How does eliminating mercury from artisanal and small-scale gold mining lead to achieving sustainable development goals?

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is the principal anthropogenic activity that globally contributes to overloading our environment with mercury. Although the Minamata Convention, led by the United Nations, is a crucial instrument to eliminate its use progressively, novel approaches to accelerate this difficult transition are welcome. This article proposes a framework for policy-making or improvement, fostering the enforcement of mercury elimination through the lens of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on the excluded artisanal and small-scale gold miners and their dependents. We move forward with a literature review of the Artisanal and Small Mining topic, taking each SDG as a unit of analysis. Understanding the problem as a puzzle of four sets of pieces, namely: (1) social, (2) environmental, (3) economic, and (4) institutional, the paper offers potential opportunities for the decision-makers and practitioners to accelerate the substitution of this heavy metal and develop sustainable futures for the ASGM communities. We conclude by proposing a pragmatic framework that synthesizes the means, actions, and ends to accelerate a sustainable transition.     

Spatial analysis of resources and environmental carrying capacity in Iran

Urbanization and mass movement of the population from rural areas and small cities to megacities have led to environmental, economic, and social problems in Iran. In dealing with these challenges, assessing resource and environmental carrying capacity (RECC) is considered an effective method to leverage space and capital to achieve sustainable development. This study aimed to rank the provincial RECC in Iran. Toward this purpose, environmental indices were generated from remotely sensed and statistical census data. Then, the provinces were scored in terms of environmental, economic, and infrastructural carrying capacities, and RECC using the mean variance analysis method. Results demonstrated that in most areas, there is no relationship between economic and infrastructural capacities and development. Statistically, a correlation coefficient of −0.53 between economic and environmental carrying capacities indicated excessive use of environmental capacities. Moreover, the spatial distribution pattern of environmental, economic, and infrastructural carrying capacity was entirely heterogeneous between the provinces; there was a northeast–southwest pattern in terms of infrastructural capacity and an economic pattern from north to south. The distribution pattern of RECC is most consistent with the environmental capacity, pointing at the high weight of the indicators of the RECC model. In conclusion, this research offers a new vision for policymakers and provides a theoretical and applicable framework for implementing sustainable strategies in land-use planning. It is recommended that the RECC concept and tools can be used not only for planning but also for measuring the efficiency of spatial development programs and establishing land balances in the region.     

Effects of urban greenspace configuration and native vegetation on bee and wasp reproduction

Pollinator welfare is a recognized research and policy target, and urban greenspaces have been identified as important habitats. Yet, landscape-scale habitat fragmentation and greenspace management practices may limit a city's conservation potential. We examined how landscape configuration, composition, and local patch quality influenced insect nesting success across inner-city Cleveland, Ohio (U.S.A.), a postindustrial legacy city containing a high abundance of vacant land (over 1600 ha). Here, 40 vacant lots were assigned 1 of 5 habitat treatments (T1, vacant lot; T2, grass lawn; T3, flowering lawn; T4, grass prairie; and T5, flowering prairie), and we evaluated how seeded vegetation, greenspace size, and landscape connectivity influenced cavity-nesting bee and wasp reproduction. Native bee and wasp larvae were more abundant in landscapes that contained a large patch (i.e., >6 ha) of contiguous greenspace, in habitats with low plant biomass, and in vacant lots seeded with a native wildflower seed mix or with fine-fescue grass, suggesting that fitness was influenced by urban landscape features and habitat management. Our results can guide urban planning by demonstrating that actions that maintain large contiguous greenspace in the landscape and establish native plants would support the conservation of bees and wasps. Moreover, our study highlights that the world's estimated 350 legacy cities are promising urban conservation targets due to their high abundance of vacant greenspace that could accommodate taxa's habitat needs in urban areas.     

北京首都机场绿色滑行时间估算

采用北京首都机场2014年实际CDM地面放行数据确定航空器的污染物排放量与离场排队飞机数量和落地滑入飞机数量的强关联性,构建包含这两个解释变量为影响因素的多元线性回归模型,用以估算几种常见机型在首都机场地面运行时的最小污染物排放量和绿色滑行时间。对比实际污染物排放量与最小污染物排放量,得出首都机场离场地面污染物排放量远远超过最小污染物排放量。     

The deflectors influence on flow complexity,bed morphology,sediment transport and water quality of urban lotic waters - A laboratory study

In this laboratory study different combinations of bed (sand, pebble gravel [gravel], and a mix of sand and gravel) and flow (typical and overtopping) were experimented with to investigate the impact of porous deflectors in flow diversity, water quality, and fish performance in prismatic open channels. Deflectors changed the gradually varied flow to a rapidly varied flow, as a sudden change in the water depth was observed at the deflectors, and this change was large for smooth beds. With the presence of gravel, the scouring near the downstream deflector was almost twice that of the sand bed, and with the scouring at its own upstream deflector, irrespective of whether the flow was typical or overtopping. This behavior was a result of sand mobilization due to shear stress and sand mobilization aided gravel transport. The mixed bed showed less gravel movement compared to the gravel-only bed. The percentage of sediment washed out was minor for all bed scenarios, indicating that sediment transport was local. Relative to the sand bed without deflectors (representing a typical urban canal), deflectors resulted in reduced and improved water quality (in terms of sediment load) for sand, and mixed bed, respectively. The fishes found refuge and were comfortable in the pool areas created by deflectors unlike in channels without deflectors where they showed exhaustion.     

Assessment of deep aquifer groundwater quality in a geographically unique climatic region of Southern Western Ghats,India using water quality indices

Water quality index (WQI) models are generally used in hydrochemical studies to simplify complex data into single values to reflect the overall quality. In this study, deep groundwater quality in the Chittur and Palakkad Taluks of the Bharathapuzha river basin of Kerala, India, was assessed by employing the WQI method developed by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME). The assessment of overall water quality is indispensable due to the specific characteristics of the study area, such as geography, climate, over-drafting, and prevalent agricultural practices. Forty representative samples were collected from the study area for monsoon (MON) and pre-monsoon (PRM) seasons. The results showed a general increase of contents from MON to PRM. The major cations were spread in the order Ca²⁺>Na+>Mg²⁺>K⁺ and the anions HCO₃⁻>Cl⁻>CO₃²⁻ based on their relative abundance. Among various parameters analysed, alkalinity and bicarbonate levels during MON were comparatively high, which is indicative of carbonate weathering, and 90% of the samples failed to meet the World Health Organization (WHO, 2017)/Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS, 2012) drinking water guidelines. The CCME WQI analysis revealed that nearly 50% of the samples during each season represented good and excellent categories. The samples in the poor category comprised 10% in MON and 15% in PRM. The overall WQI exhibited 15% of poor category samples as well. The spatial depiction of CCME WQI classes helped to expose zones of degraded quality in the centre to eastward parts. The spatial and temporal variations of CCME WQI classes and different physicochemical attributes indicated the influence of common factors attributing to the deep groundwater quality. The study also revealed inland salinity at Kolluparamba and Peruvamba stations, where agricultural activities were rampant with poor surface water irrigation.     

Oil dependency,political institutions,and urban–rural disparities in access to electricity in Africa

In line with the resource curse literature, this paper examines the effect of oil dependency on the disparities in access to electricity between urban and rural areas in Africa, conditional on the quality of political institutions. Based on data from 36 African countries over the period 2000–2017, our investigation suggests that oil rents (% of GDP) increase urban–rural disparities in access to electricity. However, the quality of institutions shapes the effect of oil dependency on these disparities. Specifically, a 10% increase in the institutional quality score reduces the adverse effects of oil rent on electricity access disparity by around 19%, and the negative impact of oil dependency on urban–rural disparities is reversed when institutional quality reaches a score of 52% on a scale from 0 to 100. The robustness tests support these results and call for strengthening the quality of institutions to overcome the resource curse in Africa.     

压力容器制造监检中对若干问题的处理

针对压力容器制造监检中某些受检单位在法规标准的理解上存在误区或者疏忽、不知如何进行后续整改工作的现状,笔者结合多年压力容器监督检验的工作经验,提出自己的解决方案,以供参考,也希望广大读者在遇到类似情况时能够正确理解并执行相关法规标准。     

Zinc recovery from hazardous construction wastes via an integrated process of the air classification,alkaline leaching,and water washing

Zinc- and lead-containing wastes are often mixed with construction and demolition wastes in many factories, generating abundant of heavy metal-enriched hazardous waste. In the present study, a novel integrated process of air classification, alkaline leaching, and water washing dechlorination was proposed for the efficient recycling of Zinc (Zn) resources. The first air classification process was realized via venturi tube, wherein the content of Zn could increase by 20 wt.%. After that, the product underwent an alkaline leaching process. Results showed that Zn recovery rate increased with fine particle sizes, and a 65% recovery rate was obtained under the following conditions of 5 mol/L NaOH, liquid/solid 10:1, and leaching time 1 h. Finally, water washing associated with microwave and ultrasonic treatments could remove over 85% of Cl and other water-soluble salts. All the results indicated that the integrated method had an excellent recovery rate for Zn resources from construction and demolition wastes.     

Assessing the Effectiveness of Winter Cover Crops for Controlling Agricultural Nutrient Losses

A nutrient loss reduction strategy is necessary to guide the efforts of improving water quality downstream of an agricultural watershed. In this study, the effectiveness of two winter cover crops, namely cereal rye and annual ryegrass, is explored as a loss reduction strategy in a watershed that ultimately drains into a water supply reservoir. Using a coupled optimization-watershed model, optimal placements of the cover crops were identified that would result in the tradeoffs between nitrate-N losses reduction and adoption levels. Analysis of the 10%, 25%, 50%, and 75% adoption levels extracted from the optimal tradeoffs showed that the cover crop placements would provide annual nitrate-N loss reductions of 3.0%–3.7%, 7.8%–8.8%, 15%–17.5%, and 20.9%–24.3%, respectively. In addition, for the same adoption levels (i.e., 10%–75%), sediment (1.8%–17.7%), and total phosphorus losses (0.8%–8.6%) could be achieved. Results also indicate that implementing each cover crop on all croplands of the watershed could cause annual water yield reduction of at least 4.8%, with greater than 28% in the months of October and November. This could potentially be detrimental to the storage volume of the downstream reservoir, especially in drought years, if cover crops are adopted in most of the reservoir's drainage area. Evaluating water yield impacts, particularly in periods of low flows, is thus critical if cover crops are to be considered as best management practices in water supply watersheds.