Taking Action Against Ocean Acidification: A Review of Management and Policy Options

Ocean acidification has emerged over the last two decades as one of the largest threats to marine organisms and ecosystems. However, most research efforts on ocean acidification have so far neglected management and related policy issues to focus instead on understanding its ecological and biogeochemical implications. This shortfall is addressed here with a systematic, international and critical review of management and policy options. In particular, we investigate the assumption that fighting acidification is mainly, but not only, about reducing CO₂ emissions, and explore the leeway that this emerging problem may open in old environmental issues. We review nine types of management responses, initially grouped under four categories: preventing ocean acidification; strengthening ecosystem resilience; adapting human activities; and repairing damages. Connecting and comparing options leads to classifying them, in a qualitative way, according to their potential and feasibility. While reducing CO₂ emissions is confirmed as the key action that must be taken against acidification, some of the other options appear to have the potential to buy time, e.g. by relieving the pressure of other stressors, and help marine life face unavoidable acidification. Although the existing legal basis to take action shows few gaps, policy challenges are significant: tackling them will mean succeeding in various areas of environmental management where we failed to a large extent so far.     

Blends of Poly (Butylene Adipate-Co-Terephthalate) and Thermoplastic Whey Protein Isolate: A Compatibilization Study

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - This work assesses the influence of the plasticizer polyethylene glycol (PEG) on the compatibilization of poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT)...     

Synthesis of Common Management Concerns Associated with Dam Removal

Managers make decisions regarding if and how to remove dams in spite of uncertainty surrounding physical and ecological responses, and stakeholders often raise concerns about certain negative effects, regardless of whether these concerns are warranted at a particular site. We used a dam‐removal science database supplemented with other information sources to explore seven frequently raised concerns, herein Common Management Concerns (CMCs). We investigate the occurrence of these concerns and the contributing biophysical controls. The CMCs addressed are the following: degree and rate of reservoir sediment erosion, excessive channel incision upstream of reservoirs, downstream sediment aggradation, elevated downstream turbidity, drawdown impacts on local water infrastructure, colonization of reservoir sediments by nonnative plants, and expansion of invasive fish. Biophysical controls emerged for some of the concerns, providing managers with information to assess whether a given concern is likely to occur at a site. To fully assess CMC risk, managers should concurrently evaluate site conditions and identify the ecosystem or human uses that will be negatively affected if the biophysical phenomenon producing the CMC occurs. We show how many CMCs have one or more controls in common, facilitating the identification of multiple risks at a site, and demonstrate why CMC risks should be considered in the context of other factors such as natural watershed variability and disturbance history.     

Perspectives on Salmon Feed: A Deliberative Assessment of Several Alternative Feed Resources

The future of salmon aquaculture depends on the adoption of alternative feed resources in order to reduce the need for fish meal and fish oil. This may include resources such as species from lower trophic levels, by-products and by-catch from fisheries and aquaculture, animal by-products, plants, genetically modified (GM) plants, nutritionally enhanced GM plants and products from microorganisms and GM microorganisms. Here, we report on a deliberative assessment of these alternative feed resources, involving 18 participants from different interest groups within Norwegian salmon aquaculture. The participants defined a broad range of appraisal criteria concerning health and welfare issues, economical issues, environmental issues, and knowledge and social issues. A number of uncertainties, in the form of incomplete knowledge, diverging opinions, and context specific factors were identified when the participants evaluated the alternatives. Our findings support the need for more research on the suitability of alternative feed resources for farmed salmon. Additionally, the study underlines the importance of facilitating deliberative assessments in order to map the plurality of perspectives and explore qualitative aspects of uncertainty. Such initiatives improve the information base upon which decisions on future feed resources for farmed salmon are made.     

FLOOD DAMAGES IN CHANGING FLOOD PLAINS: A FORENSIC‐HYDROLOGIC CASE STUDY1

ABSTRACT: Hydraulic modification of flood plains by human activity is the primary cause of rising flood damages throughout the world. As flood‐plain hydraulic roughness increases, so does the water level for a fixed flow rate. This raises the flood damage associated with a flood of given return period, and thus, magnifies the flood risk. This article presents an approach that integrates climatic, hydrologic, and hydraulic principles and presents models to discern the probable causes of flood damage in a basin that undergoes flood‐plain development. The article documents key factors that govern flood damage and presents a case study that illustrates the principles of forensic hydrology in an impacted flood plain. The study demonstrates flood level rise caused by hydraulic alteration of a flood plain between 1969 and 1995 and apportioned the increased water level among agricultural and structural factors located in the study area.     

Synthesis of a novel humic acid-based polycarboxylic dispersant for coal water slurry

A novel humic acid-based polycarboxylic-type (HAP) dispersant for coal–water slurry (CWS) was successfully synthesized in aqueous solution from the copolymerization of HA, acrylic acid and maleic acid. The structure of HAP was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), thermogravimetry (TG) and ¹H NMR. With HAP as a dispersant for Linfen coal slurry, the effects of the mass ratio of HA and monomer, initiator concentration, reaction temperature and reaction time on the HAP dispersant performance were discussed by examining the apparent viscosity of CWS. The results showed that CWS prepared withHAP dispersant performed excellent dispersity and stability. When the dosage of HAP was up to 0.5 wt.%, the apparent viscosity of CWS was 505 mPa·s. Experiments on the stability of CWS containing 0.5 wt.% HAP demonstrated that the penetration ratio reached 85.45 % after 96 h, which was higher by 12.87 % than that of CWS prepared with HA. And the CWS produced with HAP had lower dewatering rate within the storage time, which was less 1.85 % than that of CWS with HA when the storage time was 72 h. Furthermore, the maximum coal content of CWS with 0.5 wt.% HAP may reached 70 wt.%. This work found a new route for utilizing humic acid and enlarged the selecting range of the dispersant for CWS. It has a positive significance for protection of environment.     

Scenario‐Based and Scenario‐Neutral Assessment of Climate Change Impacts on Operational Performance of a Multipurpose Reservoir

Scenario‐based and scenario‐neutral impacts assessment approaches provide complementary information about how climate change‐driven effects on streamflow may change the operational performance of multipurpose dams. Examining a case study of Cougar Dam in Oregon, United States, we simulated current reservoir operations under scenarios of plausible future hydrology. Streamflow projections from the CGCM3.1 general circulation model for the A1B emission scenario were used to generate stochastic reservoir inflows that were then further perturbed to simulate a potentially drier future. These were then used to drive a simple reservoir model. In the scenario‐based analysis, we found reservoir operations are vulnerable to climate change. Increases in fall and winter inflow could lead to more frequent flood storage, reducing flexibility to store incoming flood flows. Uncertainty in spring inflow volume complicates projection of future filling performance. The reservoir may fill more or less often, depending on whether springs are wetter or drier. In the summer, drawdown may occur earlier to meet conservation objectives. From the scenario‐neutral analysis, we identified thresholds of streamflow magnitude that can predict climate change impacts for a wide range of scenarios. Our results highlight projected operational challenges for Cougar Dam and provide an example of how scenario‐based and scenario‐neutral approaches may be applied concurrently to assess climate change impacts.     

Adaptation to Climate Change in Developing Countries

Adaptation to climate change is given increasing international attention as the confidence in climate change projections is getting higher. Developing countries have specific needs for adaptation due to high vulnerabilities, and they will in this way carry a great part of the global costs of climate change although the rising atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations are mainly the responsibility of industrialized countries. This article provides a status of climate change adaptation in developing countries. An overview of observed and projected climate change is given, and recent literature on impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation are reviewed, including the emerging focus on mainstreaming of climate change and adaptation in development plans and programs. The article also serves as an introduction to the seven research articles of this special issue on climate change adaptation in developing countries. It is concluded that although many useful steps have been taken in the direction of ensuring adequate adaptation in developing countries, much work still remains to fully understand the drivers of past adaptation efforts, the need for future adaptation, and how to mainstream climate into general development policies.     

Stormwater Control Measures for Runoff and Water Quality Management in Urban Landscapes

This study develops and tests a novel optimization method for optimally selecting and sizing stormwater control measures (SCMs) in urban landscapes for selected design storms. The developed methodology yields SCMs that capture and retain stormwater via onsite percolation, remove stormwater pollutants, and minimize stormwater control expenditures. The resulting environmental optimization problem involves integer and real variables imbedded in an objective function that is subjected to multiple constraints. This study's methodology aims at practicality and ease of implementation in the solution of the SCM sizing and selection optimization problem while taking into account the main factors that govern stormwater management in urban landscapes. The near‐optimal global solution of the SCM selection and design problem is obtained with nonlinear programming and verified with the average of multiple solutions calculated with multiple runs of an optimization evolutionary algorithm. The developed methodology is illustrated with one stormwater project in the City of Los Angeles, California.