Social licences to operate: for better not for worse; for richer not for poorer? The impacts of unplanned mining closure for “fence line” residential communities

Establishing “social licences to operate” with communities has become a significant corporate social responsibility agenda. The complex dynamics of these relationships can compound the impacts for communities when these contracts are not upheld. This article documents reflections from a rapid rural appraisal conducted in the Shire of Ravensthorpe in remote Western Australia after the Ravensthorpe Nickel Operation was “mothballed” 9 months into a projected 25-year lifespan. It captures how communication about the project and its time frames created a sense of consistency, predictability, certainty and trust – enabling social licence. The raising of hope and the emergence of mistrust underpin social, environmental and financial impacts of this event for the local community. Embedded in the theoretical dimensions of social licences, this case study highlights the problematic of social licences that engage with non-contractual stakeholders as partners in “booms” but have no legal responsibility towards them in times of “bust”.     

Energy exploration in the Australian arid zone: Constraints and environmental consequences

The main constraints on energy exploration in the Australian arid zone are logistic, with limited additional constraints from Aboriginal reserves. The main consequence is increased access, with possible introduction of weeds and expansion of tourism and cattle grazing in consequence.     

Calculation of higher heating values of biomass materials and waste components from elemental analyses

Higher heating values on a dry basis (HHV2), measured and calculated from elemental analyses, of more than 140 biomass and waste component materials have been compared. The data were evaluated by six higher heating value formulas. The Vondracek formula was found to give the best agreement between calculated and measured heating values over a wide range (10–47 MJ/kg), judged by good linear correlation between measured and calculated HHV2 values. Standard reference materials also have been evaluated and shown generally to give good agreement. The calculation of higher heating values form elemental analyses is a good check for the reliability of a material's composition and heating value measurements in most cases. Materials with differences between calculated and measured higher heating values in excess of 6% should be considered suspect and examined closely.     

Socially Strategic Ecological Restoration: A Game-Theoretic Analysis Shortened: Socially Strategic Restoration

Major transitions in a multiple-use or mosaic landscape often lead to frictions among new and existing users. In this article, we consider the problem of ecological restoration within a mosaic landscape in which restoration activities elicit feedbacks from individuals and groups that are harmed by restoration outcomes. Using game theory, we identify three potential outcomes ranked by the extent of restoration of ecosystem services and processes: nonstrategic, noncooperative strategic equilibrium, and cooperative bargaining solution. We identify conditions under which additional restoration can decrease the overall flow of ecosystem services and processes. A “strategic restorationist” will cease new restoration activities when the net effect of defensive response moves by farmers offsets gains. Imperfect information regarding expected payoffs to farmers can lead to inefficient overshooting or undershooting the optimal scale, geographical positioning, and form of restoration. Gains to all parties from cooperation might exist. As a case study and to aid model design, we consider restoration activities on California’s upper Sacramento River. An erratum to this article is available at .     

The effect of mercury on trees and their mycorrhizal fungi

The Oak Ridge Reservation, established in 1942, was the designated site for the construction of the atomic bomb. During a 20-year period from 1944 to 1963 radioactive and toxic chemical pollutants, especially mercury compounds were released into the surrounding waterways. Tree diversity and mycorrhizal presence and abundance were analyzed in the mercury-contaminated floodplains of East Fork Poplar Creek Oak Ridge (EFPC) (Tennessee). A subsequent greenhouse study was conducted to assess the phytotoxic effects of different mercuric solutions on Platanus occidentalis (American Sycamore), inoculated with soils from EFPC. Total soil mercury in the field had no effect on tree diversity. Organic species of mercury proved to be more toxic than inorganic species of mercury and soil inoculants from EFPC had no protective effects against Hg toxicity in our greenhouse study. Comparison of the effects of mercury contamination in our field and greenhouse studies was difficult due to uncontrolled factors.     

Plant-available and water-soluble phosphorus in soils amended with separated manure solids

Physical, chemical, or biological treatment of animal liquid manure generally produces a dry-matter rich fraction (DMF) that contains most of the initial phosphorus (P). Our objective was to assess the solubility and plant availability of P from various DMFs as a function of soil P status. Eight different DMFs were obtained from liquid swine (LSM) and dairy cattle (LDC) manures treated by natural decantation, anaerobic digestion, chemical flocculation, composting, or mechanical separation. The DMFs were compared with mineral P fertilizer in a pot experiment with oat ( L.) grown in four soils with varied P-fixing capacities and P saturation levels. The DMFs were added at a rate of 50 mg P kg soil and incubated 14 d before seeding. Soil water-extractable P (P) at all water:soil extraction ratios (2:1, 20:1, and 200:1) was slightly higher when DMFs were derived from LDC rather than LSM. Soil P at the 2:1 ratio was lower with anaerobically digested LSM. At the 2:1 extraction ratio, DMF P was less soluble than mineral P as P saturation in soils increased. In soils with a lower P-fixing capacity, DMF P appeared less water soluble than mineral P under 20:1 and 200:1 extraction ratios. After 72 d of plant growth, DMFs produced yields comparable to mineral P fertilizer. Although the plant availability of P from DMFs was comparable to mineral P fertilizer, P from DMFs could be less vulnerable to leaching or runoff losses in soils with a high P saturation level or low P-fixing capacity.     

Soil nitrous oxide emissions following band-incorporation of fertilizer nitrogen and swine manure

Treatment of liquid swine manure (LSM) offers opportunities to improve manure nutrient management. However, N2O fluxes and cumulative emissions resulting from application of treated LSM are not well documented. Nitrous oxide emissions were monitored following band-incorporation of 100 kg N ha(-1) of either mineral fertilizer, raw LSM, or four pretreated LSMs (anaerobic digestion; anaerobic digestion + flocculation: filtration; decantation) at the four-leaf stage of corn (Zea mays L.). In a clay soil, a larger proportion of applied N was lost as N2O with the mineral fertilizer (average of 6.6%) than with LSMs (3.1-5.0%), whereas in a loam soil, the proportion of applied N lost as N2O was lower with the mineral fertilizer (average of 0.4%) than with LSMs (1.2-2.4%). Emissions were related to soil NO3 intensity in the clay soil, whereas they were related to water-extractable organic C in the loam soil. This suggests that N2O production was N limited in the clay soil and C limited in the loam soil, and would explain the interaction found between N sources and soil type. The large N2O emission coefficients measured in many treatments, and the contradicting responses among N sources depending on soil type, indicate that (i) the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) default value (1%) may seriously underestimate N2O emissions from fine-textured soils where fertilizer N and manure are band-incorporated, and (ii) site-specific factors, such as drainage conditions and soil properties (e.g., texture, organic matter content), have a differential influence on emissions depending on N source.