摘要
美国和欧洲污染治理政策的一个核心目标,是建立环境中活性氮运移的相关法规和条例。这表现在美国联邦政府的立法上(例如《清洁空气法修正案》和《清洁水法修正案》),以及联合国欧洲经济委员会的各种议定书及其《远程跨边界空气污染公约》上。本文中我们首先回顾一下美国的这两部法规及其实施效果,并将它们与联合国欧洲经济委员会和《远程跨边界空气污染公约》主要在欧洲采用的一些方法进行对比。然后利用密西西比河流域和(或)墨西哥湾氧过少的案例研究结果,重点讨沦运用'系统分析方法'处理区域性活性氮问题的重要性。在列举了与氮治理政策有关的一些无法回答的问题后,我们在文末简要描述了在制定完善的活性氮管理政策过程中将要实施的行动计划。
A core goal of both US and European pollution control policies has been to establish rules and regulations pertaining to the movement of reactive-nitrogen (Nr) through the environment. This is manifest in US federal legislation such as the Clean Air Act Amendments and the Clean Water Act Amendments and in various protocols of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and its Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP). In this paper, we begin by reviewing these two U.S. laws and their effectiveness and make some comparisons with the approaches used mainly in Europe by the UNECE and CLRTAP. Next we use the Mississippi drainage/Gulf of Mexico hypoxia case study to highlight the importance of applying a 'systems approach' to address the reactive nitrogen problem at the regional scale. After briefly posing a number of unanswered questions related to nitrogen control policies, we conclude by sketching a blueprint for future actions related to the development of improved policies to regulate reactive nitrogen.
