Emerging dynamics of environmental governance in northern post-productivist regions

The northern, resource-dependent regions of Canada have long faced distinctive social, economic, and environmental challenges and vulnerabilities. However, these regions and communities increasingly find themselves in a transitional and post-productivist context – the implications of which are largely unclear. Therefore, research is needed to identify the current and emerging challenges facing such regions and how environmental governance and planning must adjust to meet these challenges. We utilise the case study of the Northeast Superior region of Ontario to identify and analyse the dynamics developing in post-productivist, resource-dependent regions and what the implications may be for environmental governance. Several key themes and issues that emerged include an increasingly pluralistic context, new regionalism and north–south tensions, First Nation initiatives and power imbalances, and northern identities which are tied to ideas of historical resource-dependence, remoteness, and intimate and complex links to the landscape, all of which inform environmental governance and sustainability debates. As a result, the Northeast Superior case provides insight into these ongoing dynamics which encompass individuals, government, industry, organisations, and the landscape, with the resultant lessons being transferable to initiatives in other northern, remote, and circumpolar regions.     

Urban sustainable energy development: A case study of the city of Philadelphia

Cities throughout the world are key sites for energy sustainability activities. However, analysis of such efforts to date has focused on a sub-set of atypical cities: early adopters and/or world cities. This article undertakes a case-study analysis for an ordinary city, Philadelphia, PA in order to assess the extent to which prior research provides adequate policy explanation for ordinary cities and to gain empirical insight on two under-researched aspects: policy actors, and the policy-making and implementation sites (action sites) for urban energy sustainability. Overall, the types of policy drivers, modes of governance, and enabling factors and barriers in the Philadelphia case fit with prior studies. Focusing on actors and action sites, however, offers insight on the city’s relative policy-making approach based on “non-controversy”, the key role of third-sector actors in both policy-making and implementation, and the diversification of action sites through external-level policy-making operationalised locally nevertheless at the expense of reduced control by urban actors. These findings lead to recommendations for urban energy sustainability research and practice.     

Reflections on network governance in Africa's forestry sector

International forestry governance is an integral part of the global policy debates on how to prevent deforestation, illicit extraction, and unsustainable timber practices. Africa is an important producer of timber, yet the region is beset by a lack of capacity and other governance challenges in the management of its forestry sector. We employ a network governance analysis to examine the extent to which the evolution and operation of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and la Commission des Forêts d'Afrique Centrale (COMIFAC) have addressed governance challenges. We assess the strengths and weaknesses of these two leading examples of international forestry governance by introducing recent evidence and insights from Africa. We conclude with a policy‐relevant discussion of how the FSC and COMIFAC might enhance authority, legitimacy, and effectiveness and improve forestry governance in Africa and other parts of the world.     

太湖流域不同管理模式的社会经济环境系统演化模拟

基于复杂自适应系统理论构建了社会经济环境系统模型,采用计算实验方法模拟分析了太湖流域在经济优先和水环境保护优先2种管理模式下的动态演化过程,得到了农业与工业经济发展水平、就业状况和水环境改善情况的演化规律.结果表明,在综合考虑社会、经济、水环境的基础上,2种管理模式均能在一定程度上实现经济和就业的增长,同时改善水环境.环境保护优先模式虽能有效保护水环境,却会牺牲部分经济发展和就业保证.不同地区在演化过程中表现出差异性,常州和湖州经济获得较快增长;苏州、上海在就业方面做出较大贡献;无锡和苏州水环境改善效果最为明显.     

工业污染治理投资完成状况分析研究——以我国沿海省市为例

运用多元统计中的主成分分析法和系统聚类法对我国东部地区工业污染的治理投资完成情况进行了分析。根据主成分分析结果,对选取的11个省市进行分类,并在此基础上提出加强各区域环境污染治理的几点建议。     

Water Governance and Water Use Efficiency: The Five Principles of WUA Management and Performance in China1

Wang, Jinxia, Jikun Huang, Lijuan Zhang, Qiuqiong Huang, and Scott Rozelle, 2010. Water Governance and Water Use Efficiency: The Five Principles of WUA Management and Performance in China. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(4): 665-685. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00439.x Abstract: In recent years China has attempted to reform water management by decentralizing water management responsibilities. The overall goal of our paper is to better understand the emergence of water user associations (WUAs) in China and assess if they are adhering to the practices spelled out by the Five Principles, a set of recommended practices that are supposed to lead to successful WUA operation. Using four sets of different types of villages to examine implementation and performance, we find that World Bank-supported WUA villages (“Bank villages”) can be thought of as operating mostly according to the Five Principles. For example, the Bank villages were endowed with a more reliable water supply; were set up and were operating with a relatively high degree of farmer participation; and leaders were more consultative and the process more formal. When WUAs are run according to the Five Principals, we show that WUAs increase water use efficiency. The study also provides evidence that there is a perception in the Bank villages that water management is improving in general and that there is less conflict both within the village and among villages. Perhaps more importantly, we find that the Bank’s effort to promote WUAs extended beyond their own project villages. The openness, consultative nature, and transparency found in the Bank WUAs are also found (albeit at a somewhat lower level) in the non-Bank WUA villages.     

Transboundary governance of the Curonian Spit World Heritage Site

This study describes the governance and management structures of the Curonian Spit World Heritage Site, a transboundary protected area shared by Lithuania and the Russian Federation. Focusing on the national park authorities it presents the site from a local administrative perspective. The paper shows that due to strong state level influence and a lack of full stakeholder inclusion, different philosophies and priorities on both sides of the border challenge common management efforts and co-operation. Presenting the existing problems the paper points out the need for increased efforts at the state level as well as for the full inclusion of local communities to remove obstacles and foster co-operation. Hence, by adapting to certain environmental and transboundary governance principles, conflicts can be avoided and better results achieved.     

The importance of context for effective public engagement: learning from the governance of waste

This paper takes a new look at the importance of context – institutional and political – in effective public engagement processes. It does so through a rare comparative opportunity to examine the effectiveness of processes of public engagement in two UK waste authorities, where the same waste company was involved as both the primary contractor for the delivery of the waste management service (including new energy-from-waste facilities) and, furthermore, the same staff delivered the public engagement. Interrogating these cases affords the opportunity to place flesh on the bones of the sometimes ‘abstract’ skeleton of context. While engagement processes support effective local governance in an era of partnerships and deliberative democracy, the paper identifies that the methods adopted cannot be played out devoid of detailed understanding and response to local context, including the strength of partnership working between the public and private sector, the degree of political support for engagement, and the extent to which a traditional institutional paternalism still dominates.     

废旧轮胎再制造过程的环境污染及防治研究

随着汽车和轮胎行业的迅速发展,由此产生的废旧轮胎也逐年增加。废旧轮胎再利用技术既可解决橡胶资源短缺问题,又能消除黑色污染,是循环经济的重要环节,在推广这一技术的同时,应注意其伴生的环境污染。再利用生产主要分为清洗、打磨、粘中垫胶、粘预硫化胎面、低温硫化等步骤。此过程将产生粉尘、非甲烷总烃废气、橡胶颗粒以及清洗废水等污染物。应对这些污染物采取有效的治理措施,使其满足达标排放和无害化的要求,以达到经济利益和环境保护的双赢。     

三元空间融合视阈下的安全态势感知模型研究*

为全面辨识系统风险并准确评估系统安全状况,从3元空间（信息-物理-社会）融合视角出发,界定安全态势感知概念并解读其内涵,提出安全态势感知概念模型和理论模型,并解析安全态势数据采集层、觉察层、理解层、投射层和预警层的具体内涵和功能。研究结果表明:3元空间融合视阈下的安全态势感知,能够通过物联网和互联网同步采集安全态势数据,在现有安全态势感知（安全态势信息输入、处理、输出）基础上,实现对人、机、物及其相互关系的整体感知,有效应对当前复杂多变的安全态势,为安全态势感知体系优化提供理论指导。