Managing the Global Water Crisis: As China Goes, So Goes the World

WHENEVER high-level conversations turn to national or regional strategies for managing water-related climate impacts,many are compelled to look again and again to China as a model for imagining and then creating a sustainable future for all of humanity.Why?Because as China goes,so goes the world.

The Socio-Economic Impacts of Aged-Dam Removal: A Review

Water storage dams worldwide are ageing, and many will reach the end of their designed lifespan by the middle of the 21st century. Some of these dams will likely need to be removed. While dam construction impacts have been widely discussed, dam removal impacts on society and the economy need to be synthesized and considered in the ageing dams’ decision-making process. This paper summarizes dam removal impacts on the local economy and industry, culture, history and heritage, property value, recreation, aesthetics, and disaster avoidance from identified studies worldwide. It demonstrates that these impacts may vary depending on geography and between developed and developing countries. It concludes that dam removal should consider the cost, environmental, and the socio-economic impacts while including all stakeholders who could be positively and negatively impacted by dam removal.

The Transformational Moment:Towards an Ecological Civilization

COVID-19 has stopped much of the world in its tracks.The pandemic has created what many hope history will remember as the Great Pause.We have before us,however,a moment during which we can turn this great pause,and the catastrophe that caused it,into an opportunity for a global re-set and the emergence of new hope for the future.

Occupational,physical,sexual and mental health and violence among migrant and trafficked commercial fishers and seafarers from the Greater Mekong Subregion(GMS):systematic review

Background:Little is known about the health of GMS commercial fishers and seafarers,many of whom are migrants and some trafficked.This systematic review summarizes evidence on occupational,physical,sexual and mental health and violence among GMS commercial fishers/seafarers.Methods:We searched 5 electronic databases and purposively searched grey literature.Quantitative or qualitative studies reporting prevalence or risk of relevant outcomes were included.Two reviewers independently screened articles.Data were extracted on nationality and long/short-haul fishing where available.Results:We identified 33 eligible papers from 27 studies.Trafficked fishers/seafarers were included in n=12/13 grey literature and n=1/20 peer-reviewed papers.Among peer-reviewed papers:11 focused on HIV/AIDS/sexual health;nine on occupational/physical health;one study included mental health of trafficked fishers.Violence was quantitatively measured in eight papers with prevalence of:11-26%in port convenience samples;68-100%in post-trafficking service samples.Commercial fishers/seafarers whether trafficked or not worked extremely long hours;trafficked long-haul fishers had very limited access to care following injuries or illness.Lesser-known risks reported among fishers included penile oil injections and beriberi.We found just one work safety intervention study and inconclusive evidence for differences in the outcomes by nationality.Findings are limited by methodological weaknesses of primary studies.Conclusion:Results show an absence of high-quality epidemiological studies beyond sexual health.Formative and pilot intervention research on occupational,physical and mental health among GMS commercial fishers and seafarers is needed.Future studies should include questions about violence and exploitation.Ethical and reporting standards of grey literature should be improved.

Landslide Loss and Damage in Sindhupalchok District, Nepal:Comparing Income Groups with Implications for Compensation and Relief

The 2014 Jure landslide in Sindhupalchok District, Nepal, caused significant loss and damage to ecosystems and livelihoods in the area. In the direct aftermath of the landslide, several disaster loss assessments were conducted, with the aim of counting casualties,injured people, and damaged houses and infrastructure.Although useful and necessary in their own right, such rapid assessments do not reveal the true extent and significance of the losses and damages that people in disaster areas face, including their monetary value. We address this gap, based on a comprehensive household survey(N = 234), as well as other, qualitative research tools. Our results highlight the importance of differentiating between loss and damage in absolute monetary terms as opposed to losses relative to annual income. We find a stark contrast between the high absolute losses incurred by nonpoor households, and the high relative losses—up to 14 times their annual income—experienced by poor households.These results have important implications for policy that addresses loss and damage, not only of landslides but also of other disasters. Loss and damage assessments need to take the livelihood characteristics of affected households into account to identify and support those most in need of compensation and relief.

Recycling is not enough to make the world a greener place:Prospects for the circular economy

1.Introduction.The rapid growth of the global population,combined with increasing industrialization and consumerism,has fueled a significant surge in the demand for material resources,fundamentally transforming the global socioeconomic metabolism[1,2].The global use of materials was at 90 billion tonnes in 2017 and is projected to grow to 165-195 billion tonnes by 2060[3,4].Particularly,the extraction of minerals and ores represents over half of the total resources demand since 2010[5,6].Remarkably,about 60%of these extracted minerals and ores are presently still in use as anthropogenic stocks[7],which is capable of meeting 35%of the projected demand by 2050 if reused.

在全民健康覆盖体系内采用基于就业的健康筹资无助于性别平等

Lavanya Vijayasingham及同事认为,与就业挂钩的健康筹资和福利体系可能会使女性处于不利地位。国际社会已多次承诺改善女性获取医疗卫生服务的权利。最近的承诺发布于《可持续发展目标》和《2019年全民健康政治宣言》。这些承诺呼应了1995年《北京宣言》的愿景,即确保女性一生中可获得公平、适当、可负担和高质量的医疗卫生服务。然而,25年过去了,女性仍得不到充分的医疗卫生服务,她们的基本健康需求也仍未得到满足。

According to plan?Disaster risk knowledge and organizational responses to heat wave risk in London,UK

This paper explores how disaster risk knowledge shapes local heat wave risk management in London,UK.Its focus is on the implementation of the UK National Heatwave Plan through public sector organizations in London.Empirical evidence stems from 49 semi-structured,expert interviews with risk managers from local authorities,and health and social care organizations in London.Findings suggest that the National Heatwave Plan is an important source of disaster risk knowledge,but that it has not been successful in steering sustainable change in the way that heat risk is planned for at the local level.The plan is perceived locally as a public health strategy focused on emergency response.This reinforces local heat wave planning approaches that are enacted through public health and that prioritize short-term response actions,rather than long-term preventive strategies.This paper argues that the provision of disaster risk knowledge can undermine paradigm shifts in local risk planning if it constrains consideration of alternatives to existing risk management approaches.

新型冠状病毒引发全球卫生危机,需要科学解决方案和地方行动

根据《国际卫生条例(2005)》(IHR),世界卫生组织(WHO)宣布将新型冠状病毒肺炎(COVID-19)列为国际关注的突发公共卫生事件。系统性问题导致此次病毒暴发,该疫情全世界大流行对全球政治和社会系统产生了重大影响。虽然过去15年间科学界在提高了公众对于疾病大流行的警觉方面做了大量的工作,但此次疫情依然暴发并已威胁全球人们的健康,影响经济发展。为了更好地应对这一事件,降低风险,有哪些做法可以改进?对政府、学术组织和个人有哪些科学建议?本文探讨在如何保障人民健康安全的同时,降低经济和社会成本,并号召世界科学家参加"未来地球健康领域知识行动网络"计划。