A “load-carrier” perspective approach for assessing tourism resource carrying capacity

To address the challenge of global tourism resources being overloaded or underutilization, there requires an adequate method for assessing the tourism resource carrying capacity (TRCC). However, the majority of previous evaluation perspectives on TRCC are limited by thresholds. This paper develops an innovative approach for assessing TRCC from the “load-carrier” perspective. TRCC is assessed by exploring the interaction between the carriers and loads of tourism resources. Chongqing city in China is employed as the case city to demonstrate the application of the established TRCC method. The conclusions are as follows: 1) This study elaborates the new connotation of TRCC from the perspective of “load-carrier”, and establishes the TRCC evaluation system based on the dynamic relationship between the carrier and load of tourism resources. 2) The proposed TRCC evaluation method is proved effective through an empirical study of Chongqing. 3) Chongqing's case unveils that the overload performance of TRCC can be dynamically monitored and predicted. By applying the TRCC evaluation methodology developed in this study, tourism managers and policymakers can identify whether it is the load or the carrier of tourism resources that affect the performance of TRCC, thereby taking targeted policy measures to eliminate potential risks of overload or underutilization.     

Adoption des Politiques de Protection de l'Environnement et performance des Entreprises Camerounaises

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effect of the environmental protection policies of by Cameroonian firms on their performance. It uses the endogenous switching regression technique and propensity scores applied to micro-data from 639 firms in Cameroon. The results show that only 17% of firms adopt these measures, while on average 85% of firms produce solid, gaseous or liquid waste. The results also indicate that the adoption of these environmental protection policies increases operating costs while significantly improving the turnover and the performance of the productive capacity of the company. These increases are 39.11%, 58.6%, and 38.63% for operating costs, turnover and return on productive capacity of the company, respectively. However, firms can also suffer significant losses resulting from the non-adoption of environmental policies. In fact, firms that do not adopt environmental protection policies have their performance reduced by an average of 1.625 percentage points.     

“引洮工程”引发的受水区污染治理研究

[目的]为了解决甘肃中部安定区、陇西县、渭源县、临洮县、榆中县和会宁县的人畜饮水、工业用水、生态用水及农业灌溉用水问题,引洮工程通过九甸峡水利枢纽抬高水位将黄河上游洮河支流水资源引入受水区。在受水区,在调水增加本区供水总量的同时,相应增加了增量水资源使用后带来的废污水,客观上对污染治理工作水平提出了更高要求,轻视排污问题将加剧受水区乃至下游的水系污染程度,影响受水区经济社会的可持续发展。[方法]文章采用文献研究法从理论上探讨了环境容量、排污权及其关系。采用定额计量法计算了调水带来的COD和氨氮增量。[结果]调水使得受水区COD和氨氮每年分别增加6 914. 30t和1 440. 48t。就COD而言,受水区平均排放量占该区环境容量的51. 12%,似有较多的容量结余,但区内排放极不平衡,榆中和会宁已经超排。就氨氮而言,受水区平均排放量将占该区环境容量的151. 55%,总体超排很严重。区内除临洮以外,其余5县区均超排,其中,榆中和会宁超排1倍以上。[结论]排污量是假定增量污水符合二级排放标准的前提下计算的,如果处理率低、排放达标率低,则超排现象会更为严重。对此,要从宏观上进行综合治理,诸如完善政府、社会与市场共同治污机制、排污权配置的过渡性制度安排、污水处理企业改革及引导受水区进行产业结构调整等。     

Employee workplace spirituality and pro-environmental behavior in the hotel industry

Pro-environmental behaviors in the workplace are less investigated than those in the public and private spheres. With this in mind, and through the values framework of workplace spirituality (WPS), synthesizing the theories of connectedness and organizational citizenship, the current study proposed a theoretical model to gauge the influence of WPS, a relatively new area of inquiry in organizational research and a neglected field in tourism and hospitality, on hotel employees’ organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE). In this framework, the emerging concept of connectedness to nature (CNS) – a strong cognitive and affective predictor of pro-environmental behavior – was depicted as a mediator, and the construct of environmental awareness (EA) was deemed a moderator. The intended model received support through empirical testing, and results confirmed that WPS is significantly associated with employees’ OCBE, and CNS indirectly affects the relationship between WPS and OCBE, while EA functions as a booster. The theoretical and practical implications of the study were discussed, and a series of contributory managerial implications were described accordingly.     

Social Capital,Income Diversification and Climate Change Adaptation: Panel Data Evidence from Rural Ethiopia

The choice between specialisation and diversification of income is driven by multiple, interacting factors, such as economies of scale and scope, risk considerations, context, and household characteristics. Using panel data from Ethiopia, we investigate the role of social capital and the covariate risk of climate change and their interaction. We find that households with greater social capital tend to be more specialised, implying that diversification and informal insurance are substitutes in the mitigation of risk. We also find that this effect is significantly weaker in regions more prone to climate change, which is consistent with the average farmer being aware that informal insurance is not an effective protection against risks that affect the entire social network. We use instrumental variable random effects estimation to account for the plausible endogeneity of social capital and we also establish that our results do not depend on the poorest and most constrained individuals in our sample.     

The effects of corporate environmental disclosure on environmental innovation from stakeholder perspectives

Based on legitimacy theory and resource dependence theory, using 111 listed companies among China’s typically high pollution-emitting listed corporations, research into the effects of environmental disclosure on environmental innovation is undertaken. From the perspective of stakeholders, we analyse the moderating effects of different proportions of institutional investor holdings and types of enterprises on the relationship between environmental disclosure and environmental innovation. The results indicate that corporate environmental disclosure has a positive role in promoting environmental innovation; the proportion of institutional investor holdings has a positive moderating effect between environmental disclosure and environmental innovation. However, there is no significant difference between state-owned enterprises and private enterprises in terms of the effect of the environmental disclosure on environmental innovation, which possibly arises because both types of enterprises make full use of their own advantages to instigate environmental innovation through environmental disclosure. The conclusions may help enterprise decision-makers implementing environmental innovation and government policy makers formulating scientific policies to promote the clean production in enterprises.     

陕西农村居住地生态环境影响因素分析

[目的]随着农村城镇化进程的加快,由此引发的农村居住地生态环境恶化已成为制约农业和农村经济可持续发展的瓶颈,加强农村居住地生态环境保护和治理,是目前亟待解决的重要问题。研究分析农村居住地生态环境影响因素,为有效改善居住地生态环境提供重要理论依据。[方法]以陕西省为主要研究区域,采用层次分析法,构建矩阵模型,研究影响陕西省农村居住地生态环境的农民因素、生产活动和政府因素3个层次,包括周边乡镇企业废物排放、农用投入品的使用、畜禽养殖业废物排放、人均消费支出、农村人均家庭纯收入、农村家庭恩格尔系数、环保意识、政府监管力度、环境保护财政支出,相关政策法规等10个因素所占权重,得到不同因素的重要性排序。[结果]乡镇企业废物排放、农用投入品的使用、农村人均家庭纯收入和农村人均消费支出是影响农村居住地生态环境的主要因素,且重要性排序为乡镇企业废物排放农用投入品的使用农村人均家庭纯收入农村人均消费支出。[结论]加强乡镇企业废物排放管理和农用投入品的生产和使用审查,降低不必要的消费支出,同时为农民提供更多的就业机会,提高人均家庭村收入,是目前改善农村居住地生态环境的有效措施,为农民提供一个安全舒适的居住场所,这也将有利于农村经济的可持续发展。     

Does the Eco‐Management and Audit Scheme Foster Innovation in European Firms?

This paper studies whether environmental management systems can spur eco‐innovation, analyzing EMAS (Eco‐Management and Audit Scheme) adoption and patented innovations (at the European Patent Office) at firm level. It uses an original panel database of 30 439 European firms belonging to all sectors from 2003 to 2012. An original instrumental variable is implemented to control for potential endogeneity. The analysis reveals that EMAS adoption is conducive to more innovation at the firm level. The results vary across countries and sectors. In particular, EMAS is positively related to green patents for medium and low technology manufacturing. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

绿色环保军用食品的研究与进展

军用野战食品是保证战士饮食的重要食物,对提高战士的身体素质、提升军队的战斗力具有至关重要的作用。各国军队首脑对此都十分重视,将此项内容作为军队建设的重要内容。基于此,本文综述了相关学者对军用食品的研究,以期为相关学者提供借鉴。     

基于DEA-SBM模型的中国地板上市企业环境效率研究

考虑非期望产出,基于企业层面,根据2011-2016年数据,采用DEA-SBM模型与DEA-CCR模型对中国12家地板上市公司的环境效率与经济效率进行测算与比较。结果表明:2016年环境效率和经济效率测算结果显示不同地板上市企业运行效率存在差别;与经济效率相比,一些企业如北新建材、扬子地板,环境效率保持不变,一些企业如宜华生活、吉林森工和丰林集团,环境效率得到提升;还有一些企业如兔宝宝、升达林业和大自然家居等,环境效率则出现下降。考虑了非期望产出,中国地板上市企业整体环境效率均值低于经济效率均值,总体处于0.79~0.84之间。提出了政府应加强监管力度,地板上市企业应提高技术改进能力,建立完善社会责任信息披露机制的建议。