碳汇基本知识

碳汇：一般是指从空气中清除二氧化碳的过程、活动、机制。在林业中主要是指植物吸收大气中的二氧化碳并将其固定在植被或土壤中,从而减少该气体在大气中的浓度。地球上可以吸收大量二氧化碳的是海洋中的浮游生物和陆地上的森林,尤其是热带雨林。全球气候变化问题日益严重,林业碳汇是应对全球气候变暖的重要手段。     

碳汇基本知识

碳汇：一般是指从空气中清除二氧化碳的过程、活动、机制。在林业中主要是指植物吸收大气中的二氧化碳并将其固定在植被或土壤中,从而减少该气体在大气中的浓度。地球上可以吸收大量二氧化碳的是海洋中的浮游生物和陆地上的森林,尤其是热带雨林。全球气候变化问题日益严重,林业碳汇是应对全球气候变暖的重要手段。     

碳排放权交易的市场分析

提出了碳排放权交易的基本概念,介绍了当前碳排放权交易规模急剧膨胀、私人公司踊跃参与、发展中国家成为主要卖方市场的现状,并对建立碳排放权交易的市场机制过程中可能存在的问题进行了较为深刻的讨论,提出了中国构建碳排放权市场交易机制的相关制度建议。     

新形势下辽宁农业碳排放测度与低碳化发展对策研究

首先设定农业碳排放测算公式,使用2009-2018年辽宁农业碳排放相关指标数据对辽宁农业碳排放量、碳排放效率以及碳源结构特征进行测算与分析。在此基础上指出辽宁农业低碳化发展过程中存在的主要问题,并提出"十四五"时期进一步推动辽宁农业低碳化发展的对策建议。     

森林碳排放权生产:林产工业减碳之选择

提出"以增加碳汇能力为目标的森林经营行为应该得到相应碳排放权"的观点;林产工业森林碳排放权生产机制包括一致行动和森林资源资产化管理两方面的内容,一致行动可以促使林产工业成为重要的森林经营主体,同时降低森林碳排放权的生产和交易成本;森林资源资产化管理机制是通过"碳排放权"账户的设置,反映企业森林经营管理过程中碳排放权的增减,并与工业生产过程的碳排放量进行核算,两者结合起来共同实现林产工业减碳的目标。指出森林碳排放权生产机制还有利于林产工业的融资以及改善企业形象、平稳原材料价格、优化税负结构等优点。     

产业集聚与碳排放:促进还是抑制?——基于中国省级层面的经验证据

文章基于中国2004—2018年30个省份的面板数据,实证分析产业集聚对碳排放的作用效果。研究表明:全国层面,一产集聚和二产集聚均促进碳排放,而三产集聚对抑制碳排放有显著效果。一二产业、二三产业和一三产业的共同集聚均能在一定程度上改善碳排放;地区层面,东中西地区产业集聚对碳排放的作用方向大体与全国一致,但区域间作用效果存在差异。为此,建议政府构建一产、二产集聚与碳排放动态监测的联合预警机制,发挥三产集聚对碳排放的积极作用,因地制宜制定东中西地区产业集聚的发展策略。     

碳排放权交易在中国的研究进展

《京都议定书》提出的碳排放权交易是实现减缓气候变化国际合作的重要机制。本文阐述了国际碳排放权交易的产生和意义,并就碳排放权交易中各国初始碳排放权的合理配置、碳排放权交易对中国经济的影响和对中国林业的影响等重要问题在我国的研究情况进行述评。     

农地经营规模影响农业碳排放的逻辑何在?——要素投入的中介作用和文化素质的调节作用

在农地经营规模、要素投入强度、劳动力文化素质以及农业碳排放之间逻辑关系理论分析的基础之上,文章作者利用2000年~2016年中国31省省级面板数据,构建有调节的中介效应检验模型,对农地经营规模影响农业碳排放的作用机制进行了实证检验。研究结果表明:农地经营规模对农业碳排放的作用路径在于要素投入强度扮演的中介作用,即农地经营规模变化诱发化学品投入强度和技术投入强度变化,继而影响农业碳排放。劳动力文化素质可以有效调节要素投入强度在农地经营规模与农业碳排放间的中介作用:较高的劳动力文化素质加强了技术投入强度与农业碳排放之间的负向关系,削弱了化肥投入强度与农业碳排放之间的正向关系。     

气候变化和林业:REDD入门

在如何应对气候变化的讨论中,最有争议的问题之一是REDD(减少毁坏和林地退化造成的碳排放)。在基于市场减排战略中的作用,分析审查REDD活动的成本表明,REDD不但在减少GHG排放的全球战略中发挥重要作用,还可以保护热带雨林提供生物多样性和重要生态系统服务。但是REDD项目限于在一定地域,除非全球森林都被纳入REDD,否则漏洞无法消除,此外,REDD在政策设计问题上存在一定争议,因此还需进一步的研究讨论。     

贸易开放、经济增长、人力资本与碳排放绩效——来自中国农业的证据

利用2000—2011年30个省份的面板数据,本文采用DEA方法中最新技术EBM模型计算了中国4个区域30个省份的农业碳排放绩效,并通过建立静态Xttobit模型和动态Diff-GMM模型,估计了农业贸易开放、人力资本、农业经济增长与农业碳排放绩效的关系。研究发现:中国各省份的农业碳排放绩效在这12年间都有所提高,但增速较为缓慢;农业贸易开放对农业碳排放绩效有明显的推动作用,农产品进口依存度与农业碳排放绩效呈正相关关系;中国农业贸易开放度与农业碳排放绩效之间的关系满足"资源禀赋假说",即劳动密集型地区以生产清洁型产品为主,中国农产品的出口对农业碳排放绩效的改善有阻碍作用;农业经济增长对农业碳排放绩效的影响具有时滞,需要从动态的角度考虑农业经济增长与农业碳排放之间的关系;人力资本质量和数量的提高都对农业碳排放绩效有着积极推动作用。     

Price transmission between products at different stages of manufacturing in forest industries

The theory of demand and supply implies a positive relationship, or “price transmission” between the prices of products at different stages of manufacturing. This relationship was investigated with quarterly prices of softwood stumpage in the US South, and national prices of forest products, from 1977 to 2002. All prices, net of inflation, were found to be nonstationary and there was no evidence of co-integration between prices. Vector autogressive models, augmented by Granger causality tests and multiplier analysis showed that there was a one-to-one permanent positive response of the southern sawtimber stumpage price to a permanent change in the national lumber price. There was also a one-third permanent positive response of the national paper price to a permanent change in the national pulp price. There was no relation between regional pulpwood prices and national pulp or paper prices. When price transmission was significant, the full adjustment took about 2 years.     

Application of an ecosystem function framework to perceptions of community woodlands

Owners, local residents, government, and conservation organisations can express divergent preferences in the development and management of local woodlands. The perceptions of these four groups were examined, in the context of three community woodlands in Eastern England, using an ecosystem function framework. In a pilot study, residents were able to allocate a relative importance to woodland ecosystem services which were then related to “regulation”, “habitat”, and “production” or “information” functions. However residents also placed importance on negative services or “dis-services” associated with the woodland ecosystem. Therefore a fifth category of “dis-services” was included in the main survey which included 84 local residents, three woodland owners, three government institutions, and six representatives from conservation groups. Each of the four groups placed greatest importance on services associated with habitat (16–39% of the total importance) and information (30–50%) functions suggesting, in this example, mutual interest in the use of woodlands as a habitat or recreational resource. By contrast a potential area of difference was the particularly high importance placed by one owner on dis-services such as fly tipping. In addition the woodland owners placed higher importance (10–20%), than local residents and conservation groups (7–9%), on the productive services of the wood. This suggests a need for communication when production-related operations affect recreation. The ecosystem function framework appears to be a useful approach for highlighting potential tensions and areas of mutual interest in the management of semi-natural ecosystems.     

In Vino ‘No’ Veritas: impacts of fraud on wine imports in China

China is one of the largest wine importing countries in the world and is poised for continued import growth in the future. Increased wine purchases throughout China have given rise to persistent fraud where fake wines are packaged and sold with counterfeit contents and labels. For exporting countries like France, counterfeit wines displace market share, damage foreign brand reputation, and cause distrust in consumers who are aware of counterfeiting problems throughout the country. We examine the impact of fraudulent wine events (as measured by negative media reports) on Chinese wine demand differentiated by supplying country. We employ the Rotterdam demand system and a switching regression procedure to estimate import demand and compare results across different media variable specifications. Results consistently show that negative reports disproportionately affect French wine regardless of how the media variable is specified. This is not surprising because most fraudulent events involve French wine counterfeits.     

An evaluation framework for earthquake-responsive land administration

In recent years earthquakes and their secondary hazards have claimed the largest number of lives of all large natural disasters. Some of the world’s most earthquake-prone zones are also areas of high population density. The impact is magnified by vulnerability factors including non-enforcement of building codes, knowledge gaps, urban poverty and poor governance capacity to manage and reduce earthquake risks. Poor security of land tenure and property rights increases the vulnerability of people and affects their ability to respond to natural disasters.Earthquake recovery and reconstruction provides very significant challenges for land agencies, with these challenges differing from one country to the next due to differences in the local context. Drawing on contrasting case studies in Haiti, Nepal and New Zealand this paper identifies the common post-earthquake land administration functions and challenges that may apply to many contexts. These lessons provide land agencies and other key stakeholders with a summary of the challenges an earthquake poses for land administration at different post-disaster stages. We also discuss the policy and regulatory, institutional, operational and preparedness lessons for land administration. From these lessons we propose a framework for evaluating the earthquake-responsiveness of a land administration system. This framework can be used by a land agency in an earthquake prone region, or where an earthquake has recently occurred, to assess what challenges to land administration might occur in the event of an earthquake, and the preparedness of their land administration system.     

Agrarian Poverty,Nutrition and Economic Class – A Study of Gujarat,India

This paper analyses poverty and calorific undernourishment in the Indian state of Gujarat, where high and market‐led industrial growth has resulted in rapid economic improvement. The study is carried out through a combination of secondary and survey‐based data. We conclude that the neoliberal agenda of uncontrolled, outward‐looking growth has not resulted in significant reduction of poverty or malnourishment in rural areas. Furthermore, while land ownership is officially used as a proxy for wealth distribution, class position appears a better predictor of poverty status in the rural areas than landownership per se. At the policy level, there is a need to revive the agrarian economy and create new non‐agricultural assets, and the primary focus in the state must shift to the distribution of created assets rather than a single‐minded focus on growth.     

Does sustainable agricultural growth require a system of innovation? Evidence from Ghana and Burkina Faso

This paper tests the ‘systems of innovation’ hypothesis for a selection of crops in Ghana and Burkina Faso that have shown significant growth in production over an approximately 20-year period. The question is whether such growth can only occur if supported by a system of innovation. Using two indicators (a common understanding on objectives and priorities, and a high level of interactivity), we find little evidence for the existence of anything that might be considered a high functioning system of innovation.     

Local impacts of industrial tree plantations: An empirical analysis in Indonesia across plantation types

The values ascribed to industrial tree plantations are often controversial. Hence knowledge of their perceived impacts is important for improving their integration in rural landscapes. In 2016 we conducted household surveys with 606 respondents living in villages adjacent to acacia, teak and pine plantations across three islands in Indonesia (Java, Borneo, Sumatra). Results show that perceptions toward pine and teak plantations tend to differ from those toward acacia pulpwood plantations in several ways. Pine and teak plantations are perceived to have a higher number and variety of benefits and services, a higher number of positive impacts, a better environmental record, and to present more opportunities to local people for use of plantation land and products for improving rural livelihoods. In addition, we find that villagers around acacia pulpwood plantations tend to seek economic development and infrastructure to open up remote areas, yet their expectations were often only partially met. Recommendations from our analysis include: the role of the State in plantations must be clarified and potentially reinforced; the role of institutions as intermediaries is fundamental; and contributions by communities to design of management plans should be accommodated.     

Upstream demand for water use by new tree plantations imposes externalities on downstream irrigated agriculture and wetlands*

Large‐scale tree plantations in high rainfall upstream areas can reduce fresh water inflows to river systems, thereby imposing external costs on downstream irrigation, stock and domestic water users and wetland interests. We take the novel approach of expressing all benefits and costs of establishing plantations in terms of $ per gigalitre (GL) of water removed annually from river flows, setting upstream demands on the same basis as downstream demands. For the Macquarie Valley, a New South Wales sub‐catchment of Australia’s Murray‐Darling Basin, we project changes in land and water use and changes in economic surpluses under two policy settings: without and with a policy requiring permanent water entitlements to be purchased from downstream parties, before plantation establishment. Without the policy, and given a high stumpage value for trees ($70/m³), upstream gains in economic surplus projected from expanding plantations are $639 million; balanced against $233 million in economic losses by downstream irrigators and stock and domestic water users for a net gain of $406 million, but 345 GL lower mean annual environmental flows. With the policy, smaller gains in upstream economic surplus from trees ($192 million), added to net downstream gains ($138 million) from sale of water, result in gains of $330 million with no reduction in environmental flows. Sustaining the 345 GL flow for a $76 million (406–330) reduction in gains to economic surplus may be seen to cost only $0.22 million/GL; but this is much lower than the market value of the first units of that water to agriculture and forestry.     

Underpayment of Small Producers of Coffee and Cocoa in Sierra Leone

Fieldwork shows that many Sierra Leonean producers do not receive the official producer price for their coffee and cocoa, due to the concentration of buying stations, credit relations, the small quantities offered for sale, and the lack of marketing knowledge of the numerous and unorganized farmers. To the traders underpayment may seem economically justifiable to a certain extent, but to the farmers it means poverty and debt. A new village marketing centre project aims at remedying this situation and has already led to higher prices. Although no longer allowed to take their "just" share from the producers, traders are still willing to deal with the new centres.     

Malaria incidence and agricultural efficiency in Uganda

The cost of accessing healthcare can be a major determinant of disease prevalence, which in turn has short‐ and long‐term welfare implications on poor households. In response, governments in developing countries often resort to subsidizing the cost of drugs, which, while perhaps easier to administer, may not always be the most effective way of addressing healthcare cost. In this regard, we analyze the impact of different types of household level health expenses on disease incidence and agricultural production efficiency. We use data from the 2006 Uganda National Household Survey, which covered approximately 7,400 households. The results suggest that a 10% increase in consultation, medicine, and hospitalization expenses would reduce malaria incidence respectively by 35.6%, 20.5%, and 21.3 %, which translates into a 1.1%, 0.6%, and 0.6 % decrease in agricultural inefficiency, respectively. The results indicate that helping poor households meet expenses for consultation through subsidies or eliminating consultation fees has a larger impact on malaria incidence and agricultural productivity among poor rural households than subsidizing the cost of medical drugs, the most common avenue chosen by developing country governments in the fight against the disease.