The neoliberalization of ecosystem services: wetland mitigation banking and problems in environmental governance

Wetland mitigation banking is an American neoliberal environmental policy that has created a functioning market in `ecosystem services', commodities defined using the holistic measures of ecological science. The development of this market is discussed as a project of environmental governance, defined as the nation-state's regulation of ecological relations within its territory towards stabilizing capitalist relations of power and accumulation. I argue that the wetland banking industry serves as a bellwether that presages problems that other strategies of neoliberal environmental governance will experience. Ethnographic, economic and ecological data from the Chicago-area wetland banking industry inform a discussion of two major obstacles to neoliberal strategy: the problem of relying on ecological science to define the unit of trade, and the problem of aligning the somewhat independent relations of law, politics, markets and ecosystems across an array of spatial scales. Theoretical guidance is sought from recent work on `social natures' and from the Regulationist approach to institutional political economics.     

Evaluating the Bonn—Marrakesh agreement

Abstract

This article evaluates the environmental effectiveness and economic efficiency of the Kyoto Protocol after the Bonn Agreement and the Marrakesh Accords. The US withdrawal has by far the greatest impact in reducing the environmental effectiveness, lowering the price of traded emission permits and reducing Annex I abatement costs. The decisions on sinks imply that the Annex I CO₂-equivalent emissions without the US will come out at about 1/2% below base-year level, instead of over 4% below base-year level. Without US participation, the emission permit price is estimated to be low. Therefore, banking hot air by Russia and the Ukraine is of absolute importance for the development of a viable emissions trading market, and would also enhance the environmental effectiveness of the Kyoto Protocol.     

基于MapGIS的土地储备信息系统的设计与实现

介绍我国的土地储备机制,针对土地储备管理工作中面临的数据分析过程繁琐、储备数量决策缺乏依据等问题,基于MapGIS K9平台完成了土地储备信息系统的设计与开发,实现土地储备数据库的动态管理、储备数量预测等功能,有效提高土地收购储备工作效率,并为土地储备科学决策提供参考依据。     

Hydraulic evaluation of aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) with urban stormwater in a brackish limestone aquifer

A 5-year aquifer storage and recovery trial at Andrews Farm in South Australia involving the injection of more than 250 ML (250,000 m³) of fresh but turbid stormwater into a brackish limestone aquifer over 4 years and recovery of 150 ML in the fifth provided the opportunity to evaluate rates of clogging and unclogging and the potential to recover water suitable for irrigation supplies. Results reveal there is some clogging by injected sediment, but only to a relatively small degree considering the high suspended solid concentrations and moderate aquifer transmissivity. This clogging was offset by increased matrix porosity through calcite dissolution and by routine well redevelopments after each 40 ML of injection. No significant microbial clogging occurred. Breakthrough responses at three observation wells and the proportion of injectant in the recovered water were determined from chloride data. Temperature and caliper profiles clearly indicate the heterogeneous nature of the aquifer that is attributed, in part, to sand removal during the initial well development. The recovery efficiency was greater than 60%. The trial demonstrates that urban stormwater containing high and variable particulate levels, which receives only passive pre-treatment and is not disinfected, can be used to freshen a heterogeneous brackish aquifer to create a useful water resource.     

发展中地区银行业空间系统变化--以河南省为例

基于对中国发展中地区的河南省的第一手调查数据,对经济水平较低、受外部影响较小但增长迅速的内陆省份银行业空间系统变化进行了量化分析和解释。结果表明,与国际上发达国家相同,中国发展中地区的国有银行业逐步向中心城市集中。其中,作为区域中心的地级城市的地位上升最为突出。其形成原因主要与制度变化有关;而区域经济的发展差异,又是促进该趋势的直接诱因。这一观点通过混合OLS模型模拟得到证明。城市内部的银行业区位变化,具有一些与发达国家的不同之处。区域经济快速发展带来了中心城市的迅速拓展。同时经济结构调整,又带来了城市内不同地区经济发展水平的变化。由此形成了银行业区位的不断扩散,新兴快速增长的地区,迅速吸引了一批银行的建立。对郑州市58家银行网点的调查表明,在1978年之前,银行网点设立十分遵循计划体制的安排;而在1979年以后,邻近地段“人均收入水平高：决定着相当一部分银行网点的布局。这从微观角度佐证了河南省的分析结论。金融系统的集中格局,为非中心地区经济发展带来的不利影响,应该给予关注。     

Knowledge makes the money go round: Conflicts of interest and corporate finance in London’s financial district

This paper argues that the conflicts of interest cases brought against Wall Street investment banks in the early 2000s were neither geographically nor institutionally isolated events. Rather, by combining recent work on financial knowledges in both economic geography and the social studies of finance with the growing interest in topological spatial imaginaries, I explore how London’s corporate finance industry was unable to distance itself from both the conflicts of interest allegations and the ensuing regulatory changes of the ‘Global Settlement’ in the US. Analysis of 36 semi-structured interviews conducted in London in the early 2000s is used to explore how a range of individual interests, institutional demands and structural changes within London’s financial district affected analysts’ ability to produce ‘objective’ research. As well as pointing to the problematic nature of certain aspects of knowledge rich ‘communities of practice’ [Wenger, E., 1998. Communities of practice: learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge], I explore how the resulting contingent and situated nature of research practice is at odds with a weakly defined notion of ‘objective’ research that underpins the Financial Services Authority’s regulatory response.     

潮间带小海湾围堤对湾外水下岸坡的影响

分析了杭州湾北岸一个潮间带小海湾－炮台湾及其前沿海域的流场、含沙量分布及水下地形的变化，指出小海湾内水流主要受湾外浅水水流控制，在独特的边界地影响下，湾内在不同时段内出现历时较短的水平环流，流场变化较快，小水深时水体含沙量较高，含沙量随水深和水流和变化而急剧变化。对湾外浅水水域水流的挟沙力了计算，并讨论了炮台湾围堤后水流挟沙力的变化，给出围堤后水下岸坡剖面变动的预测，经与实测比较，结果是令人满意的     

广州市银行业的空间布局特征与模式

以广州都市区2013年全部类别银行的1 637个银行网点为基本数据,利用平均最邻近距离、核密度函数、缓冲区分析、空间模式提炼等方法探索广州市银行业的空间布局特征及其类别差异,总结其空间分异模式。结果表明：① 广州市银行业空间不均衡性布局显著,并呈现中心集聚特征;② 不同类型银行的分布特征差异显著。国有商业银行的服务便利性和数量等级高,网点密度大,构成了广州市银行业的主体;③ 广州市银行业布局总体呈现由中心向外围逐渐递减的“圈层+扇形”空间模式。其中,核心商圈是银行业高度集聚区,中心城区密度递减最为显著,近郊区密度最低;④ 不同类型银行的空间密度模式差异显著。国有商业银行、全国性股份制银行和城市商业银行分别呈现由中心到外围非均匀递减的倒“S”型、“L”型和“阶梯型”曲线模式。外资港资银行呈现为核心商圈集聚模式。农村商业银行为均质的“一”字型直线模式。     

Distribution Orientation and Driving Mechanism of Geographical Pattern Change of China′s Banking Industry

By analyzing the relationship among government, market driving forces, distribution orientation of banking industry, service opportunity equality and spatial patterns, this paper proposes that it is distribution orientation that lead to the formation and evolution of spatial pattern of banking industry. The difference of the distribution orientation leads to the separation of the spatial pattern of banking industry, and the change of the distribution orientation leads to the change of spatial pattern. The d...