人工湿地生态系统服务分类及其价值评估——以临沂市武河湿地为例

湿地生态系统为人类的存在和发展提供了大量的必需品和服务。很多国家把发展人工湿地作为净化城市污水的一种途径。文章以临沂市武河湿地为例,根据国内人工湿地的建设目标和湿地生态系统的特点,重新划分人工湿地生态系统服务,建立了评价各个生态系统服务价值的评价方法。评价结果发现,武河湿地不仅实现了净化城市污水、改善当地居民健康、发展湿地旅游等设计目标,还带来了生物多样性增加等生态和社会经济效益。     

滨海新区再生水循环利用实践

区域再生水循环利用是指在重点排污口下游、河流入湖(海)口、支流入干流处等关键节点因地制宜建设人工湿地水质净化等工程设施,对处理达标后的排水进一步净化改善后,在一定区域统筹用于生产、生态、生活的污水资源化利用模式。天津是资源型缺水城市,人均水资源占有量仅100立方米,约为全国平均水平的1/20,远远低于世界公认的人均占有量1000m~3的缺水警戒线,属于严重的资源型缺水地区。     

"一带一路"倡议背景下的 扬州临港经济发展研究

"一带一路"即"丝绸之路经济带"和"21世纪海上丝绸之路"."21世纪海上丝绸之路"是一个以通道建设为基础,以经贸合作制度建设为支撑,发展面向南海、太平洋和印度洋的战略合作经济带,以亚欧非经济贸易一体化为发展目标的经贸合作网络.临港经济区是对外开放的重要窗口,改革开放以来,临港经济区作为国内区域经济发展的重要载体,在区域经济中发挥着越来越重要的作用.     

洞庭湖湿地生态系统管理的策略选择

生态系统管理的目标就是为了构建人地和谐的可持续发展体系。文章基于洞庭湖湿地利用与保护的现状和面临的威胁,从生态系统管理的角度,首先提出了洞庭湖湿地生态系统管理的原则,包括整体性、分区分类管理、保护与发展共存以及参与性共管等原则,接着分别从机构与体制创新、立法与执法、编制中长期总体规划、促进利益相关方的参与和共管、加快湿地产业开发、巩固退田还湖等生态恢复工程、加强洞庭湖湿地生态与环境建设以及先进经验的示范与推广等方面提出了洞庭湖湿地合理利用的生态系统管理策略选择,并给出了洞庭湖湿地生态与环境评估指标的定义及其定量化方法,为其他类似区域的湿地生态系统管理提供了可资借鉴的模式。     

时空视野下区域公共服务一体化研究——以长三角生态绿色一体化发展示范区为例

作为推进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化的重要内容,公共服务关乎民生福祉,为民众提供公共服务是政府的重要职能.作为长江三角洲区域一体化国家战略的先手棋,上海青浦、江苏吴江、浙江嘉善协同推进生态绿色一体化发展示范区(于2019年11月1日挂牌成立,以下简称示范区)建设.公共服务作为一体化建设的基础,如何推进示范区内公共服务共建共享,进而实现长三角区域一体化发展,是关乎一体化总体战略成败的关键所在.     

广西生态工业园区发展对策研究

为转变经济发展方式、调整产业结构、促进节能减排,我国从20世纪初就开始了工业园区生态化发展道路的探索和实践,在国家层面开展了生态工业示范园区试点建设,印发了《国家生态工业示范园区管理办法》等一系列管理办法和实施意见,引导各类工业园区向生态化方向发展。这些措施一定程度上缓解了工业园区资源、环境、经济之间的矛盾,减少了能源资源消耗和污染物排放。文章以广西壮族自治区为例,对广西生态工业示范园区的发展与建设进行讨论,以期今后对广西生态化发展之路提供借鉴。     

我国湿地生态功能区补偿机制的思路与对策研究

湿地生态功能区是国家“十·五”规划纲要提出的限制开发区域中的一种类型。其生态补偿机制研究,既与其他限制开发区域有共性,也有独特之处。其基本思路是：保护第一,从严控制开发行为;为确保湿地生态功能供给提供强有力的制度支持和稳定的资金支持;妥善安置生态移民;适度发展生态、高效农业和生态旅游。为此须建立湿地生态功能区补偿机制,即建立纵向与横向交错的转移支付补偿机制,加快立法进程,完善行政管理体制,配套与生态补偿机制相适应的生态税收体系等。     

长沙市洋湖垸湿地公园的功能定位与建设经验

湿地公园是生态城市的绿肺和市民亲近自然的桥梁。长沙市洋湖垸湿地公园的生态与社会功能的定位在于提升城市生态品质、满足人们精神需求、开发湿地生态资源和推动区域经济发展,其建设经验体现在规划先行、科学保护与精心管理等方面。     

“两型”视角下贵州省工业园区发展思路与路径

“两型”社会建设目标为工业园区建设赋予了新的内涵.“两型”工业园区的建设和发展,作为破解资源与环境瓶颈的新手段,是实施可持续发展战略和生态文明建设的有效途径.本文结合贵州省实际情况,从思想理念、改革创新、因地制宜、综合考评、科技人才、产业结构、园区组织管理、合作交流与对外开放等方面提出了“两型”视角下贵州省工业园区的发展思路和路径选择.     

鄱阳湖区生态环境脆弱性评价及对策分析

生态环境脆弱性评价是科学认识生态环境,合理利用资源环境的重要依据.文章通过对鄱阳湖区生态环境脆弱性评价,将湖区划分为微脆弱区、轻脆弱区、中脆弱区、强脆弱区、极脆弱区,分析了各区脆弱性主要成因及其表现.根据各区域的生态环 境分异情况,从湿地生态修复、湿地生态功能区划和主体功能区划、保护区建设与管理、生态环境教育等方面,讨论了鄱阳湖湿地生态保护问题;结合明晰湿地权属和规范湿地管理、调整产业结构和发展生态经济、加强可持续管理立法与执法、实施GDP绩效考核等,探讨了鄱阳湖区生态管理问题.     

Forecasting the price of gold

This article seeks to evaluate the appropriateness of a variety of existing forecasting techniques (17 methods) at providing accurate and statistically significant forecasts for gold price. We report the results from the nine most competitive techniques. Special consideration is given to the ability of these techniques to provide forecasts which outperforms the random walk (RW) as we noticed that certain multivariate models (which included prices of silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium, besides gold) were also unable to outperform the RW in this case. Interestingly, the results show that none of the forecasting techniques are able to outperform the RW at horizons of 1 and 9 steps ahead, and on average, the exponential smoothing model is seen providing the best forecasts in terms of the lowest root mean squared error over the 24-month forecasting horizons. Moreover, we find that the univariate models used in this article are able to outperform the Bayesian autoregression and Bayesian vector autoregressive models, with exponential smoothing reporting statistically significant results in comparison with the former models, and classical autoregressive and the vector autoregressive models in most cases.     

Planned adaptation in risk regulation: An initial survey of US environmental, health, and safety regulation

In principle, we want regulatory programs to be based on current realities, as reflected for example in the best knowledge of relevant experts. That would imply that old rules now on the books should be consistent with today's knowledge base, not just what was known when a rule or standard was originally set. This paper reports on a survey of US programs, examining how often existing rules are actually updated in light of better knowledge, and identifies five programs that attempt to make policy routinely adaptive. These programs exhibit what we term Planned Adaptation: they both revise rules when relevant new knowledge appears, and take steps to produce such improved knowledge. While Planned Adaptation is rare, it is used in several nationally prominent programs, including air pollution, airplane safety, and drug safety. Planned Adaptation is a policy tool that deserves more attention.     

Pleasure and belief in Hume's Decision Process

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to introduce explicitly pleasure and belief in what aims at being a Humean theory of decision, like the one developed in Diaye and Lapidus (2005a). Although we support the idea that Hume was in some way a hedonist – evidently different from Bentham's or Jevons' way – we lay emphasis less on continuity than on the specific kind of hedonism encountered in Hume's writings (chiefly the Treatise, the second Enquiry, the Dissertation, or some of his Essays). Such hedonism clearly contrasts to its standard modern inheritance, expressed by the relation between preferences and utility.

The reason for such a difference with the usual approach lies in the mental process that Hume puts to the fore in order to explain the way pleasure determines desires and volition. Whereas pleasure is primarily, in Hume's words, an impression of sensation, it takes place in the birth of passions as reflecting an idea of pleasure, whose “force and vivacity” is precisely a “belief”, transferred to the direct passions of desire or volition that come immediately before action. As a result, from a Humean point of view, “belief” deals with decision under risk or uncertainty, as well as with intertemporal decision and indiscrimination problems.

The latter are explored within a formal framework, and it is shown that the relation of pleasure is transformed by belief into a non-empty class of relations of desire, among which at least one is a preorder.     

The greenhouse effect: Damages,costs and abatement

The buildup of so-called greenhouse gases in the atmosphere — CO₂ in particular-appears to be having an adverse impact on the global climate. This paper briefly reviews current expectations with regard to physical and biological effects, their potential costs to society, and likely costs of abatement. For a worst case scenario it is impossible to assess, in economic terms, the full range of possible non-linear synergistic effects. In the most favorable (although not necessarily likely) case (of slow-paced climate change), however, it seems likely that the impacts are within the affordable range, at least in the industrialized countries of the world. In the third world the notion of affordability is of doubtful relevance, making the problem of quantitative evaluation almost impossible. We tentatively assess the lower limit of quantifiable climate-induced damages at $30 to $35 per ton of CO₂ equivalent, worldwide, with the major damages being concentrated in regions most adversely affected by sea-level rise. The non-quantifiable environmental damages are also significant and should by no means be disregarded.The costs and benefits of (1) reducing CFC use and (2) reducing fossil fuel consumption, as a means of abatement, are considered in some detail. This strategy has remarkably high indirect benefits in terms of reduced air pollution damage and even direct cost savings to consumers. The indirect benefits of reduced air pollution and its associated health and environmental effects from fossil-fuel combustion in the industrialized countries range from $20 to $60 per ton of CO₂ eliminated. In addition, there is good evidence that modest (e.g. 25%) reductions in CO₂ emissions may be achievable by the U.S. (and, by implication, for other countries) by a combination of increased energy efficiency and restructuring that would permit simultaneous direct economic benefits (savings) to energy consumers of the order of $50 per ton of CO₂ saved. A higher level of overall emissions reduction — possibly approaching 50% — could probably be achieved, at little or not net cost, by taking advantage of these savings.We suggest the use of taxes on fossil fuel extraction (or a carbon tax) as a reasonable way of inducing the structural changes that would be required to achieve significant reduction in energy use and CO₂ emissions. To minimize the economic burden (and create a political constituency in support of the approach) we suggest the substitution of resource-based taxes in general for other types of taxes (on labor, income, real estate, or trade) that are now the main sources of government revenue. While it is conceded that it would be difficult to calculate the optimal tax on extractive resources, we do not think this is a necessary prerequisite to policy-making. In fact, we note that the existing tax system has never been optimized according to theoretical principles, and is far from optimal by any reasonable criteria.During the academic year 1989–90 Dr. Ayres was at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria.During the summer of 1989 Mr. Walter was a member of the Young Scientists' Summer Program at IIASA.     

Globalization,Neoliberalism and the attack on social security

Neoliberal political movements advocate privatization of public pension systems. Globalization imposes pressure on nations to conform to neoliberal policy views with respect to the design and structure of social insurance, including public pension systems. The paper begins with an investigation of the economic, ethical and ideological dimensions of the privatization debates in the U.S.; it argues that privatization advocates may be largely moved by ideology, since the other reasons advanced appear weak or unfounded. The second part discusses the history of Social Security, the purposes for its creation, and some of its economic effects. Differences between public and private pension systems are considered. A brief international comparison of some aspects of public pension system finance and benefit structures is presented. The final section considers the ethical, macroeconomic and distributional implications of privatization, prefunding and payroll tax funding, and argues for a pay as you go system financed with income taxes. In order to promote equity, economic security, community, and social cohesion, public pension systems should be universal in coverage. In order to reduce the inequality, income insecurity, and aged poverty generated by market economies, public pension systems ought to be progressive: benefit/contribution ratios should be inversely proportional to income, and progressive income taxes should finance the system. To promote economic growth, the systems should be financed on a pay-as-you-go basis, and should not be prefunded except for an emergency reserve. The fiscal policy recommendations partially depend upon the theory developed by Abba Lerner in the 1940s, and recently advanced by Wynne Godley and Randy Wray: Lerner's “principle of functional finance.”     

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY: TRACING THE FLOW OF BASIC RESEARCH THROUGH MANUFACTURING AND TRADE

This paper describes flows of basic research through the US economy during the late 20th century. In addition, the paper studies the effect of the flows on scientific papers in industries and fields. This article differs from others in its use of measures of science rather than technology. Together, its results present a picture of the structure of basic research flows in a modern, science-intensive economy. Basic research flows are large within petrochemicals and drugs, and within software and communications. Flows of chemistry, physics, and engineering are common throughout all industries – biology and medicine are almost confined to petrochemicals and drugs; and computer science is nearly as restricted to software and communications. In general, basic research flows are more concentrated within scientific fields than within industries. Our findings concerning the production of scientific papers indicate that the effect of a 1% change in academic R&D spillovers significantly exceeds that of industrial spillovers. In addition, within-field effects exceed effects between-fields, while within- and between-industry effects are roughly equal. It follows that scientific fields limit basic research flows more than industries do, perhaps because large firms implicitly span a range of industries.     

Valuing Mangrove-Fishery Linkages – A Case Study of Campeche, Mexico

This paper explores the value of mangrove systems as a breeding and nursery habitat for off-shore fisheries, focusing on mangrove-shrimp production linkages in Campeche State, Mexico. We develop an open access fishery model to account explicitly for the effect of mangrove area on carrying capacity and thus production. From the long-run equilibrium conditions of the model we are able to establish the key parameters determining the comparative static effects of a change in mangrove area on this equilibrium. We then estimate empirically the effects of changes in mangrove area in the Laguna de Terminos on the production and value of shrimp harvests in Campeche over 1980–90. Our findings suggest that mangroves are an important and essential input into the Campeche shrimp fishery, but that the low levels of deforestation between 1980 and 1990 mean that the resulting losses to the shrimp fishery are still comparatively small. Over-exploitation of the fishery due to open access conditions remains the more pervasive threat, and without better management any long-run benefits of protecting mangrove habitat are likely to be dissipated.     

Interest on reserves and inflation

The payment of interest on reserves has been a common practice in inflationary economies. This policy may seem paradoxical since it involves returning part of the seigniorage, generated by the inflation process, with the intention to finance the fiscal deficit. This paper argues that the motivation for this policy can be captured by the discretionary regime, where the policymaker pays interest on reserves because he is concerned with the erosion of real liquidity by inflation, which is in part beyond his control. However, this policy is an unlikely outcome in the commitment regime, where the policymaker is in full control of inflation.     

An Economic Analysis and Simulation of Woodfuel Management in the Sahel

This paper presents an economic framework and a computationalmethodology for assessing the evolution of woodfuel supply costsand the spatial distribution of biomass in a Sahelian woodlandsetting. Spatial data on standing stock and the costs oftransport to market are used to construct a supply curve for fuelto a fuel-consuming location. Given an exogenously specifieddemand, the model simulates, period by period, the extraction,regeneration, and transport of wood fuels. The model is appliedto evaluate the benefits and ecological impacts of scenarios forwoodland management around the city of N'Djamena, Chad.