Is it too late to stabilise the global climate?

Assessment of the feasibility of stabilising the global climate requires consideration of trajectories for emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. This study presents a simple and robust analysis of feasible emissions trajectories. Consideration of feasible trajectories suggests that if the current pace of mitigation efforts is sustained, the likely outcome will be stabilisation at concentrations close to 500 parts per million. Such an outcome will imply a higher than 50 per cent probability of substantial damage from climate change and an enhanced risk of a catastrophic outcome.     

Optimisation and the selection of conservation contracts*

This paper explores alternative techniques for the selection of conservation contracts under competitive tendering programs. Under these programs, purchasing decisions are often based on the benefits score and cost for proposed projects. The optimisation problem is to maximise the aggregate benefits without exceeding the budget. Because the budget rarely permits all projects to be funded, there is a binary choice problem, known in the operations research published work as a knapsack problem. The decision‐maker must choose which projects are funded and which are not. Under some circumstances, the knapsack problem can be unsolvable because computational complexity increases exponentially with the number of projects. This paper explores the use of several decision rules for solving the optimisation problem including the use of advanced meta‐heuristics. It is shown that commonly applied techniques for project selection may not be providing the optimal solution. Improved algorithms can increase the environmental programs benefits and staying within budget. The comparison of algorithms is based on real data from the Western Australian Conservation Auction.     

环境政策组合与城市工业用地绿色配置——基于市场型和行政型政策协同的视角

研究目的：从土地利用的视角,以排污权有偿使用交易和环保约谈政策为例,探究市场型和行政型的环境政策组合是否能够更有效的促进工业用地绿色配置,以期为制定合理的资源环境政策推进绿色经济发展提供理论依据。研究方法：倾向得分匹配和多期双重差分法结合。研究结果：（1）异质性的环境政策组合能够协同促进工业用地出让给绿色低污染行业,提高工业用地绿色配置水平,并且这种影响在中小城市、非资源型城市和市场化程度更高的城市中更为明显;（2）从影响机制而言,环境政策组合能提高地方政府对绿色发展的关注度,并增加地方企业和外来企业的环保绿色投资,从而有效促进工业用地绿色配置。研究结论：地方政府要协同使用各类政策工具,探索多元环境治理体系,在土地市场处理好政府和市场的关系,有效推动工业用地配置绿色转型。     

差别化土地管理理论解释及政策体系建设

我国土地资源存在明显的空间异质性,若采取统一的管理模式必然导致土地资源错配和效率损失。[目的]探索精细化、差别化的土地管理模式,实现土地资源针对性、有效性管理,是促进土地资源集约节约利用、提高土地资源配置效率和利用效益的重要途径,也是土地供给侧改革的重要着力点。[方法]运用理论模型法和文献综述法对差别化土地管理原理和政策含义进行了阐述,构建了差别化土地管理政策体系,并完善了政策支撑体系。[结果]差别化土地管理是集时间、空间、地类和产业、部门等为一体的差别化国土管理模式;差别化土地管理目标是在提高土地资源利用效率的同时兼顾社会公平;差别化土地配置效率较普适性配置模式更高。[结论]可从建设用地差别化、产业供地差别化和用途管制差别化等方面构建差别化土地管理政策框架体系,从试点、补偿、监管等方面配套政策支撑体系,提高土地资源利用效率的同时,保障社会公平。     

Non‐market valuation: usage and impacts in environmental policy and management in Australia

An extensive literature exists on environmental nonmarket valuation research. It appears that results from these studies should be useful inputs to decision‐making about environmental policy or management. Here, we investigate the extent to which this occurs in practice in Australian environmental management bodies. Nonmarket valuation experts were surveyed about their studies that they believed to have influenced policy. Then, decision‐makers in environmental bodies were interviewed about the level of influence nonmarket valuation has had on their decisions. We find that researchers' perceptions of the influence that nonmarket valuation has on decision‐making are overly optimistic. Interviews with decision‐makers suggest that nonmarket valuation is little used in decision‐making. Indeed, the majority of them are unfamiliar with nonmarket valuation techniques. Nevertheless, once the concept was explained to them, many decision‐makers believed it could benefit environmental policy. Researchers' perceptions of the reasons for low usage of nonmarket valuation are largely inaccurate. We suggest a range of strategies that economists can use to promote the use of nonmarket valuation in environmental policy and management decisions, including ways to improve communication and engagement with decision‐makers, and strategies to increase the capacity for decision‐makers to use nonmarket valuation results.     

关于“生态现实主义”及其评述

“生态现实主义”（Ecorealism）是当前如何解决环境问题而出现的一种思潮。它要求在环境保护为人们共识的条件下，制订相应的政策和法律，以引导和保证有关措施的实施和法律保护。当前人们有了一定的认识，但各国的法律和政策还未有相适应的转变，这也就是生态现实主义的核心问题。     

Payments for environmental services in Indonesia: What if economic signals were lost in translation?

This article provides an analysis of a payment for environmental services (PES) scheme in the Cidanau watershed, Indonesia. It contributes to the debate on the alleged effectiveness of such economic incentives to actually change decisions among land users. Building on the standard PES theory of change, one would assume that farmers respond to payments and change their land use decisions accordingly for the delivery of environmental services. However, at the project level the impacts of economic incentives depend on how the signal is transmitted to decision-makers. An extensive household survey was undertaken among 270 participating farmers in order to investigate these assumptions. Results indicate that farmers join the scheme for intrinsic motivations rather than because of economic incentives. Besides, the scheme does not target farmers whose decisions could be changed for the sake of service provision. Finally, farmer group leaders display disproportionate power of decision while individual farmers have a low level of understanding of the PES programme. As a consequence, land use patterns might not depend on the economic incentive only; rather they are likely to be determined by the local social context, traditions and economic dependency on forests. This in turn casts some doubts on the strong (yet contested) economic assumptions that underlie the emergence of PES schemes and on their modus operandi in developing countries.     

我国水产养殖业环境污染防治研究

随着渔业的发展,水产养殖业已经成为我国粮食安全保障以及实施"紧缺资源替代"战略的重要组成部分,但是水产养殖业环境污染也越来越受到关注,保护渔业资源和环境成为实现水产养殖业可持续发展的关键因素。本文从水产养殖业环境污染防治的战略角度出发,结合我国水产养殖业污染的现状,分析了水产养殖污染产生的各种机理,提出水产养殖业环境污染防治的战略性政策建议。     

Voting for Environmental Policy Under Income and Preference Heterogeneity

We examine the design of policies for promoting the consumption of green products under preference and income heterogeneity using organic food as an example. Two instruments are considered: a price subsidy for organic food products and a tax on conventional products. When the income differences and social benefits of organic farming are large, these factors dominate in shaping the policy preferences of the majority. In this case, the environmental policies preferred by the majority tend to be stricter than socially optimal policies. However, when income differences are small, policy preferences are more directly determined by tastes for organic products and the majority may prefer no intervention.     

政策综合在森林转型中的作用——以福建长汀为例

森林转型的概念于1992年被首次提出,现已成为国际生态经济和自然资源管理领域讨论的前沿与热点问题。中国在20世纪80年代实现了森林转型,为全球固碳和气候变化减缓作出了重要贡献。政策因素被认为在中国森林转型进程中发挥了重要的作用。以中国森林转型的典型地区福建长汀为例,构建植被恢复政策综合分析框架,从植被恢复政策的纵向综合与横向综合两方面对促进长汀森林转型的政策综合进行分析,对长汀植被恢复政策取得成功的原因进行探索,以丰富森林转型的政策路径理论的讨论。研究认为,植被恢复横向政策综合是长汀森林转型相关政策取得成功的关键,长汀的植被恢复政策体系对其他地区具有重要的借鉴意义。     

When Two Wrongs Make a Right: Second-Best Point–Nonpoint Trading Ratios

Most research on point–nonpoint trading focuses on the choice of trading ratio (the rate point source controls trade for nonpoint controls), although the first-best ratio is jointly determined with the optimal number of permits. In practice, program managers often do not have control over the number of permits—only the trading ratio. The trading ratio in this case can only be second-best. We derive the second-best trading ratio and, using a numerical example of trading in the Susquehanna River Basin, we find the values are in line with current ratios, but for different reasons than those that are normally provided.     

A simple compensation mechanism for flood protection services on farmland

Reservoirs for the transient storage of water in order to lower river flood peaks would usually be built on farmland and used in case of a serious flood event. Farmers’ willingness to have their lands included in a reservoir critically depends on the compensation they will obtain. Our paper proposes a new compensation scheme that consists of an unconditional annual payment and a reparation payment conditional on flooding. We determine the properties of an optimal contract offered by the river authorities to farmers that specifies the compensation scheme and the rules for the use of the reservoir. The two-tier payment scheme induces crop choices of farmers that lower the damage profile of land use and it covers the long-term costs of land use change to ensure voluntary participation. We illustrate the working of the payment scheme using data from a case study from the river Tisza in Hungary.     

共同但有区别责任原则在中国耕地保护中的运用

研究目的:借鉴国际环境法学中的共同但有区别责任原则,探讨此原则在中国耕地保护领域中的运用。研究方法:运用共同但有区别责任原则,结合中国耕地保护的具体实践进行分析。研究结果:耕地保护是全民共同的责任,但由于中国耕地保护外部环境的非均衡性和耕地保护机会成本损失差异决定了耕地保护的责任又必须是有区别的。同时,耕地保护共同但有区别责任是有机联系的统一整体,共同责任是该原则的基础,区别责任是对共同责任的限定,是贯彻该原则的关键。研究结论:为了使共同但有区别责任原则在耕地保护中得到更好地运用,在界定耕地保护共同但有区别责任的范畴基础上,提出了三大保障措施:(1)耕地保护区域的合理划分及其建设管理;(2)以耕地保护为契机,建立区域之间的协作与联动机制;(3)构建耕地保护外部经济效益的补偿机制,保障耕地保护的公平性。