Benchmarking for continuous performance improvement: Tactics for success

Benchmarking is a powerful management technique that can help improve an organization's environmental performance on a number of dimensions. Benchmarking is not a cookbook solution but a systematic process of searching for the organization that is the best at a given process (“best-in-class”) and continually adopting or adapting new processes to accelerate improvement. As a continual process including planning, analysis, integration, action, and maturity phases, benchmarking should be integrated into the planning stage of the management system. Once processes are strategically identified, they can be improved within the company's Total Quality Management program. Many benefits, such as teamwork and job satisfaction, accompany benchmarking, but the greatest companywide advantage is becoming more competitive. Finding a suitable partner is crucial to the success of the benchmarking process. This article shows the traditional one-on-one approach is the most effective because it saves time and money that allows organizations to learn from each other. In addition, examples of where benchmarking partners may be found, as well as several success indicators in the benchmarking process, are presented. Since the ultimate intent of benchmarking is positive change, the difference between reengineering and continuous performance improvement and the role benchmarking plays in each is also discussed.     

Monitoring and enforcement for management of industrial wastes: case study for Thailand

Summary This paper seeks to set the appropriate standards for monitoring and enforcement for the management of industrial wastes and effluents in developing countries. It applies these environmental protection measures to the proposed Samutprakam Province improvement programme in Thailand.Dr Harvey F. Ludwig is a regular contributor toThe Environmentalist (see, for instance, Ludwig, 1990; Ludwig and Browder, 1992). He is Chairman of Seatec International Consulting Engineers where Sow Kim Leng is a consulting engineer. Wanida Srichai is based at the World Environment Center, Thailand Office, Bangkok, Thailand.     

Coastal issues for oceanic islands: implications for human futures

Compared to continental areas, most islands have exceptionally long coastlines relative to their total land area. For this reason, islands are uncommonly vulnerable to problems associated with coasts. The future of the human inhabitants of many island states depends intrinsically on the sustainable management of their coasts, a challenge which grows more pressing as island populations increase and the associated demands on island coastlines change and grow. These issues are presented and discussed in this article. The mechanics of the sustainable management of island coasts is itself an important issue. At the national or local level, management is plagued by problems of insufficient and/or imprecise data and understanding that may lead to inappropriate solutions that even exacerbate the problems they are intended to solve. At an inter-governmental or international level, problems associated with the understanding of island environments need to be resolved before optimal management strategies can be developed. This article presents a brief explanation of the nature of coastal vulnerability on oceanic islands, followed by a discussion of several key problems associated with their sustainable development and the role of human and non-human factors in recent environmental change. It discusses the future of oceanic island coasts in the face of both internal and external threats to their sustainable management. It concludes with a blueprint for their survival.     

Paying for heritage: what price for durham cathedral?

This study assesses the amount individuals voluntarily contribute when visiting a Cathedral where no charge is made for entry. Contingent valuation methods are used to estimate the maximum individuals would be willing to pay if an entry charge was imposed, the changes in visit rates which would ensue at different price levels and the maximum revenue the Cathedral could be expected to collect by charging an entry fee.     

Resource suitability: Methods for analyses

There is a growing need to develop methods for analyzing resource suitability that are both legally defensible and accurate. Three approaches to suitability analysis are reviewed: the US Soil Conservation Service capability classification and important farmlands mapping; the McHarg, or Pennsylvania, suitability analysis method; and Dutch approaches to suitability analysis. Computer applications and the carrying-capacity concept are briefly reviewed. Three applications of suitability analysis are discussed: examples from Medford Township, New Jersey; Whitman County, Washington; and Abuja, the new federal capital city of Nigeria.     

Design for environment: A new framework for strategic decisions

For most of its history of environmental protection, U.S. policy has concentrated on a pollution control strategy based on single medium emissions: air, water, or land. Efforts to mitigate environmental impacts to one medium often resulted in greater impacts to others. While much environmental improvement has occurred via this system over the last quarter-century, it is generally recognized that alternative strategies which address environmental impacts across all media in an integrated manner will be necessary for continued improvement. Increasingly, regulatory strategies that result in only passive compliance will be insufficient to meet these demands. This article demonstrates why new strategies which encourage proactive behavior are necessary. A new framework for making strategic decisions—design for environment—concerning the relation between our actions and environment is necessary to ensure a sustainable future.     

Terraforming: a review for environmentalists

Summary The concept of modifying the environment of another planet, so that it can support terrestrial life, is known as terraforming. As a speculative scientific subject, it has been slowly gaining in respectability and, over the past 30 years, has amassed a considerable body of published work. In this paper, the present day capabilities of civilisation to bring about global environmental change are breifly discussed, followed by a review of the progress of research into the terraforming of the planet Mars. Whilst such an undertaking does not appear technologically impossible, whether it will actually happen is an unanswerable question. However, the control space for thought experimentation that terraforming provides is of use for both planetological research and education. The subject is therefore relevant to the present day, as well as to a possible future.Martyn J. Fogg is an independent researcher and free-lance science writer with a wide range of interests, having published papers on planetary formation and evolution; cometary impact cycles; mass extinctions; blue stragglers; and terraforming. He has been contributing Editor of three special issues ofThe Journal of the British Interplanetary Society devoted to terraforming, and has acted as a consultant on this subject to the BBC, TIME/LIFE books and Yazawa Science in Japan. He was the sole European participant at the 1991 NASA workshop on terraforming Mars, held at the Ames Research Center.     

Desertification: The time for action

Summary Following the severe droughts in the Sahel and Ethiopia in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which focused the world’s attention on drought and desertification, the United Nations system organized and held the UN Conference on Desertification (UNCOD) in Nairobi in 1977. The principal outcome of the Conference was a Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (PACD), containing 28 major recommendations. The follow-up and coordination of implementation of the PACD was entrusted to UNEP, which created a Desertification Branch in 1978 to undertake the task. Desertification Branch UNEP     

Conservation at landscape level: A strategy for survival: The role of research

Summary The objectives, appropriate strategies, the state of conservation in South Africa, and the contributed research which is needed, are evaluated. It is suggested that the ultimate objectives of conservation are to maintain the ecosystem to support people and to achieve economic advantages. These can only be obtained by providing for the greatest possible diversity of life on Earth. An appropriate conservation strategy can be based on a balanced combination of five types of conservation opportunities. These opportunities are: (i) formal conservation in reserves, (ii) promotion of land use change for conservation, (iii) law enforcement, (iv) national resource utilisation planning, and (v) the development of a national land ethic. Adjustment of the opportunity combination to address changing threast must be an ongoing exercise. Conservation strategies need to be based on sound conceptual models of ecosystem structure and function, as well as human needs and aspirations. The main goals of the conservation ecologist are the development, testing and validation of conceptual models of ecosystems.Mr Zak Le Roux is employed in the Scientific Services Section of the Ecosystem Conservation Department of the Natal Parks Board. He possesses a BSc in Forestry and Nature Conservation from the University of Stellenbosch, and is currently undertaking research in Plant Ecology at the University of Natal. A tenth generation South African, his work focuses on vegetation dynamics of semi-arid savanna landscapes and general conservation in Zululand. In particular, this involves the integration of wildlife with agriculture, and the development of more appropriate land uses in the areas surrounding the parks.     

An international review of local governance for climate change: implications for Hong Kong

Cities have increasingly become the focal point for climate change initiatives. However, how cities respond to climate change challenges and through what mechanisms have remained largely unexplored. This paper develops a framework for local governance to examine and explain climate change initiatives in cities. Based on the analysis of 20 climate change initiatives in major cities and a detailed case study of Hong Kong, this paper has two main findings. First, local governments at the city level have an important role to play in climate change policies by embracing some key strategies (such as deliberation and partnership) and values (such as equity and legitimacy) of good governance. Second, by comparing and contrasting the experience in other cities, our case study of Hong Kong provides insights about the barriers that may limit a city's ability to adapt to new forms of governance that would enable it to better respond to climate change. The paper concludes by exploring the potential role of local governance as a model to strengthen climate change initiatives at the city level.     

Searching for Networks: Ecological Connectivity for Amphibians Under Climate Change

Environmental Management - Ecological connectivity depends on key elements within the landscape, which can support ecological fluxes, species richness and long-term viability of a biological...     

Integrated Approach for Prioritizing Watersheds for Management: A Study of Lidder Catchment of Kashmir Himalayas

The Himalayan watersheds are susceptible to various forms of degradation due to their sensitive and fragile ecological disposition coupled with increasing anthropogenic disturbances. Owing to the paucity of appropriate technology and financial resources, the prioritization of watersheds has become an inevitable process for effective planning and management of natural resources. Lidder catchment constitutes a segment of the western Himalayas with an area of 1,159.38 km². The study is based on integrated analysis of remote sensing, geographic information system, field study, and socioeconomic data. Multicriteria evaluation of geophysical, land-use and land-cover (LULC) change, and socioeconomic indicators is carried out to prioritize watersheds for natural resource conservation and management. Knowledge-based weights and ranks are normalized, and weighted linear combination technique is adopted to determine final priority value. The watersheds are classified into four priority zones (very high priority, high priority, medium priority, and low priority) on the basis of quartiles of the priority value, thus indicating their ecological status in terms of degradation caused by anthropogenic disturbances. The correlation between priority ranks of individual indicators and integrated indicators is drawn. The results reveal that socioeconomic indicators are the most important drivers of LULC change and environmental degradation in the catchment. Moreover, the magnitude and intensity of anthropogenic impact is not uniform in different watersheds of Lidder catchment. Therefore, any conservation and management strategy must be formulated on the basis of watershed prioritization.     

A framework for policy formulation for small-scale mines: the case of coal in China

The effective management of small-scale mines is one of the major challenges for governments in the mining sector. Small-scale mining may bring tangible, short-term benefits to the communities involved. However, these benefits are frequently outweighed by the costs incurred in terms of illness, injury, pollution, waste of natural resources and market distortions. Governments, international agencies and advisers are generally able to draw up lists of actions which are required to regulate and manage small-scale mines more effectively, but turning plans into sustained action has proved more difficult. Two aspects of policy implementation are crucial to success: the alignment of interests, and the attitude and effectiveness of government. Using a case study of township and village coal mines in China, this article develops an approach to analysing these issues that could assist regional policy makers and advisers in formulating policy, in identifying key obstacles to policy implementation, and in identifying particular parties which need to be infiuenced or educated in order for the policy to succeed.     

Thought for Fuelling Change: A Review of Three Models for Understanding Environmentally Significant Transitions

For over a century, western economic development has depended upon the use of combustible hydrocarbons for its energy needs. The 20th century saw the prolific exploitation of fossil hydrocarbon sources (coal and oil) which are finite and exhaustible. There is a clear need for society to conserve such non-renewable resources. In addition to conservation, a wholesale switch to renewable energy sources should be seen as the first research and development priority. In the interim, moving towards a crop-based fuel economy appears to be a good alternative to provide the necessarily dramatic changes in lifestyle and mindset that would be required of consumers, for a wholesale shift away from hydrocarbon combustion. Before programs and policies designed to address the need for an interim or alternative energy and materials economy are put into place however, it is important to understand the barriers and opportunities put forth by society itself. Conventional frameworks designed to understand this type of change are of limited assistance. This paper argues that institutional thinking is a very useful tool in addressing these types of environmental problems.     

Long-term resource demand : Models for projection

This paper argues that there has been insufficient analysis of long-term forecasting methods for resource demand at national level, compared with the attention devoted to supply factors. It suggests several important issues which need to be understood about the nature of demand projection and its pitfalls. Some significant and widely used resource demand models are summarized, all of which are particularly vulnerable to the uncertainty of macroeconomic modelling.