Paying for International Environmental Public Goods

Supply of international environmental public goods must meet certain conditions to be socially efficient, and several reasons explain why they are currently undersupplied. Diagnosis of the public goods failure associated with particular ecosystem services is critical to the development of the appropriate international response. There are two categories of international environmental public goods that are most likely to be undersupplied. One has an additive supply technology and the other has a weakest link supply technology. The degree to which the collective response should be targeted depends on the importance of supply from any one country. In principle, the solution for the undersupply lies in payments designed to compensate local providers for the additional costs they incur in meeting global demand. Targeted support may take the form of direct investment in supply (the Global Environment Facility model) or of payments for the benefits of supply (the Payments for Ecosystem Services model).     

基于适应性管理的水污染控制体系构建——以太湖流域为例

从规划内容与目标、规划方法及方案实施和评估3方面对太湖近20年水污染物控制历程进行综合分析,认为太湖水污染物控制正处面源污染、生活污染及新型污染问题凸显且更难处理,更为广泛的利益相关者和科研队伍积极参与的转型期.这种变化将导致污染治理面临更难应付的动态性和复杂性,使得当前以环境容量为总量为指导通过自上而下分配排污量和削减量的控制方案面临极大挑战.结合太湖水污染现状,通过与现行治理方法在管理假设、适合对象、协调管理手段、管理目标、规划方法、公众参与程度以及规划的优劣势等方面的比较发现,适应性管理可以积极有效应对由于环境趋势和管理协调对象变化所带来的系统不确定性和复杂性,将是一个积极有效的补充方法.同时,本文基于适应性管理提出了太湖水环境污染物排放控制体系的构建框架,突出适应性管理平台、科学研究及公众与基层单位参与在污染物控制中的重要作用.     

2008年低温雨雪冰冻对武汉城市公共交通的影响评估

为了对2008年低温雨雪期间气象条件对城市交通运输的影响给出定量评估,运用天气分析及统计学方法,分析了低温雨雪冰冻期间武汉市主要气候特征,利用2008年初持续低温雨雪期间武汉城市公共交通线路（包括公交车、轮渡、汽渡）逐日停运数据,定义了持续低温雨雪冰冻过程城市公共交通影响度,通过统计分析,找到了关键气象因子、关键期和低温临界指标,建立了气象评估模型。结果表明：在持续低温雨雪冰冻过程中,初发时期是公共交通影响的关键时期之一,影响度与积雪深度关系最密切,在公交车、轮渡、汽渡3种交通工具中,公交车影响度与气象要素的相关最密切,对武汉城市公交车造成明显影响的临界气温是17℃。该结论在实际的气象灾害评估业务工作中进行了运用,效果良好     

Fast,cheap, and imperfect? US public opinion about solar geoengineering

ABSTRACT

Solar geoengineering, which seeks to cool the planet by reflecting a small fraction of sunlight back into space, has drawn the attention of scientists and policymakers as climate change remains unabated. Unlike mitigation, solar geoengineering could quickly and cheaply lower global temperatures. It is also imperfect. Its environmental impacts remain unpredictable, and its low cost and immediate effects may result in ‘moral hazard,’ potentially crowding out costly mitigation efforts. There is little understanding about how the public will respond to such tradeoffs. To address this, a 1000-subject nationally representative poll focused on solar geoengineering was conducted as part of the Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES) of the US electorate in October–November 2016. The importance that individuals place on solar geoengineering’s speed and cost predicts their support for it, but there is little to no relationship between their concerns about its shortcomings and support for its research and use. Acquiescence bias appears to be an important factor for attitudes around solar geoengineering and moral hazard.     

公众生态文明素养及其科普教育研究

本文对国家文明城市芜湖市进行实地问卷调查发现:公众具有一定生态意识,但生态文明素养整体状况不佳。公众对生态文明概念比较了解和很了解的只占17.7%;各类人群对周围环境关注度较高,均在65%左右;有相关生态知识或行为的公众占92%;有76.7%的人表示没有破坏环境的行为;64.8%的受访者表示他们有保护环境的行为。通过生态科普教育现状调查发现:受访者对目前生态科普教育满意度只有25.9%,政府在生态科普教育方面还存在活动流于形式、创新性不强、投入不足、制度不完善、不能及时回应公众关切热点、专项科普匮乏、媒体不给力、内容不接地气、无区域特色、平台手段落后等问题。提出了提升公众生态文明素养需构建四个相互联动的科普教育体系:高度重视生态科普教育的思想体系、支撑生态科普教育的技术能力体系、生态科普教育的长效机制体系和具有区域特色生态科普教育内容体系。     

The effect of recycling price uncertainty on municipal waste management choices

This paper analyzes the effect of price uncertainty and irreversible investment on the decision of municipalities to switch from landfill waste disposal to recycling by developing a model to predict recycling adoption behavior and applying it to empirical data. It is shown that uncertainty regarding the price of recycled materials may induce a risk neutral municipality to prefer landfill disposal, even when recycling is less expensive. A model is developed to describe the switching process and estimate its parameters using empirical data from 79 municipalities in Israel. The model is then used to predict municipalities' recycling adoption decisions under various assumptions regarding price uncertainty. The results support the hypothesis that price uncertainty is a major obstacle for recycling. Finally, several options for price stabilization are sketched and it is argued that these policies may be effective in establishing viable recycling markets.     

The whole relationship between environmental variables and firm performance: Competitive advantage and firm resources as mediator variables

The examination of the possible direct link between environmental protection and firm performance in the literature has generally produced mixed results. The present paper contributes to the literature by using the resource-based view as a mediating process in this relationship. The study specifically tests whether or not the resource-based view of the firm mediates the positive relationships of proactive environmental management and improved environmental performance with competitive advantage, which also has consequences for financial performance. We also check the possible link between the adoption of a pioneering approach and good environmental management practices. Our findings support that early investment timing and intensity in environmental issues impact on the adoption of a proactive environmental management, which in turn helps to improve environmental performance. The findings also show that a firm's resources and competitive advantage act as mediator variables for a positive relationship between environmental protection and financial performance. This contribution is original because the present paper develops a comprehensive whole picture of this path process, which has previously only been partially discussed in the literature. In addition, this study clarifies a relevant point in the literature, namely that the effect of environmental protection on firm performance is not direct and can vary depending on the sector considered. Whereas competitive advantage in relation to costs influences financial performance in the IPPC law sector, the relevant influence in the hotel sector comes from competitive advantage through differentiation.     

Public support for river restoration. A mixed-method study into local residents' support for and framing of river management and ecological restoration in the Dutch floodplains

In many European countries, accommodating water has become the dominant paradigm in river management. In the Netherlands, extensive river restoration projects are being implemented, many of which draw serious opposition from the public. To investigate the causes of such opposition, a comprehensive study of public attitudes towards river restoration was conducted in three floodplains, both before and after river restoration. The study combined quantitative questionnaires (N = 562) with open interviews (N = 29). This paper describes how local residents perceive the effects of river restoration on landscape quality and how residents and protest groups use landscape quality in combination with other arguments to strategically frame river management policies. Results show that measurement of the perceived outcomes of nature restoration needs to be complemented by a more dynamic type of research, focusing on the social processes of the framing of restoration plans. Theoretically, the paper aims to contribute to the development of a rigorous research strategy to study framing processes in environmental management, using a mixed-methods approach.     

Walking in the Irish countryside: landowner preferences and attitudes to improved public access provision

This paper explores the attitudes of landowners across Ireland to the wider provision of public access for recreational walking using a multinomial logit model. The study also investigates the level of compensation required to improve the supply of this public good. Results indicate that 51% of landowners are not willing to provide access (non-providers), 21% are willing to provide access free of charge (free providers) and 28% seek compensation (willing providers). The findings indicate that participation by landowners in a proposed public access scheme is influenced by landowners' experience with walkers, farm type, farm insurance costs, household demographics, regional variations, opportunity cost of land and participation in other agri-environment schemes. Mean willingness-to-accept for landowners willing to facilitate improved public access for walking was found to be €0.27 per metre of walkway.     

Radioecology, radiobiology, and radiological protection: frameworks and fractures

A framework for the protection of the general public has been in existence for a very long time, although steps have recently been made by the ICRP to ensure that it is more fully comprehensive with regard to all actual and potential exposure situations. Protection of the environment, however, has only recently begun to be addressed in a structured manner, and is still an evolving subject. Nevertheless, it needs to be centred around some form of parallel framework to that which has evolved for the protection of human beings, although clearly on a different scale. It also needs to be embedded within the basic science of radiobiology, and form a central part of radioecology.