The effectiveness of market-based conservation in the tropics: forest certification in Ecuador and Bolivia

During the last decade, forest certification has gained momentum as a market-based conservation strategy in tropical forest countries. Certification has been promoted to enhance forest management in countries where governance capacities are insufficient to adequately manage natural resources and enforce pertinent regulations, given that certification relies largely on non-governmental organisations and private businesses. However, at present there are few tropical countries with large areas of certified forests. In this study, we conducted semi-structured stakeholder interviews in Ecuador and Bolivia to identify key framework conditions that influence the costs and benefits for companies to switch from conventional to certified forestry operations. Bolivia has a much greater relative area under certified forest management than Ecuador and also significantly more certified producers. The difference in the success of certification between both countries is particularly notable because Bolivia is a poorer country with more widespread corruption, and is landlocked with less access to export routes. Despite these factors, several characteristics of the Bolivian forest industry contribute to lower additional costs of certified forest management compared to Ecuador. Bolivia has stronger government enforcement of forestry regulations a fact that increases the cost of illegal logging, management units are larger, and vertical integration in the process chain from timber extraction to markets is higher. Moreover, forestry laws in Bolivia are highly compatible with certification requirements, and the government provides significant tax benefits to certified producers. Results from this study suggest that certification can be successful in countries where governments have limited governance capacity. However, the economic incentives for certification do not only arise from favourable market conditions. Certification is likely to be more successful where governments enforce forestry laws, provide financial incentives for certified forestry, and provide land tenure security, and where large-scale and vertically integrated forestry operations are commercially feasible. For this reason, at present, there are few developing countries where forest certification is likely to achieve widespread success.     

Ammonia emissions from naturally ventilated dairy cattle buildings and outdoor concrete yards in Portugal

There is a lack of information on ammonia (NH₃) emissions from cattle housing systems in Mediterranean countries, with most published data deriving from NW Europe. An investigation was carried out in NW Portugal to quantify NH₃ emissions for the main types of dairy cattle buildings in Portugal, i.e. naturally ventilated buildings and outdoor concrete yards, and to derive robust emission factors (EFs) for these conditions and compare with EFs used elsewhere in Europe. Measurements were made throughout a 12-month period using the passive flux sampling method in the livestock buildings and the equilibrium concentration technique in outdoor yards.The mean NH₃ emission factor for the whole housing system (buildings + outdoor yards) was 43.7 g NH₃–N LU^?1 day^?1 and for outdoor concrete yards used by dairy cattle was 26.6 g NH₃–N LU^?1 day^?1. Expressing NH₃ emission in terms of the quantity of liquid milk produced gave similar values across the three dairy farms studied (with a mean of 2.3 kg N ton-milk^?1 produced) and may have advantages when comparing different farming systems. In dairy houses with outdoor yards, NH₃ emissions from the yard area contributed to 69–92% of total emissions from this housing system. Emissions were particularly important during spring and summer seasons from outdoor yards with NH₃ emitted in this period accounting for about 72% of annual emissions from outdoor yards. Mean NH₃ emission factors derived for this freestall housing system and outdoor concrete yards used by dairy cattle in Portugal were higher than those measured in northern Europe. In addition, values of animal N excretion estimated in this study were greater than official National standard values. If these emissions are typical for Portuguese dairy systems, then the current National inventory underestimates emissions from this source in NW of Portugal, because of the use of lower standard values of N excretion by dairy cattle.     

Air pollution impacts of speed limitation measures in large cities: The need for improving traffic data in a metropolitan area

Assessing the effects of air quality management strategies in urban areas is a major concern worldwide because of the large impacts on health caused by the exposure to air pollution. In this sense, this work analyses the changes in urban air quality due to the introduction of a maximum speed limit to 80 km h^?1 on motorways in a large city by using a novel methodology combining traffic assimilation data and modelling systems implemented in a supercomputing facility. Albeit the methodology has been non-specifically developed and can be extrapolated to any large city or megacity, the case study of Barcelona is presented here. Hourly simulations take into account the entire year 2008 (when the 80 km h^?1 limit has been introduced) vs. the traffic conditions for the year 2007. The data has been assimilated in an emission model, which considers hourly variable speeds and hourly traffic intensity in the affected area, taken from long-term measurement campaigns for the aforementioned years; it also permits to take into account the traffic congestion effect. Overall, the emissions are reduced up to 4%; however the local effects of this reduction achieve an important impact for the adjacent area to the roadways, reaching 11%. In this sense, the speed limitation effects assessed represent enhancements in air quality levels (5–7%) of primary pollutants over the area, directly improving the welfare of 1.35 million inhabitants (over 41% of the population of the Metropolitan Area) and affecting 3.29 million dwellers who are potentially benefited from this strategy for air quality management (reducing 0.6% the mortality rates in the area).     

Organochlorine pesticide distribution in an organic production system for cow's milk in Chiapas,Mexico

The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of organochlorine pesticides in samples of forage, soil, water, and milk in four units of an organic production system for cow´s milk (samples of forage, milk, soil, and water) in Tecpatan, Chiapas, Mexico. The organochlorine pesticides were extracted from forage, soil and water based on the USEPA (2005) guideline and from milk based on the IDF 1991 guideline. The pesticides were identified and quantified by gas chromatography with electron capture detector (CG-ECD). In general, the highest average concentration of total pesticides was found in the samples of milk and forage (311 ± 328 and 116.5 ±77 ng g^?1 respectively). Although, the production systems analyzed are organic, organochlorine pesticides were detected in all environmental samples (forage, soil, water, and organic milk). Although no values surpassed the defined limits of Mexican and International regulation it is advisable that a monitoring program of contaminants in these production systems is continued.     

A Systematic Framework for the Design and Implementation of a Quality Management Practice: The Case of a Consulting Engineering Company

Company productivity and competitiveness in today's marketplace requires creative design, innovation, and the reduction of nonconformances, which require costly rework and can damage a firm's reputation with its customers and potential customers. Using the International Organisation of Standardization's (ISO) 9000 and 14000 series of standards, the authors of this article walk readers through the rigorous process of obtaining upper management buy‐in and sponsorship and engaging workers in a bottom‐up approach to establish the procedures necessary to perform world‐class engineering services.     

Adaptive threat management framework: integrating people and turtles

In the 35 years since its inception, the Brazilian National Program for the Conservation of Marine Turtles (TAMAR) has had great success in protecting the five species of sea turtles that occur in Brazil. It has also contributed significantly to worldwide scientific data and knowledge about these species’ biology, such as life cycles and migration patterns. TAMAR’s conservation strategies have always relied on a variety of environmental education and social inclusion (EESI) activities highly adapted to the socio-environmental evolving contexts of its 25 locations distributed across nine states. Diversity and flexibility are critical to enable timely and effective local responses to existing or potential threats to sea turtles. The intuitive, locally adapted, decentralized, and independent way EESI activities have been carried out have generated positive results in the resolution of specific and evolving local problems through the course of the project. This article brings EESI under the same conceptual framework that underlies its conservation approach by adopting an adaptive threat management framework to organize and qualify its educational and social inclusion interventions according to the main categories of threat addressed by TAMAR.     

Nontargeted evaluation of the fate of steroids during wastewater treatment by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography–time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Emerging organic contaminants in wastewater are usually analyzed by targeted approaches, and especially estrogens have been the focus of environmental research due to their high hormonal activity. The selection of specific target compounds means, however, that most of the sample components, including transformation products and potential new contaminants, are neglected. In this study, the fate of steroidal compounds in wastewater treatment processes was evaluated by a nontargeted approach based on comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography–time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The potential of the nontargeted approach to generate comprehensive information about sample constituents was demonstrated with use of statistical tools. Transformation pathways of the tentatively identified compounds with steroidal four-ring structure were proposed. The purification efficiency of the wastewater treatment plants was studied, and the distribution of the compounds of interest in the suspended solids, effluent water, and sludge was measured. The results showed that, owing to strong adsorption of hydrophobic compounds onto the solid matter, the steroids were mostly bound to the suspended solids of the effluent water and the sewage sludge at the end of the treatment process. The most abundant steroid class was androstanes in the aqueous phase and cholestanes in the solid phase. 17β-estradiol was the most abundant estrogen in the aqueous phase, but it was only detected in the influent samples indicating efficient removal during the treatment process. In the sludge samples, however, high concentrations of an oxidation product of 17β-estradiol, estrone, were measured.     

Electrochemical wastewater treatment: influence of the type of carbon and of nitrogen on the organic load removal

Boron-doped diamond (BDD) and Ti/Pt/PbO₂ anodes were utilized to perform the electrodegradation of synthetic samples containing humic acid in the presence of different organic and inorganic carbon-containing and nitrogen-containing compounds. The influence of the chloride ion in the degradation process of the different synthetic samples was also assessed. The results showed that the anodic oxidation process can efficiently degrade recalcitrant compounds such as humic acid. The presence of carbonate in solution enhances the nitrogen removal, whereas it hinders the oxidation of the organic compounds. When organic nitrogen is present, it is converted to NH₄ ⁺, which in turn is oxidized to nitrate and to volatile nitrogen compounds. Hydroxyl radicals are more prone to oxidize the organic nitrogen than the ammonium nitrogen. The presence of chloride enhances the organic matter and nitrogen removal rates, BDD being the anode material that yields the highest removals.     

Lead contamination of the Seine River, France: geochemical implications of a historical perspective

Four sediment cores collected in the Seine River basin and dated between 1916 and 2003 were analyzed for lead concentrations and isotopic composition. In all four cores, the measured Pb concentration (up to 460 mg kg⁻¹) lies significantly above the natural background (27-40 mg kg⁻¹), although a significant decrease (down to 75 mg kg⁻¹) was observed during the second half of the 20th century which can be explained by the reduction of lead emissions. The ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratio measured in these samples indicates that the main source of Pb used in the Paris conurbation is characterized by a “Rio Tinto” signature (defined as ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb = 1.1634 ± 0.0001). A high contribution, up to 25%, from the leaded gasoline (characterized by ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb = 1.08 ± 0.02) is revealed in the Seine River downstream Paris, indicating that lead from the leaded gasoline is preferentially released to the river.The dominating Pb signature in the Paris conurbation that is currently sampled through incinerators fumes (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb = 1.1550 ± 0.0005) and waste water treatment plant (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb = 1.154 ± 0.002), represents a mixture of highly recycled lead from the Rio Tinto mine and lead from leaded gasoline (imprinted by the low ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb of the Broken Hill mine). This signature is called “urban” rather than “industrial”, because it is clearly distinct from the Pb that is found in areas contaminated by heavy industry, i.e. the heavy industries located on the Oise River which used lead from European ores characterized by high ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratios (∼1.18-1.19) and possibly a minor amount of North American lead (²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratios > 1.20). The “urban” signature is also found in a rural area upstream of Paris in the 1970’s. At the Seine River mouth in 2003, Pb with an urban signature represents 70% of the total Pb sediment content, with the 30% remaining corresponding to natural Pb.