The neoliberalization of ecosystem services: wetland mitigation banking and problems in environmental governance

Wetland mitigation banking is an American neoliberal environmental policy that has created a functioning market in `ecosystem services', commodities defined using the holistic measures of ecological science. The development of this market is discussed as a project of environmental governance, defined as the nation-state's regulation of ecological relations within its territory towards stabilizing capitalist relations of power and accumulation. I argue that the wetland banking industry serves as a bellwether that presages problems that other strategies of neoliberal environmental governance will experience. Ethnographic, economic and ecological data from the Chicago-area wetland banking industry inform a discussion of two major obstacles to neoliberal strategy: the problem of relying on ecological science to define the unit of trade, and the problem of aligning the somewhat independent relations of law, politics, markets and ecosystems across an array of spatial scales. Theoretical guidance is sought from recent work on `social natures' and from the Regulationist approach to institutional political economics.     

Problems associated with tourism development in Southern Africa: The case of Transfrontier Conservation Areas

Tourism in Southern Africa is synonymous with the wildlife safari. In the post-colonial era the establishment of so-called ‘peaceparks’ that straddle the borders of states has come to be seen as a key not only to increasing tourism in the Southern African region, but also to the modernizing of conservation policies and the development of rural economies. This paper focuses on the global and continental presence of transfrontier conservation areas, the link between conservation and tourism development, and the current factors that constrain and influence the realization of an ‘African Dream’ — ‘establishment of the greatest animal kingdom’. The unstable political situation in Zimbabwe and how this negatively affects wildlife conservation and tourism in the Gonarezhou part of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park, serves as a case study. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

青藏高原的水塔功能

青藏高原是维持我国乃至东亚地区生态系统的重要水塔。高原平均海拔在4000m以上,与周边地区形成了巨大的地势差。高原东南部不仅具有丰富的降水,而且在3500m以上以冰川雪被形态储存了巨大的水资源,因此,高原具有重要的水塔功能。基于高原潜在输出总水量和不同海拔区域水体所具有的势能两个方面,建立了高原水塔功能的模型,从而利用GIS方法,通过对我国1∶400万系列图和相关资料的统计分析,计算出高原不同高度带贮存的大气降水、冰川储水量、湖泊水量以及工农业用水量。计算结果表明,青藏高原冰川湖泊的淡水储量达39921×108m3,其中冰川储水量为39228×108m3,可利用湖泊储水量为693×108m3,平均每年由降水获得的水资源量为8495×108m3,高原工农业用水量为129×108m3。因此,高原的输出水量即出境河川径流量为6870×108m3。高原储水主要分布在海拔3000～5000m间,与高原周围相比,平均势差在2000～4000m间,最大的势差达5500m。水体具有巨大的势能,在势能的作用下,自然向周边区域输送汇集,维持着周边地区的生态过程和社会经济活动,因此,青藏高原的水塔功能对于周边地区的生态系统和社会经济系统是极其重要的。     

利用现有重力场模型求定CHAMP卫星加速度计修正参数

CHAMP卫星加速度计数据的标定是通过确定其尺度因子和偏差参数来完成的.本文基于能量守恒方程,给出利用现有重力场模型标定CHAMP卫星加速度数据的基本原理和数学模型;提出相邻历元间差分算法,大大简化了观测方程,同时避免积分常量的计算.该算法既能同时解算尺度因子和偏差参数,也可任意求解其中之一.基于实测的CHAMP卫星加速度数据,利用EGM96模型和最新公布的EIGEN-2模型进行计算与比较,验证该方法的有效性.     

Counting Beans: Agrobiodiversity,Indigeneity, and Agrarian Reform

In‐field conservation of locally domesticated crop varieties ameliorates agrobiodiversity losses, but the interaction among nationally regulated socioeconomic factors at the local scale tends to discourage this. Analyses of household surveys conducted in Ecuador demonstrate that state and nongovernmental institutions interact to discourage cultivation of locally domesticated varieties of beans (Phaseolus spp.). Land privatization, agricultural extension, and credit programs favor market production of introduced modern bean varieties, and locally domesticated varieties are noted for favorable nutrition, culinary, and agroecological qualities. Resolving disconnections between the market and social values for landrace beans may provide agrobiodiversity conservation opportunities.     

Land tenure type as an underrated legal constraint on the conservation management of coastal dunes: examples from Ireland

Legal factors play an underrated but significant role as constraints on conservation management. In this paper, based on observations in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, mode of land tenure is assessed to determine its influence on the conservation management of coastal dunes. The tenure types considered are: private ownership, corporate private ownership, tenancy, secured tenancy, leasing, common (joint) ownership, uncertain ownership, public ownership and its subset military ownership. It is suggested that multiple private ownership is least likely to favour effective conservation management. Public ownership by a statutory conservation authority and corporate private ownership by a conservation-orientated NGO are regarded as the optimum tenure types for conservation management of coastal dunes.     

GRAPES＿GFS中三维参考大气的研究：参考态构造和实际预报试验

GRAPES GFS(Global Regional Assimilation and PrEdiction System,Global Forecast System)采用基于等温大气构造的一维参考大气,前期的研究工作已在GRAPES_GFS的动力框架中引入了三维参考大气,并通过一系列理想试验检验了新方法的正确性以及计算精度。本部分研究工作,主要针对实际资料的预报试验,对比分析了不同三维参考态给定方法的优劣,并采用气候平均法,进行夏季两个月的四维变分循环预报试验。检验结果显示,使用三维参考大气后,模式的综合预报性能得到了提升,对流层高度场、温度场的预报偏差有所减小,长期积分过程中模式质量损失较为严重的问题也得到了明显的缓解。另外,通过动能谱的对比也可以看到使用三维参考大气后,模式在高层的能量耗散明显较小,能谱变化与观测更加吻合。     

新型砌块水土保持系统的应用研究

我国江河湖库众多，同时水土流失日趋严重，流失面积及速度已逐年增加。每年水库除险加固和河流治理等投资数百亿元，随着人们环保意识的加强，特别在近几年以长江和黄河为重点的堤防建设护岸工程中，联锁式砼砌块水土保持系统已逐渐成为我国水土保持领域中最重要的一种全新解决方案，被广泛采用。该系统既能有效防止水土流失、长久地防止坡面冲刷和保持坡体稳定，又能代替成本较高的常规护面，具有较广的推广应用前景。联锁式砼砌块水土保持系统是由多个独立的砼砌块相互啮合组合在一起的联锁矩阵，联锁式砼砌块铺面在各种动、静水条件下具有良好的整体稳定性，铺设于渗水土工布上。能有效保护土体不受水流冲刷和浸泡破坏。该系统在欧美已有多年的历史，是被工程实践证明了的性能卓越、经济实用、美观环保、可持续发展的水土保持系统，可广泛应用于河道和灌渠衬砌、沿海防潮堤、水库大坝边坡加固、铁路、高速公路边坡等防护和城市绿化工程。     

黑河中下游荒漠区植物多样性分布对土壤水分变化的响应

基于对黑河流域中下游荒漠区植被和土壤生境的调查分析,以土壤水分在各调查样地中的差异来反映研究区的生态水文特征,采用种的丰富度和多度来代表荒漠植物多样性研究了荒漠植物,包括隐花植物多样性分布对土壤水分变化的响应。土壤水分变化不仅直接影响着荒漠植物的多样性,而通过影响其它生境因子又间接地影响着多样性的维持。因此,如何维持中下游相对稳定的土壤水分来源是该区荒漠植物多样性保育今后所要面临的挑战。     

压密注浆的能量分析方法

为了能够从能量的角度分析压密注浆的力学机理,并给出注浆压力的理论解,将整个注浆过程视为无限土体中的圆孔扩张问题,根据注浆过程中能耗区土体在注浆压力和静止土压力作用下的应力、应变和体变关系以及注浆扩孔过程中的能量和体变守恒原理,推导出压密注浆极限注浆压力的理论解答。计算和分析表明,理论解的计算结果与工程实际比较吻合,而且球形扩孔的注浆压力比柱形扩孔的注浆压力要小得多,初步证实了理论解的可靠性。