A transdisciplinary framework for environmental impact assessment: Opportunities and resistances among practitioners in Spain

Environmental issues, bringing together the natural and the social spheres, are probably one of the most appropriate fields of development for transdisciplinary research. Transdisciplinarity, in addition to other contemporary epistemological paradigms, stresses the need to approach complex problems by blending new forms of non-expert knowledge with combined epistemologies. However, practical application of the transdisciplinary approach is still almost non-existent in everyday socio-environmental management. This paper has a two-fold aim: firstly, to establish the suitability of the transdisciplinary approach in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as a means of rectifying a common incapacity to address the social dimension in the assessment process; and secondly, to evaluate this idea from the perspective of technicians and professionals in the EIA sector in Spain. To this end, a qualitative methodology was used, based on semi-structured interviews, which enabled in-depth investigation of the willingness of specialists to effectively integrate new forms of knowledge into the EIA procedure. Further, interviewees evaluated the real possibilities of widening public participation in the process of identifying and assessing impacts and discussed the difficulties facing the treatment and analysis of the social dimension within the EIA process.     

A review of uncertainty research in impact assessment

This paper examines uncertainty research in Impact Assessment (IA) and the focus of attention of the IA scholarly literature. We do so by first exploring ‘outside’ the IA literature, identifying three main themes of uncertainty research, and then apply these themes to examine the focus of scholarly research on uncertainty ‘inside’ IA. Based on a search of the database Scopus, we identified 134 journal papers published between 1970 and 2013 that address uncertainty in IA, 75% of which were published since 2005. We found that 90% of IA research addressing uncertainty focused on uncertainty in the practice of IA, including uncertainty in impact predictions, models and managing environmental impacts. Notwithstanding early guidance on uncertainty treatment in IA from the 1980s, we found no common, underlying conceptual framework that was guiding research on uncertainty in IA practice. Considerably less attention, only 9% of papers, focused on uncertainty communication, disclosure and decision-making under uncertain conditions, the majority of which focused on the need to disclose uncertainties as opposed to providing guidance on how to do so and effectively use that information to inform decisions. Finally, research focused on theory building for explaining human behavior with respect to uncertainty avoidance constituted only 1% of the IA published literature. We suggest the need for further conceptual framework development for researchers focused on identifying and addressing uncertainty in IA practice; the need for guidance on how best to communicate uncertainties in practice, versus criticizing practitioners for not doing so; research that explores how best to interpret and use disclosures about uncertainty when making decisions about project approvals, and the implications of doing so; and academic theory building and exploring the utility of existing theories to better understand and explain uncertainty avoidance behavior in IA.     

Between economics and ecology: some historical and philosophical considerations for modelers of natural capital

Natural capital models attempt to remediate the relationship between economics and ecology either by conjoining models and theories from each discipline or by finding a type of phenomena that can be meaningfully measured by both fields. The developmentof a widely accepted model which integrates economics and ecologyhas eluded researchers since the early 1970s. This paper offers an historical and philosophical perspective on some of the conceptual problems or obstacles that hinder the development ofnatural capital models. In particular, the disciplinary assumptions of economic science and ecological science are examined and it is argued that these assumptions are antithetical. Hence, the development of an effective and acceptednatural capital model will require that economics and ecology reconsider their self-conceptions as sciences. For the purposesof theoretical research and practical policy, the paper cautionsagainst confusing the issue of whether or not economic models accord with ecological models with the issue of whether or not economic activities accord with ecological realities.     

Liveability as determinant of health: Testing a new approach for health impact assessment of major infrastructure

Major urban infrastructure projects are intended to alter the built, human ecology for the better. Even when they are not labelled as health projects, arguably they should produce public health benefits that are commensurate with their scale, particularly when they are publicly funded. Health impact assessment (HIA) is an established method of evaluating major infrastructure projects using a determinants of health equity lens. HIA explicitly puts health front and centre to ask, ‘How should the proposed infrastructure project be altered to improve the determinants of health equity?’ There are well-established HIA protocols, but few provide a framework for scoping possible impacts. Given interest in the concept of liveability we introduce an exhaustive, evidence-based framework of 11 liveability domains for HIA. We then test the framework by scoping the impacts of the Upfield Level Crossing Removal (LXR) project in Melbourne, Australia to hypothesise its impacts on health. Scoping this case study suggests that many domains will be affected in complex ways, some positively and some negatively, exemplifying the potential for the framework to detect major infrastructures' pervasive impacts on determinants of health. The paper includes a plan to validate the liveability framework with empirical research in the HIA assessment stage. The paper concludes with a discussion of the contribution and usefulness of the liveability domains as a framework for structuring HIA and for building its profile, thus advancing the discipline, and helping to ensure that all major infrastructures constitute a prudent investment in public health.     

A research framework for studying social impacts: Application to the field of mining

Given the growing amount of attention shown to the social dimension of natural resources and mining governance, there is a need for more informed research-oriented approaches to studying social impacts. This article analyzes the features of Social Impact Assessment (SIA) studies from the academic research perspective and presents a framework for social impact research. By academic research, the article refers to studies on social impacts conducted purely for research purposes, not impact assessment processes.Research is always one aspect of the SIA process. At the same time, there is a lack of general methodological literature offering guidance on how assessing social impacts can contribute to social studies research. The guiding documents on SIA are largely intended for practical-level planning and management processes, which limits their applicability for academic purposes. The proposed framework draws both from traditional social science methods and existing scholarly and guiding literature on SIA. The research framework consists of four interlinked phases: 1) research preparations, 2) background studies (including proposed project, national and local context), 3) fieldwork, and 4) analysis. The framework is designed to direct attention to the relevant aspects of research methods, theory building, fieldwork implementation, and research choices for data analysis. Thus, the framework provides a flexible, but comprehensive, multi-level approach for examining social impacts, which can be adapted for a wide range of social-scientific mining research. The analysis and developed framework will help academic researchers better study the social impacts of mining and make better use of existing SIA studies in academic life.     

Evaluating the effectiveness of integrating the environmental impact assessment and mine closure planning processes

Integration of environmental assessment tools has long been promoted as best practice with the potential to bring environmental benefits. In this research, we set out to evaluate the effectiveness of integration of environmental impact assessment (EIA) and mine closure planning using a simple effectiveness criteria framework, applied to current regulatory provisions and practices in Western Australia. The effectiveness criteria for the integration of EIA and mine closure planning, compiled from existing reviews of integration and effectiveness concepts in the impact assessment literature, considers procedural, transactive, substantive effectiveness and overall process legitimacy. Data analysis consisted of a literature review, examination of regulatory and guidance material and interviews with 12 experienced EIA and/or mine closure practitioners with an industry or regulatory focus. The results provide strong, positive examples of procedural, transactive and substantive effectiveness due to the integrated framework. These include behavioural changes, improved knowledge and learning and better provision for closure at an early stage of mine planning. A trajectory of improvement was noted by everybody interviewed. However, a key driver for effectiveness is the enthusiasm of key facilitations, and tension exists due to the different motivations of the two lead regulatory agencies which poses a challenge for the integrated framework. While it can reasonably be argued that the effectiveness of early mine closure planning cannot yet be realised, due to a paucity of completely closed mines in Australia this study nevertheless demonstrates clear benefits and opportunities result from early stage integration of EIA with mine closure planning.     

Redistribution of Cesium-137 as an example of a chemical indicator of environmental stress

The use of the artificially-produced radioactive isotope Cesium-137 for the measurement of soil erosion is examined in this article as an example of the development of a chemical indicator of a specific environmental stress. The theoretical and methodological bases of the technique ar examined in the context of seven criteria developed to assess the suitability of a technique as a chemical indicator. The type of results available from the application of the technique are demonstrated for research in agricultural ecosystems in Saskatchewan, Canada. The research indicates that mean soil losses within agricultural fields are 2 to 3 times higher than the tolerable soil losses for the area and that net soil export from fields is a poor indicator of the intensity of erosion within the field. The major remaining constraint to the use of the technique is the lack of a standardized sampling and analytical framework for researchers using the procedure.     

珠海金鼎工业园地下水水质演变及其对水污染防控的提示

以珠海金鼎工业园这一典型的滨海工业园为研究对象,对比分析了工业园建成后不同时期(2005—2007与2015—2022)园区地下水环境监测数据与稳定氢、氧、氮等多种环境同位素数据,探讨了该园区浅层地下水水质时空演变特征,分析了园区地下水水质的超标问题与诱因,并识别了园区地下水、主要离子与无机氮等成分的来源,明确了该浅层含水层特征指标对海水入侵的指示,为滨海工业园区地下水污染的管控提供了科学依据。     

Risk management and integrated assessment

Integrated Assessment (IA) is the pursuit of a research program generated by the limitations of traditional forms of risk management. This claim can be justified by the following argument. Over the last decades, analysts and practitioners have brought to maturity a large array of tools for risk management. Most of them rely on combining judgments of utility with judgments of probability. This is the approach of the Rational Actor Paradigm (RAP). With many environmental problems, however, RAP‐based tools have run into considerable practical and theoretical difficulties. In response to these difficulties, a series of alternative approaches to practical risk management and to the theoretical understanding of risk have been elaborated. They try to embed the rational choices of individual actors studied by RAP into a broader framework of social rationality. This task can be approached by distinguishing situations where an actor holds unambiguous judgments of preference and probability from situations characterized by ambivalent judgments. RAP can handle the former, but not the latter. Problems whose management requires a combination of widely differing scientific disciplines are especially likely to involve ambivalent judgments of probability. The study of such problems constitutes the research program of integrated assessment. It involves three main tasks: developing IA models which can represent ambivalent expectations and evaluations, developing IA models which use such representations to study non‐marginal changes of social systems, and developing procedures of participatory IA which enable researchers to engage in an iterative exchange with various stakeholders. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Evaluating Integrated Watershed Management using multiple criteria analysis—a case study at Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh

Criteria and indicators assessment is one of the ways to evaluate management strategies for mountain watersheds. One framework for this, Integrated Watershed Management (IWM), was employed at Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh using a multi-criteria analysis approach. The IWM framework, consisting of the design and application of principles, criteria, indicators, and verifiers (PCIV), facilitates active participation by diverse professionals, experts, and interest groups in watershed management, to explicitly address the demands and problems to measure the complexity of problems in a transparent and understandable way. Management alternatives are developed to fulfill every key component of IWM considering the developed PCIV set and current situation of the study area. Different management strategies, each focusing on a different approach (biodiversity conservation, flood control, soil and water quality conservation, indigenous knowledge conservation, income generation, watershed conservation, and landscape conservation) were assessed qualitatively on their potential to improve the current situation according to each verifier of the criteria and indicator set. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), including sensitivity analysis, was employed to identify an appropriate management strategy according to overall priorities (i.e., different weights of each principle) of key informants. The AHP process indicated that a strategy focused on conservation of biodiversity provided the best option to address watershed-related challenges in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh.     

The challenges of conducting environmental research on privately owned land

Accessing research sites is an integral part of a research in the world today. Researching sites on privately owned lands creates unique challenges when compared to conducting research on government or publicly owned land. This study explores different methods for obtaining landowner information, permission to sample privately owned sites, and assesses the time it takes to obtain permission for randomly selected study sites. During the study, researchers contacted 390 landowners to obtain permission to sample wetlands on privately owned lands. A variety of methods were used to contact landowners and determine which methods were most effective for obtaining permission. Methods included face-to-face discussion, phone calls, and mailed response letters. It took approximately 9 months to obtain landowner information, contact landowners, and obtain permission to sample sites. The most effective method for obtaining permission to sample sites was through face-to-face discussions with landowners. Overall, it took a longer period of time to obtain permission for the survey than it did to sample sites. Information from this study can be used by anyone conducting research on private land to better estimate the time it will take to obtain permission to sample sites and to estimate the most effective way to obtain permission based on project finances and available personnel.     

Cleaning up the big muddy: A meta-synthesis of the research on the social impact of dams

Scholars have been exploring the social impacts of dams for over 50 years, but a lack of systematic approaches has resulted in many research gaps remaining. This paper presents the first systematic review of the literature on the social impacts of dams. For this purpose, we built a sample of 217 articles published in the past 25 years via key word searches, expert consultations and bibliography reviews. All articles were assessed against an aggregate matrix framework on the social impact of dams, which combines 27 existing frameworks. We find that existing literature is highly biased with regard to: perspective (45% negative versus 5% positive); dam size (large dams are overrepresented); spatial focus (on the resettlement area); and temporal focus (5–10 years ex-post resettlement). Additionally, there is bias in terms of whose views are included, with those of dam developers rarely examined by scholars. These gaps need to be addressed in future research to advance our knowledge on the social impact of dams to support more transparency in the trade-offs being made in dam development decisions.     

The assessment of the Voice 200Ultra apparatus applicability to field investigations of air quality and odours

The ongoing urbanisation results in the decreased distance between residential areas and odour-generating municipal facilities. Odours are one of the crucial problems for people exposed to them, both locally and nationwide. Recently Syft Technologies company has been developing a new mobile device used for investigations of odorous compounds - Voice 200 Ultra. According to the manufacturer's declaration this device offers the possibility to carry out very precise odours measurements. Thus the attempt has been made to utilise that device for investigations of odorous compounds in one of Polish town.The primary goal of the research project has been to assess the applicability of the Voice 200Ultra method (developed by Syft Technologies) in the field odours measurements, in situ. That method is assumed to enable researchers to swiftly characterise and determine odorous chemical compounds in terms of quality and quantity.     

Sustainable building assessment tool for project decision makers and its development process

The primary purpose of Sustainable Building Assessment (SBA) tools is for behavioral changes in public building practice. In the Web 3.0 era, even non-experts may have the capacity to select and use Information & Communication Technology (ICT) tools to solve complicated problems in sustainable building decision making without any expert help. It is clear that the R&D of these tools which directly target project decision makers is a significant project for researchers and policy makers who are tasked with the challenge of changing individual building practice for regional sustainability. The purpose of the study is to suggest a tool and its development process for sustainable building assessment by project decision makers, especially targeting non-expert groups. This study defines an SBA tool for project decision makers based on a typology and suggests a “3-layer development process framework”. For the theoretical Background, we integrate interdisciplinary methods and principles such as cognitive problem-solving and sustainable building delivery, including long-term community benefits in a region and an information system development process. This framework is based on Boehem's spiral model for information system development processes and especially emphasizes the first cycle to develop a core set of indicators fit for the non-expert user's problem solving process. This presents an iterative and gradual process with the aim of approaching the tool type from passive tools such as checklists and guidelines, to interactive software, especially interactive DSS (Decision Support Systems) online ICT platforms. The development process is comprised of 8 stages: This includes the use of mixed-method sequential design, including interviews, workshops, the Delphi survey technique, FD-AHP weight analysis, and scenario analysis. In addition, the study presents a case study of the application of the first cycle to develop a core set of indicators and discusses its effectiveness. This study may help researchers by providing a clear and effective method to understand interdisciplinary approaches to develop appropriate tools for sustainable building practice in a regional context.     

Agricultural land-use change and ash (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Fraxinus excelsior</Emphasis> L.) colonization in Pyrenean landscapes: an interdisciplinary case study

Changes in agricultural land use are responsible for significant modifications in mountain landscapes. This study is part of an interdisciplinary research on the processes and consequences of spontaneous afforestation of Pyrenean landscapes by ash, and the possibilities for its management. We address the relationships between vegetation dynamics and land-use change from the combination of an agricultural study of change in farm management and an ecological study of grassland colonization by ash. In the framework of a village case study, we characterized parcels management and land-use histories, and analyzed the dynamics of the composition of grassland vegetation communities. From a joint analysis of the results obtained in each discipline, we discuss the limitations and complementarities of the two approaches for the interdisciplinary assessment of the afforestation process.     

Sustainability assessment framework for scenarios – SAFS

To address current challenges regarding sustainable development and support planning for this form of development, new learning about different possible futures and their potential sustainability implications is needed. One way of facilitating this learning is by combining the futures studies and sustainability assessment (SA) research fields.This paper presents the sustainability assessment framework for scenarios (SAFS), a method developed for assessing the environmental and social risks and opportunities of future scenarios, provides guidelines for its application and demonstrates how the framework can be applied. SAFS suggests assessing environmental and social aspects using a consumption perspective and a life cycle approach, and provides qualitative results. SAFS does not suggest any modelling using precise data, but instead offers guidelines on how to carry out a qualitative assessment, where both the process of assessing and the outcome of the assessment are valuable and can be used as a basis for discussion.The benefits, drawbacks and potential challenges of applying SAFS are also discussed in the paper. SAFS uses systems thinking looking at future societies as a whole, considering both environmental and social consequences. This encourages researchers and decision-makers to consider the whole picture, and not just individual elements, when considering different futures.     

Environmental sustainability assessment in supply chain: An emerging economy context

Environmental sustainability is not being practiced in the supply chains of many industries. Previous studies on environmental sustainability have not outlined clear strategies to achieve sustainability across supply chains, particularly in the context of emerging economies, and have been of limited relevance in settings beyond the geographical region of their focus. To address these gaps, we have proposed a best worst method (BWM) as a framework to assess the environmental criteria for sustainability in select industries in Bangladesh. Different industrial activities or criteria affecting the environment in various ways were assessed and weighted using the BWM. To ensure the efficiency and accuracy of this framework, we sought the opinions of 34 experts to specify the most suitable indicators from our initial literature review. Findings from this study revealed that “waste management” was the most important indicator for establishing environmental sustainability in industries in Bangladesh, which was substantiated by a sensitivity analysis. This research will assist industry managers and entrepreneurs to work toward environmental sustainability across supply chains.     

Global research on carbon footprint: A scientometric review

In the context of global climate change, carbon footprint research has become a hot spot for many regions and scholars. However, a global, systematic and intuitive literature review of carbon footprint is still lacking, which has become the motivation of this research. Based on 7450 articles in the Web of Science Core Collection, this study conducted a literature review and analysis of carbon footprint from the perspective of scientometric. It is found that between 1992 and 2019, the theme of carbon footprint research has changed from ecology and botany to international trade and household behaviours, etc. Water vapour is the longest lasting carbon footprint research topic. The research scope shows a trend from small to large, that is, from the level of individuals and families to enterprises and organizations, and then to the countries and regions. Year 2008 is the main node in carbon footprint research: the classic literature before 2008 is the hubs of later research; the research after 2008 shows a significant trend of diversification and interdisciplinary development. The China's research institutions and scholars have shown an explosive trend after 2008. However, most international cooperation still occurs between North American and European countries, while developing countries such as China are still in the marginal area. The main source of knowledge for carbon footprint research is the subject “Veterinary, Animal, Science”; relatively, the research results are mainly applied to the subject “Environmental, Toxicology, Nutrition”. In addition, it is worth noting that carbon footprint research is showing a trend of merging with Economics research. These trends prove that there has been a significant theme drift and knowledge evolution process in carbon footprint research.