Climate pioneership and leadership in structurally disadvantaged maritime port cities

ABSTRACT

Innovative climate governance in small-to-medium-sized structurally disadvantaged cities (SDCs) are assessed. Considering their deeply ingrained severe economic and social problems it would be reasonable to assume that SDCs act primarily as climate laggards or at best as followers. However, novel empirical findings show that SDCs are capable of acting as climate pioneers. Different types and styles of climate leadership and pioneership and how they operate within multi-level and polycentric governance structures are identified and assessed. SDCs seem relatively readily willing to adopt transformational climate pioneership styles to create ‘green’ jobs, for example, in the offshore wind energy sector and with the aim of improving their poor external image. However, in order to sustain transformational climate pioneership they often have to rely on support from ‘higher’ levels of governance. For SDCs, there is a tension between learning from each other’s best practice and fierce economic competition in climate innovation.     

Cities as leaders in EU multilevel climate governance: embedded upscaling of local experiments in Europe

ABSTRACT

The success of local climate governance in Europe depends not only on leading cities but also on the dynamics between leaders, followers, and laggards. Upscaling local experiments helps to close the gap between these actors. This process is driven by the increasing embeddedness of cities and their networks in EU multilevel governance. Embedded upscaling combines horizontal upscaling between leading cities with vertical upscaling between leaders and followers that is mediated by higher levels of government, and hierarchical upscaling that even reaches the laggards. Various types of upscaling, their combinations, and their impacts are analyzed. Networks have become denser and networking has intensified. City networks and their member cities have become embedded in national and EU governance, lost authority and depend more and more on regional, national, and European authorities.     

论湖滨带的结构与生态功能

湖滨带作为陆地和湖泊之间的过渡带,是健康湖泊生态系统不可缺少的有机组成部分,属于生态交错带的一种. 明晰湖滨带的结构与生态功能对湖滨带及湖泊的水环境改善与生态修复十分重要. 随着水环境因子的梯度变化,湖滨带的空间结构在横向、纵向和轴向分布上都表现出明显的圈层结构特点. 横向结构由陆向辐射带、水位变幅带和水向辐射带组成;纵向结构由空气、水体、底泥构成;轴向结构则是不同岸段湖滨带的景观变化和层次结构,体现整个湖滨带的全貌和湖滨带类型的组合. 湖滨带的时间结构体现在湖滨带生物及其生境条件随着时间推移的演化规律上,并在“时-空结构”中和人的积极存在紧密联系在一起. 影响时间结构的因素包括生物节律、气候因子、水动力等. 湖滨带在生态环境方面的功能可归纳为6项:污染物截留与净化、捕集和抑制藻类、提高湖滨带的生物多样性、提供野生动植物栖息地、控制沉积和侵蚀、调蓄洪水.      

池杉在三峡水库消落带生态修复中的适应性

冬季淹没和夏季干旱的交替作用会导致三峡水库消落带生态系统质量下降. 为了探索有效的生态系统修复方式,选用池杉树种开展了消落带林泽工程试验,并采用统计分析和RDA(冗余分析)排序对水淹胁迫下池杉的生长响应进行了研究. 结果表明:种植在海拔169 m以上的池杉经历两轮冬季淹水后成活率约为84.52%;树高、冠幅和枝叶密度平均变化量较小,分别为0.10 m、0.04 m和-0.11%,而胸径和枝下高变化明显,平均改变量分别为0.78 cm和-0.64 m;树高、胸径、冠幅和枝叶密度等指标变化率在没顶和部分淹水情况下存在显著差异. 部分淹水时,池杉对水淹胁迫的适应能力较强,随着淹水深度的增加,各生长指标变化量均呈下降趋势,部分植株有枯梢,没顶和部分淹水情况下枯梢率分别为43.56%和11.76%. RDA结果表明,水力条件和初始生长特征共同对淹水后池杉生长变化产生影响,二者对池杉生长指标变化的总体解释率为31.20%,独立解释率分别为11.90%、14.40%,共同解释率为4.90%. 池杉作为适应三峡水库消落带水位变动的本土耐淹树种,其经历水淹后的生长变化不仅与水位变动有关,同时也与其淹水前的生长状态有关. 研究结果有助于三峡水库消落带类似生态修复工程的进一步深入开展.      

2006─2010年环保重点城市主要污染物浓度变化特征

利用2006─2010年全国环保重点城市的空气质量日报数据,分析了大气ρ(SO2)、ρ(NO2)和ρ(PM10)的变化特征. 结果表明:从年际变化看,ρ(SO2)和ρ(PM10)呈下降趋势,ρ(NO2)变化不显著.从季节变化看,ρ(SO2)、ρ(NO2)和ρ(PM10)均呈冬季高、夏季低的特征.从浓度谱分布看,全国大气中ρ(SO2)、ρ(NO2)和ρ(PM10)分别集中在0～0.150、0～0.100和0～0.250 mg/m3范围内,ρ(SO2)和ρ(PM10)谱峰区间逐渐向低浓度范围偏移,高浓度事件逐渐减少,表明SO2和PM10污染得到较明显的控制,而ρ(NO2)谱峰变化不大.从浓度变化看,山西ρ(SO2)、ρ(NO2)和ρ(PM10)下降最明显,年变化率分别为-11.2、-3.6和-14.2 μg/m3;青海ρ(SO2)、山东ρ(NO2)和ρ(PM10)的上升趋势最明显,年变化率分别为4.4、2.7和4.5 μg/m3.      

Community energy plans in Canadian cities: success and barriers in implementation

Climate change and sustainable development concerns have motivated some municipalities in Canada to develop community energy plans, which focus on energy needs at the local level for the development of efficient, economical and environmental energy systems. Five Canadian cities that were early adopters of community energy planning principles were studied to assess whether implementation has occurred and what barriers have been experienced. The cities achieved success in the implementation of energy management in municipal operations despite barriers in jurisdiction, perception of cost, communication and capacity, but energy management in the community had not been fully implemented and long-term changes were not prevalent. While reductions were made in the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by municipal operations, the community's overall GHG emissions were not significantly reduced. Long-term impacts on a city's function and growth will be key if community energy planning is to significantly impact community-wide GHG emissions and energy use.     

The local nonprofit sector and the pursuit of sustainability in American cities: a preliminary exploration

This paper reports on the results of a study of the relationship between the nonprofit sector and the pursuit of sustainability in 13 moderate sized US cities with populations between 400,000 and 600,000. Dividing the cities into two groups – those that have been more serious and less serious about adopting and implementing sustainability policies, analysis of a survey of local public officials examines differences in the nonprofit landscape. Analysis shows that the cities that are more serious about sustainability have local public officials who interact more with nonprofit organisations, and are more likely to report the presence of at least one nonprofit group that supports city sustainability policies. Additionally, these reported groups are more likely to be “local”, or homegrown, and to be explicitly dedicated to the environment or sustainability. While far from definitive, the results provide evidence that the nonprofit sector is different in cities with sustainability policies, and suggest that the role of these nonprofit groups in the governance decisions of city leaders warrants more in-depth study.     

Local or global food markets: A comparison of energy use for transport

Abstract

This study compares energy use for food transport to a farmers' market in Sweden with energy use for transport in the conventional food system. The farmers' market was investigated through data sampling from on-site investigations. The conventional food system was studied with the aid of life cycle assessments reported in the literature. Overall, the study found no significant differences in levels of energy use for transport to the farmers' market compared with the conventional food system. For certain products, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, transport-related energy use was much lower in the local system although the season in Sweden for this kind of product is restricted to two or three months at the end of the summer. However, there is considerable potential to increase energy efficiency in local food systems by organizing the selling in new ways and by using more energy efficient vehicles.     

中美典型大城市突发事件应急管理模式的比较研究

我国经济的高速发展,我国城市突发公共安全事件也进入了一个相对高发期, 城市应急管理体系能有效地处理和预防城市突发公共事件,保障城市居民的人身安全和财产 安全.结合美国大城市的先进管理模式和经验,通过与我国大城市的应急管理模式在城市应 急管理体制的本质、应急管理的组织机构、应急管理运作机制、应急参与主体等几个方面的比较,...     

市场激励型环境规制工具对中国资源型城市高质量发展的影响

基于中国114个地级资源型城市2011—2018年的面板数据,采用熵权法测算各资源型城市的高质量发展指数,并利用系统GMM模型、静态面板门限模型和动态面板门限模型,探讨市场激励型环境规制工具对中国资源型城市高质量发展的影响及其作用机制。结果表明：（1）2011—2018年中国资源型城市高质量发展水平在总体向好的同时也存在一定程度的极差扩大现象,且在空间上呈现出“东高西低”的分布态势;（2）市场激励型环境规制工具对资源型城市高质量发展指数存在显著的正向影响;（3）市场激励型环境规制工具对资源型城市高质量发展的促进作用受到城市低碳生活基础设施水平的调节和制约,存在门限效应。基于实证研究结果进一步分析了相应的政策含义。