Discussion of "Carbon benefits of wolfberry plantation on secondary saline land in Jingtai oasis, Gansu - A case study on application of the CBP model" by Yaolin Wang, Chuanyan Zhao, Quanlin Ma, Yingke Li, Hujia Jing, Tao Sun, Eleanor Milne, Mark Easter, Keith Paustian, Hoi Wen Au Yong, John McDonagh (2015) [Journal of Environmental Management 157, 303-310]

Abstract

Wang et al. (2015) employed driving force-pressure-state-impact-response (DPSIR) framework to provide a robust decision-making structure for carbon emission reduction by use of wolfberry plantation in the Jingtai oasis, China. DPSIR appropriately identified the causes of problem along with adopting the responses to the barriers associated with wolfberry plantation. However, the discusser argues that, the paper could have prepared more viable outcomes, if the authors had used causal network rather than causal chains through the DPSIR framework. Furthermore, they could have quantified the mutual relationship among the relevant factors to provide a detailed economic assessment. With this knowledge in hand, the current discussion letter suggests eDPSIR and meDPSIR to address drawbacks regarding conventional DPSIR framework. Due to proper performance of eDPSIR and meDPSIR, they are recommended as practical tools in the future environmental studies.

Keywords: Causal chain; Causal network; DPSIR; Key nodes.