How and why is Aquatic Quality Changing at Nahanni National Park Reserve, nwt, Canada?

Nahanni National Park Reserve is located at southwestern NWT-Yukon border. One of the first UNESCO World Heritage sites, Nahanni lies within Taiga Cordillera and Taiga Shield Ecozones. Base and precious metal mining occurred upstream of Nahanni prior to park establishment. Nahanni waters, sediments, fish, and caribou have naturally elevated metals levels. Baseline water, sediment and fish tissue quality data were collected and analyzed throughout Nahanni during 1988–91 and 1992–97. These two programs characterized how aquatic quality variables are naturally varying in space and time, affected by geology, stream flow, seasonality, and extreme meteorological and geological events. Possible anthropogenic causes of aquatic quality change were examined. Measured values were compared to existing Guidelines and site-specific objectives were established.     

Communicative Aspects of Environmental Management by Objectives: Examples from the Swedish Context

Management by objectives (MBO) is a technique for integrating ecological concerns into national political and administrative structures. Politicians determine environmental objectives and interim targets to be implemented and assessed by civil servants in national, regional, and local contexts. Well-developed organizational communication is a prerequisite for MBO. However, communication-related obstacles can arise when using MBO in public environmental management. We examine communicative aspects of environmental MBO, looking specifically at the implementation, administration, and assessment of Swedish environmental quality objectives. Our argument is illustrated by quotations from individual and focus group interviews. We conclude that communicative problems may arise, because different actors interpret messages from different perspectives, depending on their agendas, prior knowledge and experience, and positions in the administrative system. It is crucial to recognize the dialogical aspects of communication, by involving the receiver of a message in a process of response. In addition, the different timeframes underlying different arguments could contribute to misunderstandings between actors involved in handling environmental issues. In assessing the achievement of environmental objectives, indicators are used as communicative tools. It is important to investigate whether and how these indicators contribute to the de- and recontextualization of environmental objectives.     

环境有毒有害物质快速鉴别方法与应用

频发的污染事故严重影响环境质量,危害人群健康,事故的源解析和修复成为了关键问题。而传统的靶向分析方法无法胜任实际工作需求。因此,本研究建立了1)有毒有害物质清单;2)一种针对有毒有害物质的快速高效鉴别方法。将上述方法应用于某场地污染事件,成功筛查鉴定出30种环境高关注度物质,通过数据库比对进一步鉴定了6种危废物质,通过购买标准样品成功验证了4种物质。同时,还通过文献查阅与标样比对确认了另外2种有毒物质。因此,本研究建立的有毒有害物质快速筛查方法为实际环境中的污染物快速鉴别提供了一种可靠的、可行的方法。     

MAKING SMARTER ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT DECISIONS1

ABSTRACT: This paper outlines a sound, practical approach for making more informed decisions about environmental policy choices. It emphasizes the importance of using a structured decision process to specify and organize values, use these values to create alternatives, and assess tradeoffs to help achieve a desired balance across key objectives. Although these decision making steps are based on common sense, they are often neglected or poorly carried out as part of the complex evaluations of natural resource options. We discuss several reasons for this frequent neglect of decision making principles and provide examples from recent water use planning projects to demonstrate some of the benefits of using a structured, decision focused approach: new and better solutions, increased and more productive participation by stakeholders, and greater defensibility and acceptance of the resource management evaluation process and its conclusions.     

我国可持续发展十大目标：关于“十五”计划制定的建议

“十五”计划是我国２１ 世纪的重大发展计划,直接关系着国民经济的发展方向,而实施可持续发展战略是我国“十五”计划和２０１５ 年远景规划的重要内容之一。为改善人民生活质量,改变“高资本投入、高资源消耗、高污染排放”发展模式,建立适合中国国情的“资源节约型”和“环境友好型”国民经济体系,充分利用“两种资源”和“两个市场”,本文提出了我国可持续发展的十大目标     

Using Goals in Environmental Management: The Swedish System of Environmental Objectives

In Sweden, environmental policy is essentially carried out through a system of environmental objectives adopted by Parliament in the late 1990s. This system contains principles, objectives, interim targets, strategies, and follow-up mechanisms, which together provide a solid ground for increased efficiency and improved prioritization in environmental policies. Despite the ambitious approach of the Swedish Parliament, the system of environmental objectives suffers from certain shortcomings. Some of the objectives are imprecise and difficult to evaluate, and there are no rules or principles that may be used to solve goal conflicts and to prioritize between different objectives. As a consequence, the environmental objectives tend to differ in their degrees of operationalizability, and the priority-setting between different objectives is often unclear.*Rskr. denotes a written communication (from the Swedish Parliament to the Swedish Government) of a Parliamentary decision. Note: This version was published online in June 2005 with the cover date of August 2004.     

THE IMPACT OF HIGH INTEREST RATES ON OPTIMUM MULTIPLE OBJECTIVE DESIGN OF SURFACE RUNOFF URBAN DRAINAGE SYSTEMS1

ABSTRACT. This research examines the impact of high rates of interest upon the least cost system design for urban drainage systems when water quality is a critical parameter. Results of examination of twelve alternative system designs in a case study watershed indicate the least cost study design is highly sensitive to the rate of interest, but not sensitive to the water quality parameters. When the high rates of interest currently prevalent are introduced into the model those systems which contain open channel collection components are selected as the least cost system. At low rates of interest pipeline collection components are selected as the least cost system. Holding pond components of system design are cost effective at several levels of water quality. They are neutral to the rate of interest so they are incorporated in least cost systems at all the levels of interest rates. The results of the study indicate that at the current high rates of interest open channel collection systems and holding ponds are cost effective system components to achieve selected levels of water quality in urban drainage system design.     

OBJECTIVES AND CONSTRAINTS IN FEDERAL WATER RESOURCES PLANNING1

ABSTRACT: The Water Resources Council's Principles and Standards stipulate that plans should be formulated to meet national, regional, state, and local needs or problems. It is not clear, however, how appropriate consideration can be given to both national objectives (NED and EQ) and local needs and problems. Two methods of incorporating national objectives and local problem solving into water resources planning are examined. They are plan formulation primarily in pursuit of national objectives, and plan formulation to solve local problems, but constrained by national objectives. The first of these methods is the approach which is becoming increasingly explicit in the development and elaboration of the Water Resources Council's Principles and Standards. The analysis indicates that the Water Resources Council's approach is neither the most practical nor the most desirable of the two methods examined. It creates unnecessary difficulties and fails to achieve its purpose. Plan formulation to solve local problems, but constrained by national objectives not only describes what field planners actually do, but is also more practial and more desirable.     

RESERVOIR OPERATION THROUGH OBJECTIVE TRADE-OFFS1

ABSTRACT: Water resource development has progressed to the stage where various human factors are now being considered in reservoir design and operation. The introduction of human factor objectives complicates the problem since they are noncommensurate with other objectives and they are difficult to identify quantitatively. Some of the problems that now arise concern the proper methods for consideration of several different, sometimes subjectively identified, objectives in reservoir planning. The classical systems analysis approach to decision making for multiple objective problems is outlined and the inherent difficulties associated with multiple objectives and subjective estimates are identified. Techniques being used in reservoir design and operation are reviewed and discussed. An alternate technique for considering noncommensurate, subjectively identified, objectives, which relates the objectives in terms of real trade-off costs and eliminates the need for a priori estimates of objective worth is then presented. The method is illustrated with three examples, including a reservoir operation problem and a cooling tower design problem.     

多元信息综合的市县国土空间规划空间功能识别方法

空间功能识别是确定国土空间规划空间开发保护格局的关键环节,理论和实践意义重大。基于土地利用和地表覆盖现状、精细化DEM、地形单元等基础地理信息,水、生态、环境、灾害等专题数据,社会统计数据等多元信息,利用空间分析、多元统计、计量模型、基于规则的分类模型等技术方法,从多元信息综合集成和自动分类识别的角度,研究构建了一套市县国土空间规划空间主导功能识别的关键技术与方法,并对榆林市域进行空间功能分区。研究表明：本文方法有效将地理实体单元、功能评价指标综合于统一的地域单元,保证了空间功能分类识别的准确性;通过自动分类算法建模,实现空间功能识别的自动化,提高了国土空间规划的客观性和工作效率。