重点旅游城市旅游生态足迹研究——以桂林市为例

旅游生态足迹分析可定量反映旅游业对自然生态环境产生的压力和影响程度,为旅游业可持续发展研究提供新的思路和研究方向。研究表明：2009年桂林市人均生态旅游足迹为367.823m2,旅游生态足迹结构中旅游交通高达268.461m2,占72.99%;6种生物生产性土地中所占比例最大的是化石能源地,为270.65m2,占73.58%。通过桂林市的旅游生态足迹和旅游承载力的对比,发现桂林市旅游业的生态需求大于供给,人均旅游生态赤字达84.326m2。为实现当地旅游业的可持续发展,应有效降低能源消耗,倡导节能出行方式,发展低碳旅游。     

祁东经济开发区生态工业园建设探讨

生态工业园是最具环保意义和绿色概念的工业园区,是我国继经济技术开发区、高新技术开发区之后第三代工业园区的主要发展形式。基于祁东经济开发区的实际情况,概述了其构建生态工业园的背景,并对其建设生态工业园的优势条件和模式进行了分析与探讨,同时提出了相应的环境管理对策,以利于经济开发区的可持续发展。     

安全发展,规划先导——编制地方安全生产“十一五”发展规划实证研究

以郑州市安全生产"十一五"发展规划的编制为例,以实证研究的方法,就地方政府编制安全生产"十一五"发展规划的总体思路、基本编制原则、主要任务、安全发展目标和指标体系的科学性、可行性、合理性,支撑工程的规划与建设、保障措施的制定等进行研究,着重论述在编制地方安全生产"十一五"发展规划时应着力把握的综合协调,有序衔接,突出重点,与时俱进及表达形式等问题,指出具体编制工作中的着力点是确定发展方向和目标,做实做深本地安全生产现状的调研和安全生产形势预测分析,加强对重大问题的研究。给出了编制地方安全生产"十一五"发展规划具体方法和步骤与程序。     

Integrated strategies to reduce vulnerability and advance adaptation,mitigation, and sustainable development

Determinants of adaptive and mitigative capacities (e.g., availability of technological options, and access to economic resources, social capital and human capital) largely overlap. Several factors underlying or related to these determinants are themselves indicators of sustainable development (e.g., per capita income; and various public health, education and research indices). Moreover, climate change could exacerbate existing climate-sensitive hurdles to sustainable development (e.g., hunger, malaria, water shortage, coastal flooding and threats to biodiversity) faced specifically by many developing countries. Based on these commonalities, the paper identifies integrated approaches to formulating strategies and measures to concurrently advance adaptation, mitigation and sustainable development. These approaches range from broadly moving sustainable development forward (by developing and/or nurturing institutions, policies and infrastructure to stimulate economic development, technological change, human and social capital, and reducing specific barriers to sustainable development) to reducing vulnerabilities to urgent climate-sensitive risks that hinder sustainable development and would worsen with climate change. The resulting sustainable economic development would also help reduce birth rates, which could mitigate climate change and reduce the population exposed to climate change and climate-sensitive risks, thereby reducing impacts, and the demand for adaptation. The paper also offers a portfolio of pro-active strategies and measures consistent with the above approaches, including example measures that would simultaneously reduce pressures on biodiversity, hunger, and carbon sinks. Finally it addresses some common misconceptions that could hamper fuller integration of adaptation and mitigation, including the notions that adaptation may be unsuitable for natural systems, and mitigation should necessarily have primacy over adaptation.

环境友好城市建设初探——以上海为例

文章试图在可持续发展思想的引导下,运用"环境友好"的理念,研究和阐述了"环境友好城市"的内涵。并以上海为例,提出了环境友好城市的发展目标和建设方向,选用构建指标体系的方式,对城市的环境友好程度进行评估,提出了推进和实施环境友好城市建设的保障措施体系。     

北京山区小流域治理措施综述

山区小流域综合治理,是中国治理水土流失的主要形式.近10年来,随着可持续发展概念的引入,山区小流域治理与经济开发、资源保护相结合的战略思想逐渐被人们认识和接受,实现流域的可持续发展,已成为当今小流域治理活动的准则.综述主要对北京山区小流域治理措施进行了总结,并指出小流域治理需要综合运用多种措施;小流域治理必须充分考虑流域特征,因地制宜,分类治理.     

矿区可持续发展能力建设中生态环境管理研究

实现矿区的可持续发展有赖于发展模式的转变,转变传统的生态环境管理的基本观念,提出要完善和优化矿区的生态环境管理体制,建立矿区"环境-资源-经济"信息管理系统和生态环境综合分析决策模型,寓经济发展于环境管理中,寓环境管理建设于经济发展中,寓矿区发展于环境和经济的协调发展之中,推进矿区持续发展,为矿区环境保护和经济发展建立一个和谐的可持续发展模式.     

Applying the precautionary principle to consumer household cleaning product development

Hazardous chemicals are pervasive in household disinfectant products. Many ingredients have established associations with acute and chronic human health conditions as well as with environmental damage. Although these associations are suggested but not proven, they are of great concern. This article describes the application of the precautionary principle to the selection of an anti-microbial active ingredient for a botanical disinfectant when significant uncertainty exists around the hazard and risk of traditional disinfectant active ingredients. We show that application of the precautionary principle does not stifle innovation and facilitates a responsible approach to product development.     

An environmental impact assessment of quantum dot photovoltaics (QDPV) from raw material acquisition through use

Some emerging technologies are expected to be pivotal for solving many of the environmental challenges faced today, especially those related to energy. However, many of these technologies may incur significant environmental impacts over their life cycle, while having environmental benefits during their use. This paper presents results of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a proposed type of nanophotovoltaic, quantum dot photovoltaic (QDPV) module. The LCA is confined to the stages of raw materials acquisition, manufacturing, and use. The impacts of QDPV are compared with other types of PV modules and energy sources - both renewable and nonrenewable. To provide a comprehensive comparative assessment, QDPV modules were compared with mature as well as emerging PV types for which data are available. Comparative assessment with other types of energy sources includes coal, oil, lignite, natural gas, diesel, nuclear, wind, and hydropower.QDPV modules may have the potential to overcome two current barriers of solar technology: low efficiencies and high manufacturing costs. If higher efficiencies are realized, QDPV modules could pave the way to large scale implementation of solar energy, helping nations move toward greater energy independence. On the other hand, candidate materials as quantum dots for solar cell applications are mostly compound semiconductors such as cadmium selenide, cadmium telluride, and lead sulfide which may be toxic and for which renewable options are limited. Toxic effects of these materials may be exacerbated by their nanoscale features.The LCA was carried out using the software SimaPro, and the Ecoinvent Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) database supplemented with available literature and patent information. Our results indicate that while QDPV modules have shorter Energy PayBack Time (EPBT), lower Global Warming Potential (GWP), SO_x and NO_x emissions than other types of PV modules, they have higher heavy metal emissions, underscoring the need for investigation of emerging technologies, especially nano-based ones, from a life cycle perspective. QDPV modules are better in all impact categories assessed than carbon-based energy sources but they have longer EPBT than wind and hydropower and higher GWP.     

Barriers to the adoption of proactive environmental strategies

This study contributes to the knowledge of the difficulties or barriers found by firms when adopting proactive environmental strategies, providing empirical evidence from 240 Spanish industrial firms. A set of 25 barriers are initially evaluated by the managers of the sample firms and are grouped into four types of difficulties facing firms: external barriers, endemic limitations of the firm, limited environmental motivation and limited preparation of employees and operational inertia. The estimation of a structural equation model leads us to conclude that only the barriers identified as endemic limitations of the firm can be characterized as “effective barriers”, defined as problems preventing firms from progressing toward proactive environmental behavior.