Water sharing agreements sustainable to reduced flows

By signing a water sharing agreement (WSA), countries agree to release an amount of river water in exchange for a negotiated compensation. We examine the vulnerability of such agreements to reduced water flows. Among all WSAs that are acceptable to riparian countries, we find out the one which is self-enforced under the most severe drought scenarios. The so-called upstream incremental WSA assigns to each country its marginal contribution to its followers in the river. Its mirror image, the downstream incremental WSA, is not sustainable to reduced flow at the source. Self-enforcement problems can be solved by setting water releases and compensations contingent to water flow. We apply our analysis to the Aral Sea Basin. We compute the upstream incremental compensations for the Bishkek agreement and asses its vulnerability with historical flows.     

Negotiating environmental agreements under ratification constraints

We analyze the impact of ratification constraints on the optimal terms of international environmental agreements (IEAs). For this, we combine the literature on IEAs with the public choice literature on two-level games. By also incorporating uncertain preferences of the pivotal voter in the ratification stage, we make several important contributions: (i) we contribute to a more realistic modeling of the temporal structure of international agreements, (ii) we show a surprising, yet intuitive non-monotonic relationship between the optimal commitment level and the variance of ratification decisions, (iii) we identify reasons to expect a larger number of countries to join international negotiations than predicted by most of the coalition formation literature based on a representative agent model. Ratification constraints thereby can improve the welfare gains from stable international agreements.     

湄公河下游国家水质管理状况与区域合作前景

本文分析了老挝、缅甸、泰国、柬埔寨和越南等湄公河下游五国的水质状况及原因,通过汇总湄公河五国的水质管理法律法规及水质标准和介绍各国的水质管理措施,阐述了湄公河国家在水质管理方面做出的努力以及水质管理中存在的问题,并对湄公河国家在流域水质区域合作方面进行了展望。     

环境科学领域中欧科技教育合作的探讨

欧盟高等教育有着悠久的历史,在环境科学领域处于世界领先水平。随着欧盟一体化进程的深入推进,中国工业化和城市化步伐的加快,环境科学领域面临着新的机遇和挑战,必将给中欧之间的科技教育合作创造更多的机会。面对新形势,有必要认真分析中欧在环境科学领域科技教育合作的现状与机遇,总结经验,找出问题,提出对策,进而促进中欧合作的健康发展。     

区际生态环境关系理论初探——兼论江苏省与周边省市的环境冲突与合作

区际生态环境关系是随着区域生态环境利益冲突不断加剧,区域之间逐步形成的一种与经济关系、社会关系紧密相关而又相互区别的新型关系。对区际生态环境关系这一环境科学论题进行了理论阐述,初步探讨了区际生态环境关系的内涵、特征、主要内容和分类,以及区域环境合作与冲突等基本问题,着重提出了区际环境冲突的形式、成因与解决机制,试图从区域间环境的矛盾冲突这个新的视角去认识区域环境问题,探索解决区域环境问题和区际环境矛盾的新途径。以江苏省为例,初步探讨了江苏省与周边省、市的环境矛盾冲突以及建立省际环境合作的机制与对策,认为江苏省位于长江和淮河等流域下游,周边环境状况并不乐观,同时又是资源、能源的输入和消耗大省,随着社会经济的发展,省际生态环境利益冲突将会进一步显现,因此应加强与其他省市的资源、环境合作,以解决日益严峻的区域生态环境问题     

基于创新合作联系的城市网络格局分析——以长江经济带为例

现有城市地理研究主要基于重力模型、客货流网络和连锁模型等方法刻画城市网络。这些方法或是仅仅基于假设而可能与事实不符,或是数据难以获取,或是过于强调城市间的等级关系。通过引入合作专利数据,探索更加真实、平等的城市网络衡量方法。基于对长江经济带城市间创新联系的实证分析,发现目前城市间的创新联系以公司间(尤其是总部-分支机构间)合作为主;城市间创新联系存在非对称性和空间差异;实际创新联系与重力模型估算的创新联系存在正相关关系,但是相关系数不高;城市间创新联系的规模-位序符合Zipf定律,且存在两个无标度区;城市间创新联系受空间距离、行政级别、产业结构相似程度等影响,反映了距离衰减定律、行政区经济和产业链分工等规律对城市创新联系的解释力。     

Assessing water use and quality through youth participatory research in a rural Andean watershed

Water availability, use and quality in a rural watershed of the Colombian Andes were investigated through participatory research involving local youth. Research included the quantification of disaggregated water use at the household level; comparison of water use with availability; monitoring water quality of streams, community water intakes and household faucets; and the determination of land use – water quality interactions. Youth were involved in all aspects of the research from design to implementation, dissemination of results and remediation options. Quantification of domestic and on-farm water use, and water availability indicated that water availability was sufficient during the study period, but that only an 8% decrease in dry season supply would result in shortages. Elevated conductivity levels in the headwaters were related to “natural” bank erosion, while downstream high conductivity and coliform levels were associated with discharges from livestock stalls and poorly maintained septic tanks in the stream buffer zone. Through the involvement of youth as co-investigators, the knowledge generated by the research was appropriated at the local level. Community workshops led by local youth promoted water conservation and water quality protection practices based on research, and resulted in broader community participation in water management. The approach involving youth in research stimulated improved management of both land and water resources, and could be applied in small rural watersheds in developed or developing countries.     

四川古镇空间结构特征及区域旅游合作分析

运用空间网络分析方法,对四川省14个国家历史文化名镇的空间分布形态以及空间网络结构的连接性、通达性等进行了分析.结果显示,四川古镇呈集聚分布状态,但空间联系较弱,完善旅游交通网络、塑造古镇整体形象、增强区域合作是提升四川古镇旅游竞争力的有效途径.     

北京市开展区域水环境合作探究

通过分析北京市地表水资源、水环境质量现状及存在的问题,得出生态环境用水严重短缺是制约北京市水环境质量全面改善的根本原因,并对此提出全面加强区域水环境合作、改善北京市水环境的基本思路,及与周边地区开展水环境合作的途径及建议。     

INASUD project findings on integrated assessment of climate policies

This communication summarizes the main findings of INASUD, an European-wide research project on integrated assessment of climate policies. The project aimed at improving the framing of climate policy analysis through the parallel use of various existing integrated assessment models. It provides a comprehensive examination of the link between uncertainty regarding damages and inertia in economic systems. Results show that the Kyoto targets and timing are consistent with the precautionary principle but offers little insurance for longer-term climate protection. Flexibility mechanisms offer potentials for cooperation with developing countries, and are necessary to tap the environmental and economic benefits of joint carbon and sulfur emissions abatement.