The Afghan experiment: the Afghan Support Group, Principled Common Programming and the Strategic Framework

From 1997 to 2001, the international community put in place unique mechanisms to address the challenges to providing humanitarian assistance in Taliban-run Afghanistan. The Afghan Support Group (ASG), Principled Common Programming (PCP) and the Strategic Framework (SF) constituted a precedent-setting experiment that consumed thousands of hours in implementation in donor capitals and in the field. This article, written from the perspective of the leading donor of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, assesses the extent to which this Afghan experiment succeeded in increasing coherence on assistance policy issues, improving efficiency in assistance programmes and added synergy between assistance and peace efforts; identifies factors that limited further achievements; suggests how the mechanisms could have been improved; and analyses whether the overall effort politicised humanitarian assistance. The article concludes that the record of achievement was sufficiently promising that the ASG/PCP/SF experiment should be considered for application in other complex humanitarian emergencies.     

规划环评中应注意的问题及对策

规划环评为防止因重大决策失误而造成的环境破坏提供了法律武器,同时,对于改变末端治理方式,从源头控制污染,避免走"先污染,后治理"的老路,具有重要作用。     

陕西省发展低碳经济的战略选择和路径

提出陕西省应制定"以制度创新为根本,以技术创新为动力,优化产业结构,调整能源结构"的低碳发展战略,分析了该战略对陕西省经济发展的促进作用。规划出低碳发展过程中应遵循的"先紧后松"路径,与各发展阶段的工作重点。     

Devils lake emergency outlet diversion conflict

The Devils Lake Emergency Outlet Diversion conflict is systematically studied from a strategic viewpoint using the Graph Model for Conflict Resolution in order to obtain insights about the resolution of this nagging international dispute. By modelling the conflict for the situation existing as of July 2005, just before the project began operation, the dispute is put into proper perspective and, subsequently, a stability analysis is carried out to obtain potential resolutions or equilibria. The results of a sensitivity analysis accurately predict the deal which actually took place when Canada and the American state of North Dakota reached a negotiated settlement. Finally, suggestions are put forward for improving the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 between Canada and the United States.     

Integrating spatial support tools into strategic planning—SEA of the GMS North–South Economic Corridor Strategy and Action Plan

The GMS countries, supported by the Asian Development Bank, have adopted a holistic, multidimensional approach to strengthen infrastructural linkages and facilitate cross border trade through (i) the establishment of a trans-boundary road connecting two economic nodes across marginalised areas, followed by 2) facilitation of environmentally and socially sound investments in these newly connected areas as a means to develop livelihoods. The North–South Economic Corridor is currently in its second phase of development, with investment opportunities to be laid out in the NSEC Strategy and Action Plan (SAP). It targets the ecologically and culturally sensitive border area between PR China's Yunnan Province, Northern Lao PDR, and Thailand. A trans-boundary, cross-sectoral Strategic Environmental Assessment was conducted to support the respective governments in assessing potential environmental and social impacts, developing alternatives and mitigation options, and feeding the findings back into the SAP writing process. Given the spatial dimension of corridor development—both with regard to opportunities and risks—particular emphasis was put in the application of spatial modelling tools to help geographically locate and quantify impacts as a means to guide interventions and set priorities.     

Using the multiple capitals framework to connect indicators of regional cumulative impacts of mining and pastoralism in the Murray Darling Basin,Australia

It is commonly recognized that there are constraints to successful regional-scale assessment and monitoring of cumulative impacts because of challenges in the selection of coherent and measurable indicators of the effects. It has also been sensibly declared that the connections between components in a region are as important as the state of the elements themselves. These have previously been termed “linked” cumulative impacts/effects. These connections can be difficult to discern because of a complicated set of interactions and unexpected linkages. In this paper we diagnose that a significant cause of these constraints is the selection of indicators without due regard for their inter-relationships in the formulation of the indicator set. The paper examines whether the common “forms of capital”, i.e., natural (renewable and non-renewable), manufactured, social, human and financial capitals, framework is a potential organizing structure. We examine a large region in western NSW Australia where the predominant production systems are mining and grazing for production of wool, beef and lamb. Production in both is driven by consumption of a non-renewable resource, i.e., ore for mining and topsoil for grazing, the latter on the basis that loss rate estimates far exceed soil formation rates. We propose that the challenge of identifying connections of components within and between capital stores can be approached by explicitly separating stores of capital and the flows of capital between stores and between elements within stores, so-called capital fluxes. We attempt to acquire data from public sources for both capital stores and fluxes. The question of whether these data are a sufficient base for regional assessment, with particular reference to connections, is discussed. The well-described challenge of a comparative common currency for stores and fluxes is also discussed. We conclude that the data acquisition is relatively successful for stores and fluxes. A number of linked impacts are identified and discussed. The potential use of money as the common currency for stores and fluxes of capital is considered. The basic proposition is that replacement or preservation costs be used for this. We conclude that the study is sufficiently positive to consider further research in fully-coupled models of capital stores and fluxes.     

Landscape ecological assessment: a tool for integrating biodiversity issues in strategic environmental assessment and planning

To achieve a sustainable development, impacts on biodiversity of urbanisation, new infrastructure projects and other land use changes must be considered on landscape and regional scales. This requires that important decisions are made after a systematic evaluation of environmental impacts. Landscape ecology can provide a conceptual framework for the assessment of consequences of long-term development processes like urbanisation on biodiversity components, and for evaluating and visualising the impacts of alternative planning scenarios. The aim of this paper was to develop methods for integrating biodiversity issues in planning and strategic environmental assessment in an urbanising environment, on landscape and regional levels. In order to test developed methods, a case study was conducted in the region of Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, and the study area embraced the city centre, suburbs and peri-urban areas. Focal species were tested as indicators of habitat quality, quantity and connectivity in the landscape. Predictive modelling of habitat distribution in geographic information systems involved the modelling of focal species occurrences based on empirical data, incorporated in a landscape ecological decision support system. When habitat models were retrieved, they were applied on future planning scenarios in order to predict and assess the impacts on focal species. The scenario involving a diffuse exploitation pattern had the greatest negative impacts on the habitat networks of focal species. The scenarios with concentrated exploitation also had negative impacts, although they were possible to mitigate quite easily. The predictions of the impacts on habitats networks of focal species made it possible to quantify, integrate and visualise the effects of urbanisation scenarios on aspects of biodiversity on a landscape level.     

环境影响评价类型的发展

通过对区域环境影响评价（ＲＤＥＩＡ）及累积影响评价（ＣＩＡ）、战略影响评价（ＳＥＡ）的产生原因、概念、研究方法，研究状况等方面的介绍及与项目ＥＩＡ的比较，说明ＲＤＥＩＡ、ＣＩＡ、ＳＥＡ的兴起是实行可持续发展战略的要求．     

港口规划的战略环境评价实践

提供了战略环境评价(SEA)在我国港口规划应用的一个范例，并对本次战略环境评价实践所取得的经验进行了总结和讨论。SEA在该规划编制开始即全面介入，依据评价区域的环境与资源特征及国家和地方的相关法规，提出港口总体布局规划的环保原则性框架意见，作为规划制定的先决条件和依据；在规划制定之前先行完成了环境现状调查及公众参与，在规划过程中从区域的角度评价了规划的累积环境影响，对规划实施的可持续性进行了评估，提出环保措施和替代方案，并不断将所得成果反馈给决策者和规划制定者、协助规划的形成。