A legal framework with scientific basis for applying the ‘polluter pays principle’ to soil conservation in rural watersheds in Brazil

The “polluter pays principle” (PPP) has been looked at from the perspective of legal values and technical principles, namely of soil science, to evaluate the acceleration of soil erosion and the consequent development of degraded areas in the Uberaba River basin (area: 2419 km²), state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Having accomplished this goal, the study highlights the importance of PPP for the conservation of soil and development of an ecologically equilibrated environment. The diagnosis of degraded areas was based on the coupling of a Geographic Information System with soil loss, land use conflict and tolerance to soil loss models, and revealed a preoccupying situation because an extension of approximately 905 km² (1/3 of the basin) has been considered in advanced state of degradation potentially causing environmental damage (e.g., decline of soil fertility and hence crop production, negative impacts of soil particles export on stream and lake water quality and biodiversity of riverine ecosystems). Facing this problem, a legal framework standing on doctrinaire principles, federal laws and the Brazilian Constitution has been proposed whereby the protagonists of soil degradation are called to assume responsibility as well as the costs of repairing this negative condition. Although the study has been carried out on a specific country under pre-defined settings, the rationale behind the proposals can easily be transposed to other scenarios because the scientific methods on which soil degradation has been defined and mapped are generally applicable, while the suggested legal values are currently applied to many regions on the planet.     

河南方言中"个"的弱化与音系一句法协同

考察河南方言中"个"在"一+个+NP"结构中发生弱化现象的不同阶段可以发现,在日常语言的使用中,"个"音节的语音消蚀引起"数词+个+NP"向"数词+NP"句法形式的演变倾向是音系-句法协同的结果,演变符合人们对言语所指事物的认知需求。     

黄土高原地区退耕还林(草)的基本思路

文章分析了我国黄土高原地区坡耕地引起水土流失、肥力低下、水源缺乏、灾害频繁的四大问题,根据黄土高原生态环境脆弱的具体情况,提出了以下对策:①提高思想认识;②保证人均一定的农田;③实现农林牧业最佳结合;④采取合理的措施;⑤健全保障机制;⑥正确处理各种关系。     

黄土高原水土流失区退耕还林（草）的基本思路

朱总理针对１９９８年我国水土流失加剧而致使洪灾造成２２５１元人民币巨大损失的现实,于１９９９年８月提出了“退耕还林（草）、封山绿化、个体承包、以粮代振”的措施,为根治黄土高原的水土流失和良化我国的生态环境指明了方向。目前我国黄土高原地区坡耕地水土流失、肥力低下、水源缺乏、灾害频繁。根据黄土高原的生态环境脆弱的具体情况,应采取的对策是：提高思想认识;解决好退耕后脱贫;推进东西部合作政策;保证人均一定     

水土流失是我国最严重的公害

我国是世界上水土流失最严重的国家之一。水土流失造成了耕地减少、水旱灾害频发和社会贫困等问题，已经严重影响到我国的粮食安全、环境安全和社会经济可持续发展能力。造成我国水土流失严重的根本原因是人为原因，必须采取多种措施加紧对我国水土流失的治理。     

怎样解决中国4大水问题

针对中国水资源面临的洪涝灾害、水资源紧缺、水土流失与生态变化和水污染严重4大问题，提出解决中国水资源问题的对策：给洪水以出路，建设节水型社会，充分发挥大自然的自我修复能力，发展绿色经济。     

福建平潭岛旅游地学资源特征浅析

平潭岛又名海坛是祖大陆距台湾最近点。有秀丽无比的海域风光和别具一格的海岛民俗,最具特色的还是它的地质地貌,专家们称这为“天然的地学博物馆”,具备广阔的旅游地学资源开发前景。     

Implications of CAP reform for land management and runoff control in England and Wales

WTO negotiations, as well as problems associated with intensive agriculture, such as overproduction, dependency on high levels of subsidies, diffuse pollution, soil degradation and loss of wildlife, have led to a reconsideration of agricultural policies in Europe. In April 2005, the new common agricultural policy (CAP)-reform came into force in the United Kingdom, decoupling financial support to farmers from agricultural production. Farm income support payments are now linked to compliance with standards (cross-compliance rules) which protect the environment, animal health and welfare. In the light of these policy changes, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 36 farmers in five catchments in the UK to explore interrelationships between CAP-reform, agricultural land management and runoff-related problems. Results from three catchments are specifically highlighted because of their relevance for soil policy.The CAP-reform appears to facilitate and accelerate changes in the agricultural sector that were already happening. It is likely that upland livestock farms will extensify further, which will reduce environmental burdens such as diffuse pollution, soil compaction and runoff. The uptake of agri-environment schemes by individual farmers has increased since the CAP-reform. However, additional impacts are limited as there is a tendency among participants to enter these schemes based on existing features and practices.Although most farmers interviewed for this study appear to recognise the need to reduce soil erosion and diffuse pollution, they are less convinced they should be held responsible for controlling storm-water runoff from farmland that might contribute to flooding downstream. However, there are opportunities to achieve several objectives simultaneously, including improved soil management, runoff control and reduced pollution. Lessons can be learned from farmers’ opinions about CAP-reform, from successful interventions that aimed to reduce soil erosion and diffuse pollution, and also from failures. Recommendations are made for improvements to the current agri-environment schemes and to promote land management practices with less environmental burden.     

Adoption of soil conservation practices in Belgium: An examination of the theory of planned behaviour in the agri-environmental domain

Soil erosion is a problem with serious on-site and off-site consequences. There exists a broad series of measures to mitigate soil erosion, unfortunately policy makers observe little voluntary adoption. This paper reports on a study to elicit the factors explaining adoption of soil erosion control practices in Belgium. Following a socio-psychological approach, the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), adoption of cover crops, reduced tillage and buffer strips is evaluated using linear regression techniques. Results show that the most explaining factor is attitude towards the soil conservation practice. The TPB adapted to include perceived control and difficulty appears to provide a suitable framework for evaluating adoption of erosion control measures in Belgium. Future interventions directed at promoting erosion control measures should be directed at changing the attitude of farmers. Further study is, however, required in order to elucidate the cognitive foundations of the negative attitude of a majority of farmers towards the implementation of erosion control practices.     

A pragmatic approach for soil erosion risk assessment within policy hierarchies

This paper presents a methodological framework for scale-specific assessment of soil erosion by water. The framework enables the definition of hierarchical, functional and modular nested reference units which result from the integrated consideration of policy, process and model hierarchies. The framework is applied on three planning levels: at first, large scale zones are designated that show a defined risk potential for soil erosion (first level: catchments and drainage areas in the German Federal State of Saxony-Anhalt, ca. 20,000 km²). By both increasing model complexity and spatio-temporal resolution of input data, the results are locally specified within these risk zones (second level: designated farms and fields in a study area of 141 km²). This is the basis for the prediction of soil erosion areas and sediment transport to hydrologic drainage networks as well as for small scale management and measure planning (third level: designated field blocks in the study area). On this level, the mitigation of soil erosion and sediment entry to the river system is demonstrated by simulating the introduction of conservation management practices, vegetation and riparian buffer strips.