The Political Construction of Free Trade Visions: The Geo-Politics and Geo-Economics of Australian Beef Exporting

This article contributes to emergent scholarship that questions neoliberal discourses in agricultural policy, through a case study that challenges assumptions about the role of “the market” in explaining the recent expansion of Australian beef exports. Australia is the world’s largest beef exporter and its beef exports more than doubled between the mid-1980s and the turn of the 21st century. This expansion, however, can be explained through a particular conjunction of political conditions, which are unlikely to be repeated with equal force in the current decade. Specifically, recent growth hinged upon a combination of (1) rapid growth of Japanese and Korean beef consumption in the early 1990s; (2) the operation of the US “cattle cycle” in the mid-1990s; and (3) the privileged position of Australian beef during this period, vis-à-vis Latin American competition, because of concerns over foot and mouth disease. However, because of their adherence to neoliberal assumptions about the supposed inevitability of trade liberalization, agricultural economists have mistaken these specific circumstances for a general condition in which Australian beef exports will continue growing. This deceptive envisaging of the bounty from liberalization leads not only to false expectations among industry participants, but encourages politics in which industry growth is fallaciously prioritized. Bill Pritchard, PhD, is Senior Lecturer in Economic Geography at the University of Sydney, Australia. He specializes in agri-food globalization.     

A centurial development of the North Sea fish megafauna as reflected by the historical Swedish longlining fisheries

Historically, to compensate for declining catches, fishers have usually shifted from species characterized by high catch rate onto less easily caught species or have moved into new fishing grounds. Such shifts are poorly documented for areas with a long history of exploitation (i.e. North Sea) as they occurred long time before the start of the regular assessments of the marine resources. The Swedish longline fisheries in the Kattegat‐Skagerrak and North Sea have a long history that spans over several centuries. These fisheries have historically targeted large demersal predator fish as ling (Molva molva), cod (Gadus morhua), Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) and skates (mainly Dipturus spp.). In this study, data from the Swedish longline fisheries from 1859 to 1960 have been collated. The data show that the geographical expansion of the fishery was extensive. At the turn of the 20th century, offshore longlining became concentrated north and west of the Shetlands and Hebrides, and after the WWII, the fishery expanded to Iceland and Rockall. In the offshore fishery, CPUE for the main target species, ling, remained stable, whereas for the other species, with the exception of tusk (Brosme brosme), CPUE showed a dramatic decline over time. In contrast, in the coastal longlining fishery, severe declines were revealed for all major target species except cod. We argue that the constant search for new fishing grounds in the Northeast Atlantic reflects a dwindling resource, where the fishermen kept the catch rates of ling high by travelling to more and more distant fishing grounds.     

林口林区山杏资源现状及发展对策

本文从林口林区山杏资源分布现状特点 ,阐述了本地区山杏发展对策 ,提出了在保护好现有资源的前提下 ,利用这一资源优势 ,大面积推广山杏经营技术 ,促进山杏产业化体系进一步发展和完善 ,成为林口林区新的经济增长点。     

基于Oracle数据库系统的优化与性能调整研究

指出了Oracle数据库性能直接影响到Oracle数据库应用系统的运行效率,分析了Oracle数据库性能优化的目标及影响Oracle数据库系统性能的因素,探讨了数据库的优化、内存优化、I／O优化和SQL语句优化技术,实验表明：经过优化后,Oracle数据库性能得到了改善和提高。     

对速生丰产林建设投融资模式的若干思考

速生丰产林工程是我国林业产业体系的希望工程。实施速生丰产林工程为我国森林资源休养生息和更好地发挥综合效益创造了良好条件。鉴于速丰林建设投融资严重不足的现实,本文对如何完善速丰林投融资问题进行思考。简述了速丰林投融资的基本思路,探讨了速丰林建设投融资的各类模式,并指出影响速丰林建设投融资的相关因素和政府完备其政策行为的重要性。     

Overfishing and the Common Fisheries Policy: (un)successful results from TAC regulation?

This paper combines official data from 1990–2007 for (i) the Total Allowable Catchs (TACs) recommended by International Council for the Exploration for the Sea (ICES) scientists and the proposed and approved TACs and (ii) biomass, recruitment, catches, fishing effort, and current exploitation rates for all marine populations subjected to TAC regulation. The differences between the fishing quotas and the scientific recommendations provided by the ICES were calculated to be 19% after the first CFP reform (1992–2001) and 21% after the second one (2002–2008). In some species, these differences showed a three‐fold increase, in particular those currently considered to be beyond the biological safety limits. Regarding the most important index of abundance, the results also indicate a biomass and recruitment reduction of ～75–85% of the stocks and 90% of catches, whereas the fishing mortality increased in 35% of stocks. In addition, of all populations analysed under TAC regulation, 20% presents an increase in the current exploitation rate, 17% did not show significant changes, and the remaining 63% presented a reduction between 1990 and 2007. These results could contribute to the recovery of stocks. However, following the methodology used by Worm et al. who reported that 6 out of the 10 (60%) marine ecosystems examined showed current exploitation rate values that were significantly higher than those that provide the maximum sustainable yield, this study demonstrates that 86% of the populations regulated by TACs present values higher than exploitation rates that give maximum sustainable yield, following an alarming pattern of exploitation.     

Primary fisheries management: a minimum requirement for provision of sustainable human benefits in small‐scale fisheries

The social and economic importance of small‐scale fisheries is frequently under‐valued, and they are rarely effectively managed. There is now growing consensus on how these fisheries could be managed for sustainability and to minimize the risks of crossing undesirable thresholds. Using a concept developed in health care, these approaches have been referred to as primary fisheries management. By encouraging the use of best‐available information in a precautionary way, the approaches will facilitate sustainable use and should therefore be encouraged, but they accept high scientific and implementation uncertainties as unavoidable because of limited management and enforcement resources and capacity. It is important to recognize that this limitation will result in social costs, because application of a precautionary approach in the face of high uncertainties will require forgoing potential sustainable benefits. Acceptance of primary fisheries management as a final and sufficient goal could therefore add a further constraint on the possibility of fishing communities escaping the poverty trap. Primary fisheries management should be seen as a first and minimum target for fisheries where there is currently no or inadequate management, but the longer‐term goal should still be well informed and adaptive management that strives for optimal benefits, referred to here as tertiary management.     

绿色消费政策手段的中外对比研究

研究了国外促进绿色消费的政策和做法,尤其重点关注了政策手段的运用,如政府绿色采购、经济手段、信息手段等。在此基础上,对比中国促进绿色消费政策和采取的行动,查找出不足,进而得出中国在绿色消费政策制定方面的启示。     

切实维护我国南海渔业权益的战略思考

我国南海位于3°11’N～23°35’N、98°00’E～120°15’E之间,南北跨越20多个纬度,长约2900公里,东西宽约1600公里,平均水深1212米,最大水深5559米,面积350万平方公里,它自古以来就属于中国。中国渔民在南沙海域从事渔业开发活动至今已有2000多年历史,但从二十世纪70年代开始,南沙海域蕴藏的丰富油气资源被发现后,南海周边的某些国家为了自身利益,不顾历史事实,开始对南沙群岛主权提出无理要求,并采取军事行动侵占岛礁、控制海域。中国的南沙群岛及附近海域逐步形成了"岛礁被占领、海域被分割、资源被掠夺、渔业被袭扰"的不利局面,维护中国南沙群岛主权权益开始面临复杂严峻的态势。对此,中国政府公开提出"主权属我,搁置争议,共同开发"的主张,审时度势制定了"突出存在","开发南沙,渔业先行"的南沙维权斗争方略。作者简要总结了南海海洋渔业资源以及开发利用现状,分析了南海渔业发展面临的主要问题,并据此提出了几点南海渔业发展战略与对策建议。     

Stakeholder interactions in Castile-La Mancha,Spain’s cereal-sheep system

Large tracts of European rural land, mostly in the less favored areas (LFA), are devoted to low-inputs and large scale grazing systems (LSGS) with potential environmental and social functions. Although these LSGS may provide harbor for a good part of European nature values, their continuity is facing contrasting threats of intensification and abandonment. These areas, however, may be characterized by particular grazing structures and social dynamics of change that should be unveiled prior to attempts to devise rural development strategies or to adapt policy frameworks in general. To wit, stakeholder interactions and legal and institutional processes are described and analyzed for the cereal-sheep system of Castile-La Mancha (CLM) in the central Iberian plain. Farmers and pastoralists still share the use of the land, but their roles and interests have changed over time, and particularly in the last 50 years. Arable farming, mainly cereal cropping, has followed an intensification path, partially tempered by the environmental constraints of the Castilian plain. Extensive pastoralism is still a secondary option of land use; in the main, sheep farmers depend on, and look to, the management practices of arable farmers. A mixed cereal and sheep operation may deliver environmental and economic benefits, but successful implementation of this strategy is only possible when the system serves the needs of both types of stakeholders. Paradoxically, the main drivers of change in the countryside overall are arrayed against this sensible and traditional agricultural system. We argue that the recent legal and institutional frameworks do not favor social cohesion and that policy-support schemes of the European Union (EU) have been, and continue to be, devised without taking into account the particular structures and social dynamic of the farming system.