Policy context as a factor of bias in the valuation of environmental goods – a dual-process theories perspective

When ecosystem services value estimates are applied in the economic assessment of environmental policies, high accuracy of these estimates is required. One of the directions in the scientific discussion on biases in stated preference (SP) valuation surveys builds on dual-process theories of judgment. The paper contributes to this literature by presenting an experiment where two types of judgment were induced via separate versus joint valuation of environmental goods. The results demonstrated that policy relevance of environmental issues, e.g. the need for conservation measures increases emotional response, causing a larger bias in the separate design as it involves ‘valuation by feeling.’ This finding suggests that the context of a specific policy, which is often the reason for conducting SP surveys, influences the answers, thereby making the results less reliable for use in cost–benefit analysis.     

From NIMBY to enlightened resistance: a framework proposal to decrypt land-use disputes based on a landfill opposition case in France

Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) supporters are presented as citizens in opposition to local developments due to their spatial proximity. However, these conflicts have proven much more complex than the NIMBY concept can explain. The objective of this paper is to provide a framework to facilitate the understanding of opposition movements and how they can affect society at large, triggering social change. The conceptual framework is applied to a case of local opposition to a landfill project in Essonne, France. Through the analysis of the structure of the opposition movement and its changes over time, the author shows how it can evolve into a social movement that enriches democracy through the constitution of four types of capital: social, scientific, patrimonial and political. The author argues that scientific and patrimonial capitals allow social capital to evolve into political capital. The shift from being a self-interest to a civic interest movement is called enlightened resistance, which reveals local public interest, called territorial interests. When studying environmental controversies, the author emphasises the importance of recognizing the evolution through time of (1) social landscape, (2) different types of legitimate knowledge, (3) the role of place attachment, and (4) the political dimension of identities.     

Influence of a 1,800 MHz electromagnetic field on the EEG energy

The present study investigated the influence of electromagnetic fields (EMF), similar to that emitted by mobile phones, on brain activity. Ten women and ten men, matched for age and educational level, performed a short memory task (Wechsler test), with simultaneous Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings at 15 scalp electrodes, both without (baseline) and with exposure to an 1,800 MHz signal. The EEG energy was found concentrated at the four basic EEG bands [α (8–13 Hz), β (14–30 Hz), δ (0–4 Hz), and θ (5–7 Hz)]. The analysis revealed that in the presence of EMF, the energy of the β band was significantly greater for females than for males at the majority of the electrodes. Since beta oscillation is associated with the shift of attention during the perception, these findings may indicate that the particular EMF (1,800 MHz signal) exerts an influence on this brain activity, which appears to be gender-related.     

Ecosystem Service Restoration after 10 Years of Rewetting Peatlands in NE Germany

The restoration of ecosystem services, i.e., production, regulation, and information, is a global challenge, which the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in NE Germany addressed in 2000 by rewetting over 20,000 ha of degraded peatlands within the Mire Restoration Program. We evaluated ecosystem services in 23 rewetted sites by assessing the following mire parameters within a ten year period: (a) dominant vegetation at the ecosystem level, (b) peat formation potential at the landscape level, and (c) aboveground biomass and nutrient levels. Seven to 10 years after rewetting, the wetlands formed a mosaic of vegetation types with the highest potential for peat formation and several dominant, peat-forming species accumulated high levels of aboveground biomass and nutrients (C, N, P). Common reed (Phragmites australis) accumulated the most biomass (up to 24 t dry matter/ha), and N+P during the growing season. A future management option is to annually harvest aquatic and wetland plants to reduce nutrient levels in restored mire ecosystems.     

Understanding Conceptual Climate Change Meanings and Preferences of Multi-Actor Professional Leadership in New York

This article sets out to evaluate the range of meanings and preferences for the concepts of adaptation, resilience, mitigation and coping of a variety of professionals in New York who are undertaking leadership positions in developing climate change policies and practices. This article positions a normative set of simplified meanings for each of the aforementioned concepts based on a review of existing literature. Utilizing a survey, these normative meanings are evaluated by and between the: (a) concepts and meanings; (b) concepts and applications and (c) applications and preferences, as applied to various risk-based scenarios ranging from sea-level rise to heat waves. This survey tests the hypotheses that the respondents: (i) are unable to consistently match the concept of resiliency with the normative meanings or applications: and (ii) will not consistently show a preference for resilience applications or outcomes ahead of other concepts. The results of the survey confirm both hypotheses, which is demonstrative of the inadequacy of the current framework dominated by a narrowly defined framework for resilience. It is anticipated that the results of this article will advance an argument for the necessity to develop consistent meanings for concepts which bridge the scientific, policy and popular domains.     

Trends in management plans and guides: 25 years of experience from Southern France

This study analysed 14 management plans and guidelines from a 25-year period to understand trends in conservation planning. A Rosetta Stone Analysis was used for the systematic comparison of plans and guidelines. Management plans incorporated management philosophies, management scenarios, opportunities for infrastructure, and plans for data collection by 2000. As of 2010, they incorporated ecosystem services, stakeholders’ objectives and methods for storing and analysing data. The results demonstrate the complex nature of management plans, with an important workload for site managers. Recommendations for future planning include adjustments in planning timeframes and a better identification of conservation targets from initial stages.     

Framing Dynamics and Political Gridlock: The Curious Case of Hydraulic Fracturing in New York

‘Fracking’ was on New York's agenda since 2008, yet no decision was made about it until late 2014. The gridlock is an intriguing puzzle given that the Marcellus shale is considered a ‘world class’ energy supply, and development has been aggressive in other US states. While policy scholars typically conceptualize gridlock as policy stability, this paper examines it as a dynamic process by which competing discourse coalitions engage in interactive framing processes that (re)structure the discussion. This suggests that the interaction between contending coalitions influences gridlock. Yet, we lack knowledge about interactive framing between competing coalitions during policy controversies. Our main finding is that a central mechanism of gridlock is the production of conflict through interactive framing dynamics that deny a shared discursive space capable of ushering in a consensus, or reasoned agreement. In New York, this contest evolved from a policy consensus about the economic benefits of fracking to policy negotiation that incorporated environmental threats, and to prolonged policy controversy in which competing discourse coalitions contested notions of fracking in relation to energy production, environmental protection, public health, economic development, and governance. While a ban has been instituted, the failure to bridge discourse coalitions suggests that controversy will persist unless meaning disputes are resolved.     

Section 404 Permitting in Coastal Texas: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Relationship Between Peak Streamflow and Wetland Alteration

As early as the passage of the 1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act the U.S. government has sought to protect the nation’s water resources through regulatory tools. While there has been a large amount of research on wetlands and wetland mitigation, very little is known about the impact of Section 404 permitting on water quantity. This research examines the impact of Section 404 permit types on peak annual streamflow in Coastal Texas from 1996 to 2003. Results of cross-sectional time-series regression analyses indicate that all four permit types have positive and significant effects on peak streamflow. These effects also vary by permit type, with Individual permits having the highest per-permit impact on peak annual flow.     

Applying the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions to rentier states: the case of renewable energy transitions in Nigeria

Although numerous studies have been conducted in recent years on energy transitions, they have been predominately developed and applied in industrialized countries. It is however important to examine the applicability of transition theories, as they are currently formulated, beyond OECD countries. This paper analyses renewable energy transitions in Africa, using Nigeria as a case study, to elucidate the analytical and methodological challenges that sustainability transition studies are facing in developing countries, particularly rentier states. In doing so, the paper employs the lens of the multi-level perspective (MLP) on socio-technical transitions - a well-established theory that emphasizes the role of ‘niches’, ‘regimes’ and ‘landscapes’ in instituting transitions. Based on a detailed analysis of Nigeria, we argue for a more nuanced enquiry of the construct ‘regime’ that better accounts for the rentier character of the state including the role of political elites and prevalent client-patron relationships. As such, our paper makes an important contribution to the further refinement and enrichment of the MLP by focusing on the political dimensions of energy transitions.     

Exposure to radiation from global system for mobile communications at 1,800 MHz significantly changes gene expression in rat hippocampus and cortex

We have earlier shown that radio frequency electromagnetic fields can cause significant leakage of albumin through the blood–brain barrier of exposed rats as compared to non-exposed rats, and also significant neuronal damage in rat brains several weeks after a 2 h exposure to a mobile phone, at 915 MHz with a global system for mobile communications (GSM) frequency modulation, at whole-body specific absorption rate values (SAR) of 200, 20, 2, and 0.2 mW/kg. We have now studied whether 6 h of exposure to the radiation from a GSM mobile test phone at 1,800 MHz (at a whole-body SAR-value of 13 mW/kg, corresponding to a brain SAR-value of 30 mW/kg) has an effect upon the gene expression pattern in rat brain cortex and hippocampus—areas where we have observed albumin leakage from capillaries into neurons and neuronal damage. Microarray analysis of 31,099 rat genes, including splicing variants, was performed in cortex and hippocampus of 8 Fischer 344 rats, 4 animals exposed to global system for mobile communications electromagnetic fields for 6 h in an anechoic chamber, one rat at a time, and 4 controls kept as long in the same anechoic chamber without exposure, also in this case one rat at a time. Gene ontology analysis (using the gene ontology categories biological processes, molecular functions, and cell components) of the differentially expressed genes of the exposed animals versus the control group revealed the following highly significant altered gene categories in both cortex and hippocampus: extracellular region, signal transducer activity, intrinsic to membrane, and integral to membrane. The fact that most of these categories are connected with membrane functions may have a relation to our earlier observation of albumin transport through brain capillaries.     

Assessment of Vegetation Establishment on Tailings Dam at an Iron Ore Mining Site of Suburban Beijing, China, 7 Years After Reclamation with Contrasting Site Treatment Methods

Strip-mining operations greatly disturb soil, vegetation and landscape elements, causing many ecological and environmental problems. Establishment of vegetation is a critical step in achieving the goal of ecosystem restoration in mining areas. At the Shouyun Iron Ore Mine in suburban Beijing, China, we investigated selective vegetation and soil traits on a tailings dam 7 years after site treatments with three contrasting approaches: (1) soil covering (designated as SC), (2) application of a straw mat, known as “vegetation carpet”, which contains prescribed plant seed mix and water retaining agent (designated as VC), on top of sand piles, and (3) combination of soil covering and application of vegetation carpet (designated as SC+VC). We found that after 7 years of reclamation, the SC+VC site had twice the number of plant species and greater biomass than the SC and VC sites, and that the VC site had a comparable plant abundance with the SC+VC site but much less biodiversity and plant coverage. The VC site did not differ with the SC site in the vegetation traits, albeit low soil fertility. It is suggested that application of vegetation carpet can be an alternative to introduction of topsoil for treatment of tailings dam with fine-structured substrate of ore sands. However, combination of topsoil treatment and application of vegetation carpet greatly increases vegetation coverage and plant biodiversity, and is therefore a much better approach for assisting vegetation establishment on the tailings dam of strip-mining operations. While application of vegetation carpet helps to stabilize the loose surface of fine-structured mine wastes and to introduce seed bank, introduction of fertile soil is necessary for supplying nutrients to plant growth in the efforts of ecosystem restoration of mining areas.     

The Danube Region—On Stream with Animal Welfare Assessment in the Last 35 Years: A Review of Research on Animal Welfare Assessment in a Multi-lingual Area in Europe

This review presents first ever literature survey on historical development of farm animal welfare indicators and assessment in the Danube region. This area, encompassing European Eastern countries and the Balkans, is to a large extent heterogeneous in terms of culture and language. However, international (English) publications were disproportionally small compared to the amount of research institutions and animal welfare activities present in the region. Therefore, the authors aimed at investigating the published literature, focusing on country level and on native languages. Data were collected for the 1980–2015 period referring to scientific papers published in international and national journals, papers and abstracts in proceedings of the international and national conferences, reviews, monographs, short communications, Ph.D., Master and Graduation theses. Welfare assessment of all farm animal species was observed including fish. Over 180 papers were in line with the preselected index. Data collected showed that publishing dynamics grew rapidly towards the last decade. Most of the studies were focused on animal welfare indicators such as stress, injuries and mutilations, behaviour, body condition and management practices. Cattle, chickens, pigs and sheep were the predominant species investigated. The study revealed that experts from the region were greatly involved in the studies of animal welfare indicators and assessment, contributing to development of the currently most widely used animal welfare assessment protocols, thus having an important role in animal welfare research and protection.