几点认识及其对我国的启示

环境与贸易是环境与发展的热点问题之一。环境与贸易的主要关系问题包括贸易活动本身与环境的关系问题 ,以及贸易规则与环境的关系问题。环境成本外部化是这些问题的根源。我国在新形势下针对这些问题应当采取相应的对策措施。     

On the environmental consequences of intra-industry trade

In the trade and environment debate, the relevance of examining the impact of a location's intra-industry trade (IIT) on environmental quality cannot be overemphasized, in part, due to the increasing prominence of such trade and the paucity of related empirical evidence. Although existing studies largely indicate overall trade to be pro-environment, the consequences of IIT may differ owing to greater varieties of intermediate and final goods, easier technology diffusion via trade in similar goods, productivity gains from within-sector reallocations, and increased innovation. However, identification of the causal effect is plagued by the potential endogeneity of IIT attributable to crucial unobservables and measurement error. In this light, utilizing an instrumental variables strategy and data on multiple environmental indicators from roughly 200 countries over 2000-2005, we investigate IIT's impact on the environment. To measure IIT, we rely on two indexes of within-industry specialization based on changes in and levels of sector-level trade. Regardless of the indicator of IIT or environmental performance, across several sets of instruments, we mostly find (i) IIT to benefit the environment, (ii) overall trade to be less pro-environment than IIT, and (iii) concerns over endogeneity to be relevant.     

高职院校国际服务外包课程设计的探索——以中国环境管理干部学院为例

以中国环境管理干部学院为例，国际服务外包课程是在国际服务贸易和服务外包产业迅速发展的背景下设置的。通过对我国服务外包行业发展现状和人才需求特点的分析，对国际服务外包课程设置提出系统性、开放性、职业性、实践性的构想，以及调整专业结构、建立灵活人才培养模式、加强学生实习实训、利用现有资源和政策支持以及做好服务外包人才就业工作的相关措施，以确保高职院校国际服务外包课程设计的科学性与可行性。     

Use of Multicriteria Decision Analysis to Address Conservation Conflicts

Conservation conflicts are increasing on a global scale and instruments for reconciling competing interests are urgently needed. Multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) is a structured, decision‐support process that can facilitate dialogue between groups with differing interests and incorporate human and environmental dimensions of conflict. MCDA is a structured and transparent method of breaking down complex problems and incorporating multiple objectives. The value of this process for addressing major challenges in conservation conflict management is that MCDA helps in setting realistic goals; entails a transparent decision‐making process; and addresses mistrust, differing world views, cross‐scale issues, patchy or contested information, and inflexible legislative tools. Overall we believe MCDA provides a valuable decision‐support tool, particularly for increasing awareness of the effects of particular values and choices for working toward negotiated compromise, although an awareness of the effect of methodological choices and the limitations of the method is vital before applying it in conflict situations. Uso de Análisis de Decisiones Multicriterio para Abordar Conflictos de Conservación     

Analyzing the effectiveness of international environmental policies: The case of the Kyoto Protocol

We study the effectiveness of emission targets under the Kyoto Protocol with respect to reducing CO₂ emissions. Using country-level and US state-level panel data and employing the synthetic control method, we find very little evidence for an emission reduction effect for the major emitters among the Annex B countries with binding emission targets. More generally, we also show that evaluating the effectiveness of international environmental policies at the country level comes with a number of empirical challenges that may invalidate findings based on more traditional panel data approaches.     

Influence of fur trade,famine, and forest fires on moose and woodland caribou populations in northwestern Ontario from 1786 to 1911

Hudson’s Bay Company records were used to estimate the 1786–1911 annual number of moose (Alces alces andersonii) and caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) involved in trade by northern Ojibwa natives to the company post at Osnaburgh House (51°10′N 90°15′W) in northwest Ontario, Canada. The human population for the early 19th century, and the number and severity of human starvations from 1786 to 1911 were estimated. The extent of forest fires in the region around Osnaburgh was documented using a “fire-day” index computed from Hudson’s Bay Company journals and using qualitative archival information. It is argued that the human population was too small to have caused the observed early 19th century moose and caribou population decline solely through predation. Likewise, severe early 19th century famines were caused by climatic factors rather than by declines in moose and caribou numbers. Habitat change caused by increased forest fires correlates with the observed decline of caribou, while moose increased and subsequently collapsed as winter shelter was destroyed. A burgeoning human population, sustained during winter food shortages on potatoes donated by the Hudson’s Bay Company, then kept ungulate populations to low levels until the late 19th century. Only then did maturing forests and a new outbreak of fires provide renewed habitat for resurgences of, respectively, caribou and moose.     

International commodity agreements: The role of consuming nations

Consuming nations and industry segments within them play a crucial role in the success of commodity agreements. For individual firms the desirability of the agreements is seen to depend on the form of the agency agreement and the competitive position of the firm in both the domestic and world market. Both the benefits and costs to producing and consuming nations are analysed. The mechanism of the agreements is analysed as well as the problems that lead to their limitation or termination.     

基于复杂网络理论的原油贸易空间格局差异分析

本文采用复杂网络分析方法,结合区域分析与相似性分析,比较了十大进口国(地区)原油贸易空间结构差异.复杂网络分析旨在以入度、权重及结构熵勾勒出十大原油进口国(地区)石油贸易的拓扑结构差异,并在拓扑结构分析中结合区域分析以揭示十大贸易国(地区)原油进口贸易空间格局构成之不同;相似性分析则是在拓扑结构和空间结构研究基础上,进一步量化了十大进口国(地区)的空间结构差异程度及区位在进口国(地区)原油贸易空间格局形成中的作用.研究表明,主要进口国与地区的原油进口贸易空间结构存在显著差异.而地理区位差异越大的国家与地区间,贸易空间结构差异越大.除中国外,各原油进口大国与地区更倾向于选择较经济的进口地域;显著的多元化与均质化则导致了中国贸易空间格局的不经济.研究结果提示我们,多元化不应以过多牺牲经济性为前提,中国应权衡所面临的客观环境选择适合区域合作伙伴,才能更好的落实多元化进口策略,切实解决可能面临的石油安全问题.