Conceptualizing food systems for global environmental change research

This paper outlines a framework for studying the multiple interactions of broadly defined food systems with global environmental change and evaluating the major societal outcomes affected by these interactions: food security, ecosystem services and social welfare. In building the framework the paper explores and synthesizes disparate literature on food systems food security and global environmental change, bridging social science and natural science perspectives. This collected evidence justifies a representation of food systems, which can be used to identify key processes and determinants of food security in a given place or time, particularly the impacts of environmental change. It also enables analysis of the feedbacks from food system outcomes to drivers of environmental and social change, as well as tradeoffs among the food system outcomes themselves. In food systems these tradeoffs are often between different scales or levels of decision-making or management, so solutions to manage them must be context-specific. With sufficient empirical evidence, the framework could be used to build a database of typologies of food system interactions useful for different management or analytical purposes.     

Droughts and famines: The underlying factors and the causal links among agro-pastoral households in semi-arid Makueni district, Kenya

Famines are often linked to drought in semi-arid areas of Sub-Saharan Africa where not only pastoralists, but also increasingly agro-pastoralists are affected. This study addresses the interplay between drought and famine in the rural semi-arid areas of Makueni district, Kenya, by examining whether, and how crop production conditions and agro-pastoral strategies predispose smallholder households to drought-triggered food insecurity. If this hypothesis holds, then approaches to deal with drought and famine have to target factors causing household food insecurity during non-drought periods. Data from a longitudinal survey of 127 households, interviews, workshops, and daily rainfall records (1961–2003) were analysed using quantitative and qualitative methods. This integrated approach confirms the above hypothesis and reveals that factors other than rainfall, like asset and labour constraints, inadequate policy enforcement, as well as the poverty-driven inability to adopt risk-averse production systems play a key role. When linking these factors to the high rainfall variability, farmer-relevant definitions and forecasts of drought have to be applied.     

水权制度冲突与水资源安全

威胁我国水资源安全的根源在于社会转型期的水权制度冲突,主要表现在：水资源的权属冲突、管理体制冲突、取水许可制度与水权交易的冲突、收益分配权的冲突、“以人为本”原则与水资源承载力的冲突等。解决制度冲突的最佳的、也是唯一的途径是实施制度创新。     

湘潭市河西应急地下水源地评价

建立城市应急地下水源地,有利于提高应对水资源危机事件的供水保障能力。本文对湘潭市河西应急地下水源地的水文地质条件进行了详细的研究,认为该水源地由白垩系罗镜滩组(K2lj)灰质砾岩含水层构成,面积较大,厚度稳定,岩溶发育,水量丰富,水质优良,可开采量达78486 m3/d,且稳定可靠。针对2020年规划的湘潭市主城区及九华经开区的146万人口,无论是20 L/人·天还是50 L/人·天标准下的基本饮用水应急需求,均有保障,建议将应急水源地建设纳入城市基础设施建设和水资源开发规划之中,充分保证湘潭市区的供水安全。     

中国石墨供应风险评价

石墨是战略性矿产,是支撑未来战略性新兴产业发展的重要资源。通过收集石墨储、产、消、贸、价等方面的数据资料,构建了资源安全、贸易安全和市场安全三维供应风险评价体系,通过计算资源保障程度、自给率、进口份额占比、进口国家风险、进口国家集中度、进口价格波动指数、价格波动指数7个指标对石墨资源供应风险进行评价,结果显示市场安全对石墨供应风险影响最大。建议建立大鳞片石墨资源储备制度,实施石墨出口配额制度,以石墨烯技术辐射带动整个石墨产业,打破石墨提纯及深加工技术垄断,引领中国石墨产业发展,促进中国由石墨资源大国向石墨资源强国迈进。     

居民城市公共安全感知与社区环境——基于北京大规模调查问卷的分析

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情的爆发使得民众对公共安全问题的关注到了前所未有的程度,社区作为社会治理基本单元,在防疫减灾中所发挥的作用尤为突出。本文基于北京2019年城市体检问卷调查数据,采用多层线性模型检验个体属性及社区环境指标对公共安全感知的影响。研究发现,公共安全感知的差异主要来自个体属性的不同,老年人及健康状况一般或较差的群体,以及低收入、低学历、待业人群的安全感相对较低;安全感的社区差异显著,人口稠密、公交线路密集的社区居民安全感较低,道路交叉口较多的社区安全感较高;社区离Ⅰ型应急避难设施和医院的距离越近,居民安全感越高,但中小型设施影响不显著;良好的社区社会环境对居民安全感具有非常明显的正向影响,但租户很难从物业管理水平的提高中获益。据此本文提出了建设安全韧性社区的若干建议。     

能源地缘政治与能源权力研究

围绕油气资源的权力博弈仍然是当今世界最主要的能源权力争夺,但不同时代的能源权力的属性有所不同,能源安全与能源战略内涵也有所不同。论文在系统梳理能源地缘政治基础上,提出了能源权力的概念,并从地缘政治格局、能源安全观、能源网络和全球能源治理4个方面进行了具体阐述。研究认为：① 以能源分布、产销空间变化及其规律性总结是传统能源地缘政治研究的核心,油气资源地理分布的不平衡性是能源权力产生的最直接因素。② 从石油危机时代到未来新能源时代,能源安全观的不同是影响国际能源地缘政治权力变化的重要因素。③ 能源的商品属性和地缘属性决定了能源贸易不仅是经济行为,其空间的流动与国际政治关系密切。生产与消费的分离使得油气二次分配过程中的贸易控制和通道控制对能源权力重构产生重要影响。④ 全球能源权力巨变和复杂错综的能源权力网络将引发全球能源治理体系的新秩序。权力的主体从国家、国际组织、跨国公司转变为全球能源网络中利益共同体,能源治理的主题从一国之利益走向了全球能源权力的再分配过程。展望未来,如何在理论上建构新时代的能源权力的理论体系,深化气候变化和新能源等因素影响下的世界能源权力的演变、地理空间与权力的相互依赖关系、权力秩序的重构及其效应、全球能源治理机制及其治理模式等研究,对科学认知和研判世界能源形势与能源战略的演化具有重要的意义,也是能源地缘政治学研究的重要方向性命题。     

Child health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa: A comparison of changes in climate and socio-economic factors

We compare changes in low birth weight and child malnutrition in 13 African countries under projected climate change versus socio-economic development scenarios. Climate scenarios are created by linking surface temperature gradients with declines in seasonal rainfall sea along with warming values of 1 °C and 2 °C. Socio-economic scenarios are developed by assigning regionally specific changes in access to household electricity and mother's education. Using these scenarios, in combination with established models of children's health, we investigate and compare the changes in predicted health outcomes. We find that the negative effects of warming and drying on child stunting could be mitigated by positive development trends associated with increasing mothers’ educational status and household access to electricity. We find less potential for these trends to mitigate how warming and drying trends impact birth weights. In short, under warming and drying, the risk of more malnourished children is greater than the risk of more children with low birth weights, but increases in child malnutrition could be averted in regions that increase access to educational resources and basic infrastructure.     

Shocks to fish production: Identification,trends, and consequences

Sudden disruptions, or shocks, to food production can adversely impact access to and trade of food commodities. Seafood is the most traded food commodity and is globally important to human nutrition. The seafood production and trade system is exposed to a variety of disruptions including fishery collapses, natural disasters, oil spills, policy changes, and aquaculture disease outbreaks, aquafeed resource access and price spikes. The patterns and trends of these shocks to fisheries and aquaculture are poorly characterized and this limits the ability to generalize or predict responses to political, economic, and environmental changes. We applied a statistical shock detection approach to historic fisheries and aquaculture data to identify shocks over the period 1976–2011. A complementary case study approach was used to identify possible key social and political dynamics related to these shocks. The lack of a trend in the frequency or magnitude of the identified shocks and the range of identified causes suggest shocks are a common feature of these systems which occur due to a variety, and often multiple and simultaneous, causes. Shocks occurred most frequently in the Caribbean and Central America, the Middle East and North Africa, and South America, while the largest magnitude shocks occurred in Asia, Europe, and Africa. Shocks also occurred more frequently in aquaculture systems than in capture systems, particularly in recent years. In response to shocks, countries tend to increase imports and experience decreases in supply. The specific combination of changes in trade and supply are context specific, which is highlighted through four case studies. Historical examples of shocks considered in this study can inform policy for responding to shocks and identify potential risks and opportunities to build resilience in the global food system.     

自然灾害对公共安全的影响及其监测预警科技发展战略

改革开放以来,我国在自然灾害监测预警的各个环节均取得了可喜的发展,对减轻灾害损失、保障人民生命财产安全和社会稳定繁荣发展发挥了重要作用。但仍需清醒地认识到,在灾害规律演变、社会经济发展的新形势下,各类自然灾害对国家公共安全仍存在很大的威胁;我国目前灾害监测预警能力与国家防灾减灾“三个转变”需求以及国际先进水平相比仍存在较大差距。因此,本文简要论述了气象、海洋、地质、地震、生物五大自然灾害对国家公共安全的影响,并根据我国目前监测预警状况和存在问题,提出未来5～10 a我国自然灾害监测预警科技发展战略要从加强预测预报基础理论研究、提升综合监测能力、构建高效自然灾害预警系统以及发展减灾避灾和救灾技术四个方面着手推进。