Epidemiological assessment of food aid in the Bosnian conflict, 1994-97

Surveys in emergency settings are important for the accountability of food aid. Four household surveys conducted between 1994 and 1997 measured the performance of the Bosnia food aid programme, covering a random sample of clusters in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republica Srpska. The team calculated coverage, exclusion and inclusion errors, programme misses, and under-supply. Despite intended universal coverage from 1994-96, 15, 19, and 31 per cent, respectively, did not receive food across the three-year time frame. Households categorised as vulnerable were somewhat more likely to receive food. Programme misses were rare, whereas under-supply fell from 30 per cent in 1994 to four per cent in 1997, as the availability of other food increased. Extrapolation suggested that 61 per cent of the food distributed did not reach households. The programme introduced priority categories for targeting in 1997, yet nearly one-half of the highest priority households did not receive food. Incomplete coverage and weak targeting were related to political constraints.     

The impact of the Gulf crisis on Qatar's humanitarian sector

The 2017 Gulf crisis is one of the most challenging episodes faced by Qatar since its independence in 1971, with major economic, social, and political impacts on the Arab Gulf nation. Its economic prognosis has been brought into doubt, the map of regional alliances has been redrawn, and any prospects of deeper regional integration have been dashed. This paper analyses the little-documented impact of the crisis on Qatar's humanitarian sector, which has unfolded as the small, gas-rich emirate has striven to become a major humanitarian donor. It concludes that while there have been disruptions to humanitarian operations and regional coordination, the Gulf crisis has triggered and in some cases accelerated already intended reforms across the Qatari humanitarian sector. In the long term, the reorganisation and adaptation implemented to weather the storm of the crisis may help Qatar to emerge from the crisis with a more sustainable and resilient humanitarian sector.     

典型发达国家适应气候变化资金机制及对中国的启示

气候变化是全人类面临的严峻挑战,我国受到气候变化的不利影响更为显著,加快采取雄心勃勃的适应气候变化行动显得尤为重要,但资金机制一直是我国适应进程中的主要障碍,亟须借鉴国际经验构建完善适应气候变化的资金机制。基于此,本文首先简要分析国际适应气候变化资金机制的基本情况,然后选取适应进程较为完善的美、英、德、日等典型发达国家,分别从适应政策体系、国内适应资金和国际援助资金等三个方面梳理总结各国适应气候变化资金机制,最后分析我国适应气候变化资金机制及存在的问题,并提出对我国适应气候变化资金机制的启示。研究发现,《联合国气候变化框架公约》及其气候变化国际谈判进程是各国推进适应气候变化资金机制的主要动因,发达国家重视适应政策的法制化,但政策力度和运行模式有所不同,公共部门是各国适应资金的主要来源,私人资金潜力尚待挖掘,国际气候援助注重减缓与适应并重,但援助力度有待加强。未来我国应从完善适应气候变化顶层设计、建立适应气候变化资金保障机制、提高适应气候援助力度、加强国际交流与合作等方面完善我国适应气候变化资金机制。     

不同电荷的聚丙烯酰胺对焦化废水的絮凝性能研究

以聚合氯化铝铁(PAFC)为混凝剂,以阴离子型、阳离子型和非离子型聚丙烯酰胺(PAM)分别为助凝剂,研究了三种PAM对焦化废水的絮凝性能。从对废水初始浊度变化的适应性、絮凝剂用量、处理效果和处理费用等几个方面比较了三种PAM絮凝性能的差异,并对絮凝机理进行了分析。对于焦化废水的絮凝处理,发现三种PAM中非离子PAM具有最好的应用性。最后对非离子PAM的最佳用量及影响因素进行了考察。最佳条件下,浊度去除率可达85%以上,但是COD去除率较低为6%左右,这与悬浮颗粒对COD的贡献较小有关。     

混凝-膜组合工艺处理水产养殖废水

采用混凝-膜过滤组合工艺处理鳗鲡养殖废水,实验研究了混凝对废水的处理效果,确定了最佳的混凝剂和助凝剂,并对水体进行2种膜工艺的处理。结果表明,聚合氯化铝铁(PAFC)是处理鳗鲡养殖废水的理想混凝剂,最佳用量为30 mg/L;加入助凝剂壳聚糖,能有效提高混凝剂污染物去除效果,助凝剂最佳用量为0.3 mg/L,pH值约为6.0;膜分离可以进一步提高处理效果。在系统进水化学需氧量质量浓度为6.82~7.65 mg/L,氨氮质量浓度为0.78~0.92 mg/L,亚硝酸盐氮质量浓度为0.35~0.39 mg/L,硝酸盐氮质量浓度为2.49~3.07 mg/L,活性磷酸盐质量浓度为0.74~0.89 mg/L,水温为20~28℃时,混凝-膜过滤组合方法对养殖废水中5项指标的去除率分别为:75.6%、61.2%、82.9%、37.5%和59.1%。但总体而言,混凝-膜组合工艺在水产养殖废水应用中处理效果明显,具有可行性和实用性。     

Reconciling food and bioenergy feedstock supply in emerging economies: Evidence from Jiangsu Province in China

This study takes the perspective of emerging economies as an independent group to answer the question of how to reconcile food supply and bioenergy feedstock provision, a critical topic in bioenergy research. While much of the literature has covered this issue, the role of emerging economies has rarely been explored. Due to their transitional status in the world economy, solutions from this group can facilitate the diffusion of modern bioenergy from industrialized countries to least developed ones. This paper uses Jiangsu Province in China as a case study to analyze its local practice on the reconciliation between food and bioenergy. Local experience reveals that the key is the use of cellulosic biomass, whose sources are straws of food crops on arable lands and energy crops on reclaimed mudflats. To ensure a sustainable provision of cellulosic biomass, it is necessary to involve the entire bioenergy supply chain consisting of smallholder farmers, haulers and bioenergy plant operators. For the management of the supply chain, we compare two options, “Multiple to Multiple” and “Multiple to One”, where the second option is more adequate to shape a long-term stable relationship between biomass suppliers and consumers and thus facilitate the introduction of energy crops.     

Safeguarding Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in the Little Karoo,South Africa

Abstract: Global declines in biodiversity and the widespread degradation of ecosystem services have led to urgent calls to safeguard both. Responses to this urgency include calls to integrate the needs of ecosystem services and biodiversity into the design of conservation interventions. The benefits of such integration are purported to include improvements in the justification and resources available for these interventions. Nevertheless, additional costs and potential trade‐offs remain poorly understood in the design of interventions that seek to conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services. We sought to investigate the synergies and trade‐offs in safeguarding ecosystem services and biodiversity in South Africa's Little Karoo. We used data on three ecosystem services—carbon storage, water recharge, and fodder provision—and data on biodiversity to examine several conservation planning scenarios. First, we investigated the amount of each ecosystem service captured incidentally by a conservation plan to meet targets for biodiversity only while minimizing opportunity costs. We then examined the costs of adding targets for ecosystem services into this conservation plan. Finally, we explored trade‐offs between biodiversity and ecosystem service targets at a fixed cost. At least 30% of each ecosystem service was captured incidentally when all of biodiversity targets were met. By including data on ecosystem services, we increased the amount of services captured by at least 20% for all three services without additional costs. When biodiversity targets were reduced by 8%, an extra 40% of fodder provision and water recharge were obtained and 58% of carbon could be captured for the same cost. The opportunity cost (in terms of forgone production) of safeguarding 100% of the biodiversity targets was about US$500 million. Our results showed that with a small decrease in biodiversity target achievement, substantial gains for the conservation of ecosystem services can be achieved within our biodiversity priority areas for no extra cost.     

论中国环境民事公益诉讼激励机制之完善

2015年1月6日,最高人民法院发布《最高人民法院关于审理环境民事公益诉讼案件适用法律若干问题的解释》,解决了近十几年来学者们普遍关注的问题,但尚未解决环境民事公益诉讼的根本问题.环境公益本质上属于公共物品的范畴,受制于集体行动的逻辑,加之高昂的诉讼成本,"理性人"一般不愿参与.因此,原告胜诉奖励制度、法律援助制度以及专项基金制度成为现阶段打破环境民事公益诉讼僵局的重要途径.     

A cultural model of private provision and the environment

This paper analyses an overlapping generations model of environmental externalities and capital accumulation where private contributions to environmental quality are motivated by a desire to socialize others into environmental attitudes. In this framework, the formation of environmental preferences is the result of a cultural transmission process depending on the extent of private contributions. In the short run, we show that three equilibria may arise: a first one where all green agents contribute to the environment, a second one where nobody contributes to the environment and a third interior one. We show that the capital-accumulation process and the change in preferences that occur in this economy lead the interior equilibrium to be selected, in which some, but not all, green agents contribute to the environment. The model thus provides an economic rationale for the gap between the number of people who care about the environment and the number who adopt pro-environmental behaviours. We also show that the fraction of contributors rises with capital, so that we explain the negative relationship between this gap and country income. Last, we show that this gap is particularly detrimental for welfare, and analyse the impact of a number of public policies.