National Environmental Policy Act of the United States and Its Application in Climate Litigation——Evaluating Litigation Case by Friends of the Earth on Export-Import Bank of the United States and Overseas Private Investment Corporation

Because that American government and congress hold a negative attitude on responding to climate change issue, people transfer the battle stage of climate change to the court,and hope to promote government and large energy companies actively responding to climate change issue via litigation form. A large amount of related litigation appears,and a kind of special litigation type is gradually formed, namely climate change litigation. National Environmental Policy Act of the United States is one of important legal weapons used by prosecutor in climate change litigation. In National Environmental Policy Act, it stipulates environmental impact evaluation system which has close relationship with climate change litigation. The system requires that federal agency ＂ should compile detailed environmental impact report （EIS） on major federal action which significantly affects human survival environment quality＂. Litigation case of Export - Import Bank of the United States and Overseas Private Investment Corporation by Fdends of the Earth, Green Peace, Boulder City, etc. is typical one related to the act. We try to evaluate and analyze text and case of the act.

Environmental impact assessments should include rigorous scientific peer review

Twenty USA states or jurisdictions and 125 nations have modeled national environmental policies after the National Environmental Policy Act.That act mandates that federal agencies initiate environmental impact statements(EISs)when substantive environmental or human health consequences are likely because of an agency action related to proposed development projects.The science used to inform the EIS process,however,does not require independent scientific peer review(ISPR)in the USA or most other nations.But ISPR is needed for governments to accurately inform the EIS decision-making and public reporting processes.Instead,science is routinely manipulated during EIS reviews to generate expedient project outcomes with substantially negative ecological,political,and long-term economic consequences.We provide four examples of EISs that lack ISPR,as well as four examples where reviews by independent scientists were helpful to improve agency decisions.We also recommend that independent scientists(no affiliation with the project proponents or agencies overseeing projects)be used to help assess potential environmental and socio-economic impacts,as well as offer appropriate risk assessments,study designs,and monitoring timeframes.We conclude that nations should convene formal reviews using independent scientists as a form of peer review in the EIS process.

Integrating Sustainable Development into Global Institutions:Reforming the United Nations

This article will briefly outline the origins,structure and functions of United Nations Environment Program and the Commission on Sustainable Development in the context of the goals of ecologically sustainable development(ESD).Economic development,social development and environmental protection form the three interconnected parts of ESD.The achievements of the key UN environmental institutions and programs in opening up the global system to civil society,the private sector and a diversity of actors and interests,promoting the role of poverty alleviation as part of ESD through the Millennium Development Goals,and facilitating important Multilateral Environmental Agreements should be recognized.However,with these notable exceptions,organizations such as United Nations Environment Program and the Commission on Sustainable Development have become weak in scientific and technical leadership,global policy,co-ordination(inside and outside the UN) and has few achievements in the international and national implementation of obligations and standards in Global Environmental Governance-including enforcement,compliance and effectiveness.This article will outline the key reasons for this inadequacy.Attention will also be focused on the way forward through of a new United Nations Environment Organization.This will require a clarification of purpose and function(within the UN system and as part of global governance structures) as well as consideration of whether it depends on system-wide UN reform.It is recommended that medium and long term strategies for reform are necessary.

News: JES Symposium at the 9^(th) National Conference on Environmental Chemistry

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of Journal of Environmental Sciences（JES）,a special JES symposium was held at the 9th National Conference son Environmental Chemistry（NCEC）,in Hangzhou,China,on October 19-22,2017.More than 6100registrants participated in the conference.

Preliminary Study on the Chinese Version of Soil Sample Spectrum Analysis System

An imported energy spectrum analyzer is powerful, but English operation interface is not easy to use. According to actual work needs, preliminary design of the Chinese energy spectrum analysis system is introduced in the paper.

提高环境意识，做好环境保护工作

环境与发展问题是当今的大事，未来的主题。保护环境是我国的一项基本国策，是经济发展与现代化建设的重要组成部分。我们必须提高环境意识，并在此基础上，做好环境保护工作，使环境与经济协调发展，为子孙后代保护好一个永续利用的地球．

Estimation and comparison of night-time OH levels in the UK urban atmosphere using two different analysis methods

Night-time OH levels have been determined for UK urban surface environments using two methods, the decay and steady state approximation methods. Measurement data from the UK National Environmental Technology Centre archive for four urban sites （Bristol, Harwell, London Eltham and Edinburgh） over the time period of 1996 to 2000 have been used in this study. Three reactive alkenes, namely isoprene, 1,3-butadiene and trans-2-pentene were chosen for the calculation of OH levels by the decay method. Hourly measurements of NO, NO〉 03, CO and 20 VOCs were used to determine night-time OH level using the steady state approximation method. Our results showed that the night-time OH levels were in the range of 1 × 10^3-1× 10^6 molecules/cm3 at these four urbap sites in the UK. The application of a t-test of these analyses indicated that except Bristol, there was no significant difference between the OH levels found from the decay and steady state approximation methods. Night-time levels of the OH radical appeared to peak in summer and spring time tracking the night-time 03 levels which also passed through a maximum at this time.

Spatial variance and assessment of nitrogen dioxide pollution in major cities of Pakistan along N5-Highway

This paper discusses the findings of the first car MAX-DOAS（multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy） field campaign（300 km long） along the National Highway-05（N5-Highway） of Pakistan conducted on 13 and 14 November, 2012. The main objective of the field campaign was to assess the spatial distribution of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide（NO_2）columns and corresponding concentrations along the N5-Highway from Islamabad to Lahore.Source identification of NO_2 revealed that the concentrations were higher within major cities along the highway. The highest NO_2 vertical column densities（NO_2VCDs） were found around two major cities of Rawalpindi and Lahore. This study also presents a comparison of NO_2 VCDs measured by the ozone monitoring instrument（OMI） and car MAX-DOAS observations. The comparison revealed similar spatial distribution of the NO_2 columns with both car MAX-DOAS and satellite observations, but the car MAX-DOAS observations show much more spatial details. Maximum NO_2 VCD retrieved from car MAX-DOAS observations was up to an order of magnitude larger than the OMI observations in urban areas.

Chinese agricultural technology transfer to African typical dry areas:practice and experience

Africa has experienced increasing aridity and higher frequency of droughts due to climate change during the half past century with possible adverse effects on agricultural production,especially in dry areas with low rainfall.Under the auspices of the Africa Water Action Program between the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology(MOST)and the United Nations Environment Program(UNEP),the Institute of Agricultural Environment and Resources,Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences(SAAS-IAER)worked closely with domestic and overseas partners on technology transfer in Morocco,Zambia,Egypt,Niger and Ethiopia from 2008 to 2013.A drought early warning system has been established and validated,and drought adaptation technologies have been trialed,modified,demonstrated and extended in African countries,and this shows great potential to increase crop production,water and fertilizer use efficiency and desert control in rainfed areas of Africa.The project has continued for six years and is a successful case of technology transfer and capacity building in Africa.The knowledge and experience gained will be useful to researchers,technicians,aid agencies and policy makers who work on agricultural technology transfer for in dry areas of Africa.