Linking regional stakeholder scenarios and shared socioeconomic pathways: Quantified West African food and climate futures in a global context

The climate change research community’s shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) are a set of alternative global development scenarios focused on mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. To use these scenarios as a global context that is relevant for policy guidance at regional and national levels, they have to be connected to an exploration of drivers and challenges informed by regional expertise.In this paper, we present scenarios for West Africa developed by regional stakeholders and quantified using two global economic models, GLOBIOM and IMPACT, in interaction with stakeholder-generated narratives and scenario trends and SSP assumptions. We present this process as an example of linking comparable scenarios across levels to increase coherence with global contexts, while presenting insights about the future of agriculture and food security under a range of future drivers including climate change.In these scenarios, strong economic development increases food security and agricultural development. The latter increases crop and livestock productivity leading to an expansion of agricultural area within the region while reducing the land expansion burden elsewhere. In the context of a global economy, West Africa remains a large consumer and producer of a selection of commodities. However, the growth in population coupled with rising incomes leads to increases in the region’s imports. For West Africa, climate change is projected to have negative effects on both crop yields and grassland productivity, and a lack of investment may exacerbate these effects. Linking multi-stakeholder regional scenarios to the global SSPs ensures scenarios that are regionally appropriate and useful for policy development as evidenced in the case study, while allowing for a critical link to global contexts.     

陕西河谷盆地生态系统服务协同与权衡时空差异分析

陕西河谷盆地是区域主要粮食基地和社会经济中心,人口增长、城镇化和工业化的加快发展,使得该地区生态环境受到人类活动的强烈冲击,生态环境面临着潜在的巨大危机,严重影响社会经济的可持续发展。本文选取西北地区经济中心—关中盆地和陕西省生态保护指定区—汉中盆地进行对比研究,以1990-2010年的生态系统服务数据（NPP、保水服务、食物供给）分析生态服务时空差异,通过相关分析、线性和幂函数回归等方法分析了生态系统服务协同与权衡的时空差异。结果表明：NPP与保水是协同关系,NPP与食物供给、保水与食物供给是权衡关系;21年中,两大盆地的协同关系均呈减弱趋势,权衡关系为加强趋势,且关中盆地的变化速度要高于汉中盆地;NPP与保水的协同程度,在关中盆地东部的耕地区域以及汉中盆地的宁强县与略阳县西部最强,以关中的铜川市和汉中的西乡县最弱;NPP与食物供给的权衡程度,在关中盆地的铜川市和西安市境内的秦岭区域以及汉中盆地的西乡县南部制约关系更为突出,以关中的宝鸡市及汉中的略阳县最弱。     

生态系统服务权衡研究进展：从认知到决策

作为沟通自然生态系统与人类社会的重要桥梁,生态系统服务一直以来都是地理学、生态学等学科的研究前沿和热点。正确认知生态系统服务之间的关系,是开展多种生态系统服务可持续管理决策的前提,有助于人类福祉的全面提升。本文通过厘定生态系统服务权衡的概念内涵,梳理了生态系统服务权衡的空间、时间和可逆性特征,将多层次人类福祉的满足作为权衡的最终目标,视生态补偿为权衡决策的基本保障途径。生态系统服务权衡关系的识别依托于定量指标法和综合模型法,且权衡关系可能随时空尺度的推移发生改变;情景分析与多目标分析是生态系统服务权衡决策的有效手段。生态系统服务权衡多尺度关联、生态系统服务流与远程耦合、生态系统服务消费与生态补偿,成为当前生态系统服务权衡研究的重点方向。     

Examining the Influence of Positionality in Evaluating Collaborative Progress in Natural Resource Management: Reflections of an Academic and a Practitioner

In this paper, we present a reflexive examination of how and why we, an academic and a practitioner, arrive at different evaluations of collaborative progress in natural resource management. We situate this examination in our long-standing involvement in designing, adaptively managing, and participating in the Uncompahgre Plateau collaborative forest restoration project in western Colorado, USA. Drawing on the concept of “positionality” in qualitative social science research, we disclose our respective motivations, assumptions, roles, and power relative to the collaborative process. The differences in evaluating collaborative progress stem from our respective professional positionality. For the academic, the guiding interest was to test theory and promote success for his applied research institute; for the practitioner, the motivation was to build trust to allow her field staff the flexibility to implement management actions and demonstrate effectiveness as an agency line officer. These epistemological differences draw attention to the importance of transdisciplinary approaches to producing knowledge from shared practice, starting with efforts to explicitly disclose and honor differing interests, assumptions, and frames of reference stemming from each party’s personal and professional biographies and institutional norms. This reflexivity is essential to advancing knowledge about collaboration in natural resource management.     

The Influence of Place on the Willingness to Pay for Ecosystem Services

Sense of place, including an individual’s attitudes toward specific geographic settings, is generally predicted to influence willingness to engage in place-protective behaviors. Relatively little research, however, has empirically examined the influence of people’s attitudes toward a place on their willingness to pay for environmental protection. Using the example of a payment for ecosystem services (PES) initiative in the McKenzie River watershed, Oregon, USA, we found that place attitudes were a significant predictor of respondents’ willingness to pay for a program designed to benefit drinking water quality. These results suggest that connecting conservation actions to landscapes that are meaningful to people may increase their financial support for PES and other conservation programs. While program managers have little or no influence over stakeholders’ political ideology, gender, or income, managers may be able to influence prospective PES buyers’ awareness and attitudes through targeted communications, thereby potentially increasing support for place-based conservation efforts.     

云南省食用菌产业物流网络研究

构建合理高效的农产品物流网络,是实现农产品流通与增值并促进区域农业发展的重要基础。为构建云南省食用菌物流网络,分析了2004—2015年食用菌产业数据,揭示了食用菌产业的分散化、边缘化、不均衡的空间分布特征。从资源状况、社会经济、交通区位3个方面提出了物流节点等级的评价指标体系。依据货运联系强度模型确定轴心城市辐射范围,构建了以昆明市、曲靖市、楚雄州为中心城市圈,辐射带动滇东北、滇南的滇中食用菌物流圈和以大理州为物流核心、辐射带动滇西北地区的滇西食用菌物流圈。并以此形成云南省食用菌轴辐式物流网络。     

Impact of Agricultural Labor Transfer on Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution: A Case Study of Jiangxi,China

A large proportion of the rural labor force in China will continue to transfer to non-agricultural sectors in the near future, which will inevitably lead to the transformation of the agricultural production mode and the structure of the farmers’ livelihood. The Chinese government is making great efforts to govern agricultural nonpoint source pollution (ANSP), and farmers' environmental behavior is a key factor that must be considered in the formulation of agricultural environmental policies. Based on a set of micro survey data on farmers in the study area and econometric methods, this study investigates the impact of agricultural labor transfer on ANSP by considering the substitution effect of agricultural factors and the effect of agricultural economies of scale. The results show that the increase of the agricultural labor force will not be conducive to reducing ANSP, while the income increase brought by agricultural labor transfer will improve the input structure of agricultural factors and have a positive impact on ANSP reduction. Government departments should provide subsidies or incentive measures to help agricultural social service organizations to expand their coverage and increase the frequency of socialized agricultural services, in order to guide farmers in the use of environment-friendly agricultural technology to reduce the ANSP caused by agricultural factors at the source. Furthermore, it is necessary to facilitate the development of small-sized agricultural machinery suitable for small-area land cultivation.     

土地利用生态服务价值与经济发展的协调及空间分异——以西洞庭湖区为例

土地利用生态服务价值体现了土地通过集约利用与空间优化所发挥生态效益的大小,可在一定程度上反映土地利用与与经济发展的协调关系。以西洞庭湖区为研究对象,在ArcGIS软件支持下,通过评价与分析生态服务价值变化,分析生态经济协调发展水平及其空间差异,探讨土地利用生态服务价值与区域经济发展的互动响应与耦合协调关系。研究表明：① 2000年以来西洞庭湖区土地利用生态服务价值呈下降趋势,2000年西洞庭湖区生态服务价值为1292.13×10⁶元·a^-1,2011年为953.03×10⁶元·a^-1,损失339.10×10⁶元。② 从整个研究区来看,整个研究阶段处于低度冲突的县有6个,分别为常德市辖区、安乡县、汉寿县、澧县、临澧县、津市市,只有桃源县处于潜在危机状态。从数量上看,整个区域内大多为冲突状态,区域在经济发展中存在的潜在危机较大。③ 从空间分异来看,2008年与2011年土地利用生态经济协调度基本上为低度冲突状态,需采取生态服务供给恢复与重建措施,控制生态服务消费需求的过快增长。整个区域只有桃源县与汉寿县由不协调转换为协调状态,主要原因是森林覆盖率相对较高,林地类型面积大,水土保持与水源涵养生态服务功能较强,提高了生态服务价值。     

长株潭地区农业功能的时空变化特征及发展策略研究

以长株潭地区23个县市区为研究区域,分别从农产品供给功能、就业和社会保障功能、生态保育功能、文化传承和休闲功能构建评价指标体系,综合运用熵值法、多指标综合评价法和农业功能变化的时空差异诊断模型等方法对长株潭地区1998~2014年农业功能的时空动态变化特征进行研究,根据各地区功能特征提出农业功能发展调控策略。研究结果表明：① 长株潭地区农产品供给功能有大幅提升,其重心有向外进一步扩散趋势;长株潭地区核心区域劳动力就业与社会保障功能下降幅度较大;大围山、罗霄山脉等山地丘陵区生态保育功能优势进一步凸显;文化传承和休闲功能部分区域获得进一步发展,但空间变化差异较小。② 研究发现不同区域农业主导功能不同,根据各地区农业功能不同优势特征,结合自身特色因地制宜发展优势农业并提出相应的优化调控对策,从而为长株潭地区农业多功能发展与功能特征的识别及确定提供理论依据。     

基于改进当量的甘肃省耕地生态系统服务价值及其与区域经济发展的空间关系研究

为量化分析耕地生态系统服务价值及其与区域经济发展的空间关系,采用改进的耕地当量因子,对甘肃省2014年耕地生态系统服务价值进行定量化研究,并采用双变量空间自相关探讨其与区域经济发展在空间上的关联关系。结果表明：（1）在GPP修正的基础上估算得到的甘肃省2014年耕地生态系统服务价值为4.96×10¹¹元,其中水资源供给功能的价值为负,食物生产功能的生态系统服务价值相对较高,美学景观功能的生态系统服务价值最低。（2）双变量空间自相关显示人均国内生产总值与耕地生态系统服务价值在空间上存在显著的负相关关系,Moran’s I指数为-0.252 3。局部双变量空间自相关LISA图也显示低-高聚集区主要分布在经济发展相对落后、具有明显生态优势的东南部地区;而高-低聚集区则主要分布在经济高速发展,生态环境相对恶劣的西北部地区。研究结果可为甘肃省生态环境管护与区域经济发展提供决策参考,为实现经济增长与生态保护统筹协调发展提供参考依据。