Does public policy support or undermine climate change adaptation? Exploring policy interplay across different scales of governance

Policy makers have now recognised the need to integrate thinking about climate change into all areas of public policy making. However, the discussion of ‘climate policy integration’ has tended to focus on mitigation decisions mostly taken at international and national levels. Clearly, there is also a more locally focused adaptation dimension to climate policy integration, which has not been adequately explored by academics or policy makers. Drawing on a case study of the UK, this paper adopts both a top-down and a bottom-up perspective to explore how far different sub-elements of policies within the agriculture, nature conservation and water sectors support or undermine potential adaptive responses. The top-down approach, which assumes that policies set explicit aims and objectives that are directly translated into action on the ground, combines a content analysis of policy documents with interviews with policy makers. The bottom-up approach recognises the importance of other actors in shaping policy implementation and involves interviews with actors in organisations within the three sectors. This paper reveals that neither approach offers a complete picture of the potentially enabling or constraining effects of different policies on future adaptive planning, but together they offer new perspectives on climate policy integration. These findings inform a discussion on how to implement climate policy integration, including auditing existing policies and ‘climate proofing’ new ones so they support rather than hinder adaptive planning.     

规划类清洁发展机制项目开发的政策分析与建议

 从规划类清洁发展机制（P-CDM）项目提出的背景出发,介绍了P-CDM项目开发的基本框架,对现阶段开发此类项目在指定国家主管机构审批、开发过程中的技术问题,指定的经营实体审定和减排量销售等方面所面临的困境进行了详细分析。针对上述问题,从政策选择角度,建议进一步完善国家主管机构的管理办法,发挥行业组织和科研机构的优势,解决P-CDM项目开发中存在的技术问题,通过规模效应促进P-CDM项目的市场建设,进一步简化相关的国际规则,以真正降低P-CDM项目开发的交易成本。     

Objectives of fisheries management: case studies from the UK, France, Spain and Denmark

The main objectives of fisheries management are generally similar throughout the world. These are often stated in policy documents such as the Common Fisheries Policy and the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. However, at the local level often the key objectives of management are more detailed, characterised by both the overriding management structure and the status and type of fishery concerned. In this paper, we consider case study fisheries from the UK, France, Spain and Denmark to compare some of the various types of fisheries and fisheries management systems that exist in the European Union. From this, we define the key objectives for each management system.     

Flexible management of fishing rights and a sustainable fisheries industry in Europe

Although overexploitation of commercial fish stocks in European waters has been in the public debate now for more than 20 years, the European Union has so far failed to implement sustainable fisheries management. Millions in subsidies paid to the fishing industry have led to significant excess capacity in the fishing fleet. Various feeble attempts to stop overexploitation of marine resources have failed. The cause is that fishing policy is highly dominated by short-term socioeconomic interests. There is an urgent need for a new fisheries management system in Europe that supports reductions in the fishing fleet, increases responsibility among fishers and guarantees long-term conservation of natural marine resources.Transferable rights to fish have proved a reliable and effective means of creating incentives to conserve marine resources. By strengthening individual fishing rights under flexible quota management systems, the EU Member States could, within the Common Fisheries Policy, make a significant contribution to conserving fish stocks, to reducing excess capacity and to raising the profitability of the fisheries industry. A closer look at existing reservations against a flexible management system shows most of the objections to be overstated or capable of resolution.     

乐山地区酸性降水特征、规律及防治对策

酸雨已成为世界性问题之一．它给人们造成了巨大的危害和损失。研究乐山酸雨污染形成机理、特征、变化规律以及防治对策,对于乐山这个优秀旅游城市来说．具有非常重要的意义。     

It starts at home? Climate policies targeting household consumption and behavioral decisions are key to low-carbon futures

Through their consumption behavior, households are responsible for 72% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, they are key actors in reaching the 1.5 °C goal under the Paris Agreement. However, the possible contribution and position of households in climate policies is neither well understood, nor do households receive sufficiently high priority in current climate policy strategies. This paper investigates how behavioral change can achieve a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in European high-income countries. It uses theoretical thinking and some core results from the HOPE research project, which investigated household preferences for reducing emissions in four European cities in France, Germany, Norway and Sweden. The paper makes five major points: First, car and plane mobility, meat and dairy consumption, as well as heating are the most dominant components of household footprints. Second, household living situations (demographics, size of home) greatly influence the household potential to reduce their footprint, even more than country or city location. Third, household decisions can be sequential and temporally dynamic, shifting through different phases such as childhood, adulthood, and illness. Fourth, short term voluntary efforts will not be sufficient by themselves to reach the drastic reductions needed to achieve the 1.5 °C goal; instead, households need a regulatory framework supporting their behavioral changes. Fifth, there is a mismatch between the roles and responsibilities conveyed by current climate policies and household perceptions of responsibility. We then conclude with further recommendations for research and policy.     

It starts at home? Climate policies targeting household consumption and behavioral decisions are key to low-carbon futures

Through their consumption behavior, households are responsible for 72% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, they are key actors in reaching the 1.5 °C goal under the Paris Agreement. However, the possible contribution and position of households in climate policies is neither well understood, nor do households receive sufficiently high priority in current climate policy strategies. This paper investigates how behavioral change can achieve a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in European high-income countries. It uses theoretical thinking and some core results from the HOPE research project, which investigated household preferences for reducing emissions in four European cities in France, Germany, Norway and Sweden. The paper makes five major points: First, car and plane mobility, meat and dairy consumption, as well as heating are the most dominant components of household footprints. Second, household living situations (demographics, size of home) greatly influence the household potential to reduce their footprint, even more than country or city location. Third, household decisions can be sequential and temporally dynamic, shifting through different phases such as childhood, adulthood, and illness. Fourth, short term voluntary efforts will not be sufficient by themselves to reach the drastic reductions needed to achieve the 1.5 °C goal; instead, households need a regulatory framework supporting their behavioral changes. Fifth, there is a mismatch between the roles and responsibilities conveyed by current climate policies and household perceptions of responsibility. We then conclude with further recommendations for research and policy.     

Spatial and Temporal Patterns Associated with Permitted Tree Removal in Austin,Texas, 2002–2011

A wide-ranging set of physical, urban, demographic, socioeconomic, and policy characteristics determines the spatial distribution of urban forests. Information on the characteristics surrounding tree removals on both public and private properties has received less attention in the literature. The purpose of this research was to analyze the spatiotemporal trends and geographic patterns of tree removals in Austin, Texas, between 2002 and 2011 in an effort to understand how site-specific characteristics influence urban tree removal and affect the overall distribution of Austin's urban forest. We examined permitted tree removals using a geographic information system (GIS) as well as spatial and statistical analyses. Specifically, we evaluated the degree to which variables related to various physical, urban, and socioeconomic conditions predicted tree removals. The results indicate that permitted tree removals and their associated characteristics in Austin have varied over the ten-year study period. Permitted tree removals increased over the study period and took place in the urban core and along the urban periphery. Permitted tree removals were more likely to be undertaken by college graduates and owner-occupants and to occur in more densely populated areas, closer to major streets, and on properties with older structures. The results of this research provide urban forest professionals with information on the location and intensity of permitted tree removals and the significant characteristics driving urban tree loss.     

Perceptions of Local People on the Use of Nyabarongo River Wetland and Its Conservation in Rwanda

This research presents a case study on perceptions of local people on the use of Nyabrongo river wetland and its conservation in Rwanda. It critically examines the potential implications of a shift in wetland use and management practices for local people and presents empirical data from a household survey, group discussions, and observations from transect walks. Results showed that the change in the use and management regime of Nyabarongo river wetland poses substantial loss for local people in terms of provision of resources, income, and access to the wetland, so that the majority of the participants are not happy with the current use of the wetland. Research concluded that there should be participation of all stakeholders, including local people, during policy development in order to shift from command-and-control toward local stakeholder integration in decision making.