Sustainable development conflict over freeway construction

Environmental disputes arise due to opposing views of various groups about their environmental concerns and their economic or developmental interests. Development and protection of the environment constitute two main contradictory objectives within the sustainable development paradigm, which are often in conflict. The decision support system, GMCR II, which implements the graph model for conflict resolution, is employed to model and analyze an environmental dispute arising over the construction of a new freeway between the Iranian capital, Tehran, and the city of Chalous located in the north of the country. This study demonstrates that the graph model for conflict resolution can be used as a methodology to promote a reasonable balance between economic development and environmental protection from a strategic viewpoint. In addition to systematically modelling the conflict by putting the existing information into proper perspective, it is shown how conflict analysis can be used for comparing alternative scenarios and predicting possible future outcomes. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

A methodology for assessing urban sustainability: Aalborg commitments baseline review for Riga, Latvia

Both the Aalborg Commitments and the guidance on integrated urban environmental management and sustainable urban transport plans proposed by the EU Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment foresee a baseline review as the first step in developing integrated urban management plans and systems. A baseline review of urban sustainability undertaken in Riga reveals significant discrepencies between the sustainability criteria of the Aalborg Commitments and the: responsibilities and competencies of the municipal government and administration as defined by statutes; policy goals and measures defined in municipal planning documents; policy goals and measures defined in the Riga Development Plan. To better orient the mandate of the municipality towards sustainable development, municipal statutes should be supplemented to more fully reflect the issues defined by the Aalborg Commitments and should include sustainability as a goal. In order to strengthen the implementation of sustainable development specific policy goals, measures and targets should be formulated for all the Aalborg Commitments issues when revising existing municipal planning documents or developing a municipal sustainable development management plan. An analysis of the European Common Indicators and the State of the Environment in Riga 2001 indicators indicates that they can only partially fulfill a monitoring function for the implementation of the Aalborg Commitments. This highlights a need to better coordinate sustainable development initiatives at the European level. The methodology used for the baseline review in Riga is useful for assessing the status of urban sustainability when preparing integrated urban management plans or systems, but requires testing elsewhere. Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Evaluating the role of environmental quality in the sustainable rural economic development of England

The issue of the sustainable development of rural economies in England has recently received considerable attention. This is because many of the poorest areas in the country are rural, often of high environmental quality, but suffering from high unemployment and a lack of services and facilities. The rapid decline in agricultural incomes and in-migration of affluent urban workers since 1990 has exacerbated economic inequality in such areas. A number of factors have the potential to drive rural development and this paper applies, and considers, the feasibility of a method from the USA for combining economic and environmental variables in a regional growth model to examine the hypothesis that environmental quality is an important determinant of sustainable rural development in England. The model output suggests that, although environmental quality does play a role in sustainable rural development in England there are other, more important, factors driving development. These include business and communications infra-structure, the degree and opportunities for commuting and underlying employment prospects. The robustness and limitations of the method for combining economic and environmental variables is discussed in relation to the spatial interrelatedness of Local Authority Districts in England, and conclusions are drawn about areas for refinement and improvement of the method.

Industrial and urban symbiosis in Japan: Analysis of the Eco-Town program 1997–2006

Japan's Eco-Town Program spearheaded in Japan the integration of Industrial Symbiosis and Urban Symbiosis, seeking to maximise the economic and environmental benefit from close geographic proximity of industrial and urban areas, through the use of previously discarded commercial, municipal and industrial waste materials in industrial applications. The program established 26 Eco-Towns around Japan. Approximately 1.65 billion USD was invested in 61 innovative recycling projects, with an average government subsidy of 36%. In addition at least 107 other recycling facilities have been constructed without government subsidy. 14 Eco-Towns primarily contributed to improving industry's productivity, whilst 10 Eco-Towns primarily contributed to improving environmental amenity. In 16 Eco-Towns the private sector was the most important actor supporting local government in the realisation of the Eco-Town, whilst in 9 Eco-Towns this was civil society. The availability of investment subsidies, the coming into force of ambitious recycling legislation with quantified, product-specific targets, access to the significant technological resources of the private sector, and widespread recognition of the urgency to act on environmental issues, all contributed to the success of the Eco-Town Program.     

The Value of Linking Mitigation and Adaptation: A Case Study of Bangladesh

There are two principal strategies for managing climate change risks: mitigation and adaptation. Until recently, mitigation and adaptation have been considered separately in both climate change science and policy. Mitigation has been treated as an issue for developed countries, which hold the greatest responsibility for climate change, while adaptation is seen as a priority for the South, where mitigative capacity is low and vulnerability is high. This conceptual divide has hindered progress against the achievement of the fundamental sustainable development challenges of climate change. Recent attention to exploring the synergies between mitigation and adaptation suggests that an integrated approach could go some way to bridging the gap between the development and adaptation priorities of the South and the need to achieve global engagement in mitigation. These issues are explored through a case study analysis of climate change policy and practice in Bangladesh. Using the example of waste-to-compost projects, a mitigation-adaptation-development nexus is demonstrated, as projects contribute to mitigation through reducing methane emissions; adaptation through soil improvement in drought-prone areas; and sustainable development, because poverty is exacerbated when climate change reduces the flows of ecosystem services. Further, linking adaptation to mitigation makes mitigation action more relevant to policymakers in Bangladesh, increasing engagement in the international climate change agenda in preparation for a post-Kyoto global strategy. This case study strengthens the argument that while combining mitigation and adaptation is not a magic bullet for climate policy, synergies, particularly at the project level, can contribute to the sustainable development goals of climate change and are worth exploring.     

不同经济发展阶段区域经济发展差异比较

在介绍区域经济发展阶段各种理论及划分方法的基础上,通过计算1985-2004年间,广西崇左市、安徽滁州市、江苏南通市经济发展的变化轨迹,确定不同区域经济发展阶段.利用偏离-份额分析法对区域经济发展水平进行研究,表明崇左市经济结构较差,结构对于经济增长的贡献小且竞争能力较弱;滁州市经济中增长快的产业部门比重较大,总体经济结构较好,结构对于经济增长具有一定贡献,竞争能力较强;南通市经济中朝阳的、增长快的产业部门比重大,总体经济结构好,结构对于经济增长的贡献大,且各产业部门总的增长势头大,具有很强的竞争能力.建议:①崇左市参与中国-东盟自由贸易区、中越"两廊一圈"经济带以及泛珠三角经济区域,吸收泛珠三角经济区的产业转移,加快发展国际贸易.②滁州市应融入南京都市圈,吸引和承接东部地区的产业转移,注意生态城市建设,发展循环经济,实现经济和生态环境的综合协调发展.③南通市应把资源节约型的增长模式和消费方式作为经济增长方式转变的核心,提升产业的综合竞争力,最终实现经济社会协调发展.     

Reproductive parameters and disturbances of embryonic development in the fieldfare (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Turdus pilaris</Emphasis> L.) in the zone of impact from the nuclear fuel industry

The impact of emissions from the Siberian Chemical Plant (Tomsk oblast) on reproduction and embryonic development of the fieldfare was studied. Bird abundance, clutch size, and egg volume in the impact and background (control) zones were similar, but partial brood mortality in the impact zone proved to be significantly higher, and the frequency of embryonic pathologies (including developmental abnormalities) was also several times higher than in the control.     

基于生态安全的DAT-IAT城市污水处理工艺改进研究

通过正交试验,得到了DAT-IAT工艺和A/DAT-IAT工艺处理城市污水的常规指标去除和生态毒理指标削减的最优运行条件。结果表明,在正交试验的同一工艺中,COD去除最优运行条件的出水COD值优于生态毒性削减最优运行条件的出水COD值,但前者出水的生态毒性较大。由于厌氧池的水解酸化作用,A/DAT-IAT工艺对COD和生态毒性的处理效果均优于DAT-IAT工艺,并且回流总能耗低于DAT-IAT工艺,但是出水COD仍不达标。为了降低进入工艺的COD的总量,以絮凝沉淀做为预处理工艺,并采用Al残留量最小的絮凝剂投药量以降低出水中残留Al带来的生态风险。结果表明,在COD去除最优运行条件下,具有絮凝预处理的工艺对COD的去除效果优于没有絮凝预处理的工艺。絮凝-A/DAT-IAT工艺在COD去除最优运行条件下出水COD为104.46 mg/L,满足排放标准。在毒性削减最优运行条件下,具有絮凝预处理的工艺的出水生态毒性有所上升,但是污染物的总量得到了大幅削减。絮凝-A/DAT-IAT工艺与DAT-IAT工艺相比,在污染物去除效率得到大幅增加的同时,生态毒性得到有效控制,生态安全得到了有效的保障。     

Community participatory landscape classification and biodiversity assessment and monitoring of grazing lands in northern Kenya

In this study, we asked the Ariaal herders of northern Kenya to answer "why, what and how" they classified landscape, and assessed and monitored the biodiversity of 10 km(2) of grazing land. To answer the "why question" the herders classified grazing resources into 39 landscape patches grouped into six landscape types and classified soil as 'warm', 'intermediate' or 'cold' for the purpose of land use. For the "what question" the herders used soil conditions and vegetation characteristics to assess biodiversity. Plant species were described as 'increasers', 'decreasers' or 'stable'. The decreaser species were mostly grasses and forbs preferred for cattle and sheep grazing and the increasers were mostly woody species preferred by goats. The herders evaluated biodiversity in terms of key forage species and used absence or presence of the preferred species from individual landscapes for monitoring change in biodiversity. For the "how question" the herders used anthropogenic indicators concerned with livestock management for assessing landscape potential and suitability for grazing. The anthropogenic indicators were related to soils and biodiversity. The herders used plant species grazing preferences to determine the links between livestock production and biodiversity. By addressing these three questions, the study shows the value of incorporating the indigenous knowledge of herders into classification of landscape and assessment and monitoring of biodiversity in the grazing lands. We conclude that herder knowledge of biodiversity is related to the use as opposed to exclusive conservation practices. This type of knowledge is extremely valuable to conservation agencies for establishing a baseline for monitoring changes in biodiversity in the future.     

Assessing water use and quality through youth participatory research in a rural Andean watershed

Water availability, use and quality in a rural watershed of the Colombian Andes were investigated through participatory research involving local youth. Research included the quantification of disaggregated water use at the household level; comparison of water use with availability; monitoring water quality of streams, community water intakes and household faucets; and the determination of land use – water quality interactions. Youth were involved in all aspects of the research from design to implementation, dissemination of results and remediation options. Quantification of domestic and on-farm water use, and water availability indicated that water availability was sufficient during the study period, but that only an 8% decrease in dry season supply would result in shortages. Elevated conductivity levels in the headwaters were related to “natural” bank erosion, while downstream high conductivity and coliform levels were associated with discharges from livestock stalls and poorly maintained septic tanks in the stream buffer zone. Through the involvement of youth as co-investigators, the knowledge generated by the research was appropriated at the local level. Community workshops led by local youth promoted water conservation and water quality protection practices based on research, and resulted in broader community participation in water management. The approach involving youth in research stimulated improved management of both land and water resources, and could be applied in small rural watersheds in developed or developing countries.