Environmental requirements for furniture industry: the case study of Brazilian Southeast industry

Despite more than 20 years of economic progress, especially in emerging economies like Brazil, the gap between developed and developing countries is still large, and environment problems have risen significantly. In this context, this paper aims to make the Brazilian furniture production cleaner, analyzing the environmental requirements considered by the micro and small enterprises (SMEs) in made-to-order furniture industry during the product development process (PDP). Another attempt was to identify the internal and external factors that led to the incorporation of these requirements. In this regard, a comprehensive review of eco-design concept that consists of composing environmental requirements into the PDP, through methods, tools, guidelines and techniques, was carried out. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews and in loco observations, analyzing each activity of the PDP and the environmental requirements on 18 SMEs in Brazil. The outcomes show that the economic factors determine the way in which the enterprises respond to the environmental issues and how adequate their companies according to laws and regulations. Moreover, the small number of qualified professionals in this field lead to difficulties to structure the sector, in other words, to produce with less environment impact.     

Ellenberg Indicator Values (EIVs) in Different Plant Communities in Subalpine Grasslands of the Giresun Mountains (Turkey)

Russian Journal of Ecology - In this paper, Ellenberg’s indicator values were estimated in order to soil nitrogen (N), pH (R) and soil moisture (M) in different subalpine grassland...     

Rare earth elements in the Rhine River, Germany: first case of anthropogenic lanthanum as a dissolved microcontaminant in the hydrosphere

The distribution of dissolved rare earth elements (REE) in the Rhine River, Germany, shows the anthropogenic gadolinium (Gd) microcontamination that is commonly observed in rivers in densely populated countries with a highly evolved health care system. However, the Rhine River also carries anomalously high concentrations of lanthanum (La), which produce very large positive La anomalies in normalized REE distribution patterns. These positive La anomalies first occur north of the City of Worms and then decrease in size downstream, but are still significant approximately 400 km downstream, close to the German-Dutch border. The strong La enrichment is of anthropogenic origin and can be traced back to effluent from a production plant for fluid catalytic cracking catalysts at Rhine river-km 447.4. This effluent is characterized by extremely high dissolved total REE and La concentrations of up to 52 mg/kg and 49 mg/kg, respectively. Such La concentrations are well-above those at which ecotoxicological effects have been observed. The Rhine River is the first case observed to date, where a river's dissolved REE inventory is affected and even dominated by anthropogenic La. Our results suggest that almost 1.5t of anthropogenic dissolved La is exported via the Rhine River into the North Sea per year. This reveals that the growing industrial use of REE (and other formerly "exotic" elements) results in their increasing release into the environment, and highlights the urgent need to determine their geogenic background concentrations in terrestrial surface waters.     

Evaluation of food industry by-products as feed in semi-arid dairy farming systems: the case of Jordan

Dairy feeding systems in many semi-arid countries are based on imported concentrates and forages. This has economic and ecological implications given the increase in global feed prices and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from land use change. This paper aims to explore alternative dairy feeding systems under semi-arid conditions, using Jordan as an example. The feedings systems under investigation vary in their share of food industry by-products (replacing concentrates in the diet) and are compared against the current concentrate-based feeding systems. The systems are evaluated against three criteria: their nutritional value, their impact on the cost of milk production, and their GHG mitigation potential. Feed samples from eleven food industry by-products and ten conventional feeds were collected from food factories and from three typical dairy farms, representing the typical large-, medium- and small-scale farm types, respectively. Feed samples were analysed for their chemical composition and metabolisable energy contents. In addition, economic and production farm data were collected and entered into a model for GHGs calculation and economic evaluation. The results suggest that inclusion of locally available food industry by-products in the rations of milk cows in semi-arid production systems can be instrumental in reducing production costs and mitigating GHG emissions. Cost of milk production in the model farms can be lowered by up to 14 %; mitigation of CO₂ eq. emission ranged between 70 and 290 g CO₂ eq./kg milk. The degree to which these benefits can be reaped is positively related to the level of inclusion of by-product feeds in lactating cows’ diets.     

Conceptualising climate change in rural Australia: community perceptions, attitudes and (in)actions

Public engagement and support is essential for ensuring adaptation to climate change. The first step in achieving engagement is documenting how the general public currently perceive and understand climate change issues, specifically the importance they place on this global problem and identifying any unique challenges for individual communities. For rural communities, which rely heavily on local agriculture industries, climate change brings both potential impacts and opportunities. Yet, to date, our knowledge about how rural residents conceptualise climate change is limited. Thus, this research explores how the broader rural community—not only farmers—conceptualises climate change and responsive activities, focussing on documenting the understandings and risk perceptions of local residents from two small Australian rural communities. Twenty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted in communities in the Eden/Gippsland region on the border of New South Wales and Victoria and the north-east of Tasmania. There are conflicting views on how climate change is conceptualised, the degree of concern and need for action, the role of local industry, who will ‘win’ and ‘lose’, and the willingness of rural communities to adapt. In particular, residents who believed in anthropogenic or human-induced factors described the changing climate as evidence of ‘climate change’, whereas those who were more sceptical termed it ‘weather variability’, suggesting that there is a divide in rural Australia that, unless urgently addressed, will hinder local and national policy responses to this global issue. Engaging these communities in the twenty-first-century climate change debate will require a significant change in terminology and communication strategies.     

Screening ecological risk assessment for the benthic community in the Venice lagoon (Italy)

According to the risk hypothesis: the sediment as source of potential risk for the benthic community, an Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) based on the quotient method was undertaken. The exposure of the benthic community to different classes of pollutants (metals, chlorinated organic compounds and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons) was inferred by estimating the pollutant stocks in the top 15-cm sediment of the whole Venice lagoon, after application of geostatistic techniques. The risk was calculated by comparing the sediment exposure profiles with the ecotoxicological benchmarks for benthic organisms. Kriging based maps of the spatial distribution of the estimated risk for the benthic community over the whole lagoon were obtained. The highest risk, found in the areas nearest to the sources of contamination (e.g., the industrial district of Porto Marghera and the river mouths), was posed by mercury (40% of the sampling stations showed exposure levels higher than the Probable Effect Level), arsenic and nickel (75% of the sampling stations exceeded the Threshold Effect Level).     

Exploring the impact of sustainability (ESG) disclosure on firm value and financial performance (FP) in airline industry: the moderating role of size and age

Environment, Development and Sustainability - This study aims at exploring the impact of ESG scores on the value and FP of firms in the airline industry. The potential moderating role of firm size...     

Contribution of the sugar cane industry to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the energy sector: the case of Mauritius

The aim of this paper was to present the contribution of the sugar cane industry to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the energy sector. Mauritius is taken as a case study. Sugar cane was introduced in Mauritius during the seventeenth century and production of sugar started around 60 years later. Since then, the cane industry has been one of the economic pillars of the country. Bagasse, a by-product of sugar cane, is used as fuel in cogeneration power plants to produce process heat and electricity. This process heat and the generated electricity are used by an annexed sugar mills for the production of sugar, while the remaining electricity is exported to the national grid. In fact, Mauritius is a pioneer in the field of bagasse-based cogeneration power plant; the first bagasse-based cogeneration power plant that was commissioned in the world was in Mauritius in 1957. The contribution of the cane industry in the electricity sector has been vital for the economic development of Mauritius and also in terms of mitigating carbon dioxide emissions by displacing fossil fuels in electricity generation, as bagasse is classified as a renewable source. Data obtained from Statistics Mauritius on electricity production for the past 45 years were analysed, and carbon dioxide emissions were calculated based on international norms. It is estimated that savings on heavy fuel oil importation were by 1.5 million tons of oil—representing a value of 2.9 billion dollars—thus avoiding 4.5 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. This figure can be further increased if molasses, a by-product of sugar cane juice, is used to produce bio-ethanol to be used as fuel in vehicles.     

Local policies for reducing the ecological impact of households: the case study of a suburban area in France

Since Rio, governments have increased measures to promote sustainable household consumption, but this has induced limited changes in consumers’ daily practices. This article argues that one of the reasons behind the poor efficiency of these policies is the low level of consideration granted to local decision-making. The article discusses the results of a study which aims at better ascertaining the practices and representations of local government leaders in promoting sustainable development in households. We shall analyse the motivations, obstacles, interaction of players, communication and action plans associated with promoting sustainable development, in which individual will and effort are the keywords. The results obtained show how important it is to introduce better management systems for information and resource exchange between the different institutions involved. The study was carried out in a suburban area of south-west France counting 71 small towns and villages, characteristic of the spatial dynamics triggered by the global phenomenon of urbanisation.     

A regulatory perspective on the radiological impact of NORM industries: the case of the Spanish phosphate industry

Radioactive and chemical risks coexist in NORM industries although they are usually addressed separately by regulations. The European Union (EU) has developed extensive legislation concerning both matters, which has been diversely reflected in national policies. We consider the case of the Spanish phosphate industry and analyse to which extent regulatory mandates have reduced the historical and ongoing radiological impact on the environment of phosphate facilities. Although no specific radiological constraints on effluent monitoring and release or on waste disposal have yet been imposed on NORM industries in Spain, other environmental regulations have achieved a substantial reduction on the phosphate industry impact. Nevertheless, a more efficient control could be established by eliminating the current conceptual and practical separation of chemical and radioactive risks in NORM industries. We highlight research needs to accomplish so and propose shorter-term measures that require active cooperation among the regulatory bodies involved.     

Abundance and community structure of bats (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) hibernating in artificial caves of Samarskaya Luka

The structure of hibernating bat communities has been studied in eight artificial caves of Samarskaya Luka differing in size and layout. Three types of the relative abundance distribution (RAD) of species in these communities have been revealed. Conditions for hibernation are most favorable in large caves with a stable microclimate, where the abundance of bats is high, the Shannon index has the peak values, and variation in the index of species evenness is the lowest. In such caves, RAD fits the broken-stick and log-series models. Variation in diversity indices reaches the highest level in shallow adits with a changeable microclimate, where RAD fits the geometric series model. The abundance, diversity, and structure of communities depend mainly on cave size and the presence of absence of drafts and, to a lesser extent, on ambient temperature, availability of microshelters, and the type of landscape surrounding the cave. Anthropogenic factors have a weak effect only on the abundance of individual species (M. nattereri, M. daubentonii, M. dasycneme, and E. nilssonii) but not on the overall diversity of bat communities.     

A test of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for carbon emission and potential of renewable energy to reduce green house gases (GHG) in Malaysia

This study investigates the presence of environmental kuznets curve (EKC) for green house gases (GHG) measured by CO₂ emission in Malaysia for the period 1970 to 2011. The study also examines the potential of the renewable source of energy to contain GHG. The long-run significant positive coefficient of GDP indicates that the GHG are increasing with economic growth while the insignificant coefficient on GDP square rejects the EKC transition. These results indicate a high GDP level for the EKC turning point for Malaysia. Therefore, it can be stated that only economic growth cannot reverse the environmental degradation in Malaysia. The government should have to come up with some policy measures to achieve CO₂ emission reduction targets that Malaysia has pledged to achieve in Paris Submit (2015). The renewable energy production is found to have significant negative effect on CO₂ emission. So government should focus on the renewable source of energy production and should frame a special policy for renewable energy production.     

Allozyme polymorphisms and heavy metal levels in the green-lipped mussel Perna viridis (Linnaeus) collected from contaminated and uncontaminated sites in Malaysia

It has been widely reported that heavy metal contamination in coastal waters can modify the allozyme profiles of marine organisms. Previous studies have recorded elevated metal concentrations in sediments and mussel tissues off Peninsular Malaysia. In the present study, horizontal starch gel electrophoresis was carried out to estimate the levels of allelic variation of the green-lipped mussel, Perna viridis, collected from one contaminated and three relatively uncontaminated sites off Peninsular Malaysia. Fourteen polymorphic loci were observed. In addition, the concentrations of cadmium, copper, lead, mercury and zinc were determined in the sediments and in the soft tissues of the mussels. Mussels from contaminated site, evidenced by high metal pollution indices (MPI) of the sediment and the mussel tissues, showed the highest percentage of polymorphic loci (78.6%), while those collected from the uncontaminated sites had lower MPI of the sediment and mussel tissue, and exhibited lower percentages of polymorphic loci (35.7-57.1%). The population from the contaminated site showed the highest excess of heterozygosity (0.289) when compared to that of the populations from the three uncontaminated sites (0.108-0.149). Allozyme frequencies at the phosphoglucomutase (PGM; E.C. 2.7.5.1) locus also differed between the contaminated and uncontaminated populations. Previous studies have shown that exposure to heavy metals can select or counter-select for particular alleles at this locus. The present results suggest that allozyme polymorphism in P. viridis is a potential biomonitoring tool for heavy metal contamination but further validation is required.     

Redressing cultural erosion and ecological decline in a far North Queensland aboriginal community (Australia): the Aurukun ethnobiology database project

Traditional environmental knowledge (usually imparted orally) is being lost from many regions of the world, requiring novel forms of transmission if this situation is to be redressed. Loss of this knowledge may be a significant contributory factor towards ecological decline. Undoubtedly, disruption to ecosystems and societies that depend on these has impacted on traditional land management practices, with negative ramifications for biodiversity. From an environmental perspective, scientists in northern Australia need to understand traditional Aboriginal methods of ‘caring for country’, such as burning regimes, so that these can be incorporated into strategies today for maintaining Australia’s rich biodiversity. However, information exchange should be two-way: as well as learning from local people, science can in turn benefit people who may have little experience of, for example, invasive species. The challenge is how can the complexity of biological knowledge from within different ontologies be represented and integrated in a way that it can be of use to scientists and local people, in order to ensure a sustainable future? The main aim of this study was to record existing local knowledge of biodiversity for the community of Aurukun (far north Queensland), integrating this knowledge with scientific data, while giving parity to both knowledge systems and protecting intellectual property rights. A cross-cultural collaboration between community members and ethnobiologists resulted in development of the Aurukun Ethnobiology Database. An interdisciplinary approach was taken to effectively model autochthonous biological knowledge and scientific data to create a database with a number of practical applications.     

Modeling spatio-temporal change patterns of forest cover: a case study from the Himalayan foothills (India)

The present study used temporal remote sensing data for 1990, 2001 and 2006 to assess spatio-temporal patterns of forest cover changes in Shiwalik range of the Himalaya, Dehradun forest division. Forests are innately associated to human well-being. However, with the increasing anthropogenic activities, deforestation has increased. Quantitative change analysis of the forest cover for the past two decades provides valuable insight into the forest conservation vis-à-vis anthropogenic activities in the region. Spatio-temporal datasets along with biotic and abiotic variables provide opportunities to model the forest cover change further. The present study investigates forest cover change and predicts status of forest cover in the Dehradun forest division. Land Change Modeller (LCM) was used to predict status of forest cover for 2010 and 2015 using current disturbance scenarios. Comparing actual LULC of 2006 with the predicted LULC of 2006 validated change prediction model and agreement was 61.03%. The forested areas are getting degraded due to anthropogenic activities, but deforestation/degradation does not contribute much in expanding urban area. Agricultural areas and fallow lands are the main contributors to increased urban area. The study demonstrates the potential of geospatial tools to understand spatio-temporal forest cover change and generate the future scenarios.     

Using a diagnostic tool to evaluate the longevity of urban community sanitation systems: A case study from Indonesia

Improving access to water and sanitation does not necessarily guarantee longevity of those systems transferred. Lessons from past interventions suggest that success depends on acceptance of the technology from the recipients and sustained use after donor assistance ends. A qualitative evaluation of urban community sanitation systems in Indonesia is conducted by use of a diagnostic tool, called RECAP, focusing on technology performance and experience. By means of surveys and qualitative interviews, the perceptions of involved stakeholders (local government, implementing agency and users) are evaluated. Conclusions suggest bridging the gap between governments and users in relation to maintenance and monitoring would improve the quality and longevity of interventions.     

Monitoring of eutrophication and nutrient limitation in the Izmir Bay (Turkey) before and after Wastewater Treatment Plant

The distribution of inorganic nutrients and phytoplankton chlorophyll-a was investigated and N/P ratios were determined in Izmir Bay during 1996-2001. The average concentrations showed ranges of 0.01-0.19 and 0.01-10 microM for phosphate-phosphorus; 0.11-1.8 and 0.13-27 microM for (nitrate+nitrite)-nitrogen, 0.30-4.1 and 0.50-39 microM for silicate and 0.02-4.3 and 0.10-26 microg l(-1) for chlorophyll-a in the outer and middle-inner bays, respectively. The results are compared with the values obtained from the relatively unpolluted waters of the Aegean Sea. The N/P ratio is significantly lower than the assimilatory optimal (N/P=15:1) in conformity with Redfield's ratio N/P=16:1. Nitrogen is the limiting element in the Izmir Bay. Phosphate, which originates from detergents, is an important source for eutrophication in the bay, especially in the inner bay. In early 2000, a Wastewater Treatment Plant (WTP) began to treat domestic and industrial wastes. This plant treats the wastes about 60% capacity between 2000 and 2001. The sampling periods cover before and after treatment plant. Although the capacity of wastewater plant is sufficient for removal of nitrogen from the wastes, it is inadequate for removal of phosphate. This is also in accordance with the decreasing N/P ratios observed during 2000-2001 (after WTP) in the middle-inner bays.     

Community partnered projects: a case study of a collaborative effort to improve sanitation in a marginalized community in northwest Mexico

There is a growing recognition in developing countries that community participation in water and sanitation projects is a necessary strategy in sustainable development. The main advantage of following such an approach is that, if participation can encourage a sense of ownership of the projects, the benefits of the project are more likely to extend over the long term. The case study at hand focuses on the challenges faced in implementing a wastewater treatment system to solve an environmental and public health problem in a rural community, Rosario de Tesopaco, in northwest Mexico. Until recently, the community has been unable to implement an effective plan to treat the wastewater generated in the community. The problems faced by the community can be attributed to the political arrangement of water and sanitation decentralization in Mexico that occurred in the mid 1980’s, whereby communities were required to meet wastewater treatment standards, but were not given the technical and political guidance needed to achieve this goal. However, in this instance, cooperation between the authorities in Rosario de Tesopaco, the federal agency for social development, and an academic institution has led to the successful design and approval of a wastewater treatment project. This achievement can be attributed to the use of an effective collaborative strategy, tailoring the project to the needs and capacity of the local community, positioning the community as the leaders and owners of the project. A model for following this strategy for developing rural sanitation projects in Mexico is proposed. Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.