Systems In Organic Dairy Production

The aim of this study was to explore stakeholder perceptions of the contribution of an Automatic Milking System (AMS) to sustainable development of organic dairy production in Denmark and the Netherlands. In addition, reasons for the current difference in AMS use on organic dairy farms between both countries were explored. To answer above mentioned aims, farmers and advisors in both countries were interviewed using a focus group approach. Questions of the interviews were based on a literature review on sustainability issues affected by introduction of AMS. Participants expressed no moral problems regarding AMS use. They, however, pointed out uncertainty about the economic gain, difficulties with grazing, adaptation problems to technology, and image problems towards consumers. The latter results from a reduction in grazing time affecting both animal welfare and product quality. The participants did not recognize eutrophication, as result of high stocking density on farmstead lots, as a problem caused by AMS. The milk quality problem related to AMS use, although acknowledged as crucial towards consumers, was not prioritized very highly, especially not by the farmers in both countries. All groups were, however, unanimous in their perception of how important image was as far as the consumers are concerned. The perception analysis revealed that Dutch participants were more concerned about the economic payoff of AMS use, and showed more reluctance towards enlargement than Danish ones. In addition, they acknowledged the small-scale naturalness of organic production. These differences in perception could possibly explain observed differences in AMS use in organic dairy production between Denmark and the Netherlands.     

Networks,protest and regulatory systems: the case of energy from waste

In this paper, we examine the claims that competing networks make over the safety or risk attached to an energy-from-waste (EfW) plant in Crymlyn Burrows in South Wales. The paper draws upon a governmentality perspective and identifies three networks at the heart of decision-making: a dissenter network, a developer network and a regulatory network. The arguments put forward by the networks reveal much about how power relations are realised at a local level. The paper draws upon a longitudinal case study approach to demonstrate that networks have a life beyond a development decision and that key actors can align themselves with competing networks at different points in the development and operation phase of an EfW plant.     

农地非农化中不同利益主体博弈行为分析

随着我国社会经济的发展,城市的加剧扩张和建设用地需求的不断增长而带来的农地非农化在近年来表现得尤为突出,已经严重影响着我国的粮食安全和生态安全.因此,从决策主体行为出发,研究农地非农化问题,对于我国城市化的正常推进以及农地的有效保护具有重要的现实意义.本文从博弈论的角度探讨农地非农化过程中相关利益主体的行为倾向和博弈关系.研究结果表明:(1)中央政府应该加大给予地方政府和农民进行耕地保护的奖励以及提高违规的惩罚力度,抑制农地非农化的速度,遏制违法占用,提高土地的利用率,减少耕地资源的闲置和浪费;(2)中央政府和地方政府应完善相关政策,缩小城乡土地价格差异,提高征地补偿标准,逐步建立公正的补偿机制和科学合理的补偿标准;(3)地方政府应进行土地利用制度和模式的创新,注重力拓土地后备资源,盘活存量资源,减少建设占用农地,不仅能有效地解决经济建设和耕地保护的两难困境,而且能有效地保护生态环境,实现土地资源的可持续合理利用.     

Disaster risk reduction and ‘built‐in’ resilience: towards overarching principles for construction practice

The emerging emphasis on disaster risk reduction has broadened the range of experts whose knowledge must be garnered to resolve complex socio‐technical challenges. This paper examines the role and position of the construction sector for addressing these concerns. Specifically, it examines the recursive nature of practices within the built environment, which can be seen as deeply ingraining fragmented approaches to the development process. These, in turn, render the industry a difficult arena within which to enact structural and cultural change. Based on a wide body of literature on resiliency a set of overarching principles are proffered to help inform efforts to overcome some of the barriers to creating a more resilient built environment. It is argued that these principles offer a point of departure for embedding resilience considerations at both project and institutional levels, although real change would demand challenging some of the conventions that currently underpin construction development.     

生态环境对经济系统贡献的相对价值评估研究

用经济价值度量单位定量评估生态环境对经济社会的贡献,使之便于与普通经济要素比较,从而促进资源和环境利用方式符合可持续发展要求,是通过交叉学科研究生态环境问题的一个基本目标. 然而,目前的评估研究多从微观支付意愿出发直接估算区域乃至国家尺度上的生态系统服务价值总量,省略了利益相关者群体的中间规模层次,因此限制了这些评价对于可持续发展的理论和政策分析的参考意义. 本文从一般意义上探讨了准公共品类型环境产品和服务的潜在供需的构成和对应函数,概述了通过市场模拟估算其价值的环境经济学逻辑,并讨论了不完善模型和数据支持下评价的相对有效性,以及这种相对经济价值评估的理论和实践意义.     

日本森林管理的最新发展——以日本神奈川县林业政策过程为例

为了追求更好的森林管理效果，对相关森林政策的实施，不是仅仅停留在传统的狭义的行政管理部门上，同时还要涉厦到经营者、市民以及当地居民等利益相关者。使他们都要以相互协调的方式参与到森林管理当中来。它是建立在一定的森林价值观基础上，基于科学原理井突破以往的技术层面而对森林进行的一系列更加合理的管理措施体系。本文以日本神奈川县的林业政策形成过程为例对森林治理问题进行了讨论。     

Towards a more effective EIA in transport planning: a literature review to derive interventions and mechanisms to improve knowledge integration

A set of process-related barriers negatively determines the effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in transport planning. Recent research highlights the unstructured stakeholder involvement and inefficient public participation in earlier phases of EIA as key bottlenecks. While the academic literature has produced promising theories for addressing these barriers, they have rarely been translated into solutions applicable and testable in practice. In order to bridge this theory–practice gap, we present a systematic literature review of interventions and mechanisms aimed at facilitating the integration of different sources and types of knowledge during the scoping phase of EIA. This review explores if and how interventions and mechanisms have been conducted in practice; if and why they worked or did not work and how relevant they are for EIA in transport planning. Based on this review, we distil a set of three specific interventions and trigger mechanisms applicable in the context of EIA in transport planning.     

Promoting community involvement at brownfields sites in socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods

Brownfields programmes provide environmental justice to distressed communities by applying private sector remediation and real estate expertise to abandoned and contaminated properties. This study examines how brownfields developers and community support organisations operating in socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods work to increase awareness of projects in the community, build trust between stakeholders and create mechanisms for community members to participate in brownfields decision making. Analysis of case study data from brownfields sites in four US cities shows that developers and non-governmental organisations can play important roles in fashioning redevelopment outcomes which benefit both developers and communities. When standard required outreach efforts are combined with non-traditional community involvement mechanisms, the result is often long-term support for redevelopment projects.     

Towards integrating production and consumption to reduce consumer food waste in developed countries

Abstract

Literature analysing reasons for Consumer Food Waste (CFW) revealed that it cannot be reduced to consumer behaviour alone. In fact, CFW should not be conceptualised as the problem but as a symptom of a food system that oversupplies and encourages consumerism. This research focuses on preventing CFW in the United Kingdom (UK), as a representative of a developed country, by improving the traditional food provisioning system to better integrate production and consumption. To achieve this, five stages are identified to design a sustainable product service system (PSS) capable of supporting consumers to better manage their food operations: (1) strategic analysis of current food provisioning system, (2) exploring system level innovations leading to minimisation of CFW, (3) refinement and selection of PSS, (4) designing the most promising PSS from an environmental, economic and social perspective, and (5) evaluating designed PSS. This paper considers the first of these stages, reviews reasons for and existing solutions to CFW, and provides a strategic analysis of the current food provisioning system to identify characteristics that could be exploited within a new PSS. Initial investigations reveal applicability of PSS concept to the food provisioning system and potential for reduction of CFW if core causes are addressed.     

The constitution of power in Norway's protected areas: on shore and in the sea

This article aims at comparing power resources that opponents to environmental policy apply in shaping and constructing discourses that contest the implementation of marine and terrestrial area protection. Document analyses and qualitative interviews have been undertaken with key actors and documents in two case areas to show how actors, knowledge, and financial and organisational capacities are introduced in the planning processes in order to contest the dominating environmental discourse established by environmental authorities. The results demonstrate how opponents to the terrestrial case were rather fragmented, consisting of a wide range of local and regional actors with various interests and agendas, and without substantial financial and organisational strength. Here, the environmental administration managed to create a partnership with local authorities that eventually proclaimed the national park as a win–win situation for local society. As a contrast, the opponents to the marine case had strong organisational, financial and even scientific capacities that were effectively unified with local authorities in the Skjerstad fjord. Here, the win–win situation was not accepted by the local parties. Together, these resources seemed to explain some of the variance in institutional responses in environmental administration, and finally different outcomes of the two cases.