Transnational multistakeholder partnerships for sustainable development: Conditions for success

This perspective discusses nine conditions for enhancing the performance of multistakeholder partnerships for sustainable development. Such partnerships have become mainstream implementation mechanisms for attaining international sustainable development goals and are also frequently used in other adjacent policy domains such as climate change, health and biodiversity. While multistakeholder arrangements are widely perceived as a positive contribution to addressing global change, few studies have systematically evaluated the existing evidence for their positive performance. This poses an urgent and important challenge for researchers and practitioners to understand and improve the effectiveness of partnerships, in particular since their popularity increases despite their past track record. The recommendations presented are based on own research, a literature survey and discussions with a large number or international Civil Society Organizations at two occasions during 2014. This article proceeds as follows: first, we define multistakeholder partnerships, outline their rational and summarize available assessments on partnership success; second, we provide a set of concrete recommendations based on lessons-learned from over 10 years of scholarship; and third, we conclude with some reflections on the future of multistakeholder governance for sustainability.     

What do we really know about the impacts of one of the 100 worst invaders in Europe? A reality check

Invasive species are one of the greatest threats to biodiversity worldwide, and to successfully manage their introductions is a major challenge for society. Knowledge on the impacts of an invasive species is essential for motivating decision makers and optimally allocating management resources. We use a prominent invasive fish species, the round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) to objectively quantify the state of scientific knowledge on its impacts. Focusing on how native fish species are affected by round goby invasions, we analyzed 113 peer-reviewed papers and found that impacts are highly ecosystem and time scale dependent. We discovered round goby impacts to be profound, but surprisingly complex. Even if identical native species were affected, the impacts remained less comparable across ecosystems than expected. Acknowledging the breadth but also limitations in scientific knowledge on round goby impacts would greatly improve scientists’ ability to conduct further research and inform management measures.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0718-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Improvement of health risk factors after reduction of VOC concentrations in industrial and urban areas

After reductions of fugitive and diffuse emissions by an industrial complex, a follow-up study was performed to determine the time variability of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the lifetime cancer risk (LCR). Passive samplers (3 M monitors) were placed outdoors (n?=?179) and indoors (n?=?75) in industrial, urban, and control areas for 4 weeks. Twenty-five compounds including n-alkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatics, chlorinated hydrocarbons, and terpenes were determined by GC/MS. The results show a significant decrease of all VOCs, especially in the industrial area and to a lesser extent in the urban area. The median outdoor concentration of benzene in the industrial area declined compared to the former study, around 85 % and about 50 % in the urban area, which in the past was strongly influenced by industrial emissions. Other carcinogenic compounds like styrene and tetrachloroethylene were reduced to approximately 60 %. VOC concentrations in control areas remained nearly unchanged. According to the determined BTEX ratios and interspecies correlations, in contrast to the previous study, traffic was identified as the main emission source in the urban and control areas and showed an increased influence in the industrial area. The LCR, calculated for benzene, styrene, and tetrachloroethylene, shows a decrease of one order of magnitude in accordance to the decreased total VOC concentrations and is now acceptable according to values proposed by the World Health Organization.     

Towards a renewed research agenda in ecotoxicology

New concerns about biodiversity, ecosystem services and human health triggered several new regulations increasing the need for sound ecotoxicological risk assessment. The PEER network aims to share its view on the research issues that this challenges. PEER scientists call for an improved biologically relevant exposure assessment. They promote comprehensive effect assessment at several biological levels. Biological traits should be used for Environmental risk assessment (ERA) as promising tools to better understand relationships between structure and functioning of ecosystems. The use of modern high throughput methods could also enhance the amount of data for a better risk assessment. Improved models coping with multiple stressors or biological levels are necessary to answer for a more scientifically based risk assessment. Those methods must be embedded within life cycle analysis or economical models for efficient regulations. Joint research programmes involving humanities with ecological sciences should be developed for a sound risk management.     

Producer responsibility for e-waste management: key issues for consideration - learning from the Swiss experience

E-waste, a relatively recent addition to the waste stream in the form of discarded electronic and electric equipment, is getting increasing attention from policy makers as the quantity being generated is rising rapidly. One of the most promising policy options to address this issue is to extend the producers responsibility for their products beyond the point of sale, until end-of-product-life. This paper briefly introduces the concept of extended producer responsibility (EPR) and its applicability in the area of the end-of-life management of electronic and electrical equipment (EEE). It then examines the decade-long experience of Switzerland in using EPR to manage its e-waste, elaborating on the experience of the Swiss system in overcoming specific issues, and finally wrapping up with a synopsis of the lessons for policy makers. We consider each issue as an enquiry of questions confronting a policy maker and the choices that may present themselves. The five issues discussed are: (i) the challenges in getting an EPR based system started; (ii) securing financing to ensure a self-sustaining and smooth functioning system; (iii) organising a logistics network for the take back and collection of the e-waste; (iv) ensuring compliance of the various actors involved; and finally (v) reducing the threat of monopolistic practices.     

Equilibrium sampling: partitioning of organochlorine compounds from lipids into polydimethylsiloxane

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) can be used for equilibrium sampling of environmental pollutants in a large variety of matrices including biota. For comparison with lipid-normalized concentrations e.g. from biota monitoring programmes, reliable lipid to PDMS partition ratios (K(Lipid,PDMS)) are required. Additionally, K(Lipid,PDMS) facilitate comparison of equilibrium sampling data obtained in various environmental media and can be helpful to convert equilibrium sampling data into a more informative form. This work investigated the equilibrium partitioning of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and selected organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) between lipids from biota of different trophic levels and PDMS. One vegetable oil, a fish oil and seal oil were investigated. The lipid to PDMS partition ratios were compound-specific and ranged from 14.5 to 62.9 g/g with correction for lipid uptake into the PDMS and from 13.0 to 54.8 g/g without correction. Additionally, PDMS served as a reference partitioning phase for the accurate determination of lipid to lipid partition ratios, which for all analytes were close to unity. Evaluating the results in a bioaccumulation context, they indicate that the equilibrium partitioning of neutral lipophilic environmental contaminants into the lipids of the three investigated species will be very similar, although they represent three distinct trophic levels.     

Boon or bane? On productivity and environmental regulation

Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - As climate change has gained more attention in the last decade, effects of environmental regulation on productivity are important to design green tax...