基于生态系统的管理如何融入城市环境政策——以西华盛顿为例

Incorporating Ecosystem-Based Management into Urban Environmental Policy: A Case Study from Western Washington

全球范围内城市聚落的增长影响着人类对自然资源的管理,从而促使自然科学和社会科学的学者们提倡以基于生态系统的途径来管理人类聚落。尽管过往有不少探讨基于生态系统管理(ecosystem-based management,以下简称EBM)的文献,但在制定环境政策时,却极少有城市和区域规划师将EBM因素考虑在内。本文对西华盛顿州的城市规划师在审视关于环境政策的科研数据时,在多大程度上运用EBM原则进行评估。笔者采用了现成文献中对EBM的定义,采访了42位在西华盛顿工作的环境规划师,询问其在审视有关科研数据时会考虑哪些EBM因素,并对访谈数据进行内容分析。结果显示,规划师们在审视与制定环境政策相关的科学文献时,会考虑监测、机构间合作、生态边界、价值取向乃至适应性管理等因素,但对于尺度、生态完整性和机构改革等因素,则会遇到阻碍或者说不会明确考虑。本文还阐述了为何有些EBM因素得到重视而另一些却被忽略,最后对通过应用EBM原则来改良城市环境政策的制定提出了建议。

The worldwide growth of urban settlements affects the management of natural resources and has prompted scholars in the natural and social sciences to call for ecosystembased approaches to the management of human settlements. While considerable literature exists on the definition, theoretical underpinnings and methods for applying ecosystem based management（EBM）, few studies have examined whether urban and regional planners consider elements of EBM when developing environmental policy. This study assesses the extent to which planners apply EBM principles when reviewing scientific information for environmental policies in western Washington State. Using a working definition of EBM based on existing literature, the study conducts a content analysis of interview data from 42 environmental planners working for cities in western Washington, and asks what elements of EBM are considered as they review scientific information. The results suggest that elements related to monitoring, inter-agency cooperation, ecological boundaries, values and to a limited extent, adaptive management, are considered when planners review scientific literature for environmental policy development. However, urban and regional planners struggle with, or do not explicitly consider, the elements of scale, ecological integrity and organisational change when developing local environmental policy. The paper concludes with a description of why some elements of EBM are considered and why others are not, and offers suggestions for improving urban environmental policy development through application of EBM principles.