Urban Sustainability Evaluation Based on Remote Sensing and Network Data Support: Progress and Prospect

The sustainable development of the city is the key to the realization of the global sustainable development goals. Urban sustainability evaluation is a measure to the sustainable development of cities, and basis of sustainable urban development. The current evaluation method is based on statistical data which is low spatial resolution, long period and high cost. In recent years, remote sensing data, network data and the multivariate data have been used for the evaluation for the sustainable development of cities, and there have been many related research cases, which provides a new idea and method to carry out the high resolution evaluation of urban sustainable development rapidly, accurately and cheaply. This article reviewed the remote sensing data and network data in the progress of the application in the evaluation to the sustainable development of cities, and discussed the advantages of remote sensing and network big data in the objectivity, accuracy, and timeliness of evaluation compared with traditional data. Based on the sustainable urban development indicators of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), a basic framework for the evaluation of sustainable development of cities with high temporal and spatial resolution of big data such as remote sensing data and network big data was proposed. The introduction of remote sensing and network big data will change the inherent paradigm of sustainability assessment, make high-resolution real-time evaluation possible, further innovate analytical techniques, improve data accuracy, and make clear the alternative relationship with traditional data being the focus and the only way to realize the replacement of traditional data by remote sensing and network big data.     

Global civil society? The Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development

In the face of mounting environmental degradation and persistent poverty over the previous decade, Johannesburg’s World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) of August and September 2002 inherited a number of unmet accords from the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit. Consequently, the United Nations Stakeholder Forum Implementation Conference (IC) was convened to integrate civil society stakeholders into global deliberations on sustainable development and to marshal their forces in the implementation of WSSD accords. Given the importance of the IC as the first civil society forum at a major global summit on environment and poverty, intriguing questions emerge as to its effectiveness in achieving civil society objectives. As a first attempt in exploring this topic, we examine three fundamental aspects of the IC. Specifically, we examine the relative “civility” of the IC forum in terms of (a) fidelity of representation of the community of global environment and development stakeholders; (b) autonomy of the IC agenda from state and institutional interests; and (c) interpretations of space and place as reflected in deliberative processes and outcomes. The paper begins with a review of the civil society literature with a particular emphasis on civil society representation in UN meetings since Rio. The paper concludes with a discussion of IC participation at the Johannesburg summit, and considers implications for future civil society participation in global decision-making forums.     

Significance,Progress and Tasks of New-type Urbanization Research

Urbanization is the most prominent comprehensive geographical process based on human activities in the surface of the Earth, with obvious interdisciplinary characteristics. In recent years, new urbanization has become an important frontier issue both at home and abroad. Urbanization is also one of the most important frontier interdisciplinary directions and one of the key research areas of geosciences. Future Earth, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the International Geographical Union’s Commission on Geography for Future Earth:Coupled Human-Earth Systems for Sustainability (IGU-GFE) all emphasize coupling relationship between urbanization and human-earth system and sustainable development. Based on the discussion of significance of urbanization research in interdisciplinary fields, this paper reviewed the progress of urbanization research and put forward challenges and opportunities of urbanization research, and its objectives and tasks. It is recommended to play the role of the multi-disciplinary cross-cutting characteristics and strengthen the scientific and technological support and basic research depth of urbanization in interdisciplinary fields. To face the international research frontier and meet China's major needs, we proposed the top-level design and scientific and technological layout for urbanization research as soon as possible so as to improve the influence, the right to speak and the initiative of China's urbanization research in the world and play the scientific and technological support role of basic research better to serve the country’s strategic needs.     

Socio-economic determinants of women’s livelihood time use in rural Bangladesh

Achieving gender well-being and equality is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. A close examination of female livelihood time allocation can reveal gender inequality in livelihood choices between males and females. Using the feminist political ecology framework, this paper examines how gendered knowledge, roles, and responsibilities influence female livelihood time use in a patriarchal society like Bangladesh. We use a nationally representative household survey data to create Multiple Linear Regression Model to understand the association between economic, cultural, and environmental shocks with the total time allocation toward livelihood activities by women. Our results suggest that use of ‘Purdah’ by Muslim women acts as a negative detrimental factor towards their livelihood time allocation, thus affirming the complex role of culture and gendered economic activities. Women also allocate less time toward livelihood activities during pregnancy and/or breastfeeding. We find that female livelihood time use also depends on their ability to speak in public, their autonomy in livelihood decision processes, and their ownership in business enterprises. This research suggests creating more robust and gender sensitive policies in Bangladesh that can help achieve the United Nation’s goals of Sustainable Development.

     

A comparison of selected global disaster risk assessment results

We compare country risk rankings derived from two recently published global disaster risk analyses. One set of country rankings is based on the Disaster Risk Index (DRI) developed by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Division of Early Warning and Assessment Global Resource Information Database project under a contract to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The other is based on an index of disaster mortality risk developed by the Global Natural Disaster Risk Hotspots project implemented by Columbia University, the World Bank and associated partners. We convert data from these sources into two comparable indexes of disaster mortality risk and rank countries according to the resulting values for a set of natural hazards common to both studies. The country rankings are moderately correlated, ranging from .41 to .56 for individual hazards to .31 for multi-hazard mortality risks. We identify the top 25 countries according to the mortality risk values we recomputed from each study’s results to show the degree to which countries are highly ranked in common. The numbers of countries common to both lists for individual hazards range from 7 to 16 out of 25. The correspondence among the top 25 ranked countries is lowest for earthquakes and floods. Only 6 out of 25 countries are common to both lists in the multi-hazard case. We suggest that while the convergence in the results for some hazards is encouraging, more work is needed to improve data and methods, particularly with respect to assessing the role of vulnerability in the creation of risk and the calculation of multi-hazard risks. The views expressed are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of SM2 Consulting Multi-Hazards and Risk Holistic Solutions or the United Nations Development Program.     

Africa in the rise of rights-based development

This paper explores the rise of rights-based development (RBD) and its endorsement by prominent international institutions (such as the United Nations) and International Development Agencies (IDAs) like the World Bank. It situates RBD in global political context and analyses it in relation to the international politics of development, especially the politics of neo-liberal adjustment policies in Africa. The paper shows how RBD emerged against a backdrop of debate about four international issues associated with neo-liberalism and its discontents, namely globalisation and uneven development; capability and good governance; human rights and human development; and NGOs in the politics of development. Debates about those four issues keep repositioning the state as the central actor in RBD, and holding the state accountable for development (or the lack thereof) under international law. The paper’s basic point is that state-centric RBD is paradoxical and highly political. Greater accountability is being demanded of states––especially in Africa––from the same neo-liberal forces (such as the World Bank) charged with weakening state capacity, undermining democracy, and diminishing state authority. In terms of international power relations and the politics of development, RBD does signal something of a willingness to rethink certain aspects of the dominant neo-liberal agenda. And yet adjusted states are being subjected––in the name of RBD––to novel methods of international surveillance and forms of conditionality. States are ultimately held responsible for human rights violations, even when it is non-state actors (and their neo-liberal policies) that caused those rights to be violated in the first place. RBD is, therefore, a partial answer (at best) to the questions of empowerment and change raised by critics of neo-liberalism.     

Delivering pro-poor water and sanitation services: The technical and political challenges in Malawi and Zambia

Meeting Millennium Development Goals on water and sanitation services in developing countries are fraught with difficulties, as can be seen most clearly from the experiences of Malawi and Zambia, two of the world’s poorest countries that have committed to meeting these goals. The challenges are not only technical, requiring programmatic or engineering solutions, but are also and most importantly political, because solutions will most often cause a rearrangement of the peculiar forms of power relations that have emerged within institutional and political environments of the two countries. The challenges include weak state support for water and sanitation provision, unreliable and contested indicators of coverage, poor sectoral co-ordination, and fragmented donor efforts. This field note examines these challenges in greater detail to cast new light as well as draw attention to possible solutions that can be implemented.     

国外可持续发展度量研究综述

虽然可持续发展80年代才明确提出,但从60年代开始的发展度量研究就为可持续发展度量研究提供了很好的基础。国外研制的可持续发展度量指标基本可分为四类:第一类是基于生态-环境观点的较微观层次的压力-状态-响应指标;第二类是以价值综合核算为前提的综合的可持续发展指数,如绿色GNP、国民财富指数等;第三类往往对资源、环境要素的价值核算持保留态度,避免作综合的价值核算,而是分别选取人口、资源、环境、经济、社会等多方面的指标进行系统分析,采用无量纲化和加权平均的方法求得衡量可持续发展水平的综合指数;第四类是从可持续性的反面着手,通过定义不可持续性来规定可持续性,建立不可持续性指标来度量可持续性。     

2005-2020年中国气象事业发展战略

依据《中国气象事业发展战略研究总论卷》[1]的概述,在深入分析了中国气象事业的现状、国家需求和世界科技发展趋势的基础上,提出了“坚持公共气象的发展方向,大力提升气象信息对国家安全的保障能力,大力提升气象资源为可持续发展的支撑能力”的战略思想,明确了战略目标和战略任务,凝炼了重点工程和战略措施。     

How effective is inclusive innovation without participation?

The last few years have seen an upsurge in the field of innovation studies especially ‘inclusive innovation’, aiming not only at economic but social development. In developing countries, like India, inclusive innovation must incorporate governance and for governance to be inclusive, it should encompass participation by all, especially the marginalized, to make public policies efficacious and deliverable. I argue that any model of inclusive innovation needs to take cognizance of participation by all stakeholders. The objective of innovation must be to enable and empower people at the periphery through awareness, accessibility and democratic deliberations rather than solely aiming at economic outcomes. There is a need to debate on the ‘inclusiveness’ of innovation and make it more participative. Such an endeavour may help promote United Nation’s sustainable development goals by making governance participatory and expediting the process of social justice.     

The role of the United Nations in Water Resources Development

The United Nations system of organization undertakes a wide range of water-related activities in the developing countries. The range includes hydrological surveys, community water supply schemes, water legislation, institutional and planning needs, ground and surface water managment and development, disease control, flood-loss prevention and environmental protection. Emphasis is given in this paper to the changing needs of the developing countries, and to the future role of the organization of the UN system in responding to these needs.The responsibilities and some activities of the Water Resources Branch in the UN Secretariat are indicated to illustrate the nature of the work programme of one of the eighteen organizations of the UN system involved in water resources development.Contribution of the United Nations Centre for Natural Resources, Energy and Transport, United Nations, New York 10017, USA     

2010-2016年国际极地研究综合评价分析

极地在气候系统、全球资源和战略中具有重要意义,并且随着人类对它的开发,极地研究也日益成为地球与环境科学领域的核心和热点议题。基于Web of Science数据库收录的2010-2016年SCI文章,利用文献计量方法,结合国际政策和战略,分析了2010-2016年极地研究的发展格局和变化趋势。结果表明：（1）近年来国际极地研究论文年发文量总体呈持续增长态势,年均增幅为3.6%。（2）发达国家及高纬度国家是极地领域的主要研究力量,美国占据绝对优势。（3）在SCI发表的国际极地研究论文来源期刊共计915种,来自57个国家,美国期刊占1/3。（4）结合欧盟极地研究优先领域和文献计量方法得出,极地研究未来新的发展方向侧重于人文及社会因素,重点提倡人类对极地的影响以及新技术应用。建议我国科研人员密切关注国际极地研究的发展态势和进展,鼓励海洋学、气象学、地质学、环境生态学、生物学、社会学和政治学等领域专家有计划地开展极地研究,为我国赢取极地研究国际发言权和参与度。     

What is social sustainability? A clarification of concepts

Though the concept of sustainable development originally included a clear social mandate, for two decades this human dimension has been neglected amidst abbreviated references to sustainability that have focused on bio-physical environmental issues, or been subsumed within a discourse that conflated ‘development’ and ‘economic growth’. The widespread failure of this approach to generate meaningful change has led to renewed interest in the concept of ‘social sustainability’ and aspects thereof. A review of the literature suggests, however, that it is a concept in chaos, and we argue that this severely compromises its importance and utility. The purpose of this paper is to examine this diverse literature so as to clarify what might be meant by the term social sustainability and highlight different ways in which it contributes to sustainable development more generally. We present a threefold schema comprising: (a) ‘development sustainability’ addressing basic needs, the creation of social capital, justice and so on; (b) ‘bridge sustainability’ concerning changes in behaviour so as to achieve bio-physical environmental goals and; (c) ‘maintenance sustainability’ referring to the preservation - or what can be sustained - of socio-cultural characteristics in the face of change, and the ways in which people actively embrace or resist those changes. We use this tripartite of social sustainabilities to explore ways in which contradictions and complements between them impede or promote sustainable development, and draw upon housing in urban areas as a means of explicating these ideas.     

Analyzing the state of development of Pune City by using multi-criteria decision analysis and analytic hierarchy process

GeoJournal - As per the United Nations Human Settlement Programme Nairobi (2011), cities are the engines of economic growth with social and cultural life and spatial organization of human society...     

Societal Responsibility and Development Trends of Global Soil Studies and the Provisions for China: Lessons from the Status of the 《World’s Soil Resources Report》

2015 is the International Year of Soil (IYS) adopted by the 378th Congress of the United Nations. The Status of the World’s Soil Resources was released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which was the policy report about the status of the world soil resources for the first time. The universal values of the global community were strengthened by the challenges for the global society from the risk and safety of the change of soil quality, functions, services and soil health. One third of the world soil resources were suffering serious degradation, which could affect the food security in the future, regional development and local conflicts in the report. The major task of the global monitoring, regulation and management of the world soil resources and the social responsibility of supporting the sustainable soil management by education, research and technology development were highlighted. The social responsibility and global development trends of soil science and management strategies were discussed by the keywords, the distribution of contributing authors and the citation of the references, as well as the main contents of the report. The keywords distribution of the report showed that the focus of the soil research included the change of soil quality, processes, functions and services induced by the natural driving forces, human’s activity and soil degradation, as well as the hotspots covered soil carbon/nitrogen-water-biological pool and distribution related with the biogeochemistry, global climate change and ecosystem functions and human health. The number and structure of the cited papers showed that the integration research based on the mega-data analysis were the prominent development trend of the soil science. The geographic distribution of all the contributing authors showed that dominant discourse of the global soil science were grasped by the developed countries including Europe and the United States, China had just limited effects on the global soil science. It is urgent to promote China’s soil science research and the services for global society.     

社会资本在可持续发展中的作用

可持续发展指既满足当代人的发展需求又不损害、不掠夺后代发展需求能力的发展。它要求人类社会经济系统在地球生态系统承载能力下运作;要求社会发展不能单纯以经济增长为目的,而是要在保护生态环境基础上提高人类福利。社会资本概念为可持续发展提供了一个有用的工具。它不但使人类意识到可持续发展的内涵,而且运用社会资本可以限制自然资本开采、并减缓其对环境的破坏,提高制造资本利用效率,充分利用人力资本,从而推动可持续发展进程。介绍社会资本概念的基础上,从促进经济发展、自然资源可持续利用管理、环境保护以及缓解贫困等方面,阐述了社会资本促进可持续发展的理论机制。     

中国西部流域水循环研究进展与展望

由于中国西部水文循环的地区特性、生态系统的脆弱性和社会经济发展对水资源需求的增加,使得中国西部开发面临十分现实和严峻的水资源问题。从中国西部流域水循环的特点及存在的问题出发,探讨了中国西部流域水循环研究基础科学问题。同时,对21世纪中国西部流域水循环科学问题的研究进行了展望。核心的方面是：自然变化和人类活动影响的西北干旱地区水资源演变规律是什么？在西部生态环境建设中如何估算生态需水量？西北干旱地区的水资源究竟能够承载多大规模的社会经济发展需求？如何合理分配与调控水资源,最大限度地发挥其潜力,促进该地区社会经济的可持续发展？     

基于区域发展目标下的水资源承载能力研究

从承载力研究的根本性问题出发对水资源承载能力进行了探讨,认为水资源承载能力不再是一个客观内在的值,而是受区域发展目标所影响,随区域发展目标不同而变化,水资源承载能力研究必须置于具体的区域发展目标下进行.据此选取目标规划法作为水资源承载能力的量化方法,并以北京市为实例进行论证,分析了北京市在预定发展目标下水资源承载能力及目标实现状况.     

Energy sector policies in Botswana and their implications for global climate change

Like most African countries, Botswana contributes almost insignificantly to global greenhouse emissions (GHGs). In this context, some have argued that energy policy and legislative measures to regulate emissions in Botswana should not be accorded high priority. This is a misguided view when one considers that each country, no matter how under-industrialized, contributes to the overall global emission problem. Moreover, the least developed countries will have to industrialize in order to meet the increasing economic and social needs of their growing populations. For rapidly growing economies like Botswana, whose annual energy demand is projected to increase by about 4% for the next ten years, the importance of compiling accurate inventories of sources and sinks of GHGs and formulating environmentally-friendly policies can hardly be over- emphasized. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) provides the ideal basis for the country-by-country investigations and management of global climatic change; specifically its nature, properties, directionality, characteristics and probable consequences. Botswana was a founding signatory of UNFCCC in 1992 and ratified the Convention in 1994. The country is also involved in regional cooperation efforts, within the Southern African Development Community, to enforce regulatory mechanisms to minimize GHG emissions from the energy sector. There exist certain energy-related institutions, policies, and regulations in the country which could mitigate the impact of GHG emissions on global warming. This paper, based on government and other relevant documentation, critically analyses Botswana's energy sector policies in as far as they affect climate change. It is clear that much still needs to be done about energy policies in terms of proper formulation, monitoring, co-ordination, energy pricing and the exploration of energy alternatives to mitigate potentially negative impacts on climate change.     

生态系统可持续管理的对策

简要介绍了千年生态系统评估(MA)项目对策工作组的报告《生态系统与人类福祉:政策响应》的核心内容.MA的评估结果显示,在过去的50年里,60%的生态系统服务已经出现下降或不可持续利用的状况,而且许多生态系统服务在未来50年内仍会急剧下降,这将严重威胁联合国千年发展目标的实现.但是,MA认为通过对当前的政策、制度和行为习惯进行重大调整,仍然可望在满足对生态系统服务不断增长的需求的同时,减缓和扭转生态系统的退化趋势.基于这一认识,MA的对策工作组通过分析过去和当前用于生态系统管理的各种对策的优点与缺点,指出了生态系统可持续管理的障碍;确定了制度与管理对策、经济与激励对策、社会与行为对策、技术对策以及知识与认知对策方面可望改善生态系统管理状况的一系列干预措施;并提出了设计生态系统可持续管理的决策的基本原则以及有助于制定生态系统管理决策的有效手段.