Fisheries mismanagement

We analysed the extent to which European politicians have adhered to scientific recommendations on annual total allowable catches (TACs) from 1987 to 2011, covering most of the period of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). For the 11 stocks examined, TACs were set higher than scientific recommendations in 68% of decisions. Politically-adjusted TACs averaged 33% above scientifically recommended levels. There was no evidence that the 2002 reform of the CFP improved decision-making, as was claimed at the time. We modelled the effects of such politically-driven decision-making on stock sustainability. Our results suggest that political adjustment of scientific recommendations dramatically increases the probability of a stock collapsing within 40 years.In 2012 European fisheries policy will undergo a once-a-decade reform. Ten years ago radical reforms were promised but the changes failed to improve sustainability. It is likely that the 2012 reform will be similarly ineffective unless decision-making is changed so that catch allocations are based on science rather than politics.     

Policy and practice in the live reef fish for food trade: A case study from Palawan,Philippines

The live reef fish for food trade is a highly significant fishery that provides income for many coastal communities in the Asia-Pacific region but faces challenges relating to sustainability. This paper draws attention to the large gaps that exist between policy and practice in the live reef fish for food trade in Palawan, Philippines. While many policies have been introduced over many years, effective implementation remains a challenge. We show how the implementation of successive sets of policies has been hindered by three broadly inter-related features of the local social landscape: the capacity of government institutions and legal frameworks to implement regulations, the distinctive culture of fisheries governance in the Philippines, and the perspectives and practices of local fishers themselves. By focusing on the gaps between policy and practice, we highlight the ongoing need to examine more explicitly the ways in which local contexts shape the effectiveness of implementation, enforcement and policy more generally.     

RESTORATION OF SHEEP TRANSHUMANCE IN THE EBRO VALLEY,ARAGON, SPAIN*

For centuries, sheep transhumance has connected the Spanish highlands with the lowlands, creating a livestock system with important social, economic, cultural, and landscape effects. About 5 million sheep were involved in transhumant movements in the mid‐1700s, but transhumance started to decay in the nineteenth century and almost disappeared in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1980s, transhumant sheep did not number more than 25,000 in the study area; at present the number exceeds 134,000, with herders practicing both descending and ascending transhumance. In this article we provide information not only on current numbers of transhumant sheep but also on the origins and destinations of the flocks. We also confirm that the reputation of transhumance, once regarded as quaint and antiquated, has been enhanced by the ecosystem services it provides and by the cultural and heritage continuities it renders.     

Planning and development regulation amid rapid urban growth: Explaining divergent trajectories in Africa

Why are urban plans, land use regulations and construction codes implemented effectively in some African states but not others? This constitutes an increasingly urgent development concern with major implications for the environment and the urban poor. Rather than being explained by economic factors, bureaucratic capacity or the nature of the urban policies and regulations in place, this paper argues that divergent outcomes are largely rooted in differing political bargaining environments. Comparing Uganda and Rwanda, it presents an empirical study that analyses contrasting planning and regulation trajectories in contexts of similarly low levels of socioeconomic development and soaring rates of urban growth. It argues that the divergent outcomes can be explained in relation to the political resources and incentives confronted by governing elites, which in Rwanda impel state actors to implement plans and regulations while in Uganda incentivize overriding them in the interests of political or economic gain. In highlighting political bargaining contexts and how these change over time, the paper illustrates the critical importance of historically informed city-level political economy analysis for understanding divergent urban development outcomes.     

Actually achieving marine sustainability demands a radical re-think in approach, not 'more of the same'

The UK is committed to meeting a series of ‘high-level marine objectives’ which are required to satisfy national obligations and to meet international commitments for the marine environment. There are more than 16 such international high-level policy driven obligations and commitments, together with more than 18 European and more than 12 of national origin. In the UK, there is an assumption that the current and planned monitoring will provide evidence to demonstrate achievement against these high-level objectives.     

Charting the emergence of ‘global water initiatives’ in world water governance

Over the last century, the aperture of water governance has widened beyond local and regional schemes to include a growing number of dynamic organizations and events with a “global” scope. Until recently, little had been written about the historical development of global water governance, institutional connectivity within the field, or key organizational successes and failures as perceived by water experts. This paper provides water scientists, managers, policymakers, and those with an interest in international water issues with an overview of global initiatives. It charts the emergence of a set of institutions and events, referred to as “global water initiatives,” or GWIs, using a survey of water experts and other research. Institutional diversity among GWIs is described by defining four distinct types of initiatives and specific differences in scope and programmatic orientation. This overview also entails the historical paradigms of water management, evaluation of the results of the growth and proliferation of numerous new GWIs in recent decades, and some recommendations for supporting and sustaining GWI efforts in order to foster and improve multilevel water management in the future.     

Local Agenda 21 and Barriers to Sustainability at the Local Government Level in Victoria,Australia

At the 1992 Rio 'Earth Summit', Australia joined other nations in committing to processes leading to the formulation of 'Local Agenda 21s' (LA21s) by 1996. Subsequently, in the latter year, Whittaker carried out a national survey of local government authorities to evaluate what progress had been made. Whittaker's conclusion was that progress in Australia had been slow, but ten 'leading-edge' Victorian councils were identified through a self-reporting process. In this paper we discuss the concept of LA21, analyse in closer detail the 'progress' that has been made in the ten Victorian councils, and discuss some of the broader forces that, we argue, have made LA21 formulation increasingly difficult, particularly in the state of Victoria in the recent past.     

制度变迁与房地产业发展-匈牙利的经验和启示

东欧前社会主义国家匈牙利,经过数年市场化改革和体制转型,实现了国内经济的快速增长和国民生活的不断改善。本文基于匈牙利房地产业的发展背景和现状,探讨并分析了匈牙利政府在国内房地产业相关发展政策及管理举措方面可供借鉴的若干经验和启示。     

南海边缘海多金属结核与大洋多金属结核对比

本文通过系统对比分析前人研究成果,研究了南海边缘海多金属结核的成矿特征,结果表明：南海边缘海结核的矿物组成与大洋结核相似,均主要由锰相矿物和铁相矿物组成,其中锰相矿物主要为水羟锰矿和钡镁锰矿,铁相矿物主要以无定型铁氧化/氢氧化物形式存在,另外南海边缘海结核中含有大量硅酸盐矿物,表明在南海结核成矿过程中受到大量的陆源碎屑矿物混杂;相对于大洋主要经济成矿区的多金属结核,南海边缘海多金属结核中主要的经济元素如Mn、Cu、Co、Ni和Zn质量分数较低,而亲陆源性元素如Fe、Ti、P、Nb、Pb、Rb、Sc、Ta、Sr、Th和REY（REE和Y）等质量分数较高;南海边缘海多金属结核的元素地球化学特征和REE配分模式显示其为水成成因,并呈现更低的Mn/Fe值;同时南海边缘海结核也具有较快的平均生长速率及较高的δCe正异常,表明其生长在更为氧化的海水环境。虽然较快的沉积物沉积速率和动荡的海水环境影响了南海边缘海结核的成矿,但大量陆源物质进入海洋也为南海边缘海结核提供了丰富的成矿物质来源,便于南海边缘海结核的快速生长成矿。南海边缘海结核富集有Fe、Ti、Pb、Rb、Th和REY等金属元素,同样可以作为极具潜力的海洋矿产资源。南海边缘海多金属结核具有其独特的地球化学特征,与大洋多金属结核存在着明显差异。     

From impacts assessment to adaptation priorities: the shaping of adaptation policy

Abstract

Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), adaptation has recently gained importance, yet adaptation is much less developed than mitigation as a policy response. Adaptation research has been used to help answer to related but distinct questions. (1) To what extent can adaptation reduce impacts of climate change? (2) What adaptation policies are needed, and how can they best be developed, applied and funded? For the first question, the emphasis is on the aggregate value of adaptation so that this may be used to estimate net impacts. An important purpose is to compare net impacts with the costs of mitigation. In the second question, the emphasis is on the design and prioritisation of adaptation policies and measures. While both types of research are conducted in a policy context, they differ in their character, application, and purpose. The impacts/mitigation research is orientated towards the physical and biological science of impacts and adaptation, while research on the ways and means of adaptation is focussed on the social and economic determinants of vulnerability in a development context. The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the national adaptation studies carried under the UNFCCC are broadening the paradigm, from the impacts/mitigation to vulnerability/adaptation. For this to occur, new policy research is needed. While the broad new directions of both research and policy can now be discerned, there remain a number of outstanding issues to be considered.