Maps as Coasian coordination tools: Heritage conservation and map representation

This paper is an original attempt to apply transaction cost reasoning to interpret map representation as a Coasian organizational coordination tool, the essence of Coase’s (1937) theory of the firm, in modern active heritage conservation planning by the state as a firm. It is argued that maps, which have been used by voluntary organizations to promote their causes in heritage conservation, is pivotal in reducing transaction costs of heritage identification, grading and planning, by non-market means, in contrast to the case of commercial dealings in small artifacts and relics. Two Hong Kong examples of heritage conservation by NGO mapping, one backed by government and the other recipient of a UNESCO Asia-Pacific award, are used to demonstrate this proposition in terms of twelve functions maps can serve in organisational coordination.     

Evolution of the Amazonian frontier: Land values in Rondônia, Brazil

Patterns in property values provide strong signals about the future and sustainability of land use. This paper analyzes the determinants of land value in an Amazonian frontier settlement. We estimate hedonic price functions to identify factors that affect the value of farm properties in the western Brazilian Amazon. Distance to market explains nearly one-third of the variation in farm value, as predicted by the von Thünen model. After controlling for location relative to the central market and for municipality, we find that investment in the farms (as reflected in the stocking rate of pastures and the establishment of home gardens) has the next largest impact on land value. The value per hectare of land is negatively related to total lot size, suggesting that any economies of scale are outweighed by the cost of accessing remote corners of large properties. We do not find that land values are related to available measures of biophysical factors or to historic or current land use. Our results do not identify any premium for forest cover or for land uses considered to be more sustainable than pasture on the property itself. However, farm values are affected by neighboring land cover, specifically, the extent of barren land. Thus, local knowledge of factors contributing to future productivity, as summarized in land values, confirms that soil exhaustion can lead to a general decline in property values, while investments in a property both as a homestead and as a farm can help sustain frontier settlements.     

村民合作问题研究的内容和方法建议

孤立地使用某一学科的内容和方法去研究社会经济问题,往往只能得到对社会经济现象的片面理解。村民合作涉及多方面的因素,需要采用多学科、多元的理论与研究方法。文章以村庄共享资源合作治理为例,对村民合作的研究内容和方法提出若干建议。     

Knowing but not knowing: Systematic conservation planning and community conservation in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca,Mexico

Systematic conservation planning (SCP) seeks to propose new reserves through a scientifically rigorous process using databases and research selection algorithims. However, SCP exercises have been criticized for “knowing but not doing”, i.e. not implementing the proposed reserve. But there is an additional problem that can be called “knowing but not knowing”, knowing things from databases, but not knowing crucial contextual information about community-based social processes that have supported the high forest cover and biodiversity detected. Examined here is how a common property region of the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca, Mexico has maintained high forest cover in the absence of public protected areas, while multiple SCP exercises have advocated for the creation of public protected areas in communal tropical montane cloud forests and pine forests as strategies for biodiversity conservation and resilience to climate change. Methods included archival research, review of community documents, focus group interviews, semi-structured interviews, participant observation, land use transects, and GIS analysis and remote sensing. Conservation in the region originally occurred because of low population densities, steep slopes and a lack of agricultural subsidies, supported by locally adapted agricultural practices. In the 1990s, a transition from passive to active conservation took place with land use zoning plans, community conservation rules, community forestry enterprises and payments for environmental service programs that consolidated a trend towards high, unthreatened forest cover. Today, the study communities have an average of 88.3% forest cover, with 61% of that in informal conservation based on community land use zoning and rules and another 14% governed by forest management plans approved by the Mexican government. We argue that truly systematic conservation plans would seek to understand how communities in the region are already managing forests for conservation. It is pointless and uninformed to advocate for top-down conservation interventions of forests that are already robustly conserved and resilient to climate change due to community action.     

海南药用植物资源状况及其保护

分析了海南药用植物资源的变迁,认为在过去的40多年里,海南药用植物资源遭受严重破坏,药材资源蕴藏量急剧下降;热带森林锐减及生态环境的破坏、掠夺性的采挖和缺乏科学的采集方法等是药用植物资源减少的主要原因：指出了药用植物资源保护中存的问题;建议开展药用植物资源普查、加强常用和珍稀濒危药用植物的研究及其迁地保护。     

中国鹤类现状及保护

世界上现存有15种鹤。我国记录有9种，是世界拥有鹤类最多的国家，有灰鹤10000—12000只，黑颈鹤5500—5900只，白头鹤1000—1500只，丹项鹤1200—1500只，白枕鹤3500—4000只，白鹤2600—2900只，蓑羽鹤4000—5000只，由于栖息地变化，它们均处于濒危状态。     

黑龙江省湿地保护与生态旅游开发

黑龙江省是我国面积最大的淡水湿地分布区，原始湿地面积达850万hm^2，占全省土地面积的17．7％，由于多年的开发，现存湿地面积为434万hm^2，占全省土地面积的9．55％。由于近年来加强了湿地保护和退耕还湿，湿地正逐渐恢复，陆续建立了41处湿地类型的自然保护区。在保护湿地的同时，也应合理利用湿地资源，在不影响湿地生态系统平衡的前提下，进行合理开发和利用；就湿地生态旅游开发进行了深入的探讨和研究。     

Evaluating the long‐term impacts of promoting “green” agriculture in the Amazon

Frontier development in the Brazilian Amazon has created vast areas of largely deforested landscapes. Conservation efforts in these post‐frontier zones seek to protect the remaining forest fragments and promote sustainable agricultural practices that absorb labor, meet market demand, and generate ecosystem services. Assessments of these efforts often find that rates of sustained uptake are disappointingly low and that impacts are difficult to discern, but this could be due to the short‐time frames of both the efforts themselves and their evaluation. We investigate the impacts of participation in an internationally sponsored farmer association that for 15 years promoted sustainable agricultural practices in the heavily deforested state of Rondônia, Brazil. Using data from a georeferenced four‐period panel survey of farmers in combination with remote sensing data on land use spanning the life of the association, we apply matching methods to estimate the impacts of participation. We find that membership resulted in more diversified production systems, including more land allocated to agroforestry. Members also deforested less of their farms, but this difference is not statistically significant after we control for selection bias in membership.     

黑龙江省鹤类现状及保护

世界上现存有15种鹤,中国记录有9种,黑龙江省拥有7种,包括丹顶鹤、白鹤、白头鹤、白枕鹤、灰鹤、沙丘鹤及蓑羽鹤。由于栖息地变化,它们均处于濒危状态。为了加强鹤类的保护工作,黑龙江省出台了一系列法规和决定,使鹤类及栖息地得到有效的保护。鹤类种群数量在逐渐恢复。     

辽宁省湿地保护对策研究

辽宁省湿地类型齐全，分布范围广，可划分为5大类11种类型，总面积121．96万hm^2，其中近海及海岸湿地73．81万hm^2，河流湿25．22万hm^2，沼泽和沼泽草甸温地11．02万hm^2，湖泊、库塘温地11．91万hm^2。辽宁省已建立温地自然保护区14个。提出湿地生态环境和水鸟保护对策。     

我国东方白鹳种群现状及保护

东方白鹳Ciconia boyciana属鹳形目鹳科的大型涉禽，繁殖于我国东北部，在长江中下游地区越冬，20世纪70年代以前繁殖数量超过1000只，目前在黑龙江省的繁殖数量不足100只，越冬种群数量一直保持在2000只左右，为保护这种濒危鸟类做了大量的研究和人工招引工作，人工繁殖巢有50多个。     

节水财税金融政策模式创新研究

我国节水管理的财税金融支持政策较为薄弱。节能与节水同样具有显著公益性和外部性,其财税金融政策经验可供节水领域借鉴。从政策手段、支持目标和实施效果等政策要素角度,对比分析我国节水与节能财税金融支持政策存在的差距。在政策手段上,支持节水的财政、税收、贷款、基金、债券等政策工具尚未得到系统应用,上市融资、保险、证券等金融手段还处于探索阶段。在政策目标上,对节水灌溉设施运行维护、节水技术与产品研发及推广、节水示范等支持较弱。在政策效果上,节水行业发展规模和效率水平都明显落后于节能行业。基于政策要素对比,将所需完善的政策手段和支持目标进行组合,得到需要创新实施的10项节水财税金融政策模式。     

西藏渔业资源保护及其利用的思考

随着渔业经济的发展,保护渔业资源和发展高效渔业已成为必然。西藏地处世界屋脊,特殊而严酷的自然环境造就了其独特而又脆弱的渔业资源,如何正确处理好渔业经济发展和渔业资源保护、利用的关系成为西藏渔业面临的主要问题。本文综述了西藏渔业资源及其保护和利用现状,评述了当前西藏渔业资源保护和利用工作中存在的突出问题,并提出了一些改进措施和建议。     

Trends in private land conservation: Increasing complexity,shifting conservation purposes and allowable private land uses

The terrain of private-land conservation dealmaking is shifting. As the area of private land protected for conservation increases, it is time to understand trends in private-land conservation agreements. We examined 269 conservation easements and conducted 73 interviews with land conservation organizations to investigate changes in private-land conservation in the United States. We hypothesized that since 2000, conservation easements have become more complex but less restrictive. Our analysis reveals shifts in what it means for private land to be “conserved.” We found that conservation easements have indeed become more complex, with more purposes and terms after 2000 compared to conservation easements recorded before 2000. However, changes in restrictiveness of conservation easements varied by land use. Mining and waste dumping were less likely to be allowed after 2000, but new residences and structures were twice as likely to be allowed. We found a shift toward allowing some bounded timber harvest and grazing and a decline in terms that entirely allow or prohibit these working land uses. Interviews revealed staff perceptions of reasons for these changes. Our analysis suggests that “used” landscapes are increasingly important for conservation but that conserving these properties stretches the limits of simple, perpetual policy tools and requires increasingly complex and contingent agreements.     

洞庭湖湿地资源保护与利用

分析了洞摩湖湿地资源特征和利用现状;洞庭湖湿地资源丰富,利用潜力巨大,在资源利用上存在着利用不足和过度利用两种倾向;由于自然因素特别是人类不合理的开发利用活动,使洞庭湖湿地面临诸多生态威胁;提出了建立综合性湿地自然保护区、防治水土流失、平垸行洪、退田还湖、实行湖泊湿地生态整体开发、加强湿地污染综合治理和生态环境宣传教育等对策。     

Statutory bodies and rural conservation: agency or instrument?

The article describes how Britain's main conservation agencies — the Countryside Commission, Nature Conservancy Council and National Park Authorities — have few powers and scant resources. To have any real impact, the authors explain that they must exploit their semi-independent status and act as forceful and persuasive advocates of conservation. Thus, their effectiveness In pursuing the statutory duties with which they are charged depends greatly on the attitudes and interests of the members appointed by ministers to run the agencies. It is shown that there have been marked shifts In the experience and interests of the members appointed since the mid-1970s. The main reasons are seen to be political and the result would appear to be a softening of official policy and practice to the detriment of conservation.     

Determinants of farmers' indigenous soil and water conservation investments in semi-arid India

This paper investigates the determinants of farmers' indigenous soil and water conservation investments in the semi-arid tropics of India. A simple theoretical model is used to develop hypotheses about the determinants of investment under alternative factor market conditions, and these are tested using data on conservation investment from three villages. We find that conservation investment is significantly lower on leased land in two of the study villages and lower on plots that are subject to sales restrictions in one village, suggesting the potential for land market reforms to increase conservation investment. In one village, households with more adult males, more farm servants, and less land invest more in conservation, as predicted by Ihe model of imperfect labor markets; and households with more debt and off - farm income invest more, consistent with the model of imperfect credit markets. Evidence that conservation investment is affected by factor market imperfections is weaker in the other villages, where investments are much larger, suggesting transaction costs as the source of the differences between villages. Other factors that have a significant effect on investment include the farmer's education and caste, characteristics of the plot (size, slope, irrigation status, and quality ranking) and the presence of existing land investments. The results suggest the importance of accounting for differences across communities and households in factor market and agroelimatic conditions in designing programs to promote investments in soil and water conservation.     

Gender and conservation agriculture in East and Southern Africa: towards a research agenda

It is remarkable that despite wide-ranging, in-depth studies over many years, almost no conservation agriculture (CA) studies consider gender and gender relations as a potential explanatory factor for (low) adoption rates. This is important because CA demands new ways of working with the farm system. Implementation will inevitably involve a reallocation of men's and women's resources as well as having an impact upon their ability to realize their gender interests. With respect to intra-household decision-making and the distribution of benefits, CA interventions have implications for labour requirements and labour allocation, investment decisions with respect to mechanization and herbicide use, crop choice, and residue management. CA practice may impact upon the ability of households to source a wide variety of crops, wild plants, and insects and small animals for household nutrition. Gender biases in extension service design can sideline women. This paper examines the limited research to date on the interactions between CA interventions and gender in East and Southern Africa, and, based on the gaps observed, sets out a research agenda. It argues that attention to gender in CA is particularly timely given the increasing interest in CA as a means of adapting to climate change.     

壶瓶山植物资源区系特征与保护利用

壶瓶山有植物206科、840属、2262种,资源丰富、珍稀濒危植物多、开发价值高;提出了植物资源保护与利用对策。