西方政治生态学的地理学研究进展与启示

随着全球生态环境问题的日益凸显,政治生态学以关注造成环境问题的政治因素为研究内核,成为不同学科共同探索的研究领域。地理学以人地关系为立足点,深化政治生态学研究的空间性和政治性。论文首先通过对西方政治生态学理论脉络进行梳理,发现政治生态学根源于早期环境批判思想、西方马克思主义、后结构主义以及后人类主义理论,并与地理学的发展相辅相成。其次,对近30年西方地理学与政治生态学的相关研究成果进行分析发现,现有的研究议题主要聚焦于生态经济与绿色发展、生态治理与环境保育、生态身份与微观政治及生态客体与能动性4个方面。在此基础上,论文总结了相关研究对中国地理学进行政治生态学研究的借鉴意义,并进一步提出立足中国本土进行政治生态学研究未来需要关注的方向。     

Political Ecologies of Dynamic Wetlands: Hydrosocial Waterscapes in the Okavango Delta

Research within geography and related disciplines has directed much attention to the coupled interactions between social and ecological systems. These studies have usefully analyzed the multifaceted, temporal, and scalar dimensions of human–environment interactions and how future environmental change will continue to challenge human resource needs. Political ecology research has also made contributions in this regard, particularly by emphasizing livelihood systems, impacts of conservation and development, agricultural production, and environmental governance. Yet although political ecology research has contributed to socioecological systems scholarship, much of this work has been situated within dryland environments or marine ecosystems that have particular biophysical features. Comparatively, wetland environments that experience dynamic flooding regimes warrant further attention from political ecology. This article engages with the findings from an ongoing research project that is evaluating the impacts of flooding variability for rural livelihoods in the Okavango Delta of Botswana. We outline some of the main findings from this work by concentrating on two themes central to political ecology: access and governance. We conclude by arguing that the Okavango Delta should be understood as a hydrosocial waterscape that encompasses a variety of socioecological relationships within the region, as well as the power relations operating at a variety of scales that both produce and govern them.     

Political Ecologies of Gentrification

This article explores the possibilities for a political ecology of gentrification. Gentrification research, while firmly rooted in materialist social science, has not yet broadened its interests to consider ecological aspects of, or the role in gentrification of, discourses, social movements, and state policies of the environment. Understanding the political ecologies of gentrification involves recognizing the ways in which material relations and uneven resource consumption, concepts of nature, and the politics of urban environmental management affect gentrification processes. By synthesizing diverse literatures in urban studies, political ecology, urban environmental governance, consumption studies, and gentrification, this study argues that Vancouver, British Columbia represents a well-developed urban crucible for the new political ecologies of gentrification in North America. New developments in Vancouver increasingly contribute to gentrification using languages of sustainability and green consumption in a process of ecological gentrification.     

Determinism within human–environment research and the rediscovery of environmental causation

The popularity of the work Guns, germs and steel (GGS) has served to bring the question of human–environment connections once again to the forefront of popular thought. We assert that the recent success of GGS represents both a persistence of environmental determinist logic and a contemporary trend that privileges the environment as the primary influence on human–environment relationships. The historical development of the human–environment field is reviewed from the cultural and political ecology (CAPE) perspective, with particular attention to illustrating the varying emphasis between humans and their environment. GGS is situated within this developing field through a critical analysis of the arguments and methods forwarded by Jared Diamond. The book is found to mirror earlier environmental determinism by failing to take into account many of the advances in human–environmental thought since the early twentieth century. Its popular success suggests the pitfalls of failures to acknowledge the complex, intertwined and indivisible relationship that exists among humans and their environment. Furthermore, there is evidence that the environmental determinism espoused in GGS has caught the attention of international development policymakers potentially influencing future outlays of aid and assistance to the developing world. These conclusions raise cautionary flags against repeating past theoretical mistakes by accepting simplistic, causal explanations based largely on a deterministic conception of the natural environment.     

西方城市政治生态学研究进展与理论探讨

政治生态学是西方人文政治地理研究人与自然/环境互动的辩证关系的核心领域。城市政治生态学作为政治生态学的衍生分支同样经历了二十年快速的发展,这一领域尚未获得中国人文地理学界的系统关注。本文对西方文献中城市政治生态学的理论发展、研究议题以及近期前沿的学术争论和理论拓展进行了系统梳理与探讨。政治生态学分析方法批判和克服了技术专家治国论、新马尔萨斯主义、增长的极限等非政治视角的环境生态解释。理论溯源于新马克思主义城市地理学的城市政治生态学,继承了政治生态学的政治视角,但同时对政治生态学和城市研究两个领域中的自然/社会的二元对立提出了批判,以社会-生态混合体为理论出发点,打破并超越了城市-自然的对立和二元划分,通过研究自然的生产、循环与新陈代谢,将城市概念化为动态变化的社会-生态混合体,并揭露了城市环境的生产和社会-生态演化过程本质上是一个政治过程,突出强调了社会-生态混合体演化变迁过程的政治经济学、政治过程、权力关系的分析对于理解不平等的城市环境的核心作用。近5年来,城市政治生态学研究在后结构主义理论启发下扩展了经典马克思主义城市政治生态学,拓展了理论溯源,丰富了对城市环境和生态的解释,并产生了一系列围绕方法论上的城市主义、星球城市化、多地点方法论等的前沿学术批判与争论。     

Media Institute on Geographic Concepts

Abstract

A new political geography has emerged that stresses the political conflict behind the production of space. This orientation in the subdiscipline constitutes a turn away from traditional political geography, where the emphasis had previously been on the spatial distribution of political phenomena. The “new” political geographic theory has been applied to the study of environmental issues, turning the attention of scholars to the political struggle behind the construction of nature as well as space. This article reviews how the new political geography of the environment (NPGE) perspective has impacted the study of such environmental phenomena as hazards, siting issues, human-land relationships, resources, development, and international environmental governance. It concludes by suggesting how the NPGE perspective can inform pedagogy in environmental education.     

宁夏南部回族社区生态环境建设若干重要问题的探讨

宁夏南部山区8县是回族社区的主要集中地，因生态脆弱、环境恶化而被国家列入为生态环境建设的试点区。该地正在大规模进行的生态环境建设工程，就生态环境建设与经济社会发展、可持续发展、生态学规律、经济规律、产业结构调整、限制因子-水资源的有效利用、以及生态环境保护之间的关系及内涵等重要问题作了比较深入的分析探讨。     

Fiddling while Madagascar burns. Deforestation discourses and highland history

Madagascar has been highlighted as a hotspot for biodiversity because of its unique natural history and a high level of endemism. This heritage of biodiversity is believed to be at serious risk, due to deforestation caused by local people. This paper concerns the landscape of the Madagascar highlands, and how interpretations of them have changed the past century. A social constructivist approach reveals two opposing views about the vegetation cover and seeks to unfold which specific scientific paradigms, narratives or received wisdom they are based on. Most important are changing paradigms in ecology, from classic equilibrium ecology to non‐equilibrium ecology, and changes in social sciences from a structural to an interactionist approach. Another important aspect addressed in the paper is the impact of the re‐interpretations on environmental policy and management. The Ambohitantely Special Reserve is used as a case to illustrate how interpretations of forest history are influenced by the hegemonic discourse.     

The Victorian Bushfires of 2002–03 and the Politics of Blame: a Discourse Analysis

This paper identifies contrasting environmental discourses on bushfire from the public debate that followed the Victorian fires of 2002–03. Submissions to the inquiry into the 2002–03 Victorian bushfires provide a particularly rich source of documentation. It is argued that environmental events such as bushfire only become political issues, or problems, when they are constituted as such through environmental discourse. Through the analysis, three contrasting discourses on bushfire are identified—here labelled the ‘conservationist’, ‘ruralist’ and ‘wise use’ discourses. In examining how different ‘constructions’ of bushfire have led to conflict, each discourse is shown to consist of a range of actors who draw on shared storylines. Having established a better understanding of the different attitudes, beliefs, interests and values that underpin debates about bushfire, the paper concludes with a brief discussion of the prospects for compromise among the discourses and the potential for improved land and fire management outcomes.     

环境伦理与区域可持续发展(英文)

The scientific environmental ethics plays a key role in the recognition of the human-environment interactions. Modern environmental ethics is the philosophical re-thinking of modern human race environmental behavior. The development of environmental ethics theory, as well as its application in reality, determines the viewpoints of environmental ethics. Sustainable development implies harmony on human-environment interactions and inter-generation responsibility, with emphasis on a harmonious relationship among population, resources, environment and development, so as to lay a sustainable and healthy foundation of resources and environment for future generations. The harmonious society construction in China that is raised by the Chinese central government should be covered by environmental ethics. The connotation of open environmental ethics includes a respect for nature, care for the individual human race, and respect for the development of future generations, which means giving consideration to natural values, individual and human race benefits and welfare across generations. The role of environmental ethics in regional development consists of cognition, criticism, education, inspiration, adjusting, legislation and promoting environmental regulations. The major problems in regional development are extensive resource exploration, fast population growth, irrational industrial structure, unfair welfare distribution and the twofold effects of science and technology development. The formulation of environmental ethics that aims at regional sustainable development, can not only harmonize the relationship of population, resource, environment and economic development, but also guide behavior selection, push social and political system transformation, strengthen the legal system, and raise environmental awareness of the public.     

Environmental ethics and regional sustainable development

The scientific environmental ethics plays a key role in the recognition of the human- environment interactions. Modern environmental ethics is the philosophical re-thinking of modern human race environmental behavior. The development of environmental ethics theory, as well as its application in reality, determines the viewpoints of environmental ethics. Sustainable development implies harmony on human-environment interactions and inter- generation responsibility, with emphasis on a harmonious relationship among population, resources, environment and development, so as to lay a sustainable and healthy foundation of resources and environment for future generations. The harmonious society construction in China that is raised by the Chinese central government should be covered by environmental ethics. The connotation of open environmental ethics includes a respect for nature, care for the individual human race, and respect for the development of future generations, which means giving consideration to natural values, individual and human race benefits and welfare across generations. The role of environmental ethics in regional development consists of cognition, criticism, education, inspiration, adjusting, legislation and promoting environmental regulations. The major problems in regional development are extensive resource exploration, fast population growth, irrational industrial structure, unfair welfare distribution and the twofold effects of science and technology development. The formulation of environmental ethics that aims at regional sustainable development, can not only harmonize the relationship of population, resource, environment and economic development, but also guide behavior selection, push social and political system transformation, strengthen the legal system, and raise environmental awareness of the public.     

MOUNTAIN GEOGRAPHY

ABSTRACT. Although mountains have been studied for centuries, they are the subject of only a slender body of formal literature. Instead, those who study high places in specific regions construct working definitions and continually recraft bibliographies. Studies of mountains often focus on comparatively limited themes: physical processes, ecology, or sacred spaces, for example. As scholars become interested in environmental degradation and the development of mountains, there is all the more need to develop a mountain geography literature that expands the study of mountains to include the political, economic, cultural, and social dimensions of their environments and peoples. Three areas‐cultural geography, political ecology, and conservation theory‐are suggested for additional research.     

生态系统退化的人类响应（英文）

生态系统为人类提供了必要的服务,其中大部分是没有市场价格的,因此被认为是"自然的免费赠品"而被大量使用。近年来由于快速的工业化和城市化,不断增长的人口已经使人们认识到生态系统服务也是有限的。环境退化是用来描述生态系统服务的损失或损害的常用指标,而移民往往是环境恶化的后果。那么,生态系统服务退化到什么程度才足以导致人们搬迁?本文通过对移民和环境退化相关文献的综述,力求寻求及时监测生态系统退化状况、避免人类承受生态移民痛苦、探求不同环境下人类更好地生存与发展的途径。     

‘Borehole Race’ and the Dilemma of Governing the ‘Ungoverned’: Understanding the Urban Political Ecology of Groundwater Exploitation in Nigeria

Groundwater exploitation is an essential aspect of the numerous processes of transforming the urban natural environment for human gains. We use the political ecology of borehole exploitation in Nigeria’s urban environment to understand the micro-and macro-level processes mediating the transformation and changes in urban “groundwater scape”. The fieldwork processes depend on field counting of borehole distribution, in-depth and semi-structured interviews, and a review of secondary literatures. We argue that the social and environmental changes arising from the exploitation of groundwater bespeak the active and continual manifestation of the interplay of combustible interests and power friction among institutional agents within the permissible range of the natural environment. Such dynamic power relations engender a pattern of socio-natural transformation consistent with Swyngedouw’s notion of urban metabolism- “a series of interconnected heterogeneous and dynamic but contested and contestable processes of continuous quantitative and qualitative transformations that re-arranges humans and non-humans in new and often unexpected ways”.     

域市环境容载力及其计量方法初探

从环境容载力理论探讨入手,论述了环境容载力的概念、定义及其功能,特别是就环境容量与环境承载力的各自特征及其相互关系和彼此差异进行了详细分析。在理论研究的基础上,根据城市环境系统的特点,进一步论述其综合功能与作用。在提出城市环境系统有效规模概念的基础上,对环境系统要素的环境容量以及由环境资源与生物、人文构成的复合系统的承载力进行了计量方法上的探索性研究。     

“A Salute to the Bandido”: A Political Ecology of Voice Exploration into Peru’s Freedom of Voice Surrounding Hydrocarbon Development

This paper sets out to evaluate the freedom of voice for Peruvian stakeholders affected by hydrocarbon development. This occurs through the utilization of a political ecology of voice (PEV) theoretical framework based upon the theory of voice by Albert Hirschman and political ecology. PEV can be defined as the study of economic, political, social, and geographical factors over a specific time period and their impact upon the use of voice by stakeholders. Peru’s case study was focused on its main oil-producing Loreto Region and incorporated evaluation of hydrocarbon voice mechanisms (prior consultation and environmental impact assessments) supported by interview testimony of stakeholders and state officials. PEV analysis reveals a political environment which is dangerous, inflexible, and intolerant of Peruvian stakeholders voicing over hydrocarbon development. This is due to the state’s zealous pursuit of its “selva (rainforest) hydrocarbon and development vision” which severely undermines Peruvian stakeholder’s freedom of voice.     

Contextualizing other political ecologies: Japan's environmental aid to the Philippines

This paper argues for the utility of a focus on contextualized sources of environmental change to address the ever more diverse contexts of political ecology. In order to overcome the conventional approach to contextual sources that has tended to be analytically one‐dimensional and limited, I seek to provide a more nuanced account, notably by examining the neglected case of green aid of a nonwestern aid donor, Japan. Using conceptual tools that are both conjuncture‐based and multiscalar, the paper examines the way in which a post‐Rio international policy drive to promote so called green aid during the 1990s was translated into and conditioned by the historically and geographically specific contexts of Japan and the aid recipient featured herein, the Philippines. This focus on contextual sources helps to elucidate (i) how the ambiguous nature of international aid criteria combined together with Japan's own domestic political economy to render problematic an ostensibly environmental project, (ii) the manner in which neoliberal economic restructuring was translated into one of Japan's key policy initiatives in the 1990s and formed the backdrop to the specific aid case project discussed here, (iii) how Japan's environmental aid process in the Philippines was shaped through a repoliticization of various green discourses, and (iv) how the complex dynamics among stakeholders ended up compromising the very nature of the case study project.     

Old Theories in New Places? Environmental Determinism and Bioregionalism*

Bioregionalism is a contemporary environmental movement containing deterministic ideas similar to those of geography's environmental determinism. This paper examines the theoretical and practical implications for bioregionalism based upon the experience of geography by identifying parallels between bioregionalism and environmental determinism in terms of both culture and politics. While not a latter day form of environmental determinism, bioregionalism deterministically links political culture and the environment. By comparing and contrasting environmental determinism with bioregionalism's deterministic tendencies, I identify certain contradictory ideas within bioregionalism. Among the most important contradictions occur when bioregionalists base moral judgements on a form of environmentalism, and when they advocate self determination while promoting environmentally determined lifeways. These ideas lie at the intersection of bioregionalism's social and ecological objectives—where the deterministic nature of bioregionalism is at odds with bioregionalism's decentralized, egalitarian philosophy.     

Another political ecology of civil society reflexiveness against urban industrial risks for environmental justice: The case of the Bisasar landfill,Durban, South Africa

The concerns of political ecology since its beginnings as a field have been predominantly set in rural areas with limited focus on urban industrial risks. Further, debates on the global South (often from Anglo‐American perspectives) have not fully appreciated the divergent and differentiated perceptions of urban risks and, therefore, everyday forms of resistance within civil society. Instead, work has mainly focused on civil society power relations against the state and industry that are driven by coherent populist political agendas. Against this setting, this paper's contribution aims to better contextualize ‘other’ third world localities in political ecology through a case study of urban industrial risks in the upper/middle income (as opposed to rural, low/lower middle income) country, South Africa. In doing so, the paper sheds light on the derelict aspect of civil society contestation, especially along class and ethnic lines, over urban landfill infrastructure as a livelihood resource or a health hazard. The paper draws upon frameworks of self‐reflexivity and reflexive localism as complementary to the mainstream political ecology to illuminate differentiated civil society reflexiveness and therefore, aims to advance the discussion of other political ecologies. The case study of the largest formal landfill site in Africa, the Bisasar landfill situated in Durban, highlights differences underlying power relations and constraints within civil society (in leadership, social networking, resources and mistrust) that have implications for mainstream political ecology notions of civil society coherence.     

Local communities and the new environmental planning: a case study from Zanzibar

Sub–Saharan Africa is experiencing a new round of conservation initiatives, based around democratized local institutions and local knowledge of the environment. This essay uses political ecology research from a case study settlement in the Zanzibar islands of Tanzania to interrogate how to create the enabling conditions for these new conservation programmes. The case study highlights the importance of understanding social and political issues at the local scale for appreciating the problematic trajectories of progressive environmental planning strategies in Africa in the context of democratization.