Revisiting the national corporate social responsibility index

This paper relies on Gjølberg’s national corporate social responsibility (CSR) index while its purpose is twofold. First, it seeks to extend the methodological instrument for assessing national CSR and, second, it applies the new approach to a much larger pool of countries (n = 86) in an attempt to provide a global CSR outlook. The emergent picture from the study is one of deficient CSR penetration and wide variation among countries where most of the assessed countries are still lagging in the endorsement of international CSR initiatives and schemes. Findings offer fertile ground to theorists and researchers for a deeper investigation of the national specificity of CSR and to further identify institutional determinants that shape the social responsiveness and self-regulation of business entities. The study has also implications for managers and top executives to consider as it infers that the national background can be influential in the development of a CSR agenda and can condition the level of CSR penetration.     

Implications of human value shift and persistence for biodiversity conservation

Large‐scale change in human values and associated behavior change is believed by some to be the ultimate solution to achieve global biodiversity conservation. Yet little is known about the dynamics of values. We contribute to this area of inquiry by examining the trajectory of values affecting views of wildlife in North America. Using data from a 19‐state study in the United States and global data from the Schwartz Value Survey, we explored questions of value persistence and change and the nature of attitudinal responses regarding wildlife conservation issues. We found support, based on subjects’ ancestry, for the supposition that domination is a prevalent American value orientation toward wildlife that has origins in European Judeo‐Christian traditions. Independent of that effect, we also found indications of change. Modernization is contributing to a shift from domination to mutualism value orientations, which is fostering attitudes less centered on human interests and seemingly more consistent with a biocentric philosophy. Our findings suggest that if value shift could be achieved in a purposeful way, then significant and widespread behavior change believed necessary for long‐term conservation success may indeed be possible. In particular, greater emphasis on mutualism values may help provide the context for more collaborative approaches to support future conservation efforts. However, given the societal forces at play, it is not at all clear that human‐engineered value shift is tenable. Instead of developing strategies aimed at altering values, it may be more productive to create strategies that recognize and work within the boundaries of existing values. Whereas values appear to be in a period of flux, it will be difficult to predict future trends without a better understanding of value formation and shift, particularly under conditions of rapid social‐ecological change.     

The role of digital data entry in participatory environmental monitoring

Many argue that monitoring conducted exclusively by scientists is insufficient to address ongoing environmental challenges. One solution entails the use of mobile digital devices in participatory monitoring (PM) programs. But how digital data entry affects programs with varying levels of stakeholder participation, from nonscientists collecting field data to nonscientists administering every step of a monitoring program, remains unclear. We reviewed the successes, in terms of management interventions and sustainability, of 107 monitoring programs described in the literature (hereafter programs) and compared these with case studies from our PM experiences in Australia, Canada, Ethiopia, Ghana, Greenland, and Vietnam (hereafter cases). Our literature review showed that participatory programs were less likely to use digital devices, and 2 of our 3 more participatory cases were also slow to adopt digital data entry. Programs that were participatory and used digital devices were more likely to report management actions, which was consistent with cases in Ethiopia, Greenland, and Australia. Programs engaging volunteers were more frequently reported as ongoing, but those involving digital data entry were less often sustained when data collectors were volunteers. For the Vietnamese and Canadian cases, sustainability was undermined by a mismatch in stakeholder objectives. In the Ghanaian case, complex field protocols diminished monitoring sustainability. Innovative technologies attract interest, but the foundation of effective participatory adaptive monitoring depends more on collaboratively defined questions, objectives, conceptual models, and monitoring approaches. When this foundation is built through effective partnerships, digital data entry can enable the collection of more data of higher quality. Without this foundation, or when implemented ineffectively or unnecessarily, digital data entry can be an additional expense that distracts from core monitoring objectives and undermines project sustainability. The appropriate role of digital data entry in PM likely depends more on the context in which it is used and less on the technology itself.     

Welfare states and environmental states: a comparative analysis

A framework is presented for thinking about state intervention in developed capitalist economies in two domains: social policy and environmental policy (and, within that, climate-change policy). Five drivers of welfare state development are identified, the ‘five Is’ of Industrialisation: Interests, Institutions, Ideas/Ideologies, and International Influences. Research applying this framework to the postwar development of welfare states in the OECD is summarised, distinguishing two periods: up to 1980, and from 1980 to 2008. How far this framework can contribute to understanding the rise and differential patterns of environmental governance and intervention across advanced capitalist states since 1970 is explored, before briefly comparing and contrasting the determinants of welfare states and environmental states, identifying common drivers in both domains and regime-specific drivers in each. The same framework is then applied to developments since 2008 and into the near future, sketching two potential configurations and speculating on the conditions for closer, more integrated ‘eco-welfare states’.     

海岛居民环境友好行为及其影响因素研究--以长岛县为例

海岛是海洋生态系统的重要组成部分,保护海岛生态环境是推进海洋生态文明建设、保护海洋生态环境的重要方面。海岛居民是保护海岛生态环境的主体之一,研究海岛居民环境友好行为的影响因素,引导和鼓励海岛居民主动采取环境友好行为是改善海岛生态环境的有效途径。本研究在梳理国内外相关文献的基础上,对海岛居民环境友好行为的概念、类型及影响因素进行理论分析,建立包含生态管理行为、消费行为、说服行为、公民行为四个环境友好行为变量,环境态度、环境保护知识、环境经历、社会政策、行为约束五个影响因素变量在内的理论模型。结合海岛生态环境和海岛居民的特点,设计海岛居民版环境友好行为测量量表,并在长岛县进行问卷调查,运用描述性统计分析、结构方程模型分析探究海岛居民环境友好行为的影响因素及影响因素间的内在关系。研究发现:①海岛居民环境友好行为总体水平差异较大,难度较低的环境友好行为实施较好,而难度较高的实施较差;影响因素变量中,环境态度积极,环境经历丰富,环境保护知识掌握较好,相关社会政策较为不利,行为约束偏中性。②环境态度、环境经历、社会政策对海岛居民环境友好行为具有显著正向影响。③环境保护知识对环境态度具有显著正向影响,但对海岛居民环境友好行为无显著影响,存在“知易行难”现象。行为约束对海岛居民环境友好行为无显著影响。④环境经历不仅直接影响海岛居民环境友好行为,而且通过环境态度对海岛居民环境友好行为施加间接影响。基于研究结论,提出了改善海岛居民环境友好行为的对策建议。     

社会资本对农村贫困代际传递影响机制研究

社会资本在反贫困领域的重要作用已被理论和实践所证实。在新时代脱贫攻坚的决胜阶段,有效发挥社会资本的周急济贫功能,缓解乃至阻断贫困代际传递,已成为当前反贫困战略推进中亟待探讨的问题。研究整合了四期中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS 2010、2012、2014、2016)个体家庭和村庄的嵌套数据,建立了“认知型”和“结构型”两种类型以及“个体家庭”和“村庄”两个层级的社会资本框架,并基于探索性因子分析构建了社会网络、社会信任、社会声望、社会参与、集体参与以及公共服务6个社会资本变量。研究利用HLM软件构建了多层广义线性模型(HGLM),通过四阶段的空模型、截距模型、随机效应模型以及完整模型分析了绝对贫困背景下社会资本对农村贫困代际传递的影响机制。研究结果表明:①个体社会资本总量与贫困代际传递呈显著负相关。②在个体家庭层面,社会网络、社会声望、社会参与对贫困代际传递有显著负向影响,但社会信任和地方信任对贫困代际传递的影响并不显著。③在村庄层面,公共服务对贫困代际传递具有显著负向影响,集体参与对贫困代际传递具有显著正向影响,且公共服务水平对社会网络和贫困代际传递具有正向调节作用。研究提出要大力培植贫困群体和乡村两个层级的社会资本以缓解农村贫困代际传递趋势:①要通过协调“乡政”与“村治”以形成良性的乡村治理格局。②要促进精准扶贫与乡村振兴战略紧密衔接,在保障个体脱贫的同时完善农村公共服务及基础设施建设,推进城乡基本公共服务均等化;③须提振贫困群体脱贫信心,增强村级自治与集体参与的水平和能力。     

人地协同论：可持续发展模型构建的基础

人地协同论是在陆地系统科学、非线性系统理论基础上建立起来的关于可持续发展的一个数理模型,它以社会与自然的交互作用、交界面性质及其演化规律为研究对象。本文根据系统生态学理论,提出了关于可持续生存的数学定义。     

Increasing collaboration between China and India in the environmental sciences to foster global sustainability

As the two largest countries by population, China and India have pervasive effects on the ecosphere. Because of their human population size and long international boundary, they share biodiversity and the threats to it, as well as crops, pests and diseases. We ranked the two countries on a variety of environmental challenges and solutions, illustrating quantitatively their environmental footprint and the parallels between them regarding the threats to their human populations and biodiversity. Yet we show that China and India continue to have few co-authorships in environmental publications, even as their major funding for scientific research has expanded. An agenda for collaboration between China and India can start with the shared Himalaya, linking the countries’ scientists and institutions. A broader agenda can then be framed around environmental challenges that have regional patterns. Coordinated and collaborative research has the potential to improve the two countries’ environmental performance, with implications for global sustainability.     

城市生态系统复合下垫面碳通量特征——以上海市奉贤大学城为例

随着城市化进程的加速和城市人口规模的增加,城市已成为最大的碳源,研究城市生态系统对大气二氧化碳的贡献成为碳循环研究的焦点问题之一。基于研究区域内土地利用现状和一年的涡动观测系统观测数据,结合地理信息技术(Arc GIS)和通量计算工具(Eddypro及ART Footprint Tool)以及碳通量足迹模型分析了上海奉贤大学城碳通量足迹特征,基于此探讨不同下垫面类型,包括以草本和木本等透水层为主的下垫面(称为自然系统),以建筑物、道路等不透水层为主的下垫面(称为社会系统)碳通量的变化特征。研究结果表明:1)在不同风向上,碳通量贡献区范围随着大气稳定度的增加而扩大。大气处于稳定条件下,非主风向上的碳通量贡献区范围(最大范围1 100 m)比主风向上的碳通量贡献区范围(最大范围780m)要大;当大气处于不稳定条件下时主风向和非主风向下的碳通量贡献区范围相差不大(最大范围分别为321和351m)。2)不同下垫面其源汇特征不同,以绿色植物为主的自然系统年碳通量均值为–4.1μmol/m~2/s,表现为碳汇;社会系统的年碳通量均值为8.6μmol/m~2/s,表现为碳源。3)自然系统的碳通量日变化具有较明显的季节分异,变化特征大致呈"U"型;社会系统的碳通量日变化没有明显的季节分异,变化特征大致呈"M"型。绿色植物对城市生态系统的大气二氧化碳有降低作用,结合自然和社会系统的碳通量变化特征可以为以后合理规划城市布局,建立低碳城市提供服务。     

Prioritization of Sustainable Groundwater Management Needs: The Case of the Israel's Stressed Coastal Aquifer

On-going population growth and resulting domestic demand for water require rapid and effective decision-making as regards groundwater management and control of the various sources of salinization and pollution in Coastal aquifers. Sustainability of water resources for utilization by future generations must therefore be a high priority, not only for the purpose of fulfilling needs for water usage but also for bringing people into harmony with their ambient natural environment.The objective of this paper is to propose an empirical approach for prioritization of the needs involved for sustainable aquifer management. The approach involves a schematic format to:(1) develop a global understanding of an aquifer's hydrological and environmental properties in order to delineate appropriate eco-hydrological scenarios and recommend corresponding operational management activities; and(2) emphasize the importance of educating and increasing the awareness of the population involved as to the need for and viability of socially acceptable measures for sustainable management of groundwater and other resources.The psychologist Abraham Maslow utilized a pyramid to illustrate that until people's most basic needs were fulfilled, higher levels of needs would remain irrelevant. This paper postulates a comparable pyramid prioritizing hydrological needs required for progressing towards sustainable groundwater resources. Two sub-regions of Israel's Coastal aquifer in the Sharon region have been presented as representative areas, each characterized by different stress of exploitation. In assessing these sub-regions situation, specific measures have been recommended for achieving and/or maintaining sustainable groundwater resources in light of the ambient environment, and the level of the population on the pyramidal hierarchy of groundwater needs.