Indicators of sustainable production: framework and methodology

This paper presents a new tool for promoting business sustainability — indicators of sustainable production. It first introduces the concept of sustainable production as defined by the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, University of Massachusetts Lowell. Indicators of sustainable production are discussed next, including their dimensions and desirable qualities. Based on the Lowell Center Indicator Framework, the authors suggest a new methodology of core and supplemental indicators for raising companies' awareness and measuring their progress toward sustainable production systems. Twenty-two core indicators are proposed and a detailed guidance for their application is included. An eight-step model provides a context for indicator implementation. The paper concludes with a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of the methodology as well as recommendations for testing the indicators.     

试论地震台站的组织结构和激励机制建设

本文对地震台站在新时期的台站管理进行了论述。指出在防震减灾基础建设的重要时期,地震台站的管理,首先需要转变管理理念,同时应完善组织结构建设,建立激励机制。这是完成中国地震局确定的《与时俱进、开拓创新,为全面实现地震台站的现代化而奋斗》重要工作之一。     

试论地震台站的组织结构和激励机制建设

本文对地震台站在新时期的台站管理进行了论述。指出在防震减灾基础建设的重要时期，地震台站的管理，首先需要转变管理理念，同时应完善组织结构建设，建立激励机制。这是完成中国地震局确定的《与时俱进、开拓创新，为全面实现地震台站的现代化而奋斗》重要工作之一。     

Genetically Modified (GM) Crops: Precautionary Science and Conflicts of Interests

Risk governance of GM plants and GMfood products is presently subject to heatedscientific and public controversies. Scientistsand representatives of the biotechnologyindustry have dominated debates concerningsafety issues. The public is suspicious withregard to the motives of scientists, companies,and political institutions involved. Thedilemmas posed are nested, embracing valuequestions, scientific uncertainty, andcontextual issues. The obvious lack of data andinsufficient information concerning ecologicaleffects call for application of thePrecautionary Principle (PP). There are,however, divergent opinions among scientistsabout the relevance of putative hazards,definition of potential ``adverse effects,' andwhether actions should be taken to preventharm. The reliance on the concept ofsubstantial equivalence in safety evaluation ofGM food is equally controversial. Consequently,value assumptions embedded in a scientificframework may be a barrier for employment ofthe PP. One of our major conclusions is thatprecautionary GMP usage requires riskassessment criteria yet undeveloped, as well asbroader and more long-term conceptions of risk,uncertainty, and ignorance. Conflicts ofinterest and public participation are otherissues that need to be taken intoconsideration. GMP governance regimes that arejustifiable from a precautionary and ethicalpoint of view must transcend traditionalscientific boundaries to include alternativescientific perspectives as well as publicinvolvement.     

A New Modus Operandi for the Agricultural Economics Profession

Agricultural economics has, until the 1990s, enjoyeda reputation for relevance and usefulness to theagri-food industry and policy-makers. Thatreputation has been jeopardized by a growinginfatuation with models and quantification, and aconcomitant underemphasis placed on many complexproblems and issues of society. An illustrativeexample is explored, using agriculturalactivity-related damage to the natural resourcebase, environment and ecology. Agriculturaleconomists are urged to respond by broadening theirterms of reference and joining forces with otherdisciplines.     

建立我国安全生产应急救援标准体系的初步构想

我国安全生产应急救援工作日益受到政府和企业的重视，但是应急救援标准非常薄弱，造成应急管理和实际救援工作困难，建立安全生产应急救援标准体系是应急救援工作和保护人民生命财产的迫切需要。在总结国内外应急救援标准工作的基础上，本文提出了我国安全生产应急救援标准体系框架以及标准制定的原则和重点。     

NUTRIENT CONCENTRATION CRITERIA AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PATTERNS IN TROPHIC STATE FOR RIVERS IN HETEROGENEOUS LANDSCAPES1

ABSTRACT: A method is demonstrated for the development of nutrient concentration criteria and large scale assessment of trophic state in environmentally heterogeneous landscapes. The method uses the River Environment Classification (REC) as a spatial framework to partition rivers according to differences in processes that control the accrual and loss of algae biomass. The method is then applied to gravel bed rivers with natural flow regimes that drain hilly watersheds in New Zealand's South Island. An existing model is used to characterize trophic state (in terms of chlorophyll a as a measure of maximum biomass) using nutrient concentration, which controls the rate of biomass accrual, and flood frequency, which controls biomass loss. Variation in flood frequency was partitioned into three classes, and flow data measured at 68 sites was used to show that the classes differ with respect to flood frequency. Variation in nutrient concentration was partitioned at smaller spatial scales by subdivision of higher level classes into seven classes. The median of flood frequency in each of the three higher level classes was used as a control variable in the model to provide spatially explicit nutrient concentration criteria by setting maximum chlorophyll a to reflect a desired trophic state. The median of mean monthly soluble reactive phosphorus and soluble inorganic nitrogen measured at 68 water quality monitoring sites were then used to characterize the trophic state of each of the seven lower level classes. The method models biomass and therefore allows variation in this response variable to provide options for trophic state and the associated nutrient concentrations to achieve these. Thus it is less deterministic than using reference site water quality. The choice from among these options is a sociopolitical decision, which reflects the management objectives rather than purely technical considerations.     

The Bhopal gas leak: Analyses of causes and consequences by three different models

The Bhopal Gas Leak, India 1984 is the largest chemical industrial accident ever. Haddon's and Berger's models for injury analysis have been tested, together with the project planning tool Logical Framework Approach (LFA).

The three models provide the same main message: That irrespectively of the direct cause to the leakage, it is only two parties that are responsible for the magnitude of the disaster: Union Carbide Corporation and the Governments of India and Madhya Pradesh. The models give somewhat different images of the process of the accident.

Models developed for analysis of injuries can be used for analysing a complicated mega accident like the Bhopal gas leak, although different models might stress different aspects.     

Landscape consequences of aggregation rules for functional equivalence in compensatory mitigation programs

Mitigation and offset programs designed to compensate for ecosystem function losses due to development must balance losses from affected ecosystems with gains in restored ecosystems. Aggregation rules applied to ecosystem functions to assess site equivalence are based on implicit assumptions about the substitutability of functions among sites and can profoundly influence the distribution of restored ecosystem functions on the landscape. We investigated the consequences of rules applied to the aggregation of ecosystem functions for wetland offsets in the Beaverhill watershed in Alberta, Canada. We considered the fate of 3 ecosystem functions: hydrology, water purification, and biodiversity. We set up an affect‐and‐offset algorithm to simulate the effect of aggregation rules on ecosystem function for wetland offsets. Cobenefits and trade‐offs among functions and the constraints posed by the quantity and quality of restorable sites resulted in a redistribution of functions between affected and offset wetlands. Hydrology and water purification functions were positively correlated with one another and negatively correlated with biodiversity function. Weighted‐average rules did not replace functions in proportion to their weights. Rules prioritizing biodiversity function led to more monofunctional wetlands and landscapes. The minimum rule, for which the wetland score was equal to the worst performing function, promoted multifunctional wetlands and landscapes. The maximum rule, for which the wetland score was equal to the best performing function, promoted monofunctional wetlands and multifunctional landscapes. Because of implicit trade‐offs among ecosystem functions, no‐net‐loss objectives for multiple functions should be constructed within a landscape context. Based on our results, we suggest criteria for the design of aggregation rules for no net loss of ecosystem functions within a landscape context include the concepts of substitutability, cobenefits and trade‐offs, landscape constraints, heterogeneity, and the precautionary principle.     

河流CO2与CH4排放研究进展

河流作为连接海-陆两大碳库的主要通道,其水-气界面二氧化碳(CO_2)与甲烷(CH_4)排放构成全球碳循环的重要环节,对全球气候变暖的贡献不容小觑.明确河流水体CO_2与CH_4产排过程、时空特征以及控制因素是认识河流生态学功能以及其对变化环境响应的重要内容.基于当前河流CO_2与CH_4排放研究进展,构建河流碳排放动力学概念框架(内源代谢、陆源输入),并从全球尺度、区域尺度、流域尺度综述了河流碳排放时空变异性特征以及存在的研究不足.在理解碳排放动力学概念框架和时空变异特征的基础上,构建了河流CO_2与CH_4动力学控制因子分层框架(内部因子:有机质、温度、营养盐;外部因子:水文、地貌、人类活动),深入探讨了河流碳排放的关键影响因素.最后,根据当前研究中存在的不足,提出河流碳排放应将纳入区域陆地碳平衡过程,今后研究重点应包括流域尺度上河流CO_2与CH_4内源产生与陆源输入相对贡献的量化研究、不同界面CO_2与CH_4产生与排放过程研究、高时空分辨率的监测数据的补充以及变化环境与人类活动干扰下河流碳排放的响应过程等,为理解河流生态学过程及生态系统功能提供基础,同时为我国进一步深入开展相关研究提供借鉴.