Patagonian Fjord Ecosystems in Southern Chile as a Highly Vulnerable Region: Problems and Needs

Southern Chile encompasses one of the most extensive fjord regions of the world, the Patagonia, currently exposed to natural and anthropogenic perturbations. These fjord ecosystems provide important services to humans, which have not been adequately measured and valued. As a consequence, ecosystem services are commonly ignored in public policy design and in the evaluation of development projects. Here we tackle questions that are highly relevant for the nation’s development, namely (1) understanding fjord functioning, and (2) developing management strategies based on ecosystem services, in order to secure simultaneous and adequate use of these ecosystems which area influenced by ecological (e.g., biogeochemical) and productive (e.g., aquaculture, fisheries) processes. We also seek to strengthen the analysis of fjord ecosystem value from the economical (including coastal zoning), socio-cultural, institutional, and governmental points of view. In addition, the investigation of current and future effects of climate change on this large region offers a unique opportunity to understand the social and economic consequences of a global phenomenon at local to regional scales. Biogeochemical and socio-economic models will be used to simulate future scenarios under a gamut of management options.     

Influence of particulate matter on the air quality situation in a mediterranean island

The objective of this study was to describe the ambient levels of particulate matter (PM) and its influence to air quality situation on the dry Mediterranean island of Cyprus. From October 2002 to August 2003 PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 samples were collected at 31 different sampling sites in Cyprus. In addition, continuous measurements of PM₁₀ were carried out from 2003 to 2007 at a traffic and a rural site. It can be recognised that at all traffic and at some residential and urban background sites, the actual EU limit values have been exceeded. Special events e.g. long-range transport of Sahara dust storms were recorded over urban as well as rural areas in the order of 6–8 events per year, with a major frequency in summer and spring periods. The comparison of the PM₁₀ concentrations in Cyprus cities with values of other European cities demonstrates the PM₁₀ problem in Cyprus, especially in the dry summer season, when no rain is cleaning the air and the dry surfaces. This underlines the necessity of PM abatement strategies.     

Life cycle assessment of sunflower and rapeseed as energy crops under Chilean conditions

An option for the agriculture and energy sectors in Chile is the cultivation of energy crops, but environmental studies are first needed in the framework of a sustainable national energy policy.In this study, we used a cradle-to-farm gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to compare environmental impacts and energy and water demand of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) in Chile, as potential oleaginous crops for first-generation biodiesel production. National agricultural data are used for the LCA inventory and process data of international databases are adapted to local conditions. The effect of field N₂O emissions and land use change is evaluated. The results indicate that, compared to sunflower, rapeseed production has a better environmental performance in 9 out of the 11 impact categories evaluated, and lower water consumption. The energy demand of rapeseed is 4.9 GJ/t seed, 30% less than that of sunflower. Mineral fertilizers cause the highest environmental impact in both crops. The analysis of the life cycle of fertilizers indicates that extraction of raw materials and its production are key stages. Attempts to reduce the environmental impact and energy requirement of both crops should be mainly associated with the evaluation of other types of fertilization. In addition, particularly for sunflower, low impact herbicides should be evaluated, seed yield improved and cultivation practices optimized. If the crops are produced on degraded grasslands, the greenhouse gas emissions may be reduced.     

LCA of selective waste collection systems in dense urban areas

This paper presents research concerning the environmental analysis of the selective collection management of municipal solid waste. The main goal of this study is to quantify and to compare, by means of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the potential environmental impacts of three selective collection systems modelled on densely populated urban areas. These systems are: the mobile pneumatic, the multi-container and the door-to-door. Impact assessment method based on CML 2 baseline 2000 is applied to the different systems. The study separates and analyzes the collection systems in substages: two urban substages and one inter-city substage. At the urban level, the multi-container system has the least environmental impact of all systems. The mobile pneumatic system has greater environmental impacts in terms of global warming, fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity, terrestrial ecotoxicity, acidification and eutrophication. In this system, the pipes and the pneumatic transport have the greatest impacts. The door-to-door system has a greatest environmental impact in terms of abiotic depletion, ozone layer depletion and human toxicity. An overall evaluation of the three substages, with a sensitivity analysis, indicates that the mobile pneumatic system at an inter-city distance of 20 km shows the greatest environmental impacts and the greatest energy demand. Inter-city transport is key; the results show that from an inter-city distance of 11 km onwards, this becomes the substage which most contributes to global warming impact and energy demand, in all the systems.     

Extending the EU Renewable Energy Directive sustainability criteria to solid bioenergy from forests

Solid bioenergy from forests plays — and is expected to continue to play — a key role to fulfil the renewable energy targets at the European Union level. When the Renewable Energy Directive was enacted, sustainability criteria were incorporated solely for biofuels and bioliquids. Sustainability criteria for solid bioenergy are also needed in order to prevent wood and primary forest residues from posing additional environmental risks to ecosystems. Acknowledging this, the European Commission has been working on extending the biofuels and bioliquids provisions to solid biomass. An internal draft was circulated in August 2013 which addressed the ways to both balance and mitigate the risks in three main topics: biodiversity; sustainable forest management; and greenhouse gases. This paper presents a set of criteria and indicators, developed during workshops with experts from Governments, scientific institutions, businesses and NGOs, that may be considered by the EU to assure that solid biomass from forests is obtained in an environmentally sustainable way.     

Assessing the micro-phytoplankton response to nitrate in Comau Fjord (42°S) in Patagonia (Chile), using a microcosms approach

Anthropogenic (aquaculture) changes in environment nutrient concentrations may affect phytoplankton (biomass and taxa composition) in marine coastal waters off the Chilean Patagonia. The effects of adding nitrate (NO₃ ^?) to natural phytoplankton assemblages were evaluated considering biomass, cell abundance, and taxonomic composition. Microcosm experiments were performed in the spring, summer, and winter in the Comau Fjord located in Subantarctic Patagonia. At the end of the experiments, NO₃ ^? decreased rapidly and was undetectable in treatments, indicating a strong NO₃ ^? deficiency associated with an exponential increase in Chl-a concentrations, particulate organic nitrogen, and carbon in these treatments. Moreover, given the depleted nitrate concentrations of the spring and summer experiments, the micro-phytoplankton taxa structure shifted from mixed diatom and dinoflagellate assemblages (Ceratium spp., Dinophysis spp., Coscinodiscus sp., Rhizosolenia pungens) to assemblages dominated by blooms of the classic chain-forming diatoms found in temperate and cold waters such as Chaetoceros spp., Skeletonema spp., and Thalassiosira spp. Thus, nitrogen sources (i.e., nitrate, ammonia) may influence phytoplankton abundance and biomass accumulation dynamics in the northern section of Patagonia. It also emphasizes the importance of diatom taxa in regards to the short-term response of phytoplankton to changing environmental nutrient conditions due to natural (decreasing freshwater stream flow) and anthropogenic (aquaculture) events. This situation may be one of the future scenarios in the Patagonian fjords, thus stressing the needs for active environmental monitoring and impact assessment.