An economic model of ecolabeling

Firms would like to capitalize on consumers' willingness to pay more for goods that use environmentally friendly production techniques, but have difficulty credibly conveying their environmental friendliness. One possible remedy is “ecolabeling,” where a third party certifies firms' products. To model this phenomenon, I analyzed a market characterized by asymmetric information in which firms decide whether to seek an ecolabel. Market equilibrium is discussed in three settings: where both technologies and outputs are fixed (so the only choice is whether to seek certification), where technologies are fixed but outputs are not, and where firms can choose both technology and output.     

Scaling methods in assessing environmental quality: A methodological approach to eutrophication

The identification of pollution levels by numerical classification-ordination and the statistical confirmation of the detected trends-were attempted in a eutrophication assessment study. Special emphasis was placed on the importance of data scaling and the selection of a distance coefficient that would accentuate discrete states within the system. Among metric, binary and ordinal variable scaling, ordinal numbers showed the maximum sensitivity in discriminating pollution levels; the observed trends were further enhanced by using the absolute distance coefficient as a resemblance measure. The eutrophic patterns identified were statistically confirmed by a non-parametric permutation test. Finally a step-by-step multivariate procedure is proposed for assessing environmental quality in aquatic ecosystems.     

An innovative statistical approach for analysing non-continuous variables in environmental monitoring: assessing temporal trends of TBT pollution

The current work presents an innovative statistical approach to model ordinal variables in environmental monitoring studies. An ordinal variable has values that can only be compared as "less", "equal" or "greater" and it is not possible to have information about the size of the difference between two particular values. The example of ordinal variable under this study is the vas deferens sequence (VDS) used in imposex (superimposition of male sexual characters onto prosobranch females) field assessment programmes for monitoring tributyltin (TBT) pollution. The statistical methodology presented here is the ordered logit regression model. It assumes that the VDS is an ordinal variable whose values match up a process of imposex development that can be considered continuous in both biological and statistical senses and can be described by a latent non-observable continuous variable. This model was applied to the case study of Nucella lapillus imposex monitoring surveys conducted in the Portuguese coast between 2003 and 2008 to evaluate the temporal evolution of TBT pollution in this country. In order to produce more reliable conclusions, the proposed model includes covariates that may influence the imposex response besides TBT (e.g. the shell size). The model also provides an analysis of the environmental risk associated to TBT pollution by estimating the probability of the occurrence of females with VDS ≥ 2 in each year, according to OSPAR criteria. We consider that the proposed application of this statistical methodology has a great potential in environmental monitoring whenever there is the need to model variables that can only be assessed through an ordinal scale of values.     

Expres: An expert system for assessing the fate of pesticides in the subsurface

The expert system described here is designed to aid regulatory personnel in their assessment of the potential for pesticides to contaminate the soil and groundwater environment. The expert system, known as EXPRES (EXpert system for Pesticide Regulatory Evaluation Simulations), consists of existing numerical models which are used to simulate the transport and transformation of pesticides in the unsaturated zone, coupled with a knowledge-based system that guides the user through the choice of all the necessary information for characterizing the physical, meteorological, hydrogeological, pedological and agricultural settings of typical agricultural regions across Canada, as required by the pesticide model. The expert system is designed to be used as a management tool to aid in policy decisions. Thus, its purpose is to provide an assessment of the potential hazards and to identify if further study is warranted.     

Utilization of statistics based classification approach to investigate water supply profile of Turkey

In the paper water supply profile of Turkey was examined. In this scope, the questionnaire survey conducted by Turkish Statistical Institute in 2004 to investigate annual amount of water abstracted to drinking water networks by type of resources in 81 provinces was evaluated. In the questionnaire, sources were grouped under five categories as spring, (artificial) lake, river, reservoir and well. Due to the complex and multivariate characteristics of the data sets, to replace a large collection of variables with a smaller number of factors the statistical method "factor analysis" was performed. Results revealed that, water supply systems in the country were mainly governed by groundwater sources (well and/or spring). However, in the northeastern part of the country, rivers were allocated for drinking water supply. On the other hand, reservoir dependent cities were densely located in Marmara, Central Anatolia and Southeast Anatolia Regions. This study showed that statistics based classification methods assist decision makers to extract information from multidimensional complex data sets representing environmental conditions.     

Monitoring the fall of large atmospheric ice conglomerations: a multianalytical approach to the study of the Mejorada del Campo megacryometeor

Certain local atmospheric anomalies, such as the formation of unusually large ice conglomerations (megacryometeors), have been proposed to be a potential natural hazard for people and aviation, as well as geoindicators for fingerprinting larger-scale atmospheric environmental changes. On March 13th 2007, at approximately 10:15 am, an ice chunk weighing about 10 kg fell from the clear-sky and crashed through the roof (around 15 m) of an industrial storage house in Mejorada del Campo, a town located 20 km east from Madrid. The megacryometeor monitoring follow-up and the original investigation presented here includes, for the first time, both logistic and scientific collaboration between the Laboratory of the Environment, Criminalistic Service (SECRIM, the Spanish "Guardia Civil") and academic and scientific institutions (universities and the Spanish National Research Council). We propose that the management procedure of the incident, along with the detailed scientific research and combination of analytical methodologies in different laboratories, can serve as a protocol model for other similar events.     

An approach to the assessment of the quality of environmental monitoring data

This paper reports an approach to the assessment of the validity of environmental monitoring data--a 'data filter'. The strategy has been developed through the UK National Marine Analytical Quality Control (AQC) Scheme for application to data collected for the UK National Marine Monitoring Plan, although the principles described are applicable more widely. The proposed data filter is divided into three components: Part A, 'QA/QC'--an assessment of the laboratory's practices in Quality Assurance/Quality Control; Part B, 'fitness for purpose'--an evaluation of the standard of accuracy that can be demonstrated by activities in (A), in relation to the intended application of the data; and Part C, the overall assessment on which data will be accepted as usable or rejected as being of suspect quality. A pilot application of the proposed approach is reported. The approach described in this paper is intended to formalise the assessment of environmental monitoring data for fitness for a chosen purpose. The issues important to fitness for purpose are discussed and assigned a relative priority order on which to judge the reliability/usefulness of monitoring data.     

An approach to deal with uncertainty in energy and environmental planning: the MARKAL case

This paper presents a new concept to include uncertainty management in energy and environmental planning models developed in algebraic modeling languages. SETSTOCH is a tool for linking algebraic modeling languages with specialized stochastic programming solvers. Its main role is to retrieve from the modeling language a dynamically ordered core model (baseline scenario) that is sent automatically to the stochastic solver. The case presented herein concerns such a study realized with the IEAMARKAL model used by many research teams around the world.     

Application of drastic model and GIS: for assessing vulnerability in hard rock granitic aquifer

Geographic information system (GIS) has become one of the leading tools in the field of hydrogeological science that helps in assessing, monitoring, and conserving groundwater resources. Groundwater is a finite resource, which is being overexploited due to increase in demand over the years leading to decrease in its potentiality. In the present study, DRASTIC model has been used to prepare groundwater vulnerable zone in hard rock aquifer of granitic terrain. The main objective is to determine susceptible zone for groundwater pollution by integrating hydrogeological layers in GIS environment. The layers such as depth of aquifer, recharge, aquifer yield, soil type, topography, vadose zone, and transmissivity are incorporated in the DRASTIC model. The final output of the map shows that around 60% of the area falls under low to no risk of pollution zone. The high risk of pollution zones are mostly present towards the margin of southeastern periphery. The lower part of the basin as well as small area on northern side falls under moderate risk of pollution zone. For the assessment of groundwater pollution zone, 24 groundwater samples have been collected from different vulnerable zones. The chemical analysis of sample shows that the southeastern margin of basin has relatively high concentration of nitrate as compared to other parts of the basin. It is present in high pollution zone as well as moderate pollution zone. The present model can be used for assessment and management of groundwater.     

A knowledge brokerage approach for assessing the impacts of the setting up young farmers policy measure in Greece

This study explores Knowledge Brokerage (KB) aspects of an ex-post Impact Assessment (IA) for the Rural Development Programme (RDP) measure of setting up young farmers, under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), at the regional level in Northern Greece. The measure supports the entry of young farmers in agriculture by moving land from older to younger farmers. The aim of the study was to test a set of KB tools for improving the interaction between researchers and policy makers. Our analysis mainly focused on a suite of IA Support Modules to guide practitioners, and on a technical tool kit, a web-based contextualisation platform, to support the IA of the specific test case. Offering a structured approach towards IA, both the Support Modules and LIAISE-KIT allow framing the context, organisation, scheduling and method selection in the light of KB objectives. The evaluation of how IA Support Modules influence the Science Policy Interface (SPI), in the case of the ex-post assessment, demonstrated the high relevance of KB activities for facilitating the interaction between researchers and regional policy makers. The assessment bridges the gap between knowledge producers developing scientific output to be applied in a specific context, and knowledge users, who want clear messages regarding the policy challenges they face. Other conclusions include the need for specific guidelines and training for knowledge users, especially with regard to the use of tools. According to our findings, a consequent application of KB activities is a crucial pre-condition for successfully implementing IAs in future RDP measures.     

An innovative approach to inventory and monitoring of natural resources in the Mexican State of Jalisco

This paper discusses the statistical design and estimation processes developed for the assessment of key land resources relevant to questions of their condition and change in the State of Jalisco, Mexico. Some initial results of the first phase of Jalisco's Natural Resource Inventory and Monitoring Program (IMRENAT) conducted in 2006 are presented and discussed. Since this is a relatively new approach for an inventory and monitoring program of this magnitude, designed from the beginning specifically for integration with orbital satellite data, it is anticipated that changes will have to be made over time to improve conceptual and operational design aspects. Alternative remote sensing capabilities to further improve local information, more sophisticated analysis to satisfy the requirements of officials as they become more aware of the capabilities of the system, possible improvements in change assessments over time, and opportunities to focus on specific interesting changes will be assessed. As this study indicates, current and future information technology advancements provide a solid prospect for the development and application of integrative sampling strategies to support sustainability science and management processes.     

An approach to analyzing the intensity of the daytime surface urban heat island effect at a local scale

A landscape index LI is proposed to evaluate the intensity of the daytime surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect at a local scale. Three aspects of this landscape index are crucial: the source landscape, the sink landscape, and the contribution of source and sink landscapes to the intensity of the SUHI. Source and sink landscape types are identified using the thermo-band of Landsat 7 with a spatial resolution of 60 m, along with appropriate threshold values for the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Modified Normalized Difference Water Index, and Normalized Difference Built-up Index. The landscape index was defined as the ratio of the contributions of the source and sink landscapes to the intensity of the SUHI. The intensity of the daytime SUHI is assessed with the help of the landscape index. Our analysis indicates the landscape index can be used to evaluate and compare the intensity of the daytime SUHI for different areas.     

An approach to partition the anthropogenic and natural components of heavy metal accumulations in roadside agricultural soil

This paper describes a new approach that allows us to partition the anthropogenic and natural contributions to heavy metal accumulations in roadside agricultural soils. This approach, combining trend analysis and multivariate statistical analysis, partitions total heavy metals into three components: anthropogenic, natural, and unexplained residual. The approach was applied in a case study in Yixing City, China, to determine the spatial distributions of heavy metal accumulations. The results show that anthropogenic components of Pb, Cu, Zn, and Cd account for 52.4%, 23.04%, 5.09%, and 10.9% of total content, respectively. Spatial distributions of anthropogenic components are characterized by decreasing accumulation with increasing distance from the road. Ranges of influence of traffic for Pb, Cu, and Cd are beyond 300 m, whereas the range of Zn is less than 200 m. The spatial distributions of the four elements?? natural components show relatively similar distribution patterns. Assessments of variable partition methods show that the predicted values of Pb, Cu, Zn, and Cd are consistent with their measured values. The anthropogenic components extracted from total contents of heavy metal will be useful for modeling heavy metal accumulations produced by human activities.     

An integrated modelling approach to assess the risk of wind-borne spread of foot-and-mouth disease virus from infected premises

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious disease of livestock that has serious consequences on livestock production and trade. In Australia, preparedness and planning includes the development of decision-support tools that would assist priority setting and resource management in the event of an incursion. In this paper we describe an integrated modelling approach using geographic information system (GIS) technology to assess the risk of wind-borne spread of FMD virus. The approach involves linking an intra-farm virus production model, a wind transport and dispersal model, and an exposure-risk model to identify and rank farms at risk of wind-borne infection of FMD. This will assist authorities by enabling resources for activities like surveillance and vaccination to be allocated on the basis of risk.     

Combining policy instruments for sustainable energy systems: An assessment with the GMM model

An assessment of the impact of an illustrative portfolio of policy instruments that address different sustainability concerns in the global energy system in areas of climate change, air pollution and introduction of renewable-energy resources is conducted. The effects of a policy set containing three instruments, implemented either individually or in combination, were examined. The policy instruments under examination in this work include: Cap-and-Trade policies imposing a CO₂ emission reduction target on the global energy system, a renewable portfolio standard that forces a minimum share of renewable electricity generation, and the internalisation of external costs of power generation associated with local pollution. Implementation of these policy instruments significantly changes the structure and environmental performance of the energy sector, and particularly the structure of the electric-generation sector. The positive effects are amplified when the policy instruments are simultaneously applied, illustrating the potential for synergies between these energy-policy domains. The analysis has been conducted with the multi-regional, energy-system Global MARKAL Model (GMM), a “bottom-up” partial-equilibrium model that provides a detailed representation of energy technologies and endogenizes technology learning. ^★A preliminary version of this paper has been presented at the 6th IAEE European Energy Conference on “Modelling in Energy Economics and Policy”, 1–3 September 2004, ETH Zürich, Switzerland.