Public participation in environmental monitoring: A means of attaining network capability

In the Puget Sound region of the United States a task force of community volunteers using bees monitored environmental pollution. This paper discusses advantages and limitations of public involvement in the assessment of regional environmental problems, particularly with respect to biological monitoring. This approach not only yielded extensive information about pollution levels but also was very cost effective.Work supported by Cooperative Agreement CR-810035-01-0 with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Research Laboratory, Corvallis, Oregon, U.S.A.     

Setting boundaries of participation in environmental impact assessment

Public participation processes are touted as an effective way to increase the capacity and legitimacy of environmental assessment and the regulatory process that rely on them. Recent changes to the Canadian environmental assessment process narrowed the criteria for who can participate in environmental assessments from any who were interested to those who were most directly affected. This article examines the potential consequences of this change by exploring other areas of Canadian regulatory law where a similar directed affected test has been applied. This new standard risks institutionalizing the long-understood representational bias confronted by more diffuse interest like environmental protection. Restricting participation to the “directly affected” is far too narrow a test for processes like environmental assessment that are designed to determine the public interest.     

Reconceptualizing public participation in environmental assessment as EA civics

Notwithstanding the considerable attention placed on creating meaningful opportunities for public participation in environmental assessment (EA), many participants and those who have reviewed participation processes often find practice sorely wanting. This reality stands in stark juxtaposition to future environmental governance needs, which will require increased openness, deliberation and transdisciplinary knowledge in order to deal with environmental change that is ever more uncertain, complex and conflictual. In this paper, our purpose was to consider how to meet those needs through reconceptualizing public participation as EA civics, founded on an active citizen base, deliberative in nature and orientated toward learning. We do this through developing a new conceptual model of next generation participation processes that is relevant at multiple spatial scales and institutional levels, is applicable to the entire assessment cycle and spans temporal scales through feedback loops. Our EA civics model builds on the “civics approach” to environmental governance and “action civics” by extending their core ideas to participation in EA. We did this by conducting an integrative literature review (including numerous papers we have contributed over the years) and reflecting on our own experiences as EA participants. We apply current thinking on public participation design to our EA civics conceptualization and highlight important design features that have received scant attention. We conclude that EA civics holds promise for fairer and more robust participation processes if all aspects of the model are considered and the actions related to each are implemented.     

Public participation and volunteer help in monitoring programs: An assessment

A number of opportunities exist for involving the public in environmental monitoring. This paper outlines some examples where this has been done, evaluates these examples, and then summarizes some of the benefits as well as the disadvantages of this approach.     

Ecological indicator organisms for environmental protection policy

Environmental protection policy strives to maintain an environment favourable to human health, agriculture, and the preservation of natural heritage. Infringements upon the environment have been either by sudden deliberate action of man (construction, land reclamation, dams, etc.) or by gradual, insipid stress of chemical and physical agents (chemical substances, heat, noise, radiation, etc.). Indeliberate unwanted stress upon the environment may be measured either by observing biological effects on indicator organisms or by chemically analyzing contaminants in these organisms. In this respect the author pleads for modest, cost-efficient monitoring programmes of limited duration and providing policy related information in a direct way. Biological effect monitoring programmes show limited prospects at this moment.     

Public participation in Strategic Environmental Assessment: A practitioners' perspective

Public participation is considered a distinguished feature of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), and the SEA literature has traditionally identified several benefits attached to it, from more open and transparent decision-making to greater acceptance of plans/programmes' output by the affected population. However, relatively little empirical evidence has been collected so far on the extent and outcomes of public engagement as it is being carried out in current SEA practice. In this article, we present the results of a study on this theme based on a direct survey of 47 SEA practitioners and scholars from different countries. Respondents were asked to report their experience about a number of items including: the frequency of SEA process featuring deep public participation; its overall influence on plan/programmme-making; the identification of the main factors impeding it; the correlation of public involvement with environmental outcomes; and the increase of costs. Results indicate that public engagement in current SEA practice is still relatively limited and with limited influence on decision-making. The main impeding factors seem to be: lack of political willingness by proponents; insufficient information on the SEA process by the public; and weakness of the legal frames. However, respondents also report that when effective public engagement takes place, benefits do arise and identify a positive correlation between the degree of public involvement and the environmental performance of plans and programmes. Overall, findings suggest that public involvement has indeed the potential to positively influence both SEA and decision-making, although this should be supported from the policy side by stronger legal frames, higher requirements and improved technical guidance.     

环境监测现场采样中的生物安全防护

环境监测生物安全防护是对生态环境监测中的全过程防护,在实践中,实验室内的生物安全防护研究较多,而关于现场采样人员的防护研究较少,缺乏具体可行的操作规程,若防护不当,极易对人员造成安全风险.本文对现场监测和采样中的生物安全防护问题进行了初步研究,提出了不同环境监测对象和风险条件的个人防护对策及建议,为环境监测采样过程中的...     

Economic development and environmental protection: an ecological economics perspective

This paper argues on both theoretical and empirical grounds that, beyond a certain point, there is an unavoidable conflictbetween economic development (generally taken to mean 'materialeconomic growth') and environmental protection. Think for a moment of natural forests, grasslands, marine estuaries, salt marshes, and coral reefs; and of arable soils, aquifers, mineraldeposits, petroleum, and coal. These are all forms of 'natural capital' that represent highly-ordered self-producing ecosystemsor rich accumulations of energy/matter with high use potential (low entropy). Now contemplate despoiled landscapes, eroding farmlands, depleted fisheries, anthropogenic greenhouse gases,acid rain, poisonous mine tailings and toxic synthetic compounds.These all represent disordered systems or degraded forms of energy and matter with little use potential (high entropy). The main thing connecting these two states is human economic activity. Ecological economics interprets the environment-economyrelationship in terms of the second law of thermodynamics. The second law sees economic activity as a dissipative process. Fromthis perspective, the production of economic goods andservices invariably requires the consumption of available energy and matter. To grow and develop, the economynecessarily 'feeds' on sources of high-quality energy/matter first produced by nature. This tends to disorder and homogenizethe ecosphere, The ascendance of humankind has consistently been accompanied by an accelerating rate of ecological degradation, particularly biodiversity loss, the simplificationof natural systems and pollution. In short, contemporary political rhetoric to the contrary, the prevailing growth-oriented global development paradigm is fundamentally incompatible with long-term ecological and social sustainability. Unsustainability is not a technical nor economic problem as usually conceived, but rather a state of systemic incompatibilitybetween a economy that is a fully-contained, growing, dependent sub-system of a non-growing ecosphere. Potential solutions fly inthe face of contemporary development trends and cultural values.     

Advances in analytical technologies for environmental protection and public safety

Due to the increased threats of chemical and biological agents of injury by terrorist organizations, a significant effort is underway to develop tools that can be used to detect and effectively combat chemical and biochemical toxins. In addition to the right mix of policies and training of medical personnel on how to recognize symptoms of biochemical warfare agents, the major success in combating terrorism still lies in the prevention, early detection and the efficient and timely response using reliable analytical technologies and powerful therapies for minimizing the effects in the event of an attack. The public and regulatory agencies expect reliable methodologies and devices for public security. Today's systems are too bulky or slow to meet the "detect-to-warn" needs for first responders such as soldiers and medical personnel. This paper presents the challenges in monitoring technologies for warfare agents and other toxins. It provides an overview of how advances in environmental analytical methodologies could be adapted to design reliable sensors for public safety and environmental surveillance. The paths to designing sensors that meet the needs of today's measurement challenges are analyzed using examples of novel sensors, autonomous cell-based toxicity monitoring, 'Lab-on-a-Chip' devices and conventional environmental analytical techniques. Finally, in order to ensure that the public and legal authorities are provided with quality data to make informed decisions, guidelines are provided for assessing data quality and quality assurance using the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) methodologies.     

A DSS for sustainable development and environmental protection of agricultural regions

This paper presents a decision support system (DSS) for sustainable development and environmental protection of agricultural regions developed in the framework of the Interreg-Archimed project entitled WaterMap (development and utilization of vulnerability maps for the monitoring and management of groundwater resources in the ARCHIMED areas). Its aim is to optimize the production plan of an agricultural region taking in account the available resources, the environmental parameters, and the vulnerability map of the region. The DSS is based on an optimization multicriteria model. The spatial integration of vulnerability maps in the DSS enables regional authorities to design policies for optimal agricultural development and groundwater protection from the agricultural land uses. The DSS can further be used to simulate different scenarios and policies by the local stakeholders due to changes on different social, economic, and environmental parameters. In this way, they can achieve alternative production plans and agricultural land uses as well as to estimate economic, social, and environmental impacts of different policies. The DSS is computerized and supported by a set of relational databases. The corresponding software has been developed in a Microsoft Windows XP platform, using Microsoft Visual Basic, Microsoft Access, and the LINDO library. For demonstration reasons, the paper includes an application of the DSS in a region of Northern Greece.     

Evaluation and assessment of environmental protection alternatives for the Jeddah cement company plant

An environmental impact assessment is conducted by utilizing monitoring, meteorological, and physical modeling data. This information serves as input to a decision analysis of the environmental protection alternatives for the cement plant in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Utility theory provides the methodology underlying the Evaluation and Sensivity Analysis Program (ESAP) with which the alternatives are evaluated. Recommendation include: (1) installation of electrostatic precipitators of at least 99% efficiency, (2) institution of a 1.6 km nonresidential zone given the present 60 m chimneys, and (3) substitution of low sulphur fuel for the crude oil now consumed. By illustration this study suggests the general relevance of the ESAP program to environmental assessment and management.     

The fate and behaviour of enhanced natural radioactivity with respect to environmental protection

In contrast to the monitoring and prevention of occupational radiation risk caused by enhanced natural radioactivity, relatively little attention has been paid to the environmental impact associated with residues containing enhanced activity concentration of naturally occurring radionuclides. Such materials are often deposited directly into the environment, a practice which is strictly forbidden in the management of other types of radioactive waste. In view of the new trends in radiation protection, the need to consider the occurrence of anthropogenically enhanced natural radioactivity as a particular unique case of environmental hazard is quite apparent. Residues containing high activity concentrations of some natural radionuclides differ from radioactive materials arising from the nuclear industry. In addition, the radiation risk is usually combined with the risk caused by other pollutants. As such and to date, there are no precise regulations regarding this matter and moreover, the non-nuclear industry is often not aware of potential environmental problems caused by natural radioactivity. This article discusses aspects of environmental radiation risks caused by anthropogenically enhanced natural radioactivity stored at unauthorised sites. Difficulties and inconclusiveness in the application of recommendations and models for radiation risk assessment are explored. General terms such as “environmental effects” and the basic parameters necessary to carry out consistent and comparable Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) have been developed and defined.     

Beyond distribution and participation: A scoping review to advance a comprehensive environmental justice framework for impact assessment

Concepts of justice are implicit to impact assessment (IA) procedures and policies. A closer examination of the academic literature on environmental justice reveals plural meanings and practices. We present data from a scoping review of the academic literature on IA guided by a trivalent definition of environmental justice encompassing distribution of environmental harms, recognition of diverse ways of knowing, and representation of plural perspectives through democratic procedures. We use this trivalent framework to assess how justice is defined in English language IA journal articles from 2000 to 2019. Findings show an emphasis on distributive and procedural dimensions of justice, with significantly less attention given to issues of recognition and framing. Broad definitions of environmental justice can assist IA scholars in attending to justice-seeking claims across various IA practices and settings, including implications for how IA addresses the concerns of marginalized groups.     

Ethical implications of democratic theory for U.S. public participation in environmental impact assessment

Traditional mechanisms for public participation in environmental impact assessment under U.S. federal law have been criticized as ineffective and unable to resolve conflict. As these mechanisms are modified and new approaches developed, we argue that participation should be designed and evaluated not only on practical grounds of cost-effectiveness and efficiency, but also on ethical grounds based on democratic ideals. In this paper, we review and synthesize modern democratic theory to develop and justify four ethical principles for public participation: equal opportunity to participate, equal access to information, genuine deliberation, and shared commitment. We then explore several tensions that are inherent in applying these ethical principles to public participation in EIA. We next examine traditional NEPA processes and newer collaborative approaches in light of these principles. Finally, we explore the circumstances that argue for more in-depth participatory processes. While improved EIA participatory processes do not guarantee improved outcomes in environmental management, processes informed by these four ethical principles derived from democratic theory may lead to increased public engagement and satisfaction with government agency decisions.     

济南市创建国家环保模范城市的调查与思考

从济南市环境保护现状调查入手,对照国家环境保护模范城市考核指标,分析济南市创建国家环境保护模范城市存在的问题,借鉴其他城市创建国家环境保护模范城市的成功经验,结合济南市实际,提出了有针对性的对策与建议。     

发光菌毒性试验在项目竣工环保验收监测中的应用

某敏感化工技改项目曾因超标排污引发跨地区厂群纠纷被责令停产整改,为考察该项目整改后废水处理设施的运行效果,保障水生生物安全,在该项目竣工环境保护验收监测时,采用发光细菌毒性试验检测废水的急性毒性.结果表明,达标排放的废水对生物的急性毒性为低毒,试验结果与常规验收监测结果有可比性,发光细菌毒性试验可用于必须公示的敏感项目竣工环境保护验收监测.     

Stakeholder perceptions of Environmental Management Plans as an environmental protection tool for major developments in the UK

Insufficient implementation and the lack of legislative requirements for follow-up measures following the approval of projects are consistently highlighted as major shortcomings of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Although adopted over 15 years ago by the World Bank, Environmental Management Plans (EMPs) were only semi-formalised in the UK in 2008 and arguably provide a continuous link or ‘bridge’ between the EIA process pre-consent and an Environmental Management System (EMS) post-consent. Drawing on twenty-one semi-structured interviews with stakeholders and thematic analysis of their responses, and a broad-scale practitioner survey, this study aimed to assess the effectiveness of EMPs as an environmental protection tool across the project lifecycle for major developments. The findings revealed a mixed picture of EMP effectiveness in practice, with EMPs only partially fulfilling a bridging role between EIA and EMS. There is no ‘gold standard’ terminology for EMPs, all having slightly different uses, thus presenting different focuses to different stakeholders and further enhancing variation in practice. For many stakeholders, the effectiveness was simply not known, due to the lack of communication and follow-up that still exists. EMP–EMS linkages were shown to be effective from the developer's perspective when a single organisation has involvement across all project phases, though weaknesses occur when multiple parties are involved. Among other stakeholders, knowledge varied significantly; whilst some were in agreement that the linkages worked, many were unaware of the connections and thought of them as two quite separate tools. Stakeholders advocated for the need to make EMPs a legal requirement; for improved communication between stakeholders during EMP implementation and increased documentation of project outcomes; and for EMPs to be consistently written by environmental professionals. Furthermore, weak links in the current process may be improved by providing detailed guidance for organisations on the potential for EMP–EMS linkages, with the additional aim of encouraging stakeholders to broaden their current specialist knowledge on environmental protection tools.