Changing public interest in,and awareness of,acid deposition: Some evidence from the UK

It is fundamental that the general public have access to usable environmental information on which they can base their decisions. Since 1984 the Atmospheric Research and Information Centre (ARIC) has operated a public information programme for the UK on the subject of acid deposition. The objective of the programme is to disseminate information on acid deposition without advocacy. ARIC provides enquirers with a broad range of authoritative and accurate facts and opinions from a wide range of parties from all sides of the debate. These sources include pressure groups, governmental bodies and industrialists from the UK and overseas. By deconstructing complex technical material and reassembling it for dissemination in a user friendly form, ARIC assists those receiving information to obtain a balanced perspective. This enables personal decision making within the context of the fullest information resource ARIC is able to provide.     

基于公众视角的土地整治供需匹配研究——以杭州市萧山区为例

[目的]基于公众视角对土地整治供需情况进行测算,旨在为完善土地整治内涵提供科学依据。[方法]从农业发展、生活与生态环境改善和休闲文化旅游3个方面,构建土地整治供需指标测算体系,揭示浙江省杭州市萧山区土地整治供需匹配度。[结果]①萧山区保障农业发展类匹配度整体较高,均在0.88以上;生活与生态环境改善类次之,均在0.85以上;休闲文化旅游类较低,最低仅为0.83。②土地整治过于强调农业发展供给,而生活与生态环境、休闲文化旅游供给相对不足,公众需求表达机制缺失,参与度较低,导致对土地产品需求不能得到有效地满足。[结论]基于公众视角和供需理论构建的土地整治供需匹配模型定量化测算供需匹配度具有一定科学性。     

取消“两工”对水土保持工程建设的影响及对策

 农村义务工和劳动积累工统称“两工”,“两工”是水土保持工程建设的主要投入渠道。取消“两工”使水土保持工作面临严峻的挑战,每年投入缺口在150亿元左右。根据农村经济体制改革和公共财政体系建设的基本原理,建议:探索建立水土保持生态建设投入新机制,即政府把水土保持生态建设纳入公共财政体系,加大投入力度;探索建立农民投工投劳专项转移支付制度和水土保持生态补偿制度;鼓励公众参与编制水土保持规划,采取民办公助等形式,调动农民参与水土保持生态建设的积极性。     

A survey of public opinion in south‐west Scotland on cetacean conservation issues

• 1. In summer 2001, 252 members of the public in south‐west Scotland were interviewed to determine their awareness of, and opinions on, cetacean conservation issues in Scotland. Interviews were conducted in both rural island and coastal communities and a major city. Interviewees were also presented with a list of threats to cetaceans and were asked to gauge how serious they considered these threats to be for cetaceans in the waters of western Scotland.
• 2. Oil spills (43.7%), reduction in available prey (41.8%), marine litter (32%) and sewage bacteria (31.1%) were ranked by most members of the public as being ‘serious threats’.
• 3. Least concern was expressed in relation to whale watching: only 0.8% of respondents considered whale watching to be a serious threat and 51.2% thought that it posed no threat at all.
• 4. In relation to the other threats considered, there was a moderate level of concern about fishery by‐catches and pollution from aquaculture and land‐based sources.
• 5. Levels of concern about disturbance caused by quarrying, dredging and military activities were generally low, despite these factors having been raised by some as being conservation issues in west Scotland.
• 6. The majority of participants (69.4%) were aware of whaling operations currently being conducted by Japan and Norway. Almost all participants were against these countries hunting whales (96.4%).
• 7. Interviewees were also asked for their opinion regarding the level of protection currently afforded to cetaceans by the Scottish Government. Virtually no interviewee considered cetaceans to be overprotected in Scotland (0.4%). A substantial proportion were of the opinion that they are not sufficiently protected (45.6%). Of these, virtually all (94.8%) thought that legislation specifically for the protection of cetaceans in Scotland should be introduced.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Freshwater conservation planning informed and validated by public participation: The Ebro catchment,Spain, as a case study

1. Freshwater ecosystems generally lack adequate protection. In this regard, defining clear and objective conservation criteria through public participation is extremely important, as it can greatly enhance the feasibility of the conservation plans by building credibility, salience, and legitimacy.
2. This article presents an exercise of systematic freshwater conservation planning informed and validated by public participation using river protected areas (RPAs) in the Ebro catchment, Spain, as a case study. A public participation process was performed to define the conservation criteria that RPAs should meet, resulting in a detailed list of conservation features and constraints that were poorly covered by the present network of RPAs in Spain.
3. The present network of RPAs failed to adequately protect aquatic biodiversity, as 48% of the taxa did not meet the conservation target, including seven species of vulnerable invertebrates and three of vulnerable fish. marxan was used to identify a minimum set of additional areas that would help to meet the conservation target by adequately representing all conservation features and by increasing the efficiency of the network of protected areas. When marxan was run without restrictions, none of the present RPAs was selected, suggesting that the current network of RPAs is not efficiently meeting the conservation demands expressed through public participation.
4. Overall, this study shows that combining public participation and systematic conservation planning could result in more efficient and enhanced protection of freshwater ecosystems by integrating a wide variety of conservation preferences into the design of RPAs. Also, according to the results, having detailed and updated information on the distribution of invasive and endangered species, as well as increasing the frequency and spatial extension of ecological monitoring, are key to meeting the public demands of enhanced freshwater biodiversity protection and the preservation of sites with high ecological value.

     

特色品牌基地建设是城郊型农业发展中的新模式——以山东省农科院农产品研究所现代化农业示范基地为例

针对城市郊区区域特点,提出发挥城郊区域优势、转变发展方式、调整产业结构、建设特色品牌基地的现代农业发展观点,并进一步提出特色品牌基地建设的思路和条件,经济和社会价值以及重点建设内容,以期实现城市郊区现代农业又好又快地科学发展。     

Natural Resource Policy and the Paradox of Public Involvement

Summary

Immersed in natural resource policy approaches such as ecosystem management is the expectation that the best available science will be applied so that the best policy management decision will result. Citizens, like scientists and land managers, want natural resource management decisions based on good science rather than special interest group politics. Yet citizens also want to be involved in the decision process and are skeptical about the very science they claim must be the basis for policy actions.

Herein lies an apparent paradox. Citizens' want the best science to guide natural resource management decisions, but not to the exclusion of their input. Similarly, there seems to be a paradox in the sentiments expressed by natural resource management agency administrators and specialists. Agency personnel know they need meaningful citizen involvement in their management decisions, but they also want citizens to trust their scientific expertise.

This paper is about that paradox and innovative ways to work through it. We first discuss the nature of natural resource conflict, then address the paradox in some depth. A discussion of traditional public participation precedes innovative methods for working through the paradox.     

A Civic Conversation About Public Lands

Summary

Community-based ecosystem management (CBEM) is being offered as an alternative to agency-based public land management. Its fundamental premise is connecting communities to public lands for the purpose of increasing ecosystem stewardship and community sustainability. For CBEM to appropriately serve the public interest, new social and institutional relationships will need to be formed, collaborative learning will need to occur, and capacities in community participation and ecological literacy will need to be developed. A new civic conversation about public lands is essential to these relationships, learning, and capacities. Community governance processes, which guide these collaborative and participatory activities, must correspondingly reflect the community-based nature of CBEM, while preserving the national interests in public land resources.     

关系资本在农村公共体育服务供给中的作用研究

通过对走访的2个自然村进行实地调查发现，得益于乡村精英的运作模式，关系资本在农村公共体育服务的供给上发挥着重要作用。但同样无法忽视的是关系资本运作过程中产生的负面影响，包括扭曲社会公平、增加社会交易成本、弱化政府公信力等。必须在有效规避其负面影响的同时，正视并利用关系资本所发挥的巨大潜能。     

基于泛在网络的政府公共信息服务研究

泛在网络泛指无所不在的网络,其对公共信息服务产生着重要的影响。文章首先讨论泛在网络环境下的公共信息服务的需求变化,并总结当前新型的公共信息服务以及泛在网络对其的影响,最后提出当前基于泛在网络的公共信息服务建设需要注意的几个问题。