An experimental examination of target based conservation auctions

Conservation auctions are increasingly employed to increase the provision of Ecological Goods and Services (EG&S) for achieving environmental goals. Most applications of conservation auctions concern the efficient allocation of a fixed conservation budget. However an important and under-explored application of conservation auctions is in meeting environmental targets, either as part of regulatory compliance by industry or by governments in meeting specified policy objectives. This paper examines the ability of a conservation auction to meet an environmental target. We use experimental economics methods benchmarked to a wetlands restoration case study to examine bidder behavior and efficiency in both budget constrained and target constrained auctions when landowners with increasing marginal costs can offer increasing sized bundles of wetland acres. The target constrained auction is characterized by an all or nothing rule, where there is no payout if the target is not met. We find that rent seeking and average cost in the target constrained auction is less than in a budget constrained auction, but that efficiency eroded in repeated rounds suggesting learning effects as participants realize there is no budget cap. Even with learning effects the target based auction out-performs the budget based auction. Adding a reserve price to the target based auction significantly reduced rent seeking but also increased the probability that the target was not met. The results have important implications for auction design in real world settings.     

生态消费模式合作案例研究——以樱慈有机生活体验馆为例

生态消费模式是人们为满足消费需求并实现生态平衡过程所做的一种新型探索。生态消费模式中的合作案例较多,具体可以体现为:倡导节约性消费理念、选择简捷性消费方式、明确安全化消费目标、完善和谐化消费制度等。樱慈有机生活体验馆正是以新媒体传播方式、新交流合作平台、新代际立体反馈、新消费链条构建的真实案例展现。     

自然生态空间用途管制理论分析及管制策略研究

研究目的:深入探讨自然生态空间用途管制作用机理及管制策略,助力完善国土空间用途管制制度。研究方法:文献分析法、归纳演绎法。研究结果:(1)模型能够较好反映自然生态空间与城镇空间和农业空间的联动效应;(2)阐明了自然生态空间用途管制行为主体、空间利用行为主体、空间利用行为以及用途管制客体之间的关系及管制作用机理;(3)明确"生态底线"导向的直接用途管制与"精明增长"导向的间接用途管制方式并行的管制策略。研究结论:建议完善国土空间规划体系,建立自然生态空间管制实施机制,加强自然生态空间用途管制要与其他自然资源管理改革制度的统一设计,强化实施自然生态空间管控质量监测评估。     

乡村生态旅游促进新型城镇化的实证分析--以西安市长安区为例

在生态资源富集又邻近大城市的乡村地区发展乡村生态旅游，能够有效地促进新型城镇化、助推新型旅游小城镇的形成。文章在界定核心概念并进行理论机理分析的基础上，以西安市长安区为例，对其2002—2014年间乡村生态旅游与新型城镇化之间的关系进行实证检验，结果表明：二者确实存在高度的正相关关系，且前者是后者的重要原因。因此，应采取有力措施发展这些地区的乡村生态旅游：第一，进一步加大政府对乡村地区基础设施的投资，彻底实现城乡公共产品供给的均等化；第二，引导民间资金、技术、管理等有序合理、规模适度地投入乡村生态旅游业；第三，务必加强乡村生态旅游业发展过程中的环境监管等。     

城镇化进程中土地资源生态安全战略——以小产权房违法用地为例

在我国城镇化进程中,保障土地生态安全是其重中之重。就我国目前的社会阶段来看,人民自身素养和科学技术积累程度还没有达到土地私有化的水平,目前个体农民并没有这个能力,一旦土地私有,就会出现土地过分开发的情况,土壤养分会在短期内被榨干,土地修复复垦是一个需要大量人力物力科学技术的工程,个体农民及农民集体根本没有这个能力,就会造成土地荒废遗弃,甚至加重荒漠化、沙漠化。所以土地私有制并不适合我国现阶段的社会发展。以资源代际公平、土地生态安全的角度来看,土地国有是适应现阶段社会发展要求的。土地的利用与开发需要养护和维持,以达到后代子孙的持续发展。     

BOT模式运作下乡村生态旅游项目的发展路径研究——以重庆市为例

乡村生态旅游是农业和旅游业发展相结合的产业,其作为农村经济发展的重要引擎,已然成为解决"三农"问题的重要渠道。重庆位于我国西南地区,农业历史悠久,旅游资源发达,乡村生态旅游发展已经初现规模。但由于重庆整体经济水平在全国处于中游,加上城市基础设施投入占去政府财政支出的大部分,因此发展乡村生态旅游项目面临资金短缺和管理不善的困境。BOT模式是私营企业参与基础设施建设,向社会提供公共服务的一种方式,在我国又被称为"特许经营权",是指政府将"特许经营权"下放给私营企业,允许其参与建设和运营公共设施项目,并通过经营和管理获得利润回报的一种营销运作模式。BOT形式适用于我国当前乡村生态旅游项目的开发和发展,对改善乡村旅游项目资金不足问题及提高项目管理水平具有明显的促进作用。但BOT模式也存在诸如规划风险、道德风险和圈地风险等现实问题,需要从政府和企业等2个角度分别采取有效措施,包括加强立法工作、加大政府监管力度和制定严格的BOT协议等。     

Opportunity cost of water allocation to afforestation rather than conservation of natural vegetation in China

Estimation of ecosystem service values is a hot area of research in ecological conservation and economics. However, the costs of these outputs are largely unknown. In this paper, we estimated the opportunity cost of water allocated to afforestation projects through mathematical modeling based on statistical data for all of China to provide support for restoration planning based on a fuller consideration of the true costs. To guide future ecological conservation and environmental policy development, we illustrate a neglected concept (ecosystem service costs) and use this concept to compare the ecological services provided by ecological restoration based on afforestation with those of restoration based on the conservation of natural vegetation using data obtained since 1949 in China. The results showed that afforestation and natural vegetation create annual costs related to use of the available water resources equal to 4800 and 3700 RMB ha⁻¹, respectively, representing a water opportunity cost of 1100 RMB ha⁻¹ for afforestation. This illustrates the rule that “there is no free lunch” for any service, including ecosystem services. Therefore, to support the development of more effective and sustainable environmental restoration policy, it will be necessary to evaluate the associated opportunity costs.     

Climate adaptation in ‘new world’ cultural landscapes: The case of Bay of Fundy agricultural dykelands (Nova Scotia,Canada)

North America has few cultural agricultural landscapes, and often commensurately poor governance arrangements for managing change in such settings. This research uses the Acadian dykelands of Nova Scotia, Canada, as an opportunity to explore the social and governance limits to coastal climate adaptation in ‘new world’ cultural agricultural landscapes, as well as inform local decision-making. Approximately half of Nova Scotia’s coastal wetlands were converted to dykeland in the 1600s, lowering local resilience to the increased frequency and storm severity anticipated with climate change. Today, dykelands protect a diversity of public and private interests, meanings and values, yet are controlled by the agricultural sector, which can no longer afford to maintain them all to 2050 climate projections. We report here on a representative online Q-methodology survey of 183 adult Nova Scotians in the spring of 2015. Respondents sorted 34 statements along a normal distribution about whether they prefer dykeland maintenance or wetland restoration, and under what governance arrangements. Four factors were derived: the dominant discourse was local, female and strongly pro-dykeland, indicating the likelihood for local resistance to dykeland removal on for cultural, recreational and farming reasons. The second factor was supportive of wetland restoration for reasons of efficiency, not wetland affinity, but characterized by those in positions of management power. The two minority viewpoints were less informed about dykelands, characteristic of outsiders, and concerned more with governance. More education is needed about the challenges facing dykelands, the benefits of coastal wetlands, and the management options, but this research shows proposals to change landscape should emphasize flood mitigation over cost-saving. Cultural values and status quo bias are clearly barriers to adaptation planning, even when discussing the removal of man-made structures. The factors were surprisingly polarized, suggesting the forced-normal distribution affects the space available to convey nuanced perspectives. Large p-set Q-method of this kind is likely most useful for characterizing the emergent discourses demographically, and understanding their prevalence; the same discourses had emerged within a much smaller pilot study.     

Cultivating Ecological Knowledge for Corporate Sustainability: Barilla's Innovative Approach to Sustainable Farming

In this paper, we link three theoretical perspectives – organizational knowledge, ecological knowledge and social–ecological systems – to derive new conceptions of multi‐disciplinary, multi‐tier, sustainability‐oriented knowledge. Our study examines how collaboration between pasta‐producer Barilla, the farmers/smallholders supplying the firm and scientists generated sustainability practices in the agri‐food industry by creating transformative ecological, technical and scientific knowledge. In 2010, Barilla initiated a sustainable farming project to significantly reduce the environmental impact of cultivating durum wheat, its most important raw material. Core components included replacing monoculture with crop rotation, collectively creating innovative approaches that support farmers’ decision making and generating widely accessible guidelines for sustainability‐oriented cropping knowledge and practices. These collaborative efforts initiated profound transformations within and beyond the organization's boundaries via increased production yields, reduced environmental impacts and improved sustainability of farming practices, which generated economic, social and ecological benefits for farmers, surrounding communities and the firm. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

基于PSR模型的佳木斯市土地生态安全综合评价

研究基于PSR模型框架,从压力、状态、响应等3个准则层入手构建佳木斯土地生态安全的评价指标体系,结合熵权与变异系数的综合确权法测算各指标权重,对佳木斯市2000~2012年土地资源生态安全进行综合评价,划定其安全等级。研究表明:2000~2012年,佳木斯市的土地生态安全系统的压力指数整体低于状态指数与响应指数,呈先上升后下降再上升的波动形变化趋势,压力指数从0.084上升到0.129,下降到0.041,再上升到0.157;土地生态安全状态指数呈现先增长又下降的变化趋势,从0.158增长到0.251,再下降到0.208;土地安全状态响应指数呈现平缓的增长变化趋势,从0.140增长到0.308;压力指数、状态指数和响应指数共同决定佳木斯市土地生态安全评价的综合指数,土地生态安全指数呈现先增长后下降再增长的变化趋势,从0.381增长到0.494,下降到0.464,再增长到0.673。考察期内佳木斯土地生态安全整体处于临界安全状态,2012年上升至较安全等级。该结论为佳木斯市制定改善土地生态安全的措施提供理论依据。