The relevance of the ecosystem services framework for developed countries’ environmental policies: A comparative case study of the US and EU

The ecosystem services (ES) framework reveals ecosystems’ benefits to society and presents a fundamental natural resource management approach. In the last several decades, it has gained increasing attention from the research community, and it recently reached the political agenda. However, does the concept have the capacity to cause institutional change in environmental policy? To answer this question, we developed certain criteria for an “ideal” ES-driven policy. Based on these criteria, we analyzed the main water and biodiversity acts, current policy developments, and future trends within the US and the EU. Our analysis shows that most acts cannot be explicitly characterized as ES-driven policies, but parts of the concept are already included. The ES framework, increasingly a driver in several policy fields, can be assumed to be a major future influence for shaping existing environmental policies in the coming decades. We discussed the results based on its strengths for existing environmental policy conceptually, e.g., cross-sector cooperation and ES win-win and trade-off considerations, and its weaknesses operationally, such as measurability and governance changes.     

Ecosystem services in spatial planning and strategic environmental assessment—A European and Portuguese profile

Despite the growing interest on ecosystem services (ES) in research, significant knowledge gaps on ES integration in decision making subsist. Particularly, ES-focused profiles of governance frameworks for different policy areas, like spatial planning, are scarce. The goal of this research is to draw a profile on ES integration in the European policy and guidance framework for spatial planning and strategic environmental assessment (SEA). To investigate how this framework might be translated in a particular country of the EU and across different levels of governance, the Portuguese spatial planning and SEA framework is also analysed. To achieve these goals, a content analysis of policy and guidance documents was conducted. We have found a general low level of explicit ES integration, but some notions associated with ES are present in the documents, although more indirectly. Results highlight the potential role of SEA for ES integration. However, in the Portuguese context, the contribution of SEA in practice is currently limited and for the coming years ES will not be specifically targeted or integrated in regional spatial planning practice. Recent changes in the wider European governance framework contribute to potentially higher degrees of ES integration in the future. Nevertheless, bottom-up demand for improved ES integration in plans and policies will be an important driver. Our approach contributes to identify which policies, plans and guiding documents need improved ES integration.     

Land contamination risk management in Cameroon: A critical review of the existing policy framework

Land affected by contamination from human activities has been identified as a major environmental problem in developed countries and there are established mechanisms for identifying, prioritising, characterising, assessing and remediating the land so that risks to human health and environmental receptors are minimised. However, comparative mechanisms and approaches for sustainable land management are often lacking in developing countries such as Cameroon. This paper presents a critical review of the existing policy framework in Cameroon in relation to environmental management, particularly land contamination.It is established that in Cameroon, there is an acute lack of comprehensive information on land contamination from economic development and industrialisation, inadequate legal and institutional framework, weak enforcement capacity and unsatisfactory coordination between various stakeholders towards sustainable land management practices. The coastal town of Douala, which has the highest level of industrial activity in the sub region is used to demonstrate how dealing with land contamination is a public health priority and requires attention in the context of sustainable development. The United Kingdom (UK) regulatory policy framework on land contamination risk management is used to show how land contamination issues and risk management approaches, including conceptual site models, could be introduced into the sustainability discourse in Cameroon. A number of recommendations including proposals for a radical overhaul of the current regulatory policy framework are formulated and presented. Specifically, the creation of an independent Cameroon Environment Protection Agency (CEPA) that will be the main regulatory body responsible for developing and implementing the policy proposals in this paper is advocated.     

China’s megaregion policy: Performance evaluation framework,empirical findings and implications for spatial polycentric governance

Megaregion has emerged as a new dimension of global urbanization. A megaregion approach based on polycentric strategy is deemed to enhance regional economic competitiveness. Numerous studies have highlighted the economic benefits, celebrated the spill-over effects, and outlined the creative potentials of contemporary megaregion policies in different nations worldwide. However, further policy instruments require the knowledge about the achievement and failure of megaregion policies that seek for spatial, economic, social, and environmental efficiency and sustainability. This paper introduces China’s megaregion policy and proposes an analytical framework for performance evaluation from four principle domains (rational urban growth, economic development, social equity, environmental protection) at three levels (internal collaboration, integral development, and overall development). Using a case of the Megaregion around Hangzhou Bay (MAHB), we find very limited success of China’s megaregion policy. In particular, the megaregion policy only accomplishes the economic goal, and fails to achieve the goals of rational urban growth, environmental protection, and social equity. A series of mechanism based regressions are established and show that the implementation duration of megaregion policy: (1) associates positively with the economic growth; (2) relates negatively to social equity and urban rational growth; and (3) has no significant relationship with improved environmental quality. Institutional fragmentation, no unified spatial planning, and inadequate legislation at megaregional level are the underlying causes of the expected performances within the policy context of governance itself. We finally propose some possible solutions and discuss the implications for spatial polycentric governance. The demonstrated methodological framework can be applicable to other megaregions around the world. This paper is thus believed to provide some new insights for land use policy.     

The economics of drought: A review of impacts and costs

Although a growing body of literature studies drought impacts, papers providing a comprehensive review of drought's social and economic impacts are scarce. This paper fills this gap by exploring the consequences of drought on societies based on research findings in Australia—a large country used to experiencing severe droughts. To do this, we propose a framework to categorise drought impacts in three dimensions: individuals/households (including health), productive sectors and system (including economic and ecosystem) impacts. The framework then guides a systematic literature review and discussion of studies looking at diverse drought impacts and their related costs. By analysing and discussing the findings from this literature, we emphasise different policy considerations, empirical challenges and research needs to support robust analysis and estimates of the true cost of droughts. We conclude by proposing an expanded framework to identify drought impacts and a discussion of the implications of the review for policy development.     

山东半岛近海渔业资源修复与可持续发展对策

本文以山东半岛近海渔业资源的修复与可持续发展对策为研究主题,对山东省伏季休渔的规定和做法进行了梳理,以放流品种为线索总结了增殖放流的情况,得出了其有增加经济渔业资源、改善海洋生态环境、提高渔民捕捞收益等结论。本文在分析了近海渔业资源修复工作存在的不足与问题基础上,还提出了要控制沿海排污总量、实施捕捞配额制度、设置渔业资源保护区、发展海洋生态渔业、实现近海渔业资源修复与可持续发展的对策建议。     

Adapting governance for coastal change in Portugal

In many countries, but particularly in Portugal, coastal conditions are already endangered by flooding and erosion, both likely to increase as a result of climate change. This daunting prospect raises critical questions of sustainability; social justice; genuine public participation and social learning; effective financing for long term social and economic benefit; connected polycentric governance; and the appropriate use of scientific knowledge bonded to public and political trust. While the development of most shorelines is nominally shaped by public administrative action, rapid coastal migration and excessive economic concentration have turned many threatened coastlines into a stage for settlement hazard and institutional chaos. In Portugal, despite clear evidence of increasing flooding and erosion, appropriate management responses are proving inadequate, both in the turbulent planning framework and in the scarce financial provision for future safeguard. The only plausible alternatives seem to lie in the processes of progressive adaptive governance, involving the trust and full participation of local communities; strongly supported scientific assessments of threat and safety; and fresh approaches to finding suitable funding sources. However, as evident from interviews with key actors in coastal planning in Portugal, the lack of policy clarity and political will, the weak science and poor coordination of stakeholders, combined with the particular regenerating coastal cultures of these communities, make any organised adaptive approaches highly problematic. This consequently places more emphasis on the rich cultural meanings of coastal occupation; of national identity in a time of economic crisis; of social justice in a period of reduced coastal maintenance funding; and of a more measured and sequential approach to an adaptive coastal governance.     

国土空间规划的现代法治：良法与善治

研究目的:立足国土空间治理体系和治理能力现代化的目标,探索国土空间规划法治化的基本内涵、总体思路与逻辑框架,为国土空间规划现代法治的研究和实施提供参考。研究方法:文献研究法,综合分析法。研究结果:(1)国土空间规划法治化的本质就是国土空间规划的"良法"和"善治",应当遵循"良"的价值理念与"法"的完整体系、"善"的思维意识与"治"的秩序机制的总体思路来构建国土空间规划法治化框架;(2)国土空间规划治理的"良法"体系包括规划法律法规体系、地方法规规章体系、技术标准体系和规划成果体系,"善治"平台则包括规划编制审批、规划实施监督、规划信息平台和规划工作平台。研究结论:构建国土空间规划法治化的逻辑框架,提出完善和健全规划治理体系的具体路径,有助于对国土空间规划的现代法治进行顶层设计,以及推进国土空间规划法治体系与治理能力的现代化。     

Limits to Ecological Modernisation as a framework for sustainable fresh water governance

An important point of debate in contemporary environmental governance literature is the design of institutional arrangements for natural resource governance in Western democracies in the face of long-term ecological challenges. Informed by this debate, we ask in this paper to what extent does Ecological Modernisation precepts provide a governance framework for resolving freshwater management conflicts in the context of New Zealand's political economy? The paper draws on the region of Canterbury whose water resources have become the site of intense political conflict due to the rapid growth of dairy farming. We firstly argue how the precepts of Ecological Modernisation are promoted in natural resource governance through the discourses of a variety of stakeholders at both the national and regional level and secondly, demonstrate how the adoption of these precepts in institutional design reflect a broadly techno-corporatist interpretation of Ecological Modernisation theory which struggles to sustain ecological carrying capacity of freshwater resources.     

The agrifood cooperative netchain. A theoretical framework to study its configuration

This paper proposes a research framework of the design and configuration of agrifood chains where the focal firm is a second-tier cooperative (group of affiliated cooperatives) in order to assess the alignment of (relational) governance structures and coordination mechanisms in these chains with supply chain management (SCM) principles. The theoretical framework draws on the Relational View of inter-organizational competitive advantage and the Theory of Networks given that inter-cooperative vertical relationships are embedded in horizontal ties between firms (first-tier cooperatives) of social rather economic nature. The conceptual framework developed herein will help theory building in SCM, but most importantly, it will advance current knowledge on the scope of SCM in the agrifood cooperative sector.     

Integrating preferences and social values for ecosystem services in local ecological management: A framework applied in Xiaojiang Basin Yunnan province,China

Previous works have made great progress in mapping and assessing ecosystem services (ES) that are directed toward exploring various aspects of ecological changes and economic values. These preferences, however, may neglect the important role of people who are the direct beneficiaries in this ecosystem. Therefore, including these stakeholders in ES assessment identifies their relations and perceptions between ecosystem services and society. In order to quantify and map these relations and perceptions, we designed and implemented an analytical framework based on the Public Participatory Geographic Information System (PPGIS) method to explore local stakeholders’ (Farmers, Government managers/Experts, and Company employees) similarities and differences in recognition of preferences and social values for ecosystem services in a typical Karst basin. Our results showed that remarkable differences appeared in preferences for ES across three groups. Farmers gave more preferences to provisioning services, Government managers/Experts to regulating and cultural services, and Company employees’ preferences were individualized. The spatial distributions and relations of social values for ES also showed great differentials. Provisioning services were always related to specific natural conditions, regulating services to forests, and cultural services to specific locations around tourism localities, forest, and wetland parks. The three stakeholder groups perceived more synergies than tradeoffs between the different ecosystem services. Landscape beauty was the most influential service in Farmers’ and Company employees’ perceptions, while Local climate change regulation was the most influential service in those of Government managers/Experts. The local stakeholders’ surveys can improve the enthusiasm of the local people to participate in environmental management and provide more socio-ecological information to help the managers alleviate the conflicts among different stakeholders.     

Assessing the ability of rural agrarian areas to provide cultural ecosystem services (CES): A multi scale social indicator framework (MSIF)

Assessing the ways in which rural agrarian areas provide Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) is proving difficult to achieve. This research has developed an innovative methodological approach named as Multi Scale Indicator Framework (MSIF) for capturing the CES embedded into the rural agrarian areas. This framework reconciles a literature review with a transdisciplinary participatory workshop. Both of these sources reveal that societal preferences diverge upon judgemental criteria which in turn relate to different visual concepts that can be drawn from analyzing attributes, elements, features and characteristics of rural areas. We contend that it is now possible to list a group of possible multi scale indicators for stewardship, diversity and aesthetics. These results might also be of use for improving any existing European indicators frameworks by also including CES. This research carries major implications for policy at different levels of governance, as it makes possible to target and monitor policy instruments to the physical rural settings so that cultural dimensions are adequately considered. There is still work to be developed on regional specific values and thresholds for each criteria and its indicator set. In practical terms, by developing the conceptual design within a common framework as described in this paper, a considerable step forward toward the inclusion of the cultural dimension in European wide assessments can be made.     

Governance of ecosystem services trade-offs in peri-urban landscapes

Peri-urban landscapes (PULs) are specific transitional forms of urban landscapes undergoing dynamic land-use changes. PULs’ transformations are driven by close and significant influence of an urban core, cross-administrative boundary character, and diversity of governance actors. PULs have significant potential to provide ES and respond to the urban and peri-urban demand for ES, but they are also particular contexts where significant and different ES trade-offs can occur. Majority of existing forms of governance are not able to deal and address such trade-offs, which thus call for more innovative and effective governance approaches and mechanisms, aimed at achieving ES synergies and reducing ES conflicts.This paper discusses the characteristics of PULs in the context of governance questions related to the management of ES trade-offs in the urban peripheries. The drivers of ES trade-offs are presented and different trade-off relationships between and within the main ES types are analyzed. The paper drafts a way forward from the current state-of-the-art related to governance of peri-urban ES trade-offs by providing recommendations for more effective governance that would address these trade-offs. Due to the very dynamic character of PULs, it is difficult to manage land-use changes and ES trade-offs. Hence, the governance approaches need to be adaptive and integrative at multiple levels, while engaging diverse actors to balance ES trade-offs that have mixed urban and rural character.     

基于层次分析法的主要海洋产业综合实力的测度

作为一种综合性的评价方法,层次分析法在各决策领域得到了广泛的应用,论文运用层次分析法以2011年的12个主要海洋产业综合实力测度为研究重点,制定出了测度主要海洋产业综合实力的指标体系,计算出了各主要海洋产业的综合得分并进行排名,研究结果表明：层次分析法在充分考虑了主客观综合因素的基础上可以对主要海洋产业综合排名进行分析,滨海旅游业、海洋交通运输业和海洋渔业在12个主要海洋产业中综合实力中排在前三位,计算结果可以代表当前我国主要海洋产业的发展现状,表明了基于层次分析法的模糊综合评价是测度主要海洋产业综合实力的一种有效方法。     

Drivers of innovation in groundwater governance. The links between the social and the ecological systems

Global groundwater overexploitation positions groundwater governance as a critical issue for improving sustainable water management. Evidence of aquifer recovery after overexploitation is scattered, as is the research on the drivers behind recovery. The Fuencaliente Aquifer in Spain faced a tragedy of the commons situation, but after an innovative governance arrangement was implemented, the aquifer is gradually recovering. In this research, we identify the drivers that made possible the emergence and acceptance of such an arrangement using the social-ecological system framework. We identified external drivers such as market incentives and limited enforcement capacity of the water authority as the main factors that led to groundwater depletion, but we also found that these same drivers, under a new regulatory framework that reinforced monitoring and sanctioning capacities, are the basis for the effective recovery of the aquifer. Internal drivers such as the socioeconomic attributes of the users, their limited collective action and the power differences between traditional and commercial farmers are also critical in explaining the acceptance of the new governance arrangement. Even if these drivers are context-specific, we identified innovations that might be transferable and contribute to the literature on good practices in groundwater governance and management.     

Governing farmland conversion: Comparing China with the Netherlands and Germany

Farmland conversion has become an increasing concern in China and other parts of the world, including Europe and the USA. Be it for environmental or food security reasons, questions arise concerning how urbanization should be governed, i.e. what rules and regulations could enhance the efficiency and sustainability of land use. Taking a first step toward answering such questions, this paper describes different governance structures for farmland conversion in the Netherlands, Germany, and China. Secondly, it compares five identified differences between these countries in the realms of land property, land use planning, the role of the market, the role of government, and the performance of governance structures. The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach for comparing governance structures for land conversion that: (a) offers some opportunities for exchange of experience between the three countries and (b) provides a framework for further research on governance structures in farmland conversion.     

A systematic framework of location value taxes reveals dismal policy design in most European countries

Location values have long been recognized as an attractive instrument to raise municipal revenues. First, they increase fiscal efficiency and equability compared to traditional property taxes. Second, they can be used to enhance sustainable urban planning. The question of how to design a location value tax has long been discussed in various strands of literature, but there are few efforts to create multidisciplinary approaches. This lack of reconciliation hampers the discussion on optimal designs that includes all economic, social and environmental considerations. Here we combine literature on public finances, urban economics and value capture with that of sustainable urban planning to narrow this gap. We develop a framework to assess the design characteristics of location value taxes from a sustainability perspective, and apply this framework to assess current practices in Europe. The analysis reveals severe shortcoming in policy design in most European countries, although Denmark provides a more promising example. Nonetheless, location value taxes have a high potential for improving sustainable urban planning.     

Forest governance and economic values of forest ecosystem services in Vietnam

Forest ecosystems deliver valuable services to humanity. However, many forests are being degraded and their services have been undervalued. The main problem lies in the inadequate institutional arrangements for forest governance. This paper aims to assess the effects of alternative forest governance arrangements on the provision and economic values of forest ecosystem services (FES) in Vietnam. The study presents a framework for mapping land use and land cover (LULC) change stemming from actual and hypothetical changes in forest governance regimes, quantifies the resulting changes in the provision of FES, and estimates the associated economic values. In the context of the study site in the North Western uplands of Vietnam, we test three alternative forest governance scenarios: business as usual, with a dominant government role; a community-based governance regime; and a private, individual-based forestry governance regime. Scenarios are based quite closely on the way these regimes are (or might be expected to be) implemented in Vietnam. For each forest governance scenario, we map LULC changes based on land suitability analysis and transition likelihood for the period 2010 − 2020. The resulting maps are used as inputs into the InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs) model, which is used to estimate the quantity of three specific FES: carbon storage/sequestration, sediment yield, and water yield. We apply economic valuation methods to value these services: the social cost of carbon is used to estimate the economic values of carbon storage/sequestration; the cost of removing sediment deposited in reservoirs is applied for valuing the reduction of sediment yield, and the residual value of water supply for hydropower generation is used for valuing water yield. The results show that forest governance regimes have a significant effect not only on forest LULC, but also on the quantity and values of FES derived from forests. The FES are differentially affected by alternative forest governance regimes: some FES increase in quantity and value under some governance regimes and decrease under others. Of the three forest governance regimes examined, there is no one regime that will always be ‘better’ than the others in terms of provisioning all considered FES. For the specific context of Vietnam, we find that the private forest governance scenario is inferior to the community-based governance scenario, as an alternative to the current state-based governance. Because our results pertain to the scenarios as constructed, rather than generally to broad categories of governance regimes, there remains the possibility that regimes can be constructed that outperform all of those examined here.     

林业专业合作社集体行动研究

以福建省三明市尤溪县上源村林业专业合作社为例,基于制度分析与发展框架(IAD)分析林业专业合作社的形成、治理模式,结合行动情境内部的7个规则变量,探究林业专业合作社内部集体行动形成过程。结果表明:上源村林业专业合作社内部集体行动水平受行动情境内部7个规则变量的影响,并在这7个规则的联合作用机制下形成了较高水平的集体行动,有效发挥了林业资源的生态价值、经济价值和社会价值;在林业专业合作社内部集体行动形成过程中,边界规则确定了林业专业合作社资源与成员规模,身份规则决定了林业专业合作社成员的职能,范围规则、选择规则、偿付规则和信息规则决定了林业专业合作社成员的权利、收益、成本和监督水平,聚合规则提高了林业专业合作社成员对集体行动决策的控制水平。     

我国海洋资源开发综合效益的评价探讨

从海洋资源开发形成的产业产值效益角度，选取海米岸线产值、人均产值、占GDP比重等3个相对指标，采用均方差权重法对我国沿海备省、市区海洋资源开发的综合效益做出评价；依据沿海各省、市区海洋资源开发的综合效益评价值及排序结果，把该区划分为3种类型：。低等综合效益开发区，中等综合效益开发区，高等综合效益开发区；得出海洋资源开发的综合效益不仅与资源条件有关，还与各地的经济发展水平、人口数量及其协调程度有关等结论。