Unexpected threat from conservation to endangered species: reflections from the front-line staff on sea turtle conservation

This study described the paradox created by the efforts of a conservation organization, which caused an emerging threat to the survival of an endangered species, as well as proposed recommendations to mitigate this paradox. In-depth interviews were conducted to investigate the problems encountered during the implementation of conservation practices by green sea turtle conservation workers (volunteers) in Lanyu, Taiwan. The staff believed that the implementation of the green sea turtle conservation measures violated the traditional cultural beliefs of the local residents (Tao/Yami ethnic group), which caused resentment by the residents towards the organization. Consequently, the residents did not cooperate with the organization and even discouraged conservation activities. In addition, green sea turtle ecotourism promoted by the conservation organization in recent years violated local customs of not having contact with green sea turtles or entering their habitats.     

“It's easy to throw rocks at a corporation”: wind energy development and distributive justice in Canada

In places like Canada, fast-paced wind turbine development combined with policy that limits local decision-making power has resulted in strong opposition to specific projects. Some studies suggest that anti-wind sentiment is tied to inadequate financial benefits – especially sharing at the local level. Thus, ideas of distributive economic justice have received traction, particularly in the form of praise for community-based development models. This paper reports on the findings from a mixed-methods study concerning preferred distributive justice elements in rural communities in Ontario (technocratic-based model) and Nova Scotia (community-based model) living with turbines. Residents’ perceptions of economic benefits are nuanced, but unlike other studies, this empirical work shows that both the fair distribution and the amount of local benefits are important predictors of project support. Yet, concerns around the fair distribution of benefits dominate in a regression on the adequacy of those benefits. A variety of interview and survey findings further point to the strength of traditional, profit-sharing community-based models for distributing benefits, but also more novel ideas including lowered electricity bills and tax rebates in areas home to turbines.     

Valuing the benefits of the urban forest: a spatial hedonic approach

This paper measures the benefits of the urban forest by examining its effect on housing prices. A Geographic Information System is used to develop a measure of the urban forest, the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index, from satellite imagery and to construct other variables from a variety of sources. Spatial hedonic housing price models for the Indianapolis/Marion County area are estimated. The models indicate that greener vegetation around a property has a positive, significant effect on housing price, holding everything else constant. This effect is dominated by measures at the neighborhood level. These findings indicate that property owners value the urban forest, at least in part, by the premium they pay to live in neighborhoods with greener, denser vegetation. These findings also indicate that public action to maintain and enhance the urban forest may be warranted. Planners and urban foresters can use these findings to inform public and policy debates over urban forestry programs and proposals.     

ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF ON-FARM WATER MANAGEMENT PROJECTS1

ABSTRACT: During the last three decades, developing countries have invested enormous amounts of resources (running into billions of dollars) in the development of large surface irrigation systems. Investment funds were largely spent on the development of the main systems such as dams, canals and distributaries. Very little attention and resources have been spent on the development of below-the-outlet subsystems, in spite of very low levels of water use efficiency due to lack of proper land leveling, high water losses in field channels, and skewed distribution of available water among farmers served by individual water courses. This state of affairs has resulted in a lack of confidence on the part of most farmers in the reliability of surface irrigation systems to deliver water on time and in adequate quantities which, in turn, has resulted in farmers using below optimum levels of all other complementary inputs except labor. Realizing the importance of improving water use efficiency, both the domestic governments and donor agencies are increasingly paying serious attention to these problems. On-Farm Water Management (OFWM) as a strategy to improve water use efficiency and consequently agricultural production in many developing countries has been currently receiving very wide and vigorous consideration among economists, water management experts, policymakers, and donor agencies. A judicious use of the newly allocated funds of OFWM projects obviously needs proper evaluation procedures so that money could be allocated for the most deserving purposes and projects. In particular, recently, private profitability calculations due to public investments in OFWM activities have received attention from economists and decision makers in developing countries’governments and in donor agencies are very much interested in knowing the impacts of their investments in OFWM activities on farmers’income and welfare. However, the evaluation procedures commonly used in empirical studies, using a production function approach, seem to be at variance and sometimes inconsistent with proper comparative-static procedures. Thus, the primary objective of this paper is to develop consistent procedures for evaluating the impacts created by OFWM investments on farmers’income and resource use. In this context, the paper examines the critical relationship between the market price of the agricultural output and production function parameters which are affected by the OFWM investments.     

企业员工安全文化素质的层次分析

建设良好的企业安全文化可以预防企业的事故发生,而企业员工安全文化素质则是企业安全文化的根基,也是企业安全文化的具体体现。通过建立员工安全文化层次渐近模型,分析企业员工安全文化素质的5个层次,即安全的无意识、体制约束下的安全意识、自我的安全意识、自我的可控安全意识、超越自我的安全意识。从中得出,员工安全文化素质的培养是一个长期的渐进的过程,是相互协作的结果。员工安全意识的培养是企业安全文化的标志,它需要良好的氛围,并且体现了企业安全文化的核心本质。因此,培养员工安全文化意识对解决企业安全文化建设及保证企业安全运转具有十分重要的意义。     

THE WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL'S PROPOSED PRINCIPLES AND STANDARDS - AN ECONOMIC COMMENT1

The way the Water Resources Council proposes to measure the beneficial effects of national economic development and recreation is questioned and alternatives suggested. In measuring the former, the assumptions specified by the Council are questioned because they do not hold true in the market place. In addition, the Council's method of simulating a price per recreation day implies that an arbitrary price be selected from a range and multiplied times the number of days at no charge for use of the facilities. It is contended that these procedures would over state the economic benefits which in the real market would be measured by the selected price times the quantity demanded at that price.     

新工艺炭黑生产的节能与环境效益

对于能耗高、污染重的炭黑工业来说,采用新工艺生产炭黑,其节能效果与环境效果是显著的。     

Sexual selection and female fitness in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Drosophila simulans</Emphasis>

There is a current debate over the net fitness consequences of sexual selection. Do preferred males increase female fitness or are these males manipulating females for their own benefit? The evidence is mixed. Some studies find that mating with attractive males increases female fitness components, while others show that preferred males decrease measures of female fitness. In this study, we examined some of the fitness consequences of pre-copulatory sexual selection in Drosophila simulans. Virgin females were either paired with one male and given an opportunity for one copulation or were exposed simultaneously to two males. This allowed us to compare female preference (copulation latency) and fitness (longevity, lifetime productivity and rate of offspring production) both with and without the influence of male–male competition. When females had access to a single male, neither female longevity, productivity, nor short-term rate of productivity were associated with female preference, and although females mated more quickly with larger males, male size was also not associated with any female fitness measure. Inclusion of male–male competition showed that female longevity was negatively affected by preference, while productivity and rate of productivity was unaffected. This latter experiment also indicated that females preferred larger males, but again, male size was not associated with female fitness. These results indicate that females may not benefit from mating with preferred males, but they may incur survival costs.     

黄河河口地区生态供水效益分析

流域生态需水是指流域生态系统为维持一定程度的生态系统健康所需要一定质量的水量,以保证流域生态系统结构和生态功能等为目标,实现流域生态系统健康。流域生态需水量的研究对于社会经济的可持续发展具有重要的战略意义。论文针对南水北调西线一期工程的供水规划,在提出配水效益计算方法的基础上,针对不同的配水量,计算了黄河河口地区的生态需水量、生态效益以及供水对减少断流所带来的生态效益,并进行了方案比较分析。主要结论是:当来水量分别为55×10⁸、122.8×10⁸或240×10⁸m³时,产生的湿地综合生态效益则为34.85×10⁸、47.18×10⁸或54.72×10⁸元。     

长三角地区2017～2020年臭氧浓度时空分布与人群健康效益评估

近年来,我国臭氧(O₃)浓度呈升高趋势,成为仅次于PM_2.5影响空气质量的重要因素.为掌握长三角地区蓝天保卫战实施期间O₃时空变化特征和人群健康影响,采用莫兰指数和冷热点空间统计方法分析了长三角地区2017～2020年210个监测站点O₃浓度时空特征,并利用健康风险和环境价值评价法评估了长三角区域人群O₃暴露水平变化的健康收益.结果表明,2017～2020年,长三角地区O₃年均值和暖季均值的四分位数范围(IQR)呈现从高浓度向低浓度位移的趋势.暖季和冷季O₃浓度均值均呈现北高南低的空间分布态势.暖季O₃浓度均值在长三角北部和中部腹地城市出现高浓度O₃集聚的特征.区域O₃年均暴露浓度超过160μg·m^-3及以上的人口比例由2017年的72.3%降低至2020年的34.8%.三省一市人口加权年均O₃暴露浓度总体呈现下降趋势,但长三...