Sense and Sustainability: Sustainability as an Objective in International Agricultural Research

This paper first discusses how to use sustainability as a criterion by which to evaluate agricultural research, then illustrates the difficulties inherent in applying the criterion and finally draws implications for international agricultural research. Seven propositions relating to sustainability are stated. Agricultural researchers are urged to (a) recognize the importance of the sustainability of agricultural systems. (b) devise appropriate ways to measure sustainability, (c) empirically examine the sustainability of some well-defined cropping or farming systems, (d) define the externalities that exist in such systems, and (e) develop methods to measure those externalities.     

Economic Measures of Sustainability

Sustainable Agriculture is a term that has grown out of global call for sustainable development. Unfortunately, the term has been very widely adopted to represent a variety of initiatives. If the term is to retain any meaning it must be refined and defined. In this paper sustainability was defined as: The maintenance of the net benefits agriculture provides to society for present and future generations. This definition is very much a humanist approach, which includes both consumer and producer surplus. The paper identifies the conflict that may occur between consumer surplus, producer surplus and total economic surplus. From a consumer surplus point of view food security, and discounting are major issues. The compensating variation of a famine may be infinite making food security a primary goal of many nations. The maximization of the net returns from agricultural production represents me producer surplus point view. A second, somewhat related concern is the maintenance of minimum level of income in the agricultural sector. Consumer surplus is threatened by food scarcity, and agricultural income is threatened by surpluses. Price is the best measure we have of scarcity. To discuss sufficiency in the absence of price is very misleading. Similarly, describing sustainability in terms of expected output and prices is also misleading. It is unplanned scarcity and abundance that threatens food security and economic viability respectively. It is therefore, the ability of the agricultural system to respond and rule out extreme price that is central to the issue of sustainability. Given the inelastic nature of the demand the ability for sustainable agriculture may largely be a function of the elasticity of supply. The ability of fixed factors such as land to enter and exit a sector may also augment sustainability. A thirdsource, of economic flexibility is alternative technologies that can be applied at very low or high prices. This flexibility has to be valued not at expected prices but rather for the option values at extreme prices. Government has a role in sustainability. Governments should pursue policies which enhance the elasticity of supply. Policies that stabilize income through prices have the opposite effect. These programs should at a minimum be decoupled. Secondly, governments should spend research dollars on technologies that enhance the elasticity of supply. Finally, land set aside programs, add great deal to the elasticity of supply.     

可持续发展会计初探

可持续发展概念的提出对传统会计的理论与核算内容等方面提出了诸多的挑战。从可持续发展的概念出发，探讨和分析了在可持续发展概念框架下，传统会计所存在的诸多问题。如会计主体假设和成本价值补偿等问题，对建立可持续发展会计对传统会计产生的积极影响进行了充分的论述。     

土地系统功能及其可持续性评价

研究目的：从土地系统功能角度探讨土地可持续性,为土地管理提供新的思路。研究方法：文献综述法,比较分析法,归纳总结法。研究结果：（1）在土地系统研究中,结构变化方面的研究已有很多,土地为人类提供产品和服务的功能及其可持续性正越来越多地受到学术界关注。（2）剖析土地功能的概念,综述了土地“功能”内涵的演进、土地结构与功能的关系、土地覆盖、土地利用与土地功能的关系以及土地功能的分类,系统介绍了基于土地功能的可持续性评价方法,并指出了土地功能评价中存在的尺度问题。研究结论：土地系统功能及其可持续性评价可以为土地科学研究、土地管理和区域发展提供新的视角。     

社区滚动资金的运作和可持续性机制研究

农村金融存在"政府失灵"和"市场失灵"的"双失灵"情况,直接的后果是导致农村居民普遍借贷难的现象.社区滚动资金就是在金融服务"市场失灵"和"政府失灵"的双重约束下产生的.社区滚动资金作为一种金融创新弥补了正规金融的不足,有利于农村小农经济的发展.便同时也出现了很多问题,如还款难和受到村庄政治干预等问题.笔者以:亚洲开发银行在三江平原实施的项目为载体,走进社区,对社区滚动资金运作的过程进行透视,从而为社区发展中滚动资金的运作提供实践案例和宝贵的经验.     

Sustainability: Perceptions of Problems and Progress of the Paradigm

Four aspects of the application of sustainability to agricultural policy have remained problematic between the 1987 Brundtland Report and the 2002 World Summit. These are:

Multidimensionality: early emphasis on a triple bottom line of social, economic and biophysical criteria gave way to emphasis on the biophysical, although there is now evidence of re-convergence in policy and from elite consumers.

Hierarchy: sustainability is addressed within systems that are nested in space, time, the principal actor and the dominant factor affecting it.

Emergent properties: an emphasis on anticipating and monitoring sustainability through, e.g. indicators, has obscured the reality that sustainability is an outcome or emergent property. Recent methods derive problem-determined objectives for sustainable development.

Uncertainty: agricultural systems are not simply predictable and deterministic. Assessment of sustainability should quantify and anticipate uncertainties and avoid policy intervention which is coloured by the evaluator and their circumstances.

Social aspects of decision-making pervade all these problems. It is proposed that progress will be accelerated by: pro-active government policy intervention in rural areas (of the type which is accepted by citizens of cities); participatory decision-making from the outset and throughout any development of, or decision to provide financial support to maintain, a sustainable enterprise; and evaluations of sustainability that anticipate variability or risk, uncoloured by short-term priorities such as business survival.     

Sustainability assessment methodology of urban mobility projects

In Brazil, the introduction of a national urban mobility policy occurred only in 2012. In this context, the federal government has provided hundreds of millions in investment to improve mobility conditions in urban areas. The main financial institution responsible for analyzing and monitoring developments of this nature considers the following criteria for project assessment: cost, environmental licensing, compatibility, and functionality. However, a project’s contribution to sustainable urban mobility is not taken into account. Thus, the work reported herein aimed to develop a method to assess the sustainability of urban mobility projects. This involved indicator selection, and the development of a tool based on sustainability indicators for project assessment. In addition, an Urban Mobility Project Sustainability Index (UMPSI) was proposed to summarize the assessment, which was tested in five urban mobility projects funded in the Curitiba Metropolitan Region (RMC), presented in a companion paper. Environmental, social, and economic aspects of project design and implementation are considered in the assessment. The proposed method consists of 17 sustainability indicators, grouped according to their connection with environmental, social, and economic aspects. Addition of the proposed method to the contracting and monitoring processes of future urban mobility projects supports the sustainable development of the urban landscape.     

区域土地利用绩效及可持续性评价

通过构建区域土地利用绩效评价指标体系和评价模型,对湛江市1996-2005年的土地利用绩效和可持续性进行了评价.结果表明:湛江市土地利用绩效指数由1996年的0.1646增长到0.2297,总体呈波浪式增长;以1996年为基准年,1997-1999年的土地利用可持续性指数小于0,土地利用处于不可持续阶段,2000-2005年的土地利用可持续性指数大于0,土地利用处于可持续阶段,说明湛江市的土地利用正逐步优化.根据土地利用存在的问题提出了土地可持续利用的建议.     

可持续理念下的土地价值决定与量化

以土地为代表的自然资源价值问题一直是经济理论界争论的焦点问题之一。作者主要从可持续理念角度解释土地价值问题,认为可持续的价值理念是解决土地价值问题的理论基础和重要依据。在土地供需紧张并持续退化的当代,可持续的价值理念将引导人类反思对土地价值的传统认识,是重建土地价值的重要途径,因而具有重要的现实意义。     

西部地区农业可持续性评价

本文在简述目标、生产、属性三个不同导向的农业可持续性概念的基础上，采用资源模型、环境模型和经济模型，对西部地区604个县（市、区）的农业可持续性进行了评价。结果表明：处于不可持续阶段和强可持续阶段的县（市、区）较多；多数县（市、区）都可以保持原有的农业可持续性；大多数国家重点扶持贫困县，不当的发展方式导致了其农业可持续性的下降。     

中国农用水资源配置效率及承载力可持续性研究

本文分析了中国农用水资源投入产出状况、配置效果、提高利用率的潜力以及农用水资源利用与经济发展的偶合效应,阐明提高农用水资源配置效率、增强农用水资源承载力可持续性的路径和措施。由于华北地区为中国缺水最为严重的地区,本文将该区的河北、山东、河南三个国家粮食主产省作为案例省份。