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.     

The interethnic differences of the human serum paraoxonase polymorphism analysed by a quantitative and a qualitative method †

The polymorphism of the human serum paraoxonase¹ was analyzed by two distinguished methods in six different ethnic groups (Caucasians, Mongoloids, Negroids), using (1) the Computer Method² and (2) the Carro‐Ciampi Method³‘⁴. Analysis of the response of the enzyme activities to salts resulting in low and high activity ratios.

Comparison of the results:

In Caucasians we distinguished three phenotypes by the Computer method. The polymorphism was governed by two alleles. The Hardy‐Weinberg rule for a two‐allele model was valid. Individuals belonging to the homozygotic group with low activity had a low activity ratio (Carro‐Ciampi method). With both methods a frequency between 57% and 61% was observed for this group. Individuals with medium and high activity had a high activity ratio.

In Negroids and Mongoloids samples we found (by the Computer method) a low activity group (Ghanaians 9.6%, Jamaicans 13.6%, Indonesians 6.7%, Koreans 19.6%). The Hardy‐Weinberg rule for a two‐ or three‐allele model was not valid. Individuals belonging to the low activity group had a low activity ratio, all individuals with higher activity a high activity ratio (Carro‐Ciampi method).

Our results suggest that the members of the low activity group in the three races are homozygote for an identical allele.     

Tradeoffs between forestry resource and conservation values under alternate policy regimes: A spatial analysis of the western Canadian boreal plains

An important element of resource management and conservation is an understanding of the tradeoffs between marketed products, such as timber, and measures of environmental quality, such as biodiversity. In this paper, we develop an integrated economic-ecological spatial optimization model that we then apply to evaluate alternate forest policies on a 560,000 km² study region of managed boreal forest in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. The integrated model incorporates dynamic forest sector harvesting, current levels of oil and gas sector development, coarse-filter or habitat-based old forest indicators, a set of empirical forest bird abundance models, and statistical models of the natural and current fire regimes. Using our integrated model, economic tradeoff curves, or production possibility frontiers, are developed to illustrate the cost of achieving coarse-filter targets by a set time (50 years) within a 100-year time horizon. We found levels of ecological indicators and economic returns from the timber industry could both be increased if spatial constraints imposed by the current policy environment were relaxed; other factors being equal, this implies current policy should be revised. We explore the production possibility frontier's relationship to the range of natural variation of old forest habitat, and show how this range can be used to guide choices of preferred locations along the frontier. We also show that coarse-filter constraints on the abundance of certain habitat elements are sufficient to satisfy some fine-filter objectives, expressed as the predicted abundances of various species of songbirds.     

Climate change in mountain regions: how local communities adapt to extreme events

This paper examines how local communities adapt to climate change and how governance structures can foster or undermine adaptive capacity. Climate change policies, in general, and disaster risk management in mountain regions, in particular, are characterised by their multi-level and multi-sectoral nature during formulation and implementation. The involvement of numerous state and non-state actors at local to national levels produces a variety of networks of interaction and communication. The paper argues that the structure of these relational patterns is critical for understanding adaptive capacity. It thus proposes an expanded concept of adaptive capacity that incorporates (horizontal and vertical) actor integration and communication flow between these actors. The paper further advocates the use of formal social network analysis to assess these relational patterns. Preliminary results from research on adaptation to climate change in a Swiss mountain region vulnerable to floods and other natural hazards illustrate the conceptual and empirical significance of the main arguments.     

农民工大规模外出的经济增长效应研究

农民工大规模外出的影响和作用十分复杂.利用反设事实法,并运用Cobb-Douglas生产函数,分析了湖南省2001-2011年经济增长过程中资本投入、劳动投入和技术进步的贡献,并对于湖南省2001-2011年潜在经济增长进行了进一步推断.研究结果:如果不存在出省打工的数百万农民工,同期湖南将实现净增长428％,年均经济增长率18.10％,比现实经济增长率高出0.5个百分点.这表明农民工大规模外出尽管带来了可观的劳务收入,但也使得流出地区实际经济总量低于其可能的潜在总量,导致其实际经济增长率低于其潜在经济增长率,从而也间接证明了农民工大规模出省打工对于农民工流出地区的经济增长具有一定抑制作用.地方政府在将发展“劳务经济”作为发展战略的同时,还应认识到,“劳务经济”发展战略在带来较多劳务收入的同时,也会在一定程度上削弱地方社会经济的发展潜力.当前不宜将农村剩余劳动力转移作为对各级地方政府目标责任考核内容.     

基于网络团购的民族地区旅行社电子商务发展研究

网络团购已经逐渐发展成为一种新兴的电子商务模式,团购产品的覆盖范围也已非常广泛.揭示了民族地区旅行社电子商务发展与网络团购的内在相关性和作用机理,并探讨了适合民族地区旅行社电子商务发展的网络团购模式,提出了发展民族地区旅行社电子商务的思路与对策.     

黄河流域地级城市土地集约利用效率与生态福利绩效的耦合性分析

通过构建包含时间趋势变量的超越对数生产函数形式的随机前沿分析模型,对黄河流域2008—2017年57个城市的土地集约利用效率与生态福利绩效进行了测度,借助偏离系数的耦合度模型、马尔科夫链以及地理探测器等方法从市域和省域层面探究了两者耦合度的动态演进规律,并阐明了耦合机理与驱动机制。研究发现：（1）各城市的土地集约利用效率稳中有进,而生态福利绩效却呈波动下降的态势,两者的耦合度经历了“先降后升”的阶段性演变过程。（2）大部分省份耦合度的变异系数表现出扩大的倾向,尚有近1/5的城市属于低发展度低协调度的耦合类型;耦合度在空间上呈现出“东北—西南”走向的分异格局,重心整体向西南方向移动,其类型演变以大概率保持原有类型和向相邻的类型转化为主。（3）在驱动因子探测中,经济发展解释力>自然条件解释力>社会文明解释力;因子交互作用以双因子增强效应为主,非线性增强效应为辅,且社会因子是最主要的交互对象。     

养殖户气候适应性行为对提高养殖业生产效率的影响

气候变化给当前中国农业生产转型带来严峻挑战,从效率视角分析农户适应气候变化行为具有重要意义。本文探讨养殖户气候适应性行为与养殖业生产效率之间的逻辑关系,并基于中国五省的微观调查数据,采用倾向得分匹配方法与选择纠偏随机前沿生产函数模型（Selectivity-corrected Stochastic Production Frontier model）相结合的实证思路,分析养殖户气候适应性行为对养殖业生产效率的影响。研究表明：（1）养殖户气候适应性行为能够提高养殖业生产效率,纠正可观测因素与不可观测因素造成的选择性偏差后,适应组养殖户平均养殖业生产效率为0.618,未适应组养殖户的平均养殖业生产效率为0.551。（2）若未考虑选择性偏差,养殖户适应性行为对养殖业生产效率的影响将会错估。研究成果可为推进政府制定农户适应气候变化政策与推动农业生产转型提供有力支持。     

食物转化视角下我国家庭食物浪费程度与影响因素——基于CHNS数据的实证分析

长期以来,我国食物供应充足稳定,但是人口、环境等因素不断对此提出挑战,并且我国每年的食物损失和浪费数量十分惊人。从食物转化视角将食物浪费率定义为家庭食物消费中未能正常转化为家庭成员身体质量指数的比例,采用随机前沿模型并基于CHNS数据估算我国家庭食物浪费率,并探讨家庭异质性特征的影响。结果显示：家庭平均浪费率为11.28%;家庭规模越小、孩子或老年人的数量越多、收入水平越高、南方地区、户主的受教育程度越低、主要女性成员的受教育程度越高或者有工作、对膳食知识掌握程度越低的家庭浪费率越高。因此,要鼓励生产小包装食物和小型厨具,指导家庭根据实际需求购买食物,加强推广食育运动,开展节粮活动并教授减损措施。     

中国八大综合经济区能源生态效率测度及其驱动因素

为促进能源、经济、社会与生态环境的绿色可持续发展,将经济、社会福利等期望产出与生态环境污染非期望产出纳入能源生态效率测度框架,运用基于Shephard能源距离函数的随机前沿模型,从区域研究视角出发分析中国八大综合经济区能源生态效率演变趋势,并探讨其驱动因素的作用机制.结果显示：样本期内全国能源生态效率均值为0.5839,整体水平偏低,且呈现显著的空间非均衡分布特征.八大综合经济区能源生态效率水平呈现由沿海向内陆逐渐递减的发展态势.南部、东部和北部等沿海经济区能源生态效率均值分别为0.6941、0.6213、0.6087,位居前列;西南、黄河中游、长江中游以及东北等经济区次之,能源生态效率均值分别为0.5803、0.5720、0.5623、0.5537;西北经济区能源生态效率均值为0.5087,位列末位.经济发展水平与能源消费结构的估计系数分别为0.0459、0.0747,对能源生态效率的提高具有抑制作用;产业结构、城镇化水平以及环境规制的估计系数分别为-0.9339、-0.6197、-0.0387,对能源生态效率的提高具有促进作用.