Bridging the gap: empowering decision-making for adaptation through the UK Climate Impacts Programme

Abstract

The methods, tools and outputs of the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) show how building adaptive capacity to climate change can be embedded within a wide range of organizations. UKCIP has been operating since 1997 to support decision-makers' assessments of their vulnerability to climate change so that they can plan how to adapt. Whilst stakeholder engagement is now generally regarded as vital to ensure that research meets the needs of decision-makers for information, this usually means that stakeholders are positioned in a ‘consultative’ role in research. In contrast, the UKCIP aims to bridge the gap between research and policy so that decision-makers take control to produce research in ways that are useful to them. The Programme has been flexible and was developed incrementally, with increased scientific understanding, taking advantage of collaborative funding and facilitating long-standing partnerships. Whilst the core framework of scenarios and tools has been developed centrally, most studies have been stakeholder-funded and led. The Programme's results suggest that if decision-makers are supported, capacity is built for assessments, and crucially, research outputs are directly applicable to their ongoing work and strategic planning. This capacity-building has worked across scales and sectors and is an effective route to mainstreaming climate change adaptation. The implication, therefore, is that more support should be given by funding agencies to develop institutional capacity to support adaptation to climate change in both the private and public sectors.     

江西省应对气候变化政策

为应对全球气候变化,各级政府纷纷提出应对气候变化的战略和政策。以江西气候变化和影响事实为基础,分析和总结了目前江西省应对气候变化所采取的政策,包括农业政策、林业政策、水资源管理政策及防灾减灾政策等,得出了政府是应对气候变化的领导者、组织者和政策的制定者的结论,认为政府在应对气候变化行动中具有重要的引导作用。     

Economic and environmental effectiveness of a technology-based climate protocol

Abstract

The present stalemate in climate negotiations between the USA and the other Annex I countries has led policy analysts and economists to explore the possible emergence of alternative climate regimes that may be applied after 2012. This article explores the idea of replacing international cooperation on greenhouse gas emission control with international cooperation on climate-related technological innovation and diffusion. This idea—recently proposed among others by Barrett (2001) and Benedick (2001)—is based on the insight that incentives to free-ride are much smaller in the case of technological cooperation than in the case of cooperation on emission control. This article provides a first applied game theory analysis of a technology-based climate protocol by assessing: (i) the self-enforcingness (namely, the absence of incentives to free-ride) of the coalition that would form when countries negotiate on climate-related technological cooperation; (ii) the environmental effectiveness of a technology-based climate protocol. The analysis is carried out by using a model in which endogenous and induced technical change are explicitly modelled. The results of our analysis partly support Barrett's and Benedick's conjectures. On the one hand, a self-enforcing agreement is more likely to emerge when countries cooperate on environmental technological innovation and diffusion than when they cooperate on emission abatement. However, technological cooperation—without any commitment to emission control—may not lead to a sufficient abatement of greenhouse gas concentrations.     

How EU policies could reduce nutrient pollution in European inland and coastal waters

Intensive agriculture and densely populated areas represent major sources of nutrient pollution for European inland and coastal waters, altering the aquatic ecosystems and affecting their capacity to provide ecosystem services and support economic activities. Ambitious water policies are in place in the European Union (EU) for protecting and restoring aquatic ecosystems under the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. This research quantified the current pressures of point and diffuse nitrogen and phosphorus emissions to European fresh and coastal waters (2005–2012), and analysed the effects of three policy scenarios of nutrient reduction: 1) the application of measures currently planned in the Rural Development Programmes and under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD); 2) the full implementation of the UWWTD and the absence of derogations in the Nitrates Directive; 3) high reduction of nutrient, using best technologies in wastewaters treatment and optimal fertilisation in agriculture. The results of the study show that for the period 2005–2012, the nitrogen load to European seas was 3.3–4.1 TgN/y and the phosphorus load was 0.26–0.30 TgP/y. Policy measures supporting technological improvements (third scenario) could decrease the nutrient export to the seas up to 14% for nitrogen and 20% for phosphorus, improving the ecological status of rivers and lakes, but widening the nutrient imbalance in coastal ecosystems (i.e. increasing nitrogen availability with respect to phosphorus), affecting eutrophication. Further nutrient reductions could be possible by a combination of measures especially in the agricultural sector. However, without tackling current agricultural production and consumption system, the reduction might not be sufficient for achieving the goals of EU water policy in some regions. The study analysed the expected changes and the source contribution in different European regional seas, and highlights the advantages of addressing the land-sea dynamics, checking the coherence of measures taken under different policies.     

论农村社区在地震保安方面职能的发挥

目前,农村民居的科学抗震设防日益受到社会各界的广泛关注。农村社区作为农村社会的组成部分,其在地震保安方面职能的发挥有着不可替代的地位,充分发挥农村社区的防震减灾功能对提高农村民居的抗震设防水平,最大限度地减轻地震灾害有着深远意义。通过对农村社区特征和功能以及在地震保安方面作用发挥的阐述,针对现今存在的主要制约因素,提出政策建议,供参考。     

桂西北微细浸染型金矿找矿远景区优选

“桂西北”是我国以微细浸染型金矿为主的重要金成矿集中区之一,具有重要的找矿前景和研究价值.文章通过对“桂西北”以高龙、金牙两典型微细浸染型金矿床为主要研究对象,重点分析其地质特征、成矿地质条件,进而总结了研究区微细浸染型金矿的成矿作用机制、成矿模式.最后,结合桂西北地区特定的沉积古地理特征、构造、围岩蚀变及已有地球化学、矿产等材料,结合前人研究成果,初步圈定了5个可供进一步找矿的远景区     

福建漳浦玻璃用砂矿资源特征与找矿远景

漳浦县玻璃用砂资源储量集中在六鳌、古雷两个半岛,多以大型矿床产出,矿砂质量较好,矿砂中对玻璃生产质量有影响的主要是铁矿物,通过选矿可以达到浮法玻璃用砂要求。根据成矿地质条件,在六鳌半岛等地仍有找矿远景。     

福建南平下明洋矿区地球化学异常特征及找矿远景

南平下明洋铅锌钼多金属矿区土壤测量发现Pb、Zn、Mo、W、Bi等异常。北部西部以Pb-Zn组合为主,元素相互套合较紧密,异常浓度以外带为主;东南部岩体接触带附近以Mo-W-Bi组合为主,元素相互套合紧密,异常浓度高,浓集中心清晰,分布连续,规模较大。分析认为矿区土壤Pb、Zn、Mo、W异常为矿致异常。     

浅覆盖区第四系三维立体透视方法研究--以太湖西北地区为例

采用剖析图法从三维透视角度研究了太湖西北地区浅覆盖区第四系。该剖析图较直观、清晰地展示了新近纪、第四纪各地层的岩性、厚度、沉积结构特征及其在三维空间的变化,并可反映当时的沉积环境及阶地上的岩性分布,同时显示了基底(前新近系)的起伏变化特征,为该区新构造运动的研究、区域地层的对比以及建立该区沉积结构模型等提供了新的视角和较全面的基础地质资料。在简要介绍了剖析图方法的同时,着重强调要通过柱状地层对比,进行第四纪地层的多重划分,确定第四纪地层划分原则。     

Enrolling a goddess for Delhi’s street vendors: The micro-politics of policy implementation shaping urban (in)formality

In a world of persistent and growing informality of working and living conditions in cities, and increasing policy efforts to formalise the informal, why are some forms of informality criminalized while others enjoy sanction of the state? This paper argues that analysis of the politics of policy implementation of formalisation efforts can provide rich insights into urban formal-informal relations in cities of the global south, to complement policymaking or policy impact analyses. We present an in-depth case study analysis of the contested implementation of a unique policy effort to formalise street vendors in Delhi, India. A public authority lens reveals the micro-political practices employed by non-state and state actors in bureaucratic, judicial, political, market and other arenas aiming to control urban space. We argue that policy implementation outcomes are significantly shaped by ‘horizontal' contestations within society and within the state, to complement and intermesh with ‘vertical' state-society struggles. Moreover, contestants for public authority exploit official rules but also informal practices by the state, to engage and advance state fragmentation, enduringly shape cityscapes and to affect which forms of informality are condoned or condemned.