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1.
While the primary objective of the 1992 Earth Summit was to generate new commitments from national governments on global environmental issues, one of the most tangible outcomes of the summit was to focus international attention on the role of cities as central actors in the Earth's ecosystem. As a result, the recent UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) extended its focus, originally on housing only, to sustainable human settlements. The final product of the meeting, the Habitat Agenda, provides the greatest recognition ever offered by the United Nations to the role of local governments in the sustainable development process. The success of the Habitat Agenda will be defined by the ability of local governments to effectively adopt its recommendations.This article is a “report from the field” on local adaptations of environmental assessment andplanning procedures in order to implement the various components of the sustainable development mandate.  相似文献   

2.
This communication summarizes the main findings of INASUD, an European-wide research project on integrated assessment of climate policies. The project aimed at improving the framing of climate policy analysis through the parallel use of various existing integrated assessment models. It provides a comprehensive examination of the link between uncertainty regarding damages and inertia in economic systems. Results show that the Kyoto targets and timing are consistent with the precautionary principle but offers little insurance for longer-term climate protection. Flexibility mechanisms offer potentials for cooperation with developing countries, and are necessary to tap the environmental and economic benefits of joint carbon and sulfur emissions abatement.  相似文献   

3.
A critical review of building environmental assessment tools   总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2  
Since the field of environmental assessment tools for buildings is vast, the aim of this study is to clarify that field by analysing and categorising existing tools. The differences between the tools are discussed and the current situation within the tools is critically analysed. However, the comparison of the tools is difficult, if not impossible. For example, the tools are designed for assessing different types of buildings, and they emphasise different phases of the life cycle. In addition to environmental aspects, sustainable building includes economic and social aspects. The shift from green building to sustainable building and the future requirements are challenging for building environmental assessment tools. Furthermore, the benefits of using the tools should be analysed — how the tools and their results have affected decision making?  相似文献   

4.
A growing number of scientific studies in recent years have investigated disparate exposure to ecological hazards in American society. Working from an environmental justice perspective, this body of research consistently reveals that poor communities of color are most likely to bear a disproportionate burden of negative externalities. These studies utilize a wide range of research methodologies, including various indicators of ecological hazards (e.g., proximity to waste sites, industrial emissions, ambient air quality), but few, if any, utilize composite measures to approximate cumulative environmental impact. Consequently, the environmental justice (EJ) literature is characterized by a failure to effectively measure overall impact from an extensive range of ecological hazards. Limitations on available data make this a serious problem for present and future studies. We argue that cumulative measures of environmental impact can play an important role in furthering our understanding of environmental injustices in the United States. In this study of Massachusetts, we develop and implement such a cumulative measure of negative environmental impacts. By controlling for the density and severity of ecological hazardous sites and facilities within every community in the state, we demonstrate that exposure patterns take a generally linear distribution when analyzed by race and class. So, while our results reaffirm previous findings that low-income communities and communities of color bear significantly greater ecological burdens than predominantly White and more affluent communities, our findings also suggest that environmental injustices exist on a remarkably consistent continuum for nearly all communities. In other words, as the minority population and lower-income composition of a community increases, correspondingly, so does cumulative exposure to environmental hazards. In this respect, communities which are more racially mixed and of moderate income status that are not typically identified as meeting EJ criteria (in demographic terms) also face more significant ecological hazards. Thus, the strict bifurcation of communities into categories of Environmental Justice and Non-Environmental Justice is problematic, and poses a serious dilemma for policy makers, public health officials, and community activists. To overcome this challenge requires the adoption of a cumulative environmental justice impact assessment (CEJIA), which in addition to the demographic characteristics of a community, also takes into account the total environmental burden and related health impacts upon residents. Furthermore, through the adoption of the precautionary principle, source reduction, and alternative forms of “cleaner” production, environmental justice advocates must work for policies which reduce the environmental threat for the full range of communities, as well as their own.  相似文献   

5.
This study investigated Taiwan's industries to identify the characteristics of companies most advanced in environmental design. Thirty design principles in five categories were used to define advanced environmental design. The five categories are: use of raw materials, use of energy, design for recyclability, product life cycle assessment, and packaging optimization. We found that of the 30 design principles only eight were applied consistently by Taiwanese manufacturers. Most effort was given to the “use of energy” category. The most advanced environmental design was found at large companies—those with over 2000 employees, 3 billion in capital, and/or 3 billion in annual sales.  相似文献   

6.
Rethinking human health impact assessment   总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1  
Most EIA programs around the world require the consideration of human health impacts. Yet relatively few EIA documents adequately address those impacts. This article examines how, why, and to what extent health impacts are analyzed in environmental impact assessments in the U.S. An empirical study of 42 environmental impact statements found that more than half contained no mention of health impacts. In the others, health impacts were analyzed narrowly, if at all, using risk assessment to quantify the carcinogenic potential of a single substance over a single generation. This analytic focus overlooks other significant morbidity and mortality risks, cumulative and intergenerational effects, and broader determinants of health. This article investigates these problems and provides recommendations to improve human health impact assessment, using strategic environmental assessment, qualitative health data, health outcomes in addition to cancer, and a precautionary approach to risk.  相似文献   

7.
Health impact assessment is part of the risk management process of multinational corporations/companies. Sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, and the “paradox of plenty” are used as examples of the challenges they face. The “business case” for impact assessment is explained. The policies, procedures, standards, and activities used by Shell to manage such risks are described. An approach to capacity building and competency development is presented that applies to both company staff and external contractors.  相似文献   

8.
If government is confronted with “latent time bombs”—potentially major, sudden disasters such as earthquakes, droughts, floods, or financial collapse—when will it react? This exploratory study's hypothesis is that government is more likely to address threats after they actually occur, rather than before they might occur, i.e., the propensity is not to intervene. This is counter to the observed propensity of governments to intervene against the perceived threats posed by nonsudden environmental risks, e.g., hazardous substances. This study contrasts government's differing responses to latent time bombs and hazardous substances. It attributes the difference in response to the differing visibility of intervention costs and the differing distribution of these costs. In the case of hazardous substances, the propensity to intervene may be accounted for by the availability of an intervention mode, i.e., regulation, whose costs are difficult to discern and are spread thinly over the entire population. The hypothesis is explored with the help of three case studies of confronting latent time bombs in Israel.  相似文献   

9.
Risk assessments are the intellectual products of dedicated public health and environmental professionals. Like many other products, risk assessments carry with them the potential for both good and harm. This paper briefly examines some of the harms to which risk assessments have contributed, and then suggests that the legal “duty to warn” doctrine offers a logical and practical way to reduce some of these harms. The paper suggests concepts that could be incorporated into warnings accompanying every formal risk assessment as routine “boiler plate” addenda, just as other potentially harmful products, such as lawn mowers and cook stoves, are accompanied by warnings. Finally, the paper briefly examines the “Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice for Environmental Professionals” (promulgated by the National Association of Environmental Professionals) and shows that the suggested warnings are consistent with recommended practices for environmental professionals.  相似文献   

10.
A roadmap for a more sustainable energy strategy is complex, as its development interacts critically with the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. This paper applied an impact matrix method to evaluate the environmental sustainability and to identify the desirable policy objectives of biomass-based energy strategy for the case of Alberta. A matrix with the sustainability domains on one axis and areas of environmental impact on the other was presented to evaluate the nexus effect of policy objectives and bioenergy production.As per to our analysis, economic diversification, technological innovation, and resource conservation came up as the desirable policy objectives of sustainable development for Alberta because they demonstrated environmental benefits in all environmental impact categories, namely climate change, human health, and ecosystem. On the other hand, human health and ecosystem impacts were identified as trade-offs when the policy objectives for sustainability were energy security, job creation, and climate change. Thus, bioenergy can mitigate climate change but may impact human health and ecosystem which then in turn can become issues of concern. Energy strategies may result in shifting of risks from one environmental impact category to another, and from one sustainable domain to another if the technical and policy-related issues are not identified.  相似文献   

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