An evaluation of legislative measures on electrical and electronic waste in the People's Republic of China

With the increasing number of recycling mishaps in connection with waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) in the People's Republic of China, it is imperative that the handling and recycling of WEEE be sufficiently regulated in China. Regulations covering three major issues, namely, take-back issues, controls on hazardous substances in WEEE and the assurance of good environmental management in WEEE plants, were promulgated between 2006 and 2008. The evaluation in this country report shows that few of these regulatory measures have performed satisfactorily in terms of enforcement, of public acceptance and of environmental concerns. In brief, the take-back requirements and the associated financial responsibilities are only vaguely defined; the control on hazardous substances and the so-called "environmental expiry date" requirements cannot be properly enforced, and the resources needed to ensure the satisfactory enforcement of the environmental abatement and pollution control requirements in WEEE plants are overwhelming. In addition, the use of a "multiple enforcement body" approach to the control of hazardous substances in WEEE is an indication that the Chinese government lacks the determination to properly enforce the relevant legal requirements.     

A tale of ‘fat cats’ and ‘stupid activists’: contested values,governance and reflexivity in the brno railway station controversy

ABSTRACT

The article explores one of the biggest controversies over sustainability in modern Czech history, a protracted conflict over whether the Brno railway station should be re-built in a new location. By examining the language of the interaction between a ‘modernizing discourse’ and a ‘sustainability discourse’, the article highlights reflexivity as analytic enterprise that bares the governance dimension of policy conflicts. The reflexive analysis focuses on how actors justify their positions, how they distinguish themselves from their opponents and how they express trust in their own group. It reveals that both discourses are not only related to the re-location issue per se, but that they entail contested notions of legitimate knowledge and modes of governance. Since such power contest is common in sustainability controversies, the reflexive analysis suggests a novel analytical agenda for addressing policy conflicts in sustainability issues.     

Assessing health impacts in complex eco-epidemiological settings in the humid tropics: Modular baseline health surveys

The quantitative assessment of health impacts has been identified as a crucial feature for realising the full potential of health impact assessment (HIA). In settings where demographic and health data are notoriously scarce, but there is a broad range of ascertainable ecological, environmental, epidemiological and socioeconomic information, a diverse toolkit of data collection strategies becomes relevant for the mainly small-area impacts of interest. We present a modular, cross-sectional baseline health survey study design, which has been developed for HIA of industrial development projects in the humid tropics. The modular nature of our toolkit allows our methodology to be readily adapted to the prevailing eco-epidemiological characteristics of a given project setting. Central to our design is a broad set of key performance indicators, covering a multiplicity of health outcomes and determinants at different levels and scales. We present experience and key findings from our modular baseline health survey methodology employed in 14 selected sentinel sites within an iron ore mining project in the Republic of Guinea. We argue that our methodology is a generic example of rapid evidence assembly in difficult-to-reach localities, where improvement of the predictive validity of the assessment and establishment of a benchmark for longitudinal monitoring of project impacts and mitigation efforts is needed.     

Policy implementation of the Republic Act (RA) No. 9003 in the Philippines: A case study of Cebu city

Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) is considered to be one of the most serious environmental issues in the Philippines. The annual waste generation was estimated at 10.6 million tonnes in 2012 and this is expected to double in 2025. The Republic Act (RA) No. 9003, widely known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, provides the required policy framework, institutional mechanisms and mandate to the Local Government Units (LGUs) to achieve 25% waste reduction target through establishing an integrated solid waste management plan based on the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycling). Although the initial impact of the LGUs is still very limited in implementing the national mandate, this article highlights the successful experiences of Cebu, the second largest city in the Philippines, in reducing its MSW generation by more than 30% in the past three years. This study also explores the implementation process, innovative actions taken by the Cebu City Government in implementing the national mandate at local level and identifies the factors that influence the policy implementation. The findings suggest that the impacts of the national mandate can be achieved if the LGUs have the high degree of political commitment, planning and development of effective local strategies in a collaborative manner to meet with local conditions, partnership building with other stakeholders, capacity development, adequate financing and incentives, and in the close monitoring and evaluation of performance.     

Humanitarian governance and the consequences of the state‐fragility discourse in the Democratic Republic of Congo's health sector

This paper examines how the discourse on state fragility affects the preferences of key actors in humanitarian governance for different types of health‐sector interventions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It argues that, instead of focusing on the actual meaning of state fragility, attention should be paid to interactive processes around the discourse among stakeholders in the health sector. The lack of consensus on state fragility influences humanitarian governance, especially the perceptions of and interactions between the host government, donors, and international non‐governmental organisations. The latter have legitimised the persistence of vertical, emergency‐based interventions by emphasising state fragility, whereas state officials have preferred to assert political statehood and a higher degree of control. Nevertheless, they agree that donors’ financial contributions ensure the survival of the public health sector. Looking ahead, a policy coalition based on harmonised views about addressing fragility is necessary for effective engagement and the sustainability of interventions, but this is unlikely to happen any time soon.     

Evaluation of a population mobility,mortality, and birth surveillance system in South Kivu,Democratic Republic of the Congo

Prospective, community-based surveillance systems for measuring birth, death, and population movement rates may have advantages over the ‘gold-standard’ retrospective household survey in humanitarian contexts. A community-based, monthly surveillance system was established in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in partnership with a local implementing partner and the national ministry of health. Data were collected on the occurrence of births, deaths, arrivals, and departures over the course of one year, and a retrospective survey was conducted at the end of the period to validate the information. Discrepancies between the two approaches were resolved by a third visit to the households with discordant records. The study found that the surveillance system was superior in terms of its specificity and sensitivity in measuring crude mortality and birth rates as compared to the survey, demonstrating the method's potential to measure accurately important population-level health metrics in an insecure setting in a timely, community-acceptable manner.     

Monitoring and reporting attacks on education in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia

The United Nations' Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism is charged with documenting six grave violations against children in a time of conflict, including attacks on schools. Many of these incidents, however, remain unreported across the globe. This study explores whether or not a local knowledge base of education and child protection actors in North and South Kivu Provinces, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in Mogadishu, Somalia, could contribute to a more complete record of attacks on education in those areas. Hundreds of semi‐structured interviews were conducted with key informants across the three settings, and in total 432 attacks on education were documented. Purposive samples of these reports were verified and a large majority was confirmed. Local non‐governmental organisations and education institutions were most knowledgeable about these incidents, but most never reported them to a monitoring authority. The study concludes that attack surveillance and response were largely insufficient, and recommends investing in mechanisms that utilise local knowledge to address these shortcomings.     

新中国70年生态环境建设发展的艰难历程与辉煌成就

中国的生态环境建设,经历了新中国建立之初生产力低下的农耕文明、改革开放后的工业文明、迈向生态文明的三大阶段,每个阶段都有自身的特质、挑战、应对和成效。从1949年到改革开放前,中国整体上表现为农耕文明特征,自然灾害频发、粮食生产短缺、城市化水平低下。为了跳出"马尔萨斯陷阱",新中国的缔造者带领人民治理水患,兴修水利,拓荒垦殖,问题得到缓解但没有得到解决,贫困落后依然,没能彻底摆脱"马尔萨斯魔咒"。改革开放后,工业化快速推进,城市化加速发展,使农民得以从土地中解放出来,极大地提升了劳动生产力;同时也使土地得以从农民手中部分释放出来,不仅大幅提升了土地资源价值,也使土地得以休养生息自我生态修复。虽然快速的工业化、城市化进程大幅提升了生产力、积累了巨量的物质财富,但是进入21世纪以来,中国的发展逼近工业文明的生态红线、环境底线和资源上线,可持续发展挑战不断凸显。2010年后,中国全面启动生态保护、污染控制和资源节约的转型发展进程,高质量、大力度建设生态文明,推进人与自然的和谐 发展。     

Input and fate of anthropogenic estrogens and gadolinium in surface water and␣sewage plants in the hydrological basin of Prague (Czech Republic)

The concentration of the estrogens 17β-estradiol, estriol, estrone, 17α-ethinylestradiol, mestranol and norethisterone and of the anthropogenic gadolinium (Gd_ant) has been determined in the creeks and rivers, sewage treatment plants and water works of the city of Prague. The rapid degradation of estrogens in surface water allows the estrogen concentration gradient to be used as a very precise and sensitive guideline by which to pin-point sewage leaks into surface run-off water. The rather conservative behavior of Gd_ant in surface and ground water documents in the present case the presence of sewage water in the surface water cycle.