中国防治荒漠化对策

我国防治荒漠化的体制障碍是：由荒漠化定义的多样性导致的政出多门、数据多元、职责不明、功能不彰。本文对症下药给出了治标－调整职责和治本－重组机构两套方案。     

The anatomy of institutions: diagnosing the formation of legal rules

ABSTRACT

The explanation for the outcomes of environmental policies is often sought either in policy design or in the behaviour of street-level bureaucrats, thus tending to examine only one level of the policy process and neglecting its multi-level nested nature. Specifically, most of the studies omit addressing policy specification, which is located between design and adoption of primary legislation and the actions of public service workers. Considering the policy process as a multi-level nested process of shaping and carrying out legal rules, this paper uses an institutional economics approach and the institutional grammar tool for its analysis. Using the example of the Ukrainian soil protection policy, it examines the way legal rules are being co-created and the policy objectives shaped at the policy specification stage and discusses the implications for the discretion of street-level bureaucrats, behaviour of the policy target group, and soil protection. The results of the study reveal that the desired outcomes of the Ukrainian soil protection policy are undermined because many institutional statements written in primary legislation are not supported by the expectation of remedy in case of non-compliance and are therefore dysfunctional.     

LIMITS ON THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAME OF REFERENCE IN WATER RESOURCE DECISION-MAKING1

Study of water resource decision-making in Massachusetts demonstrates the existence of many institutional constraints such as the established fee system for consulting engineers, the funding of certain agencies, the institutionalization of equity concerns, overrepresentation of interests, and incompatibility of agency goals. These institutional constraints are attributable in part to certain broadly-based value-orientations such as the American pragmatic tradition. However, various lines of evidence indicate that these constraints are less important than other factors in the etiology of decisional outcomes. The outcomes of the decision processes were found to be at variance with the decisions studied, a fact leading to the conclusion that choice of decisions for study should be given more attention. The authors conclude that institutional constraints are important if one is interested in studying how decisions are made, but that what actually happens in the long run cannot be easily ascertained by studying either institutions or the decision-making process. They suggest the need for more research utilizing the incremental theories of Carl Lindblom and the side-effect theories of Albert O. Hirschman.     

THE STATUS OF NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION: ITS NATURE,EXTENT AND CONTROL1

Nonpoint source pollution remains as the primary reason for the designation of many of the Nation's streams as “water quality limited.” This means that even with the application of technology-based effluent limitations on point sources, ambient water quality standards will not be met. This paper explores several of the reasons why nonpoint sources are so difficult to come to grips with. These reasons include: (1) the inability to expand the definition of nonpoint sources to encompass nonengineering attributes, (2) the relatively primitive state of characterizing nonpoint sources, (3) the lack of prior success in conducting programs to study and alleviate nonpoint problems, and (4) an uncertain approach to providing incentives for control practices.     

Challenges and Policies for Sustainable Development of Northwest Region

The Northwest Region is an area relatively poor and underdeveloped in China,yet with uniquenatural,economic,social and human backgrounds. As China has become stronger in itsintegrative strength,the government is now in a position and imperative need to render greatersupport for the sustainable development of the Region.New opportunities have been brought tothe Northwest by the implementation of the recently initiated " West China Development"strategy.1 Major Challenges Facing the Developm…     

The untapped potential of preferential trade agreements for climate governance

The regulatory contribution that preferential trade agreements (PTAs) make to global climate governance is assessed through an analysis of climate-related provisions found in 688 PTAs signed between 1947 and 2016. Provisions are analyzed along four dimensions: innovation, legalization, replication, and distribution. Innovative climate provisions are found in several PTAs that are in some cases more specific and enforceable than the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. Nonetheless, these climate provisions offer limited progress because they remain weakly ‘legalized’, fail to replicate broadly in the global trade system, and were not adopted by the largest greenhouse gas emitters. Despite the inclusion of innovative climate provisions in a number of PTAs, their poor design and weak replication position them as some of the weakest environmental provisions within PTAs.     

An Institutional and Opinion Analysis of Colorado’s Hydraulic Fracturing Disclosure Policy

Hydraulic fracturing and oil and natural gas development are possibly the most contentious energy and environmental issues to face the USA in the twenty-first century. One point of contention is the disclosure of fluids used in the hydraulic fracturing process. This paper analyses the Colorado 2011 policy requiring disclosure of hydraulic fracturing fluid information, considered one of the first comprehensive hydraulic fracturing disclosure policies in the country. We conduct an institutional analysis of the disclosure policy to understand how the policy establishes information flows and grants and restricts choices by targeted actors. We then analyse the opinions of people actively involved in hydraulic fracturing debates in Colorado to assess whether they view the disclosure policy as resolving problems. The institutional analysis illustrates how the policy allocates responsibilities in sending and receiving information and the opinion survey shows divergence in perceptions of its potential to resolve problems associated with chemical use or disclosure. Most respondents are in agreement that the new policy failed to build public trust of the hydraulic fracturing process.     

品牌经济与“两型”社会的建设——基于Hotelling模型的推导

改革开放三十年来以代工贸易为主的经济增长,在创造大量国民财富的同时,也来造成了严峻的资源短缺和生态破坏.因此,中国政府把建设"资源节约"和"环境友好"的"两型"社会,提升到国家未来发展战略的高度予以重视.而建设"两型"社会的关键,在于设立合理的制度安排,以实现企业行为与社会可持续发展的目标保持一致.就传统手段而言,这种制度安排主要依赖政府所设立的生态补偿机制.但是,这一机制在实践中存在诸多问题,大有完善的空间.本文基于Hotelling模型关于企业间博弈的相关主张,从企业理性行为的角度,寻求一条不同于政府被动监管行为的路径,来实现"两型"社会的建设蓝图.模型推导认为,品牌经济的发展模式可以有效激励企业采取长期导向、追求价值差异和关注公司声誉,进而实现资源节约及环境友好的社会福利改进.并且,由于这种机制兼顾了企业的盈利动机,因而更能够在实践当中行之有效,能指导各个地区实现经济发展模式的转型与升级.     

关于地方环保机构监测监察执法垂直管理制度改革重点任务的基本考虑

为顺利推进省以下环保机构监测监察执法垂直管理制度改革工作进程,本文围绕垂直管理制度改革的方向与主线,对涉及垂直管理改革的环保责任清单、环境监察、环境监测、环境执法、市(地)级派出县级环保分局和省级对市(地)级环保局的双重管理等六个方面的主要改革任务,从改革方案的基本考虑、基本方向和具体实施路径进行系统解读,为下一步试点省份实施垂直管理制度改革提供可操作性的政策指引。     

Scenario Development as a Basis for Formulating a Research Program on Future Agriculture: A Methodological Approach

To increase the awareness of society to the challenges of global food security, we developed five contrasting global and European scenarios for 2050 and used these to identify important issues for future agricultural research. Using a scenario development method known as morphological analysis, scenarios were constructed that took economic, political, technical, and environmental factors into account. With the scenarios as a starting point future challenges were discussed and research issues and questions were identified in an interactive process with stakeholders and researchers. Based on the outcome of this process, six socioeconomic and biophysical overarching challenges for future agricultural were formulated and related research issues identified. The outcome was compared with research priorities generated in five other research programs. In comparison, our research questions focus more on societal values and the role of consumers in influencing agricultural production, as well as on policy formulation and resolving conflicting goals, areas that are presently under-represented in agricultural research. The partly new and more interdisciplinary research priorities identified in Future Agriculture compared to other programs analyzed are likely a result of the methodological approach used, combining scenarios and interaction between stakeholders and researchers.