Environmental impacts of ground vibration induced by blasting at different rock units on the Kadikoy–Kartal metro tunnel

This paper presents the results of ground vibration analysis induced by blasting during the construction of the Istanbul Kadıköy–Kartal metro tunnel. Different rock formations in this tunnel route were encountered during the excavation with blasting. As a first stage, the test site is divided into 6 main regions with respect to lithology changes in the rock units and Hoek's Geological Strength Index value of these rock units. During the excavation, a total of 659 events were recorded in 260 shots by vibration monitors. Scaled distance and peak particle velocity data pairs belonging to these shots were carefully recorded and analyzed statistically. As a result of this analysis, empirical relationships between scaled distance and peak particle velocity were established with higher correlation coefficients specific to each region. Finally, the particle velocities and frequency values of all blast events were evaluated according to Turkish Environmental Regulation, the United States Bureau of Mines (USBM) and the German DIN 4150 Norms in order to predict the influence level to the neighboring buildings and structures.     

Fluorine speciation in topsoils of three active volcanoes of Sicily (Italy)

Fluorine is one of the many environmental harmful elements released by volcanic activity. The content of total oxalate-extractable and water-extractable fluorine was determined in 96 topsoils of three active volcanic systems of southern Italy (Mt Etna, Stromboli and Vulcano). Total fluorine (F) content (F _TOT) ranges from 112 to 7,430 mg kg⁻¹, F extracted with oxalate (F _OX) ranges from 16 to 2,320 mg kg⁻¹ (2–93% of F _TOT) and F extracted with distilled water ( ) ranges from 1.7 to 159 mg kg⁻¹ (0.2–40 % of F _TOT). Fluorine in the sampled topsoils derives both from the weathering of volcanic rocks and ashes and from the enhanced deposition due to volcanic gas emissions either from open-conduit passive degassing (Mt Etna and Stromboli) or from a fumarolic field (Vulcano). Fluorine accumulation in the studied soils does not generally present particular environmental issues except for a few anomalous sites at Vulcano, where measured contents could be dangerous both for vegetation and for grazing animals.     

Nebkha development and its relationship to environmental change in the Alaxa Plateau,China

Extensive nebkha areas develop mainly under the control of aeolian processes, and their sediments record information on regional environmental changes during different periods. Such areas have developed on the dry riverbeds and deserted arable lands of China’s Alaxa Plateau, Taklimakan, and Kumutage deserts. In this paper, we studied nebkhas that had developed in the Heicheng–Juyan region to determine their CaCO₃ contents, particle size distributions, and creation dates. Extensive human activities have occurred in this region since at least in the late Tang Dynasty (618–907 ad). Although historical records show that most of the region’s rivers dried up around 1372, surface water persisted in some areas until the early Qing Dynasty (1644–1911 ad). After the 1600s, extensive nebkhas began to develop due to drying of the region’s rivers. The early stages of nebkha development were controlled by both the sediment supply and the regional wind regime, whereas late stages were controlled primarily by variations in wind activity. In the Alaxa Plateau, it took about 100 years for arable lands and riverbeds to evolve into gobi deserts, and during this time, several phases occurred with different levels of wind activity. The land degradation processes in this region are mainly controlled by surface water resources, and the impact of human activities such as reclamation on land degradation appear to have been overestimated in previous studies.     

Telling stories with models and making policy with stories: an exploration

Narrative research is in vogue in the social sciences. A current debate in philosophy of economics concerns the role of storytelling in economic modelling, and a growing research programme in policy studies investigates the influence of stories on policy outcomes. These two streams of research have yet to be connected in an investigation of how scientific models, in addition to delivering numerical results, also shape policy through the stories that are told with them. This article addresses that gap, arguing that stories produced with integrated assessment models of global climate change are particular types of policy narratives. An analytical framework for studying their composition and content is suggested. The narrative analysis of modelled stories illuminates some of the models' underpinning values and beliefs. These values and beliefs influence the normative, policy-relevant conclusions generated with the models. For illustration, the framework is applied to the analysis of two variations of the Dynamic Integrated Climate Economy model that are used to tell different stories about climate justice and climate policy.

Key policy insights

• IAMs consist of mathematical structures and the stories told by manipulating these structures.

• There is an intricate but not fully deterministic relationship between IAM structures and stories.

• Examining both these elements contributes to our understanding of the models' role in climate governance.

• Appreciation of modelled stories may facilitate more effective use of IAMs in the policy process.

     

Effective and geographically balanced? An output-based assessment of non-state climate actions

At COP21 in Paris, governments reiterated the importance of ‘non-Party’ contributions, placing big bets that the efforts of cities, regions, investors, companies, and other social groups will help keep average global warming limited to well under 2°C. However, there is little systematic knowledge concerning the performance of non-state and subnational efforts. We established a database of 52 climate actions launched at the 2014 UN Climate Summit in New York to assess output performance – that is, the production of relevant outputs – to understand whether they are likely to deliver social and environmental impacts. Moreover, we assess to which extent climate actions are implemented across developed and developing countries. We find that climate actions are starting to deliver, and output performance after one year is higher than one might expect from previous experiences with similar actions. However, differences exist between action areas: resilience actions have yet to produce specific outputs, whereas energy and industry actions perform above average. Furthermore, imbalances between developing and developed countries persist. While many actions target low-income and lower-middle-income economies, the implementation gap in these countries remains greater. More efforts are necessary to mobilize and implement actions that benefit the world’s most vulnerable people.

Policy relevance

Climate actions by non-state and subnational actors are an important complement to the multilateral climate regime and the associated contributions made by national governments. Although such actions hold much potential, we still know very little about how they could deliver in practice. This article addresses this knowledge gap, by showing how 52 climate actions announced at the UN Climate Summit in 2014 have performed thus far. Based on our analysis, we argue that the post-Paris action agenda for non-state and subnational climate action should (1) find more effective ways to incentivize private sector actors to engage in transnational climate governance through actions that seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote climate resilience in a tangible manner; (2) identify factors underlying effectiveness, to take appropriate measures to support underperforming climate actions; and (3) address the large implementation gap of climate actions in developing countries.     

一国两制下的深港跨境生活空间形成——以中英街地区为例

以深港边境中英街地区为例,运用实地调查和访谈方法,探讨一国两制下的深港边境生活空间形成、居民自下而上的再边界化、以及居民通过日常生活实践对边界的再定义过程。研究指出,中英街地区的生活空间形成是在边界效应下,边境居民对边境两侧管理差异的不断适应、调试、乃至主动运用的空间构建过程。边境管理者、居民、游客和水客等多方力量在此过程中互动角力,而中英街地区发展的不同阶段正是这一互动过程的结果;在此过程中,边境居民从被动的边界适应到主动的边界效应利用,体现了一国两制下居民的生活空间战略和自下而上的社会力量对边界及边境地区生活空间形成的作用。本研究有助于深化对于亚洲的边界和边境地区空间形成的理解,也对当下的边境治理具有积极的政策意义。     

乡村地区旅游城镇化的多主体共治模式——以福建泰宁水际村为例

在乡村振兴战略背景下,乡村旅游地的城镇化研究亟需总结更多更好的中国经验。福建省泰宁县水际村1991-2016年的旅游城镇化体现了一种学界尚未关注到的多主体共治模式,村民在保持地权关系不变的情况下,通过多主体的良性互动实现了就地城镇化。在城镇化过程中,得益于政府的引导、培育和制度建设,乡村经济在利益冲突中保持韧性并持续发展;外来企业的进入则带动了村民经济收入的增长,村民在商业运营中完成了生活方式现代化和思维观念市民化。本文按照案例研究的逻辑,分析了多主体共治状态的形成过程、核心要素及其作用机制。多类主体实现共治的核心要素是有效的制度供给、合理的科层制分工、灵活的产权设计、实现分配正义的市场规则和多类主体之间的理性互动与权力制衡。基于这些核心要素的共同作用,多类主体之间实现共同利益最大化,保障资源效益可以有效地进行再分配,最大限度地发挥旅游促进乡村经济发展和改善人民生活的城镇化目标。可以认为,多主体共同治理是实现乡村旅游城镇化的有效途径。总结这种模式有利于丰富新型城镇化的乡村个案,同时为新时期乡村转型的有效治理提供参考。     

对机构改革背景下空间规划体系构建的思考

“建立空间规划体系”是自然资源部的一项重要职能,也是整合空间规划、保障空间治理机制有效运行的必然要求。在借鉴国外空间规划体系的基础上,按照适应中国政治体制和法律基础、适应未来空间开发和空间治理变化的需求,提出构建层层传导的空间规划体系确保国家重大战略部署得以落实;提出在微观尺度空间规划进行空间开发权与土地利用权的分配,作为实施空间用途管制的法律依据,保障地方多样化、灵活化的发展;通过构建“宏观政策性/指导性规划—中观衔接性规划—微观实施性规划”的空间规划体系,为国家建立和完善空间规划体系、提升空间治理能力提供参考。     

Divide and conquer—Discursive agency in the politics of illegal logging in the United States

In 2008 the US amended the century-old US Lacey Act to prohibit the import of illegally harvested or traded timber. Together with similar policies in the EU and Australia, this initialized a paradigm shift in global forest governance towards a legality (verification) regime that could substantially contribute to environmental and social stewardship in the forest sector. The analysis of the formation and implementation of these new policies in the US, Europe and Australia is, however, only just beginning.Based on 31 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, 19 informal conversations, more than 100 documents, and participant observation data, we analyze the policy making and implementation of the 2008 US Lacey Act amendment. Our results suggest two essential drivers for this policy change: (1) the deployment of discursive divide-and-conquer strategies and (2) a shift away from sustainability to legality, on both the international level and in the US. Based on the Discursive Agency Approach, we illustrate how carefully deployed discursive and governance strategies were crucial for building a coalition between environmentalists and parts of the wood (products) industry. This coalition was able to create a powerful storyline that muted the opposition and presented a politically attractive amendment proposal. We further show how these strategies have significant effects on the perception of the amended Lacey Act and its implementation. During implementation, coalitions as well as discursive and governance strategies shifted substantially but were still determined by the pre-amendment policy discourse. We conclude by exploring the importance of our findings for what we might expect from the concept of legality in global forest and environmental governance.     

Adaptive and risk-based approaches to climate change and the management of uncertainty and institutional risk: The case of future flooding in England

This paper focuses on how scientific uncertainties about future peak flood flows and sea level rises are accounted for in long term strategic planning processes to adapt inland and coastal flood risk management in England to climate change. Combining key informant interviews (n = 18) with documentary analysis, it explores the institutional tensions between adaptive management approaches emphasising openness to uncertainty and to alternative policy options on the one hand and risk-based ones that close them down by transforming uncertainties into calculable risks whose management can be rationalized through cost-benefit analysis and nationally consistent, risk-based priority setting on the other hand. These alternative approaches to managing uncertainty about the first-order risks to society from future flooding are shaped by institutional concerns with managing the second-order, ‘institutional’ risks of criticism and blame arising from accountability for discharging those first-order risk management responsibilities. In the case of river flooding the poorly understood impacts of future climate change were represented with a simplistic adjustment to peak flow estimates, which proved robust in overcoming institutional resistance to making precautionary allowances for climate change in risk-based flood management, at least in part because its scientific limitations were acknowledged only partially. By contrast in the case of coastal flood risk management, greater scientific confidence led to successively more elaborate guidance on how to represent the science, which in turn led to inconsistency in implementation and increased the institutional risks involved in taking the uncertain effects of future sea level rise into account in adaptation planning and flood risk management. Comparative analysis of these two cases then informs some wider reflections about the tensions between adaptive and risk-based approaches, the role of institutional risk in climate change adaptation, and the importance of such institutional dynamics in shaping the framing uncertainties and policy responses to scientific knowledge about them.