NEW APPROACHES TO COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING IN CANADA1

ABSTRACT. In 1970, the Canadian Federal Government passed the Canada Water Act which provides for a co-operative federal-provincial approach to water resource management. The purpose of this paper is to outline our definition of comprehensive planning and the approach being taken under the new legislation. Two basic premises underly the definition. They are that resource management consists of an array of problems and that the prime function of planning is to provide information for decision making. The definition of comprehensive planning is embodied in a general statement and a set of principles. The principles define the approach that should be taken to provide adequate information for decision making in today's complex environment. A brief resume of the jurisdictions for water management in Canada leads to a discussion of a joint federal-provincial comprehensive study of the Qu'Appelle River Basin in Southern Saskatchewan. The basin and the study are described briefly. This is followed by an outline of the economic and social considerations which are being incorporated into the comprehensive planning study for the basin.     

WATER RESOURCES AND SOCIAL CHOICES1

ABSTRACT The problem of water resources management can be viewed as one requiring the existence and application of some type of “collective decision” mechanism. Currently, the general water resource decision problem is solved using an “individual decision” format without explicit consideration of the dominant social decision system. This paper demonstrates the need for blending technical planning activities with organized societal processes and then proposes a specific public decision framework to satisfy this requirement. The key element in this planning framework is a generalized “bargaining arena” which serves to link technical activities with the social system. Using this bargaining device we can (1) specify policy at a local level, (2) incorporate “social decision” rules into the planning process, and (3) provide local access to the decision process. A simple case of regional water quality management is used to describe the application of this planning procedure and to offer encouragement for successful use in more complex real-world cases.     

SOME PROBLEMS IN STOCHASTIC HYDROLOGY1

In order to decrease the uncertainty that results in water resource planning and management studies due to the assumed recurrence of historical hydrological sequences, considerable study of stochastic processes in hydrology has taken place during the past 10 or 15 years. The general objective has been to develop a capability for generating a number of valid sequences, each of which could as resonably occur as could a recurrence of past events. A number of serious problems have been encountered, the consequence of which has been a serious lag in the application of stochastic processes to real planning and management problems. These problems include: a. an inability to generate droughts in some cases that are as extreme as have occurred historically, b. the generation of inconsistent values of stream flow at 2 locations on the same stream, c. the lack of mathematical techniques for the management of incomplete data sets, d. a great increase in the required computation for planning and management studies, and e. theoretical and computational difficulties in expanding the scope of stochastic hydrology from monthly quantities to short-period quantities. This paper discusses these problems and various approaches used in attempting their solution.     

实施《全国生态环境建设规划》的基本思路

良好的生态环境是可持续发展的重要前提条件,为了实施好《全国生态环境建设规划》,本文从组织层面、管理层面、法规层面,提出了实施的基本措施     

The impact of global warming on winter tourism and skiing: a regionalised model for Austrian snow conditions

Possible climate change will modify snow-cover depth and change the characteristics of winter tourism and skiing districts. Our model describes seasonal snow-cover depth related to altitude in six Alpine climate regions as the best fit of all snow stations. Data cover 30 winter seasons (November to April values) from 1965 to 1995. We modified the data according to a scenario of temperature and precipitation change (2 °C warming, no precipitation change) and achieve a new simulated snow-cover depth. The indicators MARP (mean altitude of resident population) and MASPSL (mean altitude of starting point of ski lifts) serve as references for “critical altitudes” of Austrian districts. A warming implies a reduction of snow in all districts, but the loss is overproportional in lower altitudes. The direction of economic impacts is clear – income losses and adaptation costs – but magnitude and time frames remain uncertain. Received: 24 February 1999 · Accepted: 15 May 1999     

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。     

对灾害研究中几个问题的思考

对灾害研究中有关的几个问题进行了探讨。认为： 灾害学是最重要的自然社会科学; 人文灾害比自然灾害更具毁灭性; 研究人文灾害中的公路交通事故、核战争问题、人口问题、环境污染问题等具有重要的现实意义和深远的历史意义。     

Planning for cooler cities: a plan quality evaluation for Urban Heat Island consideration

ABSTRACT

City strategic plans and enabling policies provide a framework for and inform future development across multiple scales. An exemplar city strategic plan will be one based on evidence, enabled by complementary policy outcomes, and built on the knowledge of the existing landscape. This study evaluated the plan quality of eighteen metropolitan strategic plans for city members in the 100 Resilient Cities initiative. A protocol was developed containing thirty-two indicators to assess plans capacity to act as a strategic planning tool to develop, analyse and implement strategies for the Urban Heat Island (UHI) and climate change mitigation and adaptation. The evaluation indicated that strategies addressing the UHI are rarely included in metropolitan plans. Strategic plans showed a lack of evidence-base to inform the potential actions. Urban warming is often linked to extreme weather events anticipated under climate change, not the UHI as a systemic and increasing phenomenon. We recommend that the pathway to addressing UHI mitigation and adaptation may lie in its nexus to aspects of climate change that concurrently can serve to support liveable and resilient cities.     

上海人口自然变动负增长与社会经济发展

1993年上海人口自然变动在全国率先进入负增长,自然增长率为-0.78‰,并将持续一个较长的时期。这是长期以来本市经济和社会发展以及计划生育工作共同作用的必然结果,其中计划生育政策的成功推行起着重要的作用。上海除了继续控制人口增长的数量外,还要调节人口规模和人口结构,大力提高人口素质,不断使人口与社会经济发展、生态平衡、资源利用等方面达到协调发展。由负增长引发的劳动力短缺和老龄化程度加剧要采取相应的对策。     

Development of a database of landfills and dump sites in Asian countries

This article briefly summarizes the limited landfill/dump information available for developing Asian countries, and introduces a database that aims to close the information gap through collecting and sharing data. Developing nations usually try to adapt the systems and technologies of developed countries. However, this approach may not be appropriate because of differences in socioeconomic, cultural, and political backgrounds. Many waste management projects fail after operations are transferred to local authorities owing to a lack of funds to cover the high operational expenses. Some successful projects have been adapted to local conditions, although the information on these successes is not often available for others. Nevertheless, only a few developing countries even have a national inventory of their dumps/landfills, and decision-makers have little awareness of the dumps and their impacts. The database introduced here will gather landfill/dump information from each country and organize it in a comparable format, and it will then be published on the Internet.