基于社会资本理论的农民灌溉水价支付意愿影响因素分析模型

从社会资本角度定量研究农民灌溉水价支付意愿影响因素,采用信任指数和互助指数对社会资本进行量化,结合开放式和二分式问卷格式,改进了获得农民灌溉水价支付意愿相关数据的引导技术,并采用多元线性回归方法建立了农民灌溉水价支付意愿影响因素定量分析模型。以皂河灌区为研究区域,通过问卷调查收集基础数据,采用提出的模型分析了各因素对农民灌溉水价支付意愿的影响情况。结果表明:社会资本是影响农民灌溉水价支付意愿的重要因素之一;农户主要劳动力人数、耕地面积、供水及时性、管水者工作能力等因素对农民灌溉水价支付意愿也具有显著影响。灌溉水价的改革,应重视农民社会资本并提高灌区供水服务水平等。     

淡水养殖系统环境损害成本的条件价值评估——以淀山湖水源保护区为例

水产养殖生态系统为人类提供了巨大的生态服务价值,但也造成一定程度的环境污染。本文利用CVM方法调查了淀山湖区域居民对水产养殖系统环境损害成本的支付意愿。分析结果表明,只有23.5%的居民对解决水产养殖造成的淀山湖生态环境损害存在支付意愿。利用单边界两分式问卷调查发现,对于水产养殖生态系统的环境污染治理的平均支付意愿为15.92元/人·年。据此计算,淀山湖周边三镇水产养殖系统的环境损害成本为每年276.7万元。居民治理水产养殖环境污染的支付意愿受收入、性别等社会经济因素的影响。     

Valuing a multistate river: the case of the River Murray*

The River Murray and the Coorong in Australia have been in a state of decline. With the prospect of extended droughts and shifts in inflows due to climate change, difficult choices loom. The options include halting the decline, triage of some assets along the River or staying with the declining river system. To support decision‐making, a survey was designed to elicit willingness to pay for improvements in environmental quality. Over 3000 Australians responded to this survey. The study focuses on key River Murray environmental quality indicators: the frequency of bird breeding along the River Murray, increasing native fish populations in the River Murray, increasing the area of healthy vegetation along the River Murray, and restoring water bird habitat in the Coorong. State/Territory models were jointly estimated using a panel multinomial logit error‐components model. Willingness to pay estimates for improvements in environmental quality were calculated for the River Murray and the Coorong. Respondents were found to be willing to pay most for the Coorong and to improve waterbird breeding frequency. Respondents from the Australian Capital Territory were found to have significantly higher willingness to pay whereas those in Victoria had a significantly lower willingness to pay than respondents in other states.     

The potential impact of markets for irrigation water in Italy and Spain: a comparison of two study areas*

The viability of irrigated systems in Southern Europe is closely linked to efficient institutional settings and water‐allocation mechanisms. A significant, although not widely used, mechanism for water allocation is an intra‐sectorial water market. The objective of this paper is to evaluate to what extent water markets may contribute to the improvement of the efficiency of water allocation and to the profitability of irrigated agriculture. The related issues of water allocation among farm types and farm specialisation are also addressed. The analysis is based on a basin‐level linear programming model, comparing the situation with and without a market. It includes both fixed and variable transaction costs and estimates their combined effects on market performances. The model is applied in two areas in Southern Italy and Spain, and simulates the behaviour of different farm types, derived from cluster analysis on a sample of farms in each area. The paper confirms that water markets could potentially improve the economic efficiency of water use, in terms of higher profit per hectare, given limited water availability. The potential improvements are associated with a more intense specialisation of farms and are strongly differentiated among farmers, particularly where significant restrictions to water availability occur. This corroborates the expectations of institutional difficulties in implementing water markets. However, the exchanges, and consequently the potential effects of water markets, are heavily affected by the actual level of water availability, as well as the size and the structure (fixed vs. proportional) of transaction costs. The paper calls for a more in‐depth analysis of the connections between market performances and institutional settings, as related to the issue of water‐agriculture policy design and coordination.     

Urban water demand with fixed volumetric charging in a large municipality: the case of Brisbane,Australia*

This paper uses suburb‐level quarterly data to model residential water demand in Brisbane, Australia, from 1998 to 2003. In this system, residential consumption is charged using a fixed annual service fee with no water entitlement followed by a fixed volumetric charge per kilolitre. Water demand is specified as average quarterly household water consumption and the demand characteristics include the marginal price of water, household income and size, and the number of rainy and warm days. The findings not only confirm residential water as price and income inelastic, but also that the price and income elasticity of demand in owner‐occupied households is higher than in rented households. The results also show that weather, particularly summer months and the number of rainy days, exerts a strong influence on residential water consumption.     

水土资源约束下区域农业供给侧结构优化——以河北省为例

在水土资源约束背景下,如何通过农业供给侧结构优化协调区域水土资源分布与农业生产的关系是当前农业问题的重中之重。借助比较优势理论和农业系统理论,构建水土资源约束下区域农业供给侧结构优化模型,并以河北省为研究对象进行实证分析,选用多目标优化粒子群算法对模型进行求解,以实现区域农业经济高效、可持续发展。     

渔业企业质量认知与行为选择的实证分析一一以上海市为例

在渔业产品质量安全的生产者行为理论分析基础上,采用抽样调查的实证方法,利用上海市渔业企业的问卷调查数据,对渔业企业的质量安全认知水平、控制意愿和控制行为进行了实证研究。结果表明渔业企业的质量安全认知水平不高,质量安全控制意愿不强烈,安全控制行为较少,对此提出了具有针对性和可操作性的政策建议。     

An assessment of the policies and practices of selective logging and timber utilisation: A case study from natural forests of Tarai Nepal and Queensland Australia

Selective logging (SL) contributes nearly 15 percent of the global timber needs. Considering its role in sustainable timber production, biodiversity conservation and forest carbon enhancement, assessment of SL policies and practices is crucial. This paper assesses the policies and practices of SL in natural production forests of the Tarai region of Nepal and Queensland Australia to explore the key differences in such policies and practices and their possible implications in achieving sustainable forest management objectives. The primary methods applied in the study were review and synthesis of key policy documents and qualitative analysis of the information gathered from key informant interviews and stakeholders’ workshop. Altogether, 53 respondents from a wide range of stakeholder groups (government organizations-15, non-government organizations/networks-15, private sector including the individual landowners-13, local political leaders-3 and independent forest experts/scientists-7) were consulted. Findings suggest that: (1) frequent and inconsistent changes in policy provisions, lengthy administrative procedures and heavy engagement of state forest agencies in forest product harvesting and sales processes play key roles in sub-optimal forest production in Nepal, whereas lower dependency on forest-products, higher labour costs, lack of species-wise royalty rate and flexibility in selecting optional logs are the key factors for increased wastages of forest products in Queensland; (2) recovery and utilisation of the harvested forest product is better in Nepal but policy and practical considerations on biodiversity and environment are better in Queensland; and (3) Forest harvesting specific codes of practice, occupational health and safety standards, and their compliance mechanism of Queensland could be beneficial for Nepal to minimise operational harvesting risks and to attract professional harvesters that support promoting sustainable use and management of natural forests, as we found this aspect almost neglected in Nepal.