Civil society lobbying and countries’ climate change policies: a matching approach     

Tobias Böhmelt 《Climate Policy》2013,13(6):698-717

Does civil society lobbying affect states’ policies on climate change? Does it facilitate or hamper cooperation towards ‘greener’ policies? Environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) and business lobbying groups alike are increasingly seeking to access states’ negotiation delegations at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in order to affect or even change official delegates’ policies. Previous studies have failed to control for the fact that the set of states that have granted civil society access to their delegations is unlikely to be a random sample. Moreover, the fact that a delegation's policy outputs may converge with the preferences of a civil society group cannot be taken as evidence that it was caused by civil society lobbying. A matching approach that addresses both problems is proposed, which corrects for the non-random assignment of civil society organizations to state delegations and forms quasi-experimental contrasts by sampling a set of ‘most similar’ cases that only differ in their treatment; i.e. civil society lobbying. This approach facilitates a causal interpretation of lobbying efforts. The results indicate that only business groups are likely to exert a causal influence on states’ climate delegations. However, contrary to expectations, these groups appear to have enhanced states’ efforts towards environmentally friendly policies.

Policy relevance

What impact can non-governmental actors have in influencing states’ policies at the climate change negotiations? This question is addressed empirically using a matching approach, which corrects potential challenges in the research on interest group influence. It is shown that business groups are likely to influence states’ policies at the UNFCCC – unlike green interest groups or civil society in general. In light of these findings, three policy implications are derived that might be of importance for states and non-governmental decision makers alike. Most importantly, ENGOs should refocus their efforts for exerting their influence. ENGOs could make their lobbying more effective by first identifying the states that may be more receptive to their preferences and positions.  相似文献   

Fault-controlled sedimentation in a progressively opening extensional basin: the Palaeoproterozoic Vargfors basin, Skellefte mining district, Sweden     

Tobias E. Bauer  Pietari Skyttä  Rodney L. Allen  Pär Weihed 《International Journal of Earth Sciences》2013,102(2):385-400

The Vargfors basin in the central part of the Skellefte mining district is an inverted sedimentary basin within a Palaeoproterozoic (1.89 Ga) marine volcanic arc. The fault-segmented basin formed from upper-crustal extension and subsequent compression, following a period of intense sub-marine volcanism and VMS ore formation. New detailed mapping reveals variations in stratigraphy attributed to syn-extensional sedimentation, as well as provenance of conglomerate clasts associated with tectonic activity at the transition from extension to compression. The onset of fan delta to alluvial fan sedimentation associated with basin subsidence indicates that significant dip-slip displacement accommodating rapid uplift of the intrusive complex and/or subsidence of the adjacent volcano-sedimentary domain took place along a major fault zone at the southern margin of the intrusive complex. Subsidence of the Jörn intrusive complex and/or its burial by sedimentary units caused a break in erosion of the intrusion and favoured the deposition of a tonalite clast-barren conglomerate. Clast compositions of conglomerates show that the syn-extensional deposits become younger in the south-eastern parts of the basin, indicating that opening of the basin progressed from north-west to south-east. Subsequent basin inversion, associated with the accretion to the Karelian margin, involved reverse activation of the normal faults and development of related upright synclines. Progressive crustal shortening caused the formation of break-back faults accompanied by mafic volcanic activity that particularly affected the southern contact of the Jörn intrusive complex and the northern contact of the Vargfors basin.  相似文献   

Paleoclimatic and archeological implications of Pleistocene and Holocene environments in Azraq, Jordan     

Matthew D. Jones  Tobias Richter 《Quaternary Research》2011,76(3):363-372

Wetlands are a key archive for paleoclimatic and archeological work, particularly in arid regions, as they provide a focus for human occupation and preserve environmental information. The sedimentary record from 'Ayn Qasiyya, a spring site on the edge of the Azraq Qa, provides a well-dated sequence through the last glacial–interglacial transition (LGIT) allowing environmental changes in the present-day Jordanian desert to be investigated robustly through this time period for the first time. Results show that the wettest period at the site preceded the last glacial maximum, which itself was characterised by marsh formation and a significant Early Epipaleolithic occupation. A sedimentary hiatus between 16 and 10.5 ka suggests a period of drought in the region although seasonal rains and surface waters still allowed seasonal occupation of the Azraq region. Archeological evidence suggests that conditions had improved by the Late Epipaleolithic, about the time of the North Atlantic Younger Dryas. The changes between wet and dry conditions at the site show similarities to patterns in the eastern Mediterranean and in Arabia suggesting the Jordan interior was influenced by changes in both these regions through the LGIT climatic transition.  相似文献   

The MEMIN research unit: Scaling impact cratering experiments in porous sandstones     

Michael H. POELCHAU  Thomas KENKMANN  Klaus THOMA  Tobias HOERTH  Anja DUFRESNE  Frank SCHÄFER 《Meteoritics & planetary science》2013,48(1):8-22

Abstract– The MEMIN research unit (Multidisciplinary Experimental and Modeling Impact research Network) is focused on analyzing experimental impact craters and experimental cratering processes in geological materials. MEMIN is interested in understanding how porosity and pore space saturation influence the cratering process. Here, we present results of a series of impact experiments into porous wet and dry sandstone targets. Steel, iron meteorite, and aluminum projectiles ranging in size from 2.5 to 12 mm were accelerated to velocities of 2.5–7.8 km s^?1, yielding craters with diameters between 3.9 and 40 cm. Results show that the target’s porosity reduces crater volumes and cratering efficiency relative to nonporous rocks. Saturation of pore space with water to 50% and 90% increasingly counteracts the effects of porosity, leading to larger but flatter craters. Spallation becomes more dominant in larger‐scale experiments and leads to an increase in cratering efficiency with increasing projectile size for constant impact velocities. The volume of spalled material is estimated using parabolic fits to the crater morphology, yielding approximations of the transient crater volume. For impacts at the same velocity these transient craters show a constant cratering efficiency that is not affected by projectile size.  相似文献   

Hypervelocity impacts on dry and wet sandstone: Observations of ejecta dynamics and crater growth     

Tobias HOERTH  Frank SCHÄFER  Klaus THOMA  Thomas KENKMANN  Michael H. POELCHAU  Bernd LEXOW  Alexander DEUTSCH 《Meteoritics & planetary science》2013,48(1):23-32

Abstract– This study deals with the investigation of highly dynamic processes associated with hypervelocity impacts on porous sandstone. For the impact experiments, two light‐gas accelerators with different calibers were used, capable of accelerating steel projectiles with diameters ranging from 2.5 to 12 mm to several kilometers per second. The projectiles impacted on dry and water‐saturated Seeberger Sandstone targets. The study includes investigations of the influence of pore water on the shape of the ejecta cloud as well as transient crater growth. The results show a significant influence of pore water on ejecta behavior. Steeper ejecta cone angles are observed if the impacts are conducted on wet sandstones. The transient crater grows at a faster rate and reaches a larger diameter if the target is water saturated. In our experiments, target porosity leads to smaller crater sizes compared with nonporous targets. Water within the pore space reduces porosity and counteracts this process. Power law fits were applied to the crater growth curves. The results show an increase in the scaling exponent μ with increasing pore space saturation.  相似文献   

Origin of the martian dichotomy and Tharsis from a giant impact causing massive magmatism     

Gregor J. Golabek  Tobias Keller  Guizhi Zhu  James A.D. Connolly 《Icarus》2011,215(1):346-357

The origin of the ancient martian crustal dichotomy and the massive magmatic province of Tharsis remains an open problem. Here, we explore numerically a hypothesis for the origin of these two features involving both exogenic and endogenic processes. We propose a giant impact event during the late stage of planetary formation as the source of the southern highland crust. In a second stage, the extraction of excess heat by vigorous mantle convection on the impacted hemisphere leads to massive magmatism, forming a distinct Tharsis-like volcanic region. By coupling short-term and long-term numerical simulations, we are able to investigate both the early formation as well as the 4.5 Gyr evolution of the martian crust. We demonstrate numerically that this exogenic-endogenic hypothesis is in agreement with observational data from Mars.  相似文献   

Troposphere delays from space geodetic techniques, water vapor radiometers, and numerical weather models over a series of continuous VLBI campaigns   总被引：5，自引：3，他引：2  

Kamil Teke  Tobias Nilsson  Johannes Böhm  Thomas Hobiger  Peter Steigenberger  Susana García-Espada  Rüdiger Haas  Pascal Willis 《Journal of Geodesy》2013,87(10-12):981-1001

Continuous, very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) campaigns over 2 weeks have been carried out repeatedly, i.e., CONT02 in October 2002, CONT05 in September 2005, CONT08 in August 2008, and CONT11 in September 2011, to demonstrate the highest accuracy the current VLBI was capable at that time. In this study, we have compared zenith total delays (ZTD) and troposphere gradients as consistently estimated from the observations of VLBI, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), and Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS) at VLBI sites participating in the CONT campaigns. We analyzed the CONT campaigns using the state-of-the-art software following common processing strategies as closely as possible. In parallel, ZTD and gradients were derived from numerical weather models, i.e., from the global European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) analysis fields, the High Resolution Limited Area Model (European sites), the Japan Meteorological Agency-Operational Meso-Analysis Field (MANAL, over Japan), and the Cloud Resolving Storm Simulator (Tsukuba, Japan). Finally, zenith wet delays were estimated from the observations of water vapor radiometers (WVR) at sites where the WVR observables are available during the CONT sessions. The best ZTD agreement, interpreted as the smallest standard deviation, was found between GNSS and VLBI techniques to be about 5–6 mm at most of the co-located sites and CONT campaigns. We did not detect any significant improvement in the ZTD agreement between various techniques over time, except for DORIS and MANAL. On the other hand, the agreement and thus the accuracy of the troposphere parameters mainly depend on the amount of humidity in the atmosphere.  相似文献   

Land cover mapping in the Upper Shire River catchment in Malawi using Landsat satellite data     

Lobina G. Palamuleni  Harold J. Annegarn  Tobias Landmann 《国际地球制图》2013,28(7):503-523

Land cover mapping forms a reference base for resource managers in their decision-making processes to guide rural/urban growth and management of natural resources. The aim of this study was to map land cover dynamics within the Upper Shire River catchment, Malawi. The article promotes innovation of automated land cover mapping based on remote sensing information to generate data products that are both appropriate to, and usable within different scientific applications in developing countries such as Malawi. To determine land cover dynamics, 1989 and 2002 Landsat images were used. Image bands were combined in transformations and indices with physical meaning; together with spatial data, to enhance classification accuracy. A maximum likelihood classification for each image was computed for identification of land cover variables. The results showed that the combination of spatial and digital data enhanced classification accuracy and the ability to categorise land cover features, which are relatively inhomogeneous.  相似文献   

Community structure in boreal lakes with recurring blooms of the nuisance flagellate Gonyostomum semen     

Karin S. L. Johansson  Cristina Trigal  Tobias Vrede  Richard K. Johnson 《Aquatic Sciences - Research Across Boundaries》2013,75(3):447-455

Blooms of the nontoxic raphidophyte Gonyostomum semen have shown a recent increase in frequency and distribution in the Fennoscandian region. Due to large cell size and several grazer-avoidance strategies, G. semen is hypothesized to be inedible for most zooplankton species and therefore may constitute a bottleneck for the transfer of energy and nutrients in pelagic food webs. Repression of other phytoplankton through increased competition and induced mortality could further exacerbate this effect. In a field study of four lakes with recurring blooms of G. semen and four lakes without blooms, we found significant differences in community structure between the two lake groups during the bloom period. Bloom-lakes had lower biovolumes of small chrysophytes and chlorophytes and zooplankton assemblages were predominated by small, potentially bacterivorous cladocerans, suggesting a limited availability of edible phytoplankton and an increased importance of microbial pathways during G. semen blooms. Low biovolumes of large cladocerans in bloom-lakes may be due to interference of G. semen with filter feeding. Moreover, high abundances of the phantom midge Chaoborus flavicans in bloom-lakes suggest that the flow of energy and nutrients is directed more towards this invertebrate predator than fish. This could have negative impacts on fish populations, especially if bloom periods are prolonged.  相似文献   

Climatological drivers of changes in flood hazard in Germany   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Fred F. Hattermann  Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz  Shaochun Huang  Tobias Vetter  Friedrich-Wilhelm Gerstengarbe  Peter Werner 《Acta Geophysica》2013,61(2):463-477

Since several destructive floods have occurred in Germany in the last decades, it is of considerable interest and relevance (e.g., when undertaking flood defense design) to take a closer look at the climatic factors driving the changes in flood hazard in Germany. Even if there also exist non-climatic factors controlling the flood hazard, the present paper demonstrates that climate change is one main driver responsible for the increasing number of floods. Increasing trends in temperature have been found to be ubiquitous in Germany, with impact on air humidity and changes in (intense) precipitation. Growing trends in flood prone circulation pattern and heavy precipitation are significant in many regions of Germany over a multi-decade interval and this can be translated into the rise of flood hazard and flood risk.  相似文献