Adaptation Options Strategies for Hazards and Vulnerability Mitigation: An International Perspective

The broad objective of this special issue of Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change is to address some of the gaps in our knowledge and understanding of the policies, programs, and measures that might be applied to natural hazards and their impacts in an era of climate change. Given the global impacts of climate change and world-wide pattern of increasing losses from natural hazards we necessarily adopt an international perspective. The specific goals of the special issue are to: (a) encompass experiential aspects, emphasizing current practice of mitigation and its associated measures, and their results; and (b) explore primary or root causes of alarming shifts in human and economic costs of environmental extremes. Special emphasis is placed on how human activities are playing a key role in enhancing vulnerability to NTEE (nature-triggered environmental extremes), quite independently from the anthropogenic causes of climate change. The goals are also (c) to examine costs, risks, and benefits (of all kinds including social, political, ecological) of mitigation, and adjustment and adaptation measures; and (d) analyze policy implications of alternative measures. These components are expected to make significant contributions to policy considerations – formulation, implementation and evaluation. There is much uncertainty about the rate of climate change; however, the fact of increase of the atmospheric temperature in the last century is no longer a subject of scientific or policy debate. Due to such changes in the geophysical parameters, certain types of nature-triggered environmental extreme events are likely to continue to increase. How global warming will affect regional climates and pertinent variables is not well known, limiting our ability to predict consequential effects. This factor poses serious constraints against any straightforward policy decisions. Research findings of the work of this volume reaffirm that human dimensions, specifically our awareness and decision-making behavior, are powerful explanatory factors of increasing disaster losses. Disaster mitigation through addressing human, social, and physical vulnerability is one of the best means for contributing to ‘climate change adaptation plans’, and sustainable development goals. Recent lessons from various countries have depicted that the formulation of mitigation strategies cannot be exclusively top-down as it requires social, political, and cultural acceptance and sense of ownership. An interactive, participatory process, involving local communities, produces best expected outcomes concerning mitigation, preparedness, and recovery. An emerging consensus is that there is a need to move towards the ‘mission’ of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction which aims at building disaster resilient communities by promoting increased awareness of the importance of disaster reduction as an integral component of sustainable development, with the goal of reducing human, social, economic and environmental losses due to natural hazards and related technological and environmental disasters. Sharing of best practices and lessons globally is certain to produce more efficiency and understanding in policy and decision making.     

“城市地震安全社区”建设方法研究——以昌平区“城市地震安全社区”建设为例

当前国内各"安全社区"建设还都没有考虑地震安全建设,而地震安全已经是当今城市发展中越来越突出的问题."城市地震安全社区"建设是保障人民生命财产安全和社会经济的可持续发展,是构建平安和谐社会的重要组成部分.本文通过在北京市昌平区积极开展"城市地震安全示范社区"建设与合作研究,探索出了"地震安全社区"建设内容和评估标准,为制定全国"城市地震安全社区"建设标准提供科学依据.     

环太平洋地震带地震活动对中国大陆地震活动的影响分析

本文对1900年以来全球逐年发生的7.0级以上地震的活动图像进行详细分析,找出历史上地震活动与本年度地震活动分布相类似的年份,对这些年份之后的1～2年内发生在中国大陆、大华北、华东及安徽地区的中强震进行对比分析,力求得到较为合理的结论,为下年度的中国大陆、大华北、华东及安徽地区的地震趋势预测提供较为可靠的依据.分析得知:震后次年对中国大陆(主要是西部地区)影响最为明显;其次是对大华北地区的影响;然后是对华东地区(主要是海域)的影响;对安徽地区的影响较小.     

汶川地震期间天津地震前兆台网运行与管理

汶川地震发生后,天津市地震局迅速进入应急体制,高效应对突发事件.监测中心、预报中心全体人员坚守岗位,履行职责,较好地完成了汶川地震期间天津地震前兆台网运行监控、数据管理、台站综合评比、数据服务、总结评估等项工作,以无私奉献的团队精神为地震监测预报工作做出了应有的贡献.     

中国大陆地震检测能力的新进展

被普遍记录的最小震级是表征地震检测能力的重要标志。基于地震频度-震级关系统计了地震观测系统的检测率。引进了相应于70.7%检测率的系统震级下限参量Mr以定量表征地震实际观测能力。以1970-2009年40年来中国大陆地区的地震观测目录为基础数据,分三个时间段客观统计了地震台网的观测水平,展示了中国大陆地震检测能力的地理分布。     

Optimizing the biodiversity gain from agri-environment schemes

How best to optimize the biodiversity gain from agri-environment schemes (AES) has recently been identified as a key policy-relevant question. Here, the effects of two features of lowland agricultural landscapes on the abundance and diversity of larger moths are contrasted. Although both features bring about positive effects, hedgerow trees have a larger impact than 6 m wide grassy field margins. Whilst AES payments are given to create and maintain grass margins, no financial reward is currently offered for the retention of hedgerow trees. Furthermore, it was only in areas where the amount of land under AES was experimentally increased, by targeting farmers, that the presence of hedgerow trees resulted in a substantially higher abundance (+60%) and diversity (+38%) of moths. Thus, by using larger moths as bio-indicators of landscape-scale quality, it is demonstrated that improvements to the cost-effectiveness of AES could be achieved, firstly, by providing more appropriate financial rewards to farmers for different landscape features, and secondly, through landscape-scale targeting of farmers to encourage participation in AES.     

Does Wetland Location Matter When Managing Wetlands for Watershed‐Scale Flood and Drought Resilience?

Wetland protection and restoration strategies that are designed to promote hydrologic resilience do not incorporate the location of wetlands relative to the main stream network. This is primarily attributed to the lack of knowledge on the effects of wetland location on wetland hydrologic function (e.g., flood and drought mitigation). Here, we combined a watershed‐scale, surface–subsurface, fully distributed, physically based hydrologic model with historical, existing, and lost (drained) wetland maps in the Nose Creek watershed in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America to (1) estimate the hydrologic functions of lost wetlands and (2) estimate the hydrologic functions of wetlands located at different distances from the main stream network. Modeling results showed wetland loss altered streamflow, decreasing baseflow and increasing stream peakflow during the period of the precipitation events that led to major flooding in the watershed and downstream cities. In addition, we found that wetlands closer to the main stream network played a disproportionately important role in attenuating peakflow, while wetland location was not important for regulating baseflow. The findings of this study provide information for watershed managers that can help to prioritize wetland restoration efforts for flood or drought risk mitigation.     

基于微信公众平台的地震信息发布研究

随着智能手机的普及、移动互联网的高速发展,微信公众平台依托多媒体图文推送、及时性、互动方便快捷等优势,在地震信息发布中扮演越来越重要的角色。为了提高地震政务微信服务的针对性和有效性,统计了57个已认证地震微信公众号,采用定性与定量相结合的方法,对于其发布信息的特点进行分析与归纳。给出了当前地震政务微信在内容上、发布形式上、互动性等多方面存在的问题。最后,针对地震微信公众平台的信息发布特点提出了对策建议。     

天津市滨海新区地震地质灾害评价与分区研究

收集了天津市滨海新区大量的工程地质勘察资料,针对滨海新区场地工程地质条件,从地震地质背景、历史震害的影响出发,依照相应规范和地质类比等方法,通过滨海新区活动断层影响、砂土液化、软土震陷的评判,探讨了滨海新区在未来强震作用下可能出现的地震地质灾害类型及空间分布特征。     

地震台站观测系统的防雷技术——以陕西为例

雷电对地震观测台站的危害已成为影响台站长期稳定运行的重要因素之一。针对地震台站观测系统建设,从4个方面对避雷技术进行了分析设计。同时以陕西省的地震观测台站为例,具体说明了防雷措施的应用方法及应用效果。