Exploring the Marine Ecological Environment Management in China: Evolution, Challenges and Prospects

China’s management of marine ecological environments has experienced a development process that has gone from weak to strong. However, whether there are problems such as lack of systems, invalid systems, and system conflicts in the current management of marine ecological environments, and how to conduct collaborative governance among various complex subjects, remain to be answered. This paper first summarizes how China’s marine ecological environment management policy has evolved, which can be divided into five stages: the foundation stage (1949–1980), the initial establishment stage (1981–1995), the steady advancement stage (1996–2005), the deepening adjustment stage (2006–2010), and the strategic development stage (2011–present), and analyzes its characteristics at different stages. Then, this paper further explores the inherent dilemmas in the Chinese marine ecological environment management system. Finally, combined with the practical experience of marine ecological environment management in developed countries, this paper fully considers the division of responsibilities and mutual checks and balances of different subjects, flexibly configures various policy tools, and explores the mechanism of collaborative governance of marine ecological environment from the levels of government, market, the public and social organizations, so as to gradually improve the modern marine ecological environment management system and provide a reference for the government’s governance activities.

Climate Change and Sustainable Development in Nigeria

The chapter assesses the nature and effects of climate change on sustainable development in Nigeria. It observes that climate change has a multifarious effect not only on the environment but also on the socio-economic life of the people. Therefore, if sustainable development is to be realized in the country, climate change should be properly managed through extant public policies. However, if government track records on policies and program implementations is anything to go by, the future of sustainable development is gloomy. This makes an interrogation of the interface between climate change and sustainable development germane. The chapter observes that while government has shown willingness to manage climate change for the sustainability of the environment and its people, certain limitations stand on its path. These include poor policy or program implementation, inadequate funding of climate change management, poor sensitization program on environment management, among others. However, there are opportunities that can be harvested at the state and individual levels.

Analysis of Affective Discourse in the Change Process of the Employment Relationship Model: Environment Management through Collective Bargaining

This paper covers research whose goal was to analyse affective changes in the process of change in the labour relations model that was consolidated throughout the 1990s. Based on a case study, the focus was on the emotional content expressed by the protagonists inrelation to this collective bargaining framework. In conducting the analysis, we used the wide range of procedures provided by Discourse Analysis (DA). Part of this analysis focused on the protagonists’ emotional management of the early stages of the negotiation. The results let us delve deeper into the affective nature of this process, thereby expanding the light shed by other theoretical and methodological perspectives on this change in the labour relations model.

Environmental management system and its impact on productivity

The environmental aspect is now a significant element in polluting companies’ management choices. The laws defined by the establishment of standards and requirements to guarantee a minimally contaminated environment are applicable to these companies. These standards have encouraged companies to implement environmental management systems. According to these concepts, our research aimed at assessing the improvement in productivity of companies working in the industrial sector by adopting an environment management system. We evaluated productivity by defining and estimating the manufacturing function using a sample consisting of Thailand businesses, and then utilized the panel data to test its effect upon manufacturing companies’ productivity by adopting the environmental management system. The installation of an EMS and productivity have been favourable and significantly correlated

Development of a Social Impact Assessment for the Water Environment: A Professional Perspective

Climate change and population growth are increasing the frequency of flooding and drought, resulting in conflict over water resources. Social impact assessments (SIA) of the allocation and management of water resources provide a way of reducing and resolving such conflicts. This article first explores the nature of SIA for water environments through an inductive analysis of the cases mentioned in more than 30 papers. Next, it identifies important advantages of SIA over integrated water resources management (IWRM) practices and indicates that while IWRM solves water-related issues to improve social well-being, it cannot entirely grasp the overall social impact of planned interventions. Following this, it analyzes the water environment governance structures in Taiwan, using questionnaire responses from water environment management professionals to discuss challenges of effectively implementing water environment SIA. The questionnaire covers 26 detailed tasks of SIA advocated by Vanclay et al. This research is the first to have evaluated the difficulty of the tasks. The survey results can be used as a reference for the implementation of SIA in other regions. The results show that (1) the water environment SIA is indeed necessary; (2) Taiwan’s water environment professionals need to improve from their current lack of understanding of SIA; (3) it is difficult to implement the water environment SIA; (4) it is necessary for SIA to clarify and integrate the authorities and responsibilities of relevant government departments; (5) the professionals believe the myth of quantification of SIA; and (6) water environment SIA must be integrated with the existing IWRM. Finally, we emphasize the need to integrate SIA and IWRM in a mutually complementary way, and illuminate the need for an integrated SIA framework for water environment management.

How Human Resources Index, Relational Justice, and Perceived Productivity Change after Reorganization at a Hospital in Sweden That Uses a Structured Support Model for Systematic Work Environment Management

To facilitate systematic work environment management, which should be a natural part of business development, a structured support model was developed. The Stamina model has previously been used in Swedish municipalities, showing positive results. The aim was to study how the Human Resources Index (HRI), relational justice, short-term recovery and perceived productivity changed in a recently reorganised perioperative setting in a hospital in Sweden that uses a structured support model for systematic work environment management. A longitudinal design that took measurements at four time points was used in a sample of 500 employees in a perioperative hospital department. The results for the overall sample indicated a positive trend in the HRI (Mt1 = 48.5, SDt1 = 22.5; Mt3 = 56.7, SDt1 = 21.2; p < 0.001). Perceived health-related production loss (Mdt1 = 2, IQR = 3; Mdt3 = 0, IQR = 3; p < 0.001) and perceived work environment-related production loss (Mdt1 = 2, IQR = 3; Mdt3 = 0, IQR = 4; p < 0.001) showed major improvements. Short-term recovery showed a minor improvement (Mt1 = 2.61, SDt1 = 1.33; Mt3 = 2.65, SDt3 = 1.22; p = 0.872). In conclusion, the implementation of the Stamina model, of which the HRI constitutes an important part, seems to be a helpful tool to follow-up on work environment processes, and minimise production losses due to health and work environment-related issues.