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Abstract: To establish a healthy and sustainable policy-driven agricultural insurance scheme, a discussion of the importance of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) is timely in light of the challenges that governments are facing against the backdrop of increasing scale and frequency of major agro-related natural disasters across the globe. Most recently in 2008, it is reported a total of 137 natural catastrophes led to overall economic losses of USD258 billion in the world. Moreover, as complexity and costs escalate, neither group - public nor private - can meet the challenge alone. This is particularly true for agricultural industry and rural areas in emerging economies that lack sufficient funds to deal with the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters. Public private partnerships (PPPs), especially those involving reinsurance and capital market solutions, can improve risk management and prepare stakeholders for the consequences of uncertainties. A recent example is the agricultural reinsurance contract signed by the Beijing Municipal Government and Swiss Re. In 2007, Beijing imposed a new agricultural insurance policy for local farmers to promote the development of urban agriculture. Under the new policy, the Beijing municipal and district governments subsidized farmers up to 75% who buy agricultural insurances for certain crops/livestock, and 50% of management costs of the participating insurers are shouldered by governments. The municipal government also set up a protection funds for agro-related natural catastrophe events and regulated the loss ratio of 160% as an attachment point to start up the fund. In this paper, we apply the non-parameter information-diffusion model to stimulate possibility of different loss incurred in Beijing using time-series combined loss ratio data of historical agricultural insurance business. The results show that the current attachment point of protection fund, 160%, will impose additional financial burden to local government comparing to higher or lower points. It proves the necessity for government introducing reinsurance in the system to diversify risks and improve efficiency simultaneously. The paper also outlines the overall framework of Beijing agricultural insurance scheme for each stakeholder including direct insurers and reinsurers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper introduces an international collaboration of EU and Asia in education, training and research in the field of sustainable built environment, which attempts to develop a network of practical and intellectual knowledge and training exchange between Chinese and European Universities in the field of sustainable building design and construction. The projects funded by the European Commission Asia Link program, UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, British Council and the UK Engineering Physical Sciences Council (EPSRC) have been introduced. The projects have significant impacts on promoting sustainable development in built environment in China. The aim of this paper is to share the experiences with those who are interested and searching the ways to collaborate with China in education and research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Visions about the establishment of a lunar base and development of the Moon for scientific, technical and commercial ends have been on the political agenda since the beginning of the Space Age. In the past few years a number of spacefaring nations, including the USA, European states through ESA, Japan, India, China and Russia have proposed missions directed at the robotic and human exploration and development of the Moon. This paper argues that an important factor in advancing these missions lies in a partnership between the pubic, governmental sector and the private sector. The paper analyzes the dynamics of this partnership as applied to the case of the US Vision for Space Exploration. The results of the analysis suggest that public–private partnerships directed at lunar development and commerce depend on how government reduces risks for the private sector. The risks identified and discussed herein include political and legal risks, technological risks, and financial and market risks. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Along with the green-land shortage and the low use efficiency of urban land as a result of rapid urban sprawl in the past three decades, the issue of urban regeneration has been recently brought to the governance agenda by the new leadership in China. This paper examines the regeneration of the urban village sector in Guangzhou and finds that the institutional dichotomy of the rural and urban system is not only the root of the emergence and proliferation of urban villages, but also becomes the obstacle for their regenerations. The core of urban village regeneration is the redistribution of interest derived from land appreciation among main stakeholders, and their joint commitment via a collaborative partnership is the key to the successful project implementation. Though the collaborative approach for urban regeneration is acknowledged in the West and in the case study, the top-down hierarchical governance approach, the strong government-dominated ideology as a result of the legacy of socialism, and the economic-led developmental mode will fundamentally set the form of collaboration in China apart from other counties. Even within China there is no single universal and prescribed form of collaboration for urban regeneration due to the variations in terms of geographical, demographical and socio-economic conditions for urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]