Living with limits: growth,resources, and climate change

Is it possible for all of humanity to enjoy the standards of living of today's high-income countries? What would happen if these limits were reached, perhaps because of climate change or a shortage of natural resources essential to production? How would society manage – or fail to manage – such limits? Notwithstanding the current financial and economic crises, these are perhaps the biggest questions confronting our species (and of a host of other species, who are the victims of our decisions). The article begins by considering the biggest economic event of our lifetimes – the ‘great convergence’ and its implications for the demand for resources. The discussion then turns to a specific limit on our development, climate change, which is different from most other limits, because it involves a global public good: the atmosphere. What such limits might mean for our civilization is discussed. One can persuade people to tackle climate change only if those concerned with the dangers persuade ordinary people that action will not come at the expense of their prosperity.     

土地利用变化对我国区域气候影响的数值试验

使用RegCM2区域气候模式单向嵌套澳大利亚CSIRO R21L9全球海-气耦合模式,通过将中国区域植被覆盖由理想状况改变为实际状况的数值试验对比分析,探讨了当代中国土地利用变化对中国区域气候的影响,并对结果进行了统计显著性检验。研究表明,土地利用的变化,会导致我国西北等地区年平均降水减少,导致年平均气温在内陆部分地区升高和在沿海个别地区降低,引起许多地方夏季日平均最高气温升高,而冬季日平均最低气温则在我国东部部分地区降低的同时在西北地区升高,土壤湿度的变化表现为大范围的降低。研究同时表明,相同的土地变化在不同的地理环境下引起的气候要素变化有一定的不一致性。     

Implementing climate change adaptation: lessons from India’s national adaptation fund on climate change (NAFCC)

With poverty alleviation and sustainable development as key imperatives for a developing economy like India, what drives the resource-constrained state governments to prioritize actions that address climate change impacts? We examine this question and argue that without access to additional earmarked financial resources, climate action would get overshadowed by developmental priorities and effective mainstreaming might not be possible. A systematic literature review was carried out to draw insights from the current state of implementation of adaptation projects, programmes and schemes at the subnational levels, along with barriers to mainstreaming climate change adaptation. The findings from a literature review were supplemented with lessons emerging from the implementation of India’s National Adaptation Fund on Climate Change (NAFCC). The results of this study underscore the scheme’s relevance.

Key policy insights

• Experience with NAFCC implementation reveals that states require sustained ‘handholding’ in terms of financial, technical and capacity support until climate change issues are fully understood and embedded in the policy landscape.

• Domestic sources of finance are critically important in the absence of predictable and adequate adaptation finance from international sources.

• The dedicated window for climate finance fosters a spirit of competitive federalism among states and encourages enhanced climate action.

• Enhanced budgetary allocation to NAFCC to strengthen the state-level adaptation response and create capacity to mainstream climate change concerns in state planning frames, is urgently needed.

     

城市公共自行车自愿碳减排机制初探——以北京市为例

公共自行车系统是待开发的交通自愿碳减排项目。本文采用CCER方法学中的“快速公交项目”,计算北京市2012年公共自行车系统自愿碳减排量,并估算收益。结果显示：北京市2012年公共自行车自愿碳减排量为43.95 t CO₂,出售可获得1538元的收益。同时估算得到北京市2015年公共自行车碳减排量为6874.5 t CO₂,出售可获得约24万的收益。因此,北京等交通需求膨胀的特大型城市,随着公共自行车系统的持续壮大发展,公共自行车运营企业的经济效益有望通过碳交易实现较大提升空间。     

Spatial patterns of retail activity and street network structure in new and traditional Israeli cities

The association between spatial patterns of retail activity and the spatial configuration of street networks was examined by means of the space syntax methodology in eight Israeli cities that represent two city types, characterized by different planning approaches and urban growth: (i) new towns, which were established according to a comprehensive city plan and modern planning concepts of “tree-like” hierarchical street networks and “neighborhood units”; (ii) older cities, where street networks and the spatial patterns of retail activity were formed incrementally during their growth. Unlike in older cities, retail activity in new towns concentrates in relatively less-accessible and intermediate locations. This is indicated by a weak correlation between retail activity and the street network’s Integration and Choice centrality measures. The comparison between Israeli cities illustrates the influence of urban growth and planning approaches on the formation of retail activity and its interaction with the structure of the street network.     

基于遥感监测的城市热岛研究进展

全球正经历快速、高强度的城市化,导致城市热岛加剧,并对城市、区域乃至全球许多的生态环境要素直接或间接地产生多方面的影响,与人类福祉密切相关。遥感具有宽覆盖、信息量大、重复观测周期短等优点,已成为地表城市热岛(Surface Urban Heat Island, SUHI)监测广泛采用的一种方法。针对前人相关研究对热红外数据源、监测指标及SUHI时空变化规律尚缺乏系统总结且内容需要更新等问题,本文首先分类评述了SUHI遥感监测所采用的热红外遥感数据源。其次将现有的SUHI监测指标分为土地覆盖类型驱动型、地表温度格局驱动型及两者复合驱动型3类来述评,详细介绍了它们的计算方法、应用案例及优缺点;并从日间变化、夜间变化及昼夜对比的变化3个方面述评了SUHI的年内时空变化规律;归纳了其年际变化规律。最后,依据现有研究结论中相互冲突或尚需深化的地方,指出几个潜在的关键问题或研究方向。     

基于环境因素约束的农户土地利用效率及影响因素分析 ——以河南省粮食生产核心区为例

在农户土地利用引起的环境问题日益严重的背景下,如果农户土地利用效率的测度只考虑“好”产出,而忽略“非意欲”的环境产出,可能造成测度结果不准确。因此,将“非意欲”产出引入农户土地利用效率评价模型,利用河南省粮食生产核心区农户抽样调查数据测度环境因素约束下的农户土地利用效率,并探讨其效率状况及影响因素。主要的结论如下：① 调查区域环境因素约束下的农户土地利用效率平均值仅为0.612,效率值总体不高,有较大的提升空间。不同规模农户的土地利用效率差异较大,二者呈现“U型”变化趋势。② 环境因素约束下的农户土地利用效率的影响因素来自多个方面。其中,农户生计方式兼业化在一定程度上降低了环境约束下的农户土地利用效率;种植结构调整虽然能够增加农户农业收入,但不利于环境因素约束下的农户土地利用效率的提升;农地经营规模扩大对环境约束下的农户土地利用效率产生正面影响,但现实中普遍存在的小规模化经营和土地细碎化消减了正面影响。土地产权的稳定性能够提升环境约束下的农户土地利用效率,但无论是集体土地产权还是承包经营权以及农户间非正式的土地流转产权关系稳定性较差,不利于环境约束下的农户土地利用效率的提高。     

城市土地潜力分析--以南京市为例

研究城市土地潜力是城市建设者合理利用城市土地、提高城市土地利用效率、保护耕地的基础。该文利用GIS对土地、规划、环保、人口等相关数据进行整合,从房地产开发的角度建立测算最低经济容积率的模型,求得每块城市土地的经济容积率;基于GIS空间分析功能,分析城市土地利用现状与最低经济容积率,并用地域环境质量综合评价、历史文化名城保护规划等数据对结果进行修正,得出南京市城市土地潜力的数量、质量及空间分布。     

大城市地区农村改革的政治生态学分析--以北京市农村地区为例

运用政治生态学(politicalecology)的基本观点,以北京市农村地区为对象,在对平原、丘陵、山区4个不同类型村庄多年实地调查基础上,分析了在政治体制改革、市场经济影响下北京郊区农村的组织形态、产业结构、土地利用、耕地质量、生态环境的变化过程。研究揭示,1979以来北京农村政治改革与生态环境的关系与其他的农村地区不同,国家与地方政府的政策变化使北京农村生态环境在不同时期呈现出恶化-改善的波动性过程;根据长期研究,政体改革、政策变化在总体上起到了抑制生态恶化、改善农村环境的作用。     

Spatio-temporal dynamics of land cover and land surface temperature in Ganges-Brahmaputra delta: A comparative analysis between India and Bangladesh

Land use and land cover (LULC) change in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta (GBD) poses significant challenges towards future environmental sustainability of the region and requires regional scale monitoring of key bio-physical variables and changes in their inter-relationship over space and time. Focusing on the southern part of the lower GBD region along the international border of India and Bangladesh, this study examined the spatio-temporal variability of LULC change and its relationship with Land Surface Temperature (LST). Furthermore, LULC-LST relationships were compared between Indian and Bangladesh part and its trend in and around big cities (with more than 1 million population) and towns (with more than 100,000 population) was investigated. Results showed that LST changes were predominantly driven by LULC changes on both sides of the border. Urban growth is the dominant form of LULC change, and the rate of land change was faster in 2005–2010 time period than 1989–2005. Over the period of 21 years, mean January LST decreased by approximately 1.83 °C in Indian part and 1.85 °C in the Bangladesh part. Areas that changed from to rural from agricultural experienced decrease in mean LST, whereas those areas that changed to urban from either agriculture or rural, experienced increase in mean LST. The relationship between LULC and LST are same on both sides of the Indo-Bangladesh border. In bigger cities like Kolkata (in India) and Khulna (in Bangladesh), there is a high spatial variability in relationship between LULC and LST compared to large towns. The LULC-LST relationship in large towns in India was influenced by proximity to Kolkata and coastal areas, whereas in Bangladesh no such influence was evident. The results and the data produced in this study are crucial for monitoring LULC changes, for developing spatial decision support system, and thus will be helpful to address the current challenges of land management in the GBD region. Changes in the LULC and LST are important indicators of GBD's environmental health and access its vulnerability and thus the present findings serve as baseline information for future studies seeking to examine the impact of differential policies on the LULC change in the region.