Taking risks with the precautionary principle: food (and the environment) for thought at the European Commission

Various parties relate to the precautionary principle with various understandings, claims and hopes. One of the ways to comprehend this multiplicity of meanings is to examine the composition of this problematic norm in the societal and institutional settings where it occurs. In this paper, I address its elaboration on the European Union institutional terrain with the European Commission's Communication on the Precautionary Principle. This effectuation of the precautionary principle embraces a number of issues of transnational or multilevel governance, expertise, legitimacy and sovereignty. The crucial matter that this paper engages in initially is that of risk analysis, the procedural framework that the precautionary principle confronts with its innovative articulations of science and policy-making, but to which I argue that it succumbs in part. Also explored, in turn, are further framings of the precautionary principle: science versus policy, a given policy domain—environment—in relation to others, as well as action versus inaction (whereas I argue that the precautionary principle ought to be about acting and doubting). These are further evaluated in the conclusions, together with the predicament of establishing a common understanding or defining the precautionary principle. I show that, complementary to drivers of divergence, one finds support for a common approach, though there is no radial symmetry in these tangled stakes, and any ‘diffusion’ of the precautionary principle has to be actively carried out for a shared understanding to be more widely shared. In this process, Europe, the European Commission, its Communication, and the precautionary principle are being shaped into diverse compositions of unity in diversity. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of sustainable development strategies and policies: The need for more timely indicators

Indicators are commonly used as tools to identify and highlight socio‐economic and ecological trends and to assess progress towards sustainability. Different quality criteria can be considered for indicators. This paper focuses on the timeliness of indicators used in the evaluation of sustainable development strategies. The analysis is based on indicators included in four assessment reports of the sustainable development strategy of the European Union and three assessment reports of the national strategy of Finland. Furthermore, a web‐based national level indicator portal is analysed. The results show that the timeliness of indicators has generally not improved during the past decade and that indicators used in strategy evaluations have a time lag of approximately two years. It is suggested that more attention should be given to efforts to improve the timeliness of indicators in order to increase the effectiveness of the evaluations. More generally, it is suggested that greater emphasis should be put on the empirical research on actual use of indicators.     

Persistent organochlorine contaminants in hair samples of Northern Poland population, 1968-2009

The European regulation on chemicals, REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), came into force on 1 June 2007. With pre-registration complete in 2008, data for these substances may provide an overview of the expected chemical space and its characteristics. In this paper, using various in silico computation tools, we evaluate 48 782 neutral organic compounds from the list to identify hazardous and safe compounds. Two different classification schemes (modified Verhaar and ECOSAR) identified between 17% and 25% of the compounds as expressing only baseline toxicity (narcosis). A smaller portion could be identified as reactive (19%) or specifically acting (2.7%), while the majority were non-assigned (61%). Overall environmental persistence, bioaccumulation and long-range transport potential were evaluated using structure-activity relationships and a multimedia fugacity-based model. A surprisingly high proportion of compounds (20%), mainly aromatic and halogenated, had a very high estimated persistence (>195 d). The proportion of compounds with a very high estimated bioconcentration or bioaccumulation factor (>5000) was substantially less (6.9%). Finally, a list was compiled of those compounds within the applicability domain of the models used, meeting both persistence and bioaccumulation criteria, and with a long-range transport potential comparable to PCB. This list of 68 potential persistent organic pollutants contained many well-known compounds (all halogenated), but notably also five fluorinated compounds that were not included in the EINECS inventory. This study demonstrates the usability of in silico tools for identification of potentially environmentally hazardous chemicals.     

欧盟重金属污染防治制度研究

欧盟是一个由各成员国合作实施共同但又有差别化环境政策的区域,其重金属污染防治工作特色明显。总结分析了欧盟重金属污染防治的管理制度和相关经验,重点研究欧盟在水环境、大气环境、土壤环境以及固体废弃物等领域的重金属污染防治法律法规、标准体系,总结其经验,以期为中国重金属污染防治工作提供参考和借鉴。     

Leadership and lesson-drawing in the European Union’s multilevel climate governance system

ABSTRACT

The important role that climate leaders and leadership play at different levels of the European Union (EU) multilevel governance system is exemplified. Initially, climate leader states set the pace with ambitious policy measures that were adopted largely on an ad hoc basis. Since the mid-1980s, the EU has developed a multilevel climate governance system that has facilitated leadership and lesson-drawing at all governance levels including the local level. The EU has become a global climate policy leader by example although it had been set up as a ‘leaderless Europe’. The resulting ‘leadership without leader’ paradox cannot be sufficiently explained merely by reference to top-level EU climate policies. Local-level climate innovations and lesson-drawing have increasingly been encouraged by the EU’s multilevel climate governance system which has become more polycentric. The recognition of economic co-benefits of climate policy measures has helped to further the EU’s climate leadership role.     

Evaluation of the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative Soil Moisture Product over China Using Variance Reduction Factor

In this study, we evaluated the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative soil moisture product v02.1 (ESA CCI SM v02.1) using in situ observations collected at 547 stations in China from 1991 to 2013. A conventional validation was first conducted, and the triple collocation errors of ESA CCI SM and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting reanalysis data were approximately 0.053 and 0.050 m³/m³, respectively. To obtain more reliable validation results, the average soil moisture of the in situ observations per ESA CCI SM pixel was also used as the validation sites. Variance reduction factor (VRF) was adopted to quantify the accuracy of the soil moisture validation sites, and the average VRF was estimated at 4.88%. The validation results were enhanced by excluding validation sites with VRF errors greater than 5% from the statistical analysis. Although the ESA CCI SM underestimated the in situ observations with a Bias of 0.05 m³/m³, a moderately high correlation coefficient of 0.44 and a relatively small unbiased root‐mean‐square difference of 0.05 m³/m³ were observed. This study provides information on the utilization of ESA CCI SM for ecological protection, climate change, and hydrological forecasting. It also suggests the adoption of VRF for future error corrections of satellite‐based products.     

欧盟废物焚烧指令的研究与借鉴

为进一步完善我国废物焚烧标准体系,防控废物焚烧环境风险,本文对欧盟废物焚烧指令与我国焚烧标准体系进行了对比分析。欧盟废物焚烧指令分别对专用焚烧厂和协同焚烧厂从废物运输到处理处置全过程的污染物排放控制做出了相关规定,适用于危险废物和非危险废物的焚烧以及常规污染物和有毒污染物的控制。欧盟废物焚烧指令对不同规模的焚烧设施采用统一标准,以日均值和半小时均值为污染物排放限值,更客观、准确地评价了污染物排放对环境的影响。与欧盟废物焚烧指令相比,我国废物焚烧标准涉及废物联合利用处置的相关条文较少,内容不详,项目缺失。我国烟尘、HCl的排放限值均在欧盟标准限值6倍以上,SO2的排放限值是欧盟标准的4~8倍。除CO、NOx的排放限值外,其他污染物排放限值也明显高于欧盟标准限值。我国采用抽样监测方法,监测结果可能在日常排放值的95%置信区间外,不具备代表性。我国可借鉴欧盟废物焚烧指令的成果制定协同焚烧标准,并严格污染物排放限值,考虑采用日均值或半小时均值的评价方法,提高我国废物焚烧标准的精确性和可执行性。     

Assessing participatory and multi-level characteristics of biodiversity and landscape protection legislation: the case of Poland

In this paper, we present a comprehensive framework for analysing formal rules regulating the involvement of various actors in protected areas decision-making over time and apply it to Poland. Based on the analysis of legal acts and policy documents, we suggest that since the democratic transition started in 1989, the governance of Polish protected areas has been increasingly multi-level and participatory. However, different designations indicate different levels of involvement by non-state actors, with Natura 2000 standing out from the traditional protected areas. Regarding governance issues, establishing and taking management decisions were characterised by the greatest changes in actors’ involvement. While participation of non-public actors is still limited mostly to information and consultation, the involvement of non-state public actors of various levels increased significantly. The paper highlights the importance of a systematic analysis of legal rules as a starting point for empirical investigation of the governance of protected areas.     

中国—欧盟碳泄漏问题实证研究

气候变化问题已被公认为是全球范围内可持续发展面临的最大威胁,碳泄漏问题是目前气候变化领域的一个热点问题.欧盟等以存在碳泄漏为由欲对非减排国家征收碳关税.在此背景下,本文对碳泄漏问题进行理论分析和实证研究.理论分析认为,碳泄漏有三个主要渠道:化石能源的国际贸易、碳密集型产品的国际贸易和能源密集型产业的国际转移,其中,碳密集型产品的国际贸易一直是争论的核心.在此基础上,本文从碳密集型产品的国际贸易角度对中国与欧盟之间碳泄漏问题进行了实证研究.本文选取钢铁、有色金属、水泥、化肥、玻璃和玻璃制品、纸张和纸制品六个碳密集型产业为研究对象,以中国与欧盟碳密集型产品的进出口比率作为指标,考察欧盟实施温室气体减排措施(1992年)以来该指标的变化趋势,以确定中国与欧盟之间是否发生了碳泄漏以及程度如何.研究结果表明,中国与欧盟之间可能并未发生碳泄漏,或者即使发生了碳泄漏,其程度也很微弱,不足以成为欧盟征收碳关税的理由.     

环境公益诉讼立法问题研究

随着社会生产力的飞速发展,环境问题日益突出。环境公益诉讼是解决环境问题,保护国家、社会和公众环境权益的基本形式和有效途径,也是最后屏障。从国内一起环境公益诉讼案件出发,借鉴国外特别是美国环境公益诉讼的经验,提出了建立我国环境公益诉讼制度的若干立法建议,旨在探索一条落实科学发展观的环境保护新思路。